Mint 9: An overview of the new features

In this blog post, I’ll only go through the features that are developed specifically for Linux Mint.

System

  • USB-Creator will be added to the default software selection.
  • apturl will be added to the system.
  • In memory of Husse, a new fortune database gathering his best quotes will be added to the pool of random messages that appear when you open a terminal.
  • apt is getting three more commands: “apt hold <package>”, “apt unhold <package>” and “apt held”. These commands are shortcuts to “echo <package> hold | dpkg –set-selections”, “echo <package> install | dpkg –set-selections” and “dpkg –get-selections | grep hold”.

Menu


  • You can now edit items directly from the menu. If you want to change the name, the icon, the description or even the command for a particular application, just right-click on it and select “Edit Properties”.
  • If your graphics card allows it (you need compositing for this to work), you can change the transparency of the menu. Go in the preferences, select the “Options” tab and change the percentage of opacity.
  • There are two new context menu item to let you easily add shortcuts to the panel or the desktop.
  • An option which you can enabled to “always start with the favourites”.

Update Manager


  • The brown lock icons are gone. We’re replacing them with white shields. They look better and their meaning is a little more obvious.
  • You’ll only see an error icon when something is actually wrong, for instance if your software sources are malformed. If the Update Manager isn’t able to assess the status of your updates (say there’s no connection to the Internet, or another APT applicationΒ  is running) it won’t consider it an error. In simple words, you won’t be seeing a broken lock or an error icon unless something needs fixing.

Community Website

Although it’s not part of the Linux Mint 9 release itself, it’s development and its announcement will be in sync with Isadora. It will also replace the current Software Portal and act as the Web equivalent to the new Software Manager.

  • You can submit, comment and vote ideas to improve the distribution.
  • The Hardware Database shows you what hardware works out the box with Linux Mint. It’s particularly useful if you want to go shopping and you’re wondering about compatibility. If you’ve got problems with a particular device, the Hardware Database also shows you which other users own that device, how did they make it work and how you can contact them if needed.
  • The Software Portal shows all the packages available in the repositories. You can browse them by categories, rate them, review them, and even submit a screenshot.

Software Manager

The Software Manager, mintinstall, was rewritten from scratch. It features the best ideas from the original mintinstall, Gnome App-Install and the new Ubuntu Software Center. It’s also much more efficient than the previous version, handling 30,000+ packages and asynchronous installation/removal of applications in less than 1,000 lines of code.

  • It’s package-centric and it now features all the packages available on your system. That’s about 30,000 packages to choose from, compared to around 300 in the current version of mintinstall.
  • It uses and monitors the APT daemon, so when you click on the “install” button it just queues your action and processes it in the background. At any time you can see all on-going actions, their progress and you can even cancel them.
  • It’s completely asynchronous and independent from APT. Say you’ve decided to install 20 applications, your queue is full of progress bars and it’s going to take time before it’s all finished. Well, nothing is stopping you from closing the Software Manager. The actions will go on in the background. And if you ever decide to launch the Software Manager again, just to see what’s going on and what hasn’t been installed yet, you can. The queue will appear and inform you of the remaining ongoing processes.
  • The GUI is radically different. It’s inspired from the Ubuntu Software Center and it uses the Webkit engine to render parts of the interface in HTML/CSS. Everything is single-click. You can browse categories, applications, screenshots and even websites from the comfort of a single window.

In-development

All the improvements above are will be part of Linux Mint 9. Most of them are implemented and those which are not will be added very soon. We’re also planning on some other improvements, which, if everything goes according to schedule, should make it into Linux Mint 9 as well:

  • The ability to review applications directly from the Software Manager
  • Lesser and better suggestions in the Menu
  • Improved layout in the Menu
  • Brand new artwork (we’re experimenting with metal-looking themes and there are improvements planned for the Shiki theme as well)
  • New modules in the community website: blog, tutorials, FAQ

Upstream

It’s too soon to talk about what’s going on upstream but you can expect faster boot, the release will be an LTS release, there’s going to be many little improvements in Gnome itself and of course we’re getting a new kernel. I saw the controversy about the position of the window buttons in Ubuntu 10.04. There’s no plan to change anything in Linux Mint, we’re happy with the buttons staying on the right-hand side and away from the File, Edit, View menus.

191 comments

  1. Thanks for the update Clem.

    I’m already excited with Mint 9

    Thank you very much to the Mint team for giving us the best OS.

  2. I’m glad the buttons are staying put. I think a team of management consultants have taken over at Ubuntu and are changing things for change sake!

  3. Great work Clem.

    Any chance the new menu will also be able to show at least one level of sub-menus as it looks very cluttered lumping everything into a single level sometimes?

    Also if mintUpdate isn’t going to throw an error condition when another apt is in use, is it going to know the apt state also? Say you are trying to do an update and still have installs queued, is update going to know or will it throw an error?

  4. Glad that the window buttons are staying where they are! Also, improved boot times will be immense!

    Cheers to everybody!

  5. I would like Wine under the Main Edition. With Mint 8 KDE, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 works very well!
    Please, add an option in the Control Center to specify the amount of VRAM memory to assigne. Changing the screen resolution is not enough to support old (5-6 years) Acer notebooks. Thanks in advance.

  6. I’m very excited about mintInstall now! Can’t wait for the further good news (i.e. betas and RCs).

  7. Looks to be lots of interesting stuff there in 9; a couple of questions: how close on the heels of the upstream release of Ubuntu 10.04 will LM9 be available and will Ubuntu’s new themes be included in LM9?

  8. Hi Clem,

    I’m also happy you didn’t plan to change the position of the windows button (Ubuntu want to copy Apple so much? At least they could propose central position to be more innovative πŸ˜‰ mm, where to place the name of the window in this case???).
    Thanks for your ( and team) work.

    Ciao.

  9. Congratulations mint team!

    I have been longing for every single change you mentioned above. Mint is on a very good way. Husse would be proud πŸ™‚

  10. I to am glad to hear the buttons are going to be moved, I’m thinking that would be a killer for a lot of people including myself. Speaking of changes, I would like to see the GDM or login window go back to the old way where you need to type both the user ID and PW to login. The list of available users is real windowish and in my opinion a security hole. All you need to do is figure out a pw the Ids are available. Thanks Clem and the development team for all your hard workand dedication to this fine distro.

  11. two things needed badly..
    1. updated mouse drivers for HP mini 210.. so that my mouse pad works (with pinch, zoom, 2-fingers scroll etc)
    2.blackberry desktop manager so that i can connect to net(can do tether)
    3.a keyboard shortcut list

    Any help i the above mentioned issues would be a great help

    thanx

  12. Is there plans for an lXDE version of 9? I love LXDE… except for the lack of good network management.

  13. Judging by the notification area screenshot, looks like Mint will also adopt the indicator panel :S Will it be adapted to use pidgin as the regular messenger or is mint going with empathy as well?

  14. that new menu rocks! the whole distro gets exponentially better with each release. It looks so great, I’ll have to install the alpha release

    we’re staying minty green right? the mint green on my screen looks cooool. minty metal sounds nice

  15. Looks good and like the rest is excited to try the new Mint9. Good job to all you devs, linux mint FTW!!!

  16. As always I await a new release of Mint with anticipation particularly as this is an LTS release

    May I make a suggestion which I feel would be fitting to the recent sad loss of Husse that you rename the release to Husse instead of Isadora out of respect

  17. I hope there will be gnome-ppp for dialup customers that works.
    A lot of people do not realize there are large areas where there is no highspeed of anykind available.
    Oh I am talking about in Canada..I can just imagine whats required in the rest of the world.
    Thanks for mintlinux, i am sorta new in this distribution but it sure works well.

  18. Fantastic! These improvements make Mint much better! I especially appreciate keeping the buttons where they should be (we’re going to get a LOT of converts for this)!

    Is there a chance that the default “Login Screen” configuration program (in the administration menu) could be replaced with GDM2Setup? It has many more features and works perfectly. The project’s located here: https://launchpad.net/gdm2setup

  19. USB-Creator is a nice tool. I love taking Mint with me so having it on a stick is much better than an optical disk. πŸ™‚ Thank you for adding it by default.

    MintMenu gets better, but I wish we could participate in testing at an early stage, where you can still get feedback and polish it for the final release.

    So the Update Manager now only has two statuses? OK and NOT OK? Cute shield, by the way. πŸ™‚

    The Hardware Database should be more effectively used in the future. If you have the time, you could create a hardware compatibility application to gather info (lswh?) about the hardware and a rating from the users’ willingness to participate in this program. The same application could retrieve hardware information off Mint’s server(s) and point people to solutions if there are known issues with them. These solutions would only have to be tagged to the hardware entries in the community website and the magic would happen. Easy to write about it and harder to actually code everything, but I’m sure you pictured the idea.

    It’s early to comment on the new installer. As it looks right now, I can only say it needs improvement because the current mintinstall was quite well thought and the new version should at least equal its features, even if it’s visually structured very differently. For instance, the ratings and reviews are fixed in size so they could be placed on the left, leaving room to application descriptions. They might steal the focus from the application names, being that coloured, but that could be solved by adjusting colours and maybe the size of the stars and number of votes. On the other hand, having the ratings close to the name is much easier to follow because looking God knows how far to the right (depending on screen resolution) might lead to unintentionally reading the wrong rating (up or down). Then if the new mintinstall is a one-click tool, there should be some on-mouse-over effects while playing with it, because that’s the only way to offer feedback without clicking.

    Metal-mint is double-cool. πŸ˜€ I can hardly wait to see the finished work. πŸ™‚

    The buttons… What a relief! They should stay where they are. It’s not uncommon that people click a few pixels away from target every now and then, so clicking the close button instead of some menu would be greatly annoying.

    Anyway, I’ve sent a letter to Ubuntu explaining how their currently promoted default look of 10.04 looks like Mac OS (buttons, background, tray icons etc). For someone as big as the Ubuntu team they should come up with something new, not copy ideas at color-level from other OS’s. Really. I guess Ray Woods (#5) does have a point. Some “monkeys” might’ve taken over the development.

    Thank you for the news. Enjoy your work. πŸ™‚ We will certainly enjoy the new Mint. πŸ˜€

  20. Re: Naming Linux Mint 9 LTS ‘Husse’ instead of ‘Isadora’

    Please could you at least put it to the vote as at least Linux Mint users like myself to have a say

  21. i hope that you will do a god job with linuxmint9, but i really hope to make work more printable to put drivers into linuxmint to make to work pls put more pakege ( canon, hp , lexmark , etc… here is lots of big problems , because i dont find drivers for them , im new with linux ,and i want to buy a canon but in the store nothing works with linux , i hope that willl you mke to work easy way for us , GOD blles you !

  22. Mint 9 should be called Husse. That’s a small and meaningful way to remember the work put in.

  23. Excellent innovation! I wish all the best for the next Mint! In particular for KDE, of course πŸ˜‰

    About the Software Manager: I think it will be a more useful tool if it will show the version of a package. What do you think?

  24. I would just like to know when the expected release date is going to be? Also the proposed name of the software?

  25. I wholeheartedly agree with John Greenwood with regards to Linux Mint 9 being called Husse instead of Isadora

  26. Great Things intended for the release, but suggest to try, where possible to improve and fix Ubuntu procedures and code lines, to make the distro less bloated, and to improve response time.

  27. Hi guys. And a great hello to all the mint team.
    You have done a great job so far and as far as i can see the good things are still coming. Great job, go on like this.
    Anyway i have 2 suggestions and i thing that they are important.
    First things first, i saw the good job that u have done with the Software Manager, but in the screen shot that i saw, there was smth that i didn’t like. All the icons beside the packages were the same. NOT A GOOD THING ( you need the icons so that you can distinguish better between the packages, firefox, google chrome, etc).
    Second thing, the auto arrange option for the icons on the desktop. A MUST HAVE FOR A MODERN OS. PLEASE DO SMTH FOR THAT.
    All in all the mint 9 looks very promising. Cant wait to have it.
    Great work MINT.
    By from Albania.

  28. First of all, this really sounds promising and I would also like to try the alpha. But one thing I haven’t heard a lot about lately: how is the Debian edition coming along? It has been a very promising idea and I thought it has been confirmed there will be a Debian edition of Mint 9, but lately I hear nothing about it anymore.

    Will the debian edition be released before or after the main edition (for as far as you can predict yet?)

  29. Is looking good. Respect the themes. I currently use a mix between Striped-Shiki for the windows decorations, Breathe for the icon theme and Human for the buttons.

    The Elementary Team did a great job with the new themes and are murrine based, which means RGBA transparency. Maybe doing a mix of that?. The elementary icons are great too, but gnome-colors are good aswell…

    What about Grub2?, it will be themed?

    Cheers

  30. Metal themes… are they still minty green ??
    That could be really interesting.
    It’s just a theme, but with – in my opinion – deteriorating looks
    (aka. “rebranding”) in Ubuntu, there’s much to gain for Mint.

    I do hope Mint-9 will look as elegant as ever.
    Features?? Soo happy with Mint-8 atm., but things like faster boot and improved package management are always welcome.

    Good luck with your choices. I hope it will all work out well.

  31. I love everything about Mint, except for one simple gripe: the 2-dimensional look of the taskbar/panel. I hope the planned metal theme will change that.

    So glad Mint is available instead of that bad-decision-after-bad-decision distro, Ubuntu.

  32. Looking forward to 9, and can’t wait to see what very special things you would have for an earmark 10.

  33. I d/l 8 & it works πŸ™‚ I used the Canada mirror!!
    Please add a LiveCD/USB iso country source opt!!
    The main server could be too busy for everyone!!

  34. After another OpenSuse Milestone that didn’t run I tried Mint 8 and
    couldn’t be happier, looking forward to 9.

  35. I love Mint. It’s stayed on my machine longer than any other. It’s been exceptionally stable for me. Thanks for a great version of Linux. The forums have also been a very good help. All the best. Bring on Mint 9!

  36. I can’t wait for this release!
    I tried Mint 8, but a couple of annoying failures stopped me from using it. They all seem to be fixed in this one.

    Keep up the good work!

    -Simon

  37. kneekoo
    Many thanks for bringing this post to my attention. May I take this opportunity to apologize if I offended anyone

  38. What does Linux Mint 9 have to offer for social networking? Ubuntu 10.04 is releasing a MeMenu so users may update their facebook and Twitter status right from the application. What does Linux Mint 9 have to offer for a social networking app? Also, Ubuntu has recently partnered with 7Digital for a music store. What does Linux Mint 9 have in store for that as well?

  39. I really am looking forward to Mint9 now, but I have to ask why everyone is complaining about the button placement in Ubuntu, I don’t get it, it’s just an aesthetic switch, not like they are changing something important.

    I am wondering if Mint9 will allow us to change it to the left side or keep it at the right?

  40. All of the changes sound great.
    I hope the team can use another theme of Mint 9
    Shiki-Colors look kind of old and outdated in my opinion.

  41. Good decision to keep the buttons where it belongs, Linux Mint shouldn’t follow up Ubuntu’s mistakes. I would like to hear from Boo about the KDE environment. I too would like to have 9 named after Husse. Linux Mint rocks.

  42. Sounds veeeery good indeed! I can’t yet imagine that new software manager I will have to see it in action.

    But thumbs up for the question: will there be a TV application? Maybe MintTV πŸ™‚ These Media-Player-TV-Plugins that cannot even scan for channels are a real pain.

    You guys do a very excellent job – I wonder if it is a natural step in evolution that a linux distribution works better if it is split in a) the technology (Ubuntu) and b) the usability (Mint)

  43. I know I may offend some since I didn’t know Husse but naming the next version after him doesn’t seem prudent. For one thing you’d have two “H” releases in a row and for another it won’t mean anything to many who download it.
    I think its a great idea to include the memorial way they have planned.
    Also like all the ideas implemented and looking forward actually to the KDE version. Started out on Gnome but prefer KDE now.

  44. I still think that the main Mint version should be LXDE. Let the community take over the GNOME version.

  45. love the metal themes idea. i prefer gray-scale themes. i like elementary and any theme that colors the title bar the same as the rest of the borders…

    i’m new to mint, but has numlockx by default been brought up?

    also, would a monochrome icon set be a consideration in the future?

    other than that, no complaints…

    and on a side note, having lost a close friend a few years ago, anything you do to keep husse’s memory is a wonderful idea. i say use the quotes and name the next release after him… even if it’s isadora-h or (H)isadora. linux is confusing to those that don’t know, but the real reward will be in those that do. always keep your friends memory alive!

  46. I have a question, will the new Linux Mint 9 be based on Ubuntu 10.04? I love the speed of the new distro, and can’t wait for it to be Mintified!

  47. Any tentative month for releasing? (ex: In august)
    Because I want to install Mint, but if updating from Mint 8 to this new LTS is hard or involves a system wipe, and the release date is near, then I could wait.

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  49. Can you please add support for the Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g wireless drivers? It would ensure the Dell Studio machines are supported ‘out of the box’.

    Excellent work, by the way. I wasn’t sure about Mint initially. I’m totally converted (from FC12) to it now.

  50. Re: Husse, I totally appreciate his monumental contribution (I continue to benefit from his wisdom even after his passing), but I gotta side with #60 Wayne, mostly due to it screwing up the established progression of initials. So here’s a thought.. perhaps if Husse’s personal setup of Mint is preserved, it could be made into a custom theme? Call it “Mint – Husse Edition” or some-such.

    On a tangentially related note.. Was there a Mint 9 naming vote I missed? (More than likely, as I’m pretty new, but just curios.) I’m not sure I’d pick Isadora first amongst feminine I names ending with A. Isabella, perhaps, or Irena. Eh, just me. Still looking forward to 9 with great anticipation!

    Ooh, just remembered.. As Mint 9 is based on Ubuntu 10.04, and that has the name Lucid Lynx, and Mint has been all about the green and black (or charcoal), and Lucid is a prominent brand of a certain liquor which happens to use a cat (lynx?) motif in it’s green and black branding, and the fluid happens to be both herbal green and associated with great works of art, like Mint.. (yes, absinthe, in case you’re wondering..) I’m seeing a wonderful potential synergy for the artwork for Mint 9. Is there any way that’s both legal and tasteful to include some kind of Lucid absinthe art theme? Cuz, me? I think that’d be pimpin’.

    And before one assumes this is an alcohol-fueled notion, be it known that I’m a nigh-tee-totaler, haven’t even been drunk, but just check out the pretty website below. Heck perhaps there’s a chance for marketing and donation from Lucid? I dunno. Just typing out loud here.. πŸ˜›

    http://www.drinklucid.com/

  51. Very impressive. I like that focus is put on what is most important. Some big changes and some small, yet very important to user experience. I also like the fact, that what works well remains unchanged. (As opposed to the idea: woooo, lets change everything just to show its a new release)

  52. I install Mint on alot of machines for new converts to linux and I would like to see a update button like Ubuntu has so these new people could update their own systems rather than having me come back and do it through apt or also have to update all their data to do a clean install again. It would make it so much easier and less time consuming for me. Thanks for a great distro.

  53. What’s the name of Linux Mint-9?, In lm=8, i think resource consumption is too much and the system is scorching hot , do something in this regard.

  54. Another option I’d like to see in the Mint installed is the option to encrypt the file system. Please consider adding this important feature to take the headache out of doing this manually.

    Thanks.

  55. It looks very nice, nice point with the Windows buttons, it was worrying me that the new Mint would be “Appleized”.

    But please, don’t destroy the shiki theme with something radical, I think is one of more beautiful multi proposal themes that I’ve ever meet

  56. Will an upgrade version of the amd64 version of Mint-9 be significantly delayed or available along with the 32-bit upgrade version??

  57. @foshelan

    Linux already supports USB 3.0, and if I’m not mistaken it’s already supported in Mint 8. If not, then definitely in Mint 9. I’m not sure about Blu-Ray disc, but if you have a Blu-Ray drive you might be able to access the discs. But to play them, from what I’ve read, you have to rip them and then remove the content protection (which is illegal in some places). Search for how to play those discs and you’ll probably get a better answer than mine.

  58. As a new user on my second machine, I’m very pleased with Mint 8 Helena, but I find Kino to be a terrible video program and look forward to something better (at least as good as Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie) before I can move to Mint as my primary OS.

    Looking forward to Isadora!

  59. @foshelan: Linux, generally speaking, was the first to support USB 3.0 and as Linux Mint 9 will be based on Ubuntu 10.04, everything will be OK.
    More info about it:
    http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_31
    http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/06/11/linux-is-first-os-to-support-usb-30
    http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Kernel-Plans-for-Ubuntu-10.04

    Here is some information about Bluray on Ubuntu:
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD

  60. Ooh, Paint.NET is great. Don’t think it should *replace* GIMP, per se, cuz that’s a powerful tool for those who know it. But if something very like PdN could be added, it’s a great middle ground between Kolourpaint (or any too-simple M$ paint clone), and GIMP, which can be a touch inscrutable for the neophyte.

  61. I LOVE the transparent Menu! It sounds like there’s a major overhaul on the Menu, which is great because I’m not entirely satisfied with the current one.

    And a very late R.I.P. to Husse… You will be remembered.

  62. #1 Mint does not release Alphas or Betas.
    #2 The RC should be released sometime around the beginning to middle of May.

  63. @ Seventh Reign
    You say there are no Mint Beta releases. There was a Beta release of Linux Mint 5 LTS. I know as I have it in my LiveCD archive

  64. I’ve been using mint for a long time & I LOVE it, our whole house runs MINT …. Clem & all you dedicated people whom put in the enormous amount of work required to fine tune such a wonderful distro WE THANK YOU !!!

    I do have one request, an easy way to password protect shared (networked) folders could be a much needed addition …
    I know many whom would like an easy way to do it,
    Maybe you could consider that ????

    Thanks Again, Can’t wait for the next release….

    Kasprr

  65. I think a lot of people like to have the login screen as folllows

    First Username ,enter and then the password screen. i would feel secure

    this way as well and it would be different than Windows

  66. y don u guys plan to have a netbook edition of mint…???

    moving 1 step ahead,it will be a great thing…

    i think u guys r doing gr8 job n should think abt “Linux Mint netbook remix” following ubuntu’s footsteps…

    try improvising bluetooth application..nokia pc suite sort of thing should also added somehow..

  67. Hello my concern is wireless driver updates. i run linuxmint 8
    great os ive try other linux os alot of them does want connect on live cd wireless. what with that linuxmint 7 found wlang. 8 install with cable load.

  68. will there be allot of cool themes like Ubuntu ultimate 2.5 please I love Linux I had vista “its a peas of S*%t” Linux is killing Mac and win πŸ™‚ Hahaha!!!

  69. Hey, appart from pinta which i think is a GREAT idea to get installed by default, also exists Paint.Mono; I don’t know what are the main differences of both (appart that paint.mono installs a hell of mono dependences). A LOT of people ask me about a *good* paint replacement and i always end up on KolourPaint (and all the bunch of crap from kde). This is a brillant idea IMHO. We can get it added to the repos. Also RadioTray can be a nice touch, is a very light and usefull gstreamer based app to listen internet radios.

    http://www.webupd8.org/2010/02/how-to-install-mono-paint-in-ubuntu.html
    http://radiotray.sourceforge.net/

  70. It’d be good to resize the menu also, sometimes i feel it too big, and some other times i need more space for favorites (and i use 4 columns).

    Great Distro, have already converted to it at least two friends (one from windows); every body loves it.

  71. I would like to see PulseAudio go away.
    Linux Mint with plain ALSA would be wonderful.

    Anyways I’m very much looking forward to Linux Mint 9, the best OS just keeps getting better!

  72. Here’s my two-cents on how to memorialise Husse’s contributions to Linux Mint. Whereby I appreciate the thought of renaming the Linux Mint version, I feel that it would be better the have his “words of wisdom and guidance” embedded with the CLI fortunes. This way Husse will forever be a permanent part of the Linux Mint fabric, instead of a mere name for a title that will be updated down the road. Most of us know him from his words, and can remember him from those same words as we access the terminal.

    You will be missed, Husse.

    For what it’s worth…

  73. I may be asking for too much but I know its not impossible..
    How about a HOST OS MODE that will boot any other OS from MINT.
    ***I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT VBOX OR VMWARE LIKE THING, but an OS which can present the native hardware to the other OS allowing it to take advantage of full comp features(also allowing it an option of emulated hardware).And allowind it to minimize or hibernate to harddisk with some key combination or something and still be running MINT (and its applications).
    IF you can figure out this one, I say you will rule!!!

    AND Whyyy?????
    Because I am writing this from MINT in VBOX on Windows7 ULTIMATE 64bit..(with 32 bit Win7 in VHD)
    People like me are interested in OS that allows me to run different software and stuff. Including certain Image editors and GAMES which come in GBs and are mostly made for Windows. WINE emulator will cry if it is made to run those. Also the non availabilty of many hardware drivers for MINT and other linuxes are the main reason why people run away from them..
    Guys and girlz get workin on this one..

  74. unloca ict solutions is jubilant about upcoming release of Mint 9. unloca ict solutions is already using Mint 8 in all its computers. unloca ict solutions is making great impact through the awareness of Open Source software and OS’s. unloca ict solutions is a proudly south african company. unloca ict solutions officially want to express our gratitude to the Mint team. Clem you with your team – you are the best – unloca ict solutions

  75. great distro. i’m personally waiting for Mint 8. I can’t wait. unloca ict solutions – we’ve designed many websites, logos, using Mint as our choosen Operating system.

  76. hello guys of the mint team.
    great work with mint 8 and good things are looking ahead with mint 9. i have been using mint 8 till the moment it came in the light and i am barely waiting for mint 9.
    but i have some suggestions and i hope to be in time.
    1) the starting main menu. should be smaller and resizable
    2) the auto arrange option for the desktop icons ( a must have for a modern OS )
    3) the task-bar looks nice but really old and is 2D. why not opting for a 3D, smoother, sleeker, shining one ( even XP has it )
    4) the Software Manager (mint-install) was great especially for its functionality ( the way to make multiple installations ). the new one looks more ubuntu like (which is not a bad think per se), but its screen shot that i saw was not so promising.
    first put the respective icons to the specific packages ( firefox , chrome, thunder bird, etc). so it will be a lot easier to identify them. then try to give users the opportunity to make multiple installations please.
    thanks guys, good work.

  77. So far that I can see, Mint is the best, very asthetic to the eyes and easy to deal with…keep up the good work

  78. How about add the feature that when I use the Filter in the menu when I type “calc” and hit “Enter” it opens the first thing in the results. Gnome Do was OK for this, but I really just need it in the filter bar in the menu. I supose you could incorporate gnome do into the filter, that way it will search more than just what is installed to the menu

  79. Hi everybody, I would like that you add Portaudio compiled with JAck if there is no problem. Though Mint suits me perfect!

  80. Thank you very much for not following Ubuntu in their silliness of Apple-ifying Mint..When you make improvements to Mint, they are original ideas and that is very admirable..there is something new in every release, which is great! I’m all for gray themes as long as the green ones stay in too (we love our Minty goodness)..I’m also throwing my vote in for Isadora to be changed to Husse or a Husse edition of Mint, as Alpinwolf(?) suggested.

    More than anything, I would still like to see that Minty Debian release though, as I am (loudly) opposed to doing any more Mints from Ubuntu after the unpleasantness of Karmic Koala. Of course, if Lucid Lynx is better then so be it and I’ll shut up about it (although this Mac obsession is a little weird; I mean Gnome resembles Mac as it is, the screenshots I’ve seen look like a dumbed-down Mac clone for goodness sake)

  81. Hi

    Could you develop the Linux Mint – Update Manager to automatically update to 9 version if appropriate function selected?

    I have 8 Linux Mint Helena:)

  82. First of all thanks for all the hard work/great work so far. You have converted me from a distro hopper to a Mint fanboy. I have installed it on a lot of family and friends’ computer when they had a lot of computer problems. I also dual boot most of my M$ boxes with Mint or it’s the only OS. Someday I think I will be able to ditch M$ for good but I am addicted to vid games and can’t live without it.

    I would also like to put in my vote for naming Mint 9 Husse. Someone said that we would use the same letter twice but that has already happened with v2, 2.1, and 2.2 were Barbara, Bea and Bianca and v3 and v3.1 were Cassandra and Celena. Although they were still the same version with certain updates I don’t think it would matter. And I know that naming it after him wont make the sadness of is loss any better it sure would be cool.

    I also would love to see a video of a day in the life of Clem as he is working on my favorite distro. Maybe a 2 parter first one would be not so detailed and the second one would go into much closer detail of how you program. Like what tools you use and what language(s) you program in. And maybe how others could get involved. I am a beginner programmer and would love to be able to help but it’s hard to know where to start. If anyone has links to sites that offer free tutorials on programming in Linux that would be great too.

    I would also like to see the Minty Debian. I would love to see that as the main version. So far I have loved everything you have done in Mint especially with the menu. I love being able to right click a program in the menu and be able to run that program when the comp starts. A new feature for Mint9 would be to right click and run as root. In windows I can right click and run as admin. I know you can right click and open a folder as root in the Gnome version but I dont remember if you can do that in the other versions. I know you can’t right click the menu items in the KDE and other version either to get the nice features you have in Gnome so that would be nice to see in Mint9.

    Thanks
    Arlin

  83. I can’t say anything…but..

    thank you….It’s great..and it’s beautyfull to try it.
    and thank’s again

  84. but guy..can you help me i’m just the beginer in linux
    when i’ll try to updated i’ve got warning some say like that ” must fix broken packed” please…help me..!

  85. Hey Mint Team,
    For starters, and this might sound harsh, but Mint is AWESOME! I’ve known about Linux for years and years, but only recently switched over to Mint7 Gloria right before your release of Mint8 Helena. So, im a baby linux user who chose you guys to be my Linux OS parents. Okay, thats that.

    But, I really liked the login screen for Gloria, even more so than Helena’s. There is always a great possibilty that I’ve just missed how to change 8 to that login, but I havent found how to do so. So, I was wondering if:
    You could add the option to use the login screen from Gloria to Mint9 (or atleast a close variant).

    Its just an idea, but one I hope you’ll take. I found it to be more secure since the user name had to be entered as well as the password, and I thought it was more attractive. Thanks for your time Mint Team!

  86. I would like to see some more support for usb audio interfaces, for use with free music production software such as audacity. coming from protools and sonar, The music production capabilities are the only thing that I feel are lacking with mint, Other than that its far exeeded my expectations.

  87. I suggest you to make a better support for microphones (internal and external), so that they work automaticaly, ubuntu has done it quite good :D!

  88. When installing on a HD, I would very much appreciate a choice between GRUB and GRUB2. It made my Mint8 into MintWaite, and reversed to Mint7.

    Another reason for doing so is a problem with 2 screens and NVIDIA. With Mint7, a dual-screen setting is saved under ROOT. With Mint8, that seems to be impossible (same with Ubuntu…).

    Last and not least, I would very much appreciate a eeePC-version with LXDE. I installed LXDE on UNR, and it does very well.

  89. I lOVE linux Mint ,i’m already helping other drop windows and moving towards Linux Mint .Fast Question i will like to see a opttion to install Teamviewer remote support as i get more people to switch to Linux Mint i help them remolty .Iknow i can install thru Wine but it hangs or doesnot work at times.Just some thought ,again thanks for all the hard work .

  90. Login without the names shown:
    $ sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 –set –type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true

    Still, there is a button which has to be clicked before being able to enter your name. I guess it was a change in upstream gdm…

  91. Attention Mint Developers!!! (please read)…

    The improvements coming in Mint9 sound great…I tried Mint for a while but went back to the Ubuntu version (9.10) and only for one reason…On my 1 year old Toshiba Laptop (900 x 1440 resolution) web pages seems to render a bit better on Ubuntu then it does on Mint…

    That is to say, that, using Firefox’s default setting of letting the web pages determine the best font to use, there are certain pages that seem to render smaller type faces and lighter ones then Ubuntu renders…
    Perhaps the Mint Developers could look into this and maybe do some refinements to match Ubuntu’s rendering?

    If you could improve that aspect, i’d swing right back to Mint again..because otherwise…I LOVED IT! So please look into that…Thanks…

  92. Since I discovered Linux Mint a month ago am marketing it to all friends, small businesses (especially Cyber Cafes) here in Kenya Africa. I totally love Ubuntu and now that I discovered Mint! ….. totally awesome running in my media center pc perfectly. I intend to learn coding in linux and put up a website to market this super os. I will contribute financially to this project.

    Regards,
    Raymond

  93. Although I see a good reason for calling Mint9 “Husse” I think that it is however a bad idea because people will feel that in subsequent versions it will be an insult to his memory to change it and you will have to have “Husse-1” “Husse-2” “Husse-3” etc for ever more.

  94. Hey Guys.
    I am going to THIRD gramps comments about logins. I switched to mint 7 a while back and it is still going strong and one of the thoughts I had about 7 was, hey this is really cool, I have to know who I am and who uses this terminal before I can login. Not like windows where you can see every user of the computer, this is much more secure.
    Then in helena it did the windows thing and I was like ugh.
    I felt strongly enough about it that I passed up Helena even with the sexy flashing mint logo at start up and new resolutions.
    I’d hate to have to pass up Isadora as well, especially with the new USB creator feature and as this is going to be a memorial edition of mint.
    So heres hoping we have gloria login revamped as that would be COOL and minty fresh.

  95. hey its a beautiful day out in il so i thought it would be a good day to say god bless linux mint and husse for all the kick ass work …. i hope he has a core 8433948934893 with linux mint 04390390434

  96. Does anyone know if the sound drivers will be fixed that plagues HP Pavillion dv laptops…I would rather these kind of problems would be addressed rather than the eye candy. This seams to be a huge common problem with around 400 different fixes.

  97. Great news.

    Brand new artwork (we’re experimenting with metal-looking themes and there are improvements planned for the Shiki theme as well)
    —-

    Well, i am curious about it.

    When can we have a sample?

  98. Please do the option for default theme and panel restoration. Coz when peaple do experiment with linux mint thay need a option to restore seetings as thay where on clean install.

  99. Hi,

    For the new version i would like to have a option to set a proxy automatically with the wireless that is detected.

    So, ssid ‘12324’ will use someproxy:8080
    ssid ‘homeme’ will not use a proxy
    ssid ‘t-mobile’ will use otherproxy:8080

    Robert

  100. Cosmo said,

    What??
    Kino is more than great. I used it to edit and render movies under serious time and quality constraints which exceeded my iMovie edits for customization. And Windows Movie Maker .. enough said. The only problem with Kino is that unfortunately it seems that it is no longer being developed. This is a real shame .. but “there’s a new kid on the block”, OpenShot. It looks great and has many new features. We’re just waiting for capture (implemented by Dennedy on Kino … use Kino to capture then if you really want edit in OpenShot) and other features .. which the developer has said are coming soon. If you have any specific complaints about Kino, try posting them on the LM forum. Just a note, when I started using Mac way back in the early 1990’s, I was heavily criticized for believing that I could use it for anything other than “graphics”. Obviously a lot has changed since 1990 and now, after successfully using LM and Kino to edit movies, while leaving my Mac idle, I realize that LM has a lot of potential in this area. As the saying goes .. the proof is in the pudding, and LM Kino showed that it was capable.

  101. i hope that pulseaudio will become a thing of the past. i love mint, but pulse has to be killed every time i startup in order to use skype properly. thanks for an otherwise brilliant O.S.

  102. I shall miss Husse’s courteous and constructive postings.
    Meanwhile, whilst in poor health and with deteriorating eyesight, I should like to offer what I hope are some constructive comments.
    Despite managing to destroy the 64-bit Win7 component of my multi-boot Q9550 rig, I have managed to take a look at 64-bit Lucid Beta-1 and I suspect that it will prove a better foundation for Isadora than Karmic was for Helena, with its seriously flawed Brasero and ‘broken’ ubuntu-restricted-restricted-extras plus limited GRUB2. Thankfully, work-arounds have allowed me to enjoy 64-bit Helena, but Lucid is looking better after a shaky development start.
    Although, as already said, some Ubuntu team members seem obsessed with ‘fixing what ain’t broke’, and others have made cosmetic changes that I can live with, ‘someone’ appears to be actually fixing some faults. Brasero isn’t as good as the Jaunty version, but now isn’t producing ‘coasters’ and ubuntu-restricted-extras simply installs MS TTFs, as well as Flash and the all-important LAME for modified sound-juicer encoding of ‘superMP3s’. Whilst Lucid has some new, more obscure flaws and limitations, it’s currently looking good enough to avoid a more direct Debian fork for Isadora in my opinion, although the Ubuntu team can be rather good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory !
    Ever the GNOME preference conservative, I am looking forward to 64-bit Isadora, whilst keeping one eye open for pclinuxos2010-GNOME variant.

  103. Linux Mint 9 makes me really excited πŸ™‚
    Hope to see it soon, I really want to test it πŸ˜›
    Really, I hope to see the finished Linux Mint 9 soon! πŸ˜€
    You guys are making a wonderful job!

  104. To clarify about the controversial placement of ubuntu’s buttons (as there seem to be some misconceptions) They did not do it to make it more mac-like, they apparently want to do innovative stuff on the right side in 10.10, so they figure that it’ll be better for the user-base to get used to it sooner then later.
    ===============================================
    Anyways, now on to something more relevant, Mint 9 looks completely amazing! If 10.04 turns out to be better than 9.10 did in terms of stability I may consider using Mint as my main OS again!

    But I do have a question… Well two
    1) Can I expect the Debian CE to be released this year?
    2) If not, are the Mint Repo’s at least compatible with Debian, I really miss all of the great mint tools, especially the menu!

    Thanks!
    ~Ziplocpeople

  105. @viktorojo: Let me try to help, open Synaptic, go to custom filters (it’s the bottom left area) then click broken, then reinstall the broken package– This could have been caused by quite a few problems, most notably the computer powering down while installing something.

    Anyways, hope it helped!

  106. Guys thanks for the great distro. I’ve migrated from Fedora > Ubuntu > Mint and I now think I’m about ready to give Windoze away completely. Keep up the outstanding work

  107. I just can’t get away from Windows completely,
    but WINE and VirtualBox allow me to bring most of my Windows apps over.

    It would be nice to have these packages installed by default.

  108. hello, running mint now and for all web purposes a super distro. i am having problems running ardour. the problem relates to running jack simultaneously. is there a library of jack set-up or patches that can help me run these programs together and record, edit my sounds etc.
    i would appreciate hearing from any users running ardour on mint regargding the best set up. the pc laptop i am using is from company called asus, a pentium 4, but i don’t know other details about the machine. the former vista os was all in polish (i live in poland).
    help and thanks again

  109. @cafeRay:
    you say Windows Apps & WirtualBox: Then you need Windows of course, and a license to be legal ! …so you aren’t really “bringing apps over”.

    — But, mind you, Wine is getting better by the week. winetricks (google for it!) should be included. So everybody can easily pull the Win-runtime-libs, install apps and be happy quickly with wine (as I am now !)

  110. love mint.. would be great to have more items like open office, movie player.. in the main menu as default.. both my laptops run mint, but have problems with my desktop… guess it is an issue with ubuntu live cds.. doesn’t seem to support all systems

  111. Right click menu could be better – it start programs or makes folders – quit irritating…

    Anyway Mint is Cool – good work !! πŸ˜‰

  112. good luck! i’m looking forward to mint 9.

    i’ve been using ubuntu beta 1 (UNR) on my wind u100 (but sticking with mint 8 on my various desktops), and i was very impressed when i installed it – but after a couple of patch/upgrade cycles, not as much.

    you mint folks have always put out the most bullet-proof debian product, and i’m really anticipating a killer, stable, long-term support release.

    a thousand blessings upstream to whoever fixed that damn buffalo webcam nastiness in the newest kernel.

    the usb-creator is a nice touch. anything to help convert the windows crowd. i got one person fully switched over to mint this year – not even a windows partition left!

    get the sound working right, without any of the usual issues – and it’s *always* sound with linux, isn’t it? – and the world is yours…

    JF

  113. I know it feels awkward, but actually having the window control buttons at left, makes everything work mechanically better, less distance and complications. People read from right to left. Top to bottom. So, isnt it natural for it to be there?

  114. @olligod: Whoever has a Windows license can install his Windows in a virtual machine and use his preferred applications in there if they simply won’t run under WINE. As for WINE, there are a lot of freeware and open source Windows applications that are really useful and some of them can actually run with WINE.

    Considering Mint really tries hard to be user-friendly with Windows users, maybe sometime in the future WINE could be on the “included by default” applications. Why not? But a nice poll about including WINE could be better than random comments here and there on pros and cons.

    I also wish a Mint 9 BETA would come out soon. πŸ™‚

  115. hi,
    I simply love the mint and recommend it to all the Linux Phobic people I meet(and made them a Linux fan out of them overnite πŸ™‚ that itself speaks loads about the great work you people do!). Personally I think its the most user friendly linux I have ever come across;
    What I will like to ask for here is that please supply the WVDIAL program prebuilt in the Installation Disc itself as nowadays its a common trend for people to use USB internet devices as their sole internet connectivity solution and w/o Wvdial or similar programs it gets a bottle neck to these people as they have to carry around their pc etc to fetch the proper package via a LAN internet.
    This defeats the whole Linux Mint motto of “out of the box utility for everyone.”
    I hope this small request will be catered to in all further releases as the package itself is just a few Kbs in size.
    Nyways thanx a ton for this wonderful linux flavour and keep up the good work :).

  116. I am really excited about all the new features and the continued efficiency of Linux Mint. I am really looking forward to the new and improved version but I am ever more anxiously awaiting the release of Linux mint 9 KDE. Hopefully it won’t be to far behind the Gnome desktop.

    @Kneekoo Linux Mint 8 KDE comes standard with WINE. Just do an apt-update to get the latest greatest version! Plus The soothing blue desktop environment is very very cool!

  117. I don’t normally leave comments here, but I felt compelled to commend the LM team for their great work. I love Mint and I always recommend this distro to people wanting to try out linux (both KDE and Gnome). I agree with swapnil, I feel that LM is a little bit easier to comprehend (gui wise) than Ubuntu. This is just my opinion though. Anyways, I love the changes! Great job guys. I’m sure that every one here in the community appreciates the time and effort you guys put in to give us one of the best linux distros around.

  118. Hello ! I thank for the use of the LINUX MINT . It suits me best.
    My only problem that I cant set up my HP Deskjet D2330 printer to
    print both sides.
    Any suggestion.

    Regards.
    L.Novotny.

  119. I am going to say something that I know will not be popular. STOP SAYING that it is a great distro for those from windows etc etc! LOL. Clem and team have created a distro that exceeds windows in all forms and fashions IMHO.

    I LOVE MINT!!!

    LONG LIVE MINT!!!

  120. Thank you for working some more of Ubuntu’s bad ideas out of the system and continuing to make it more functional and versatile. Cheers! I’m not too keen on the use of the white shield icons–too much like certain AV software icons, but I can always change them to whatever suits me.

  121. Will Mint4win be working in Linux Mint 9?
    Wubi installer is already fix the problem.(GRUB2 problem)

  122. I like the new feature of new mind.

    Does it has a manual entry for the network provider in New Mobile Broadband Connection ??

    And if possible then please provide some of the providers name and configuration of Indian mobile company by default.

    Few names I’m giving which are not in the list of Linux Mint 8 Helena.
    Those are: Reliance, Aircel, Tata Indicom, Tata DoCoMo.

  123. Hi, thanks for Mint. Awesome. Goodbye Window$!
    BUT, I still cannot use it totally for SOHO as I cannot use fax. (I have Agere Winmodem built in and nobody can help me get fax going)
    Any suggestions for ‘auto-detecting’ this with latest Mint edition?
    Thnx so much.

  124. I do hope that with this release i can start again using my beloved Mint, since its release 8 ran quite slow on my Samsung NC10 netbook, forcing me to switch to UNR 9.10. It’s not that bad, but I wuold really appreciate my return into Mint.

  125. i’m about to download Mint 8 until i realise there’s no more mint4win, i wish it make it’s comeback sooner.

  126. Is there support for proxy with username and password in update manager. Package Manager is working in Mint 8 with my proxy. But update manager is not working currently.

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