Monthly News – March 2014

by ·21 Comments

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

Gold Sponsors:
VMware Cloud Hosting
Silver Sponsors:
ThinkPenguin.com
Bronze Sponsors:
Vault Networks *
AYKsolutions Server & Cloud Hosting
7L Networks Toronto Colocation *
David Salvo
Gutscheindrache.de Coupons
MBCEStore Mexico
Sysnova Information Systems		 Community Sponsors:

To become a sponsor or to see the full list of Linux Mint sponsors, please visit: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Donations:

A total of $6214 was raised thanks to the generous contributions of 283 donors:

  • $132.85 (7th donation), Hendrik S.
  • $132.85, Simon M.
  • $100 (7th donation), Ronald S.
  • $100 (2nd donation), Jon Espenschied aka “xeno”
  • $100, Paul P. aka “GameOver”
  • $100, Michel P.
  • $100, Philip W.
  • $100, Timothy Q.
  • $79.71, Frans V. O.
  • $75, DecoNetworks, LLC
  • $66.43, Ian A.
  • $66.43, Ian L.
  • $66.43, D V. D. G.
  • $66.43, Linus K.
  • $66.43, Sami K.
  • $53.6 (3rd donation), Gabriel D.
  • $53.14, Pentti S.
  • $50 (48th donation), Matthew M.
  • $50 (3rd donation), Samson S. aka “Samtastic”
  • $50 (3rd donation), Tim W.
  • $50 (2nd donation), Michael W.
  • $50 (2nd donation), Giuliano L.
  • $50 (2nd donation), Quim aka “slackjp”
  • $50 (2nd donation), Magne L.
  • $50 (2nd donation), Jeffrey C. Drywater
  • $50, James S.
  • $50, Martin W.
  • $50, James B.
  • $50, Steve O.
  • $50, Lin F.
  • $50, J W. T.
  • $50, Brad L.
  • $50, Gordon D.
  • $50, John W.
  • $50, Lee C.
  • $50, Rejean L.
  • $50, Joseph Frazier
  • $50, Werner A.
  • $50, John B.
  • $40, Kevin C.
  • $39.86 (49th donation), Olli K.
  • $39.86 (3rd donation), John H.
  • $39.86, Marko H.
  • $39.86, Entertraining, Lda
  • $37 (2nd donation), Dzmitry Lazerka aka “dlazerka“
  • $33.21 (7th donation), Raymond E.
  • $33.21, Andreas P.
  • $33.21, Michel B. aka “BugsBunny85”
  • $33.21, Branko B.
  • $33.21, Peadar D.
  • $30 (2nd donation), Rodolfo D. N.
  • $30, Jean P. O.
  • $30, Kevin M.
  • $26.57 (4th donation), Dr. R. M.
  • $26.57 (3rd donation), Francisco L. D. A.
  • $26.57 (2nd donation), Thierry F.
  • $26.57 (2nd donation), Stefan K. aka “radi1962”
  • $26.57, Enric P. R.
  • $26.57, Frederic D.
  • $26.57, Frank F.
  • $26.57, Attilio C.
  • $26.57, W W.
  • $26.57, Patrick M.
  • $26.57, Derry H.
  • $26.57, Paul B.
  • $26.57, Florian F.
  • $26.57, Ralph H.
  • $26.57, Martin R.
  • $26.57, Ky LMDE
  • $26.57, Benoit B.
  • $25 (30th donation), Ronald W.
  • $25 (18th donation), John M.
  • $25 (9th donation), Benoit Frigon aka “bfrigon.com“
  • $25 (6th donation), Robert H.
  • $25 (5th donation), Charles Rivers
  • $25 (2nd donation), James B.
  • $25, Doug B.
  • $25, David S.
  • $25, Christopher K.
  • $25, Heston L.
  • $25, Michael V. H.
  • $25, Don L. aka “I.M. Online”
  • $25, Kaj C.
  • $25, Thomas A.
  • $25, John H.
  • $25, Denis R.
  • $25, Andrew E.
  • $25, Troy B.
  • $25, John L.
  • $25, Arthur H.
  • $25, Jeffrey H.
  • $25, Curtis M.
  • $25, KenKey aka “kwkmlk”
  • $25, Jonathan M.
  • $25, James G.
  • $25, Kevin L.
  • $20 (10th donation), Jerry Jones
  • $20 (2nd donation), Isidro P. A.
  • $20 (2nd donation), Cecil H.
  • $20 (2nd donation), Patrick Latour
  • $20 (2nd donation), Tommy W.
  • $20, Paul K.
  • $20, Titus L.
  • $20, Paul S.
  • $20, Samuel R.
  • $20, Jorge V. S.
  • $20, Opal M.
  • $20, Buddy L.
  • $20, Atanas K.
  • $20, Alicja N.
  • $20, Jean-louis D.
  • $20, Mary B.
  • $20, Jay T.
  • $20, Victor I.
  • $20, Kenneth O.
  • $20, William B.
  • $20, Rimas V.
  • $20, Kenneth O.
  • $20, Lee G.
  • $20, Joseph B.
  • $20, William C. W.
  • $20, Wesley I.
  • $20, Nihar V.
  • $20, Adrian B.
  • $20, Simon D.
  • $19.93 (3rd donation), Meiko M.
  • $19.93 (2nd donation), Ross M.
  • $19.93 (2nd donation), Adam Mohammad
  • $19.93, Juan T.
  • $19.93, Karel D. B.
  • $19.93, Laurent M. aka “lolomeis”
  • $19.93, Marc C.
  • $19.93, Andrej S.
  • $18.86, Bill L.
  • $15.94 (2nd donation), David W.
  • $15 (2nd donation), Krzysztof S.
  • $15, Christopher D.
  • $15, Dawid M.
  • $15, Steven P.
  • $15, Greg R.
  • $15, Dominique D.
  • $15, John G. aka “User Nescio”
  • $15, Christian K.
  • $15, Francis G.
  • $14.67, William G. N.
  • $13.29 (4th donation), Niklas M.
  • $13.29 (4th donation), Jan V. P.
  • $13.29 (3rd donation), Intars Students aka “mobix“
  • $13.29 (2nd donation), Robert L.
  • $13.29, Luca B.
  • $13.29, Holger B.
  • $13.29, Viktors B. aka “Linowino”
  • $13.29, Dirk G.
  • $13.29, Johan J.
  • $13.29, Nikos V.
  • $13.29, Philip E.
  • $13.29, John F.
  • $13.29, Frédéric V.
  • $13.29, Florival J.
  • $13.29, Stefan G.
  • $13.29, Angela F.
  • $13.29, Laurent P.
  • $13.29, H K.
  • $13.29, F.D.P. Geurink
  • $13.29, Jan I.
  • $13.29, Kris C. aka “Kriske68”
  • $13.29, James M.
  • $13.29, Roland L.
  • $13.29, Crescenzo F.
  • $13.29, Andre V.
  • $13.29, Gábor P.
  • $13.29, Rainer H.
  • $13.29, Luca P.
  • $13.29, TH
  • $13.29, Catalin Hritcu
  • $13.29, Ra J.
  • $10.63, Jaime C. aka “Jaimito”
  • $10 (36th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”
  • $10 (14th donation), Maarten E.
  • $10 (6th donation), Thomas M.
  • $10 (5th donation), Jurgen Myrthe
  • $10 (4th donation), Gerald G.
  • $10 (3rd donation), James D. aka “Spearmint2”
  • $10 (2nd donation), Jan P.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Edgar T.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Hubert Banas
  • $10 (2nd donation), Mark C.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Srikanth B.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Jose M.
  • $10, Michał W.
  • $10, Christopher B.
  • $10, Marie C.
  • $10, Филимонов К.
  • $10, Michael P.
  • $10, Randy K.
  • $10, Carl B.
  • $10, Gevork P.
  • $10, Jørgen H.
  • $10, Jennifer S.
  • $10, Jay W.
  • $10, Shay K.
  • $10, Peter S.
  • $10, Eric C.
  • $10, Haki F.
  • $10, Rainulf Pineda
  • $10, Hayden B.
  • $10, Лаврентьев М.
  • $10, Cesar A.
  • $10, Philip S.
  • $10, Anon T.
  • $10, Wil G.
  • $10, Bobe B.
  • $10, Sergio D. M. F.
  • $10, James T.
  • $10, Daniel F.
  • $10, Daniel P.
  • $10, Esteban M.
  • $9.96, T.m.a V. D. H.
  • $9.29, Andreas H.
  • $9 (4th donation), Randolph K.
  • $8.3 (2nd donation), Gary S.
  • $8, Rockford C.
  • $7.97, Lluis E.
  • $6.64 (27th donation), Marco aka “Dictionary-Maker“
  • $6.64 (8th donation), Javier Guijarro aka “chejofan“
  • $6.64 (8th donation), Yannick G. aka “Uggy”
  • $6.64 (7th donation), Albert J. P.
  • $6.64 (2nd donation), Alan B.
  • $6.64 (2nd donation), anonymous
  • $6.64, Lars K.
  • $6.64, Jouni S.
  • $6.64, Sergej L.
  • $6.64, Dirk R.
  • $6.64, Adolfo R. U.
  • $6.64, Juan P. G. G.
  • $6.64, Raoul V.
  • $6.64, Andrija L.
  • $6, Tymoteusz Jankowski aka “xliiv“
  • $5.31 (4th donation), Guillaume G. aka “Tidusrose”
  • $5.31, Benoit N.
  • $5 (12th donation), Mein Lenovo aka “LinuxMint“
  • $5 (8th donation), Edward S.
  • $5 (7th donation), Randolph Carter aka “Schattenjager”
  • $5 (6th donation), Mordi K. aka “Mordik”
  • $5 (2nd donation), Nicolás Costa de la Colina aka “NCosta”
  • $5 (2nd donation), Jeremy B.
  • $5 (2nd donation), Daniel W.
  • $5, Милютин Е.
  • $5, Russell G.
  • $5, Free Online Dating
  • $5, Rebecca L.
  • $5, Jim T.
  • $5, Nomura K.
  • $5, Jack H.
  • $5, Nick A.
  • $5, Ronan C.
  • $5, E J. M.
  • $5, Korneliusz M.
  • $5, Bunthan S.
  • $5, Kyle J. M.
  • $5, Jenny R.
  • $5, Atilio P. B. J.
  • $3.99, Massimo D.
  • $3.99, Javier V. B.
  • $3.5, Fernando
  • $3.32, Robin O. aka “golden07”
  • $3, Carlos M. Z.
  • $2.88, Mauricio Hernández aka “Wicho”
  • $2.66 (6th donation), Kevin D.
  • $19 from 14 smaller donations

If you want to help Linux Mint with a donation, please visit http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 3925 (1st)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 5836th

Events:

News and summary:

  • Donations and sponsorships are strong and your financial help allows us to not worry about funding and fully focus on our development. Many thanks to all the people who have sent us donations or who continue to sponsor Linux Mint.
  • We had an exciting new LMDE release, with Update Pack 8 and brand new ISOs, EFI/GPT support and all the improvements featured in Linux Mint 16.
  • MATE 1.8 was released (click here for details) and Cinnamon 2.2 is being released today (keep an eye on Segfault for announcements).
  • A lot of development was done in preparation for Linux Mint 17. A few of the new features were previewed on Segfault: Locale management , hidpi support, date and time settings, mintMenu improvements.
  • Cinnamon 2.2 will continue to receive bug fixes while we switch focus to Linux Mint and improvements planned for the Mint tools. We’re expecting Linux Mint 17 to hit RC in the middle of next month, with a stable release at the end of May.

21 comments

  1. Good news all around, thanks Clem. I’m hoping that Cinnamon 2.2 will be available for LM 16 so I can beat on it while I wait for LM 17. 😉

    Edit by Clem: Sorry Kirk, it requires GTK 3.10 for hidpi support. We hold back new requirements and guarantee backwards compatibility as long as we have backport targets we’re committed to. Entering a new LTS cycle (every 2 years, 5 years for updates, 2 years for new features), these targets have changed and we’re now developing for LMDE UP9 and Linux Mint 17. I know it feels weird to wait for something that is developed right here as a Mint project, especially when it’s available in other distributions and we seem to be getting it last. This is a good thing though. The Cinnamon release cycle is like this specifically so it gives time for new Cinnamon releases to mature before they get into Linux Mint. By the end of April 2.2.x will be even more stable, mid-may it will get hit by a huge amount of community feedback (we usually fix a lot of issues there) and by the end of May it should fit Linux Mint 17 like a glove. Now if you really can’t wait, you can upgrade your repositories to trusty/qiana in a virtual machine, but please don’t do this on a production machine or on your main box.

    Reply

  2. Perfectly understandable, Clem. I had actually forgotten about the need for GTK 3.10 for hidpi (I must be getting old?). And I’ll pass on upgrading repositories and wait for the RC. I’m not going anywhere. 🙂

    Reply

  3. Hi Clem ! Given the high popularity & momentum Linux Mint projects gained, do you plan to hire more developers in the future to give development a boost ?

    Thanks for your work ! You saved my Linux friends who had to leave because of recents DE & distro related events I won’t refer to here 😉

    Edit by Clem: I definitely want to get a small team going. I like our size, our scope and our ambition but there are areas within that scope which lack attention, and that’s because we’re stretched. There were 2 of us in the last two years on the production side and that allowed me to focus much more on the development and Cinnamon in particular, which I couldn’t have done otherwise (and the project probably wouldn’t exist right now). We’ve had to react to the loss of Opera and Blue System this year but we’re still doing great in terms of income, we lost mostly on visibility and in our ability to guarantee forecoming income (it’s important when hiring/contracting people, if you ask them to quit their job for instance, they need to know if it’s going to last). I’m trying to come up with a way to fund development also, as we’re getting a lot of help from volunteers, but this is very sensitive and when it’s done without care we can lose people (that happened the last time money was introduced), so it’s hard to define how much to give, when, how, and to whom without making people wonder why they’re getting less, what equates to what and the biggest issue of them all, what’s expected of them. Short-term there’s also something which should boost development and which is much more straight forward: we’re thinking of sticking to LTS, so we’ll have less time to adapt to upstream changes and more time to focus on Linux Mint itself.

    Reply

  4. I like the direction this project is taking by trying to focus more on the differentiating factor that is Cinnamon. I think Cinnamon is the future of Mint and can use the extra attention it will get by sticking to the LTS for 2 years. I personally would love to see innovative features introduced, akin to the HUD in Unity. I hope this strategy can allow a new level of innovation.

    As for managing developers and how they are compensated, I know it can be very challenging. Is there any way you can look at other OSS projects as a model? What if the project was founded into an actual company (which some say it deserves following the growth in recent years), would that make management easier?

    Wherever the project is heading, I’m pretty confident it’s in the best hands possible. Best of luck!

    Reply

  5. Hi everyone

    I would be willing to support this project if there was a version fitting on a CD without so much software – almost a barebone system – and possibly an option to easily install the software included by default (I came up with this idea after the recent release of MAKULUlinux).

    Reply

  6. Good news Clem, and thank you again for your work. I like the idea of Cinnamon going on a bug fix/refining cycle, may suggest that you also invest in the overall appearance? for instance, things such as improving the default themes, etc.

    One thing that I noticed is that you have about 3-4 different windows asking for the user password when launching an administrative application. The overall UX would benefit from making this small things more homogeneous, following the thread that led to integration of different administrative tools in a single window.

    Rehdon

    Edit by Clem: Mint-X was completely revamped. We used policykit in a few places, we also migrated a few tools to pkexec, but you’re right we can probably do better on this.

    Reply

  7. Awesome work you are doing!

    It would be really nice if it was possible to have a little more tweaking and customization tools though. Mint is a fantastic way to smoothly pass from Windows/mac OS to Linux as it is very user friendly, but after some point I get a little frustrated with the settings being only made of check-boxes and not letting you easily add specific commands even in the advanced mode.

    For example, the window snapping is pretty fantastic but it would be nice to be able to automatize it for some kinds of windows and (though it probably is because I am still a beginner) I couldn’t find a way to do it well.

    Anyway these are only small details, thank you and keep it going!

    Reply

  8. Hi Clem

    I terms of getting more developers working full time on Linux Mint, could a crowd funding campaign along these lines be an option?

    First goal –> Developer X for 1 year
    Stretch goal 1 –> Developer X for 2 years
    Stretch goal 2 –> Developer Y for 1 year and Developer X for 2 years
    Stretch goal 3 –> Developer Y & X for 2 years each
    Stretch goal 4 –> Developer Y & X for 2 years each & Developer Z for 1 year
    etc

    This way the campaign would fund developer time rather than features which gives more flexibility.

    It is only an idea I had but I realise there are probably many other issues to be considered that I don’t know about.

    Anyway, can’t wait for Mint 17. 🙂

    Reply

  9. >Marco I would second that. It would be great to install Mint without a lot of sofware that I know I wouldn’t use.

    Reply

  11. Hi Clem and Mint team, Thank You for all your hard work and please continue doing what you are doing.

    I’m loving my LMDE Cinnamon 64-bit (with XFCE installed). I can verify that UEFI/GPT works and I am dual-booting with Windows 8.1 in UEFI mode. Since there aren’t many posts on LMDE dual-booting and UEFI installation, I thought I’d share my experience with the community and post here. Caution: Every laptop is different (your settings, options, partitions, etc may be different) and be sure to back up everything! (I will only post general steps since I did the installation about 2 weeks ago and I don’t want to get blamed if you follow my steps and things go wrong for you.)

    (0) I have Windows 8.1 pre-installed on my Samsung laptop and want to keep it (dual-boot). I boot mainly into LMDE. =)
    – In Windows, I shrunk/created enough empty/unallocated space for LMDE
    – The hard drive was using GPT, the original partitions were:
    1 – Windows Recovery
    2 – ESP (where /boot/efi and GRUB will be installed), it’s FAT32 formatted and has boot flag
    3 – unknown (120MB, msftres), (I left it alone)
    4 – Windows
    5 – SAMSUNG_REC2
    6 – SAMSUNG_REC
    – My new added partitions (using the GPARTED provided):
    7 – linux-swap
    8 – / (root)
    9 – /home
    – Note: they are all primary partitions, NOT logical partitions.

    (1) In your “BIOS” settings:
    – make sure Fast Boot is OFF (it is a form of hibernation for Windows 8)
    – make sure Secure Boot is OFF
    – make sure OS Boot Mode is “UEFI only” (I have “CSM and UEFI” while testing)
    – (I do not have any passwords set in the BIOS)

    (2) Download and verify your LMDE 64-bit iso. I think you MUST use 64-bit for UEFI. Put it on a USB (I used dd and followed the instructions from one of Clem’s tutorials; mintStick couldn’t see my USB — 16GB too big?).

    (3) Boot from USB in UEFI mode. Choose your “Device Boot Priority” and select ‘(UEFI) linuxmint’. When you have booted in UEFI mode, the GRUB menu looks a little different. Check online for other clues that you have booted in UEFI mode. This is required.

    (4) Test LMDE in live session to make sure it is what you want. Then install it.

    (5) Make sure you mount /boot/efi in the FAT32, bootable partition — the ESP partition that also holds the Windows EFI boot info. Do NOT format this partition — it will wipe your Windows boot info.

    (6) Also, install GRUB to the same ESP partition (in my case, sda2). Do NOT install it to MBR (there won’t be any for your GPT hard drive).

    Also note, if Dual-Booting with Windows, Windows uses the hardward/BIOS clock in LOCAL time. When installing LMDE, answer “No” to “Is your hardware clock in UTC?”

    (7) When rebooting after the install, in your BIOS Device Boot Priority, select the hard drive installed ‘linuxmint’ first. The GRUB menu will have an entry for Windows.

    I tested this over 2 weeks with shutdowns and reboots on both the Windows side and the LMDE side and everything is working for me. Again, these steps were written from memory 2 weeks after I did them, but hopefully, I have included all the main points. Hope this helps people.

    Reply

  12. #8 – In line with suggestions on raising money for development costs, you may also think about 1) raising funds for purchasing hardware devices or 2) ask community for any used hardware that some would like to donate. 2) is logistically difficult but not impossible.
    [I read that nouveau accepts only hardware (especially newer NVIDIA cards as donation. ]

    This may help in building / testing for better Hardware support for Mint.
    Eg: Wacom tables / HiDPI / Nvidia Optimus laptops / Multiple monitors etc.

    Reply

  13. @Clem – noting your early point about not installing to a production or a main machine, “Bruce’s Way” persistent USBkeys can usefully overcome that limitation for comprehensive trial before main installation etc.
    Avoiding the limitations of Windows based proprietary tools by making use of Mint and LMDE’s own installers, one first has to use a Live session’s GParted to prepare the USBkey, first and most importantly using Device, Create Partition Table.. to re-initialise the USBkey, then creating a primary FAT32 partition that leaves free space for Mint, with 6GiB (6144MiB) usually being just enough, before creating the second EXT partition in that free space for the Mint installer’s ‘Something else’ installation that includes requiring re-formatting,mount point and definition of USBkey destination for GRUB automatic installation.
    Using a highly recommended ‘fast’ 32GB SanDisk USBkey and vm.swappiness=5, this Post is from 64bit LMDE in a 15GiB partition whilst Handbrake has successfully run on another virtual desktop.
    All while inserted in the USB port of an ASUS H81M-PLUS, UEFI BIOS machine, which a Mint13 Cinnamon USBkey sadly balked at but a Mint16 Cinnamon USBkey worked OK, auguring well for Mint17 Cinnamon?

    Reply

  14. A PostScript to the above – Note that the first, FAT32 partition makes the USBkey partition ‘visible to Windows as it were a normal data storage USBkey, although it can be advisable to re-format it as such from Windows. A set of Windows-installed PortableApps can make it an even more useful tool. Also, apart from other variants of Mint, other Ubuntu derivatives work well from such “Bruce’s Way” USBkeys.

    Reply

  15. Hello, and thank you for building the latest LMDE distro!

    You guys do such excellent work that i know not what us windows folks would do to fix problems or solve challenges without linux (Mint)!

    That having been said, i have one small request.
    Please re-include the System Benchmark & Profiling Tool in your next distribution. It is so handy to obtain basic system information where internet connections are not possible or discouraged.

    Also, i hope you can fix the HeartBleed problem with an updated distro or instructions for us Windows folk that are unfamiliar with such processes.

    A quick command entered in Terminal (openssl version) yields the response “OpenSSL 1.0.1e 11 Feb 2013” – an affected version.

    It seems important, especially in light of the fact that WPA2 has been cracked. http://phys.org/news/2014-03-wpa2-wireless.html

    Thank you for your consideration.

    Reply

  17. Thank you all that have put such hard work and contribution into this awesome operating system. I have been a long time user of Linux all the way back to ubuntu 6.0, and I have to say I have many times wanted to pull my hair out. I than became a Full Time Linux Mint User Since You all started your projects of Linux Mint, It has been very much recognized that You are trying to make this an all around easy and comfortable Operating system for New users + Advanced users. Keep Up the awesome work, I can not wait to test out Cinnamon 2.2
    Thank You

    Reply

  19. we need a desktop which is liteweight with kde & can save LIbre Office document directly on windows network drive (server2008) with active directory support pre installed , I had tested lots of distro for such situation but i could not found any one which has the said feature presently i am using linux mint mate 13 maya with some packges install and get the feature I hope we will get now from linux mint 17 thanx in advance…..

    with best regards,
    Balkrishna

    Reply

  20. @Scott: interesting, I didn’t know Intel issued such a document. The only hardware/software solution mentioned here in the blog was Mintbox (but it’s a generic system, not necessarily an HTPC).

    Reply

  21. Could you consider being a bit more open about income (other than donations) and expenses, and about the organization behind Linux Mint? I can’t find out whether Linux Mint is set up as a for-profit company or a nonprofit foundation, nor in which country you are registered. I don’t see which/how many staff members are actually being paid for their time.

    Seeing such data would allow me to judge better whether my donation will serve a good (in my view) purpose.

    I donated after I installed LM11, which I’m still using today. I hope to be installing the LTS release by next month and will likely donate again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *