Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Xfce released!

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The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Xfce Edition.

Linux Mint 19 Tara Xfce Edition

Linux Mint 19 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.

New features:

This new version of Linux Mint contains many improvements.

For an overview of the new features please visit:

“What’s new in Linux Mint 19 Xfce“.

Important info:

The release notes provide important information about known issues, as well as explanations, workarounds and solutions.

To read the release notes, please visit:

“Release Notes for Linux Mint 19 Xfce”

System requirements:

  • 1GB RAM (2GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
  • 15GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
  • 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

Notes:

  • The 64-bit ISO can boot with BIOS or UEFI.
  • The 32-bit ISO can only boot with BIOS.
  • The 64-bit ISO is recommended for all modern computers (Almost all computers sold since 2007 are equipped with 64-bit processors).

Upgrade instructions:

Announcements will be made shortly with instructions on how to upgrade from Linux Mint 18.3.

If you are running the BETA, perform a system snapshot, use the Update Manager to apply available updates, run the following commands and reboot:

apt remove ttf-mscorefonts-installer
apt install libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb sessioninstaller ttf-mscorefonts-installer xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/logind.conf
apt install --reinstall -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confmiss" systemd
sudo rm -f /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/com.ubuntu.enable-hibernate.pkla

Download links:

Here are the download links for the 64-bit ISO:

A 32-bit ISO image is also available at https://www.linuxmint.com/download_all.php.

Integrity and authenticity checks:

Once you have downloaded an image, please verify its integrity and authenticity.

Anyone can produce fake ISO images, it is your responsibility to check you are downloading the official ones.

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

132 comments

    1. Flatpak doesn’t work on LM19 XFCE, cannot install.
      errorl: Unable to load summary from remote flathub: error of data reception: Connection removed by partner

      martin@LinuxMint19:~$ flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP
      erroe: app/org.gimp.GIMP/x86_64/master not installed

  5. Mint 18 required 9GB of storage, which is already pretty big compared to Ubuntu’s 5, but now we need 15GB? Mint needs a diet…

    Reply

    1. I suppose this increase in space requirement is true in the case of clean installation.

    2. According to Ubuntu, their system requires 25GB of storage. https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

      And since all the flavours of Mint are built off of the Ubuntu LTS base, I would say that this releases requirement of 15GB is pretty good. Even Debian has a hard time running on 8GB of storage (it runs out of room when doing updates.)

    3. In fact I’m a Cinnamon user. Yes these are official numbers, just to give an idea to new friends; my virtual values are 5.5 GB used on a 7.5 GB partition – all updated – and / but cleaned (unnecessary things, languages, fonts etc.) with Bleachbit. So I’d like to suggest everyone installing Bleachbit and also to Mint Team to include it in the installation iso ..

    4. @Emin: Although a user of Bleachbit myself, I have experience of it screwing up a system with certain cleaning options enabled. I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea for less experienced users to use it. In saying that, an occasional apt clean will be very effective at freeing up disk space, as can the removal of old kernels. Perhaps both of these could be automated (apt clean on boot; a setting to auto remove old kernels above a maximum number, e.g. 3, when a new kernel is installed).

  6. Phatch (the best image converter) and MComix (the best Comic viewer and editor) aren’t in the repositories. For me they are indispensable. I will not update my system. 🙁

    Reply

  8. Looks great, but I’ve some issues with suspend on my notebook. When I choose suspend in the shutdown menu, everything works as expected. But when I close the screen, it suspends (as selected in the energy window), but starts up immediately after the suspend.

    Reply

  10. In Mint 19 Xfce, the Wi-Fi icon using the Mint-Y theme does not appear on the panel when a light-colored style is enabled, for example, XFCE 4.2 and others. There is no color contrast. When using the Mint-X icons theme this does not happen. A similar problem happens in Mint 19 Mate with the volume and Wi-Fi (or network) icons.

    Reply

  11. Would like so see Mint Y red (I mean selected text, not the icons), like Mint X had. I know it’s a little thing but it was one of the things I liked about Mint over other distros.

    Reply

  12. TOO BAD GOOD STUFF BUT OPEN VPN AND PPTP STILL TERMINATE IMMEDIATELY.WELL PPTP TRIES.
    NO LTS 18.04 PPTP OR OPEN VPN WORKS IN ANY BUILD OF MINT UBNTU NO MATTER WHAT YOU INSTALL .CANOCIAL GNOME EVEN FAILS STILL. PLEASE FIX YOU ARE THE BEST. TRIED CINNAMON RELEASE TONIGHT BUG STILL EXSISTS

    Reply

    1. As a temporary decision you can try these settings:
      Add to your connection config 2 options –nobuffer –loglevel 0
      First, rename pptp file. You can choose another name, but after that you should change it in the script.
      сd /usr/sbin
      sudo mv pptp pptp-orig
      Now create the new one (use your own text editor instead of gedit):
      sudo gedit pptp
      Insert the script:
      #!/bin/bash
      /usr/sbin/pptp-orig $* –nobuffer –loglevel 0
      Save and close. And, finally, make it executable:
      sudo chmod +x pptp
      That’s all done. I used this method in 17 version – stable as rock. Try if you need it.

  13. Thanks LM Team for the release of the cool OS. It looks very cool. But, while the XFCE version does not work as smoothly and as we need. I hope subsequent updates will increase stability and speed. So far, Xubuntu 18.04 is faster than LM19 XFCE.

    Waiting for updates! great work!

    Reply

  14. I did a complete fresh install including formatting home partition so everything would be fresh and no old settings could possibly be an issue if any arise.
    I tried to install Discord in software manager and it said “could not locate runtime in any registered remotes” and crashed the software manager. I then downloaded the deb file and it installed fine.

    Reply

    1. This is a known issue. It worked in the beta but seems to have been broken by upstream updates. A fix is in the works.

  15. Have tried mint 19 DVD for 2 hours. It is exellent .Backup,restorepoint etc very easy to use.
    ( Mint addict since 4 years ).

    Many thanks to Clem and the team !

    Reply

  16. It seems that other kernel versions are not displayed anymore (beside minor rev) as in 18.3, in the update manager. Is there a way to get them back or that’s intentional ?

    Reply

    1. I think you’re supposed to see only 18.04 kernels, and currently 4.15 is the only one. In 18.3 you got the kernels for 16.04, which included the initial 4.4 and incrementally 4.8, 4.10, 4.13 and lately 4.15

  17. Great news and I will assume great work, based on your track record! 🙂
    I usually wait a month or so to upgrade to make sure things shake out and the upgrade goes quickly and smoothly. I’ve been using Linux for 20+ years, and Mint XFCE is my favorite desktop version I have used.

    The only thing I am pausing on this upgrade is because I really want a systemd-free version of Linux. I just feel like I should support those that are trying to keep the *nix philosophy pure because that is how we got here. That philosophy is what has made it the most used and most diverse OS in the world. Decisions, decisions.

    Reply

    1. Yes, I used that version previously. I like to keep up to date on software though, so over time older versions aren’t as viable.

  19. Been using Cinnamon 19 for less than a day and already it is impressing. Slick and fast, much easier to use, amazing how you guys just keep making it better. Thanks all, another brilliant release.

    Reply

  20. Did a fresh install today. Coming from 18.3. I am unable to ssh. I Keep getting refused connection. Opened all ports needed and installed openssh. Did exactly the same things I did from the previous version with no success.

    Reply

  21. Xfce download and creating an usb stick is not the problem in my case. trying to boot the stick ends up in frozen screen (looks like a chequered flag). regards.

    Reply

    2. I had that problem with 4.13 Kernel when using 18.3 with Ukuu and trying Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu 17.10 (all with 4.13 originally)..

      So, the issue may be between your graphics card & the 4.15 Kernel (and not the iso or the usb device or the way you write on it.. (Though I haven’t heard/read such complaints about 4.15, but it was full of complaints regarding 4.13 in Ubuntu forums, telling that it was problematic especially with Intel graphics cards, which are used mostly on Hp laptops like mine..)

  22. I am a bit surprised of the heavy emphasis on Timeshift as a recovery tool in the event things go wrong during software install or upgrades. Is it just me who doesn’t know how to use it and end up with a mess? I have yet to be able to properly restore a system to its previous state. Currently I run a full dd copy of my system partition from a live disk prior to installing any “risky” software or upgrades, and that takes quite a bit of time and effort not mentioning several reboots. I would love to be able to use timeshift, but with the default settings it never properly restores my system. What am I doing wrong? is there a user guide that clearly explains how to backup and restore? Thanks

    Reply

    1. Do research on ACRONIS HOME IMAGE software.. I’m using this application for backup and restore for decade. No problem at all. Trick is do not, do not use it for anything else then FULL partition (with OS on it) backup and restore. It took me 10 min max to perform full backup and about the same time to do restore. It is beyond logic why Linux basically adapted Windows “restore point” backup and restore. This is my explanation: When system is making those restore points it is doing it without knowing if something is broken, corrupted, infected….so next time you use that “restore points” you are returning your computer to that no good point! Before I use Acronis, I perform anti virus scan, I’m updating system…make myself sure everything is top notch. So, when I use THAT backup I know it will work! Period. That’s why I abandoned that Windows “restore points” system. Acronis is working on Windows AND on Linux. It is not free, but it is worth EVERY PENNY you spend. I installed Acronis on Windows. I’m keeping one partition with Windows 10 installed for Adobe Photoshop and a few other media software BUT without access to Internet. You can “burn” “Acronis rescue media” on USB stick from that installation and you’ll be able to do restore and backup when you boot to that USB. YES, you can use that bootable USB stick on ANY computer you have! It is fast and just a few click operation. During backup process you can choose level of compression, place where you want to place that backup and name of that backup.Full backup using HIGH compression made from LM 18.3 Sylvia MATE is about 9GB !Sorry for my my broken English.

    2. @tshifter and @rtep
      there is another method that I use regularly:
      Copy. / , /home , and swap partitions onto an external device with Gparted.
      boot with either a live CD/USB or use another linux OS on your computer (you can’t copy a running system)
      I use a SSD for my system, and have another SSD on a dongle, it is much faster than using conventional HDD.
      Root is 22 GB, Home is 60 GB, and Swap is 6 GB… total time is about 15 minutes.
      If I screw things up I just copy those partitions back onto my main drive.
      (this method is also good for cloning your system to another computer)
      BTW: I agree, Timeshift is clumsy and uses much too much space, and restores are very iffy. Timeshift will probably mature, but in my opinion it is not ready for the normal consumer yet.
      PS: keep all partitions small, the smaller the better. that makes it much easier to manipulate…
      best of luck!

  23. Nice work! Actually better than 18 series, at least as front-end is concerned. I was surprised to see some Mint-X theme bugs solved. Still needs little work though.
    I was wondering if you will ever fix the size of tray icons to match! I mean update manager and bluetooth, brightness are way larger than wifi, sound, etc.
    Thanks for your work guys…

    Reply

  24. Installed Mint 19 Xfce 64-bit Guest in VMware Player (Host is Mint 18.3 Cinnamon 64-bit).
    The Update Manager initial configuration screen is too big for the default guest resolution so the OK button is not visible/clickable. Hitting enter did not appear to work either.
    Increasing the size of the guest window did not increase the resolution as open-vm-tools does not appear to be installed by default.
    After installing open-vm-tools-desktop, increasing the guest window size corrupts the desktop and makes the desktop unusable – see http://i65.tinypic.com/2yts32u.png

    Issue 2:

    Reply

  25. Great System LM19 XFCE. But upgrading from 19 Beta to stable Firefox stays on version 60.0.2 What I am doing wrong. Had no Bugs seen in the Beta. 🙂

    Reply

    1. The latest Firefox version supplied by Mint 19 is v. 60.0.2 (you can verify this by running the command: apt policy firefox). It usually takes a few days for Firefox to be packaged and hit the repos.

    1. Same under VMware. Screen initially cannot be resized because open-vm-tools-desktop has not been installed. After open-vm-tools-desktop has been installed increasing the screen size corrupts the desktop and makes it unusable.

  28. There are some bugs in Linuxmint 19 XFCE like wine says i,am using a 64bit wine prefix
    it never said that before and flatpak crashes but the way to fix that is to completely remove it including configuration files and the ostree and the libraries that are installed including configuration files
    then install the official version you need to add the official ppa to do this then it works then you can install the flatpak apps you want i,am doing testing on wine i have the latest stable version from wine HQ the repo version and the one from wine HQ say i,am using a 64 bit prefix i set it up right this must be a bug i cant install the corefonts with winetricks so i just changed a setting override most common dlls to built in i have not tested all my games yet but the ones i did test worked as they did before oh and keep thunar closed when installing software from the software manager or it will crash
    i don’t know if auto update works for the update manager
    one quarrel i have about mint is timeshift what if a snapshot is in progress and i want to shut down my system
    i do not think i can do this it would be nice to have an indicator of some sort to let you know when it is running
    an indicator for the panel that only shows up when there is a snapshot in progress and there should be one for the auto update feature to when its downloading updates and installing them if not how does one know
    same for timeshift unless you go to run it then you know then
    mint has got a ways to go yet oh and the seek bar in parole media player moves faster than it should
    before the song has ended its already at the end
    this is not normal
    here is the error message from winetricks
    You are using a 64-bit WINEPREFIX. Note that many verbs only install 32-bit versions of packages. If you encounter problems, please retest in a clean 32-bit WINEPREFIX before reporting a bug.
    i wiped everything and did a fresh wine install and same thing
    the Ubuntu and Mint teams need to spend more time in development fixing bugs before they release new Ubuntu and Mint Versions
    Oh and another concern what if there is an auto update in progress and i do not know that and i want to shut down the computer can i do so there is definitely some issues that need ironed out for those of you who like 18.3 stay with it if you want the most stability
    hope somebody important gets this valuable Information like clem
    Thank you

    Reply

  29. Here is an error message i got from wine
    You are using a 64-bit WINEPREFIX. Note that many verbs only install 32-bit versions of packages. If you encounter problems, please retest in a clean 32-bit WINEPREFIX before reporting a bug.
    1st time i ever got that 18.3 does not have that problem

    Reply

  30. I just installed new version of Linux Mint 32bit. It was a mistake. I realise that Linux Mint doesn’t have any proprietary drivers at all! Why the hell! Why? Now Linux Mint 19 has the same status like Ubuntu – CRAP distribution! How I can use Linux with 1024 x 768 screen resolution? Are they joking me? They force me to move into another distribution. I am sure that many people will migrate to another distro because of that. I am one of them. I will try Peppermint. If the same situation will appear there it will be no option for me, only Debian Also they didnt fixed the same bug from Chromium ver.66 – no internet connection in microphone, no microphone works in google translator. Works on Debian 9.4 64 bit.

    Reply

    1. Search the internet for “acestream linux mint”. Try one or more of the install suggestions that you find. If it doesn’t work out, post a request for help on the Linux Mint forum.

  32. Mint is great etc etc, but why not install by default the original theme ARC? All icons are ugly too, why not Papirus?

    Reply

  34. Where do we submit bug reports?

    Here is what I am seeing:
    – Open Arena is now broken (not important at the moment, would require log dumps)
    – Font rendering is shifted, which results in lines being mashed together in some apps, but it’s not consistent. Thunderbird message lists, and input text areas on dokuwiki in chrome are two examples.
    – Some apps have reverted to not using Cinnamon’s window decorations. This was the case before, then it was addressed, now it is back again. Example: Simple Scan.

    Reply

  35. Congratulations and much respect and best wishes to the Linux Mint team for releasing Linux Mint 19. Been a Linux Mint user since Linux Mint 15 on a Dell Inspiron and now using it on an IBM laptop as an oncall laptop running Linux Mint 18.3. No complaints, just wanted to compliment the work you guys do on a wonderful OS. Looking forward to the upcoming upgrade path from 18.3. to 19 with great anticipation. Best wishes again!!

    Reply

  36. Figured I’d mention this for those that are having problems with 19, immediately after doing their first update.

    The new 4.15.0-24.26 kernel in the first update immediately after installing Mint 19 Xfce doesn’t seem to like the Intel® HD Graphics 4600 GPU and holding down the shift key did not unhide the grub menu for me so I could not use an earlier kernel. I did a re-install, unhid the grub menu, did the update and the kernel screwed up my install again but I was able to go back to the original kernel this time and all is good.

    My advice, if holding down the shift key doesn’t unhide the grub menu, change it so it isn’t hidden. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to use the menu when you need to.

    Z97 chipset, using the i3-4370 GPU so I was a bit surprised that the new kernel isn’t causing problems for more people.

    ANYWAY, I’m back to waiting a few days before doing kernel updates, I have the updater configured as was the default in Mint 18.

    Reply

    1. 4.15.0-24 is buggy both on Mint 19 and 18.3. As a minimum it messes up Intel graphics on several types of GPU and Wine (I use streamwriter under Wine which is a bit kernel sensitive but when it works it works very well). On one of my machines it was the culprit for pulseaudio failures. Installed back 4.15.0-23 and all those problems were gone!
      I always install the latest kernel with hope that one day one new version will miraculously make my laptop’s hibernation work. None did so far, and 4.15.0-24 turned out to be the worst kernel upgrade in a long time.

  37. well, shoot, I probably could have done a CTRL ALT F2 to get out of the DM, I could have then edited grub instead of doing a reinstall.

    Reply

  38. In anticipation of upgrading my system from 18.3 to 19 I installed the latest and greatest (Xfce) on a 3 year old computer. Then I installed a few of my favorite software to give a thorough run and eval.
    Although I only spent a few hours using this new setup I can already see that Linux Mint 19 has really nothing compelling. Timeshift can be installed in 18.3 if that’s supposed to be the major attraction, but I wouldn’t rely on it as in my trial backups it never succeeded in restoring properly my system when it had any kind of xwindows or display card issues.
    For the rest I haven’t come across any significant improvement over 18.3 that would justify moving up. I might eventually find that some software is no longer maintained against the Ubuntu 16.04 base and have to upgrade my system. Hopefully by then Mint 19 will have matured or even on its next iteration.
    Now the real purpose of this post:
    The Xfce version of Linux Mint 19 is far less polished than in previous generations. It actually has many little bugs and annoyances that can be easily fixed. As a “full time” Linux Mint user (work and home for over 10 years, always Xfce) I can safely make two observations:
    1) Xfce has been the desktop to invest in. Today, even in its less than ideal maintenance conditions it gives a run to every other desktop system out there. Xfce’s panel configuration and its file manager Thunar’s customization capabilities are yet to be found in Cinnamon, Mate or KDE. But, that’s not to say that they are bug free. Unfortunately there are still unfixed bugs in the panel code and in Thunar’s GUI code. It’s very unfortunate that the Xfce team is in no hurry to address them. Linux Mint should have forked Xfce and develop its desktop on that foundation rather than Gnome and its Cinnamon. Cinnamon might have a sexy appearance but its functionality is years behind Xfce’s, and it’s nowhere even close to catching up.
    2) Linux Mint 19 looks like it was rushed into release. It has lots of annoyances (not to call them bugs) that might have been fixed. Some of those issues are inherited from Ubuntu 18 which itself suffers from poor finishing in every regard. But, I would expect Linux Mint to be more polished than Ubuntu, not to be at par. Otherwise why to not use the original thing?
    As I mentioned before I have been using Mint for 10 years or more now and I’ve appreciated and enjoyed it every minute. But I think some friendly, constructive criticism needs to be put in Clem’s and senior Linux Mint members’ ears:
    Guys, first THANK YOU for a fantastic job, very WELL DONE over the years. You made Linux a household name OS for some of us and for that you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame!
    On the other hand, your heavy focus in Cinnamon in recent years have made you lose from sight what your audience expect from you: EXCELLENCE OF WHATEVER YOU SERVE, HOWEVER LITTLE IT MIGHT BE.
    Because if one is interested in “quantity” rather than “quality” there are 100s of half-baked distros out there!
    .Version 17.3 was the golden age of your distribution. When it finally matured it was probably at par with Mac OS in terms of quality and far ahead of it in capability.
    .Version 18 had a tough start. It took 2 years and it still has issues which will probably never be fixed. (Hibernation and laptop screen support comes first to mind)
    .Version 19’s beta was ugly! The release is better but not by a huge margin. Yes, I can certainly find one particular machine on which it works perfectly well, but between my business and home I have close to a dozen computers with different hardware of different age and most of them have a variety of problems.
    Obviously, as you would suspect I wouldn’t finish this post without some unsolicited advice for the good of Linux Mint’s future:
    1) Focus on quality, not quantity
    2) Fork Xfce and drop every other desktop
    3) Come up with a VERY REFINED list of supported hardware components
    4) Set a goal of hardware support excellence which would guide your release process and schedule. In other words make it clear to yourself and to your audience that when you release a new version you are at a certain quality/compliance level (Probably no less than 95% of your checklist)
    5) Never run “wild” beta cycles like it has become popular in recent times. You do not just throw out a less than half-baked new product to unsuspecting or unqualified masses and expect them to provide you with useful feedback. Automatic data collection systems do not really help as they either fall short of the necessary granularity or provide excessive feedback. You need intelligent feedback from acquainted minds in order to quickly figure out problems and fixes. Don’t start a beta unless in lab environment you achieved 75%+ excellence/compliance. Qualify your beta audience based on their profile through a survey. Again quality vs quantity is very important.
    Thanks for listening.

    Reply

    1. Agree with you about Xfce. Overall, Xfce has been my favorite DE over the years.

      My only gripe with Xfce is that it does not yet have the ability to control placement of icons on any monitor in a multiple-monitor setup. I would like to be able to put icons on the right-hand monitor, but in Xfce, the icons always go to to the far left. Xfce does not seem keen to address this issue, and so Mint would probably need to fork Xfce in order to get the problem solved.

      I, too, would like to see Mint exert a concerted effort on polishing Xfce. Cinnamon has been a good experiment, and although it seems to have finally mastered the icon placement issue on multiple monitors, its choice of panel applets and management of panels lags far behind that of Xfce, in my opinion.

    2. @Rudy Richardson:
      I don’t use Xfce’s desktop icon placement feature at all. Instead I use many panels that I organize along the four sides of the monitor. On a dual monitor they can all be independently placed too. I usually mahe them double row or double column and create software collections. On the 1920×1200 monitor that I’m working right now I currently have 14 panels with probably around 300 to 350 icons/lauchers. Some of them are basic software apps like gimp, libre office writer, etc. Some of them are modified launchers to watch live channels off youtube (smplayer with predefined sky news tv stream). Yet some others are linked to my scripts that I can run directly rather than popping up a terminal and running manually. I seldom click on the Xfce menu button to select a software to run. I found this mitigation when I moved up to 17.0 and since it has been the perfect solution for me.

    3. I wish they would ditch Cinnamon and put the time and effort into Xfce. Perhaps a development takeover of Xfce.

  39. Ok. I migrated to Debian 9.4 They has no problems with microphone at all. But there is problem with sound. When I click sound icon on every possible website – there is no sound at all. But Debian has proprietary drivers. Linux Mint 19 dont have it all. It is sad. So what I should do? I cant just come back to Windows just like that. Never ever. There is something with Chromium. They missed up.
    I dont know. I will just install Mint 18.3 again. There is no hope at all anymore, because you based new Mint on Ubuntu. Guys come on. Seriously? Please stop follow this stupid Debian, please…

    Reply

    2. They have always based their distros on Ubuntu. Also proprietary drivers are probably in a separate package, like normal, this is common practice. If not it will probably be added soon.

    1. The instructions for upgrading from 18.3 to 19 haven’t been published yet (I imagine that Mint are still finalising the procedure). They’ll be posted on the blog here when they’re ready.

  41. Thanks for continuing the great work on Linux Mint. KDE fans will no doubt be disappointed that this DE was dropped, but having tried KDE several times in the past, I think dropping it from Mint was a good decision. However, one thing that KDE did exceptionally well was manage desktops on multiple monitors so that desktop icons and files on the desktop could be placed on the monitor of choice (even on the far right-hand monitor).

    Cinnamon seems much improved — less buggy and crash-prone than before, and it now seems to manage desktop icon placement on multiple monitors as good or better than KDE. Indeed, I was almost ready to switch from my favorite desktop environment, Xfce, to Cinnamon. However, I rely quite a lot on panels and panel applets, and, in my opinion, Xfce still does a better job than any desktop with panel management and panel applet offerings.

    The MATE edition is quite serviceable, but for me it offers nothing special not found in either the Cinnamon or Xfce editions of Mint.

    Now I must decide on Cinnamon or Xfce, and whether to upgrade from 18.3 or do a clean install. Most likely I will do a clean install. Moreover, I might try installing either the Cinnamon or Xfce version and adding the other desktop environment — this can create problems, but if done carefully it can work quite well.

    Thanks for providing us with such great choices. You really cannot go wrong with any of the Mint editions!

    Reply

    1. I guess they haven’t made a “pathway” to update it yet but will soon. Seems a bit sloppy and unprofessional to announce it without a way to upgrade to me, but I guess that is just how they do things.

    2. Because the upgrade process hasn’t been finalised yet. Details will no doubt become available on this blog when that happens.

  43. Well, it works but it’s not better than the previous version!
    I do not know what distro will satisfy me now because all those I tested follow the same fashion.
    Too bad, but the visually impaired no longer exist for you … (I said badly see, not blind)
    so unless you explain to me how to enlarge the icons of the toolbar of all integrated software, or to provide a kind of “galaxy” as for LibreOffice to distinguish them from each other, I will have no no longer update or abandon Linux.
    I use it for more than 10 years!
    at 80, my vision is not going to work better, so Mint like many others are no longer configurable, so more suited to my vision as older versions!

    Reply

    1. @Insam
      Consider this idea, which helped a coworker resume her office activities during her 4 month long recovery period after major eye surgery (she had very poor vision during that time):
      Assuming that you are running Mint 18.3 Xfce on a computer capable of outputting to a 4K monitor (if your computer is younger than a couple years it probably does), get a 43 inch 4K TV, like a LG 43UK6300PUE which currently costs US $320 at Amazon (in the USA).
      A TV set like this has a resolution of 3840×2160. Now set your computer output (through Xfce Display Settings) to standard TV definition or 1920×1080, which will provide you 200% magnification on an already big screen.
      You could also use a normal resolution TV instead of a 4K, but the picture quality won’t be the same (in terms of sharpness or crispness). You could also set your resolution to an intermediary value on the 4K screen but that might degrade sharpness a bit because of interpolation. Showing a 1920×1080 frame on a 3840×2160 screen will result in excellent sharpness for text and graphics while you sit near the display.

  44. I love linux. I’m on Linux 19 Tara XFCE it’s great. But they have done nothing for Garmin gps and i have to keep window 10 dual boot just for that

    Reply

  45. Sad to say, but with Mint dropping KDE, I’m dropping Mint in favor of Manjaro.

    Without taking the DE into consideration, Mint is my favorite Distro — But having KDE is more important to me than having Mint.
    Since the first time I tried the Plasma 5 DE, there was no going back. I’ve grown to love and need all that KDE has to offer.

    As much as Iove Mint, I’d rather jump ship on Mint to keep KDE than jump ship on KDE to keep Mint.

    Reply

  46. DSL/PPPoE problems

    I have Linux Mint 18.3 KDE and it works great.
    I try to install first Mint 19 Mate, then Cinnamon and Xfce.

    Same two problems.

    I connect internet with DSL modem.

    I setup DSL/PPPoe (like I did in Mint 18, username/password). This works.

    But when I try to connect, there is no my DSL connection in applet for select.
    Only “Wired connection 1”, “Enable connection” and “Edit connection”.
    So, I can not connect to internet!
    Why is that?

    Second problem.
    In DSL/PPPoE setup there is “Parent interface”! What is it?
    I can select lo, enp11s0, wlp10s0.
    I must to select something or can not finish dialog.
    Try all 3.
    There is no this in Mint 18.
    What is this?

    BTW, in Mate edition I must restart Start panel (right click, restart panel).
    In Cinnamon and Xfce is OK, but Mint only brown field at the bottom.

    Reply

    1. DSL/PPPoE setup don’t work in new Linux Lite and Kubuntu!
      And I don’t know how to repair this.

    2. I am facing the same issue…I can, however, connect to the internet by checking ‘Automatically connect to this network when it is available’ in the ‘general’ tab and selecting eth0 as my parent interface…

  47. I have a problem with USB thumbdrives.
    When I try to eject them, the process is very long, and after that timeout I get a message it failed.
    The way I’m trying to eject is by clicking the small triangle besides the drive name in thunar.

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

    1. Yes get that too but it is inconsistent and quite erratic sometimes. It mostly happen with portable drives for me. Using the release triangle works but a message saying not to remove the drive (writing) sometimes stick there for a long time even though there was no more activity on the drive and it could dismounted it. Then if you did remove the drive , you get a “fail” message sometime half an hour after you took it off. Weird.

  48. Just installed a fresh XFCE 19 version beside my current 18.3. Mostly the install ran fine, a couple of times it did a forced shutdown but as I was using Firefox while it was updating in the background maybe that was the cause. Had to use dpkg in a terminal to rescue the update.

    As others have mentioned there’s no icon for the network manager ap in the taskbar, there was during install, but once updated and I set my themes etc ( Mint-X-Purple & Daloa ) no sign of the nm-aplet icon although clicking where it should be still opens it.

    Also synaptic had no quick filter box, I’ve had to fix this in the past on I think a Debian version but couldn’t remember how but a websearch suggested installing apt-xapian-index which was missing, installing that didn’t cure the issue immediately as the quick filter box would appear briefly when opening synaptic then vanish but having given it a little while then trying synaptic again it now works, so either installing that fixed the issue or it would have resolved itself over time, I don’t know which but at least it works now.

    As I use Mint on all 5 of my PC’s at home I’ll slowly work one at a time with v.19. Once I’ve got this fresh install working right I’ll check out the in place upgrade from 18.3

    Reply

    1. Because repeated, why not build a small script calling apt-get for each of the desired tools? Do it by hand on one PC, copying the commands (after each conclusion) to a text file named “choices.sh”. On the 2nd up to the 99th PC just call it on the terminal with “sudo sh choices.sh”
      ___
      # Some times, a lift is better than mechanical stairs…

  49. I’ve gotten it installed and everything seems to work as it should, but the system tray icon area seems to be gone and I can not find anything in the options to return it. Does anyone know how to fix this?

    Reply

    1. gksu is no longer available, use pkexec instead. If it’s for a gui app you could use “su-to-root -X -c” as a prefix instead of “gksu” (without the quotes). I don’t know how safe this is, so you might want to use it sparingly.

  53. Just to congratulate the team on the effort and thought they must have put into this. I just tried Mint 19 xfce as an upgrade of Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04 was not good – really sluggish on my old laptop. I’m blown away by how refined, configurable and fast Mint is. Desktop looks fab now I’ve set it up, also efficient and fun to work with. So W10 will finally get the heave; I’ll miss Media Monkey, but hopefully these guys will catch with Linux if enough people make the move – no reason not to any more. Thanks.

    Reply

  54. Mint 19 XFCE is taking forever to install. Investigation reveals it is trying to access a lot of websites to download files, but the computer has no internet connection. With no connection it keeps waiting to connect, failure to resolve connection, trying another connection…

    Um… when I ran the installer I CHOSE not to connect to an internet source. But it has killed more than an hour so far just trying to get files downloaded.

    SUGGESTION: If the user chooses no internet connection when running the installer, run a different install script that does not automatically try to go online for updates over and over. I have no idea how tedious it would be to make a second install script that does not try to download – maybe it would just be a matter of copying and commenting out, maybe you’d have to make a whole new install script – but if it is possible, please, please, PLEASE look into it.

    Reply

  56. Using Thunar file manager I’m not able to open a folder as root by right-clicking it. Selecting that menu entry does seemingly nothing

    Reply

    1. In Thunar go to “configure custom actions” click on “open as root” and change “gksu thunar %f” to “pkexec thunar %f”

    2. Thnx for replying. I just checked but the command has already been changed to – or maybe always was – “pkexec”. Either way, that didn’t give the desired result. The dialogue field now comes up and something is computed obviously but no hash sum is given, just a message saying (loosely translated): all upgrades have been made.
      I don’t know what to make of this …
      Anyways, another thing is that I believe that in the past the command could be applied to any file. I might be wrong here, but now it works (as in something happens) only on iso-files.

    3. From a terminal or run command type: “su-to-root -X -c thunar” (no quotes) and see if that does anything. A second terminal window will open, leave it open while using Thunar.

  57. Changing the panel clock tooltip still removes the clock (when you close the changes) from the panel as it did in the beta.

    Reply

  58. Tried it out on an Ideapad 100S today and experienced the system frequently freezing up for 20+ seconds at a time so I wiped the drive and put 18.3 on it and it runs smoothly. I suspect the problem is the 4.15.x kernel which I am growing to hate more and more as most of the systems I maintain rely on the Intel GPU built into the CPU.

    I really wish I could use the 4.4.x kernel and still receive updates via Mint’s update manager.

    Speaking of updates, the 4.15.0-24 kernel shouldn’t even have made it into the updates, it has left hundreds of people with no graphics at all. When I tried to find if there was some new way to unhide grub (shit doesn’t seem to work), I found most of the people asking the same question were in the same boat as me with no graphics because of 4.15.0-24.

    I never had a problem with kernel updates in Mint 17x or Mint 18x (though I did stick with 4.4.x in 18x).

    Reply

    3. Ukuu will do the trick, but, nag you about updates to the latest series. If I could limit it to a selected series, it would be a good solution.

    4. anyway, it would be nice if the Mint Updater could function as ukuu if so desired but when you use it for a 4.4.x kernel, that series would be the only one it draws updates from.

    5. Seriously though, does anyone know Canonical’s logic in going with a non-longterm kernel for a lts OS? 4.14.x is the most current longterm kernel. https://www.kernel.org/

      I understand Mint’s logic in going with 4.15.x, I don’t understand Canonical’s.

  60. Currently, I can’t get it to install grub if I’m connected to the Internet…… no problem with offline installs. Wasn’t a problem a few days ago.

    Reply

    1. To be clear, grub isn’t installing when doing a fresh install of Mint with an Internet connection but is installing when there is no Internet. I spent nearly all day trying to figure out the problem. I even wiped the drive on a computer that Mint 19 installed on fine a few days prior and found it wouldn’t install on it now and that’s when I decided to try doing an offline install.

      It would be nice to know if the developers are looking into this.

  61. Why oh why would you change your update policy?!

    I used to hate Linux for about 15 years because most of the time, it wouldn’t even install without a hitch. And even if it did, things frequently just wouldn’t work. I still remember a meeting of Linux users and artists about 4 years ago – they simply couldn’t get the projector to work on Ubuntu. Plugged it into an artist’s Mac – done.

    All that seemed to stop with Mint. Finally, a distro I could use and have been recommending to others excessively.
    And now you’re telling people “Oh, just use all the experimental stuff – if something doesn’t work properly, just roll back”? That’s gonna be great in more important situations like the one I described above – because which snapshot was it where the projector that I rarely use still worked? Let’s try out different ones for about an hour. Meanwhile, the pissed off client has left…

    You’re breaking my heart. (Because I hate macOS and I hate Windows 10 even more and hoped that Mint would be a stable long-term solution for me)

    (On a sidenote: Flash? Java? Really? https://imgur.com/a/yILTyGI
    Also, no non-tech user knows what “regression” means… (in the Update Manager))

    Reply

    1. David,

      If you didn’t use your projector often, you wouldn’t know which update was responsible before either, right? Not to mention, you can’t easily downgrade/revert an update.

      The only way this makes sense, to me.. is if you didn’t upgrade anything, or if you only upgraded some packages and not others, and that might work for you and keep your computer stable, but it is also a security risk.

      Please note, the following (though I certainly DO NOT recommend you do that):

      – You can select view->visible columns->levels
      – You can disable levels in the prefs
      – You can perfectly decide not to update stuff

      As you can see, you can still define your policy and your computer is your computer.

    2. DavidH, you can change the update policy to the same as it was in Mint 18. As for Flash and Java, those were always OPTIONAL and still are, they are not installed unless you check the box “Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware, Flash, MP3 and other media”.

  62. Tried fresh install of both Cinnamon 19 and XFCE 19 and failed to install bootloader in both attempts

    Reply

    1. For now, you have to do an offline install. If you are connected to the internet, it won’t install grub because of an update to the underlying OS (Ubuntu). See Clem’s reply to my comment about the same problem.

  63. Wow!!! What can I say, this is the best distribution that works best with my laptop. All the other distributions would constantly drop my wifi connection. Installed this distributions 5 days ago and my laptop has not lost a wifi connection yet. Thank you very much.

    Reply

  64. Hey, just installed. I’m trying to keep the system as secure as possible so I decided to only run it in live (read only) mode. Is it possible to install security updates and set restore points while only running in livemode? I get this error : The repository ‘cdrom://Linux Mint 19 _Tara_ – Release amd64 20180626 bionic Release’ does not have a Release file. When I search for updates using update manager. Not sure if this was the right place to ask, but thank you!

    Reply

    1. I came across this very caveat (or problem?) during my beta testing, and have posted my observation on this blog. Evidently, this is problem was not addressed thus remained in the final release. This means that mintupdate cannot be run on a LIVE session (perhaps limited only to dvd-type boots).

  65. LM 19.0 xfce 64-bit: Something appears to have changed in the Mint-X and Mint-Y styles/themes. I believe, but can’t confirm that it was during one of the updates between the beta release and final release. As a result the separator ‘lines’ in the Firefox bookmarks drop-down menu have become invisible. If I change to a style like Adwaita or Redmond, all is well. But in any of the Mint-X or Mint-Y themes, they are gone! Can someone confirm this?

    Reply

    1. Can confirm this, only applies to separators in drop-down menu. If controls theme is switched to Adwaita the separators are visible.

  66. I tried to install it yesterday, twice, and both times I got an error with grub. I finally decided to install LM 18.3 XFCE. I just came here to report the issue and I see that it can be solved installing without internet connection. Well, now I think I’ll wait for LM 19.1.

    I love LM, you know I do, but this kind of issues are bad marketing.

    Reply

    1. Well, I finally decided to format now and install Linux Mint 19 XFCE. It looks good so far.

      The only issue is that my scanner is not working. It is a Samsung Xpress M2070W laser printer (the printer works) with scanner. If someone has a clue about how to make the scanner work, that’d be great.

    2. Juan, connect your printer with your computer with USB cable and use Linux Simple Scan. I have exact same printer and this setup is working without any problem.Did you installed universal printer/scanner driver? I did . If you are interested I can post link to that driver and step by step procedure hoe to install them.

  67. Nice upgrade, but please fix the bug that causes the OS to take up 100% of my CPU. It’s a 6 gig RAM machine, so memory is not an issue. The bug seems to involve the system-udevd rules file, because that’s the process that’s spiking. Thanks!

    Reply

    1. I never got around to digging into the cause because it was on a customer’s computer and I needed to get it back to him ASAP. Only one computer seems affected, all the others I’ve tried Mint 19 on seem to run a little faster with 19 than they do 18, but, the one computer definitely runs slower,…….. much slower. I put 18.3 on it and all is well.

  68. If you visit just about any of the mirrors, you’ll find a v2 of all the Mint 19 desktops. Use any of the download links but first remove the filename from the url. For example, http://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint/stable/19/linuxmint-19-xfce-64bit.iso becomes http://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint/stable/19/ and you find the following:

    linuxmint-19-cinnamon-32bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 18:22 2G
    linuxmint-19-cinnamon-64bit-v2.iso 17-Jul-2018 14:01 2G
    linuxmint-19-cinnamon-64bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 15:39 2G
    linuxmint-19-mate-32bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 19:19 2G
    linuxmint-19-mate-64bit-v2.iso 17-Jul-2018 12:34 2G
    linuxmint-19-mate-64bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 16:24 2G
    linuxmint-19-xfce-32bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 22:00 2G
    linuxmint-19-xfce-64bit-v2.iso 17-Jul-2018 13:19 2G
    linuxmint-19-xfce-64bit.iso 26-Jun-2018 17:13 2G
    sha256sum.txt 19-Jul-2018 09:40 867
    sha256sum.txt.gpg

    Reply

  69. Hi,
    this is the first Mint Version I cant even run as Live-USB Image. If I boot via USB on my netbook, the graphics look destroyed and many other mistakes so I cant even test it or click on anything.

    Reply

  70. Hi!
    Starting Menu editor I see the following error messages and don’t know how to proceed to get rid of them. Your help will be very welcome. Thanks in advance.

    Invalid desktop files detected! Please see details.
    Then when I click Details button, I see this lines:

    /usr/share/applications/opendjk-11-policytool.desktop
    Exec program ‘/usr/bin/policytool’ has not been found in the PATH.

    Reply

  71. Blank (gray / grey) screen after login. :'(

    Just upgraded from 18.3 to 19, everything seemed ok, but after login, I get a grey blank screen with only a mouse cursor that I can move around, nothing else is displayed. Seems the desktop is broken, how to fix this?

    Reply

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