Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Xfce – BETA Release

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This is the BETA release for Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Xfce Edition.

Linux Mint 19.2 Tina Xfce Edition

Linux Mint 19.2 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 19.2 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 19.2 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:

  • This BETA release might contain critical bugs, please only use it for testing purposes and to help the Linux Mint team fix issues prior to the stable release.
  • It will be possible to upgrade from this BETA to the stable release.
  • It will also be possible to upgrade from Linux Mint 19 and 19.1. Upgrade instructions will be published after the stable release of Linux Mint 19.2.

Bug reports:

  • Bugs in this release should be reported on Github at https://github.com/linuxmint/mint19.2-beta.
  • Create one issue per bug.
  • As described in the Linux Mint Troubleshooting Guide, do not report or create issues for observations.
  • Be as accurate as possible and include any information that might help developers reproduce the issue or understand the cause of the issue:
    • Bugs we can reproduce, or which cause we understand are usually fixed very easily.
    • It is important to mention whether a bug happens “always”, or “sometimes”, and what triggers it.
    • If a bug happens but didn’t happen before, or doesn’t happen in another distribution, or doesn’t happen in a different environment, please mention it and try to pinpoint the differences at play.
    • If we can’t reproduce a particular bug and we don’t understand its cause, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to fix it.
  • The BETA phase is literally a bug squashing rush, where the team is extremely busy and developers try to fix as many bugs as fast as possible.
  • There usually are a huge number of reports and very little time to answer everyone or explain why a particular report is not considered a bug, or won’t get fixed. Don’t let this frustrate you, whether it’s acknowledged or not, we appreciate everyone’s help.
  • Please visit https://github.com/linuxmint/Roadmap to follow the progress of the development team between the BETA and the stable release.

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. Many thanks in advance for testing the BETA!

48 comments

  2. I already see a couple of suggestions I made in a previous blog comments section being taken up by Clem and the team in this update; many thanks for this, much appreciated by me personally, and I suspect countless others who don’t yet appreciate the efforts the development team go to.
    Now…who did I loan my test box to, and how quickly can I get it back from them to try out the beta 🙂

    Reply

  4. The enhanced kernel support arrived earlier in LM 19, thank you.
    I’m preparing for new AMD hardware (APU, chipsets) and I suspect that a similar way to get newer linux-firmware packages may be needed. Anything on the horizon, Clem?

    Reply

  5. Sadly i need for the most things Windhoos or Apple.
    Otherwhise i pnly would use linux , I begin te learn more and more and it is stable and perfect to use.
    No vires’ses perfect to feel save keep on going further with the goodwork

    The Netherlands 2019

    Reply

  6. Downloaded Mint 19.2 a few hours ago, and I have’nt been able to find anything wrong with it so far but will most likely keep it onboard until the release comes out.

    Reply

  7. Hi!
    Quick question:
    Xfce 4.14 will be released by mid-August.
    New releases of Xfce come out not really often.. 🙂
    When will it be feasible to integrate it in Linux Mint?

    Reply

    1. I’d love to release 19.3 for Christmas this year, this leaves Xfce 4.14 quite a bit of time to mature, and it’s been going through dev and pre-stable releases already, so I think it looks good.

  8. I read that xfce4.14 will be releasing soon. Are there plans to update xfce version to 4.14 once it is released 🙂
    And thank you for your hard work!
    Linux mint is great!

    Reply

  9. Downloaded and running it, happy to report it has run flawlessly so far. “Tina” looks really good.

    Reply

  11. I will defiantly looking forward to this update – but I’m waiting for kernel 5.3 too (I hear it will work with ASUS TUF gaming laptop) which I bought with RYZEN and nvidia graphic card – and for now no distribution is able to enable nvidia for me and keyboard is lighten up all the time (I cant disable it), but on my older laptop and desktop I use linuxmint !.

    Reply

  13. Hi and thanks a lot for your fantastic work! I’ve installed LM 19.2 Xfce in a VM. It seems to me there is a small bug not showing the network-icon on desktop after switching it on in desktop-settings. Or maybe a problem of the VM?
    Greetings and many thanks from Germany, Thomas

    Reply

  14. When will they solve Cinnamon’s problem when running in VirtualBox? It always gives an error and can only work in software rendering mode. Since version 17 approximately it does not work well anymore.

    Reply

    1. Well, it’s funny you say that.

      I guess you can consider it “fixed”. It wasn’t a problem with Cinnamon not working well though. It’s your drivers which aren’t working well (virtualbox lacking acceleration by default basically). Cinnamon detected that and simply warned you about it, but the way it was written led you (and other people, you’re not the only one who got confused by this) believe that Cinnamon didn’t work properly. So anyway, it won’t tell you anything in a live session anymore. If you don’t have acceleration, no big deal, it’s only a live session after all. And post-install, it will tell you in a way that has nothing to do with cinnamon and everything to do with your drivers. It will show you a button that you can click to access the Driver Manager.

    2. how can it run in any other mode but software render mode?? In virtual box you dont have a dedicated real GPU so it has no choice but to run in that mode. Whats the error your getting anyways? Post the error maybe others can help in the mint forums. Are you using Mint in virtual box with a windows as host? If your using host linux why wont you try QEMU. I just tried it on kvm/qemu and it works just fine. I would switch back to linux mint in a heart beat if they had a rolling release and a stable one.

  15. On an old’ish machine (Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 m/b, AMD FX8350 cpu), the new LM 19.2 Cinnamon (beta live) loads and seems to be working well – many thanks indeed! On quite recent kit (Asus Prime B350-Plus m/b, AMD Ryzen 5 2400G cpu), the live dvd totally hangs the system just after the Grub menu (even for a disk integrity check). Doubtless I’ll get it to run eventually but probably only by building an install onto a spare disk on the old machine and then transferring it to the new. Any suggestions as to what may be going wrong?

    Reply

  16. I installed 19.2 xfce on my test lappy because, “… the Backup Tool and the Software Manager are able to share the same cache and to list not only the applications which were installed via the Software Manager, but also the applications which were installed via other means.” My wish granted, but a beta, so i downloaded my regular apps through the software manager. As a test i downloaded frozen bubble with synaptic. There it was on the .list. Yay! Installed 19.2 on my desktop and ran mint backup tool restore. Got an “error reading list” notice. Clicked OK and the list appeared as expected. Clicked forward and almost half, including frozen bubble, were installed. Tried again and got “All the packages in your software selection are installed.” Reboot was no help. So close, please keep trying. I’ll try the release on my work lappy. As always thanks to all for the effort.

    Reply

    2. Thanks for the quick reply. Note the guayadeque PPA (sudo add-apt-repository ppa:anonbeat/guayadeque). It did not install and after further review seems to be where it stopped. I missed this yesterday, mostly concerned with the synaptic conection. Sorry. Question now, i guess, is ‘them or you?’

      aisleriot install
      audacity install
      calibre install
      chromium-browser install
      convertall install
      frozen-bubble install
      gnome-klotski install
      gnubg install
      guayadeque install
      handbrake install
      kolourpaint install
      kruler install
      linux-generic install
      pokerth install
      qpdfview install
      sdl-ball install
      shotwell install
      thunar-gtkhash install
      volumeicon-alsa install
      xboard install
      xfburn install
      xfce4-cpugraph-plugin install
      xfce4-netload-plugin install
      xfce4-notes install
      xfce4-notes-plugin install
      xfce4-sensors-plugin install

  17. My initial impression is that 19.2 Xfce doesn’t seem very different from its predecessor but since you ask for feedback, I do have a few points:

    (1) It’s very disappointing that the longstanding bug in the panel clock is still there. If you try to change the clock settings, the clock disappears (unless you change it to one of the gimmicky settings like fuzzy or LCD). Hint – this same Clock works fine in Xubuntu.

    (2) It is silly that “Desktop Settings” on the right-click menu and “Desktop Settings” in the main menu are two completely different things. The one in the main menu should be changed, even if only slightly. For instance, you could change it to “Desktop WM” with a more sensible description underneath such as “Change the window manager”. Also, I found that on a 19.2 Live USB nothing comes up if I click this item – yet it does work on an installed system.

    (3) You have umpteen different colours for icons etc but when it comes to title bars and window borders, we only seem to get grey (or black). Some of us find this drab, and another group of people dislike not having a clearer distinction between active and background windows. The whole user interface for changing themes and colours needs a complete revamp. In the meantime, bearing in mind nearly all Xfce users will be using xfwm, I suggest that in the Window Manager settings you add a few more window styles taken from the xfwm4-themes package. These should include at least “Default 4.6” (which is perhaps the plainest and least distracting) and maybe a few others which similarly take their colour from the theme chosen in Appearances.

    (4) On a similar theme (sorry!) maybe in due course the Mint-X and Mint-Y colours could be re-jigged. Some seem quite similar (eg Blue/Teal/Aqua or Sand/Brown/Orange) but we seem to lack a brighter red colour (not rust!) and a darker green colour. I know it’s probably heresy to say so but the basic mint colour is – well – a bit grey……

    I hope the above doesn’t sound too grumbly. I think Mint Xfce is a brilliant operating system and I value the fact that all the Mint versions seem more polished than other distros.

    Reply

    1. Your issue #1 has a work around… right click the time area, select Properties, which brings up the ‘Clock’, then under ‘Appearance’ and ‘Click Options’ you have to do this (I am assuming ‘Layout: Digital’ (if not, adjust accordingly)… where it says ‘tooltip format’ under appearance you left click it and select the option you want in there and then where it says ‘Format:’ under the clock options select which option you like. then at this point go back up to ‘tooltip format’ and then select ‘custom format’ then on the clock options below where it says ‘Format:’ change that to ‘custom format’. now at this point with your mouse pointer you want to left click into the two boxes with the random symbols in them (the ones under Appearance and Clock Options), so the flashing cursor is shown, and press enter once on each of them and then you can click CLOSE and the your clock settings will no longer disappear and will display as intended. problem solved 😉

      but with that said… it should be fixed so we don’t have to use this work around method.

  18. Greetings!

    Your xfce-spin’s 19.2-beta looks clean and tight, as always. Compliments! I am sure lots of work went into this one even though mostly beind the scenes …

    Alas, as i have mentioned in the blogs re. your prior betas of xfce (i.e. 19, 19.1), i have noticed once more that the “xfce4-goodies” package is not installed on the live .iso … I do hope that the full install is complete re. this useful — almost necessary — collection of apps. If not, i must ask: why ship a stripped-down system (akin to xubuntu’s bare-bones spins) when in fact Mint’s xfce-spin could come out shining and on a par with Mate / Cinnamon functionality? In any event, hats off to y’all for a job well done! Looking forward to the final release and plan to upgrade my 5+ systems.

    Cheers, m4a

    Reply

  19. Works weel BUT the menu button (green LM) consistently changes to a grey tiny mouse button after restarts.

    Reply

  20. What about Xfce video tearing issue? I have always been unable to address it on every machine I installed it, no matter what distro it was or what video card it had. I’m currently very happy with 19.1 Cinnamon.

    Reply

  21. One Thing That would Be Cool is the ability to change the color of the text displayed on the panel
    I used gtk-theme-config version for artful aardvark it works on bionic to change the panel text color to my favorite Red and i was somehow able to turn the volume icon red as well
    i would like the ability to do this In Linux Mint 20 because the last version of gtk-theme-config wont work after bionic the version made for artful was the last version made it is not available in the 19 repositories it is still available in the 18 repositories to get the artful version go to https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk-theme-config/1.2.2-1/+build/13059040
    scroll down to built files click on gtk-theme-config_1.2.2-1_amd64.deb To Download it
    this version works In 19 and 19.1 I,am sure it will work in 19.2 and 19.3
    users of the linux mint 18 series can get it in the repository for 18 to 18.3
    after you install it look at your control center aka all settings you will see an entry named theme configuration that is the one you can change highlight colors menu colors and panel color
    color of the panel and text color for the window buttons and clock

    Reply

  22. BUG — keyboard layout

    Portuguese (Brazil) doesn’t have “ç”, “ã”, “õ” etc, etc

    Reply

  24. Xfce version here. I can’t install a Grub menu with GrubCustomizer. It works properly in Mint 18.3.

    Reply

  25. running it in a vmware vm and it looks like 19.1 cannot find any big news, one nice thing i found is in extensions is wobby window can be enabled. Dont know if this was in 19.1

    Reply

  26. Getting logs flooded with:
    wpa_supplicant[609]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-SIGNAL-CHANGE above=1 signal=-20 noise=-77 txrate=1000

    Xfce, doesn’t happen with MATE, but does happen with Mint Debian.

    Reply

  27. When installing on BTRFS, is it possible to add symlinks to @ and @home, so when you install the next OS on another partition Grub can find it?

    Reply

  29. Could/should the Welcome window and the Software Manager respond to Ctrl Q/W to close them for consistency with the Xapps?

    Reply

  31. Getting logs flooded with:
    wpa_supplicant[609]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-SIGNAL-CHANGE above=1 signal=-20 noise=-77 txrate=1000

    This is with Xfce, doesn’t happen with MATE 19.2 , but does happen with MATE 19.

    Reply

  32. When installing on BTRFS, is it possible to add symlinks to @ and @home, so when you install the next OS on another partition Grub can find it?

    Reply

  33. Please CLEM!
    MAY INSTALL LMDE 3 IN DUAL BOOT WITH LINUXMINT 19.2 CINNAMON WITHOUT PROBLEM ???
    THANK YOU

    Reply

  34. thanks for new release …so far my in my testing did not find issue..when installing stand alone over test system .. going FWD my suggestion will be there should be option to install Grub or not … since by default mint install grub and by default become … it disturb booting of other Linux destro in multi boot environment ( like Manjaro …which always prefer to 1st in boot list … and prefer its and grub boot loader … which is also not good … ) …

    let me check over VMWare and Virtual Box and share feedback if any

    Reply

  36. Please update the Kernel to one above 4.15. The current 4.15 series can’t even boot with a ryzen 3 3200 processor without a dedicated graphic card.

    Reply

    1. Click on update manager in the tray (down right of screen) then:
      view -> Linux Kernels
      you will see a list of 3 different kernels 4.15 series, 4.18 series, 5.0 series
      go to the latest one: 5.0.0-20 and click install.
      after finishing install reboot.
      that’s it.

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