33 comments

1. When will your homepage support IPv6? It’s annoying having to activate fallback IPv4 every time.

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2. From Spain, Why does Linux Mint keep using an old kernel? Thanks.

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   1. Because they are safe and stable. To the developers of Linux Mint, it would be nice if they could make a lightweight distribution for low-resource computers with dual window manager for user choice with JWM and Openbox.

   2. You can change to a more recent one in the Update Manager.

   3. That’s because Ubuntu LTS shipps them.

   4. It’s the latest version on the LTS stable branch at the time of release. Unless your hardware requires a newer kernel this is the safest option. If you need a newer kernel:

      – mintupdate makes it easy to switch to newer series post-installation.
      – an EDGE ISO is available with kernel 5.8 if you’re unable to boot 5.4.

   5. Thank you for your answers. The two kernels do not bring full support for the newer ryzen or intel gen 11 processors, usb4, etc. I can understand LTS but … I am forced to look at other linux distributions like Manjaro. I love Linux Mint but my new computer would not work 100%. The f2fs filesystem has not been added either. One can boot a linux like Manajaro instantly with this file system. And so many things to improve.

   6. Hi Francisco,

      Mint and Ubuntu are frozen-release distributions, you can’t compare them to rolling distributions. They’re completely different and have many pros and cons.

      Now on the issue of F2FS it seems to have been reported upstream for a while now: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1261175. You can install f2fs-tools but if Ubuntu doesn’t let you pick it, it won’t be useful.

      We’re planning to rewrite the keyboard selection in Ubiquity and Ubuntu is moving towards a new toolkit which we’re not really interested in, so I’m not sure whether we’ll stick with Ubiquity or not in Mint 21. If we rollout our own installer this is the kind of things we could work on. As it is right now we’d want to rely on d-i adding support first.

      Regarding the kernels I understand, as I said before, we’ll ship an EDGE ISO with 5.11 as soon as proprietary support for it in 20.4 is stable.

   7. Hi Francisco

      You can install later kernels yourself I am on the 5.11 series as much better support for my new hardware, using the instructions here
      https://www.fosslinux.com/7167/how-to-upgrade-linux-kernel-in-ubuntu-and-linux-mint.htm

      . But install at your own risk!! As Clem says, 5.4 is the safest unless you really need to upgrade. My system has been fine but yours may not be

   8. If Linux Mint chooses to not stick with Ubiquity, does that also mean LM will finally use its own separate ESP folder and boot menu entry? I’m not very familiar with these deep system level stuff, but right now, when I have to boot into LM, the boot entry in the UEFI says ubuntu and so does the folder in my ESP. I think it’d be great if those things don’t have to say ubuntu anymore because it might become confusing if the user happens to have a dual-boot setup with Ubuntu.

   9. No that’s different. This would require patching grub, potentially also getting a signature approved with MS.

   10. If you are planning to rewrite your own installer, it would be better to work with Debian rather than Ubuntu. So, the bugs would be more easily solved.

3. Why is the Office package version 6.4.7.2 while there is version 7.1.3.2 available?

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   1. I’m also wondering why VLC Player is always 2 or 3 versions behind.

4. I like where you are going with the update notifications but not all updates are equal some are very low priority and others more critical. For example, I always apply updates when I see a browser update as it is the main threat vector. I will update if something is marked as a security update too. If you haven’t maybe you could separate notifications for normal updates and security updates and even have it configurable to flag key applications. I would be annoyed if normal everyday updates were giving notifications but I want important updates to notify me right away.

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   1. It’s configurable. By default it only considers the presence of security updates.

5. Hi Clem and team. I hope that you can provide me with an answer to a question that I have had no luck finding an answer to in multiple searches in Google.

   I am currently copying many media files from one drive to another, but the copying process no longer allows for what it thinks are redundant files to be copied into separate directories without asking. I understand not wanting redundant files to reside within the same directory, but now I can’t simply copy/paste everything onto another drive and walk away and do something else while the process moves along.

   Is there a way to bypass Mint’s built-in redundancy checker so I don’t have to stare at the monitor in anticipation of yet another prompt about redundant files popping up, so I can actually do other things away from the computer while all of the files are being copied?

   Thank you for continuing to provide the best OS on the planet!

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   1. Hi Bob,

      This sounds like a bug to me, but please create an issue on github.com/linuxmint/nemo with screenshots and a test case (a zip of sample files would be perfect to try and reproduce this). We can then look into it.

   2. Is this on MATE? Is it happening in the beta or is it an existing issue? I’m not sure I exactly follow what you’re describing – if this is occurring in the beta, can you open an issue on the beta bug tracker: https://github.com/linuxmint/mint20.2-beta/issues along with some screenshots and/or steps to reproduce.

6. I am on 18.2 Sonya. What is the path to upgrade to 20.2 keeping my settings, apps and data?

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7. Looking forward to the 20.2 stable release.
   Great work again.

   If Mint is considering replacing Ubuntu’s Ubiquity installer, is it possible to have the option to automatically encrypt /boot to ensure the kernel, initial ramdisk and grub stage 2 etc. are encrypted. This would be a great security benefit and Mint USP!

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   1. Calamares should be used … so easy to use …. PLUS …. Option for F2FS modi ,,,

   2. “automatically encrypt”
      Please gawd no.
      If anything the option to encrypt any part or the whole drive should have a fairly strong warning against it. Seen too many posts about people getting into trouble because of it.

8. I eagerly await 20.2 Mate release…I am continually amazed at how fine a job Clem and his crew does on the Mint O/S.
   Mike signing out.

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9. I haven’t been able to comment on this because some watchdog-thing on Linux Mint Blog’s side always gives me an-error-message, but I-hope it will go through this time.

   While I understand the reasoning behind turning Linux Mint’s Update-Manager into more a nagware than a software, at the same time I understand one of the benefits of GNU+Linux (as posted by Spatry and other Linux users), the system will not pester-you about updating, and that YOU update when YOU want-to.
   That being said, I have *never*-had-a-problem with just—the-orange-dot, and I hope it stays that way; that being said, I wish that there was a way to turn the nagware notifications completely-off*, an option I haven’t seen happening yet. *(and the Update-Manager being how it is in all Linux-Mint versions from version 16 to version 20.1).

   All I have seen so far, based on the screenshots, are options to change how-frequently the pop-up notifications happen. What I want is there to be ZERO popups (like how there are presently), and for there to be a THIRD option added to the popup-notification thingy: “Turn Off popup notifications”.

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   1. If you think you might apply at least one notification in the next three months then just set the notifications for 90 days and you won’t see any notifications. If you think you won’t apply any updates for the next three months then disable your Update Manager, it’s using your battery/RAM/bandwidth for no good reason.

      If you have a very good reason to run this software continuously in the background but to never install any updates, then please do tell us why, and use the following command to disable notifications: “gsettings set com.linuxmint.updates tracker-disable-notifications true”

   2. Actually Clem what I do (because I have been noticing this happening ever since Linux Mint version 16), is that as soon as Mint finishes booting up, I left click on the Update Manager shield icon to open up the Update Manager, regardless of whether or not there’s a orange dot on it, and I then click on “refresh updates” to check for any updates. And if there’s any available updates, i immediately click “install updates” (as you know, all abailable updates, by default, are already-selected).

      I’ve had experiences in the past where the shield icon has no orange dot but as soon as i click “refresh” in the Update-Manager several available updates appear.
      This still happens to me in Mint 20.1 Cinnamon 64 bit.

      I didnt know that the Update Manager shield icon was always hogging the RAM/bandwidth/battery. I thought it was just “there”, like the clock or the sound-volume icon or the WiFi icon.

      Me personally, what i would like, and my sister has commented to me that she does too, and 20 people i know that all use Mint have told me the same thing, is that they would like the option/choice/ability to remove all the nagware notifications, but KEEP the orange dot indicator thing on the Shield icon indicating visually that there’s a new update, but not HAGGLING the user to do something about it: the system we have had between Mint 16 and Mint 20.1

   3. I’m having a very serious problem with Sucuri. It won’t post anything i say.

      Anyway,
      What i do is that, as soon as Mint boots up, i open the update manager and click “refresh” to check for updates, regardless of whether or not the shield icon has a orange dot on it. And whatever updates appear get installed immediately.

      I have been doing it this way ever since Mint 16, which was when i first started using Linux as my daily driver OS and chose Mint as the distro.

      What i would like is the option and ability and function and feature to disable the nagware on screen popup notifications and have just the orange dot in the shield icon.

   4. My replies STILL haven’t been posted. I’ll try again.

      What I do is that, as soon as Linux-Mint boots up, I go to the “Update Manager” and click “refresh”, regardless of whether-or-not there already were updates available and displayed. There have been times when there are updates available but they don’t appear in the Update Manager window until I click “refresh”.

      I always install any available updates as soon as I see them.

      The indicator-icon on the Update Manager shield in the taskbar has always been enough; I don’t need nagware notifications.

      What I’m asking for is a way to turn the darn nagware-notifications off (i.e. as-in, turn off the popup-onscreen nagware notifications).

      That’s all.

10. I wish that there was a way to turn completely off the popup notifications. I like how it has been in Linux Mint since version 16 all the way up to version 20.1. I don’t see any option, in the screenshot of the notification settings, a way to turn the popup-notifications about Updates completely off. And I also don’t see either, in the popup-notification itself, a button that says “Turn Off popup-notification messages”. I wish that the developers could add this.
    I like and prefer having just the notification on the shield-icon and that’s it, like it has been ever since my first time using Linux Mint (which was version 16 Petra “Cinnamon” edition).

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    1. Hi Elaine,

       Please check Ricardo’s comment above for an answer.

    2. Ah, sorry I just realized you were the same person 🙂

    3. Actually Clem she’s my sister and is having the same issue on her Macbook laptop some twenty thousand miles away in Florida, wheras I’m in Texas right now. (Yes i know the “20,000 miles” measurement probably isnt the correct distance).