This is a quick announcement to let you know an “Edge” ISO image is now available for Linux Mint 21.3.
This image is made for people whose hardware is too new to boot the 5.15 LTS kernel included in Linux Mint 21.x. It ships with kernel 6.5 instead.
For information on Edge ISO images visit https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/edge.html.
Thank you, really needed this iso since i have issues with mediatek wireless. You are the best!
“This image is made for people whose hardware is too new to boot the 5.15 LTS kernel included in Linux Mint 21.x. It ships with kernel 6.5 instead.”
Finally, Linux Mint being dragged into the 21st century.
That’s funny because the Linux kernel 2.4 was the first released in the 21st century. 😛
Jokes aside, most people have hardware older than 3 years, so this release is just a stopgap for the rest, until Mint 22 comes out. It’s a small price to pay for using an LTS release, and I think it’s worth it.
It works, thank you. Will the same kernel version > 6.5 be in the new Mint 22 in July?
No, it will use kernel version 6.6, but that is really a question to ask of Ubuntu 24.04. At the moment Noble Numbat development is using kernel 6.6.0.
Thanks, I’m glad because my laptop Ryzen 5 4300U works better on kernel 6 than on kernel 5, there is a difference, e.g. in the screen brightness settings.
Can we expect EDGE ISOs for Linux Mint Xfce anytime soon? If it’s not part of the road map then it would be a fair question to ask whether Linux Mint is gradually turning into a Cinnamon support distro.
I’m also curious to know whether anyone at LM is doing any side by side feature comparisons between Xfce and Cinnamon. It would be interesting to publish it if it’s being done just to show how much more development Cinnamon needs in order to catch up with Xfce’s capabilities.
Linux Mint is a Cinnamon support distro. Always has been.
Xfce is niche, but I’m also interested in a comparison just to show how much more development Xfce needs in order to catch up with Cinnamon’s capabilities. Let me know as soon as you’re finished with the comparison.
Nice! Thank you!!
Is there any big difference of installing this ISO to installing 6.5 from “Kernels App”?
I have the same question. Isn’t this image just the same but with a different kernel?
Leonsk29, I know this ISO is important for people who are unable to properly install Mint on cut-edge HW using the default ISO/Kernel. And that releasing it shows that they’ve done a lot of testing to make sure it works properly, something that doesn’t happen with all the options form “Kernel App”, afaik. So I really appreciate this release!
My doubt is if all this testing apply indirectly to installing the Kernel 6.5 using a default installation. Or if the Edge ISO contains updated Libs to be more compatible to the newer kernel.
Because i want to try the newer version, once it may improve the performance on my HW, but I didn’t want to do a fresh install to do it, nor to install a kernel version that may cause incompatibility issues with my default install.
Hi Bruno
You can try the 6.5 kernel and if there are any issues for you then you can just go back to using the prior kernel from the grub menu. Or do a timeshift backup before installing the kernel, then you can just roll the whole OS back to the existing configuration if you wish. I have been using 6.5 since it appeared in the update manager kernel list and have had no issues at all
Thanks, Clem!
But why using 6.5 (which is EOL for three months now) instead of 6.6, which is LTS and still has almost 3 years of support? 🙂
Cheers!
Agreed, but Kernel 6.6 seems to be from end of last october, so I guess there was too little time between the main release and working on the edge version that may have already begun before that. So switching now might have delayed the edge iso even further… Maybe Clem and the team can share some insights?
Fortunately it’s super easy and quick in LM to switch Kernel versions, so this really should not affect you much if you full-upgrade on the fresh install anyway or switch the kernel manually right after. If the machine does not have network access, then I don’t see an EOL Kernel as much of a problem, unless something really does not work (like the network access!). But 6.5 should give you a much better headstart to troubleshoot this then, than the 5.x with the standard Mint, so I can’t complain 🙂
Because 6.5 is the current HWE kernel of the underlying Ubuntu distro. It is not EOL until 6.6 is rolled out shortly before or with Ubuntu 24.04 this April. What’s EOL is the 6.5 mainline kernel, which is different from 6.5 Ubuntu HWE.
Hi Clem i found a bug with my android phone connect with usb cable … i don’t know why i always have a mount error xf1 and if i use this connection 2/3 times a day i must have to reboot for transfer again my file …
sorry this is the real error /org/gtk/vfs/mount/1
staying with LMDE and Kernel 6.1 LTS. rocksolid OS. i dont see a need to change.
godbless clem.
I’m staying with LMDE6 also. Such an excellent user experience. Thanks Clem and team.
One minor issue: The weather panel app (mockturtl) has started misbehaving for me. It’s fine on startup, then after tens of minutes, it freezes with a circular arrow in the icon position. Doing reload from configuration page causes it to work again. Then again after tens of minutes, same failure. Anyone else having this problem?
This ISO was absolutely necessary. I purchased an ASUS F512DA brand new and installed 21.3. It all worked as expected except the touch pad was all jerky, no matter how I changed the settings. Spent hours trying to figure it out. I was right on the verge of returning it or ordering a new touch pad. I downloaded a Q4/OS ISO and live booted that, it worked!
Now that was close.
So, I gave Edge a shot on live boot and, yes, it worked. So then installed. I prefer Mate so installed that, then installed my theme pack. The last little irritation was that the courser changed styles between different applications. So I just changed from DMZ and all is good in the F512DA world.
The worse case would have had to install Q4/OS and install Mate which would have been okay, but instead I get to stay with Mint.