Many thanks to all of you for your donations and your amazing support.
Advertising
We’re using Google Adsense here on the blog and on the forums.
It came to our attention that the advertising platform had become much more intrusive than before.
We will take action to reduce the number and placement of ads on our website or failing that to remove them altogether.
I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Hexchat
Patrick Griffis (aka “Tingping”), known for his work on many open-source projects (GNOME, Flatpak, Gnome-MPV, Meson, etc.), announced the end of the Hexchat project:
I’ll take the opportunity to link to Patrick’s blog and commit for those of you who want to send him a donation or just thank him for his work:
- https://blog.tingping.se/donate/
- https://github.com/hexchat/hexchat.github.com/commit/55102fb15beaa0deac284475b2c1440dbcaef5fe
In Linux Mint, Hexchat has been the default IRC client since 2014.
Before that Linux Mint shipped with Xchat, which Hexchat was based on. I can’t remember the last time we shipped without an IRC client, if we ever did.
Going forward, since Hexchat is discontinued, we need to either remove it from the default selection or replace it with another application.
Hexchat has been rock solid but we’ve been thinking about replacing it for a couple of years.
We didn’t know it was going to be discontinued but we faced two growing issues with it.
It’s one of the very few remaining applications in our software selection which doesn’t scale on an HiDPI screen. It would have needed to migrate to GTK3. It was a lot of work for Hexchat and that never happened.
It’s also is a full-featured IRC client. IRC? Yes IRC. The open protocol which divides our community.
IRC
Some of you think IRC is extremely important, some of you think it’s archaic and some of you have never heard of it.
In the 90’s IRC was popular on UNIX terminals way before we had Linux, Windows 3.1 or the Internet at home. Just like email or the Web, it goes way back and it doesn’t belong to anybody. It’s an open protocol. Anyone can make an IRC server or an IRC client.
Discord is modern and easy to use but there’s only one Discord implementation. IRC is an open protocol. This is important because it creates tensions which we need to address.
Die-hard IRC users are very proud of this and look down on closed alternatives, and shall I say, rightly so.
Younger users which sometimes have been using Discord even before they moved to Linux expect chat programs to work a certain way and can also look down on IRC. And again, I’d be tempted to say rightly so.
IRC clients are made for IRC users. Users are expected to know what IRC is and how to use it.
People often wonder what Hexchat is when they see it in the menu and don’t understand what happens when they launch it. When they land in the support channel and ask “What is this?” they’re not always welcomed properly.
Jargonaut
There are IRC clients written in GTK3 which are HiDPI compatible, but replacing Hexchat with one of them doesn’t really solve our problem.
What Linux Mint needs, first and foremost, is a place for people to ask questions to other users.
An IRC client can provide that but it’s not dedicated to doing that. So with that in mind we started working on a new app called Jargonaut.
Jargonaut will be a dedicated app. It will do just that and do it better.
Although it uses the IRC, it won’t be developed as an IRC client. It will support pastebin/imgur via DND, uploading your system specifications, troubleshooting and many features which have nothing to do with IRC. Yet you won’t be able to join channels or perform common IRC commands.
Hexchat was a great IRC client which helped us make a relatively good support chat room. We’re hoping Jargonaut will help us make this chat room even better and much easier to use.
If you want to follow our work on this new app visit https://github.com/linuxmint/jargonaut.
Jargonaut is an XAPP so it’s designed to work on all Linux distributions and all desktop environments.
Note: It’s only a few days old so it’s currently using #minttest on irc.spotchat.org. It will eventually move to #jargonaut and a different server. Linux distributions will be able to set custom defaults via gsettings overrides. In Linux Mint we’re planning to make it connect to #linuxmint-help and #linuxmint-chat on Spotchat.
Sponsorships:
Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:
Gold Sponsors: Silver Sponsors:   |
Bronze Sponsors:         |
Donations in January:
A total of $18,326 were raised thanks to the generous contributions of 647 donors:
$300 (2nd donation), Kaori E.
$250 (2nd donation), James M.
$216 (2nd donation), Ralph J.
$216, Jan D.
$200, anonymous
$162 (4th donation), Wolfgang S.
$150, Christian T.
$108 (12th donation), Jack W. S. aka “kundalinijack”
$108 (3rd donation), Christof S.
$108 (2nd donation), E. V. S. .
$108 (2nd donation), Andrei M.
$108, Anthony H.
$108, Bas Vermulst aka “Bazz0847”
$108, Carsten F.
$108, Daniil S.
$108, Friedrich D.
$108, Marcel G. aka “spozzi99”
$108, Michael K.
$108, Romain Derocle
$108, Thomas L.
$107, Paul E.
$101 (2nd donation), D & M Cabot Pty Ltd
$100 (34th donation), Wolfgang P.
$100 (10th donation), John M.
$100 (8th donation), Jean P. R.
$100 (4th donation), David H.
$100 (2nd donation), Anthony G.
$100 (2nd donation), Clive Newstead
$100 (2nd donation), David J S.
$100 (2nd donation), Eric J.
$100 (2nd donation), Faisal Yousuf
$100 (2nd donation), Jeffrey L.
$100,
$100, Aleksandr G.
$100, Robert G.
$100, Steven E.
$100, Vojtech S.
$72, Miguel R.
$70 (4th donation), Mathieu C.
$70, Andrew Lamond
$65, bnther
$60 (11th donation), James L.
$60, Valued C.
$54 (16th donation), Bernard H.
$54 (10th donation), Roland H.
$54 (7th donation), Peter G.
$54 (6th donation), Eugenio B. aka “OdyArt”
$54 (6th donation), Giovanni D. S. aka “ChibiOS”
$54 (6th donation), Jean-luc W.
$54 (5th donation), Dominique P.
$54 (5th donation), Rosanna & Alex
$54 (5th donation), Thomas R.
$54 (4th donation), Eduard K.
$54 (3rd donation), @tiagoameller
$54 (3rd donation), AllanR
$54 (3rd donation), Guenter B.
$54 (3rd donation), John S.
$54 (3rd donation), Karl-heinz R.
$54 (3rd donation), Konrad S.
$54 (3rd donation), Peter G.
$54 (3rd donation), Rob B.
$54 (2nd donation), Albert-jozef P.
$54 (2nd donation), Alejandro M. A.
$54 (2nd donation), Christian G.
$54 (2nd donation), Karl G.
$54 (2nd donation), Leonhard G.
$54 (2nd donation), Martin K.
$54 (2nd donation), Roland D.J.
$54 (2nd donation), Siegfried S.
$54 (2nd donation), Wolfgang U.
$54, Alfred G.
$54, Andreas K.
$54, Christian P.
$54, Dieter P.
$54, Domagoj Ž.
$54, Erwin T.
$54, Gabriel A.
$54, Geoff P.
$54, Isa T.
$54, Joakim D.
$54, Jürgen M.
$54, Manfred H.
$54, Marc R.
$54, Martin K. aka “heavy-e”
$54, Mika M.
$54, Norbert T.
$54, Rene L.
$54, Stefan A.
$54, Til M.
$54, Trevor K.
$54, Winfried H.
$53 (5th donation), John Mc
$50 (80th donation), Anthony C. aka “ciak”
$50 (59th donation), Michael R.
$50 (22nd donation), George H.
$50 (14th donation), An L.
$50 (9th donation), Nasser Bader aka “VIRUS”
$50 (8th donation), Kyle S.
$50 (8th donation), Marty L.
$50 (7th donation), Don P.
$50 (7th donation), Michael C.
$50 (6th donation), L. H. .
$50 (6th donation), David H. W.
$50 (6th donation), David V.
$50 (6th donation), Dean R.
$50 (6th donation), Derek S. aka “Corky357”
$50 (6th donation), Harry Fine
$50 (5th donation), Gerard S.
$50 (5th donation), Herman B.
$50 (4th donation), Salomon G.
$50 (4th donation), Stuart C. D.
$50 (3rd donation), Mark K.
$50 (3rd donation), Media Dynamics, Inc.
$50 (3rd donation), Olivia C.
$50 (3rd donation), Peter C.
$50 (3rd donation), Stephen C.
$50 (2nd donation), Darryl E.
$50 (2nd donation), Edmund B.
$50 (2nd donation), Ehrhardt G.
$50 (2nd donation), Elizabeth L.
$50 (2nd donation), German Genaro R.
$50 (2nd donation), Tony Whelan
$50, Alford F.
$50, Andrew G.
$50, Arestor B.
$50, Chris M.
$50, David R S.
$50, dogbyte
$50, Gordon B.
$50, James B.
$50, James R.
$50, Jeffrey J.
$50, Jesse B.
$50, lpmdesigns
$50, Michael L.
$50, Raymond Young
$50, Robert M.
$50, Robert M.
$50, Robert W.
$50, SSR
$50, Thierry S.
$50, Thomas B.
$50, Timothy O.
$50, torstenvl
$50, W9OQI aka “Chip”
$44 (6th donation), Benjamin W.
$44 (2nd donation), Jorge Arturo V.
$43 (10th donation), Pavel B.
$40 (45th donation), Stefan M. H.
$40 (14th donation), Real F.
$40 (9th donation), Pablo L. aka “LAFO”
$40 (7th donation), Darin W.
$39 (2nd donation), René Z.
$38 (7th donation), Clifford H.
$36, Mark C.
$35 (6th donation), Ken S. aka “knucklehead”
$35 (2nd donation), Rodney M.
$32 (12th donation), Marc S.
$32 (9th donation), Tom S.
$32 (8th donation), Bobcam Computer Solutions aka “Rob”
$32 (6th donation), Wolfgang S.
$32 (5th donation), Gerardo A. M.
$32 (5th donation), Ralf W.
$32 (4th donation), Jürgen H.
$32 (4th donation), Luc F.
$32 (2nd donation), A R.
$32 (2nd donation), Fabrice D.
$32, adios aka “windows”
$32, Dominique Z.
$32, Florian M.
$30 (5th donation), Daniel T.
$30, David R.
$30, Jinnah M.
$30, John W.
$27 (23rd donation), Joachim M.
$27 (21st donation), John K. aka “jbrucek”
$27 (7th donation), Stoyan
$27 (4th donation), Wouter W.
$27, Marc B.
$27, Sabine M.
$26, Óscar R.
$25 (35th donation), Linux Mint Sverige
$25 (12th donation), Andrew Currie
$25 (9th donation), Thomas C.
$25 (9th donation), Timothy C.
$25 (5th donation), Chuck G.
$25 (4th donation), Patrick M.
$25 (3rd donation), Myron J.
$25 (2nd donation), Chaz C.
$25 (2nd donation), Logan C.
$25 (2nd donation), macglen
$25 (2nd donation), Maxime R.
$25, Al B.
$25, Eric C.
$25, Steve
$24, Joachim N.
$24, Natashe F.
$22 (44th donation), Peter E.
$22 (20th donation), Nigel B.
$22 (15th donation), Pentti T.
$22 (14th donation), Peter R.
$22 (10th donation), Gabriele Bandini aka “GiBi Gab”
$22 (10th donation), Stefan W.
$22 (8th donation), Eduard L.
$22 (8th donation), Florian G.
$22 (8th donation), Francis N.
$22 (7th donation), Alexander H.
$22 (7th donation), Cornelis V.
$22 (7th donation), Divoto
$22 (7th donation), Marek S. [LMDE SUPPORTER]
$22 (6th donation), Henrik Simonsen
$22 (6th donation), Rolf-Jürgen G.
$22 (6th donation), Thomas W.
$22 (5th donation), Gareth L.
$22 (5th donation), Giovanni M. aka “gmaggior”
$22 (5th donation), Martin O.
$22 (5th donation), Michael K.
$22 (5th donation), Rüdiger A.
$22 (5th donation), Soren ONeill
$22 (5th donation), Waldemar P. aka “valldek”
$22 (4th donation), Andreas Agoumis aka “IntCon”
$22 (4th donation), Andreas Z.
$22 (4th donation), Jan S.
$22 (4th donation), Maurizio Giacobbe aka “maurizioweb”
$22 (4th donation), Mike E.
$22 (3rd donation), Andrew W.
$22 (3rd donation), Bernard G.
$22 (3rd donation), Christian S.
$22 (3rd donation), Daniel K.
$22 (3rd donation), Francis D.
$22 (3rd donation), Gerhard K.
$22 (3rd donation), Henk V.
$22 (3rd donation), Jakub G.
$22 (3rd donation), Manfred H.
$22 (3rd donation), Michel C.
$22 (3rd donation), Michel W.
$22 (3rd donation), Nabil aka “Billy”
$22 (3rd donation), Richard H.
$22 (3rd donation), Sophie K.
$22 (3rd donation), Tobias B.
$22 (2nd donation), André K.
$22 (2nd donation), Branislav P.
$22 (2nd donation), Gerard Gerritsen.
$22 (2nd donation), Heikki L.
$22 (2nd donation), Herbert G.
$22 (2nd donation), Ines R.
$22 (2nd donation), Jason T.
$22 (2nd donation), John C.
$22 (2nd donation), Ludwig K.
$22 (2nd donation), Matthew D.
$22 (2nd donation), Michael P.
$22 (2nd donation), Pablo L.
$22 (2nd donation), Reinhold K.
$22 (2nd donation), Robert H.
$22 (2nd donation), Tamas C.
$22 (2nd donation), Trevor C.
$22,
$22, Adamczyk A.
$22, Alan M.
$22, Andreas M.
$22, Atelier Du Naturopathe
$22, Bernd H.
$22, Christian G.
$22, Christopher C.
$22, Daniel W.
$22, David V.
$22, Dirk R.
$22, Eriks K.
$22, Etienne G.
$22, Eugene G.
$22, Feike D.
$22, Frederik H.
$22, Friedemann S.
$22, Grzegorz O.
$22, Hans-joerg H.
$22, Horst F.
$22, Ivaylo M.
$22, John T.
$22, Juan L.
$22, Kurt H.
$22, Laura K.
$22, Luis A.
$22, Manfred Gehann aka “mdgmdg”
$22, Manfred H.
$22, Mara S.
$22, Marco A.
$22, Mark M.
$22, Martin B.
$22, Maurizio B.
$22, Mr S.
$22, Nejc Š.
$22, Nico L.
$22, Nicole S.
$22, Nigel M.
$22, Paolo B.
$22, Patrice W.
$22, Patrick F.
$22, Pietro L.
$22, Rainer B.
$22, Rocco C.
$22, Rosemary T.
$22, S. G.
$22, Sándor C.
$22, Stefan E.
$22, Stefan P.
$22, Thomas K.
$22, Thomas V.
$22, Thorsten R.
$22, Tim N.
$22, Ulrich M.
$22, Volker W.
$22, Wladimir B.
$21 (22nd donation), Ke C.
$21 (20th donation), François P.
$20 (20th donation), Aimee W.
$20 (13th donation), Joao Kodama
$20 (9th donation), Douglas W.
$20 (7th donation), Mark R.
$20 (6th donation), Andreas G.
$20 (6th donation), Stacey B.
$20 (6th donation), Vittorio F.
$20 (5th donation), Anonymous
$20 (5th donation), Gary D.
$20 (5th donation), Lawrence C.
$20 (5th donation), William C.
$20 (4th donation), Benoit R.
$20 (4th donation), Hans G. H.
$20 (4th donation), Hary A.
$20 (4th donation), Timothy P.
$20 (3rd donation), Alonzo J.
$20 (3rd donation), Andrew P.
$20 (3rd donation), Benoit L.
$20 (3rd donation), Chris N.
$20 (3rd donation), David N. B.
$20 (3rd donation), John H.
$20 (3rd donation), Lee R.
$20 (3rd donation), Matthew Gracie aka “Nethound”
$20 (3rd donation), Robin V.
$20 (2nd donation), Angelos S.
$20 (2nd donation), Antoni G.
$20 (2nd donation), David W.
$20 (2nd donation), Fear_of_Oneself
$20 (2nd donation), Hayden G. M.
$20 (2nd donation), James F.
$20 (2nd donation), James H.
$20 (2nd donation), Luc L.
$20 (2nd donation), Luke B
$20 (2nd donation), R Michael A.
$20 (2nd donation), Raymond F.
$20 (2nd donation), Teobaldo R.
$20, Anonymous
$20, Ariel H.
$20, Arthur J.
$20, Bradley P.
$20, Chris G.
$20, Craig K.
$20, Daniel D.
$20, Dante P.
$20, David .
$20, David K.
$20, David Michael D.
$20, Dennis D.
$20, Dom D. aka “WinterMute”
$20, Erik Ivey
$20, Gabriele W.
$20, Gary L.
$20, Gregor W.
$20, Harold N.
$20, James C.
$20, John O.
$20, Joshua P.
$20, Kim B.
$20, Kyle L.
$20, Luther P.
$20, Manuel G.
$20, Mark L.
$20, Mathilda B.
$20, Michael H.
$20, Mikhail M.
$20, Paul A.
$20, Pete D.
$20, Richard S.
$20, Robert H.
$20, Roger S.
$20, Ruby L.
$20, Russell P.
$20, Vincent P.
$20, Wayne M.
$16 (72th donation), Andreas S.
$16 (10th donation), Francois B. aka “Makoto”
$16 (5th donation), Elias B.
$16, Jacques G.
$16, Michael V.
$16, Simon M.
$15 (47th donation), Hristo Gatsinski
$15, Archisman P.
$15, Grace
$15, Terry P.
$14 (91th donation), Johann J.
$13 (8th donation), Theofanis-Emmanouil T.
$13, Giuseppe L.
$13, Roger R.
$12 (7th donation), Bengt Falke aka “Falke”
$12 (2nd donation), Attila C.
$11 (45th donation), Daniel S.
$11 (40th donation), Thomas R.
$11 (22nd donation), Tugaleres.com
$11 (20th donation), Eskild T
$11 (18th donation), Arvis Lācis aka “arvislacis”
$11 (17th donation), José G. aka “picaso”
$11 (16th donation), Marc V. K.
$11 (15th donation), Yves R. aka “Long_Time_User”
$11 (13th donation), Alan B.
$11 (12th donation), JCSenar – linuxirun.com
$11 (12th donation), Terry B.
$11 (11th donation), Florian U.
$11 (10th donation), Rupert B.
$11 (8th donation), Geoffrey Allgood
$11 (8th donation), Hans-Dieter S. aka “hadisch”
$11 (5th donation), Christophe C.
$11 (5th donation), Daniela K.
$11 (5th donation), Donatas Dainys
$11 (5th donation), Francisco F.
$11 (5th donation), Günter W.
$11 (5th donation), John T.
$11 (5th donation), Nikolay G.
$11 (4th donation), Leo F.
$11 (4th donation), Ernest T.
$11 (4th donation), Joerg B.
$11 (4th donation), John W.
$11 (4th donation), Marc
$11 (4th donation), Omar C. aka “kenoby75”
$11 (4th donation), Thomas L. aka “hensys”
$11 (4th donation), Thomas W.
$11 (3rd donation), Barna K.
$11 (3rd donation), BGEN
$11 (3rd donation), Carlos D.
$11 (3rd donation), Carsten P.
$11 (3rd donation), Günther H.
$11 (3rd donation), Harry W.
$11 (3rd donation), Iker L.
$11 (3rd donation), Jaroslav K.
$11 (3rd donation), Joel E.
$11 (3rd donation), Massimo C.
$11 (3rd donation), Mihai R.
$11 (3rd donation), Robert B.
$11 (3rd donation), Thomas S.
$11 (2nd donation), Agustín P.
$11 (2nd donation), Alberts S.
$11 (2nd donation), Armin
$11 (2nd donation), Balázs V.
$11 (2nd donation), Björn H.
$11 (2nd donation), Dfiler W.
$11 (2nd donation), Emilio G.
$11 (2nd donation), François B.
$11 (2nd donation), Giordano A.
$11 (2nd donation), Hans Joachim O.
$11 (2nd donation), Henk R.
$11 (2nd donation), Jan G.
$11 (2nd donation), Jörg K. aka “Jku”
$11 (2nd donation), Manfred H.
$11 (2nd donation), Marko U.
$11 (2nd donation), Oldrich B.
$11 (2nd donation), Peter W.
$11 (2nd donation), Robert L.
$11 (2nd donation), Roy R.
$11 (2nd donation), Thi B.
$11, Achim V.
$11, Alexander Dimitri H.
$11, Alfred V.
$11, Attila T.
$11, Bernhard C.
$11, Branimir D.
$11, Chris D.
$11, Cris van G.
$11, Cristian U.
$11, Daniel C.
$11, Daniel F.
$11, Edas P.
$11, Evaldas M.
$11, Florian R.
$11, Franco B.
$11, Frieder K.
$11, Gary W.
$11, Gonzalo C.
$11, Gustav H.
$11, Hans E.
$11, Ilmo Y.
$11, Ingo H.
$11, Jacques P.
$11, Jakub Š.
$11, Jean T.
$11, Jean-françois B.
$11, João R.
$11, Karolis K.
$11, Kaylen M.
$11, Leonhard P.
$11, Linus W.
$11, Mario N.
$11, Marko S.
$11, Michael A.
$11, Michael K.
$11, Michael S.
$11, Minh T.
$11, Ola P.
$11, Patrick B.
$11, Pedro P.
$11, Peter H.
$11, Philippe GM
$11, Sandesh P.
$11, Stefan P.
$11, Stefan W.
$11, Thomas B.
$11, Thomas L.
$11, Tomislav Marić aka “Tomy, 9A5ALL”
$11, Torsten W.
$10 (94th donation), Thomas C.
$10 (88th donation), Frank K.
$10 (41th donation), Philip Woodward
$10 (25th donation), Wilson G.
$10 (20th donation), Bruce M.
$10 (18th donation), Abdulkadir H. aka “Askari”
$10 (16th donation), Jorge R.
$10 (15th donation), Michel C.
$10 (8th donation), Allyn G.
$10 (8th donation), platypus products
$10 (7th donation), S. Falcão aka “S. Falcao”
$10 (7th donation), Thevirtua
$10 (7th donation), Wojciech S.
$10 (6th donation), redman
$10 (6th donation), Robert W.
$10 (5th donation), Alf-ivar O.
$10 (5th donation), Joseph C.
$10 (5th donation), Michał K. aka “PoldekPL”
$10 (4th donation), Alik M.
$10 (4th donation), Chamnong N.
$10 (4th donation), Jody M.
$10 (4th donation), Peers T.
$10 (3rd donation), Andrew D.
$10 (3rd donation), Joe K.
$10 (3rd donation), Kiril P.
$10 (3rd donation), Mark S.
$10 (3rd donation), Michael A.
$10 (3rd donation), Nicholas M.
$10 (3rd donation), Rimon K.
$10 (3rd donation), Vincent D.
$10 (2nd donation), Anton V.
$10 (2nd donation), David aka “smalldogclub”
$10 (2nd donation), Donald C.
$10 (2nd donation), Jeffery S.
$10 (2nd donation), John K.
$10 (2nd donation), Perry B.
$10 (2nd donation), Thomas S.
$10 (2nd donation), Vinícius Piazzi
$10, Alejandro R.
$10, Andrew M.
$10, Aris Joel J.
$10, Axel P.
$10, Ben M.
$10, Boris L.
$10, Christopher O.
$10, Cuauhtemoc T.
$10, Don A.
$10, Donald W.
$10, Hung T.
$10, Ian Hill
$10, J W.
$10, Jakub P.
$10, James M.
$10, James P.
$10, Jeff N.
$10, John P.
$10, Kamil Z.
$10, Kevin H.
$10, Leonel U.
$10, Mark C.
$10, Mayer S.
$10, Michael H.
$10, Przemyslaw P.
$10, Robert Z.
$10, Roger J.
$10, Roland E.
$10, Steve H.
$10, Winfield B.
$10, Yves D.
$9 (5th donation), Diego A. O.
$8 (6th donation), Dmitry N. aka “Dimex”
$6 (5th donation), Kostas K. aka “ELeoZz”
$6, Daniel T.
$6, Noah R.
$205 from 55 smaller donations
If you want to help Linux Mint with a donation, please visit https://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
Patrons:
Linux Mint is proudly supported by 1,008 patrons, for a sum of $3,455 per month.
To become a Linux Mint patron, please visit https://www.patreon.com/linux_mint
If you’re going to abolish a regular IRC client then why not switch the chat room to Matrix? Still open, but much easier to use.
Yes, it’s an option long-term, especially if we want users to be registered. Short-term we’ve already got Spotchat running and a team of IRC moderators. From their point of view this changes nothing, it just makes their job easier.
Does this mean that Jargonaut will be locked in into the Mint channels, or will it be possible to use Jargonaut for other IRC channels as well?
It will be locked in to specific channels. You can see it in the sidebar in the screenshot. In this example it’s configured to join two channels, one for questions and one for discussions. It’s something you’ll be able to override in gsettings but not something casual users will worry about.
Why not just allow jargonaut to connect to other IRC channels? Or at least the most important open source ones?
Regarding Mint Chat specifically, it could be possible to integrate Discord and/or other protocols automatically as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/nlw6iz/on_freenode_libera_and_the_rsysadmin_irc_channel/
I use hexchat a lot, and used freenode a ton, and now use libera an awful lot.
Also, I like to have a semi-transparent background in my chat on my compiz cube.
Thanks for your work as always. Any news on a Devuan based Mint yet? SystemD is such a giant mess.
I was a regular IRC user during its heyday, but going back to it now feels painful as IRC is missing features I take for granted in modern chat systems. I use matrix, though it does have its own issues. I’m curious to see Jargonaut in action.
You should use Matrix. If Jargonaut isn’t usable with others IRC channels, nobody will use it. It’s a waste of time.
Thanks for your work.
Having a chat application that allows chat only about Linux Mint seems to have two problems. First, it seems to be something of a wasted opportunity – since adding the wider functionality would not, I imagine, be that hard. Second, it seems inefficient, in that if a Mint user wants a proper chat client, then she will have to install something else – or, if she wants to retain the ‘Mint chat’, then something _additional_. All in all, the current proposal reminds me of a processor that has many physical cores but where some of those cores have been disabled in the factory (!) – though of course the analogy is imperfect.
I appreciate that ‘What Linux Mint needs, first and foremost, is a place for people to ask questions to other users.’ Yet, perhaps, over time, the (strangely-named?) ‘Jargonaut’ could get its functionality extended.
Yeah, I agree. Not including Libera and it’s host of upstream IRC chats is nonsensical.
I agree. You would have to learn 2 apps for the same thing, one for IRC and another one just for help.
jargonaut
noun
Someone who uses jargon excessively.
(According to wiktionary)
I mostly disagree. I remain unconvinced of any “missed opportunity”, however you are correct wider functionality is trivial. Relax, friend, its still alpha. Send the Team some feedback on the gits. The lack of an alternative irc client was reasoned by Top Dev in this blog post. Funnelling new users to proper irc channels is very efficient. Now, maybe you meant bloated, JN? The code looks very lean to me, elegant python.
I do not know what wiktionary is smoking, but a suffix “naut” shares root with nautical and implies one who navigates. Jargon implies occupational language. The name is an excellent choice. The Team won back the cool points they lost after naming Thingy.
Will Jargonaut give me admin privileges like mIRC used to when we were told to press Alt + F4? XD
(Oh boy those laughs back in the day when we just saw almost everyone dropping from the chat…)
Now being serious. I haven’t been using IRC for 20 years now and never used it for support on Linux Mint, I’ve always gone to the Forums. But the idea for a simple, quick and direct chat for those little (or not so little) questions that pop out every once in a while seems to be a very good idea to me. Once it goes full steam I might even drop there every once in a while to check on what folks are talking about.
Mint, once again making Linux move forward for the benefit of the whole ecosystem. Thanks Team!
Can Jami please be added as a default chat application?
More information can be found here:
https://jami.net/
Thank you
Oh wow that looks awesome! I’m going to check it out.
Hi Clem,
My query is regarding the general dependency on Ubuntu LTS and kernel that Linux mint depends upon.
Since many years, my observation is that Ubuntu LTS does not take the immediately preceding Linux LTS kernel. Instead it chooses whichever non-LTS kernel was released around Feb/March, and they go ahead.
Linux mint inherits the same from Ubuntu LTS. As a result, Linux mint ends up with non-LTS kernel versions. Linux Kernel LTS versions are generally supported for around 5 years, and non-LTS for 1 year. In such a scenario, how does the chosen non-LTS kernel maintenance happen between Ubuntu LTS and Linux mint? What extra overhead or risk or incovenience comes into picture here? What is the strategy chosen by Linux Mint team in this aspect? Please share.
I can only speak for Mint but let’s have a look at the current situation.
If we look upstream at the Linux project we see multiple LTS kernel series: 6.6, 6.1, 5.15, 5.10, 5.4.
Debian and Ubuntu tend to pick from these. Debian Stable has 6.1. Debian Testing (i.e. next-stable) has 6.6. Debian Bullseye (i.e. oldstable) has 5.10.
Ubuntu derives from Debian Sid (i.e. unstable) which uses non-LTS kernels but Focal and jammy are currently on 5.4 on 5.15.
Ubuntu LTS maintains two kernel series (LTS and HWE) but tends to follow HWE for its own point releases. I hope this makes sense… the term LTS is used for three different meanings here (linux-LTS, ubuntu-kernel-LTS, ubuntu-release-LTS..). Ubuntu is also quite liberal when it comes to its maintenance strategy. They backport a lot and quite often.
Noble picked kernel 6.8. By the time Noble is out that kernel will be stable, but it’s not LTS upstream. Does that mean noble will only provide an HWE path going forward? I don’t know. It wouldn’t really change much for Ubuntu since they already jump to HWE on their point releases.
It would impact us though if we wanted to stick to the strategy we used in Mint 20.x and 21.x. In these releases we kept using LTS for our point releases and provided EDGE ISOs for HWE. This decision was made to minimize regressions and guarantee compatibility with proprietary drivers at a time when HWE could hit the repositories without proper support for broadcom/nvidia/etc. Ubuntu significantly improved these aspects.
We also suffered from a lack of compatibility with newer hardware on 5.15. We had to prioritize EDGE releases and they don’t get the same exposure and/or editions as our main releases. I’d have been tempted to consider following HWE for Mint 22 if given the choice. Ubuntu might make that choice for us if they don’t provide an LTS kernel series.
I also trust Ubuntu on their commitment. No matter what strategy or kernel series they choose, they are committed. If they decide to use the latest stable kernels and change series often I’m not really worried. The fact that they use HWE for their LTS point release proves that they’re able to implement that strategy. We also have many tools in place against potential regressions, two kernels kept on updates, a system snapshot tool, point releases. On the one hand we need to worry about potential regressions.. but they’re potential. On the other hand 5.15 showed us it couldn’t support the market that long and that was tangible.
I hope that helps.
I think the new chat client is a great idea. Most users don’t even know what IRC is or all the other networks out there. This allows users who have little technical knowledge about IRC to drop in and ask a question or chat with other Mint users. IRC traffic has really dropped off since Libre.Chat split away from Freenode a couple years ago and most are channels filled with people idling. Serious IRC users can install a client of their choice that will support dark/light themes and Wayland.
I wholeheartedly agree Jargonaut is the best way forward as long as Mint wants to keep IRC channels in use and enable new users to use it without going nuts trying to figure it out before grapling with some other important issue that has brought them there!
It seems most of the “opportunity lost” comments may have missed the point where IRC is the primary feature in jargonaut but the dev team intends to extend it as much as needed as a distro support tool, not as a generic IRC chat tool (eg: by adding system specs and debug logs upload features)
on the other hand the tool may well have the default support channels available but also have an “add other IRC channels” button somewhere, and this may come in handy hunting for support for 3rd-party apps and components, etc
It’s amazing you care so much and actively seek solutions to problems that appear here and there. BTW could you make the default dark mode darker (but not pitch black ) and use a colorful default wallpaper? The black one dates back probably to 19.1 and while it looks nice, a breath of fresh air would be welcome.
The decision they have made seems very correct to me, although I do not rule out the suggestions of other colleagues, on the other hand my problem with Bluetooth continues, no matter which client I use, otherwise great work as always, thank you very much.
It’s a sad news about HexChat, the IRC client I use since I use Mint.
To be honest, it’s rare I have the need of support about Mint, but if I need it, I go to Forum, there’s an abundant of knowledge there, mostly I found solution from the forum.
What I meant is I’d love to have IRC client not just for Mint’s support, but also for a wider purpose.
Dear Clem, Nemo has problems decompressing folders that are downloaded from educational accounts on the one drive, in my case from my educational account at the university where I am a teacher. The problem is that when you unzip the folder, the file icons are not displayed correctly. The curious thing is that after a couple of hours or so the icons can already be displayed. When I download compressed folders from my free one drive account or from anywhere else, that problem does not occur. This problem does not exist in linux mint cinnamon 21 or previous versions, it all started from linux mint cinnamon 21.1 onwards. Momentarily as a solution I have changed Nemo to Thunar as the file manager where this problem does not occur. Despite this, I love Linux Mint Cinnamon and I continue using it with the hope that the problem will be resolved in the future, thank you very much to you and the team for your wonderful work.
It would be so nice to have a version of Mint-Debian for RPi5 🙂
Looking forward, it would be nice if Mint followed the visual esthetics of modern Gnome. Many apps it uses are from Gnome. Things like more spacing beetween elements or icons on the panel. Gnome is the most refined and stylish environment.
Well, jargonaut has a headerbar and a hidden menubar. You guys are winning, no need to rub it in our faces.
It may be, but try it, you’ll see it’s not as practical. If you still think it is, go use GNOME.
Ubuntu 24.04 Plans Switch to Thunderbird Snap from DEB
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/02/thunderbird-snap-in-ubuntu-24-04
Can you please share the plans for the email client in Linux Mint?
1. Build Thunderbird, like Chromium Web Browser.
2. Switch to the Thunderbird Flatpak version from Flathub (https://flathub.org/apps/org.mozilla.Thunderbird).
3. Switch to the Betterbird Flatpak version from Flathub (https://flathub.org/apps/eu.betterbird.Betterbird).
4. Ship Linux Mint without an email client.
5. Something else?
Thank you
As I saw on github, they will take the same approach they had with Chromium.
Personally, I don’t know why we need to have a replacement for a support chat — we already have the forums. No-one likes to repeat themselves, and those kindly enough to provide support in the forums are often (seemingly) annoyed when someone asks a support question without (seemingly) having searched the forum beforehand. Any support given in a chat is not as easily accessible and is basically lost, thus has to be repeated every time it comes up.
My point: why not improve the (search) functions of the forum instead? A forum is a much better repository of answers and doesn’t need immediacy. I don’t know what options phpBB may offer that are not (yet) implemented, but I still remember being told to use a search engine’s search-in-site function (e.g. +”xed” site:forums.linuxmint.com) if I want to get a good result, instead of the forum’s own search. Also, even though I understand the reasoning behind closing older threads, is there maybe a way to offer a link to a closed thread that can be grabbed more easily and then referenced?
I agree with your observations of redundancy. A forum, irc, the gits, this blog, a podcast, the community portal, and no less than four social media echo chambers are in my viewshed. Two of the social medias are just posts linking this blog. The community portal and forums appear neglected and hardly qualify as nonbiased support. phpbb is itself archaic and should be put to pasture. I agree redundancy spreads finite labor too thin. The answer, however, isn’t to saddle a dead horse.
When I query a seasoned software guru on their technical acquisitions, I find either “great mentor” or “great documentation”. Browse thru the mint forum yourself and you will see multiple references to the Arch or Gentoo wikis. It’s rather embarrassing more affluent distros with much larger userbases cannot match that quality EVEN FOR THEIR OWN SOFTWARE, yet meddle around on social media because…(really, why?). On the flip side, however, the jargonaut project could provide that mentorship, albeit even a little. It’s a grand idea that I hope solves many a users’ problem.
Hi, while I have never used Hexchat, I guess its younger brother will be a useful tool for others. But to be honest I’m here to suggest two other changes in LM. One, perhaps you could implement a tool that ships with MX Linux called, I believe, MX Snapshot. It is used to create a bootable iso. image of the current installation. The tool is already up for grabs… And the second change, please don’t stone me… Nemo is feature-packed but in my experience as well as for quite a few other guys on Internet it is very slow and a bit glitchy. Recently I’ve been using Thunar on Xfce and well, how smooth and headache-free it is… Its current version 4.18 has as many features as Nemo (dual pane, highlighting = Nemo’s stars for favourite files, bookmarks etc), even built-in preview of images and text files in its side panes. It works fast and creates thumbnails smoothly and neatly. And doesn’t recreate them again as Nemo does when the number of files exceeds 150-200. Perhaps a revamped Thunar might replace Nemo. I know Nemo is one of your cherished apps, so I almost dreaded to suggest the change. But still, Thunar really rocks.
it would be wonderful to have MX Snapshot
Wow, all of those other support channels / presences were not even on my radar. I’m only ever in the forums and the software reviews. I don’t like in-the-moment support, as any sort of chat function invariably will be. It’s not a permanent repository, there are too many problems that are NOT specific to just one person and should be captured for others somehow. It’s one thing that drives me nuts with Claws-Mail “support” — they’re still only using mailing lists — and get utterly frustrated if someone dares to ask a question that has been answered before – like 7 years or so. Of course you can use 3rd-party tools to search in the mailing list’s archive, but it’s cumbersome.
When shall we have kernel version 6.* as default shipped with a release?
Please don’t get me wrong and no offense meant but you might want to reconsider priorities. Please think of the Pareto principle: 80/20. There’s much to learn from that.
For a while now my impression has been that the Linux Mint development is rather focused on visuals and re-inventing wheels than progress and improvement in basic matters. There have been improvements here and there but at a cost. At the same time, usability has been taking hits and applications have become “dumber”. Please make use of what is available and invest development time into those projects.
And please don’t spread the existing community even more thin by adding yet another support channel. Especially not one that eats up resources like no other because existing knowledge vanishes into thin air instead of being recorded. As somebody who has provided people with support on a volunteer base for about 25 years I’d say this is going to be quite frustrating very quickly for everyone involved.
I’ve got the same feeling. There are more and more bugs in Cinnamon and Linux Mint that are never solved since years and no Debian backport of our bugreports. Bugreports are ignored or closed, it would be better to work on these bugs than adding things that are no so useful.
Saludos a todos, segun entiendo Jerganaut es un medio de soporte para los usuarios y nada mas. No entiendo porque quieren que se use Matrix u otros clientes, el unico fin es que sea usado para soporte y discusión. Solo debe ser usado para este fin, esto les da la libertad de elegir el cliente que mas les guste a ustedes, para el fin que le quieran dar.
S.O.S …..whatsapp en el escritorio me satura la RAM.
me desborda la RAM y tengo que reiniciar mint 21.3 cinamon.