Introduction

Update Pack 6 was released as the “latest” update pack today.  If you’re not using Linux Mint Debian, please ignore this post.

If you experience issues or if you’re going through the update at the moment, don’t hesitate to connect to the IRC chatroom (irc.spotchat.org, #linuxmint-debian)

How to upgrade

1. Make sure your mirror is up-to-date

It is not safe to upgrade any package unless your mirror points to UP6

Here is the current status of the LMDE mirrors:

  • UP6:
    • http://debian.linuxmint.com/
    • http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/
    • http://debian.lth.se/lmde/
    • http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/
    • http://lmde-mirror.gwendallebihan.net/
    • http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/
    • http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/
    • http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-debian/
    • http://mirror.metrocast.net/linuxmint-debian/

To select another mirror:

  • Make sure “mint-debian-mirrors” is installed
  • Open a terminal and run the following command: mint-choose-debian-mirror

2. Check your APT sources

  1. In the Update Manager, click on the “Update Pack Info” button
  2. Make sure “Your system configuration” shows up as green and doesn’t show any warnings or errors.
  3. If you see a warning or an error, follow the instructions given and repeat the process until they’re gone.

3. Read about the Update Pack

In the “Update Pack Info” window of the Update Manager, make sure to read all the information related to Update Pack 6. Some of it might be irrelevant to you, but it will only take you a minute and it might save you hours.

4. Upgrade the packages

When you’re ready and you know all that there is to know, press the “Install Updates” button.

During the update you’ll be asked a few things. One is quite important.. the new kernel will ask you where to install Grub. Answer with the location of your current Grub menu (which on most systems is “/dev/sda“).

FAQ

Will LMDE get new ISO images with Update Pack 6?

Yes, we’re planning to release LMDE Update Pack 6 for the following editions in January 2013:

  • Cinnamon
  • MATE

The following OEM installation images are now available:

Reminder: OEM images are for computer vendors and manufacturers. They allow Linux Mint to be “pre-installed” on a machine which is then used by another person than the one who performed the installation. After an OEM installation, the computer is set in such a way that the next reboot features a small setup screen where the new user/customer has the ability to choose his/her username, password, keyboard layout and locale.

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

 

Platinum Sponsors:

Blue Systems - Netrunner

Gold Sponsors:

Opera

Dedicated Hosting Server *

Silver Sponsors:

R1Soft

Bronze Sponsors:

ThinkPenguin.com

Vault Networks *

AYKsolutions Server & Cloud Hosting

7L Networks Toronto Colocation *

Brucey99

 

Community Sponsors:

To become a sponsor or see the full list of Linux Mint sponsors, please visit: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Donations:

$4959 were raised thanks to the generous contributions of 242 donors: http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php

  • $124.52 (2nd donation), Christian M.
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  • $2.49, Tomas V.
  • $17.49 from 14 smaller donations

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 3377 (1st)
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Events:

Developer of the month:

Each month we feature one developer and explain his contributions to the community. Development is a lot of fun and it doesn’t take much to get started. If you’re tempted to join the team, don’t hesitate to follow our development on http://github.com/linuxmint and come and chat with the developers at #linuxmint-dev (irc.spotchat.org).

This month’s “developer of the month” is…. well, we’ve got 2!

  • Will Rouesnel (wrouesnel) for his attention to detail
  • Michael Webster (mtwebster ), again, for working so hard on Nemo

Will joined us this month and immediately started helping us by looking at the various projects we had to see if he could contribute improvements. He authored a couple of commits on Muffin, Cinnamon and Nemo and if you’re running Linux Mint 14, you probably noticed the improvements he made to the Mint-X theme.

Theme legibility improvement by Will Rouesnel

 

As for Michael, it’s the second time he gets the title of “developer of the month”, and it’s still for the same reason: His outstanding work on Nemo.

Both Cinnamon and Nemo entered the next release cycle in terms of development (i.e. they’re getting a lot of new features in preparation for Mint 15 and are now considered “unstable”). Michael recently added space indicators into the sidebar which allow you to quickly assess the amount of free space left on all your mounted devices.

Free space indicators in Nemo’s sidebar by Michael Webster

He’s also working on adding features which are available in Caja and missing in Nemo (sidebar selection combo, zoom buttons, dedicated path bar).

News and summary:

  • Many thanks to our sponsors, partners and donors. As always we received a fantastic amount of support from you!
  • We’re back in a situation where we control our environment and we’re able to improve incrementally. Linux Mint 13 was an excellent release and its LTS support lasts until 2017. Linux Mint 14 brought 6 months of development and numerous improvements. The feedback was really good, and whether people’s hardware work better with one or the other, we now rely on two really strong releases both featuring the latest MATE and Cinnamon environments.
  • Development started ahead of schedule on Mint 15. Cinnamon and Nemo in particular already received a lot of improvements.
  • We’re also ahead of schedule on Linux Mint 14 KDE Edition and Linux Mint 14 Xfce Edition. They both passed QA and were approved for an RC release. They should be announced in the coming days.
  • In LMDE, Update Pack 6 is almost ready to enter the “incoming” repository. The packaging for Firefox and Thunderbird was automated so LMDE users should receive updates for these two applications more often than before.
  • Going forward, LMDE ISOs will be released in two versions: MATE and Cinnamon. The decision was taken not to maintain a KDE version of LMDE and to stop maintaining the Xfce version. This was a painful decision to make considering the quality of LMDE Xfce and unofficial LMDE KDE, but one that made sense for Linux Mint since LMDE Xfce represented only 4% of the Linux Mint audience. This is also consistent with our strategy to focus on what we do best, to do less and do it better and to invest less time in maintaining editions and more time in developing the core technology that they use. It was a tough call at the time when Linux Mint lost its Fluxbox and LXDE editions. They were great but they only appealed to a minority of our users and we can see the benefits of this decision now, we can release all our editions and switch to focusing entirely on the development of the next iteration much faster in our release cycle. Whether it’s Cinnamon, MDM, the Software Manager, the Mint tools, the LMDE live-installer or even new projects such as a Driver Manager or R&D plans related to the installation and/or base underneath Linux Mint, development is extremely important to us.