{"id":3144,"date":"2016-10-28T12:31:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T11:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.linuxmint.com\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2016-10-28T12:31:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T11:31:58","slug":"monthly-news-october-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.linuxmint.com\/?p=3144","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News – October 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to all the people who sent us donations and to all our sponsors us for funding our project.<\/p>\n

Many new features and improvements were developed since the last release. We’re now just days away from feature-freeze, trying to squeeze one last thing here and there, before wrapping things up and focusing on the new release.<\/p>\n

New sponsors<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’d also like to thank and welcome 3CX<\/a> and Acunetix<\/a> as our new sponsors.<\/p>\n

3CX is a software-based, open standard, IP PBX that offers complete unified communications features, out of the box.<\/p>\n

\"3CX<\/a><\/p>\n

Acunetix specializes in web audit and web application security.<\/p>\n

\"Acunetix\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Linux Mint 18.1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Linux Mint 18.1 was given its official codename today. It will be called “Serena” and it should receive its new repositories in the coming days.<\/p>\n

MATE 1.16 is out already and Cinnamon 3.2 is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

Linux Mint 18.1 should be released in November\/December 2016 and it will be supported until 2021.<\/p>\n

Upgrades from Linux Mint 18 to Linux Mint 18.1 will be handled by the Update Manager. They will be both safe and easy to perform.<\/p>\n

Some of the new features…<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can’t show you everything and I can’t really go into the details here, so I’ll just show you a few cool things which landed already.<\/p>\n

One of the most visible changes in Cinnamon 3.2 is the removal of “box pointers”. Here’s a video taken by Joseph showing the new menus in action:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.linuxmint.com\/upload\/2016\/10\/cinn-menus4.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

As you can see, applet and desklet menus look different than before. They lost that gap they previously had with the panel or the desklet, and that distinctive pointy link which they inherited from GNOME Shell.<\/p>\n

When we worked on Plasma 5 for the KDE edition of Linux Mint 18 we were impressed by how polished their menus looked. So we decided to redesign our menus, get rid of box pointers and re-implement the way menus appear in Cinnamon.<\/p>\n

We’re still tuning animations and working on borders, positions and gaps but we already know the end result will make Cinnamon look more polished than before.<\/p>\n

The new screensaver looks like this:<\/p>\n

\"new_screensaver\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s much lighter and responsive than before and it shows media controls when multimedia is playing, so you don’t need to unlock the computer to mute it, to change the volume or to switch to the next song.<\/p>\n

In addition to showing you mirrors based on your location, the Software Sources tool now supports “worldwide” mirrors. These mirrors are anycast IP global mirrors, i.e. they have servers in different regions of the World and redirect your requests to the one that is closest to you.<\/p>\n

\"capture-du-2016-10-28-12-14-46\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Support for languages was also improved. Language pack detection now checks for spell checkers, fonts and a variety of other packages.<\/p>\n

The selection and installation of input methods was also completely redesigned. You now choose which language you’re interested in, and this installs support for typing in this language and recommends methods to select.<\/p>\n

\"capture-du-2016-10-28-12-15-40\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sponsorships:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Platinum Sponsors:<\/span>
\n\"Private<\/a>
\nGold Sponsors:
\n\"Linux<\/a>
\n\"3CX<\/a>
\nSilver Sponsors:
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n\"Acunetix\"<\/a>
\n\"Sucuri\"<\/a>
\nBronze Sponsors:
\n\"Vault<\/a>
\n\"AYKsolutions<\/a>
\n\"7L<\/a>
\n\"Goscomb\"<\/a>
\n\"BGASoft<\/a>
\n\"David<\/a>
\n\"Milton<\/a>
\n\"Selldy:<\/a>
\n\"Sysnova<\/a>Francois Edelin<\/td>\n		Community Sponsors:<\/p>\n