The release of the Linux Mint 20.3 distribution is presented, which continues the development of the branch based on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS package base. The distribution is fully compatible with Ubuntu, but differs significantly in the approach to organizing the user interface and the selection of applications used by default. Linux Mint developers provide a desktop environment that follows the classic canons of desktop organization, which is more familiar to users who do not accept the new GNOME 3 interface building methods. DVD builds based on MATE 1.26 (2.1 GB), Cinnamon 5.2 shells ( 2.1 GB) and Xfce 4.16 (2 GB). Provided the ability to upgrade from Linux Mint 20, 20.1 and 20.2 to version 20.3. Linux Mint 20 is classified as a Long Term Support (LTS) release, with updates for it until 2025.
Main changes in Linux Mint 20.2 (MATE, Cinnamon, Xfce):
- The composition includes a new release of the Cinnamon 5.2 desktop environment, the design and organization of work in which continues the development of the ideas of GNOME 2 - the user is offered a desktop and a panel with a menu, a quick launch area, a list of open windows and a system tray with running applets. Cinnamon is based on GTK and GNOME 3 technologies. The project evolves the GNOME Shell and the Mutter window manager to provide a GNOME 2-style environment with a more modern look and elements from the GNOME Shell, complementing the classic desktop experience. The Xfce and MATE desktop editions ship with Xfce 4.16 and MATE 1.26.
Cinnamon 5.2 introduces a new calendar-scheduling applet that supports multiple calendars and synchronization with external calendars using evolution-data-server (eg GNOME Calendar, Thunderbird and Google Calendar).
Added an operation confirmation dialog displayed when trying to delete a panel. In the menu for all applications, the display of symbolic icons is implemented and application buttons are hidden by default. Simplified animation effects. New settings have been added to disable scrolling in the desktop switching interface, hide the counter in the notification applet, and remove checkmarks in the window list. Improved support for NVIDIA Optimus technology.
- Modernized themes. Rounded window corners. In the window titles, the size of the window control buttons has been increased and additional padding around the icons has been added to make it easier to hit when clicked. Shadow rendering has been redesigned to unify the appearance of windows, regardless of application-side (CSD) or server-side rendering.
- The Mint-X theme has improved the display of applications with separate dark interfaces in light-themed environments. Celluloid, Xviewer, Pix, Hypnotix and GNOME terminal applications have a dark theme enabled by default. If you need to return the light theme in the settings of the specified applications, a light and dark theme switch has been implemented. The style of the notification block in applications has been optimized.
- The Nemo file manager has the ability to automatically rename files if their names conflict with other files when copying. Fixed an issue with clearing the clipboard when the Nemo process ended. Improved the appearance of the toolbar.
- The use of colors for highlighting active elements has been revised (accent): in order not to visually clog the interface with distracting color inserts on some widgets, such as toolbar buttons and menus, gray color has been used as the base color (the conspicuous highlighting of the element has been preserved in sliders, switches and window close button). Also removed the dark gray highlighting of the sidebar in the file manager.
- Instead of two different themes for dark and light headings, the Mint-Y theme has a common theme that dynamically changes color depending on the selected mode. Removed support for a combo theme that combines dark titles with light windows. By default, a light panel is proposed (in Mint-X it is left dark) and a new set of emblems is added to be shown on icons. For those who are not satisfied with the changes in the design, the Mint-Y-Legacy theme has been prepared, with which you can save the old look.
- We continued to improve applications developed as part of the X-Apps initiative, aimed at unifying the software environment in editions of Linux Mint based on different desktops. X-Apps uses modern technologies (GTK3 for HiDPI support, gsettings, etc.) but retains traditional interface elements such as toolbars and menus. Among such applications are Xed text editor, Pix photo manager, Xreader document viewer, Xviewer image viewer.
- The Thingy document manager has been added to the X-Apps suite of applications, with which you can quickly return to recently viewed or favorite documents, as well as visually track how many pages have been read.
- The interface of the Hypnotix IPTV player has been redesigned, which now supports a dark theme, a new set of country flag images is proposed, Xtream API support is implemented (in addition to M3U and local playlists), a new function for searching TV channels, movies and series has been added.
- A search function has been added to sticky notes, the appearance of the notes has been redesigned (the title is built into the note itself), and a menu has been added to change the font size.
- The image viewer Xviewer implements automatic adjustment of the image to the height or width of the window.
- Correct support for Japanese Manga comics has been added to the Xreader PDF viewer (when Right-to-left mode is selected, the direction of the cursor keys is inverted). Stopped showing the toolbar in full screen mode.
- Added the ability to switch between tabs using the Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab combinations in the Xed text editor. Added an option to hide menus in Xed and Xreader (hidden menu appears when Alt key is pressed).
- A new column has been added to the web application manager to indicate which browser will be used to open the application.
- To conserve battery power and reduce resource consumption, system reporting is now run once per day instead of once per hour. Added a new report to check for filesystem merging (usrmerge) - by default, merging is performed for new installations of Linux Mint 20.3 and 20.2, but is not applied when starting the upgrade process.
- Improved support for printing and scanning documents. HPLIP has been updated to version 3.21.8 to support new HP printers and scanners. New releases of the ipp-usb and sane-airscan packages are also backported to the lineup.
- Added the ability to turn Bluetooth on and off via the system tray menu.
- The Flatpak toolkit has been updated to version 1.12.
Source: opennet.ru