The popular Linux Mint distro is out of the BETA testing, so it is possible to upgrade your computer to version 19.2 of the OS. Here are some details.
Advertisеment
The Linux Mint 19.2 'Tina' release will be supported until 2023. It is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
This version comes with the following DE:
- Cinnamon 4.2 (check out What's new in Cinnamon 4.2)
- MATE 1.22
- XFCE 4.12
Linux Mint 19.2 uses the Linux kernel 4.15.
System requirements:
- 1GB RAM (2GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
- 15GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
- 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).
Notes:
- The 64-bit ISO can boot with BIOS or UEFI.
- The 32-bit ISO can only boot with BIOS.
- The 64-bit ISO is recommended for all modern computers (Almost all computers sold since 2007 are equipped with 64-bit processors).
What's new in Linux Mint 19.2
Nemo: Pinning items
The Cinnamon file manager, Nemo, now allows pinning files and folders to the top of the file list. This a convenient way to access your important documents faster.
Nemo: Conditional actions
When you right-click a file, you see the actions you can perform on it. Until now these actions could only be generic. Starting with Nemo 4.2, actions can implement their own external condition. Now actions can use scripts or external commands to target specific files under specific conditions.
Generic actions work as follows. When you right-click a picture, you can choose the “Set as Wallpaper” action. This action targets all pictures files. No matter what file you select, if it’s a picture file, you’ll see this action.
Conditional actions: If you right-click an .mkv which is larger than 4GB, the context menu can show a “Split it” command which doesn't appear for smaller files. If you select a video which audio is encoded as DTS, the right-click context menu may show “Convert DTS audio to AC3”. And so on.
In future releases developers are going to assess the performance costs of shipping a multitude of actions. With Nemo 4.2, actions can predict whether they’re needed or not way better than they could ever do in the past, and that will allow action creators to make the right-click menu in the file manager one of the handiest tools in Cinnamon.
Cinnamon menu
Cinnamon is faster and snappier than before. It uses less RAM and it loads faster. Some of these improvements come from the DocInfo and Appsys reviews, some come from the Muffin window manager, and some come from the work done on the application menu. The are covered here:
Cinnamon 4.2 Desktop Environment is out
Beside the performance improvements the application menu now identifies and distinguishes duplicates. If two applications have the same name, the menu will show more information about them.
By default, the application menu shows the Xed app simply as “Text Editor”. If you install Gedit, you no longer end up with two “Text Editor” entries. Instead, you’ll see “Text Editor (Xed)” and “Text Editor (Gedit)”.
The same goes for Flatpaks, if you install a Flatpak app package that you already have installed via the package manager, the menu will distinguish between the two to let you know which one is the one from the repositories and which one is the Flatpak.
Scrollbar settings
A new option allows disable the annoying overlay scrollbars feature that makes them disappear on mouse leave.
Xapps
Pix, along with the text editor, the document reader, the video player and the image viewer were reviewed and support was added to ensure users could use the traditional Ctrl+Q and Ctrl+W keyboard shortcuts.
In the document reader preferences, a zoom selector can now be added to the toolbar.
Other changes include
- New kernel management options in Update Manager: The Update Manager now shows how long kernels are supported, can bulk remove old kernels, and more.
- In the automation preferences of Update Manager, you can make it automatically remove kernels which are no longer needed.
- A new notification will appear when a new version of Update Manager is available.
- Software Manager can download missing GPG keys, can scan for duplicate sources and remove them.
- A new “Boot Repair” tool to fix boot issues.
- Performance and pairing improvements made to the Blueberry Bluetooth applet.
- Traditionally, new wallpapers and theme improvements.
Check out the release notes:
- Cinnamon Edition Release Notes
- MATE Edition Release Notes
- XFCE Edition Release Notes
The download links can be found here:
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!
Advertisеment
This updated version is very good. I was facing some issue on my iPhone previously. It was asking for verification again and again. I couldn’t solve this and later I have switched to Linux.