Linux Mint 18.2, a new version of the popular Linux distribution, has been released to the public on July 2, 2017 in Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce and KDE flavors.
The new Linux Mint 18.2 is a long term support release which means that it will be supported until 2021 (as opposed to regular releases which are not supported that long).
The new version introduces new features and changes to existing features. These differ somewhat depending on the Linux Mint edition -- Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce or KDE.
Linux Mint 18.2
Cinnamon
- Cinnamon 3.4 improves the handling of desktop icons. Icons can be aligned on a grid, sorted in various ways (by size, name, type, or date), and icon sizes may be changed as well. Additionally, settings daemon plugins run in individual processes in the release which makes it easier to identify the cause of high memory or CPU usage. Also, crashes of one plugin won't affect the rest.
- Cinnamon Spices are add-ons that you can add to the desktop. The team reworked the Spices website, moved maintenance to GitHub, and the Linux Mint team is involved directly now in regards to Cinnamon spices. Also, lots of updates for spices.
KDE
- KDE Plasma 5.8 desktop environment. This new release ships with features such as a new login screen design, right-to-left language support, improved applets, improved shortcuts, and more.
MATE
- Update to MATE 1.18. MATE Desktop is GTK3+ only. It features a lot of changes, including better accessibility support, desktop actions, lock screen wallpaper customization, copy queue and pausing support, and more.
Xfce
- Upgraded the Whisker application menu to version 1.7.2. This introduces features such as editing launchers from the context menu, support for desktop actions, faster application loading, and more.
- The xfwm4 window manager was updated to verison 4.13. It supports vsync to prevent screen tearing, and scaled cursor support when zooming.
All Linux Mint 18.2 editions
- Blueberry -- the Bluetooth configuration tool ships with a new user interface, stack switcher and new settings. It supports OBEX file transfers by default, and it is now possible to change the Bluetooth name of the device.
- Xed -- the text editor features side and bottom bars that you can show or hide with a click in the new interface. Other improvements include making word wrap more accessible, regular expressions support in search, tab switching using the mouse wheel, and line sorting.
- Xplayer -- The media player interface is more compact in the release as the status bar has been removed, and all controls moved to a single line. While subtitle files are loaded automatically now by the player, subtitles are not shown by default anymore. These can be toggled using the S key while the player interface is active. A tap on L cycles through the available audio tracks.
- Pix -- The image viewer Pix comes with improved keyboard and mouse shortcut improvements that should make them more accessible to users. Also, support for dark themes has been improved.
- Xreader -- The document reader comes with redesigned toolbars and sidebars. New buttons are available in the toolbar to switch view modes. The new Xreader release supports touchscreens as well now, and dark themes are supported on top of all that.
- Xviewer -- ships with a redesigned interface, and support for dark themes.
- Update Manager -- lots of work went into improving the built-in Update Manager. Changes include refined policies and level definitions for better filtering: "Most updates are now level 2. Application updates which do not impact the OS are level 1. Toolkits and desktop environments or libraries which affect multiple applications are level 3. Kernels and sensitive system updates are level 4. Level 5 is extremely rare and not used by default. This level is dedicated to flagging dangerous or broken updates.". Also, more kernel information, support for Ubuntu HWE kernels, new keyboard shortcuts and menu options, and support for update automation through the use of scripts, routines or cron jobs.
- LightDM -- Linux Mint 18.2 has a new login screen that uses the LightDM display manager in combination with the "Slick greeter and the LightDM settings configuration tool". It offers support for Nvidia prime and multiple monitors, and support for guest sessions.
- Other changes -- Linux Mint 18.2 ships with new background images, a locked root account (by default, use sudo -i to become root with your own password), support for markauto and markmanual in Apt, and updates to the Linux firmware and kernel.
Resources
- Linux Mint Cinnamon release notes
- Linux Mint KDE release notes
- Linux Mint MATE release notes
- Linux Mint xfce release notes
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Thanks for the "heads up" Martin. :)
Linux Mint MATE is my preferred distro.
Linux mint MATE is great on low memory systems
It's a shame that it's not released with an updated kernel. 4.4 is really old now, especially since it lacks AMD Ryzen CPU series support (4.10) and won't be supporting AMD Vega GPUs (4.12). Additionally, 4.12 brings performance improvements - Budget Fair Queuing - for systems with traditional HDDs and security enhancements, such as KASLR.
It's a real shame not to incorporate at least 4.10 into a new release, 4.12 is probably too fresh for an LTS based system.
4.10 is there. You need to go to the update manager and tell it you want it.
Mint works fine on the 4.12 (it's much faster than 4.10) - use UKUU to install it:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ukuu
I would turn off the RC kernels
uname -r
4.12.0-041200-generic
lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: LinuxMint
Description: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Release: 18.2
Codename: sonya
"Linux mint MATE is great on low memory systems"
Um, no.
XFCE and LXDE (and what about LXQT on the horizon?)
Those are two. You can go pure openbox or fluxbox too if you know what you're doin'! And there are other small WM's to use instead of DE's.
LM 18.0 and 18.1's default kernel 4.4 is supported by Ubuntu's Canonical Inc until 2021. LM 18.2's default kernel 4.8 is nearing EOL. Kernel 4.9 is supported until 2019 by Linuxdotorg.
....... All other stable sub kernels are supported with bug/security fixes for only a few months by Linuxdotorg.
So, unless you need newer Linux kernels for newer hardware, you should use the LTS kernel 4.4 for Ubuntu-based distros, eg LM 18.x. In the case of LM 18.2, revert to kernel 4.4 - if computer is stable under kernel 4.4, then remove kernel 4.8 through Update Manager.
i have cinnamon, but rarely use it as a double boot. question: can i update to the new version thru the updater in my cinnamon? or do i have to download and start over? thanks from a novice...Clas
@clasof56 You can upgrade from Linux Mint 18.1 to 18.2 via Update Manager. Check Mint website.
Great news, thanks!
Any recommendations for which version to load to replace Vista on a laptop for a non-techie relative?
Primary usage is to watch Youtube videos of paint classes and some YAHOO email.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/mint
Also, Cinnamon is full-featured and uses 3D hardware acceleration = requires higher specs and a good graphics card. The other flavours use only 2D.
@ Alan Robertson July 5, 2017 at 12:25 am
"sudo add-apt-repository ppa"
Nope. Not one single ppa, not even once, no, never. I don't trust any of them.
If it's too difficult for a particular distro to offer the latest kernel in their normal repos then they can suck it, I'll find a different distro that does - without adding untrusted ppa's.
Really? Not even one? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
I also like Linux mint mate, it's good for the lower end systems.