The Linux Mint team is announced the second major release of Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” in the Linux Mint 19 series on 2nd Aug, 2019.
Linux Mint 19.2 is a long term support release which is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver).
It will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.
Linux Mint 19.2 features with Cinnamon 4.2, Linux kernel 4.15, and Ubuntu 18.04 package base.
Mint Tools Improvements
Update Manager Improvements
The Update Manager now shows list of available kernels and how long these kernels are supported.
You no need to perform each action separately like install or remove of kernel instead you can queue them in one go.
Obsolete kernels can be removed right from the update manager window using “Remove Kernels” button.
Preferences were simplified and now use the newly introduced Xapp Gsettings widgets.
It allows us to blacklist a particular update for a package without blacklisting future versions of it.
Also, configure Update Manager to automatically remove kernels which are no longer needed.
The Update Manager interface was also improved and you can avail the following features.
- The list of updates refreshes automatically when the APT cache is changed.
- The info dialog updates in real time.
- A warning is shown if a reboot is required after a kernel update.
- A warning is shown 90 days before your version of Linux Mint reaches End-Of-Life.
- Infobars are shown together and easier to dismiss.
- A spinner page is shown while the Update Manager refreshes the list of updates.
- A dedicate page is used when a new version of the manager itself is available.
System Reports Improvements
The “System Reports” tool, mintreport has been revamped and good a new look and a better layout now. A new page was added that is showing the system information.
Other improvements
Two new buttons are available in the “Maintenance” section of the “Software Sources” configuration tool.
- “Add Missing Keys” scans your repositories and PPAs and downloads any key that might be missing.
- “Remove duplicate sources” finds and fixes duplicated definitions in your sources configuration.
- There are lot of improvements done on XApps
System improvements
“Boot-Repair” was added to the installation ISO images. It’s able to repair most boot configuration problems.
Cinnamon 4.2 Improvements
- Performance Improvements
- Cinnamon 4.2 uses significantly less RAM compared with before releases.
- Many optimizations were done in the Muffin window manager. These changes aim to reduce input lag and make windows feel smoother and lighter.
- The ability to switch VSYNC on or off no longer requires restarting Cinnamon. A combobox was added to the general preferences so you can choose your VSYNC method.
Menu Improvements
The application menu now identifies and distinguishes duplicates. Say for example, if you have installed two text editors in your system and the menu will show you “Text Editor (Xed)” and “Text Editor (Gedit)” with details when you searching.
It’s same for Flatpak as well. If you install the Flatpak of an application you already have, the menu now shows the difference between them, which one is installed from repo and which one is coming from flatpack.
Scrollbar settings
Overlay scrollbars looks can be changed through scrollbar settings under the System Settings if you don’t like overlay scrollbars.
Pinning files
Frequently used files and folders can be Pinned, which always show up on top.
Sharing files
- Samba support was improved in Cinnamon 4.2.
- After Samba is installed, the appropriate UFW firewall rules are automatically added. When a share is set up, permissions are checked not only on the directory itself but on its entire path, to make sure other users can access it.
Other improvements
- The screensaver now has an on-screen keyboard.
- A printer applet was added. Plug a printer and it should show up.
- Recent documents are now enabled by default.
- The option to choose your favorite PDF reader was added to “Preferred Applications”.
- The background slideshow applet shows the filename of the current background.
- The session manager was ported to gdbus.
- Inhibitors no longer prevent forced logouts.
- Natural scrolling can be configured for mice (it could only be configured for touchpads in the past).
- The screensaver fader was removed.
- A new option was added in the Privacy Settings to toggle Internet connectivity checking.
- The condition for nemo actions can now be an external script or command.
MATE 1.22 Improvements
Linux Mint 19.2 ships with MATE 1.22, which brings improved stability and bug fixes.
Here’s an overview of the new features in MATE 1.22
- Support for metacity-3 themes
- Better looking window and desktop switchers
- Better systemd support in the session manager
- Configurable delay for automatically started applications
- Desktop notifications for long-running file operations
- Support for new compression formats and the ability to pause/resume compression/decompression
- New key shortcuts for different types of media keys like Bluetooth, WiFi, touchpads, and global killswitches
Known Issues in Touchpad drivers
The default touchpad driver in this edition is “libinput” (provided by the xserver-xorg-input-libinput package).
If you experience problems with it, you can switch to another driver called “synaptics” (provided by the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package).
To know which driver is used by your input devices, run the following command:
grep -i "Using input driver" /var/log/Xorg.0.logWhen both drivers are installed, “synaptics” takes priority.
To switch to the “synaptics” driver, install it with the command:
apt install xserver-xorg-input-synapticsThen log out and log back in.
To go back to using “libinput”, simply remove the “synaptics” driver:
apt remove xserver-xorg-input-synapticsThen log out and log back in.
Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Download Link:
References:
- Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Cinnamon release notes
- Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” MATE release notes
- Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Xfce release notes
