News

We’ve a lot of news this month. Before getting started and talking about what we’ve been working on, I’d like to thank all the people who helped us. More than 300 people donate to us every month and more so than the financial support this gives us, it’s also a sign of appreciation and happiness from our users and that really boosts our confidence. We also rely on a strong network of sponsors and partners and it’s a real pleasure to work in these conditions and with that level of support. So to all of you who are involved in helping us like that, I’d like to send a very big thank you.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to relay two old pieces of news from our partners.

In August, CompuLab completed the transition to Mint 17.2. New Mintbox 2 and Mintbox Mini units now ship with Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon edition.

And in February, HELLOTUX started shipping Linux Mint sweaters.

Apologies to CompuLab and HELLOTUX for covering this information so late.

“Rosa”, the codename for Linux Mint 17.3 was recently announced, and many new features were implemented in preparation for its release.

On top of the improvements which were mentioned last month, Cinnamon 2.8 will introduce a visual workspace switcher applet and a better sound applet:

MATE 1.12 received a lot of attention and will feature the following changes:

Better touchpad support (including natural scrolling, and middle-click emulation on three finger clicks)

Better session management (including screensaver inhibition on media playback with VLC, Totem etc..)

Better support for multiple monitors

Better display settings (using output names and a more explicit UI and letting you set the primary monitor)

Model/Vendor information in the power applet (so you can distinguish between multiple devices using batteries)

HiDPI support was improved for HTML themes in MDM. To take an example, on a 13″ Macbook Pro with a native resolution of 2560×1600, MDM used to blindly apply a 2x scale ratio and the login screen looked slightly too big (1280×800). It now works towards an “ideal” DPI value instead. In this case it applies a 1.3 scale ratio and the login screen ends up looking much nicer in what looks like 1969×1230.

The detection of HDMI TVs was also much improved. HiDPI would kick in by mistake on TVs which didn’t report their screen size correctly. That was fixed and some of these fixes will also be ported towards Cinnamon.

MATE and Xfce users will receive great window management improvements:

Better support for Compiz

Support for Compton and OpenBox

The ability to switch between various window managers

Although the Xfce edition will still use Xfwm4, it is likely to ship with Compton installed by default. On some computers, this compositing manager is known to reduce screen-tearing, and switching to it will be a breeze.



Last but not least, we worked on servers and mirrors. On the server side, extra.linuxmint.com was clustered and is now served by 2 separate servers. Repositories were also tuned to let apt-get know when files were last-modified. Although this is quite a small detail, it means two consecutive calls to apt-get update no longer re-download the same information (that information is tiny in size but it all adds up). We’re hoping this will improve response times and download speed on the main repository.

Linux Mint also benefits from a network of 68 repository mirrors and we’d like the OS to take advantage of that. Changes in the installer and in the Update Manager were planned and cool new improvements were added to the Software Sources tool:

Mirrors closer to you are now tested first (mirrors in your country first, then mirrors in neighbour countries, then mirrors in your part of the World and eventually mirrors in your continent)

Mirrors are tested one by one and their speed is much more meaningful than before

Mirrors are tested to check if they’re up-to-date and can be filtered out from the list

This was just implemented in the last few days. We’ll post more details about this soon on Segfault and we’ll probably make a package available for people to test these features before they land in Linux Mint 17.3.

Last month’s poll:

Thanks for taking part in last month’s poll. We got close to 2,000 votes and we have a better idea of what you think of Segfault. It looks like many people don’t or didn’t know about it, but that people who did were quite happy with it. In the comments sections people also asked for more articles.

We started writing more often and covering more news on the development of Linux Mint. And going forward, we’ll try to promote the Segfault blog a little bit more.

Poll of the month:

Do you play most of your games on Linux Mint? No, I don't really play games

No, mostly in Windows

No, mostly on consoles

No, mostly on my phone

Well, mostly in my web browser

Yes, mostly in Steam

Yes, but non-native games mostly (via wine, emulation or virtualization)

Yes, mostly open-source or native games outside of Steam View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Don’t hesitate to comment to let us know where you get your games from, where you play them, and what reasons (if any) are holding you from playing them in Linux Mint.

Also don’t hesitate to share your experience on gaming in the comments section, if you think there’s something we should do to improve things on our side, or even simply to share your experience with other users.

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

To become a sponsor or to see the full list of Linux Mint sponsors, please visit: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Donations in August:

A total of $7,889 were raised thanks to the generous contributions of 347 donors:

$375, Blue Ridge POS, LLC aka “Dewey”

$200, AP Style Studio

$159, Jean-luc V.

$112, Jacques J.

$112, Nathalie W.

$112, Andreas D.

$106 (8th donation), Hendrik S.

$106 (3rd donation), Rene V. D. H.

$106, Udo J.

$100, John P.

$100, Richard C.

$100, Henry N.

$100, Billy N.

$100, Richard R. S.

$100, Martin D.

$70, Glen P.

$67, Mark B.

$56, Jean B.

$56, Irénée P.

$56, Rosanna & Alex

$56, Régis B.

$53, Pertti P.

$53, Clément K.

$53, Daniele G.

$50 (64th donation), Matthew M.

$50 (7th donation), Yves L. aka “amadeus128”

$50 (4th donation), Paul L.

$50 (3rd donation), Robert S.

$50 (2nd donation), Mark M.

$50 (2nd donation), Richard C.

$50 (2nd donation), Stephen Niedzielski

$50, Charles P.

$50, Stephen H.

$50, Harjit T.

$50, Henk van L.

$50, Jon Y.

$50, Cecil B.

$50, John D. O.

$50, Anthony B.

$50, Ronald P.

$50, Jean-Francois R. – N0H1C

$50, Danny C.

$50, James B.

$50, Robert B.

$50, Lim C. B.

$50, Adam H.

$50, Vytas B.

$50, Robert E. H.

$50, David H. W.

$48, fourcultures

$45 (2nd donation), Tim V.

$45, Katica S.

$40, Donald M.

$40, Mallory T.

$40, Merritt D.

$40, Oblong Software Products

$39, Věroslav Olič

$34 (4th donation), David M.

$34, Jimi A.

$34, Hermann H.

$32 (66th donation), Olli K.

$32, Maurice M.

$32, Stefan M.

$32, Robert G.

$30 (17th donation), Wolfgang P.

$30 (5th donation), Brooke Dukes aka “BandonRandon”

$30 (3rd donation), Amanda H.

$30, Steve S.

$30, Chris S.

$30, David H.

$30, Patrick M.

$30, Michael M.

$30, Dinesh R.

$30, A wannabe cryptographer

$28, Weber Technics

$28, René D.

$28, Matoso, P

$28, Christian K.

$28, Martin K.

$26 (9th donation), Joachim M.

$26 (2nd donation), Heinrich Goebl

$26 (2nd donation), Gopal P.

$26, Andrew L.

$25 (47th donation), Ronald W.

$25 (8th donation), Jobs Near You aka “Find Jobs”

$25 (3rd donation), Nelson M.

$25 (2nd donation), John N.

$25 (2nd donation), Jeffrey B.

$25 (2nd donation), Nelson M.

$25, Edward F.

$25, Robert S.

$25, Jarle H.

$25, Scott M.

$25, Matthew P.

$25, Michael B.

$25, Lawrence D.

$25, Robert W.

$25, Vincent A.

$25, Charles B.

$23.81 (7th donation), Scott L.

$22 (6th donation), Ky LMDE

$22 (5th donation), Brendan M.

$22 (2nd donation), Ronan P.

$22, Tomaž S.

$22, David C.

$22, Philip P.

$22, Christian V.

$22, Stefan G.

$22, Benjamin F.

$22, Andreas K.

$22, Tobias S.

$22, Fabrice A.

$22, James C.

$22, Hermann W.

$22, Evie E.

$22, Markus B.

$21 (2nd donation), Zdzislaw P.

$21, Gary

$21, Peter S.

$21, Klaas T.

$21, Christian D.

$21, Klaus H.

$21, the.geremy

$21, Antti R.

$20 (6th donation), Curt Vaughan aka “curtvaughan ”

$20 (3rd donation), John C.

$20 (3rd donation), John B.

$20 (2nd donation), Henry W.

$20, C.w. R.

$20, Bruce M.

$20, Neil P.

$20, Фролов Г.

$20, Mike G.

$20, Steven W.

$20, Page IT Services

$20, Michael H.

$20, Juan G.

$20, Kenneth L.

$20, Mark M.

$20, VORIS&VORIS

$20, Rodney W.

$20, Kazzantra

$20, Cosmin-Robert R.

$20, Carlos L.

$20, Ryan D.

$20, Marc-andré M.

$20, David W.

$20, Sebastian D. L. aka “Sebadamus”

$20, Donald O.

$20, Stephen V.

$20, Kevin Y.

$17 (4th donation), Ib O. J.

$17 (2nd donation), Frédéric B.

$17, Marcus J.

$17, Савин А.

$17, Oliver S.

$17, Ralf Haeuser

$16 (2nd donation), Carlos N.

$16 (2nd donation), Stefan W.

$16, Jean-Yves C.

$16, Patrik J.

$16, George J.

$16, Graham S.

$16, Matīss J.

$15 (5th donation), Ian M.

$15 (5th donation), HJI aka “Hospital Jobs Inc”

$15 (4th donation), Howard B.

$15 (4th donation), Timothy C.

$15 (2nd donation), Edward G.

$15 (2nd donation), Derek R.

$15, Matthew H.

$15, Samuel M.

$13 (2nd donation), Federico T.

$12 (53th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”

$11 (21st donation), Mark W.

$11 (7th donation), Robert P.

$11 (5th donation), Stoyan

$11 (4th donation), Chris W.

$11 (4th donation), Queenvictoria

$11 (3rd donation), Robbieka

$11 (2nd donation), Marc S.

$11 (2nd donation), Mario Castro

$11 (2nd donation), Massimo C.

$11 (2nd donation), Tomi K.

$11 (2nd donation), Thorsten H.

$11 (2nd donation), Helmut P.

$11, Ismail G.

$11, Paolo V. S.

$11, Santino D.

$11, Fabiano

$11, Marc S.

$11, Kanthavel P.

$11, Jordi C. P.

$11, Ulrich B.

$11, Darren W.

$11, Meddy B. aka “o_be_one”

$11, Michał Ś.

$11, Andreas S.

$11, Nicola D. G.

$11, Jason S.

$11, Thomas L.

$11, Ideja marketing

$11, Paul S.

$11, Michael K. aka “Schwäbische Alb”

$11, Thomas L.

$11, Damiano T.

$11, Axel H.

$11, Marin M.

$11, Rebekka K.

$11, Gabriele B.

$10 (45th donation), Tsuguo S.

$10 (11th donation), Dan Jackson

$10 (10th donation), Kouji K.

$10 (7th donation), Libertad Tecnologica

$10 (5th donation), Michael H. aka “hikiboi1969”

$10 (5th donation), hellman$31337

$10 (4th donation), Richard C.

$10 (4th donation), Jannik T.

$10 (4th donation), Murat Kutluer

$10 (3rd donation), Jannik T.

$10 (2nd donation), Michał B.

$10 (2nd donation), Gary N.

$10 (2nd donation), Jiří J.

$10, Tom B.

$10, Debbie R.

$10, Cobber

$10, Corey W.

$10, ALPHA COMPUTER SOLUTIONS

$10, Gary N.

$10, Carlos V. M.

$10, Sandra W.

$10, Ricardo R.

$10, Mick Popov aka “KDV”

$10, Luciano A. C.

$10, Göran H.

$10, 6k8.co.uk

$10, Fabian B.

$10, Jack V.

$10, Kyle S.

$10, Fahd A.

$10, Olivier J.

$10, Jonathan R.

$10, Andrew H.

$10, Michel B.

$10, Food Recipes

$9 (5th donation), Jaime C. aka “Stop TTIP”

$8, Vidosava S.

$7.5, Giles Weaver

$7, Nicolas B.

$7, Lucas P.

$7, Rocco S.

$6 (6th donation), Radim aka “myself42”

$6, Frank G.

$6, Nikola K.

$6, Alan B.

$6, Johanna S.

$6, Laurent C.

$6, Olindo Pindaro

$6, Craig Z.

$6, Elvedin G.

$6, Florian G.

$6, Christian Zanchetta aka “Fiscet”

$5 (13th donation), Crusader

$5 (12th donation), Crusader

$5 (11th donation), frisky

$5 (11th donation), Crusader

$5 (11th donation), Leafs

$5 (5th donation), Graham A.

$5 (4th donation), Mauricio Hernández aka “Wicho”

$5 (3rd donation), Petri C. aka “Yalidev”

$5 (2nd donation), Wayne C.

$5 (2nd donation), Jeldert P.

$5 (2nd donation), Michael B.

$5 (2nd donation), Palaniappan C.

$5 (2nd donation), Salionov O.

$5 (2nd donation), Jason G.

$5 (2nd donation), Juwon L.

$5 (2nd donation), Michael C.

$5 (2nd donation), Gregory F.

$5 (2nd donation), Joachim S.

$5, Olaf B.

$5, Fabrizio M.

$5, Deven A.

$5, John H.

$5, Miguel D. R. M.

$5, Angelo D. V.

$5, Thomas D.

$5, Gordan S.

$5, Mattias E.

$5, William P.

$5, Alan G.

$5, Marc B.

$5, Andres P.

$5, Christopher A.

$5, Chuck Norris

$5, Arianne A.

$5, Ross W.

$5, Gerardo R.

$5, Aaron K.

$5, Johnny A.

$5, Dieter L.

$5, Michael H.

$5, Basil C. aka “blc”

$5, Anders Å.

$5, Pavel S.

$5, Anonymous Donor

$5, Markus S.

$5, Rodrigo G.

$5, Benjamin B.

$5, Sebastian P. O.

$4.81 (2nd donation), Andrew K.

$4, Elad Hen aka “eladhen”

$4, Lubos S.

$3 (8th donation), RoDi – Sprava IT

$3 (5th donation), Dan Å.

$3 (3rd donation), Marcin S aka “KotFryc”

$3 (3rd donation), Jacqueem S. aka “Go Live Lively”

$3 (2nd donation), Marko V.

$3, 李 梓.

$3, Ashot N.

$3, Бобков Д.

$3, Matthias S.

$3, Andrzej Z.

$3, Luca B.

$2.75, Jacques T.

$2.68, David B. aka “JohnBobSmith”

$2.5, Dennis Schotmeijer

$26.72 from 20 smaller donations

If you want to help Linux Mint with a donation, please visit http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php