Monthly News – September 2022 – The Linux Mint Blog

[ad_1]

Hello everyone,

I’d like to start the news with a big thank you to all the people who help us. Thanks you for your support and your donations.

Linux Mint 21.1

The next version of Linux Mint is planned for Christmas this year.

The codename for Linux Mint 21.1 is “Vera”.

User Guide

Documentation was written and added to the User Guide to cover the following topics:

How to reset a forgotten password
How to have Bluetooth disabled at boot
How to make a Windows live USB stick or a multiboot USB stick

Backports

Blueman was updated to version 2.3.2 in Linux Mint 21.

Timeshift 22.06.5 was backported towards Linux Mint 20.x.

The changes made to the Software Sources and the Driver Manager (detailed in the chapters below) will be ported towards Linux Mint 21.

Software Sources

Following the upstream deprecation of apt-key, the Software Sources received changes to rework the way it handles PPA keys.

When a PPA is added its key is now only accepted for the PPA itself, not globally for all APT Sources.

Driver Manager

A lot of work went into improving the Driver Manager.

A dummy hardware device, dummy packages with exotic dependencies and a test mode were added so we could easily troubleshoot a variety of different scenarios.

We made the manager run in user mode so you no longer need a password to launch it.

Debconf is now properly supported. This was an issue for NVIDIA drivers when SecureBoot is enabled. This scenario was fixed.

Packagekit was patched to receive the ability to purge packages (i.e. to not only remove them but to also remove their configuration files). The driver manager now purges removed drivers. This fixes a niche issue with NVIDIA drivers when switching between different versions of the drivers.

The user interface was improved.

Offline support was redesigned. The Driver Manager now shows a dedicated screen if you are offline:

And a different screen if it detects a live USB stick (or DVD):

The way it mounts the live USB stick and adds it as a source to install drivers is more robust than before. These improvements make installing Broadcom wireless drivers easier than before.

ISO Verification Tool

It is important to verify the integrity and authenticity of your ISO image before writing it to a stick. It’s also quite tedious and confusing. So we made it easier.

Right-click your ISO image, select “Verify” and voilà.

The technology at play here is still complex. We’re dealing with signatures and checksums but the verification tool does most of the work for you.

If your ISO is from Linux Mint or Ubuntu, the URLs to the SHA256sum and GPG files are automatically filled in. Just click the verify button.

The tool checks the authenticity of the checkum file and the integrity of the ISO.

USB Stick Formatter and ISO Image Writer

The ISO Image Writer features a “Verify” button which launches the verification tool.

If you try to write a Windows image, it no longer fails. It directs you to helpful documentation.

The user interfaces for the Stick formatter and the Image Writer were also improved.

Desktop Icons

The following desktop icons will be hidden by default in future releases:

Computer
Home
Trash
Network

Home is already featured as a panel launcher and a favorite in the main menu. Computer, Trash, Network aren’t used as often and are easily accessible in the File Manager.

Files placed in ~/Desktop will remain visible as well as mounted devices.

Of course this only affects the default settings. All of this is configurable.

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

Donations in August:

A total of $11,208 were raised thanks to the generous contributions of 452 donors:

$500, James N. $400 (3rd donation), Secret Adventures Kauai $200, Jeffrey E. $150 (12th donation), TM $125 (2nd donation), George C. $108, Raphael O. $108, Lukas S. $100 (7th donation), Roy Q. $100 (2nd donation), James Y. $100 (2nd donation), Don M. $100, Gene M. $100, James S. $96 (2nd donation), Timo M. $90 (2nd donation), Jan A. $75 (3rd donation), Ken D. V. $75, Gerald O. $69, Vojtech S. $60 (4th donation), David B. $54 (148th donation), Olli K. $54 (14th donation), Bjarne K. $54 (8th donation), Andreas M. $54 (7th donation), Roland H. $54 (6th donation), Rasmus A. $54 (4th donation), jjhd $54 (4th donation), CH $54 (3rd donation), Thomas R. $54 (2nd donation), Erik D. $54 (2nd donation), Andreas M. $54 (2nd donation), Heinrich H. $54 (2nd donation), Luca S. $54 (2nd donation), Marco van den Berg $54 (2nd donation), Christian N. $54, Siegfried S. $54, Jurgen Moriau aka “Moriromio” $54, Kai R. $54, Christine P. $54, Kenneth J. $54, Dario D. $54, Redkefy $54, Leszek U. $54, Klaus S. $50 (64th donation), Anthony C. aka “ciak” $50 (12th donation), Tomasz E. $50 (8th donation), Jeff S. $50 (6th donation), Ricky G. $50 (5th donation), Robert D. aka “MacDhai“ $50 (3rd donation), Cezary Z. $50 (3rd donation), Thomas B. $50 (3rd donation), Dean R. $50 (2nd donation), John S. $50 (2nd donation), StarGaze1 $50 (2nd donation), Ronald M. $50 (2nd donation), Lydia D. $50 (2nd donation), Robert S. $50, John M. $50, Matt S. $50, Robert L. $50, Pierre Jean E. $50, Jacob R. $50, Clark H. $50, Samuel C. $50, Michael H. $50, Soly T. $50, Willard P. $50, Mathew W. $50, Robert F. $40 (9th donation), Robert T. $40 (4th donation), SimpleASIC $38 (7th donation), Alexander M. $36 (26th donation), Ted S. $35 (12th donation), B. H. . $35 (4th donation), Ricardo M. $35 (2nd donation), Rodney M. $32, Alexander A. $30 (5th donation), Terry Phillips aka “Terryphi” $30 (2nd donation), Robert R. $30, Kyle N. $29 (3rd donation), Walter P. $28 (12th donation), Adam K. $27 (18th donation), John K. aka “jbrucek” $27 (2nd donation), Michael R. $27, Ilias G. $25 (19th donation), Linux Mint Sverige $25 (15th donation), George R. aka “Az4x4” $25 (9th donation), Richard N. $25 (7th donation), Robert S. $25 (4th donation), Andrew E. $25, Vernon S. $24 (2nd donation), Dr. S. K. $22 (28th donation), Peter E. $22 (21st donation), Denis D. $22 (12th donation), Dick B. aka “Dick” $22 (7th donation), Martin L. $22 (6th donation), Geoffrey Allgood $22 (6th donation), Keith M. $22 (5th donation), John Eady $22 (4th donation), Didier P. $22 (4th donation), Alexander H. $22 (3rd donation), Antonio D. $22 (3rd donation), Christian G. $22 (3rd donation), Anthony G M. $22 (3rd donation), Leon $22 (3rd donation), Ian K. $22 (3rd donation), Axel P. aka “Lukess “ $22 (2nd donation), Peter P. $22 (2nd donation), Pavlos G. $22 (2nd donation), Pierre B. $22 (2nd donation), Alexandra V. $22 (2nd donation), Peter M. $22 (2nd donation), Jerry O. $22 (2nd donation), Christian M. $22 (2nd donation), Elie’s Freehand Pipes aka “Elise Bosmans“ $22 (2nd donation), Jean-francois R. $22 (2nd donation), Claudio B. $22 (2nd donation), Cornelis V. $22 (2nd donation), Peter P. $22, Kevin S. $22, Marcus M. $22, Rene G. $22, Christoph M. $22, Benedikt L. $22, Karl G. $22, Urs N. $22, Philippe B. $22, Andreas S. $22, Simon A. $22, Matthias C. $22, Markus P. $22, Jadran D. $22, Peter W. $22, Jan C. $22, Weckler Medien $22, Ngoc-bang D. $22, Markus P. $22, Peter L. $22, John S. $22, Jean-loup P. $22, Tommaso M. $22, Kirill L. $20 (49th donation), Bryan F. $20 (40th donation), Stefan M. H. $20 (39th donation), Jim A. $20 (22nd donation), vagrantcow $20 (12th donation), Jon G. $20 (5th donation), Michael A C. $20 (5th donation), Tamer A. $20 (5th donation), Peter L. aka “Pedro“ $20 (4th donation), Allen S. $20 (4th donation), Gary M. $20 (4th donation), Paul K. $20 (3rd donation), Vitaliy R. $20 (3rd donation), G.M. $20 (3rd donation), William M. $20 (3rd donation), Brent P. $20 (3rd donation), Miles S. P. $20 (3rd donation), Marco Z. $20 (2nd donation), André G. $20 (2nd donation), Mohammad Shihabuddin K. $20 (2nd donation), Michael G. $20 (2nd donation), Srinivas K. $20 (2nd donation), Christopher P. $20 (2nd donation), Kirby B. $20 (2nd donation), Lance B $20, Tim W. $20, Russell M. $20, Michael W. $20, Glenda A. $20, James B. $20, Rudolf M. $20, Paul L. $20, Cesar Tadeu D. $20, Rex A. $20, Arron J. $20, Larry W. $20, Christopher F. $19 (73th donation), Johann J. $16 (66th donation), Andreas S. $16 (11th donation), Peter R. $16 (7th donation), Florian P. $16 (4th donation), Paulo Ribeiro $16 (4th donation), Brent F. $16 (3rd donation), Hans aka “Hans“ $16, Roger M. $16, Joan M. $15, Roger B. $15, Dianna R. $15, Anna K. $15, Virginia P. $15, Cleofe P. $14, Peggy S. $14, Karin K. $14, Teresa M. $14, Krystal A. $13, JB $13, Silas R. $12 (133th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca” $11 (39th donation), Francois-R L. $11 (29th donation), Daniel S. $11 (17th donation), Marko U. $11 (14th donation), José G. aka “picaso” $11 (12th donation), Christian B. $11 (11th donation), Alan B. $11 (9th donation), Adam P. $11 (9th donation), Vjeran B. $11 (8th donation), Bernhard L. $11 (7th donation), Tugaleres.com $11 (7th donation), Eduard L. $11 (6th donation), Karlheinz R. $11 (6th donation), René R. $11 (5th donation), Ivan Stamenov $11 (5th donation), Augusto B. $11 (5th donation), Iker P. M. $11 (4th donation), Denys G. $11 (3rd donation), Tino M. $11 (3rd donation), Miguel A. D. $11 (2nd donation), Jürgen S. $11 (2nd donation), Robin O. $11 (2nd donation), Giorgio V. $11 (2nd donation), Jan Holm J. $11 (2nd donation), Christian H. $11 (2nd donation), Jeremy E. $11 (2nd donation), Ante B. $11 (2nd donation), Benjamin L. aka “indivisual“ $11 (2nd donation), Alexander H. $11 (2nd donation), Emiel V. $11, Jochen M. $11, Cjc S. $11, Roberto B. $11, Richard G. $11, Rino F. $11, Hans-jürgen H. $11, Guillermo C. $11, Laurence B. $11, Tamas C. $11, Adrián C. $11, Jorge R. $11, Francis S. $11, José Luis V. $11, Dan-constantin C. $11, Sergio A. $11, Elena S. $11, Artto A. $11, Claude D. $11, Terje B. $11, Bastian H. $11, Marcel H. aka “gekketinus” $11, Ana Mafalda P. $11, Mika V. $11, Andreas Dubja aka “Andreas” $11, Mateusz K. $11, Carmine S. $11, Samuel B. $11, Jaap B. $11, Ewald L. $11, Hans D. $10 (78th donation), Thomas C. $10 (72th donation), Frank K. $10 (55th donation), Rick R. $10 (25th donation), Philip Woodward $10 (24th donation), Carpet Cleaning Winnipeg $10 (21st donation), Jan Miszura $10 (19th donation), Pawel M. $10 (14th donation), Minneapolis Commercial Cleaners $10 (14th donation), Minneapolis Towing and Roadside Assistance $10 (11th donation), Minneapolis Commercial Painting $10 (11th donation), Aimee W. $10 (10th donation), Jorge R. $10 (8th donation), Bathroom Remodel Kelowna $10 (8th donation), tigari electronice de unica folosinta $10 (4th donation), Organic CBD Gummies $10 (3rd donation), Peter S. $10 (3rd donation), Edward G. $10 (3rd donation), Dave S. $10 (2nd donation), platypus products $10 (2nd donation), Oleksii Y. $10 (2nd donation), Eric M. $10, Amit F. $10, zzzzzzzzz . $10, Charles F. $10, Steven W. $10, Shawn P. $10, Bryan P. $10, Juan Q. $10, Jason H. $10, Kirill K. $10, Pierre S. $10, Felippe S. $10, Shawn C. $10, Robert B. $8 (11th donation), Konstantin S. $6 (3rd donation), Vincent D. $6, James A. $5 (74th donation), Eugene T. $5 (61th donation), Bhavinder Jassar $5 (46th donation), William Menezes $5 (31st donation), Thomas R. $5 (21st donation), Kevin O. aka “Kev” $5 (20th donation), Teobaldo D. $5 (14th donation), Jürgen K. $5 (12th donation), Timo K. $5 (9th donation), Bruce M. $5 (8th donation), Jacob Buhl M. $5 (8th donation), Lucas DH $5 (8th donation), Martin K. $5 (5th donation), Sinisa B. $5 (3rd donation), Martin U. $5 (2nd donation), Maciej D. $5 (2nd donation), Paolo P. A. $5 (2nd donation), Isaías G. $5, Arturo L. $5, Vladimir R. $5, RDT1 $5, Dennis J. $4, Mateusz H. $4, Kent L. $3 (5th donation), Lucas Miller aka “lukmly013” $3 (4th donation), Pressure Washers Columbia $3 (2nd donation), Massimo Giancani aka “FortNhyver” $3, Ilya P. $3, Andrew S. $15 from 12 smaller donations