Linux Mint 19 Tara is coming!
Are you a Linux lover? Then you already know everything about Linux Mint, right? It’s one of the most popular Linux distros all over the world. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu that offers blazing performance and power to any system. Currently, the latest release of Linux Mint is 18.3 and the indication towards Mint 19 is really strong. Recently, the features of Mint 19 has been released on the web. Let’s take a look what it will contain.
The codename
Each of Linux Mint’s versions come up with a codename. In the upcoming version, the codename will be “Tara”. The current one – v18.3 – is codenamed “Sylvia”.
What’s interesting is that Mint 19 will be based on Ubuntu LTS 18.04. The version isn’t released officially yet, but depending on the release date, we can estimate that the release of Mint 19 will be around May or June 2018. Unlike Ubuntu, Mint doesn’t follow any strict schedule, so nothing is confirmed except speculation.
Linux Mint 19 will be supported up to 2023.
Features
There are several ensured features available. Here are some of them.
- GTK 3.22 – GTK+ is one of the most popular desktop environments. GTK 3.22 is the most stable release of GTK 3 series with stable APIs and theming engines.
- No KDE – If you’re a KDE user, it’s a bad news. KDE desktop will no longer be available for Linux Mint. However, you can still have KDE on Mint 19, but unofficially.
- New “Welcome” screen – The welcome screen of Linux Mint is going to have a revamp.
- Better app loading – Currently, the XFCE and MATE edition of Mint loads apps faster. In the upcoming release, the devs target to provide better experience on Cinnamon as well. They’re also targeting to provide improved overall performance.
- Timeshift – Starting from Linux Mint 19, the main show will be the “Timeshift”. It was previously introduced with Linux Mint 18.3, but from now on, it’ll be the center of Linux Mint’s update strategy and communication.
Timeshift allows you take a snapshot of your system and if anything goes wrong, you can restore your computer to the latest snapshot. This feature greatly simplifies the maintenance of your system. This feature can ensure that you’re staying on a stable system all the time.
- Update Manager – Unlike the previous ones, the Update Manager will no longer promote selective and vigilance updates. Instead, it’ll rely on Timeshift to guarantee the stability of your system and will suggest applying all available updates.
The “mintupdate-tool” command is replaced with “mintupdate-cli”. This new command is much easier to use and provides better options. Kernel updates now depend on the package managers. So, you can easily remove the obsolete kernels by running “sudo apt autoremove” to get rid of those.
- Software Manager – The new Software Manager is also improved with a fine-tuned user interface, improved keyboard navigation and faster searching.
Mint 19 also comes up with built-in support for “.flatpakref” and “.flatpakrepo” for easier Flatpak software installation.
- Other improvements
- USB stick formatting now supports “exFAT” by default.
- Cinnamon 3.8, Mate 1.20 and Xfce 4.12 as desktop environments
- “Software Sources” can show the installed packages from PPAs.
- No data collection, unlike its core OS – Ubuntu. Another great reason for people sticking with Linux Mint.
Linux Mint is one of the best Linux distros of all time. With the Mint 19, users can expect a significant change in the system. Of course, the change is for the betterment of performance and usability. For the complete list of upcoming features and changes in the new version, check out the official announcements for Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon, Mate, and XFCE.
If you’re interested in getting the taste of new Linux Mint 19, you can get the latest ISO from here. However, these are TESTING ISO only, not for using as main system.
In the meantime, you can get busy by trying out some of the best Linux distros of 2018.
