Linux Mint 21: New substructure and, above all, changes in detail

Linux Mint has released version 21. Almost eight months after the release of Linux Mint 20.3, a version of Linux Mint is available for the first time that uses the Ubuntu 22.04 substructure instead of Ubuntu 20.04. The changes are correspondingly extensive: The core of the distribution is Linux 5.15. Although this is no longer brand new, it is at least the latest kernel from the Linux developers with long-term support – and of course much more up-to-date than the kernel 5.4 that was last available for Linux Mint 20.3, if you didn’t want to use the Linux Mint Edge images.

The kernel 5.15 is supported by a number of updated basic system configuration tools, all of which Linux Mint 21 adopts from Ubuntu 22.04. The developers make it clear that this basis will remain that of Linux Mint, at least for the next two years. Like Ubuntu 22.04, the distribution officially enjoys support until 2027 – even if long support periods are usually less important for desktop systems than in the server room.

Changes to the desktop

The changes in the Cinnamon desktop environment are quite extensive. As before, this uses its own window manager in the form of Muffin, which is a fork of the window management mother of the GNOME Shell. However, the Mint developers, who are also responsible for Cinnamon, have subjected Cinnamon 5.4 to Mint 21 Muffin for a complete rebase. Not only is Muffin’s codebase much more similar to Mutter’s than before, but it’s now also much easier for developers to integrate patches for Mutter into Muffin. This should speed up development in the future. To achieve this goal, the Mint developers have also cooperated with the GNOME developers and officially passed many of the patches that previously only existed in Muffin towards Mother.

This brings with it a few practical changes: The configuration dialog for the graphical user interface no longer worked in Cinnamon 5.4 and is also giving way to a complete rewrite. In everyday life, the growing together of mother and muffin should primarily affect users through better performance and better graphics.

New bluetooth manager

In addition to the basic system, there are changes to a number of components that Linux Mint traditionally enhances Ubuntu with. A changing of the guard is taking place for one of these components: the previous tool for Bluetooth configuration, Blueberry, is being replaced by the new development, Blueman. The developers justify the rewrite with the fact that Blueman is not based on the Bluetooth configurator of the GNOME desktop and therefore works the same (well) in all Mint editions. Instead, Blueberry directly leverages the Bluetooth stack for Linux, Bluez.

The developers also took the opportunity to revamp the tray icon of their Bluetooth application: this not only shows significantly more details in Mint 21 than in the predecessor, but also enables quick and uncomplicated access to several functions.

Thumbnailers: Easily create your own icons

Besides Blueman, another app called Thumbnailers is also making its debut in Linux Mint 21. It solves a problem that the developers of the distribution, like many others, have been struggling with for years and creates thumbnail icons for many file types such as AppImages or MP3 files. However, users should not expect too much automation, because the automatic query for album covers from services such as Gracenote is explicitly not part of the solution’s range of functions. The thumbnailer is designed by its developers exclusively to create and save a thumbnail for a file using an image file.

Even modern systems with fast flash memory sometimes get under load and become slow when performing tasks such as installing updates in the background. Previously, Mint users had to use separate tools such as process monitors or even use the command line to identify such background tasks. If the relevant processes are active in the background, Linux Mint will in future display them as an icon with interlocking gears in the desktop’s systray.

Hardly any improvements in the editions

In addition, Linux Mint 21 offers various detailed improvements in its editions. As usual, the system comes in variants with the MATE desktop, the Cinnamon desktop, and Xfce. The latter edition naturally comes with the fewest innovations, because Linux Mint 20.3 Xfce was already included in the latest version 4.16 and hardly anything has changed in Xfce since then. The changes in the MATE edition are also moderate, because hardly anything has changed in MATE since Mint 20.3.

Downloads are ready

As usual, there are several ways to Linux Mint 21. If you already use a system based on Linux Mint 20.3, the developers promise a seamless update using the system’s own tools. Anyone considering a fresh installation of Mint 21 will find the appropriate ISO images with Cinnnamon, MATE and Xfce on the project’s website.