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Linux Mint 18.1 'Serena' Is Here For Christmas (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the linux-build-drop dept.

Long time reader BrianFagioli writes: if you love Linux Mint and use it regularly, I have very good news -- version 18.1 'Serena' is finally here. There are two desktop environments from which to choose -- Cinnamon and Mate. Regardless of which version you choose, please know that it is based on Ubuntu 16.04, which offers long-term support (LTS). In other words, Linux Mint 18.1 will be supported until 2021. Linux Mint 18.1 comes with the updated Cinnamon 3.2 which looks to be wonderful. The Mint team touts a new screensaver/ login screen in the desktop environment, and yeah, it looks good.

62 comments

  1. And at what a price! by gnick · · Score: 3, Funny

    I know what I'm getting everyone this season!

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    1. Re:And at what a price! by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Zing!

    2. Re:And at what a price! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should install it on all your relatives' devices late at night before Christmas. Surprise them!

  2. Remember a Linux isn't just for Christmas by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    Remember a Linux isn't just for Christmas, it's for life.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  3. Looks familiar... by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    The screenshots look a lot like some other desktop I have seen.

    1. Re:Looks familiar... by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      The desktop environment itself is Cinnamon, and it is available in some other distros as well.

  4. Never thought I would see the day by The-Ixian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I never thought I would see screensavers and login screens as the touted new Linux features.

    Not a bad thing. I just think it speaks to how mature Linux has become as a general user OS. No longer are we talking about dependency hell or config file editing. Almost everything *just works*.

    My first distro was Slackware on several floppy images. I spent days tracking down and installing package dependencies just to try to get X11 to work and, giving up on that, working on simpler problems like getting Sendmail configured....

    Pretty amazing if you ask me.

    Though, I think Linux would still be strictly a hacker's OS if it weren't for commercial interests and money.

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Pretty amazing if you ask me. Though, I think Linux would still be strictly a hacker's OS if it weren't for commercial interests and money.

      Well yeah, but not like when you hire people to write closed source software. Mostly it's people that have volunteered lots of work on it already that get funded to quit their day job, which means you have few people that are there just for the paycheck.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Never thought I would see the day by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 1

      Please stop already.

      --
      This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    3. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Almost...just works" being the key part. If that thing that begins with an "S" and ends with a "D" didn't peek its head under the tent, the Linux ecosphere would indeed be a blissful place right about now.

      The time I waste as an admin trying to work around corner cases in that steaming heap of crap actually makes me angry. And I'm a pretty even-keeled guy.

    4. Re:Never thought I would see the day by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 1

      distros that use systemd aren't linux any more than android is linux.

      Haters who spew the same crap anonymously in every thread don't have opinions worth considering any more so than do 5 year-olds.

      And even if your point were correct it would not matter - many of the distros that utilize systemd are excellent (even if you consider systemd to be a flaw).

      --
      This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    5. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Almost...just works" being the key part. If that thing that begins with an "S" and ends with a "D" didn't peek its head under the tent, the Linux ecosphere would indeed be a blissful place right about now.

      The time I waste as an admin trying to work around corner cases in that steaming heap of crap actually makes me angry. And I'm a pretty even-keeled guy.

      I've got something that starts with an "S" and ends with a "D": Shut the fuck up already and move on, because you're deranged.

    6. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      distros that use systemd aren't linux any more than android is linux.

      This may be a foreign and difficult to understand topic for you, but give it a go:

      You should try to grow the fuck up. It would likely serve you well.

      What you are doing right now only displays your stupidity to the world. Perhaps you like that. Then carry on as you are.

    7. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi Lennart! Now tell us all how great PulseAudio is.

    8. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      many of the distros that utilize systemd are excellent (even if you consider systemd to be a flaw)

      Sure they are excellent, but for how much longer?

      I'll stick with Mint 17.3 until Devuan Ascii comes out.

    9. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Threni · · Score: 1

      > Almost everything *just works*.

      I tried mint because i didn't like unity on ubuntu but i got error messages - with spelling mistakes - on a clean install (think the errors were to do with not having a mailbox set up or something, but ..you know..clean install? easy to test, you'd think, right?). Also, try getting mint-specific help. there are vanishingly few sites there. Why not just use ubuntu if you're going to use a ubuntu-based os? Oh, yeah, screen savers and different window managers. Right.

    10. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Per+Wigren · · Score: 2

      Once it stabilized, PulseAudio is one of the best things that ever happened to Linux audio. Yes, it was buggy in the beginning and some distros made it the default a bit prematurely. Also, it depends on good ALSA drivers that fully implements the API. For a long time, PulseAudio was plagued by buggy and partially implemented ALSA drivers that lied about timings and other things and had only stubs for many functions. As PulseAudio exposed many driver bugs, it was often unfairly blamed by nontechnical people. Also, many distributions (Ubuntu was particularly bad) failed to make the default configuration of the applications/games/emulators/etc in their package repositories work with PulseAudio out of the box, creating an even worse user experience that PulseAudio was blamed for. Nowadays, pretty much all common audio cards have good enough ALSA drivers and distributions have fixed their default configurations so this is no longer a problem and PulseAudio is working flawlessly.

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
    11. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? You gonna cry more?

    12. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i'm just so disappointed in linux that all i can do is imitate fart noises in response to this

      prrrfffrrfrrftprrrrrfrrrt

    13. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never thought I would see screensavers and login screens as the touted new Linux features.

      Not a bad thing. I just think it speaks to how mature Linux has become as a general user OS. No longer are we talking about dependency hell or config file editing. Almost everything *just works*.

      No it doesn't. It's just people masturbating to code and fancy graphics instead of actually improving the software. Last week I was running Linux Mint DE 1. I followed their upgrade to version 2 guide. When I restarted my computer: no text, no graphical controls, just a black screen instead of the login (boot up text was still there). It took me a little while to realize that all the controls were actually still there and if I played around enough with the mouse and keyboard I could still login. Was the desktop better? Nope. Everything missing. No text, no controls, no icons. Just a colored bar for the taskbar and a different color for the background. Took a long time online to figure out one of the font packages didn't install completely, yet somehow it was still listed as fully installed... Forcing a reinstall of that package fixed it. Yay, now I had a usable primary computer again.

      But my theme was completely screwed up. It seems some programs now run on GTK3 themes while others run on GTK2 themes but no one bothered to port any of the GTK2 ones to GTK3 and the GTK3 ones aren't compatible with GTK2 apps. Spent more time researching and the recommended solution is to download new themes, so I did that, except they didn't work either. I only found one (ugly) theme (with gradients on scroll bars and buttons which make reading button text very difficult) that would apply itself properly across Firefox, mate-terminal, caja (file manager), and pluma (gedit). So I try to use the built-in configuration options to change the theme, The color changes don't get evenly applied across all the programs. So I look through the package manager for some utilities that sound like they actually work. No luck. The one that looks promising breaks things even more. Online advice says to install mate-core. That makes sense. I'm running mate so why the fuck isn't it's core package installed? Installed mate-core, restart, and no more controls or text again. Uninstall mate-core and reapply the forced font fix and I'm back to a working computer with a bad UI.

      So apparently fuck backwards compatibility and simple upgrades. Lets have fun with screensavers instead of upgrading our config utilities. We have come a long way, but most of that progress seems to have stopped. We should have rock solid UIs by now. We don't. Updates can't be atomically undone (Windows can do that: System restore points). Packages can fail to install yet the package manager will still list them as fully installed. Linux has aging config tools just like Windows 7 still had a couple dialogs from Windows 3.1, but at least those Windows dialogs still worked. Linux can't make the same claim.

      Crap like this is why I can't recommend Linux any of my relatives. I can talk them through fixing whatever problems Windows gives them. I'd never be able to talk them though a Linux issue. For Linux you need to pray someone else already had the same problem and posted an easily searchable solution online.

    14. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see much difference in pulseaudio today from its early days. Still takes waaaaaay too much CPU time. Still buggy. Still blaming ALSA. Still unnecessary.

    15. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > distros that use systemd aren't linux any more than android is linux.

      I'm no fan of systemd, but even I can see how vacuous that assertion is.

    16. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      prrrfffrrfrrftprrrrrfrrrt

      Sounds more like the sound of your main storage (HDD or SSD) failing on trying to apply the latest Windows 10 'patch'...

    17. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Per+Wigren · · Score: 2

      It's not unnecessary if you want seamless support for things like bluetooth headsets, network speakers (Airplay etc), audio from more than one application at a time, and more. If your audio playing needs are trivial and old school, then yes, it may be unnecessary for you. Some of these thing can be done with plain ALSA but far from seamless and transparent for non-technical end users with MacOS/Windows backgrounds. I have done my fair share of .asoundrc editing and magic dmix hacks and I love the simplicity that PulseAudio brought.

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
    18. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LMDE is the less supported version, they tell you you're on your own and furthermore LMDE 1 was experimental, badly updated. So you're complaining about a semi-failed upgrade from a toy distro to a more proper, non-toy but not expressly with serious support, almost different distro.

    19. Re: Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right. Competent developers are paid to produce decent code that functions correctly or fired and replaced. Others volunteer or work on open source.

    20. Re:Never thought I would see the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Mint doesn't have the bloatware and resource consumption of Ubuntu. It's also more popular.

      I don't know what error you got, but if it was just mail related, then it's not a big deal. I've been using Mint on a number of PCs and haven't had any problems.

  5. Re:"Linux security". Good joke... by wizkid · · Score: 2

    No, because the patch was out before the announcement. And we don't have to wait until the second Tuesday of January to (Maybe) get the fix.
    All you need to do is patch your system.

    --
    I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong :)
  6. imaginary exploit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you sure you know what you are talking about?

    gstreamer bug list.

    Strange, but the only critical bugs listed in the last few days are for the Windows version on Sunday December 11th and for the Apple version on Wednesday December 7th. Neither of them seems to have caused an exploit. You can use the link above to find that the 0day found in mid-November was patched on November 29th, after an earlier not completely successful patch attempt.

    What new 0day are you talking about? It doesn't seem to exist yet.

    You can use the web

    1. Re:imaginary exploit? by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      What new 0day are you talking about? It doesn't seem to exist yet.

      You didn't look at the -1day exploit list did you. The Doctor updates it when he returns.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    2. Re:imaginary exploit? by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 2

      Careful not to feed the troll. Apparently the same anonymous coward is whining all over this thread about the same minor/questionable bug because he is a Mint hater. I'm unaware of an OS that hasn't had exploitable bugs at times, and I'm not the least bit concerned about the new Mint release. And I don't intentionally conceal my identity when I post about it.

      --
      This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    3. Re:imaginary exploit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you sure you know what you are talking about?

      Yes, I do.

      What new 0day are you talking about? It doesn't seem to exist yet.

      Yep, doesn't exist. Oh wait...

  7. Wow! by trevc · · Score: 1

    It has a new screensaver/ login screen - I have to get it!

  8. LTS! by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

    Awesome. Linux Mint is my desktop and I stick to LTS because, well, I've got better things to do with my time than re-install an OS every six months.

    That being said, an in-place upgrade from 18 to 18.1 doesn't sound like a big deal. :-)

    --
    Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    1. Re:LTS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I installed Linux Mint 17 on one of my laptops. Is there any easy way to just do an in-place upgrade to Mint 18.1?

    2. Re:LTS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sadly, no. Tried 17.3 to 18 twice and twice the process headed south quickly. Backup your data and start afresh. This is rare for Mint as I've upgraded without too much ado for several years now. 18 is a paradigm shift under the hood (blame Debian / Ubuntu and the flat-pack snaps) - which now breaks all the downstream distros.

    3. Re:LTS! by Bengie · · Score: 1

      One of the FreeBSD foundation servers started off as something like FreeBSD 2.0 32bit, and has been getting in-place upgrades since. It was last announced was FreeBSD 9.3 64bit and running executables that are nearly 20 years old and they no longer have the source-code for. I thought the idea of in-place upgrades has been solved for decades.

  9. Mint has updates I can live with by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    They are nothing exciting, just iterating on what works. I don't feel like the rug is yanked out from under me with each major update as I have in the past with other OSes and some other distros. Thanks Mint team.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  10. No network installer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is the fucking point of your Debian/Ubuntu distro if you don't even have the basics?

    And yes, a network installer in the most "basic" of basics. This fact alone makes me distrusts these n00bs.

    1. Re:No network installer? by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Oh I quite agree. The ability to do a network install of a desktop os targeting home (not corporate) users is critical. I mean, probably 0.001% of the potential user base considers it a high priority, so they should be allocating volunteer developer time to that rather than silly things like improving the user experience.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  11. How safe is the in-place upgrade? by admin7087 · · Score: 1

    Upgrading from 18 to 18.1 shouldn't be a problem, right? Just wonder what the general advice is because I've switched to Mint 18 for the first time recently.

    1. Re:How safe is the in-place upgrade? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Technically, no issues.

      I recommend not to upgrade every single kernel release though... or at least be mindful of the boot partition. They keep old copies of kernels in the boot partition, which does eventually fill up, and b0rks the boot process. If you have full-disk-encryption, that causes the whole system to be b0rked... Yes, you *can* get everything fixed after that (and recover data), but it's just a major pain in the neck that happens out of the blue...

  12. Still holding out for KDE. by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Had a website that showed how to take Cinnanom and make it KDE plasma. did it but it's too cpu intensive. going to see how dual booting Cinnamon anf KDE works.

    I'd really like to use that program KDE-Connect, it's something i could really use and heard nothing but guoo about it.

    Cinnamon>KDE I was able to quad boot :) default/Plasma/Cinnamon/Cinnamon (software rendering).

    Don't have link handy but will post if there is an interest.

    KDE-Connect you connect ur phone and forget about is all is shown on the display.

    1. Re:Still holding out for KDE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cinnanom

      Cinnanom-nom-nom.

    2. Re:Still holding out for KDE. by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      Cinnanom

      Cinnanom-nom-nom.

      Damn, thought I had it. On the other hand you should hear me try to prounce it.

    3. Re:Still holding out for KDE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It works fine. I have several desktop environments installed. I just choose the one I want to use from a pulldown menu on the login screen.

  13. Wish i had mod points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    good advice

  14. direct to the source by xeno · · Score: 3, Informative

    Didn't see direct links -- just off to Betanews blather. So here they are...

    Disclaimer: Been using Mint for years now. It's the schiznit.

    --
    I think not...(*poof*)
  15. Still holding out for AMD drivers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When my not-too-old card can play Steam games under X11, I will consider upgrading from 17.3. Hell, the open source driver even renders NetFlix choppy.

  16. Can't see any difference by zwarte+piet · · Score: 1

    with 18.0 or even 17.3 what I'm using now.

    1. Re:Can't see any difference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      with 18.0 or even 17.3 what I'm using now.

      I can't either. They both freeze up on me.

  17. Dropping the ball with skylake. by LTIfox · · Score: 2

    The kernel in 16.04 simply does not work with skylake graphics (not anecdotal: ArsTech was bitching about that too). Even when I've moved to 16.10 I still had to hard reboot my machine from time to time. Now I'm on fedora 25 (cinnamon spin) and it is rock solid.

  18. Does the installer work from live-USB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In previous releases, the installer could not install Linux Mint to the hard disk when the USB stick had been prepared with Unetbootin or similar tools (or even manually). Has this changed? Am I really supposed to carry one USB stick just for installing Linux Mint?

  19. Priorities could improve too by KayakFun · · Score: 1

    I have used Linux for 21 years already, going from Suse to Ubuntu and then Mint after Unity was introduced. I could not be happier on my new job when I started 1 december that I was allowed to choose my own laptop as long as it was made by their preferred supplier. As a web developer I favor screen real estate more than the portability of a laptop, so I was very happy I noticed the Intel NUC 6 which I fitted with 2 x 24"monitors. I installed Mint 18 on it and was as happy as any /. reader could be.

    Until my screen froze, not responding to mouse or keyboard. I disabled the screen saver, but when I was resizing a window it froze on me again. About 2 times per day. i ran all the updates I could run and now have it down to 1 screen freeze every 2 days. I think it is bug 1321623. https://bugs.launchpad.net/lin...

    When I see they were perfecting the screen savers for Mint 18.1 while this bug kills my productivity it annoys me quite a bit.