Linux Mint 20.3: here is what is new

The Linux Mint team started to push the final stable ISO images of Linux Mint 20.3 to its distribution network. The final release comes weeks after the release of Linux Mint 20.3 Beta releases. Read on to find out what is new and changed in the new versions of the popular Linux distribution.

Linux Mint 20.3 is a long-term support release, which means that the distribution is supported until 2025. The new version of Linux Mint is available in all three flavors -- MATE, Xfce and Cinnamon -- as usual.

A blog post on the official Linux Mint blog reveals that the new version will be made available as a free download and upgrade, from Linux Mint 20.2, this week. Some mirrors have the new ISO images already, but it will take some time before the release can be announced officially on the site.

Linux Mint 20.3: important links

• Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon Release Notes
• Linux Mint 20.3 MATE Release Notes
• Linux Mint 20.3 Xfce Release Notes
• Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon New Features
• Linux Mint 20.3 MATE New Features
• Linux Mint 20.3 Xfce New Features

The release notes list known issues and bugs, the new features links reveal what is new in the particular environment.

• Linux Mint 20.3 features Cinnamon 5.2, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.
• Linux Mint 20.3 features MATE 1.26, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.
• Linux Mint 20.3 features Xfce 4.16, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.

Linux Mint 20.3: new features

The IP TV player Hypnotix received an update in this release. It displays flags now to make it easier to find regional IP TV stations, and a search, which also helps find channels, movies and series using it. Hypnotix supports the Xtream API next to m3u and local playlists.

The new document manager Thingy makes an appearance in Linux Mint 20.3. It lists recently opened documents as well as favorites, and keeps track of reading progress.

A search function has been added to the Sticky Notes application to filter notes quickly. Linux Mint users who use the Sticky Notes application may also notice a changed look as the title is now embedded within the note. The app features a new option to control the site of text.

The Linux Mint 20.3 theme features several changes according to the release notes:

Linux Mint 20.3 features an updated look and feel with larger titlebar buttons, rounded corners, a cleaner theme and support for dark mode.

All three desktop environments feature the changes. The "what is new" posts go into great detail and you may want to check these out for a full rundown on the changes. One particular change that needs mentioning is that support for displaying select applications in dark mode while dark mode is not enabled on the desktop.  Four applications, Celluloid, Hypnotix, Xviewer, Gnome Terminal and Pix, support this out of the box.

Linux Mint users who prefer the older style of the desktop may enable the Mint-Y-Legacy theme to restore the previous theme that was used by the Linux distribution.

Cinnamon 5.2's calendar applet features multi-calendar events, which events using the same color as the calendar they belong to for easy recognition. The applet supports online calendars and syncing.

The file manager Nemo has a new feature that adds an option to file copy or move conflicts. Besides the already existing options to skip, ignore or overwrite old ones, it is now possible to have files renamed automatically.

Cinnamon features the following improvements in the new release next to that:

• Increased support for right-to-left languages in the sound and menu applets and in the window settings
• NVIDIA Optimus: Support for PrefersNonDefaultGPU field in .desktop files
• nemo: The clipboard content no longer vanishes if the nemo process dies
• grouped-window-list applet: icon fix for certain applications (virtualbox)
• nemo-media-columns: m4a and audio mp4, composer and description columns
• sound applet: support for base64 URI album art
• nemo-actions: support for UriScheme
• capi.py: Support for non x86 architecture
• menu applet: all applications shows an icon
• settings daemon: trackball support
• accessibility: new Alt+Super+S shortcut to active the screen reader
• Support for 3x fractional scaling when the hardware allows it
• nemo: xls2csv fixed

Other changes:

• HPLIP 3.21.8 introduces support for the latest HP printers and scanners.
• IPP-USB and sane-airscan were backported and may be an option if scanners or printers won't work out of the box.
• Xreader PDF received manga reading support; this includes right-to-left mode and inverted cursor keys so that the left-arrow key goes forward in a document.
• The image viewer Xviewer has a new control to fit the image to the height or width of the image.
• The text editor Xed supports Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab to switch tabs.
• Xed and Xreader support hiding the menubar.
• Xreader does not show its toolbar anymore in fullscreen mode.
• System reports run once per day instead of once per hour to save battery.
• The WebApp manager displays the browser that is used for particular applications.
• Bluetooth can be turned on or off from the Bluetooth tray menu.

Linux Mint 20.3: here is what is new

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