Can you smell that? It’s the scent of a minty fresh beta in the air, the Linux Mint 19.2 beta release, to be exact!
Yes, ISOs for the next testing snapshot of what will go on to become the next major Linux Mint release are finally available to download from the Linux Mint servers.
The beta pops out ahead of the final Linux Mint 19.2 stable release, which is expected sometime next month. Users who install this beta will be upgrade to the final stable release when it arrives.
Overall, Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” is shaping up to be a modest, but mature upgrade. It touts a crop of performance improvements and interface refinements, and brings enhancements to a number of core apps and utilities.
When stable, Linux Mint 19.2 will become the 30th named version of Linux Mint, and the second point release in the 19.x series based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver.
Linux Mint 19.2 will, upon release, receive critical updates and fixes from release until 2023.
Linux Mint 19.2 Beta Features
As mentioned, a batch of refinements ship in Linux Mint 19.2, with features generally building on those introduced in the (rather large) Linux Mint 19.1 release.
But don’t be disappointed; there’s more than enough being offered to make the update worth waiting for, including:-
- Improved kernel management in Update Manager
- Software Manager can fetch ‘missing’ GPG keys
- Software Manager can scan/remove duplicate sources
- Reduced RAM consumption for Cinnamon
- Muffin window manager optimisations result in ‘smoother’ feel
- Mint Menu now distinguishes duplicate apps (e.g, flatpak, snap)
- New scrollbar settings
- New “Boot Repair” tool included on the ISO
- ‘Recent documents’ enabled by default
- Blueberry applets lets you dis/connect paired devices faster
- Xed supports toggling comments and comment blocks
- New wallpapers
- Mint GTK theme tweaks
Additionally, the Nemo file manager now supports file and folder pinning. This is particularly handy in large directories as it saves you needing to search.
A slate of Samba support improvements also ship in Cinnamon 4.2, including the automatic addition of “appropriate UFW firewall rules” when Samba is set up.
Download Linux Mint 19.2 Beta
Hit the button below to download the Linux Mint 19.2 beta “Cinnamon” flavour as a 64-bit ISO image:
Keep in mind that this is not a final release and should not be considered “stable”. Bugs, broken features, and other incompatibilities may be present.
Thanks tipsters