linux Mint 19 a codenamed “Tara” is released today.
What’s New in Linux Mint 19?
1. Cinnamon 3.8
Cinnamon 3.8 has been released for other Linux distributions but it won’t come to Mint 18 just yet. Now Linux Mint 19 will get the new Cinnamon desktop. You can read about the changes in Cinnamon 3.8 on Linux Mint official blog.
2. Easy to use Backups with Timeshift
Linux Mint’s Timeshift is an excellent backup tool for Linux. With new and improved features, Timeshift becomes an integral part of Linux Mint.
With Timeshift, you can take snapshots of your system automatically and in case of a problem, you can easily revert your system to a previous state. This is an excellent new feature in Mint 19.
3. Changes in Mint Update Manager
The Update Manager no longer promotes vigilance and selective updates. It relies on Timeshift to guarantee the stability of your system and suggests to apply all available updates.
If it cannot find your Timeshift configuration, it shows a warning:
Updates are sorted by type, with security and kernel updates at the top.
Now you can enable Automatic update easily in the preferences
4. Cinnamon opens apps faster in Linux Mint 19
Based on the investigation, Cinnamon 3.8 has been improved to open applications quickly. Which means you Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon will feel slightly faster. A welcoming news for Cinnamon users.
5. Revamped Software Manager
The user interface of Software Manager has been refined and new transition animations have been added. Search has become faster and it now allows to search within a category. Which means if you are in Games category, you’ll see only games for your searched query.
Flatpak support is enabled by default but this has been the case since Mint 18.3.
6. GTK 3.22 gives a fresh look and feel
Linux Mint 19 is using GTK 3.22 and this gives Linux Mint 19 a refined look. You’ll notice that application windows and interface has a more flat and sleek look. This subtle change makes the Mint 19 UI more pleasant on the eyes.
7. Revamped welcome screen
The Mint welcome screen has a revamp UI with links to the user guide and hint at things a user might want to do such as install codecs, popular apps, backups, opt for popular settings etc.
8. Configurable maximum volume
In earlier versions of Linux Mint, if you wanted to increase the volume beyond 100%, you could do that from the audio settings.
But now you can set volume from 0 to 150% from everywhere ,but the volume key ,When you use the volume buttons on your system, it won’t go beyond the maximum volume you have set.
9. No data collection
One of the most talked about ‘feature’ in Ubuntu 18.04 was the collection of hardware stats and application preference stats. Though Linux Mint 19 is based on Ubuntu 18.04, it won’t be collecting any such data. One more reason that shows Mint is Better then Ubuntu.
10. Under the hood performance optimization
There is improved support for HiDPI. Expect a better-looking Cinnamon desktop on HD displays.
Apart from the visual changes, there are slight performance improvements as well. The Cinnamon desktop is slightly faster at boot. Compiler optimization brings optimized compiled binaries for Cinnamon/Xapps.
11. No KDE
Linux Mint 18.3 was the last release to have an official KDE version. You can still install KDE on top of Linux Mint 19 (unofficially).
12. Improvements in Nemo file manager
There are some performance improvements in Nemo file manager. It is now faster at showing directory contents and it doesn’t lag anymore while moving files to USB devices.
Search in Nemo is now faster and you can save the searched result by ‘adding a star 🌟 ’ to it. You can see your saved searches by right-clicking on the star icon.
13. Improvements on the default PDF reader
The default PDF reader, Xreader, has been improved. You can now set the size of thumbnails, remove annotations and save ePub documents. Smooth-scrolling is also improved.
and Xreader will show the recently opened documents.