Linux Mint 21 Now Available

Linux Mint 21 has arrived and it includes some interesting updates and features that will please both new and previous users alike. One big addition is the new upgrade tool that makes it even easier to upgrade to a major version with just a few clicks of a graphical tool. The new updater displays packages that have been upgraded, as well as those that won't, and reports if any PPAs will no longer be supported in the new version.

Linux Mint 21 also ships with a new Bluetooth application, Blueman, and the BlueZ back end. This was done for two reasons. First, Blueman is a superior application. The second reason is explained by Clement Lefebvre (Linux Mint lead developer) when he said in a blog post back in March (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4285):

"On the development side of things, the latest version of gnome-bluetooth introduced changes which broke compatibility with Blueberry, and its main developer isn't keen on seeing his work used outside of Gnome. Blueman on the other hand welcomed a Mint migration and is open to changes. We're currently testing Blueman and working on its integration within Linux Mint."

Other new features found in Linux Mint 21 include Timeshift becoming an official Linux Mint tool, WebP image support, better thumbnails via XAPP, new wallpapers, the including of libfuse2 and libfuse3-3 for AppImage applications, Cinnamon 5.4.2, kernel 5.15, an improved Sticky Notes app (which allows for note duplication), and a new process manager system tray app for monitoring automated tasks.

One thing the Linux Mint Developers didn't add to version 21 is systemd-oomd, which is a service that automatically manages out-of-memory issues by killing running applications. Ubuntu 22.04 introduced this feature, which has since caused numerous problems in user space. Because of this, the developers of Linux Mint opted to nix the inclusion of this feature.

Download your copy of Linux Mint 21 now (https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php).

Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature

With the release of Firefox 103, a few new additions are aimed at greatly improving the experience of some users. One of the biggest additions to the open source web browser is two-finger horizontal swipe gesture support for navigating back and forward with a trackpad. This feature has been in the works for some time and is now seeing the light of day. However, there is a caveat to the new addition. The developers' goal was to have the feature fully supported with version 103; however, upon release, the only way to use the two-finger swipe gesture is to first press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard. Hopefully, somewhere in the next few updates, that requirement will be removed and the feature will work exactly as expected.

Other goodies added to Firefox 103 include highlighted required fields on PDFs, significant performance improvements for monitors with 120Hz+ refresh rates, improved Picture-in-Picture subtitles, and buttons in the Tabs toolbar can now be accessed with Tab, Tab+Shift, and keyboard arrow keys.

Several issues have also been fixed, such as preserving non-breaking spaces, WebGL performance issues, and start-up time slowdowns due to processing web content local storage.

To find out more about what's new with Firefox 103, check out the official release notes (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/103.0/releasenotes/). As of now, this new version has yet to hit the official repositories for most distributions, but you can download it from the official Mozilla site (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/).

System76 Oryx Pro Laptop Refreshed with a New CPU

Linux hardware vendor System76 has announced an update to their Oryx Pro laptop computer. The Oryx Pro, which is a popular option for gaming as well as artificial intelligence/machine learning, comes with a new 12th Gen Intel CPU boasting 14 cores and 20 threads running between 1.7 to 4.7GHz. System76 has also made it so you can configure the Oryx Pro with either NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti or 3080 Ti graphics (along with the RTX 3070 and 3080 that were previously available).

The Oryx Pro includes a 15.6" or 17.3" FHD (1920x1080) matte finish display, up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4, and up to 4TB M.2 PCIe Gen4x4 internal storage. As for ports/expansion, the Oryx Pro includes 1 Thunderbolt 4, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2, and 1 microSD card reader. The Oryx Pro battery is a 6-cell, 80Wh polymer, so you can get plenty of usage from a full charge.

The Oryx Pro base price starts at $2,199 and is available now (https://system76.com/laptops/oryp9/configure).