Linux Mint Finally Receiving Support for Gestures
If you use the Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop, you'll be thrilled to know that 21.2 is getting support for gestures on touchscreen devices and touchpads.
Getting multitouch gestures for touchscreen and touchpads on Linux has been problematic over the years. Although some distributions have offered it, the support has been fairly weak (at best).
Hopefully, that all changes with the release of Linux Mint 21.2 (and Cinnamon 5.8). When using the default Cinnamon desktop, users will finally get to enjoy gestures that will support media player controls, tilings, and other helpful features.
According to Clement "Clem" Lefebvre, these gestures will be supported for touchpads, touchscreens, and tablets.
Linux Mint 21.2 (based on Ubuntu 22.04) will also enjoy a few more updates and tweaks, such as Xfce version 4.18, global dark mode (thanks to an implementation of xdg-desktop-portal), and the Software Manager was given a UI refresh as well as better scoring/sorting algorithms for applications and a special list for tuned packages, an improved login (that includes support for multiple keyboard layouts and better touchpad support), auto-detection and enabling of tap-to-click, support for Wayland sessions, support for HEIF and AVIF images, an improved Pix image viewing app, better support for Flatpak apps, and improved support for GNOME's libadwaita library.
Linux Mint 21.2 (Victoria) is slated for release in June 2023. For those wanting to test Linux Mint 21.2, you'll have to use the Daily Builds PPA and upgrade from the stable to the the unstable version or you can wait until they release the beta version, which will probably happen a couple weeks before the final release. Make sure to check the official ISO Images page daily.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.