Fresh releases of Xfce, Mint, Cinnamon desktops out in time for the holidays
(2024/12/04)
- Reference: 1733304606
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/12/04/xfce_mint_cinnamon/
- Source link:
Fancy spending time refreshing your setup over the holidays? Two of the more popular Windows-style FOSS desktops are about to drop new point releases, one for higher-end machines and one for lower-end kit.
Cinnamon is the default desktop of Linux Mint, but it's also included in lots of other distros. [1]Release 6.4 appeared on Github a few days ago, and some downstream distros have already picked it up – it looks to be in [2]Arch's repositories already, for instance. They might have jumped a little bit too soon, as [3]release 6.4.1 followed in days.
As last month's [4]Linux Mint blog post described, one of the new features of this version is integrated "night light" support. This is a newly native feature, which works similarly to the external [5]Redshift program . (Windows and Mac types might be more familiar with the free [6]F.lux .) These tools progressively dim the screen and reduce the amount of blue in its image, which some research [7]seems to indicate may help you sleep, although whether the effect is real [8]remains controversial .
[9]
As we [10]mentioned a couple of months ago it's also got redesigned dialog boxes, and it's expected in Mint 22.1, which should arrive later this month. According to [11]discussion on the Mint forums it will apparently be codenamed "Xia."
[12]
The next release of Xfce is also due around the same time, so that will not be in Mint 22.1 – the timing is too close. Xfce 4.20 pre 2 has [13]just been released and the [14]Gitlab issue list is in good shape. The [15]roadmap for this release says it should deliver preliminary Wayland support, which is similar to the new protocol's status in Cinnamon: it's not officially supported yet, but you can try it, and it will probably mostly work — but you should expect to see some teething troubles.
[16]FLTK hits 1.4, arrives speaking Wayland and with better HiDPI support
[17]Photoshop FOSS alternative GNU Image Manipulation Program 3.0 nearly here
[18]LXQt packs Wayland punch with 2.1 release
[19]Fedora 41: A vast assortment, but there's something for everyone
With any luck, Xfce 4.20 should be in time to get into Xubuntu 25.04, which will be codenamed [20]Plucky Puffin .
Xubuntu is especially worth a look for those who dislike Canonical's snap format: as we mentioned of [21]Xubuntu 24.04 , it offers a separate ISO download of the Xubuntu minimal edition, which strongly resembles the old [22]Xubuntu core project. This has almost nothing except the base distro and the desktop: it doesn't even include a web browser. It's an ideal basis for the [23]official Mozilla DEB package , or of course for that of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge or whatever floats your boat.
With no snap packages pre-installed, it's very easy to remove snapd and [24]pin the package to prevent it being reinstalled. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/releases/tag/6.4.0
[2] https://archlinux.org/packages/?q=cinnamon
[3] https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/releases/tag/6.4.1
[4] https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4762
[5] http://jonls.dk/redshift/
[6] https://justgetflux.com/
[7] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5703049/
[8] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/will-blue-light-from-your-phone-disrupt-your-sleep-what-we-know
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z1A2VNJudNbAEDmQc2xOZgAAAAw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/07/xfce_420_and_mint_221/
[11] https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=435081
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z1A2VNJudNbAEDmQc2xOZgAAAAw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://alexxcons.github.io/blogpost_13.html
[14] https://gitlab.xfce.org/groups/xfce/-/milestones/3#tab-issues
[15] https://wiki.xfce.org/releng/wayland_roadmap
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/26/fltk_14_released/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/15/gimp_30_release/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/15/lxqt_21/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/14/fedora_41_a_vast_assortment/
[20] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/plucky-puffin-release-notes/48687
[21] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/plucky-puffin-release-notes/48687
[22] https://xubuntu.org/news/introducing-xubuntu-core/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/firefox_122_is_out/
[24] https://github.com/popey/unsnap/issues/10
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Cinnamon is the default desktop of Linux Mint, but it's also included in lots of other distros. [1]Release 6.4 appeared on Github a few days ago, and some downstream distros have already picked it up – it looks to be in [2]Arch's repositories already, for instance. They might have jumped a little bit too soon, as [3]release 6.4.1 followed in days.
As last month's [4]Linux Mint blog post described, one of the new features of this version is integrated "night light" support. This is a newly native feature, which works similarly to the external [5]Redshift program . (Windows and Mac types might be more familiar with the free [6]F.lux .) These tools progressively dim the screen and reduce the amount of blue in its image, which some research [7]seems to indicate may help you sleep, although whether the effect is real [8]remains controversial .
[9]
As we [10]mentioned a couple of months ago it's also got redesigned dialog boxes, and it's expected in Mint 22.1, which should arrive later this month. According to [11]discussion on the Mint forums it will apparently be codenamed "Xia."
[12]
The next release of Xfce is also due around the same time, so that will not be in Mint 22.1 – the timing is too close. Xfce 4.20 pre 2 has [13]just been released and the [14]Gitlab issue list is in good shape. The [15]roadmap for this release says it should deliver preliminary Wayland support, which is similar to the new protocol's status in Cinnamon: it's not officially supported yet, but you can try it, and it will probably mostly work — but you should expect to see some teething troubles.
[16]FLTK hits 1.4, arrives speaking Wayland and with better HiDPI support
[17]Photoshop FOSS alternative GNU Image Manipulation Program 3.0 nearly here
[18]LXQt packs Wayland punch with 2.1 release
[19]Fedora 41: A vast assortment, but there's something for everyone
With any luck, Xfce 4.20 should be in time to get into Xubuntu 25.04, which will be codenamed [20]Plucky Puffin .
Xubuntu is especially worth a look for those who dislike Canonical's snap format: as we mentioned of [21]Xubuntu 24.04 , it offers a separate ISO download of the Xubuntu minimal edition, which strongly resembles the old [22]Xubuntu core project. This has almost nothing except the base distro and the desktop: it doesn't even include a web browser. It's an ideal basis for the [23]official Mozilla DEB package , or of course for that of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge or whatever floats your boat.
With no snap packages pre-installed, it's very easy to remove snapd and [24]pin the package to prevent it being reinstalled. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/releases/tag/6.4.0
[2] https://archlinux.org/packages/?q=cinnamon
[3] https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/releases/tag/6.4.1
[4] https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4762
[5] http://jonls.dk/redshift/
[6] https://justgetflux.com/
[7] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5703049/
[8] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/will-blue-light-from-your-phone-disrupt-your-sleep-what-we-know
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z1A2VNJudNbAEDmQc2xOZgAAAAw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/07/xfce_420_and_mint_221/
[11] https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=435081
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z1A2VNJudNbAEDmQc2xOZgAAAAw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://alexxcons.github.io/blogpost_13.html
[14] https://gitlab.xfce.org/groups/xfce/-/milestones/3#tab-issues
[15] https://wiki.xfce.org/releng/wayland_roadmap
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/26/fltk_14_released/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/15/gimp_30_release/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/15/lxqt_21/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/14/fedora_41_a_vast_assortment/
[20] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/plucky-puffin-release-notes/48687
[21] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/plucky-puffin-release-notes/48687
[22] https://xubuntu.org/news/introducing-xubuntu-core/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/firefox_122_is_out/
[24] https://github.com/popey/unsnap/issues/10
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/