While many of us were getting ready to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, Linux Mint quietly gifted us with the latest long-term support (LTS) version of its popular desktop Linux desktop, Linux Mint “Tricia” 19.3.
This release supports three different Linux desktop interfaces: my own favorite Cinnamon; MATE, a fork of the venerable GNOME 2 desktop; and the lightweight Xfce. Most desktop users will be happy with Cinnamon or MATE. I use Xfce on low-powered systems or when running Linux on Chromebooks or Windows 10 PCs with Windows SubSystem for Linux (WSL) 2.
When I say low-powered, I mean machines from the 2000s. The full version of Linux Mint requires a mere 2GBs of RAM. It can even run with as little as 1GB and with older 32-bit processors. You’ll also need at least 15GBs of disk space, but I recommend 20GBs. Finally, you’ll need a graphics card and monitor that supports a 1024×768 resolution. In short, you can pretty much run Mint on any PC you have lying around your junk room.
Beneath the hood, the new Mint is based on Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS and the 4.15.0-72 Linux kernel. MInt 19.3 is also a LTS version. It will be supported until December 2023. The default kernel has already been upgraded to the Linux 5.0.
The first thing you’ll notice about the new Mint is the warning icon in your system tray. It’s not nearly as alarming as it looks. Now, when you boot up Mint, System Report checks for potential issues, such as a missing language package, multimedia codec, an updated hardware driver, or a new version of Linux Mint. Just click on the mini icon and Mint will let you know what’s missing or new and guide you to getting the latest and greatest update. You can, of course, just ignore its recommendation and continue on your Minty way. I find it a very handy little feature.
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | January 2, 2020