screenshot of Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia”
Recently The release of Linux Mint 21.3 was announced, which comes after several days of delay, since the launch was initially scheduled to be released at the end of 2023.
linux mint 21.3, with the code name "Virginia", comes by implementing a large number of changes and major improvements, of which Cinnamon 6.0 stands out along with a Wayland experimental session, app improvements and more.
Main new features of Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
This new version that is presented of Linux Mint 21.3 The latest version of the Cinnamon 6 desktop environment is included.0 in which is added experimental support for working in an environment based on the Wayland protocol. When you start in the Wayland environment, window management and virtual desktops work, and most applications and components, including the file manager and dashboard, also start. Cinnamon is expected to be fully functional in the Wayland environment before the release of Linux Mint 23, scheduled for 2026.
Has introduced a new type of external components called "Actions", Which are Nemo file manager plugins that allow calling controllers through the context menu. Actions are downloaded and installed in the same way as other Spice components, such as applets, desktops, extensions, and themes. For example, the mintstick package includes actions that allow you to create bootable media or verify image integrity from the context menu when you right-click an ISO file.
Another change that stands out in the new version is in the improved color mixing by creating a background gradient, Well, dithering is now used, a technique that simulates shadows by mixing existing colors. Has been introduced Ability to resize the window using the edit menu. In addition, it is now possible to use images in AVIF format as desktop background.
In the audio control applet, added an option to always show the microphone mute indicator, regardless of whether the microphone is activated. This is useful when you need to mute the microphone in advance, before launching an application that uses it. Additionally, processing of pressing the middle mouse button while holding down the Shift key has been implemented.
Has Built-in a setting that allows you to select the screen on which notifications will be displayed. Likewise, an on-screen gesture has been added to zoom in on the desktop and in the context menu, there is now the option to display detailed information about the application.
Now It is possible to disable the pen buttons through a specific setting and editing the application menu has been made easier by going to the properties section after right-clicking.
Have expanded the capabilities of the Hypnotix IPTV player, allowing you to maintain a general list of favorite TV channels without being tied to specific providers. It is also possible to create custom TV channels using URLs for arbitrary broadcasts or video recordings. Added built-in functionality to download and install new versions of the yt-dlp app, used to view YouTube content, addressing compatibility issues with changes to YouTube.
Moreover, It stands out that the set of tools for creating ISO images has been updated (live-build), in addition to that differences between Debian builds were reduced (LMDE) and Ubuntu (Linux Mint).
Full support for booting in SecureBoot mode has been implemented and compatibility with different BIOS and EFI implementations is guaranteed. In EFI mode, the GRUB bootloader is used and in BIOS mode, Isolinux/syslinux is used.
Of the other changes that stand out:
- Support for manually establishing a connection with another device by entering an IP address or scanning a QR code has been added to Warpinator.
- The service for creating screenshots has improved by adding the ability to determine the color of a selected point on the screen.
- Continue to improve applications developed as part of the X-Apps initiative.
Added a setting to the Slick Greeter login splash screen to change the location of the login area. - Bulky, now supports thumbnails and drag and drop mode.
- Pix provides automatic image rotation based on video orientation.
A toolbar and “About” dialog box have been added to the backup utility. - Xapp XDG Desktop Portal has added support for calling the Eyedropper tool to determine the color of an arbitrary point on the screen.
- The ability to set scaling to 75% has been returned.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can check the details in the following link
Download and try Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
For those who are interested in being able to test this new version, you should know that the generated builds are based on MATE 1.26 (2.9 GB), Cinnamon 6.0 (2.9 GB) and Xfce 4.18 (2.8 GB).
The link of download is this.