This guy is wrong IM not so HO. 😐
LINUX MINT 21.1 Vera is WINDOWS, and I’m fine with that!
00:00 Intro
00:32 Sponsor: Stream any desktop, OS, or app to your browser with Kasm
01:38 Mint’s new Windows-like theme
05:47 Software Management improvements
07:50 Desktop Changes
11:24 Is Linux Mint still Mint?
13:51 Sponsor: Get a device that runs Linux perfectly with Tuxedo
14:44 Support the channel
The default look is completely different. First, the green accent color is gone. It’s now a very usual blue. Gone are the colored folders, now they’re your basic manilla yellow color, with a stripe on top of them to use your favorite accent color. Even window controls have changed icons.
You can still use the older themes, that they call “legacy”.
That default look is also complimented by a new cursor theme called Bibata. Sounds received an update as well, and are now using Material design v2 sounds.
The second big change in Mint 21.1 is its Flatpak support. The update manager now supports flatpak applications and runtimes. Mint’s Software Manager also gets the usual dropdown menu to let you pick between the flatpak package or the regular deb package from the repos. Mint uses Flathub by the way, so you should get everything you need from there.
It’s really not perfect though, as searches will return multiple instances of the same application.
Another change is the way Mint handles drivers. First, the driver manager, the tool that lets you see if there ARE drivers you could install and install them, well that now runs in user mode, so you don’t need to enter your password just to open the application. If you’re offline, you’ll also get a dedicated screen to let you know why the app is empty, and you can also now use USB drives to install drivers, for example if you plug in a live USB, Mint will be able to detect it, and offer to mount it so you can install drivers from that.
Cinnamon 5.6 comes with a new corner bar, which is another callback to window’s default layout: it’s a small vertical applet, stuck to the far right of the default panel. Hovering over it allows you to peek at the desktop by hiding all windows, complete with a blur effect if you want, but you can also click that corner bar with the left mouse button, or the middle mouse button, and configure what which click does, between either showing the desktop, showing the desklets, showing the workspace selector or showing the window selector.
In the context menu when right clicking on the desktop, you can also now directly access the display settings, and the default desktop icons were cleaned up, with the removal of the home folder, Computer, Trash, and Network.
Nemo, the file manager, also gets a few changes, like showing the dates in list view in a monospace font, improving the path bar, by letting you click on the current path to toggle the location URL bar, while navigating to a different folder will bring the path bar back.
Smaller changes include a search entry in the shortcuts settings so you can look at all the various shortcuts you might want to change, preferred applications are now featured by categories, you can configure the duration for which notifications will stay visible, the themes list is now sorted between dark and light themes, and current and legacy themes, and you also get window placement mode back in the window manager.
Oh and also, Mint won’t bug you for your password as often as it once did. For example, uninstalling a flatpak app that you installed for your user and not the whole system won’t require a passsword. Same goes for removing local shortcuts and local applications you only installed for yourself.
And Synaptic and the Update manager will also remember if you entered your password recently, so they won’t ask for it for every single action.
I’ll never understand what for all those experts compare Linux distros to Windows. Mint, even if it reminds us of Win on an appearence level, is decidely nothing like Windows. It is the arguably bestest Linux distro for all around applications and general users but it ain’t no fuxn Microsoft Windows! I guess each and every switcher is acutely aware of that fact and doesn’t even expect their new OS to look and feel like Windows. Most are even happy about it!
I know I was.
I can operate my Linux distro with a keyboard and a mouse. Just like Windows and MacOS. That’s fine, that’s good, that makes me happy enough. I guess it will make you happy, too.
Thar She Blows! 
I’m updating several machines to it atm, whilst I love it the out of date software is a bit of an issue. It is a perfect OS for surfing the net and stability as excellant. However as I’m using Blender Software more often, I am going to move a couple of machines over to Manjaro.
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Making more Daleks, eh?
Didn’t know that Mint is so out of date? Even the brandspanking new 21.1? That just came out a couple days ago, and they couldn’t be bothered to deliver halfways up to date apps with it? It becomes more and more appearent to me that Manjaro is the overall better alternative. We’re like 2 weeks behind Arch I guess. I can live with that. 😉
BTW, I have yet to watch my first Dr. Who show. Haven’t seen anything yet, total virgin me is.
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Lol. British Sci fi. I would skip the first 27 years of classic and start on the 15 year old ones. It’s full of continuity errors and some episodes are just rubbish. However it’s nearly always fun. Even though it’s become far to politically correct. If I ever learn to use Blender I will have a go at creating some robots. The mint software is often a long way behind, making it stable and perfect for everyday use. With multiple computers I can be a bit more edgey. Lol
Enjoy popping your Dr Who cherry.
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“Enjoy popping your Dr Who cherry.”
We’ll see about that. Not really looking forward to it. Dr. Who appears kinda silly and campy to me but I’m always having more fun with earnest shows, you know?
I’d watch it since I rather like David Tennant, no other reason.
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Silly and campy is fairly accurate. I prefer the old ones I saw as a child.
Currently binge watching lucifer
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Lucifer started cool but became a bit woke and soap-ish lateron. In the beginning they solved crimes, towards the end it becomes a family affair. Best thing about Lucifer is Lesley-Ann Brandt as Mazikeen.
Maze: Cracks whip. “I said ‘get naked’!!!”
I love her not only for being SAfrican but for being the coolest character of the show.
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