By Martin Jansen, Owner of Jansen-PCINFO
Linux Mint upgrades are never world changing or difficult to accomplish. That’s a good thing. Most people want stability from their operating systems not “drama” as the British say.
When I was given the opportunity to upgrade from Vera 21.1 to Victoria 21.2, which is supported until 2027, I read the changelogs and went ahead with the upgrade. Easypeasy.
Thanks to speedy internet, 10 minutes later the upgrade was done and I was asked to reboot the computer. The computer restarted and Linux Mint came up just as expected looking largely the same as it did before the upgrade.
Soon after, my wife upgraded her system as well. She had some strange issue with LibreOffice menu icons, which I solved by upgrading to the latest version.
Did Anything Change?
Yes. The Nemo file manager showed folders in full color.
Yes, I like red. Gone was stripe through the folder as in 21.1. Aside from this cosmetic change Nemo worked as before.
Other changes, I have read, involve expanded video file format support, including support for HEIF and AVIF file formats, and Adobe Illustrator files in the document viewer. I don’t use these file formats so it does not affect me.
This upgrade includes the 5.15 Kernel (the heart of the OS) which allows for better Windows network compatibility.
For the latest software, Linux Mint continues to use Flatpak in the Software Manager. Snap (another way to install software) is disabled by default, but accessible by running just a few commands.
The Same, but Better
Even though Linux Mint has increased in size and function, it is still the best OS for new and existing users in my opinion. Somehow, the engineers at Linux Mint have made the OS even faster than before. “Easy to use” has been their mantra since 2006 when the beta Ada version was released. I hope that they stay the course. It may not be exciting, but it is great.