The third point release of Linux Mint 20 is out! Unlike Ubuntu, it has different code names for each point releases. And, Linux Mint 20.3 codenamed ‘Una’.

The release still has Kernel 5.4 though user may install updated Ubuntu patched Kernels using ‘Update Manager’. And, it features Cinnamon 5.2, MATE 1.26, and XFCE 4.16 for each desktop editions.

XApp Updates:

Linux Mint now has a new Xapp “Thingy“. It’s a Document Manager for user to quick access to favorite and recently opened documents and keeps track of the reading progress.

New Document Manager
‘Thingy’

Hypnotix IPTV Player now defauts to dark mode. And, it features a new search function, and Xtream AIP support.

The Sticky Notes also has a new search function and adds option to control the text size.

Theme updates:

Linux Mint 20.3 features full dark mode support. And some apps including Hypnotix, Celluloid, Pix, Xviewer and Gnome Terminal now default to dark.

The default “Mint-Y” theme now has rounded tittle bar corners and bigger buttons. Accents and feature colors removed on some widgets, and now only left on sliders, checkboxes, radios and the close button.

For those prefer the old look, the original Mint-Y theme is available as “mint-themes-legacy” package in the repositories.

Cinnamon 5.2:

The Cinnamon desktop has been updated to v5.2. It’s calendar applet features multi-calendar events, and online calendars and applications sync with evolution-data-server.

Calendar multi events support

There are also simplified animations, new radial shader effect added to clutter dialogs, new configuration options for windows list, notification and workspace switcher applets, and other improvements.

Other changes in Linux Mint 20.3 include:

• Proper manga support for Xreader PDF reader.
• Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab to navigate through tabs in Xed text editor.
• Option to hide the menubar for Xed, Xreader.
• xreader no longer shows toolbar in full-screen mode.
• system reports run once a day instead of every hour.
• WebApp manager shows which browser is used for each app.
• Turn on/off bluetooth from its tray menu.
• Sperb collection of new backgrounds.
• Linux-firmware 1.187 and Flatpak 1.12.
• HPLIP 3.21.8 and latest versions of ipp-usb and sane-airscan.

Download Linux Mint 20.3:

Linux Mint 20.3 is available to download in the official website below:

User may also upgrade to Linux Mint 20.3 by following this guide.

For those looking for a best looking Linux system, I would recommend Deepin and Zorin OS 16. And, I personally prefer the former one a bit more for the desktop appearance.

Deepin is based on Debian. It’s great, but for those stick to most recent NVIDIA drivers, Ubuntu PPAs, and/or the Ubuntu communities, then UbuntuDDE Remix is a good choice.

UbuntuDDE Remix is a Ubuntu flavor that uses the Deepin Desktop Environment. It includes all the goodies from Ubuntu while having the beautiful desktop appearance.

UbuntuDDE 21.10

The desktop has a blurred panel and start menu, while allowing to adjust the background transparency. Core apps has GTK4 style rounded corners. And it’s has lots of configure options, including ability to toggle between full dark and light mode, and choose an accent color.

DDE Settings

UbuntuDDE Remix 21.10 was released with Ubuntu 21.10 package base, Linux Kernel 5.13, along with the latest DDE desktop and software packages. And, there’s new beautiful impish wallpapers. See the release note for details.

Download UbuntuDDE Remix:

The Ubuntu flavor requires 4GB RAM, 20GB disk space, and 2 GHz processor or better. The ISO image is available to download for 64-bit personal PC or laptop at the link below:

The beautiful Debian based Linux distribution Deepin 20.3 was released. Features Kernel 5.15, new features and optimizations for its core apps.

The stable Linux kernel has been updated to v5.15 with better support for Intel 12th Gen processors and NTFS file systems. Though the iso image by default boots with 5.10 LTS kernel, user have to select the new kernel to install from ‘Advanced’ menu in Grub boot-loader.

The Deepin screen capture can now take scrolling screenshots via the ‘Scrollshot‘ option. After selecting an app window to capture, a ‘Scrollshot’ option is available in tool-bar. By clicking on it, you may scroll the page to take a continuous screenshot with real-time preview. Also OCR is supported in this mode to extract text from image.

Deepin Scrollshot

In the extended mode, you may now set how to display the Dock on multiple displays via its right-click context menu.

Other changes in Deepin 20.3 include:

• Video search, preview, and management in the Album app.
• Add support for 2K hard decoding of OLAND chips.
• Add shortcut for Global Search, which also supports searching markdown files.
• Add the print entrance in Document Viewer.
• Improve the file manager, movie, music, as well as other core apps.

Get Deepin 20.3

Compare to other Linux, Deepin somehow requires too much disk space now: 64 GB at least and 128 GB recommended. And it does not provide a live system to try out before installing into disk.

To get it, go to the link button above. And see the release note at this page.