January 8, 2021 Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” Xfce released! (What's New) Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” MATE released! (What's New) Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” Cinnamon released! (What's New) Download Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa
You're welcome Upgrade instructions will be available soon: gHacks-article: Linux Mint 20.1 long-term support release is out
Pretty painless really. There was a prompt to upgrade which made it simple as, and with @mood 's link it was a breeze.
There is an issue with usrmerge. It stopped IFL from opening as IFL requires libpng12. https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/05/fix-libpng12-0-missing-in-ubuntu-1804.html
Linux Mint 20.1: Hands on A new release of Linux Mint is out. I have tried all three desktop versions, with both fresh installations and upgrades of existing systems. January 11, 2021 https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-mint-20-1-hands-on/
I installed Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” Cinnamon yesterday from DVD which I downloaded as an iso and then burned using Nero DVD burner. Booted to DVD drive Chose to install. A few details need entering username etc..pc name Installed straightforwardly without any issue. I am very impressed with this Operating System. The thought that has gone into it and for the user is obvious. Designed very well. It is not attacking me from the outset and trying to take over like most modern W systems. Although I use Tails and have used other Linux Operating Systems that ran straight from cd/DVD, I'm not familiar with the Linux Operating system and I've tried many times in the past to run Linux on a pc but had to uninstall it as there were certain things that prevented it from being an everyday usable system to me. 'Out of the box',Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” Cinnamon is well laid out...very well laid out. It's great to look at. Found my internet without problem. I hardly know even one Linux command 'apt get' a few other arcane commands I've heard of but I've never really learned anything for everyday use. You can as a new user , unfamiliar with Linux and having no knowledge of command line, find your way about to a quite good degree, which is reassuring and comforting. Right click menus are good. Just the fact that I got straight onto the Internet is a massive plus for me as then I can research anything I need to know. Has a great start menu, Folder access is straight from a desktop icon Right click menus are great. The default folders make sense and are accessible. Easy to make a folder of your own. One of the nicest operating systems I've ever seen, although my lack of knowledge means I have not looked deeply underneath and wouldn't even know what I am looking for. I look for logical accessibility, usability, configureability and practicality in systems and this looks very good. It's great on the eye and so easy to change desktop look or icons or whatever. The Linux equivalent of 'control panel' is accessible and straightforward. My only fear is that as a Windows user I have always used Shadow Defender and Sandboxie for security. and with not being familiar with Linux I feel rather exposed because of my lack of knowledge. This is not a review in the usual sense of the word but just a user trying this Operating system for the first time and early thoughts. I'm quite excited by it as an option for an everyday useable system. I've used 'dows right from the dos days 'dows 3.0 and have increasingly become fed up with the level of automatic intrusion and the modern systems that act like a trap out of the box with the constant insistence on monitoring and service like accountability. Thousands of people on many forums just trying to work out how they can use a system without falling victim to it. That should never happen.
@fblais Thanks. Without knowing much about it. and not wanting to go too far off topic. Question 1 Is it possible in Linux Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa” Cinnamon to run something equivilent to Sandboxie and Shadow Defender? Question 2 I'd like to run Tor Browser portable would it conflict in any way with the Firefox that is already installed in this version of Linux?
I find Mint useful even being an experienced Linux user at this point with some command line and scripting chops. I generally prefer Debian and Debian derived distros but I don't like Ubuntu so much these days so I'm using Mint which is about the best in hardware recognition and portability. Nothing quite like Shadow Defender in Linux that I know of. There are some programs like Firejail that go into the territory of Sandboxie. What I've found using Linux is that such software isn't as necessary with Linux, the OS doesn't have all the hidden complexity of Windows and malware isnt so prevalent. System partitions are much smaller and easily imaged and quickly restored or cloned. Virtualbox VMs run much better in Linux and my Windows use is more and more VMs of my old systems running in Linux. That's what I'm posting this on.
Question 1 answer: I don't care about security with Linux. Question 2 answer: I don't see any problem using Tor portable along with Firefox.
Thanks for your help @fblais and @MisterB re @fblais 'I don't care about security with Linux.' I take it that you mean that you feel comfortable with Linux, as it is, and security is not an issue, in that context? ...... I'm amazed at how usable 'out of the box' that this operating system has become. I'm a complete novice (well nearly) and although not familiar with all the commands and things that I should get to know (and will, in time hopefully), to have a full understanding and use of the system, this operating system allows a 'dows user a usable platform for a 'start' It's a system which I could use every day. This is something that I have never found with Linux in the past at my numerous attempts to come to grips with it. I played about with Unix systems in a very superficial way, back in the days of msdos and when 'dows was in it's infancy and knew a few commands and how to access the help file but the GUI of 'dows was attractive. Subsequently I've never used 'command line' often, even in 'dows. An 'everyday' logical usable GUI that doesn't require 'tinkering' under the hood to get you running in an ordinary way, is very important. To get onto the Internet, to browse, to use a file manager, to install , open and use an application, to download something, to copy, to paste, to save , to resize, to delete without fear are important aspects of any operating system. An operating system is supposed to operate things and in the past Linux was more like a puzzle or test that , if you didn't know the 'arcane' formula and were not in the 'geeky' 'know' could easily 'dead end' you as a new user. There always appeared to me, to be a sort of 'geek' snob 'attitude' with linux which proclaimed it's independence from 'mainstream' by having garish frontages imposed from the outset by 'revolutionary' teens with a chip on their shoulder. If you didn't know about grep and apt get and so forth, that was 'your problem'; you were a 'straight' and probably a 'dows boy with no 'conviction' or analytical ability. nb These are only my thoughts and probably bear no relation to the truth of the matter at all. I understand the importance of command line and a fully configurable mature system and I wouldn't like that to be completely replaced by a superficial 'click a button and you're there', sort of operating system, that leads you straight into the latest 'app' or 'service. I don't like 'gimmicky'. My favourite operating system for 'style' was 'dows 2000 and although XP had extra functionality it gave the first inklings of an imposed philosophical stance that would lead down a particular road. that I didn't want to go down. I like to own an operating system; I don't want it to own me. I don't like monopoly. I don't like piles of garbage apps or services coming with an operating system I don't want it as an automatically connected service. I don't like automatic updates. I don't want an operating system to profile me. I don't want an operating system or it's related 'corporates' to probe me for information about my personal life, my family, my friends, my pets, my cars or house, my favourite colour, my health, my work, my eye colour, my fingerprint, my body movements so that it can 'tailor' and refine ways to manipulate and 'own' me further. I believe that these sorts of impositions are intrusive and against my humanity. The new philosophy is 'Play 'ball', or don't play at all' I don't like that stance, it doesn't seem to have my best interests at heart, so I am exploring different directions and options and this Operating system is one of them. .................. Re Tor Browser It installed easily and runs in Linux Mint Cinnamon and gets along with the Firefox Browser which comes pre installed with the Operating System. Download it only from the Tor site.
Yes, that's what I meant. I enable the firewall with "sudo ufw enable" then with gufw I block the ports 22 (both UDP and TCP) outgoing. (SSH port) Everything is blocked ingoing by default.
How is Mint doing with NFT since that is going to be the default firewall before long? I have been learning NFT and in fact have stripped IP tables where possible. Kickin my *** actually, but I am a work in progress. LOL! One other question. How does this new Mint Cinnamon compare with Buster Cinnamon as far as ease with a terminal?
@fblais Thanks. I managed to install gufw and configured it as you described for port 22 (both) but at one point Linux told me that I'd installed it twice. I deleted some tmp files and think it's ok. How can I check if an application is running twice? Sorry, just a beginner.
Honestly, I have no idea! When looking at LM's roadmap, I see nothing about this either: https://github.com/linuxmint/Roadmap But regular LM being based on Ubuntu, I guess the change will come from upsptream. Likewise with LMDE and Debian I suppose. I never installed Cinnamon on Debian, but I guess that's pretty similar. Just that one is based on Ubuntu and the other on Debian, but that's not much difference.
How did Linux told you something was installed twice? What is running twice exactly? Is it possible to take a screenshot?
@fblais Sorry, I said it incorrectly, not running twice but said already installed. I think that I might have stopped it...it gave a file name tmp to remove the new installation attempt. I think that it might have been because after installation I didn't see gufw displayed and tried to install it again In the end I managed after reboot to get it running and configured as you mentioned. It seems to ask for my password every time I. want to change things. The rules section in gufw seems to show two blocks of the port 22, one slightly different than the other. I think that maybe one is for the udp and one for tcp...I selected 'both' when it asked me initially. Probably everything is working fine. I wanted to ask you fblais why you personally block port 22...There seems to all sorts of conflicting opinion on the net. In your opinion, Is there a downside to blocking that port? Anyway, it seems good to me up to now and I appreciate your helpful input. The pc that Linux Mint it is installed on is not my everyday pc so at the moment I do not have a lot to lose even if everything was to go wrong. I'll see if I can make a little part screenshot of the firewall frontage gufw rules showing the two notations that I mentioned.
It's all fine, and normal that your password is asked for when you want to change system settings. Same thing happens in Windows with UAC to some extent. As for the SSH port, i block it for security reasons, as I don't use anything relying on this port. This port can be used for remote connections to or from your machine.
Did the upgrade on my one problem Ulyana system that took something like 15 minutes to resume from hibernation and it fixed the problem so that's one less system I'll be using Windows on. It was Windows 8 and I use it for social media. Now I'm down to one business computer I'm still using Windows on. I haven't even thought of NFT as of yet, it took me long enough to get a grip on iptables. I do most of the system administration by command line and I haven't had any issues with Mint Cinnamon. The main firewall is in my router which is running open source Linux firmware and the firewall on my client systems is a secondary defense.
