The latest version of the popular Linux Mint operating system has been released. The Linux Mint 20 “Ulyana” distro comes with new features including a new tool called Warpinator, home directory encryption by default, updated Nemo File Manager, powerful Cinnamon desktop environment, revamped Gdebi, and several new appealing aesthetic improvements.
Linux Mint 20 “Ulyana” Distro Stable Release ISO Available For Download:
Linux Mint 20 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Long Term Service) and it’s available for download in three editions: Linux Mint Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. All three versions feature the updates mentioned above as well as updated artwork (themes and icons), and a new user interface for the Gdebi tool. One of the most interesting aspects of the new release is the inclusion of NVIDIA Optimus. Linux Mint 20 features improved support for NVIDIA Optimus. The NVIDIA Prime applet now shows ‘GPU Renderer’ and users can select which card to switch to straight from its menu. In other words, NVIDIA Optimus technology allows users to switch between Intel and NVIDIA graphics on the fly on supported computers.
— Sergey Tkachenko (@winreview) June 27, 2020 To use the feature, simply right-click and select “Run with NVIDIA GPU”. Additionally, From the command-line, two new commands are available to offload to GLX or to Vulkan:
nvidia-optimus-offload-glxnvidia-optimus-offload-vulkan
The latest release also significantly improves XApps improvements. Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon also gets the new version 4.6 of the Cinnamon desktop environment, which brings a faster Nemo file manager. Additionally, the release gets fractional display scaling, an important feature that lets users set custom DPI levels at any value between 100 percent and 200 percent for screens with high pixel density. Needless to add, the feature is highly useful for running Linux with multiple displays. Many users can run one screen at a high resolution if it supports the same, and the other display at a lower resolution.
Linux Mint 20 “Ulyana” Distro Based On Ubuntu 20.04 LTS:
Linux Mint 20 will receive security updates until 2025. Incidentally, all three versions of Linux Mint 20 use Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base. Since the distro is based on Long Term Service (LTS) platform, users can be assured about getting security updates at least for the next five years.
— Vance West (@vanceswest) June 27, 2020 Additionally, the Linux Mint team will use the same package base for all new versions of the operating system released until 2022. This means a simpler upgrade from version 20 to version 21. Moreover, users can simply ignore the updates and stay on version 20 until the next LTS release. This feature is quite important in companies and organizations which heavily rely on stability and assurance of performance, and do not want the latest updates with new features. Apart from the abovementioned benefits, the Linux Mint 20 “Ulyana” distro comes with Snapd disabled by default. The Snap Store, also known as the Ubuntu Store, is a commercial centralized software store operated by Canonical.
