With this edition they would all be there. Linux Mint is the main one, based on Ubuntu LTS and where all possible improvements are added sooner. Then there is LMDE, whose sixth installment I arrive last week and is based on Debian. One was missing, Linux Mint 21.2 Edge, which has already arrived, and is, as Clem Lefabvre explains, an image «Made for people whose hardware is too new to boot from the 5.15 kernel included in Linux Mint 21.x«.
Linux Mint 21.2 Edge is basically a «Victoria" with a more modern kernel, more specifically the Linux 6.2 which was released in February of this year, so it has been marked as "EOL" for a long time and does not enjoy official support. You will receive updates from the Linux Mint team, so users of this EDGE version have nothing to fear; No serious security flaw will appear and they will be unprotected.
Linux Mint 21.2 Edge uses Linux 6.2
This image is designed with the users of AMD or Intel hardware that does not work well after installing from scratch if using the regular Linux Mint version. Therefore, those working on a computer that does not have any problems with Linux 5.15 should not consider installing Linux Mint 21.2 Edge. Although there is also another novelty with respect to the normal edition based on Ubuntu 22.04: this ISO returns support for Secureboot.
Unlike the usual Linux Mint and like LMDE, this Edge image only available in Cinnamon. Although Xfce, MATE and other desktops can be installed, you will have to do it manually after installation of the operating system.
Some of the news
SDDM, GDM or LightDM are better known, but Linux Mint has its own login software called Slick Greeter. In Linux Mint 21.2, and by extension to this Edge version, the software has received support for multiple keyboard layers. You can see the different ones we are using and which one is selected from the indicator at the top right. Slick Greeter has also improved touchpad support, and tap-to-click is automatically detected and enabled from here.
The software center now looks better than ever. In the list of featured apps now also shows Flathub apps, which I think is a success because it has a lot of movement and allows us to better see what is new and outstanding. On the other hand, the scoring system has improved to prioritize new applications that are in fashion.
Linux Mint's photo tool is called Pix, and in this version it is based on gThumb 3.12.2. This has allowed visual improvements to be introduced, and they also use header bars and buttons instead of toolbars and menus. Total, Pix 3.0 arrives with 168 new features.
Improvements in the interface and user experience
It's like a classic. In each new version of Linux Mint, Lefebvre and his team give one more twist and make the operating system even more beautiful. In Linux Mint 21.2, folder icons no longer display a line. Now each color has two tone icons.
Something in which consistency has been gained is in the information messages, what in English is known as tooltips. In previous versions, these tooltips They looked different depending on whether an app was for GTK3, GTK3, or Cinnamon, and even included a gray border that didn't look good in all scenarios. This has all been fixed, in part because they have switched to using Adwaita and the messages are larger, more rounded and with more margins.
The title bars have been realigned and the icons are monochrome, which has also helped improve overall consistency.
Linux Mint 21.2 supports XDG Desktop Portal in XApp
In 21.2 it was added support for XDG Desktop Portal in XApp, and this has allowed compatibility to be improved between different graphical environments and applications that are not native such as GNOME applications or those that are packaged as flatpak. The highlight that is achieved with this is that now you can take screenshots and they support dark mode.
Continuing with improvements in supports, another that has improved has been the gestures on the touch panel, which now allow managing windows, workspaces, stacking and multimedia controls.
Interested users, which we repeat should only be those with more modern hardware that does not work correctly with Linux 5.15 or those who need Secureboot to work well, can download the image of this Edge version from the button at the end of the article. As we had already mentioned, most of these new features are also in the normal version of Linux Mint 21.2. This, the Edge that is prepared for computers with newer hardware.
Should I use this Edge or stick with “normal” Linux Mint?
It is likely that some of you have this doubt, and it is also possible that you have it because in your head there is something related to Ubuntu LTS or the normal version (interim in English). The Edge version It has nothing to do with newer software, and the answer is simple: if your computer works well with normal editing, that's all there is to it.
This ISO Edge would be the equivalent to Ubuntu HWE. The acronym comes from HardWare Enablement, which translates into Spanish as "hardware activation." A newer kernel is not used for the new features; A more modern kernel is used because each new version adds support for hardware that has been released in recent months. If you have a computer that is two or more years old, a newer kernel will most likely support your hardware, but if your computer is less old, it may not work as well with a kernel of this age.
So, in summary, you should only use Edge if you are looking for a more modern kernel or if the normal edition is not going well, but there are no new features or more updated repositories.