Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon Edition Review

I have upgraded to Linux Mint 22 code named “Wilma”. I am using the Cinnamon Edition. It is a long term support release which will be supported until 2029. 

My first impression is that there is not much change, which is good.

The release note mention better language support, support for new technology, support for popular features, and now the Software Manager is faster and better looking.

Linux Mint 22 comes with a preinstalled Web App called Matrix. This is because they have discontinued using Hexchat. The Welcome screen has a link under Help.

My only issue is the Ubuntu font has been updated. It is thinner and narrower. I did a previous post on how to go back to the classic Ubuntu font.

Don’t forget to install the Microsoft fonts on your system. These are Times New Roman, Arial Black, Arial, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Impact, and Verdana. In terminal, just copy and paste the following:

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Since I use Linux Mint on my main machine, I appreciate the lack of drastic changes. Linux Mint is solid, reliable, and its desktop environment is beautiful and comfortable. Everything is where you expect it to be, and customization is fairly easy. Another 5 star product.

To upgrade to Linux Mint 22
https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/upgrade-to-mint-22.html

New Features
https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_wilma_whatsnew.php

Release notes
https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_wilma.php

Ubuntu Cinnamon – Don’t

Today, I installed Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04 LTS on my laptop.

I originally started on Linux back in 2009. My first distro was Ubuntu. I have been using Linux ever since. But Ubuntu has made a lot of mistakes along the way. They ignored users and did their own thing. That is why I switched to Linux Mint.

Linux Mint uses the Ubuntu software and repackages it for their own distro. Their Cinnamon desktop is simply the best. So when I hear that Ubuntu has added an officially supported Cinnamon version of Ubuntu, I had to try it out.

I am greatly disappointed. The system runs slower and has a hundred paper cuts. I am not happy about being forced to use Snap package manager (which is not open source).

I use Chrome, so I did my usual. I went to Google, downloaded the Deb package, and installed it on my system. The program will not boot. And so I deleted Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04 LTS from my system and reinstalled Linux Mint 21.3.

The installation was faster and more intuitive. The desktop and software just runs, and looks awesome. Linux Mint is still number 1 in my book.

Facebook Chat Not Working in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

The Facebook XMPP API is being turned off. Trying to connect to Facebook Chat using an application like Pidgin or Empathy will no longer work and will throw a connection error. A replacement API for accessing Facebook Chat has not been announced.

This does not affect the ability to chat on the Facebook website or using Messenger. But you won’t be able to use unofficial apps such as Empathy, Pidgin and Kopete.