Lefebvre also stated that the Xfce and KDE versions will come later in the year. Besides releasing ISO images for 18.3 “Sylvia”, the Linux Mint team also made a blog post detailing how to upgrade your existing 18.0, 18.1, or 18.2 systems to Sylvia. Linux Mint 18.3 features Cinnamon 3.6, a Linux kernel 4.10 and an Ubuntu 16.04 package base. Just like other versions in the 18.x series, Linux Mint 18.3 will receive security updates for five years, which means that the users will be able to use the OS as well into 2021. Since this is not a “mandatory” update, if you are using one of the older, but supported Mint 18.x releases and are satisfied with it, then stay on your current release unless you’ve got a reason to upgrade, Lefebvre advises. The new version of the Linux distribution comes with improvements to existing features such as the Software Manager with a new and updated user interface, a cleaner design, and faster performance. The Software Manager also now comes with native Flatpak support. It allows you to install applications even if their dependencies are not compatible with Linux Mint. Popular software applications such as Spotify, WhatsApp, Skype, Google Earth, Steam or Minecraft are now featured and very easy to install. “Thanks to Flatpak you can install bleeding-edge applications even if their dependencies are not compatible with Linux Mint. Linux Mint 18.3 comes with Flatpak installed by default and the new Software Manager fully supports it. A section is dedicated to Flatpak and the Software Manager lists the content of each Flatpak remote. Although Flathub is configured by default, you can modify the list of remotes. If you add new ones, they will appear in the Software Manager. Packages and flatpaks are completely different things, but in the Software Manager, they’re presented the same way: They’re just applications you install,” says Lefebvre. Linux Mint 18.3 features Timeshift, a tool dedicated to system snapshots. “Timeshift is the perfect companion to the Linux Mint Backup Tool. It doesn’t save your personal data, it saves everything else. Thanks to Timeshift you can create backups of the operating system itself. You deleted system files by mistake? You can recover them. You upgraded to a newer release and something isn’t working well anymore? You can go back in time. In preparation for Linux Mint 18.3, our development team worked in cooperation with Tony George, the developer of Timeshift, to improve localization, HiDPI support, look and feel, and support for window progress and encrypted directories,” Lefebvre added. The new version of Linux Mint also ships with a System Reports tool designed to provide users of the system with crash information, and general purpose information reports. You can read more about the changelogs for Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon and MATE by clicking the links. Linux Mint is available for download with a choice of desktop environment including Cinnamon and MATE. Source: Neowin
