With the final release is out now, we now have considerable information about the Linux Mint 20.1 new features and release dates. Here is a list of the changes we compiled for you. Take a look.
Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa is the first point release of the Linux Mint 20.x series. With this release, moderate new changes coming up with many bug fixes. Linux Mint 20.1 BETA was released on December 18, 2020, and the final release on Jan 6, 2021. This includes all the flavors โ Xfce, Mate, and Cinnamon editions.
Table of Contents
Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa Release Date
Linux Mint 20.1 releases on January 6, 2021. Based on Mint’s release history the future point releases of this series are expected to follow the below timelines (tentative):
Linux Mint 20.1 – January 6, 2021
Linux Mint 20.2 – By September 2021
Linux Mint 20.3 – By December 2021
Linux Mint 20.1 comes with the usual three flavors. Itโs flagship Cinnamon desktop, Xfce, and MATE desktop variants. All three flavors have their respective updates and some core updates as well. Letโs have a look.
Linux Mint 20.1 New Features
Core Updates
Linux Mint follows the LTS cycle of Ubuntu. Hence, Linux Mint 20.1 is based on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS which is the current stable release of Ubuntu 20.04.
Linux Mint 20.1 powered by Linux kernel 5.4. However, the team promises that a separate ISO is in the works with Linux Kernel 5.8 – called EDGE .iso. That means you get two Kernel variants of Linux Mint 20.1 when it releases. Linux Kernel 5.4 is an old LTS kernel, while the relatively newer Kernel 5.8 provides more support for additional devices and hardware. The primary reason for a separate ISO featuring Kernel 5.8 is AMD Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 desktop processors which have better support in Linux Kernel 5.8 than Kernel 5.4.
Itโs worth mentioning that the Linux kernel 5.10 LTS has more support for Ryzen among other hardware updates. But Linux Kernel 5.10 unlikely to land in the 20.x series considering that the Linux Mint follows the LTS cycle of Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is currently based on Kernel 5.4 โ which continues to be there until its lifecycle which ends in 2025.
New IPTV Player Hypnotix
Due to popular demand, Linux Mint brings a new application for IPTV โ called Hypnotix. This is a native Mint application that comes with pre-loaded free IPTV channels. You can watch many free TV streams over the internet such as news, music, etc.
It also has features to accept custom streams using .mp3 playlists.
Add Any File as Favorites
Linux Mint 20.1 makes your life easy by making any file or directory accessible using favorites. Hereโs how it works. Right-click on any file/directory โ then click on Add to favorites from the context menu. Once added, the files are accessible from everywhere. You can access via file manager (e.g. Nemo), from the taskbar with the Favorite widget, and main application menu.
This is similar to the โRecentโ files section of the respective file manager. But the difference is, you can use those features across your desktop for any possible workflow. Favorites use the libXapp that means any GTK app or desktop environment can access the feature.
To remove an item, simply right-click on the file and remove it from the context menu.
Web Apps
You can now create โfeel-like-nativeโ applications launcher for any Web URL using Web Apps. This app creates an Electron wrapper of your favorite websites and packages them as shortcuts that look like native apps. They open their separate window and behaves independently.
Although it looks great for many websites that don’t deal with sensitive work such as YouTube, WhatsApp Web. But I would rather not create a web app for your banking websites.
Compiz
The popular compositive window manager Compiz makes a comeback to Linux Mint with this release. With Compiz, you can do strange things on your desktop with many effects such as 3D Cube effects, etc. Today, to install Compiz, you have to go via the PPA route followed by many tweakings to make it work properly. Hopefully, this gets changed in Linux Mint 20.1.
Removal of ippusbxd
When Linux Mint 20 was released earlier, it brought the ippusbxd which is an IPP implementation. This ippusbxd package provides features so you can scan or print without drivers! However, this created many problems apparently.
So this package is removed in Linux Mint 20.1 and you can go ahead using the printer and scanner you used to do earlier in Linux Mint 19.0 series.
Linux Mint 20.1 Flavours
The Linux Mint 20.1 Xfce edition features Xfce 4.14 desktop environment. Unfortunately, the latest Xfce 4.16 will not be there in this release. The release timings of the Xfce 4.16 and Mint 20.1 didn’t match. Considering the LTS nature, it is unlikely that the Linux Mint 20.x series would feature Xfce 4.16 in future point releases, but not sure though.
However, you can still install Xfce 4.16 via staging PPA in Linux Mint 20.1, although it is not recommended for a stable system.
Linux Mint 20.1 will feature the MATE Desktop 1.24 and Cinnamon 4.8 version for their respective flavors.
Linux Mint 20.1 โ feature summary
- Linux Kernel 5.4 with a separate .iso for Linux kernel 5.8.
- Based on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.
- New IPTV player โ Hypnotix
- New feature โ add files, folders as favorites across the desktop.
- Removal of ippusbxd
- Compiz works out of the box in Mint 20.1
- Xfce 4.14
- Cinnamon 4.8
- MATE 1.24
..And many bug fixes.
Download Linux mint 20.1
If you are already running the BETA version Or, running Linux Mint 20.0 you can simply wait for the update to land via standard update manager. Or, you can run below from the command line.
Or, for a fresh download, download the .iso files from the below links.
linuxmint-20.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso linuxmint-20.1-cinnamon-64bit-edge.iso [Kernel 5.8] linuxmint-20.1-mate-64bit.iso linuxmint-20.1-xfce-64bit.iso For the Kernel 5.8 iso images - download the iso with "-edge" at the end.
Checksum file available here.
After download, you can write the .iso images to a USB stick. Or, you can use any virtual machine to try e.g. GNOME Boxes or virt-manager.
That said, a moderate point release is expected from the Linux Mint team in 20.x series. We expect some more point releases on 2021 as per the release dates.
