Mint Update Soon, Better Than Ubuntu?

Clement Lefebvre today blogged of upcoming Mint 18 update, Serena, saying 18.1 should be released in November or December. He also teased users a bit with a few details of coming attractions. Elsewhere, Maui 2 was announced and Fedora-derivative Chapeau was reviewed. Mohd Sohail compared Mint to Ubuntu and delivered his shocking findings and The Document Foundation put out the call for designers. Micheal Larabel checked in on Fedora 25 progress and Dominique Leuenberger posted his weekly review of Tumbleweed changes.

In a couple of blog posts today Clement Lefebvre introduced the newest Mint release, 18.1, codenamed Serena saying it should be ready around November or December. Upgrading was emphasized with Lefebvre saying, "This upgrade will be both easy and safe and it will be performed via the Update Manager." He did divulge a few tidbits in the Mint Monthly News. The Cinnamon version will get menu updates with the removal of "box pointers" and better placement. "We're still tuning animations and working on borders, positions and gaps but we already know the end result will make Cinnamon look more polished than before." The screensaver will be more responsive and feature multimedia controls so you don't have to unlock to adjust volume. More work is being done to the fast mirror selector and the Language Settings are getting a redesign.

Just a couple of weeks ago Jack Germain said that Maui 1 was a "welcomed alternative" in the Linux space. Well today, Maui 2 was released with Plasma 5.8.2. The announcement also said they've switch to the "distribution independent" Calamares installer and brought the Driver Manager. Upgrade instructions for Maui 1 users are on the forums.

Micheal Larabel today reported that Fedora 25 is still on track for its November 15 release and Wayland by default is still forging full steam ahead. He said that Adam Williamson send out a mailer summarizing the last five remaining blocker bugs and while a couple sound a bit nasty, Larabel sounds hopeful for an on-time release. Final freeze is in a couple of days, so we'll know more then.

Which is better: Linux Mint or Ubuntu? Boy that's a loaded question, but nevertheless, Mohd Sohail dared to ask. He considered several criteria including software, desktop, and performance before saying, "The main difference between the two is how they are implemented in terms of the User Interface and support." Sohail used a handy chart to sum up his findings and Linux Mint inched ahead to win, barely.

In other news:

* openSUSE Tumbleweed – Review of the Week 2016/43

* LibreOffice Community Week: Design – get involved

* Chapeau Is Exactly What the Linux Desktop Needs

* Cooking With Linux, Episode 6 : Desktop Extravaganza

* Linux Marketshare Is Above 2-Percent For Third Month in a Row