With November fast approaching, the Linux Mint team is getting ready to push out version 18.3, the final release before Linux Mint 19. For a point release, it’s got some pretty nice changes included with it like support for Flatpak, and a better Private Internet Access client in the Software Manager to improve the experience for customers of that VPN service.
In terms of apps, Mint 18.3 has several new additions. First off, Redshift will ship by default; for those who are unfamiliar, Redshift is a clone of F.lux which reduces the amount of blue light being emitted by your screen at night. Many mobile operating systems are adding support for this type of functionality so the Mint team probably thought it was time to ship it on the desktop too. You’ll be able to find it in your Accessories menu.
Next up, Mintreport is now capable of producing information reports. Mintreport can scan your system and target information which is relevant to you; for example, if you haven’t set up the new system restore utility, Timeshift, Mintreport will be able to tell you.
While it’s not a new app, Xed, the Mint text editor has been equipped with a minimap down the right hand side of the windows; the minimap will be familiar to Sublime Text users. The Mint PDF reader, Xreader, is now able to detect DPI and the size of your monitor to make the size of the document you see on the screen match the size of a piece of paper in real life when using a 100% zoom level.
Many Linux distributions are beginning to add support for new package distribution methods which are more secure and self-contained, with the three most popular of these being AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap. Linux Mint has decided to include Flatpak support out of the box and packages can be installed from the Flatpaks section in the Software Manager.
The last notable change is the inclusion of Cinnamon 3.6; this brings more improvements to the on-screen keyboard, adds support for GNOME Online Accounts, and includes Libinput support which includes an automatic configuration which adapts well to most touchpads no matter which driver you’re using.
Linux Mint 18.3 should be released in November or December and will be available as an upgrade for existing Linux Mint 18.x users. It’s the last release of the series before the project bases its distribution on Ubuntu 18.04 - you'll see that change culminate with the release of Linux Mint 19.
Source: Linux Mint
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