Linux Mint 20.3 “Una” comes with subtle visual changes that offset the modern look and feel and new application improvements.
Linux Mint 20.3, codenamed “Una”, has finally arrived. The official announcement should follow shortly, but for now it’s already available for download!
While Linux Mint 20.2 includes some impressive improvements, Linux Mint 20.3 also looks like an exciting release.
Linux Mint 20.3: What’s New?
This release of Linux Mint 20.3 includes the newest version of Cinnamon 5.2, some minor visual changes and various other improvements.
Note that the changes remain the same for the Xfce and MATE editions (with the exception of the improvements specific to the desktop environment).
Cinnamon 5.2 desktop environment
Cinnamon 5 had several additions aimed at customizing and managing the resources consumed by the desktop environment.
This time, the update focuses on a couple of new features. The calendar applet is now more functional and can display events directly from the system tray when you click on the system time/date icon.
Events should be synced if you use the GNOME calendar or an online account (like Google Calendar).
In addition to this, you will also find improvements in the Nemo file manager and small changes in the window animations.
There are also some necessary bug fixes and minor improvements in general.
New Wallpapers
It’s always nice to find new wallpapers for the latest release. And Mint 20.3 will not disappoint you.
You get a fantastic collection of wallpapers that you can choose to use.
Visual Theme Update and Dark Mode Enhancement
In Linux Mint 20.3 the theme was updated: the accent color was slightly changed (it became brighter) and several widgets were removed.
This, along with rounded corners for windows, gives a cleaner and more modern look.
Overall, including the new icons, Linux Mint 20.3 is a new suite of themes.
If you want the same look and feel while maintaining the other benefits, you can simply install the old theme package from the repository and apply it.
sudo apt install mint-themes-legacy
After installing the legacy package, you should find that it is available for selection:
As you might notice I preferred for this article screenshots in dark mode because Linux Mint 20.3 pays more attention to dark mode, finally!
Some of the default applications like Hypnotix, Gnome terminal, Celluloid run with dark mode enabled. You can disable them permanently if you want.
The new “Thingy” app.
When Klem (the lead developer of Linux Mint) hinted at a new surprise app, we quickly found out what would be coming in Linux Mint 20.3.
And the beta version confirmed this before the stable update.
The new app “Thingy” is also known as the “Library” which is the default document manager for Linux Mint. You can download ebooks and other PDF files and the “Library” application should automatically detect them from the “Downloads” directory.
Some of the default apps, such as the IPTV player Hypnotix and sticky notes, now have the ability to search for a channel or note, respectively.
Other improvements
Several other improvements contribute to improved performance, power saving and more.
Given that the update is based on Ubuntu 20.04.3, it uses the Linux Kernel 5.4 LTS kernel.
You can find more information about the changes in the official announcement.
Download Linux Mint 20.3
You can download the ISO from the official homepage. They haven’t updated the download page, but you can find the latest ISOs on their torrent download page.
If you want direct download links, you can look at the global mirror to get all the releases of Linux Mint.
Do you like the new version of Linux Mint 20.3? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
