Linux Mint 19.3 "Tricia" Beta Available To Download

For the past many releases, I have been covering Linux mint, and in each release, the team has delivered what it had promised. Now the new release is getting closer, and Mint users should know what will be delivered in the coming release Linux Mint 19.3 “Tricia”.

Yesterday Linux Mint 19.3 codenamed “Tricia” was released. It is a big milestone for developers to reach since this release reflects what the team has been working for. After reading the release note and using it, it looks like the team is on its way to deliver another user-friendly, stable, and feature-rich OS.

So let’s see what’s new in Linux Mint 19.3 “Tricia” Beta.

What’s new in Linux Mint 19.3 “Tricia” Beta?

System base & support

Linux Mint 19.3 is based on Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux kernel 5.0. As always, it’s an LTS release that means it’ll receive security updates for 5 years (2023).

New Logo

The first thing any user will notice on the first boot is the Linux mint logo. They have tweaked the logo a little bit.

Now it’s also possible to change the start menu “Mint” icon. To change the icon, right-click the mint icon in the panel, click ‘Configure’, and select change the icon.

System Reports detects potential issues

System reports provide an in-depth summary of the system hardware and software. The new feature in System Reports can detect potential system issues and offer a possible fix for each issue.

I installed Linux Mint 19.3 in VirtualBox, and System Reports detected the following issues –

As you can see that the System reports tool has detected four issues. The first one being the hardware drivers are available to install, language packs are also required, root user password has not been set, and I have not set up a system backup.

This utility is very helpful as it saves a lot of time finding some common system issues and provides fixes.

HiDPI support

Linux Mint support for HiDPI is getting better in each release. In this release, it is almost complete. There are only two preinstalled apps that do not support HiDPI, and those are Hexchat & Qt5Settings.

Cinnamon 4.4

Cinnamon 4.4 is more lightweight than its predecessors. Cinnamon 4.4 uses 28MB less memory than 4.2 and 4.3.

In Linux mint 19.3, there are a few tweaks in the desktop environment. The system panel’s font & icons sizes can be adjusted differently. Uses can change the font & icon size of the left of the panel, center of the panel, and right of the panel separately.

Customizable Nemo Right-click menu

If you think right-clicking the file manager gives irrelevant options, then you can customize it now. Open Nemo, go to Edit > Preferences > Context menu. Here you can select more options or deselect other options.

New Apps

Celluloid is the default media player

Celluloid has replaced Xplayer as the default media player. Celluloid is better in providing much better and higher resolution without heating the system.

Gnote replaces Tomboy for note-taking apps

Gnote is the new note-taking app in Linux Mint 19.3. It has very similar functionality but is built using modern technology.

Drawing replaces Gimp

Gimp is the most popular image editing software in the Linux world. It is often compared with Photoshop. But in Linux 19.3, the team has replaced Gimp with Drawing, another drawing tool that is easier to learn and use.

Though my personal choice is Gimp, I think they have replaced it because of the majority of Linux mint users who need a tool for basic image editing.

Select preferred time format

Now users can also select the time format from language settings.

Other improvements & tweaks

These are bigger changes that we have in Linux Mint 19.3 “Tricia”. There are many smaller changes, bug fixes, and tweaks that you may want to know in detail. Please visit the release note for all that Tricia has received.

Download Linux Mint 19.3 “Tricia”

Beta warning

Beta releases are for testing purposes, not for everyday use. There are bugs, and the system or some specific features may not work properly. I used this beta release for 3 hours, and it crashed once when I was trying to change the display resolution.