Linux in The News 9-18-23
Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 “Faye” Is Now Available for Public Beta Testing
This release is based on Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” and it’s available only with the Cinnamon desktop.
The long-anticipated LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) 6 “Faye” operating system is now available for public beta testing featuring the latest Cinnamon desktop environment and a Debian Bookworm base.
Based on the Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series, Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 is powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel series and features the latest Cinnamon 5.8 desktop environment that was introduced with the Linux Mint 21.2 “Victoria” release in July 2023.
LMDE 6 contains all the changes of Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon and it appears to use PipeWire as the default audio backend. Other than that, you’ll get a solid Debian base, all of the goodies of the Cinnamon 5.8 desktop, improved support for Flatpak apps, and a global Dark Mode setting to support GTK4/libadwaita apps.
In addition, this release comes with a new look and feel thanks to newly added folder icons with different color variants, improved consistency of tooltips to look the same across different apps and desktops, support for symbolic icons that adapt to their background, and full support for HEIF and AVIF images.
The in-house built Xreader document viewer app received proper support for Adobe Illustrator documents, the Pix image viewer app now uses the gThumb 3.12.2 image viewer as its base, and the Software Manager app comes with a refreshed UI, better scoring/sorting algorithms, and a tuned package list.
LMDE 6 beta is available for download right now from the official Linux Mint mirrors around the world. I picked two mirrors below for your convenience if you want to grab the ISOs from this page without the fuss of manually searching through all the mirrors.
LMDE 6 is available for both 64-bit and 32-bit systems. However, please keep in mind that this is a pre-release version that should only be installed on a test machine and not on a production system.
Purism Launches New Secure Librem 11 Tablet PC Powered by Linux
The Linux tablet is powered by an Intel N5100 “Jasper Lake” processor and comes with a keyboard and stylus.
Purism, the company behind the Librem 5 smartphone, announced today a new device, the Librem 11 tablet, running PureBoot, Linux kernel, and PureOS by default.
“Today most tablets run operating systems that limit personal freedom and are designed to be as intrusive as possible.”
Like most of Purism’s devices, the Librem 11 tablet PC promises users the best security, privacy, and freedom-respecting features including a secure boot with Purism’s PureBoot cutting-edge secure boot process based on the Coreboot and Heads projects.
Librem 11 also promises real convergence with Purism’s PureOS security-focused operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux, so you can turn the tablet into a full-featured computer when connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Under the hood, Librem 11 is powered by an Intel N5100 “Jasper Lake” processor running at 1.1GHz (up to 2.89GHz) and featuring 4 cores, 4 threads, and Intel UHD Graphics, 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM, 1TB NVMe storage, as well as two full function USB Type-C 3.1 ports with power delivery charging.
The Linux-powered tablet PC also features a multi-touch 11.5-inch AMOLED display with a 2560×1600 resolution running at 60Hz. Two cameras are present, a 2MP camera on the front and a 5MP camera on the back, and you’ll also get a 3.5mm audio jack that supports microphone in and headphone out.
Purism’s Librem 11 tablet ships with a detachable keyboard that can be used as a protective sleeve, a USB-C chargeable pen featuring 4096 pressure levels and tilt support, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless connection, Bluetooth 5, an accelerometer sensor, a fingerprint reader, and a microSD card reader.
If you’re in the market for a Linux-powered, secure, and privacy-focused tablet PC, you can purchase the Librem 11 right now from Purism’s online store for $999.00 USD. Purism promises that its Linux tablet won’t spy on its users as the company has a policy to avoid surveillance and data mining business practices.
Image credits: Purism
