Additional Suggestions For Future Linux Mint Releases

[ASmith]

Many Linux Users are more and more desiring Security both on their desktops as well as via their online communications, these additions should be included with future Linux Mint releases to enable those features from the very beginning:

OpenPGP to provide a 2048 bit RSA encryption mode to the existing Thunderbird Email package.
Xchat-otr to provide strong encryption in private chats to the existing XChat package.
TrueCrypt to provide strong encryption possibilitys to the entire HD, Partition or User Volume.

The option of using a USB pendrive 1 megabyte keyfile.zip or security token to supplement the password login, making defeating the users login password much more difficult.
(Zip routinely uses hyperextended characters w/o spaces making them ideal for extremely strong password based keyfiles)

With TrueCrypts auto-installing package, the Linux-Mint team should make some effort to add the download link and simple run cmds into the distribution packages.

Countless Linux Users trying to upgrade to Mint 12 have been literally beset with Video Driver conflicts with Gnome 3x. Anyone visiting the Linux Mint Help IRC channel will see them first hand parade in with that very problem, one after another.

My suggestion is for the Linux Mint XX LiveCD to have a video testing wizard to make certain the video card, drivers and resolution is adequate and at least operating at a minimal basis before telling the installer it is good to fully install on the hard drive.

Meanwhile until that foobar is corrected:

List the resolution changing apps for users to try to repair their video driver and/or resolution problem.
Provide the steps to-do when the Mint Linux user boots into a system where the desktop panels, menus are all invisible. How to proceed to fix the problem if possible using the Terminal CLI commands.

My Thanks to the Linux Mint Team for their consideration.

[ASmith]

1) Provide the Linux Mint installers with the option to choose the kind of encryption algorithm (Twofish,Serpent etc.) and the strength (192bit,256bit etc.).

2) Provide the Linux Mint user log-in password query to optionally include a keyfile on a USB device,CD or DVD which can either supplement the manually entered password or entirely supply a very strong password which can be easily removed and safely stored whenever that user or computer is not being used by that Mint Linux user.

Pros:
Currently there is no choice for the Linux Mint encryption algorithm being used when choosing the encrypt home directory nor is the installer able to chose the algorithm strength being employed (192bit,256bit etc.).

Quickly and repeatedly entered passwords are seldom strong and rarely of the full capable length needed to fully utilise the strength of 256bit or higher encryption pushing the length of random characters to 20+. This delimit can be solved by utilising a keyfile to either supplement users passwords or to entirely supply the strong full length password which is safely removed and stored when that computer is not in use.

A keyfile is any kind of file preferably of a compressed nature, 1mb or larger (mp3,jpg,zip,tar etc.) which nests among a potential haystack of other also common files which is selected to supplement or be entirely used to supply the encryption password. The encryption program reads in the maximum length of the password via the bits contained in the selected keyfile to use to supplement or entirely use as a password. With a strong encryption algorithm (twofish,serpent) and a keyfile (size,type mentioned above) used, without the keyfile no outside thug,source nor agency is gaining full access to your unencrypted information.