Mint Cinnamon 21 - the most buggy release in the Linux Mint history?

[Dan-cer]

I would tend to recommend one of the Ubuntu flavours for beginners.

No. Although I'm not a beginner, I used Ubuntu for a long time and also Linux Mint later for years now. To me Mint is quite more intuitive, has a better structure and is easier to understand for beginners.
You might be fond of snapd and flatpaks. However, I avoided them from the very beginning although I like to try something new generally.

Linux Mint is the best Linux experience for beginners, not only coming from windows, to me.
Its desktop is better programmed than Ubuntu's.

Of course it could be that also Ubuntu is better now than when I left it about 5 years ago. However, Mint has convinced me of its high userfriendly quality.

[gunfleet]

Nope, all I want is the first google, ddg result or whatever point me to an official LM site, not a site I may or may not trust, if the LM blog was a bit more active that would have been the case. As it happens I have never upgraded LM before I have always used a new ISO, so I did not know the commands or if they had changed since the last version of mintupgrade

[Pjotr]

Nope, all I want is the first google, ddg result or whatever point me to an official LM site, not a site I may or may not trust, if the LM blog was a bit more active that would have been the case. As it happens I have never upgraded LM before I have always used a new ISO, so I did not know the commands or if they had changed since the last version of mintupgrade

If you need official help to take this unwise risk, you shouldn't want to take it anyway. Because you'd probably be unable to deal with the debris of a potential disaster.

Heck, I take wild risks on my test rig just for the sheer hell of it (and for learning a bit, of course). I love the smell of a crashed system in the morning.

Difference between you and me is, I know how to handle the nuclear aftermath.

[gunfleet]

It depends on the flavour, Kubuntu is fairly intuitive for Windows users, all I can say is I have used both and I had to jump through more hoops to get the software I wanted running on LM than Ubuntu, from a purely visual point of view then yes Cinnamon or Mate would be ideal for ex windows users

[gunfleet]

Nope, all I want is the first google, ddg result or whatever point me to an official LM site, not a site I may or may not trust, if the LM blog was a bit more active that would have been the case. As it happens I have never upgraded LM before I have always used a new ISO, so I did not know the commands or if they had changed since the last version of mintupgrade

If you need official help to take this unwise risk, you shouldn't want to take it anyway. Because you'd probably be unable to deal with the debris of a potential disaster.

Heck, I take wild risks on my test rig just for the sheer hell of it. I love the smell of a crashed system in the morning.

Difference between you and me is, I know how to handle the nuclear aftermath.

Nope, I have had many upgrades installed leaving me with a CLI login and no X, and I remember the days of editing files to get Xorg to work with my video card, I can recover from most disasters:-) but it makes sense to google first to see if someone else has tried it first, and my first source of information ought to be the distros own site

[Yamelesswrench]

Sorry to pile on 007 but my clean install of 21 is running quite smoothly, I have yet to run into any bugs.

A distribution is a starting point, I was making changes in the first 10 minutes after clean install I am sure most of us do. Our installs drift in separate directions and become really our own distribution, some more customized than others, many arguably completely unique.

Suddenly teleporting large swaths of your install but not other portions to some brand new unseen point in space brings a high possibility that things will break. it is unkind to call this release buggy by this measure.

[gunfleet]

Sorry to pile on 007 but my clean install of 21 is running quite smoothly, I have yet to run into any bugs.

A distribution is a starting point, I was making changes in the first 10 minutes after clean install I am sure most of us do. Our installs drift in separate directions and become really our own distribution some more customized than others. but suddenly teleporting large swaths of your install but not others to some brand new unseen point in space brings a high possibility that things will break. it is unkind to call this release buggy by this measure.

Yep, Linux is all Linux no matter the distro, although it's easier to stick to a Debian/Ubuntu based distro as LM is obviously, now if I could find a maintained PPA of WindowMaker to stick on LM I would be set

[gunfleet]

Oh and as to the topic of the thread, I could not disagree more, it is running perfectly

[rossdv8]

I just decided to jump in at the deep end and try using the Upgrade tool to do an upgrade. Usually i just wait until Mint Update suggests it.
So I let TimeShift do its thing (the first time I've ever used it). usually i just run the update over whatever I have installed.

MintUpgrade decided to rip all software that is not part of the repos out of my system. Yes, I know, it suggested that I could add software from the list it was planning to remove, to some sort of save list using 'Preferences'. But there was no sign of 'Preferences'.
It turns out that one of the disadvantages of Not Using Cinnamon is that stuff doesn't work the same way as it does using a real D.E.
I was not used to the layout of MintUpgrade so I missed the Hamburger!

So now I'm waiting for all my carefully selected software to be amputated.
Then I'll probably reboot, run TimeShift and see if I get my system back, And start the whole experience over again!

I love Linux.
I hate getting too old to mess around with computers!!@I

[rossdv8]

A follow-up from my previous reply.

A few replies back I saw a reference to the Mint Upgrade Tool. I'm used to using the message that appears in MintUpdate when it is time to Upgrade. Out of curiosity I checked the Repos and sure enough there 'is' a MintUpgrade Tool in there. So I installed it, just to be ready when the time comes.

I noticed it was not installed, so I installed it, and when I opened it, it offered to upgrade my system from Mint 20.3 to Mint 21.
I'm aware that there's been no announcement yet (At least at the point where I installed the Upgrade tool). I just decided to see what all the bugginess referred to by the OP here was about .

So now the MintUpgrade Tool has completed.
Anyway, I followed ALL the steps and I am in Mint 21 now.
There was ONE spot where I made a mistake. I received a message that a whole heap of software that is NOT IN The Repos would be removed and that I should select the stuff I wanted to keep, using Preferences.

I couldn't find 'Preferences' anywhere, so I clicked 'Next' and it deleted a heap of stuff I would normally have had to reinstall anyway (which is what I am about to do). Most other things seem to be working at this stage. Some things are unhappy just now but I suspect I'll get them sorted with a couple of tweaks.

For example:
It seems to have got rid of my Printer Drives in CUPS and left me only with the Driverless ones. That means I now have to install the Brother LPR drivers form their support site to get all my special settings back.
The upside is that the Driverless option seems to work ok on my Brother MFC-J6520 and also picked up the A3 sized scanner via Xsane
It screwed up my Private Internet Access VPN App (Fixed using its Settings and a bit of guesswork)
It got rid of my Cairo-Dock (fixed using Synaptic)
It installed most of Plasma 5, though I'm sure I didn't have quite that much of it. (my fault for using some Plasma/KDE stuff over Xfce for theming)

All in all though it seems to be working nicely so far.

Among the other things that are NOT working properly.

There's some 'lag' when typing things like this post.
The Volume Icon is missing from the Panel (should be easy to fix).
I no longer have Video Wallpaper (should be easy to fix)
I don;t have VNC using NoMachine (Hope that's easy to fix)

Not too buggy at all and I would say so far it is NOT the most buggy release in Mint History. I had some awful problems (probably user issues) with one of the earlier releases, years ago.
The most annoying thing is the slight keyboard lag. Definitely something I didn't have in Mint 20.3 - but not a real drama.

I'm off to start checking other stuff.
____________

U P D A T E
NoMachine is installed and working - VNC is finding and displaying/controlling the other computers currently on the network.
Video Wallpaper is working, so I have a video of an a live aquarium, or any other video displaying as wallpaper - or an animated gif as wallpaper.
(that's one that is totally unnecessary - but I like having, just because I can)
Cairo-Dock is installed and working again

I think the only 'messy' thing I will have to do is manually instal the Brother printer again just because of my special settings.
All my other printers were picked up automatically and can happily operate 'driverless'.

[Redsandro]

FYI - Official upgrade document is out. Nothing special and no updates to the tool since August 5th. I guess the difference is that now it has Linux Mint's seal of approval.

[Cosmo.]

Usually i just wait until Mint Update suggests it.
...
But there was no sign of 'Preferences'.

The Update Manager does not show major version upgrades.
...
Click the hamburger menu.

[cliffcoggin]

Most Linux users are tinkerers, and you learn from your mistakes, I don't think LM should be nannying us

Not me, and I doubt I am the only one. I don't tinker any more than is necessary for legibility because I have no interest in fiddling with computers. To my mind the more Linux Mint nannies me the better I like it. In fact my ideal upgrade would be a single click on a button, then I walk away and leave the OS to sort itself out while I get on with more important jobs.

[User-007]

FYI - Official upgrade document is out. Nothing special and no updates to the tool since August 5th. I guess the difference is that now it has Linux Mint's seal of approval.

Thanks for the information. You saved me from an effort of retrying second installation. So - I have no need to do that, although majority of this thread stamped me as ”a mad guinea-pig of experimental software”.

So, my installation information is out now. I did it exactly based on the ”official guide”. Thus, the fatal problems I faced did not result from my ”early worm eating”.

[User-007]

Someone asked me my system information earlier Here's the output of "inxi -Fx"

Code: Select all

Kernel: 5.4.0-122-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M5A97 EVO R2.0 v: Rev 1.xx 
  serial: <superuser/root required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 2603 
  date: 02/12/2015 
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 
  model: Logitech Illuminated Living-Room Keyboard K830 
  charge: 55% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: AMD FX-6300 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Bulldozer 
  L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 42138 
  Speed: 4094 MHz min/max: 1400/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 4095 2: 4106 
  3: 1404 4: 1403 5: 1403 6: 1392 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Lexa PRO [Radeon 540/540X/550/550X / RX 540X/550/550X] 
  vendor: Sapphire Limited driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: amdgpu,ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Radeon RX550/550 Series (POLARIS12 DRM 3.35.0 
  5.4.0-122-generic LLVM 12.0.0) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:14.2 
  Device-2: AMD Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX 560/560X] 
  vendor: Sapphire Limited driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-122-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK P8 series driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: f0:79:59:63:f1:5c 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.25 TiB used: 858.71 GiB (67.3%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Intel model: SSDSA2BW120G3H size: 111.79 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST9500325AS size: 465.76 GiB 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Seagate model: ST3250410AS size: 232.89 GiB 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050 size: 465.76 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 108.98 GiB used: 91.51 GiB (84.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.4 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 37 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 897 
Info:
  Processes: 276 Uptime: 1m Memory: 7.67 GiB used: 1.28 GiB (16.7%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
  inxi: 3.0.38 

[MurphCID]

Nope, all I want is the first google, ddg result or whatever point me to an official LM site, not a site I may or may not trust, if the LM blog was a bit more active that would have been the case. As it happens I have never upgraded LM before I have always used a new ISO, so I did not know the commands or if they had changed since the last version of mintupgrade

If you need official help to take this unwise risk, you shouldn't want to take it anyway. Because you'd probably be unable to deal with the debris of a potential disaster.

Heck, I take wild risks on my test rig just for the sheer hell of it (and for learning a bit, of course). I love the smell of a crashed system in the morning.

Difference between you and me is, I know how to handle the nuclear aftermath.

LOL, that is one of the best comments I have seen yet! I do that on the T480s since it is there to be abused.

[dorsetUK]

Someone asked me my system information earlier Here's the output of "inxi -Fx"

Code: Select all

Kernel: 5.4.0-122-generic x86_64 bits: 64 ... Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

I thought you'd updated?

[User-007]

I thought you'd updated?

I had so many problems that I was forced to revert back to 20.3.

[Guilden_NL]

I just tried to upgrade my rock-solid Mint (Cinnamon) 20.3 to 21.
I had so many problems that I was forced to revert back to 20.3.

It’s worth to notice that I have used Mint since 17 and I have not faced any major issues within upgrades before.

Seems that this version has been pushed out with too much hurry. My decision is easy to stick with 20.3.

I upgraded (not clean install) and it was the fastest, cleanest upgrade I've ever had with Mint and I go back to Bianca 2.2
The code is fine. You need to look at your errors and understand the configuration before and after the upgrade to determine the causes of the issues.

It's on a 2012 Asus UX51VZ which has Bang & Olufsen built in audio and I run it out to a Klipsch Black Reference Theater Surround Sound System. Zero audio issues for me.

I used the upgrade tool and it worked perfectly. One issue to resolve after downgrading some packages/apps per the tool's direction and it was related to grub-customizer. All it took was grub update and everything was like it was under 20.3, though much faster.

[rossdv8]

We'll soon know if it is a 'buggy' reelase simply by watching the Update manager icon over the next few days.
Usually as any odd glitches are reported after a release, that gets busy quickly as any pot-holes are filled in by the emergency crews . .
Or the hive is repaired rapidly by the worker bees . .
Or the . . .