Linux Mint 21 “Vanessa” Xfce released!

[clem]

https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4360

[ThaCrip]

Those looking to use the newest 'stable' Wine from the official Wine website (v7.0) will currently have to opt for either the 'Development' or 'Staging' instead (which 'development' gives you 7.14 at the moment) since there is currently no 'stable' release for Ubuntu 22.04 (I suspect because Ubuntu 22.04 was released after Wine v7.0 stable which appears to be from Jan 2022). because if you follow the instructions for 'stable' it will throw a error (i.e. "E: Unable to locate package winehq-stable") but the other two will install (although I only briefly installed the 'development' one).

I just thought I would mention this for those who prefer to be on the newest 'stable' Wine on Mint v21, which does not currently seem to be possible (but 'if' I figured things correctly, it seems they do a once a year update, which probably means next stable Wine compatible with Mint 21 will probably be around Jan 2023). I was playing with this stuff in a virtual machine.

but anyways, should be a good release as besides the Wine issue I suspect everything else I use 'should' be okay. I may consider a clean install fairly soon, but then again I might just wait a while since Mint v20.3-Xfce is working okay for me currently. congrats either way

[rattkjelke]

You can always install the latest stable version from the WineHQ repos.
https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu

[vansloneker]

Thank you all who worked and contributed to Linux Mint!

[ThaCrip]

You can always install the latest stable version from the WineHQ repos.
https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu

That's exactly what I am referring to in my post.

there is no 'stable' version of v7.0 for Ubuntu 22.04 currently, which is what Mint 21 is based on. so one has to use either 'Development' or 'Staging' on that site for it to install, but it's a bit more risky since while it's more up-to-date with features etc, it's more likely regressions could occur. so while one can probably still use it for games, ill probably tend to do what I have been doing in regards to programs, which is use PlayOnLinux as then I can select older Wine builds etc and I don't have to worry about any potential regressions. I mainly use the system installed Wine for gaming anyways (along with Lutris and GloriousEggroll runner for Lutris combo) and in this regard, it might give me a small bonus of using the newer stuff, but is more risky in terms of regressions.

if you try to install the 'stable' version on Mint 21 it will give you this error... "E: Unable to locate package winehq-stable". but, like I was saying, it appears that's because there is no stable release for Ubuntu 22.04 currently, which I suspect won't be until the next Wine 'stable' is released which I would guesstimate will be sometime in Jan 2023 or so.

p.s. the v7.0 'stable' works fine on Mint v20.x series as it's what I have been using for quite some time now.

[rattkjelke]

That's exactly what I am referring to in my post.

there is no 'stable' version of v7.0 for Ubuntu 22.04 currently,

Sorry about that. I had no idea about that until I installed 21 yesterday and tried to install WINE.

[ThaCrip]

That's exactly what I am referring to in my post.

there is no 'stable' version of v7.0 for Ubuntu 22.04 currently,

Sorry about that. I had no idea about that until I installed 21 yesterday and tried to install WINE.

Yeah, it's cool. neither did I know until I was playing with it in a virtual machine. plus, I even noticed some articles online, after looking into it a bit, saying basically the same thing.

but I did try installing Wine v7.0 (stable) using 'impish' from Ubuntu 21.10 on Mint 21 in a virtual machine (running QEMU/KVM selecting Ubuntu 20.04 during installation as that's the newest it offers in that VM currently), and it seemed to install okay. but I am not sure if this would have any potential negative side effects or not. I suspect it's probably safer to use the official 'jammy' (Ubuntu 22.04) and take a chance on Development or Staging in regards to the system installed Wine and use that until a 'stable' version comes out and then maybe switch over to it. or, even safer, just hold off on using Mint 21 until a 'stable' Wine is released which I would guesstimate will be in Jan 2023 or so.

p.s. but even with PlayOnLinux, while I generally use that for older Wine versions besides the system installed Wine (like my programs I tend to setup through PlayOnLinux (using Wine 6 series versions or older) and Windows games I use the system installed Wine for), when running the 'Configure Wine' through there, while it seems to work, for whatever reason it seems to show the system installed Wine version (on 'About' tab) instead of the older Wine build that I specifically set it up with through PlayOnLinux, like Wine v6.0.1 (32bit). but when loading the 'Configure Wine' directly through PlayOnLinux, it still shows the version of Wine installed on the system in that configuration window. but doing this same thing on Mint v20.3-Xfce, it displays Wine v6.0.1 like you would expect it to (and then for system installed Wine it shows v7.0 like expected). but as far as I can tell it still seems to keep things separated in regards to the actual configuration with the system installed Wine going to "~/.wine" and the PlayOnLinux stuff going in "~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/", which is likely most important. so the displayed Wine version seems to be off (unless by running it in a VM(QEMU/KVM) can mess with things vs a actual system install somehow(?)), but as far as I can tell the general function still works well like it does on Mint 20.x series. but I only briefly played with Mint 21 in a virtual machine so far and these are my quick observations.

on a side note... I noticed recently that on the Mint 20.x series you can now see the 5.15 kernel has support shifted until April 2025 where as not long ago I think it was Feb 2023. I was thinking something like that would happen though given that pattern seems to have occurred on Mint 19 to Mint 20 series with Mint 19's general 4.15 kernel going to 5.4 if a person wants as both are supported for the life of Mint 19, and Mint 20's is now 5.4 and 5.15 supported for the life of Mint 20 series.

[half-word]

Thank you very much for this release!

It's working great so far; in fact it's been working great for me since it was in alpha.