Ubuntu free Linux Mint Project, LMDE 3 ‘Cindy’ Cinnamon, released

The Linux Mint Project community announced the release of LMDE 3 Cinnamon, codenamed as ‘Cindy’. LMDE(Linux Mint Debian Edition) is a Linux Mint project where the main goal of Linux Mint team is to see how viable their distribution would be and how much work would be necessary if Ubuntu was ever to disappear.

LMDE aims to be similar to Linux Mint, but without the use of Ubuntu. Instead, LMDE package base is provided by Debian.

LMDE 3 Cindy includes some bug and security fixes. However, the Debian base package stands unchanged. Mint and desktop components are updated continuously. Once ready, the newly developed features get directly into LMDE. These changes are staged for inclusion in the next upcoming Linux Mint point release, which is not yet disclosed.

System requirements for LMDE 3 ‘Cindy’ Cinnamon

1GB RAM (2GB recommended for a comfortable usage)

15GB of disk space (20GB recommended)

1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen)

Some known issues resolved

Locked root account

The root account is now locked by default. To use the recovery console (from the Grub menu) or log in as root, one has to first give a new password to root:

sudo passwd root

Secure Boot

If the computer is using Secure Boot one needs to disable it. Debian Stretch and LMDE 3 does not support it.

Virtualbox Guest Additions

To add support for shared folders, drag and drop, proper acceleration and display resolution in Virtualbox, click on the "Devices" menu of Virtualbox and choose "Insert Guest Additions CD Image". Choose "download" when asked and follow the instructions. Read Installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions for more details.

Sound and microphone issues

If there’s any issue with the microphone or the sound output, install ‘pavucontrol’. This will add "PulseAudio Volume Control" to the menu. The ‘pavucontrol’ application has more configuration options than the default volume control.

Issues with KDE apps

If one’s experiencing issues with KDE apps (Okular, Gwenview, KStars..etc), they can run the following command:

apt install kdelibs-bin kdelibs5-data kdelibs5-plugins