Post by mslo79 on Dec 19, 2019 1:07:51 GMT
Linux Mint v19.3 is released today Dec 18th 2019...
you can download the ISO here... linuxmint.com/download.php
I suggest 'Cinnamon' (64-bit) for most people since it's sort of their main version of Mint one could say and is the most popular. but if one has a under powered CPU or not much RAM... I suggest 'Xfce' (64-bit). only in rare cases will someone need to use the 32-bit versions of Mint as just about anyone reading this likely has a 64-bit capable system/CPU.
NOTE: for those who are still on Windows 7... now would be a good time to wipe your drive and install Linux Mint instead since Windows 7 support ends less than 1 month from now on Jan 14th 2020 which means it won't be safe to use online not all that long after that. the Mint v19 series (i.e. v19.1/v19.2/v19.3) is supported til the year 2023. Mint v20 should be out sometime in 2020 and will be supported til the year 2025.
p.s. this v19.3 seems to default to the v5.0 series kernel (only supported til Feb 2020) instead of the LTS (long term supported) v4.15 series (which is supported for the life span of the Mint v19 series which is til 2023). so if your computer has older hardware (say roughly a few years old or older) I would suggest after clean installing Linux Mint v19.3 that you install the newest v4.15 kernel and then reboot, hold SHIFT until you see the grub boot menu, and from that menu you can tell Linux Mint to boot into the v4.15 kernel you just installed and after it boots up, remove the v5.0 kernel. then from now on when you reboot and use your computer like normal it will stay with the v4.15 kernel series. NOTE: you can remove and load kernels from... 'Update Manager > View > Linux Kernels' section. with that said... I think the reason they shipped Mint v19.3 with the v5.0 kernel is it supports newer hardware and will make it easier for people with more recent hardware to get Mint installed and running on their computer as some people, if your hardware is recent (say roughly the last year or two), it's more likely your will need the newer kernels for everything to function okay. but for those who can run v4.15 without issue, it's best to stick with that since it will be supported for the life span of the Mint v19 series which is until the year 2023 where as the v5.0 kernel is only til Feb 2020 in which case if you use the newer kernels you will have to keep on updating them as they are supported for a much shorter time span as they currently allow up to v5.3 kernel which is supported til Aug 2020. NOTE: for those who upgraded from Mint v19.2 to v19.3 won't have to worry about messing with their kernel since it won't change anything as whatever kernel you where running on v19.2 will stay that way from a upgrade to v19.3.
EDIT: on a side note... while Linux Mint is pretty secure by default, I suggest one run their Firefox browser in Firejail sandbox (so even if you got hit by a drive-by download (something that infects your PC just from visiting a website) it likely won't be able to do anything to your system)... sourceforge.net/projects/firejail/files/firejail/ ; currently "firejail_0.9.60_1_amd64.deb" is the newest release (that's the file you want to install if your using a 64bit Mint. it does not matter if it's Cinnamon/MATE or Xfce.). NOTE: one will have to manually update this Firejail program from time-to-time if security issues are found as this won't automatically update like stuff generally does within Mint through the Update Manager. but basically when one uses Firejail on Firefox for example... it further restricts what it can access (you can compare it for yourself by typing in "file:///" (without the ") in your Firefox browser when Firefox is in it's default state, then close it, and load up the Firejail version. you can see it limits access in your Home folder etc as some files normally visible are no longer visible to the Firefox browser when Firefox is running through Firejail vs when it's not 
) as even when downloading files from the internet, by default, you can only download files to the 'Downloads' folder as everything else is blocked and even if you can save somewhere else, the file will be deleted once the browser closes as only downloads to the 'Downloads' folder are persistent meaning they remain there after you close your browser session. but basically what I do is leave the general Firefox icon on the taskbar like usual, which if you run Firefox from there it will run like normal (i.e. without the Firejail sandbox). but search for 'Firefox' on the start menu and right click the 'Firefox Web Browser' icon and select 'add to desktop' then right click on your Firefox browser desktop icon and select properties and on the 'Basic' tab, which should already show on screen, where it says "Command:" to the right it should show 'firefox %u' by default but what you want to do is make it appear as 'firejail firefox %u' then click close. now when you run Firefox from that desktop icon it will automatically load up in a Firejail sandbox. if for some reason you want to run the browser without Firejail, like is typical, you just close out of Firefox first then load Firefox by the icon on the taskbar like is there by default. and one last thing... say you download a file to the 'Downloads' folder when Firejail is running, make sure you access or run the file from the file manager on Linux itself, NOT through the browser. that way the file will work like normal.
) as even when downloading files from the internet, by default, you can only download files to the 'Downloads' folder as everything else is blocked and even if you can save somewhere else, the file will be deleted once the browser closes as only downloads to the 'Downloads' folder are persistent meaning they remain there after you close your browser session. but basically what I do is leave the general Firefox icon on the taskbar like usual, which if you run Firefox from there it will run like normal (i.e. without the Firejail sandbox). but search for 'Firefox' on the start menu and right click the 'Firefox Web Browser' icon and select 'add to desktop' then right click on your Firefox browser desktop icon and select properties and on the 'Basic' tab, which should already show on screen, where it says "Command:" to the right it should show 'firefox %u' by default but what you want to do is make it appear as 'firejail firefox %u' then click close. now when you run Firefox from that desktop icon it will automatically load up in a Firejail sandbox. if for some reason you want to run the browser without Firejail, like is typical, you just close out of Firefox first then load Firefox by the icon on the taskbar like is there by default. and one last thing... say you download a file to the 'Downloads' folder when Firejail is running, make sure you access or run the file from the file manager on Linux itself, NOT through the browser. that way the file will work like normal.and as usual... install uBlock Origin (by Raymond Hill) extension in Firefox from the 'add-ons' section of Firefox as that should be a default install for anyone using Firefox or Chrome straight up as it makes the internet much better since it removes a lot of unwanted junk.