Linux Mint’s Cinnamon Menu is Getting a Makeover

Linux Mint has released its regular monthly newsletter, and this time, we have some pretty exciting updates to share with you. First, the team has been hard at work rewriting the site’s backend and moving it into a containerized infrastructure.

Yes, this doesn’t make much difference for the end user since the front end stays the same. But it’s great that the project keeps up with modern trends.

Now, on to the big news that will excite all Mint users—a redesign of the Cinnamon app menu (with an expanded side panel) is on the horizon. Let me tell you, the early results are looking great!

While details remain fairly minimal at this stage, the initial screenshots hint at a modernized layout that looks quite promising.
New Linux Mint’s Cinnamon menu.
Now, let’s move on to something interesting, especially for those who love to follow the numbers. The Mint project has revealed interesting insights about downloads over the last seven days, largely reflecting user trends regarding operating system usage. More specifically:

• Cinnamon: Roughly 60% of all downloads
• Xfce and MATE: Each at around 20%

As for the breakdown by release, Linux Mint 22.1 takes the top spot with a whopping 70%, followed by LMDE 6 at 14%, Mint 22 at 8%, and Mint 21.3 at about 8%.

Okay, so what are the key takeaways? In short, the stats confirm that many users continue to favor the latest versions, but they also highlight LMDE’s growing popularity among folks who prefer a Debian base.

As I’ve said many times before, it would be great if the main Mint’s offering at some point be switched from the current Ubuntu-based one to a Debian-based one. But, of course, that’s just my take.

Lastly, if you’ve been keeping up with previous announcements, you’ll know that Linux Mint 22.x won’t have an EDGE release. Instead, once Linux Mint 22.2 launches (probably around midyear), the distribution will move forward with an HWE (Hardware Enablement) kernel, offering improved support for newer hardware.

For more information, see the announcement on Mint’s blog.

Image credits: Linux Mint