The Linux Mint team, led by Clem Lefebvre, has published images of Linux Mint 22.3 BetaThis is the penultimate step in the development of "Zena," as they will use the approximately three weeks until the stable release to apply the final patches. Unless something more important comes up, the next news we publish about this mint-flavored Ubuntu will be the release of the final version.
Among the many changes that we will also cover when the stable version is released, Linux Mint 22.3 Beta comes with Cinnamon 6.6 in the main version. Among its new features are a start menu with many improvements, such as Places and Favorites sections, support for symbolic category icons, and improvements in Wayland support, the latter extending to the rest of the operating system.
Linux Mint 22.3 Beta. Next stop: "Zena" stable
Cinnamon 6.6 also introduces an updated Settings app with a Thunderbolt module for managing Thunderbolt devices, more modern keyboard management, and updates to applets such as sound, networking, workspace selector, printer, and others. Linux Mint 22.3 is Built on Ubuntu 22.04.3 and will use Linux 6.14.
At the time of writing, the project has not yet released a launch announcement. As usual, they first upload the images and then, once everything is ready, publish it on their website and social media. These images are available at this link.
There are no surprises on the desktops, as Linux Mint 22.3 will continue to be available in Cinnamon, the desktop developed by the Mint project, Xfce and MATE.
If you're unsure whether to install this beta version, keep in mind that it may still contain bugs. It's not recommended for production environments. However, you will be able to upgrade to the stable version from this beta.