It looks we’re getting super close to a Linux Mint 21.2 beta release.
Development on the follow-up to last year’s Linux Mint 21.1 release was recently wound down, and a new version of the Cinnamon desktop tagged for release on GitHub.
These moves indicated a beta release is approaching — and that’s now been confirmed on the Linux Mint community hub. As spotted by Neowin, Linux Mint 21.2 beta ISOs for the Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE desktop editions are tagged ‘being testing’, and a pair of earlier builds marked as ‘rejected’.
When these beta ISOs move to ‘approved’ status a formal beta release (that you can download from the Linux Mint website) will occur.
Of course,beta builds (of anything) are not stable and are not recommended for production machines. Their purpose is to allow for wider testing. This way, Mint devs can fix any last-minute bugs, edge-case issues, or unexpected quirks that emerge.
Linux Mint 21.2 beta is likely to be released later this month (June), with an official stable release following in early July (based on previous releases).
What can we expect?
Linux Mint 21.2 continues to be based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS but includes new features, performance improvements, and more. A number of visual changes are pencilled in, including support for new Cinnamon styles and new folder icons, plus support for touchpad gestures.
