Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, has posted his usual monthly update about the state of the distribution and the things that are being worked on ready for Linux Mint 19.2, due in June. Lefebvre stated that the next cycle will focus on artwork, performance, and splitting Cinnamon to run in different processes.
In terms of artwork, the team is looking to refresh its website. In the blog post, Lefebvre said:
"We purchased some beautiful designs and we’re selecting them and adapting them to turn www.linuxmint.com (and eventually also community.linuxmint.com) into websites which look more modern and which look good no matter what device you browse them with."
With regards to the operating system itself, Lefebvre says they’re looking at changing the boot and splash screens so users will get a fresh experience when switching on their computers. He also said that the default font would be adjusted and will include more contrast for the purpose of readability.
In terms of performance, there are several utilities that will be refined but notably, the development team is thinking about replacing the “All applications” category in the menu with a category that would show recently used and newly installed applications. This will help the menu load more quickly.
Lefebvre also said that one member of the team is looking at splitting Cinnamon into multiple processes by working out how to have applets run in their own process and render objects remotely. This “very ambitious” project is currently in research and development and they hope to build a successful prototype soon.
These tasks are being done on the back of income the project received during December. The project received 675 donations totaling $22,803, making it the most the project has ever received in a single month.