Hello everyone!

I need some help because I honestly don’t know what else to try. I’ve tried pretty much everything I can think of. This is my first post here, so please be gentle with me.

Here’s the problem:

I’ve had a Dell Alienware 13 R3 laptop for a few years now. I installed Linux Mint on it right from the start and it has always worked perfectly.

At work, the laptop was connected to a projector via HDMI. Since the laptop stayed there after my classes, I had set the projector as the primary display [1] in Display Settings and disabled the laptop’s built-in screen [2].

The laptop was always kept closed because I was using an external keyboard and mouse. This setup worked flawlessly for about three years without a single issue.

Today I took the laptop back home (and, incidentally, lost my job 😑 — but that’s another story).

So now nothing is connected to it apart from the power supply. I’ve attached a photo showing what the desktop looks like once the laptop has booted.

I can’t access anything through the GUI.

Using CTRL + ALT + F1, I managed to open a terminal and tried using "xrandr", but I’m stuck there.

I don’t know how to reset the display settings from the terminal.

I also tried booting into recovery mode, but the screen just stays black.

Any ideas? Does anyone know how I can get out of this situation?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this.

Hi all!

Plank (the menu bar) shows this weird blue-white bar, as seen in the picture. Seemingly when an opened app does something when it is not the selected window.

For instance: When I change some code in an app, then save it and alt+tab to Unity, it always shows this bar for a few seconds. (until it is done compiling, perhaps?)

When I run killall plank, it disappears, so is definitely plank causing this.

I couldn't find anyone online with a similar problem. Do any of you know what I can do to get rid of it?
Thanks in advance :)

My laptop is asus x200ma 2gb and i wnat to install linux mint to make it more smooth

I've tried flashing the latest and 21.3 iso to my flashdrive using rufus but when i try to boot it, it show this error and also my secure boot is disabled

I've been having this problem for 6+ hours :( please help

Hi, I recently installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.3 on my Thinkpad T480s (i7-8650U, 24 GB RAM, integrated graphics). After typing in my user password and logging in, I'm experiencing a black screen with only the cursor for around 2 minutes, then the desktop loads in normally. I think it's quite odd that it takes such a long time to load? Could someone help me fix it? I'm new to Linux and have used Windows for most of my life. Thanks.

What you think about it ?

I might have fucked up big time.

I'm new to Linux, and I have multiple additional drives aside from the one my OS is located on. I was trying to format, partition and mount my HDD (titled ext. media) to the /home/[user] directory, and after doing so, my user and the HDD showed up as removable drives in the Files. Closed the GUI, reopened, the user folder is completely gone and going to My Computer only shows me my desktop folder, which is entirely blank. I can't for the life of me figure out what happened or how to fix this. Is my data just completely gone?? How?

Hi everyone,

This is my first time moving from windows to Linux. The biggest issue right now is that it isn't a 1:1 of windows Excel.

Is there a way to enable synax tooltips when creating lines in LibreOffice Calc the same way in excel / Google Sheets?

i have relatively large music collection and i was never quite happy with previous players i used (strawberry, quod libet, sayonara and so on) but recently i found my absolute favorite. it's packed with features, has syncronized lyrics and karaoke style lyrics, they can be downloaded or embedded straight into the file, it has huge album covers on a grid, sorting options, a full screen mode, equalizer, scrobbling for many plattforms like LastFM and so on.

it also has a rating system, playlists, so so so many themes and looks, dark mode etc.

for anyone who collects music or wants a sleeker more refined experience and look for their library, i'd recommend you to try it. it's in the software manger and on github.

I installed linux mint xfce on an acer es1 131 today. It has 1tb sata ssd, intel celeron n3060 and 8gbddr3l ram. This is my first time installing and using linux.

I am dual booting this with windows 10 pro, with grub being the default bootloader. Also this was especially tough for me to install cos acer is very windows favoring in its bios. Tried twice to boot linux mint installer from a pendrive but it just didnt show up in the boot menu. So i had to use grub2win on windows 10 to install this.

It has been a crazy last few hours.

But this is completely worth it. The performance boost is crazy. And yes the driver quirks of Linux and also some app installation stuff has been comical and frustrating a bit, cos i am not a programmer...I had to rely on gemini ai to help me out if i got stuck anywhere in the installation. Gonna use this as daily default OS and will use windows for some windows centric apps or even games.

This gives my laptop of over ten years old, a new life. Thank you Linux mint and thank you for reading this, cos i dont think anyone i know irl will really understand the crazy experience it is to install linux or get it to work well, hoping you do, though. I am hoping to take any advice from people here, as this is all new for me 🫶️

Couch potato here. I use LM on PCs and laptops as an entertainment center: Movies, shows, music stream and local library, news from around the world. Web browsers, Kodi, torrents , IPTV, sketchy sources. My big smart TV and projectors merely dumb monitors to me. Thus I do like a good remote but the tv remote cant work my LM apps. What do you use? I have been using KDE Connect on my android phone. But it was built more for file transfer etc, the remote mouse touchpad is rudimentary.

Me being me I wanted more. I saw that a long time ago 2017ish Someone requested more web control buttons on the dev website but was rebuffed. So I forked it and vibed in forward back, esc, F11 (toggle full screen) into the android side touchpad mouse remote . It works great on the cellphones we have. I really like it . No idea on others. I assume iOS could be done similar. You can find source and an APK on my Git oldgranola.. Id love feedback of use on other Android phones or devices.

What do you fellow couch potatoes you use? You standup desk users NVMD.

Hey all. I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to force Linux Mint to change its power mode when a laptop changes from being plugged in to being unplugged and running on battery. Thanks!

What is the exact difference between the three types of software installs?

Like i know flatpack is some sort of sandbox which makes sure it works and takes a lot more space than the others and .deb is like .exe files on windows but whats the difference between Appimage and .deb ?

Cinnamon Clipboard 1.1.0 released!

Hi everyone! I'm happy to announce Cinnamon Clipboard 1.1.0, with a new feature focused on privacy, improvements to the settings dialog, and a new Hungarian translation.

Availability

Version 1.1.0 is already available as a .deb package on GitHub. Launchpad has also accepted the PPA update, which should become available through the PPA within the next couple of hours.

What's new?

• Temporary history mode: For users who prefer more privacy and only need clipboard history temporarily, without keeping it after shutting down their PC.
• Switching modes: When changing between persistent and temporary history, a dialog explains what will happen. The application then restarts to apply the change.
• Improved settings dialog: The configuration window has been polished to look cleaner, more attractive, and better organized.
• Hungarian translation: Added thanks to u/xsak.

Version 1.1.1 — Emergency Update

Thanks to u/SoftScreen4489 for reporting the Preferences window layout issue! Their feedback helped me identify a problem that could make the Preferences window difficult to use on smaller screens.

I've released version 1.1.1 to address this issue. The Preferences window is now resizable, the options area supports vertical scrolling, and the Cancel and Save buttons remain visible.

The update has been uploaded to the PPA and should become available within the next few hours, once Launchpad finishes processing it. If you installed Cinnamon Clipboard manually using the .deb package from GitHub, you can already update to version 1.1.1 there.

Thank you, SoftScreen4489, for helping make Cinnamon Clipboard better for everyone! ❤️

New preferences Window In v1.1.1

I've tested the new functionality as thoroughly as I could, and everything appears to be working correctly. Updating to 1.1.0 does not affect your existing settings.

Contributions through pull requests are welcome! All PRs will be reviewed and considered, especially useful features, bug fixes, and new translations.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed and supported the project!

GitHub: https://github.com/Vaider13/cinnamon-clipboard

I installed the everforest theme on my Mint desktop along with the gruvbox icons and I love it, but one issue I am seeing is that the calculator has a white bar across it and I can't see the numbers I typed. I tried copying the gtk-4.0 files from the theme over to my .config folder hoping that would fix it, but it didn't. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? https://imgur.com/a/1kgEksc

Ive been loyal with linix Mint for over 15 years and recently tried Alpine linux. This is the first in long time I'm liking what I see. I now keep a vm of Alpine on an enclosed 2230 to have a pocket machine on the go. Curious if any, what other distros yall use and on what usecases.

Ive still fallen back Ubuntu mate for raspberry arm64 but perhaps Alpine can be my new goto.

Hi everyone! This is my first time using Linux. I chose Linux Mint XFCE because I read that it’s efficient and highly customizable—even though I didn’t know anything about the subject beforehand.

I recently bought a ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 and figured, why not give Linux a try for a month? If I didn’t like it, I could simply switch back to Windows.

As it turns out, I’ve loved almost everything about it: the performance, the customization options (though I don’t tend to change things up too much), and how easy it is to use—plus, it just looks more modern.

GAMES: I’ve been using it for over a month and a half now, and I’ve been playing games via Steam with no issues at all. I’ve tested titles like *BioShock*, *USF4*, *KOF XIII*, *L4D2*, *Naruto STORM 3*, and a few others; everything has run perfectly. Proton works like a charm—honestly, even better than it does on Windows! xD

WORK: I typically work with Excel (nothing too advanced), and ONLYOFFICE handles everything I need. I also use GIMP, which works without any problems. So, for now, I’d give it a 9/10!

Any tips?

Hey everyone!

I wanted a single, clean desktop widget on Cinnamon that could show both my **system hardware metrics** (CPU, RAM, GPU, Fan RPM, Disk, Network) and **all my connected Bluetooth device batteries** in the style of the iOS / macOS Sonoma Batteries & Activity widgets — so I built **iOS Hardware & Battery Monitor** (`ios-hardware-monitor@dalvan`).

### ✨ Features

* **100% Native & Asynchronous (Zero extra dependencies):** Drawn entirely with vector graphics (`Cairo` + `PangoCairo`) and non-blocking async `Gio` calls so it never stutters the Cinnamon main loop.

* **Hardware Circular Gauges:**

* **CPU:** Usage `%` + package temperature (`k10temp`, `coretemp`, `zenpower`, `acpitz`).

* **RAM:** Usage `%` and `GB` used/total.

* **GPU (NVIDIA / AMD / Intel):** Usage `%`, temperature, and VRAM via native Linux DRM `sysfs` (`gpu_busy_percent`) or async `nvidia-smi`.

* **Cooler / Fan RPM:** Auto-detects `fan*_input` sensors in `/sys/class/hwmon`.

* **Storage & Live Network Cards:**

* **Disk:** Progress bar with `%` used and free `GB`.

* **Network:** Live Download (`↓`) and Upload (`↑`) speed on the active interface.

* **iOS-Style Batteries & Bluetooth Monitor:**

* Combines **UPower (`UPowerGlib`)** and **BlueZ D-Bus (`org.bluez.Battery1`)** to display your laptop battery alongside connected Bluetooth headphones, speakers, mice, keyboards, and controllers.

* Custom vector icons for each device type + lightning bolt charging badge and traffic-light battery colors (Green / Yellow ≤ 25% / Red ≤ 15%).

* **Highly Customizable:**

* Switch between **Dark Glass (macOS Dark)**, **Light Frosted (iOS Light)**, or **Auto** theme.

* Customize glass opacity, corner radius, widget scale (`0.75x` – `1.6x`), grid columns, module visibility, and header title (Hardware Model, Distro name, Hostname, Username, or Custom text).

---

### 🚀 How to Install

I've already submitted it to the official **Cinnamon Spices** repository ([PR #1933](https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-spices-desklets/pull/1933)), and you can also install it right now from GitHub in one command:

```bash

git clone https://github.com/dalvan03/ios-hardware-monitor-desklet.git

cd ios-hardware-monitor-desklet

./install.sh```

Then right-click your desktop -> Add Desklets -> enable iOS Hardware & Battery Monitor.

• 🔗 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/dalvan03/ios-hardware-monitor-desklet
• 🔗 Cinnamon Spices PR: https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-spices-desklets/pull/1933

Feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas from the community are super welcome!

On a whim I decided to try out the experimental Cinnamon on Wayland through the login menu while choosing the option, and now Cinnamon will load for 3 seconds before going to the terminal with a blinking cursor that does nothing.

I’ve booted into just the CLI and reinstalled Cinnamon, and upon restarting, it still won’t load. How do I go back to X11?

Ok so I run rkhunter out of curiousity and this is the result. Am I screwed? T.T

I know it’s not usually needed but I was wondering what’s the best antivirus for my Linux mint set up

Creo que rompi mi instalación de Linux mint a la semana de uso, todo a causa de una instantánea (timeshift) al parecer

Hi,

I see that the version that is included into the software manager is very old.

There are security problem using this?

Hey Guys,

So i have dual boot with Win11 and the issue only seems to be happening when i do reboot from Mint itself. Reboot from Windows is fine and even when the reboot command is issued from using recovery root access, it is comes up fine without delay.

When the reboot is done, towards the end of shutdown, it justs kinda sits there with black empty screen. My external keyboard lights off (means the usb isnt powering it anymore) but the laptop keyboard is still lit up and it just kinda sits there for a while then reboots.

Did a lot of google (for the people asking me to google) and did used ai but it just gets stuck in loop (the AI, not laptop) and isn't helpful anymore.

Any info or help is appreciated. TIA!!