Team Peppermint are pleased to announce the latest iteration of our operating system Peppermint 8, it comes in both 32bit and 64bit editions with the latter having full UEFI / GPT / Secureboot support, a new version of Ice (our in house Site Specific Browser framework) is also included with full Chromium, Chrome, Firefox, and now Vivaldi web browser support .
Peppermint 8 (Peppermint-8-20170527) highlights:-
-
- Still based on the 16.04 code base, but now with the 4.8 kernel series and upgraded graphics stack via the HWE offering rolling kernel and graphics stack upgrades as they become available upstream.
- Mesa 17.0.2 for an improved gaming experience.
- The Peppermint 8 ISO images now have an ‘OEM Install’ option, allowing computers to be shipped with Peppermint pre-installed (and with additional software pre-installed) where the user will be prompted for their own language, location, keyboard layout, and account details on first boot, allowing the system configuration to be unique to the new owner.
- Talking of keyboard layouts, in response to user requests Peppermint 8 now has much improved keyboard layout handling, including the ability to easily configure then swap between multiple layouts from the system tray (or Left-Alt+Left-Shift keyboard shortcut) .
- Added volume management, so external drives are now auto-mounted when plugged in and DVD’s auto-played in VLC , a utility for changing these settings can be found in the much expanded Peppermint Settings Panel.
- Again because of much appreciated user feedback we’ve switch back to the Chromium web browser as the default, the pepperflash PPAPI flashplayer is included, and we’ve retained the ‘Firefox Theme Lock’ utility for those that wish to use Firefox and a dark Gtk theme instead.
And many other refinements and improvements including:-
-
- The calculator is now mate-calc because it’s more consistent with the way the Windows/OS X/iOS/Android calculators processes sum entry.
-
- The lxtask task manager has been replaced with xfce4-taskmanager because it displays more active information including a CPU and RAM usage trace.
- The pluma text editor is replaced with xed, but for documentation compatibility – typing a command with ‘pluma’ or ‘gedit’ will open xed.
- The eog image viewer has been replaced with xviewer because Gnome client side decorations were inconsistent with Peppermint’s overall ‘look and feel’.
- All X-Apps are now in the Peppermint 8 repositories, so you can install pix, xreader, and xplayer if you wish, as are xfdashboard and xfce4-hotcorner-plugin for those that may want them.
- Added NFS support out of the box.
- Added exFAT support out of the box.
- OpenDyslexic font installed out of the box as an option (not the default font).
-
- Font hinting changed to “full” by default.
- A much expanded Peppermint Settings Panel with additional features and a new ‘Tweaks‘ category.
- Added a ‘Panel Reset’ utility to the Peppermint Settings Panel to reset the xfce4-panel to system defaults.
- Added a utility to the Peppermint Settings Panel to enable/disable system sounds.
- Added a utility to the Peppermint Settings Panel to enable/disable system hibernation.
- Added the ‘Numix Folders’ utility to the Peppermint Settings Panel which allows changing the type and colour of the folder icons when using one of the Numix icon themes.
- The whiskermenu application categories have been switched to the left, and application descriptions replaced with tooltips by popular request.
- Extra color options for Gtk and Icon themes
-
- New installation slideshow.
- And some new wallpapers that we hope you’ll like including the new default, and some additional images by the brilliant photographer Ray Bilcliff
If you’d like to see more of Ray’s outstanding photgraphy, please visit:
http://www.raybilcliff.com/
or:
http://trueportraits.com/
or his Google+ page (photos):
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+raybilcliff
Please also see the Release Notes
As with previous releases we invite you to compare Peppermint to other operating systems, we are confident you will be impressed. To take the Peppermint 8 out for a test drive, please visit our website at peppermintos.com where you can download it for free. If you need help installing the Peppermint 8, or have any questions about using it, we have a second-to-none user support team at forum.peppermintos.com please drop in even if only for a chat with friendly like-minded people .. hope to see you there.
About Peppermint OS
Peppermint OS is a software company, originally based in Asheville, North Carolina but now operating out of Cornwall England. Founded in 2010, we are committed to building the best operating system for both enterprise and consumers available on the widest range of devices. To find out more about us, please visit http://peppermintos.com.
Peppermint 8 Released but where it can be downloaded because only version 7 appears on the main page.
The website is in the middle of being updated, the links on the front page will change to Peppermint 8 in a short while .. Thanks for bearing with us :)
Ok thank you very much
Can i upgrade Peppermint 7 to Peppermint 8 and kep my apps and settings
with systemback? :-)
Sorry Johnny but this isn’t something we’ve tested.
What? I’m having a hard time processing your answer here. Can 7 be upgraded to 8 or do you have to do a completely new install? Love Pep7, hate difficult upgrades :)
Sorry for the confusion Manakio, the short answer is you’ll need to do a full reinstall for Peppermint 8.
That said, if you’re happy on Peppermint 7 please stick with it on machines where it’s already installed, it’s still fully supported :)
Thankyou guy’s for new release of my favorite distro:)
Can i upgrade Peppermint 7 to Peppermint 8 and keep my apps and settings?
reg
Sorry but Peppermint 8 requires a reinstall.
Excellent news! I was not expecting it!
Secureboot support will put Peppermint in the forefront of desktop Linux distros.
I like the choices you have made.
One question: Have you updated Nemo?
Thanks Pidus .. No, Nemo is still at 2.8.7, we were all ready to ship with 3.x when we discovered it wasn’t handling dual monitor wallpapers properly, so this has been held back for the time being.
Thank you for the info. I found your Nemo testing PPA. Legacy Nemo often crashes on my system under load. And I don’t use dual monitor so the bug won’t bite me.
do you know why Chromium menus are all blinding white instead of black?
i am using the Numix theme and they all should be black
Support questions are really best dealt with on the support forum:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
You’ll usually get a much faster response there :)
We’ve set Chromium to use the Ubuntu Black Magic (transparency) theme by default .. in the Chromium settings, please choose:-
Appearance > Use GTK+ Theme
I still prefer the old version (XFCE). The fonts are very bad now to read.
Please change the font hinting back to “slight” in “Customise Look & Feel”, and the fonts will be back the way they were in Peppermint 7 :)
Hahhahah fantasitic guys!! nice work :)
Thanks DARKBOW923 :)
Peppermint 8 32 bit, also uses core 4.8? Use PAE ??
Yes claudio, Peppermint 8 32bit also uses the 4.8 kernel series (with PAE).
Which is better for older (really old, as in over 10 years old) laptops? 6 or 7 or 8?
That’s a tough one to answer Sara Ann, I guess from a purely resource perspective Peppermint 6 would have the smallest RAM footprint, but 7 & 8 aren’t really ‘that’ much heavier and have more functionality. You’d also need to take into consideration driver support. So I’m afraid there’s no correct answer to that question without knowing more about the hardware in question.
It might be worth raising that question on the support forum, where we’d be able to delve into the hardware specifics a little and probably offer a more tailored answer:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
Hey Sara Ann, wat’s UP.
I have a 10 year old dell latitude d830 and only peppermint 6 run like hell on that.so go for itttttttttttttt.
one more thing Sara even if your laptop support 64 bit architecture just install 32 bit else you are killing your CPU fAn once in a while.
Have a Nice oPERATING sYSTEM.
Fantastic news!
I’ve tested a lot of Distro’s in the past years and went back to Windows everytime since i discovered Peppermint 7. It’s the only System which run on all my machines out of the box (various laptops from Acer and self assembled machines with 4-6 years old hardware – Intel & Nvidia ). I use the distro as productive system and enjoy speed and stability. Updates without problems. So i’ll try the new version as soon as possible.
Thanks Markus for that glowing testimony, we’re over the moon you both chose and are enjoying Peppermint :)
“The eog image viewer has been replaced with xviewer because Gnome client side decorations were inconsistent with Peppermint’s overall ‘look and feel’.”
After reading that I wanted to try out xviewer, but couldn’t find it in the Graphics list. So I checked synaptic package manager and it indicates that xviewer is installed. Nonetheless I can’t access it to try it out.
I also checked synaptic, and found that eog is still there and can be installed.
Apart from this mystery, Peppermint 8 seems, to me, to be even better than Peppermint 7.
P.S. I haven’t posted anything about the mystery in the support forum but that’s my next port of call.
Hi Herb, xviewer is listed as “Image Viewer” in the main menu
menu > Accessories > Image Viewer
Or if you double click on any image file it should open in xviewer automagically.
BTW, if you’re after something with a few more features, “pix” is also in the repositories.
HTH :)
Thanks, Mark, it has certainly helped. I’ve just tried pix and like it, so I’ve removed Image Viewer.
Now I have three Graphics apps – Pix, Photomatix Essentials for Linux and Photoshop Elements 2. They do everything I can possibly want.
Secure boot seems to still not work; at least for Acer Aspire ES 15 series.
Can you raise this on the support forum please:
https://forum.peppermintos.com/
TIA :)
Downloaded Peppermint8 with Peppermint7, check sum Ok, Had to use USB image writer to make bootable stick, Unenbootin (updated) hanged up/did not work,usb stick not found or any listed. Tried first Peppermint8 install on Dell 3400 system with only Cinnamon 18.1 on it. Did not detect it. Cancelled installation. Decided to put on this old HP Pavillion with Pentium D 2.80 and 4 meg ram. Writing this on Peppermint8 & chrome. Normally use Firefox. This also has Peppermint 7, MintMate 18.1 (Window 8.1 pro for no good reason). Later might try on Dell i7 system with Cinnamon 18.1 and Windows7.0 Pro (came on theused lease machine). Hope this helps some.
Not 100% sure what you’re saying here Mike, but if you’re having problems can you please raise the issue on our support forum where we’ll try our best to assist:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
TIA :)
Under “Preferences”, It would be nice if FIREWALL activation could be shown. Not sure if setting stays when closing app. after turning on fire wall with the basic settings.
Hi Mike, at any time you can check if the firewall is active by running the following command in a terminal:
sudo ufw statusHi, I have an not so very old but cheap Acer Aspire X1430 as my main computer and since 1916 everything connected with Debian and Ubuntu (and that is quite a lot) doesn’t work on the Internet due to some problem between my card and the Dutch KPN Experia Box, except strangely enough Lubuntu 17.04. In my work I switch between 5 different Linux distros. And lately I tried PMint 8, no deal, no internet. Then I went down to 7, same thing. Now I went to even version 6 and it grows on me by the minute. I even run wine 2.7 after some nasty action with the reposito list. So for a 32bit computer with some weak spots, PMint version 8 seems very nice to me, it even runs the old XaraLX program, the best bit of vector drawing material there is.
Thanks for the kind words Rudolfus, if you’re still having problems with your internet please join our support forum where we’ll try our best to get you up and running
https://forum.peppermintos.com
Thank you for your kind response, Mark. For the moment I’m working in Peppermint 6 with full satisfaction and pleasure and like to keep it that way.
And it was 2016 of course! I wasn’t even there, in 1916 and I’m glad for that as well.
Ok, I downloaded some pictures to my desktop and I cannot delete them, Why? …Is it MY computer? Are you Linux guru’s being a bit Microsoft-ish?
Look, This may sound a bit anal!, BUT IT’S MY COMPUTER! :O If there’s are file cluttering my desktop! I INSIST! I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO DELETE/MOVE TO TRASH!
Ok, yes, I am human! I DO make mistakes!…But isn’t that my God-given-right? to learn from my mistakes? Yes, that ain’t efficient, but it works! Beautifully! :)
Sorry bobnsand only just spotted your series of posts. Does the last one mean the problem is solved ?
If not, can you please raise the issue on our support forum:-
https://forum.peppermintos.com
where we’ll be happy to assist, because you absolutely SHOULD be able to delete stuff from the desktop.
Peppermint 8 is alright, but it still has flash player update issues. This is no big deal to most people because it works with youtube just fine but with media embedding projects it gets annoying to swap out to Windows.
Hi GoofProg,
Please make sure the “Canonical Partners” repo is enabled, then run a full system update. If you’re unsure how to do this, please see here:
https://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php/topic,5942.0.html
Awesome os. ive used Ubuntu for 10 yrs. been very stable. Peppermint works awesome has alot going for it. Win 3.1 to win 95,vista 8-10 all nightmare. its like hillary voters unstable. thank peppermint 8 awesome. randy
Thanks for the glowing feedback Randy, great to hear you’re enjoying Peppermint :)
Hi i have Peppermint 7 on a couple of machines and mint18.2 on another. I would like to have peppermint 8 on them all, i know you have to fresh install but is there an easy way to achieve this that’s not going to take days to get there and setup to something like they were, settings,user preferences. passwords etc. Have been using and enjoying pep7, for a while now and would its stable, user friendly and above all visitors with only windows experience transition easily for the everyday things.
Peter
Hi Peter,
There’s not much you can do besides wipe/reinstall .. even keeping a home partition from a previous install will cause you problems.
That said If you’re happy with Peppermint 7 why not just stick with it .. Both Peppermint 7 and 8 are supported until 2021.
There are obviously a few things you can do, such as either syncing Firefox and/or copying the .mozilla directory off to an external HDD, then copying it back so you keep all yoour Firefox settings, but you’d be better off asking this question on our support forum for advice.
https://forum.peppermintos.com
Mark , please , an old question :
Peppermint 7 and 8 are supported until 2021 ; and Peppermint 6 ?
Peppermint 6 will be supported for core bugfixes and security updates until 2019 ;)
My doubt is because Ubuntu 14.04 is until 2019 but Lubuntu 14.04 was until 04/2017 .
And sorry by two posts .
Peppermint 6 will be supported for core bugfixes and security updates until 2019 ;)
\ M /
Thanks !
So, I really wanna switch to linux, been a user on another laptop for ages, and wanted to install on my main machine, Nvidia 970 video card after I hit install or use without install video goes black. No idea what to do, don’t have a cord for the built-in video card, anything that I can do?
Hi James, can you please raise this question on our support forum, where we’ll be happy to try assist:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
Thanks in advance :)
I have been looking for a replacement OS for my HP G7000 (about 10 years old) for about 5 years, distro hopping, i have to say amazing work guys.
I have been running version 7/8 and it is simply great, it gets the job at hand done.
Everything anyone would want in an OS and more (ICE very useful, speed, stability).
Hats off to the whole team i am blown away!!
Thanks very much for the kind words of encouragement Truuks99, the team get a real thrill from this kind of feedback so thanks for taking the time to post .. cheers :)
Are the peppermint 8 (usb) sticks going to be up for sale/shipment soon? I’ve been a fan since P2, on and off experimenting with just my Chromebook for a while but I sort of miss my desktop configuration, so looking at building a new machine, and P8 is the obvious go-to. I’m downloading this iso file but I don’t think I have any way to make a bootable usb stick with this Chromebook… or do I? Anyway, it’s a great OS, and thanks for your good work.
I’m sorry Mike, but we’re currently no nearer releasing the USB sticks.
I gather (theoretically) it’s possible to write an ISO to a USB stick on some Chromebooks but to do this you first need to enable developer mode, the problem is enabling developer mode wipes all user data from the chromebook so it would be unwise for me to post instructions how to do this here.
If you decide you wish to proceed there are plenty of sites explaining how to enable developer mode, once you’ve done that please ask at our forum:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
how to use the ‘dd’ command from the terminal to write the ISO image to the USB stick.
Hi Mike,
Yes the Peppermint 8 works well with the USB stick, i’ve used peppermint live as well as installed it on my lappy and its working fine, also installed wine and running games beautifully. Thanks guys.
I’ve been dual booting Peppermint and windows for a few years now, It’s one of my favorite flavors of Linux. I’ve installed it on several family members computers who needed to upgrade from windows XP; But i was wondering why the built in ad blocker no longer comes with Peppermint 8. This was an awesome little tool; Is there a way I can still use it?
You most certainly can still install/use it, but please ask on the forum for instructions:
https://forum.peppermintos.com
Greetings from Venezuela, I’m testing Peppermint 8 and until now I’ve had a great experience. Migrating from Windows and meeting this distro is wonderful.
Hi Carlos, glad to hear you’re enjoying Peppermint. Thanks for taking the time to let us know :)
Well, some years ago, I didn’t liked PeppermintOS – but today, I really love it and I am using it right now on my desktop PC. Peppermint really is so beautiful, fast, stable and easy. The only one thing that should be better is that some features in Peppermint are still in English language, but not everyone understands English. My suggestion for Peppermint 9 or 10. Otherwise, you’re doing a real good job! Greetings from Germany, Torsten
Thanks for the encouraging words Torsten, much appreciated :) .. We are slowly working towards translations for the English only parts of Peppermint, currently there’s a request for assistance with non-English translations for our ICE application on the forum:
https://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php/topic,6477.0.html
:)
I’ve got an Asus 1015PEM that I bought in 2010; these shell laptops came with really basic hardware (Atom; 2G RAM; 240G HDD; Win starter). I used the crap out of it, but after the free upgrade to W-10 was offered and accepted, it slowed to a crawl. It sat boxed in a closet for a year, then I pulled it back out, replaced the HDD w/a SSD, and loaded (at that time, the new) Mint 17.1. It resurrected impressively. But it was still slow compared to my Chromebook, and so it was more a show-n-tell device. I recently read about P-8, with some of the features I like about Mint, and so I gave it a try. Wow! Now it is even better! It is now at a place where it can be used as a daily laptop. I still use Mint Sylvia on my NUC-PC; there, I do heavier work (music-video editing, etc.), but the Asus is great for lighter (portable) work, as well as surfing/consuming. Once, when computers in general were expensive, we’d try to get one device to do everything: Those days are behind us.
Great stuff Paul, we love hearing “resurrection” stories so good to know your laptop is back from the closet and useful again. Thanks for the feedback :)
Hello Everyone, I’m a late comer to the Linux world. I have a Dell D620 & D630 that I could only run XP on decently, and a GX-630 that just keeps getting slower and slower with each Windows 7 update. I ran across a YouTube video about Peppermint 8 and though why not, things can’e be any worse. I downloaded the 32-bit version, learned to make a bootable USB stick and WOW!!! both laptops fly. I had a bit of an issue with the wireless cards but community support solved that quickly. VLC runs great. I really like Chromium and it loads so much faster than IE in Win 7 on my old GX-630. Loaded Libre with the MS core fonts and I can do everything I need to do for work and home, and it is great to be able to revive what I thought were just boat anchors. Thank you so much for all the work the team did and my sincere thanks to Mark Greaves for his vision and passion to deliver such a great OS.
Careful Chris, you’ll give me a god complex :) .. Great to hear Peppermint has revitalised your computers and thanks very much for the kind sentiments. I’ll be sure to pass them on to the rest of the team.
Ιt’s аn amazing paragraph in support of alⅼ thе online viewers; they
wіll obtaqin benefit from it I am suге.