The Linux Mint team has released their monthly blog post detailing upcoming improvements, with the Nemo file manager getting regular expression search and LMDE 7 poised for an OEM install option.

Linux Mint is one of the most popular Linux distros, and one of the few equally well-suited for new and seasoned users alike. Its Nemo file manager is one of the more advanced file managers, offering a number of features not found in some others, such as Gnome’s Nautilus.

In the March 2025 blog post (the previous month’s post always comes out around the beginning of the following month) project lead Clément (Clem) Lefèbvre says the next release will see Nemo receive a Regex upgrade.

The Nemo file manager was improved.

Its search functionality was enhanced. A new filter was added to find files using regular expressions matching their filenames.

LMDE OEM Support

The Mint team has also been working to add OEM support to the upcoming LMDE 7. LMDE is Linux Mint Debian Edition, a version of Linux Mint based on Debian rather than Ubuntu, which the mainline version of Mint is based on. The team maintains LMDE in the event that Ubuntu ceases to be a viable base for Mint, or if Ubuntu’s direction goes too far astray from the goals of the Mint team.

LMDE 7 is expected later this year, and will be based on the upcoming Debian 13. Adding OEM support closes one of the few remaining disparities between mainline Mint and LMDE.

LMDE 7, which will be based on the next version of Debian Stable, will come with full support for OEM installations.

Thanks to OEM installs, Linux Mint can be pre-installed on computers which are sold throughout the World. It’s a very important feature and it’s one of the very few remaining things which wasn’t supported by LMDE.

OEM stands for “Original Equipment Manufacturers”. It’s used to refer not only to manufacturers but to any company big or small which sells computers. This feature is also used by individuals who either donate or sell their computers.

When you prepare a computer to be sold, you don’t know its future user. You can’t select the username or the password. Big companies might not even know the user’s language, timezone or keyboard layout. So this feature allows the system to be pre-installed on the computer, without selecting user details.

These details are later asked to the user via a first-run wizard when the computer is turned on.

Cinnamon Wayland and CJS

Clem says working is continuing on moving Mint’s Cinnamon desktop environment (DE) to Wayland, the modern replacement to the X11 window server. While still experimental, the latest improvements to Cinnamon’s Wayland session will add support keyboard layouts and input methods. Clem says it will hopefully be ready for the next release.

The team is also changing how Cinnamon’s underlying JavaScript interpreter (CJS) is versioned. Until now, CJS’ versioning scheme followed shared the same version as Cinnamon. Moving forward, the team will version it “according to the Mozilla JavaScript engine it uses, and we’ll update it independently from Cinnamon.” This will result in more frequent updates, JavaScript improvements in between Cinnamon releases, and the DE will support multiple versions of the JavaScript engine.

LMDE Continues to Gain Traction

While LMDE continues to be a backup option for the Mint team, and Clem has made clear that he has no interest in abandoning the Ubuntu base unless absolutely forced to, it’s good to see the team continue to eliminate the few remaining disparities between the two versions.

Canonical’s Ubuntu remains the most popular Linux distro, but Canonical continues to make controversial decisions that alienate some users. Canonical’s insistence on pushing its Snaps package format, as well as its recent announcement regarding its intention to replace the GNU core utilities with the Rust-based uutils.

Despite Clem’s hopes to the contrary, many believe the day will come when Linux Mint will be forced to migrate to LMDE as its mainline version as a result of Canonical’s decisions and the direction Ubuntu is headed. OEM support was one of the last features LMDE currently lacks. The other two outstanding features are the GUI kernel manager and driver manager that mainline Mint offers, since both are tools directly from Ubuntu. Since Debian has no equivalent, LMDE lacks both of those features.

Nonetheless, the focus on improving LMDE’s feature set brings the Mint variant one step closer to being a seamless replacement for mainline Mint, should that day ever come.