The text editor and media player X-Apps are now ready

Feb 3, 2016 16:00 GMT  ·  By

We reported last week that the Linux Mint developers bragged about a new project called X-Apps for the upcoming Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" computer operating system.

Today, February 3, 2016, Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre reveals the first two X-Apps for Linux Mint 18, a text editor based on the well-known Pluma application, but with some features borrowed from the Gedit text editor, and a media player based on GNOME's Totem 3.10 video player software.

"In preparation for Linux Mint 18, a new project called 'X-Apps' was started, which goal is to provide default and generic applications for traditional GTK desktop environments (Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce…)," says Clement Lefebvre in today's announcement. "The first two X-Apps to be ready are the text editor and the media player."

Why the trouble?!

If you're wondering why the Linux Mint team is going through all this trouble of "porting" existing applications to their operating system, you should know that their long-term plans are no longer in sync with the latest changes happing on the upstream GNOME and GNOME Shell projects.

The GNOME desktop environment is going on a totally different path, and most of the core apps will have to follow its HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) specifications. Linux Mint uses traditional desktop environments like Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce, so they need to rely on a different set of apps or start making their own.

And it seems to us that the "X-Apps" project is a combination of both, not to mention the fact that the "new" apps will work smoothly on all of Linux Mint's flavors and will use the latest GTK3 technologies. Classy and stylish at the same time! Good job, Linux Mint.

Media Player X-App for Linux Mint
Media Player X-App for Linux Mint

Linux Mint 18 X-Apps (2 Images)

Text Editor X-App for Linux Mint
Media Player X-App for Linux Mint
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