The new Mint 18 beta development release is now available as of June 9.
Code named Sarah, available here.
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09430

Edit; I have downloaded the iso and burned a disc. The installation was slow but successful except that
Mint no longer comes with the firmware needed for wi-fi. Not much use to people who don't have a wired connection.
A waste of time and aircard data usage.

Hi...

Does this include all wireless firmware or just the ones that are not open source? I know that certain Broadcom firmware cannot be included in Linux distributions because of redistribution restrictions but others, including some Atheros, are open source. Please see here for more information.

If I could ask, what is the brand and model your wireless adapter?

Regards...

I am loving 18 Sarah! The only problem I had was with the mate version having some screen tearing in videos, I switched to Cinnamon and that solved the screen tearing problem. I like how easy it is to work with. I was recently using Ubuntu until I learned about it's privacy issues. I know many are called tin foil hat or fud for even mentioning anything about that, But the main reason I moved to Linux in the first place, was because of Windows 10 having the same privacy issues. So it was doing me no good using Ubuntu. I understand you can supposedly disable the tracking in Ubuntu, But the very fact that it has tracking software built in, is more than enough reason for me not to trust Ubuntu. Anyway Mint 18 runs games very well too! I can run War Thunder with the graphics settings turned all the way up. And it never falls under 60fps with V-Sync on. CPU usage is very good! And my GTX 970 runs much cooler in this version. This is a very well optimized OS. I am going to try some other games later. I only wish I could run all my games on Mint. If I could I would drop Windows 10 from my other hard drive. I am definitely donating to the Mint team. They deserve it.

That's cool, welcome to the forum!

Just as FYI, it appears that the online search result feature has been disabled in Ubuntu 16.04.

Regards...

It's good to hear that was removed from ubuntu. And I hope it stays that way. I hate to see people done that way regardless of who they are.

I have a few games running under Linux Mint 18 now. Fallout NV is running flawlessly. I will try some more of my games later.

Thank you for the response.
I am not sure if all wireless firmware is included or not. Never had a problem with Mint 17.3.
Thanks to Belarc Advisor, I found this, Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222 Wireless Network Adapter.
Lubuntu 16.04 gives you the option to install the third party firmware which I use, this puts the onus on the end user. But at least the firmware is included with the ISO. In the case of Mint it also gives you the option to install the third party firmware, which I accepted, but that does me no good as the firmware is not included in the ISO. I have always liked Mint and was looking forward to 18 Sarah.
Found this; Codecs are no longer installed by default

A non-optional change that you’ll notice when downloading the images is that Linux Mint now distributes fewer ISO images. There are no ISO images for multimedia codecs.

To get multimedia codecs, you’ll have to click Multimedia Codecs on the welcome screen, head to Menu > Sound and Video > Install Multimedia Codecs, or activate a checkbox during installation. This helps simplify things for the Linux Mint developers, while keeping the codecs easy to install for users.

You can try Linux Mint 18 today and report any issues you find to the developers. If you’re still using Linux Mint 17.3, we’d recommend waiting until the final release to upgrade to avoid any bugs.
Edit; activating the check box, doesn't do it.

Welcome to the forum, thanks for the input. I prefer Mint over ubuntu as well for the reasons you mention as well as others.

Hi...

Did you confirm that the firmware is missing for your Atheros adapter? If so, how? This might be some other issue.

Also, out of curiosity, if the adapter is still not working, what are the results of these commands...

If this is a USB adapter, please use this command instead of the first one above...

This might be fixable.

Regards...

Thanks, I will have to re-install Mint 18 to try this.
I am trying to find the site that had the info about the missing firmware, I never thought to bookmark it.

Hi...

You don't have to go to that trouble if you've already reinstalled 17.3. I was just thinking if you still had 18 installed, we could troubleshoot the problem.

Regards...

Thanks for the offer, I tried to find the missing firmware, no success. So I tried again to
install Debian, even with the missing firmware on my usb stick, no success there either.
So I installed lubuntu 16.04 again, will try to get cups installed so I can use my printer.
I don't spend a lot of time with an operating system if I have to fight with it to get it working. There's enough systems available that work out of the box, without the hassle.
Mint was one of my favorites up to this point, but I have better things to do with my time.
I realize that all of these are issues that can be solved, but frankly it's just not worth the effort. I'm not a huge ubuntu fan but I have to admit, it is probably the easiest, most user friendly distro available.

Hi...

You're welcome, I'm sorry you've been dealing with such an unusual problem.

If you need help with your printer, feel free to create another thread.

Regards...

Thanks for your interest. If I had a wired internet connection these issues would be no problem at all, but my only connection
is my wifi via my private network aircard. I could take my laptop to the public library and use the ethernet there, but I am usually quite busy in the summer doing other things (like most people).
For most of my document related printing needs I use Windows as it is easy to network my computers together and backup and share
information between them.
I found this very interesting article regarding the history of linux, which you might find interesting. Although I suspect you
are likely already familiar with it.

http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7721/

Nice article, thanks! Although I've seen the graph before, it's the most detailed and comprehensive I've seen concerning the history of Linux.

Regards...