I am running the same build (32 bit Mint w Cinnamon) and have found at least a partial work-around. If you hold down <cntrl> you can 'dock' the form editor window to the right side (or whatever side you want) of the desktop, and it will not be resized. It forces you to have the form be the total height of the screen, but you can control the width. Before you compile, you can then resize the form to your liking. Not perfect, but it beats having the form window shrink down to tiny when you click on the component bar.