Everyone was left asking what Linux Mint would do when their next big release came out. Would they take the path of least resistance and follow Ubuntu, their parent distribution, by accepting Unity? Or would they stick with upstream and make Gnome Shell their default? Maybe they might give Gnome 2.x a new lease of life and keep that as the default – it would certainly win them a lot of fans! Linux Mint 12 is now out, and we know the answer to this question: none of the above.

Gnome Shell Extensions

The team behind Linux Mint have gone in a completely unexpected and original direction. They’ve picked up Gnome Shell but, rather than using it as is, they’ve taken advantage of the integrated support for extensions to substantially customize it. Almost all of the problems that people have had with Gnome Shell are fixed by Mint’s Gnome Shell Extensions. They have:

• Re-introduced the bottom panel, complete with an Application menu and window list.
• Put a shutdown option back in the session menu.
• Turned on desktop icons by default.
• Re-introduced window minimization.
• Re-enabled the system tray.
• Made Alt+Tab work like it used to, switching between windows rather than applications.

We can’t sing the praises of this approach enough. Since all the usual Gnome Shell features are still in place, and each extension can be turned on or off individually, users can gradually acclimatize to Gnome Shell – or not if they don’t want to. Users can create the desktop they want. We also think this is a huge testament to the developers of Gnome. They set out to build a new platform with the explicit intention of allowing this kind of customization.

[Read more...]

Linux Mint 12 was released and we have a screenshot tour of the install process. Enjoy….

[Read more...]

Linux Mint project released version 10 of its popular Linux distribution. Though based primarily on Ubuntu 10.10 packages and kernels, the new release advances Linux Mint’s position as an Ubuntu-variant well worth considering when choosing a full-featured desktop Linux OS.

[Read more...]

Based on my efforts to get to a XFCE version that I would want more permanently, I looked back to what I enjoyed the most, researched again what was out there…seems that my first instinct of Linux Mint being something I should look back at was itching at my scalp like a long day on the golf course with no hat…

[Read more...]

As great as the GNOME version of Linux Mint is, it simply isn’t for everybody. Many people still prefer KDE to GNOME and a separate review is helpful for those looking for an alternative for GNOME.

Read more: http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/04/14/linux-mint-8-kde-helena/#ixzz0lNFGwuU6

[Read more...]

Linux Mint has quite a following. It has a community that has pushed the distribution into third place on the influential DistroWatch site. That’s one place higher than OpenSUSE, which isn’t bad for a distribution based on Ubuntu. And we were seriously impressed with the previous version. Its budding green theming and condensation soaked wallpaper was like annual rainfall on the brown desert palette of a standard Ubuntu installation. Clever additions like a new menu system and the inclusion of a few custom applications made the whole distribution feel more cared for than the average respin. But there’s no escaping the fact that Mint is built on the world’s most popular distribution, and as a result, needs to be judged on what it does differently and why.

[Read more...]

So good news for all of you KDE fans out there! I still am not part of that group, but hey!, Pardus left quite a good impression on me, so why not try this one too? First of all, see if you have an empty DVD lying around, ’cause the KDE version of Mint 7 (about 1.1 GB) won’t fit on a CD. There are plenty of mirrors available for direct download and a seedful torrent, so it shouldn’t take too much time to have the image on your hard drive. Once you have it on the disc, it’s pretty much a straight-forward job: boot from the DVD, wait for the desktop to load, double click the “Install” icon and go through the easy-as-pie installation steps, identical to those of Ubuntu.

[Read more...]

Time for another distro review, and this time I thought I’d look at the latest version of a distribution I’ve enjoyed a lot in the past. Linux Mint 7, AKA Gloria. I’m tempted to make references to Van Morrison here, but I’ll restrain myself. The last version I reviewed was actually Linux Mint 5, so I’ve missed a release. At the time I said it was the best Linux distribution I’d seen for new users, better even than the hallowed Ubuntu (upon which it is based). Would I still feel the same?

[Read more...]

Based on Ubuntu 8.10, you might pass Linux Mint off as being yet another Ubuntu spin-off, though Mint has been around now for while (first release was on the 27th of August, 2006) and it’s still a popular distribution, sitting in the number 3 spot on the Distrowatch page hit ranks.

It shares the same Ubuntu 8.10 repositories and can also benefit from Ubuntu’s large user base for support as the majority of solutions will be applicable to Mint. So why use Mint? What are the benefits? Well, the main benefits are out of the box support for audio and video codecs, DVD playback and Firefox plug-ins. This was very important when Mint first hit the scene as Ubuntu didn’t provide the user with painless codec installation or DVD playback. Mint provided users new to Linux or just users who preferred a good out of the box experience with a complete Linux distribution.

[Read more...]

Ever since I first ran into Linux Mint over a year ago, I’ve been enamored by it’s elegant simplicity, rock solid stability, good hardware support, and excellent user experience. This distribution has continued to impress me time and again, and has really become my number one recommended distro, actually displacing PcLinuxOS in the top slot, for favorite new user friendly distributions. Up until now, Linux Mint has done nothing but go up, and up, and up. But as with anything that goes up, eventually it must come down. So, does Mint continue to impress with it’s new KDE version, or does it start the slow and gradual treck back down? (note, Mint 5 standard got glowing reviews, so it shouldn’t be too hard for the KDE edition, right?

[Read more...]

Check out our quick screenshot tour of the new Linux Mint 4.0 KDE. Watch our short flash video too…

[Read more...]

The last two posts I did here had to do with using a data center grade version of Linux to create a production level, critical service. The upside to using such a Linux is supposed to be stability and predictability. Everything tested. Everything settled and stable. Calm. Quiet. Maybe even a little boring.

The downside? Not the latest kernel or packages, therefore not the latest features. Do we need the latest? Maybe. NFS Version 4 and IPv6 are going to be challenges in the near future. Linux has had support for these things for a long long time, but now we are starting to see some systems from several vendors enabling them *by default*.

[Read more...]