Linux Mint 9 Isadora Release Candidate Now Available for Download
Linux Mint started off as a tiny project, but has managed to gain a fairly large following over the years. Distrowatch ranks it as the third most popular Linux distro, after Ubuntu and Fedora. In many ways, Linux Mint is Ubuntu simplified.
Linux Mint 9 is based on the recently released Ubuntu 10.04. If you are an existing Mint user, you will feel right at home, since this release looks and feels the same as Helena. The planned metallic visual refresh was dropped from this release due to performance issues. However, this is not to say that there aren’t big changes in this release.
Some of the major changes in Linux Mint 9 are:
New Software Manager
The Software Manager was re-written from scratch and now integrates the best ideas from the original Software Manager, Gnome App-Install and the new Ubuntu Software Center. Get access to around 30,000 packages along with user reviews with the new software manager.
New Backup Tool
The backup was also re-written and features huge improvements. You can now backup your files, software selection and system preferences with Mint’s Backup Tool.
Mint4Win
Mint4Win – the Windows installer for Mint (based on Wubi) makes a comeback in this release.
Improved Appearance
Mint 9 includes new artwork (wallpapers), with tons more being available from the software repository. Mint also includes other visual tweaks including transparent Menu.
The full changelog is available here. Be aware that this is an RC release and has several known issues.
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Author: Pallab De
Pallab De is a blogger from India who has a soft spot for anything techie. He loves trying out new software and spends most of his day breaking and fixing his PC. Pallab loves participating in the social web; he has been active in technology forums since he was a teenager and is an active user of both twitter (@indyan) and facebook .Pallab De has written 913 articles for us.
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My cranky old laptop really needs a reload, and I am sorely tempted to try linux. This slimmed down version may well be just what the doctor ordered. Linux Mint should be easy enough for me to install on my current hardware.
Linux Mint 9 looks really nice. But nothing can be compared with Ubuntu. I am still on 9.10. Waiting to upgrade it to 10.04.
Karthik – Linux Mint isbased on Ubuntu with the majority of the bugs fixed that are inherent with any new Ubuntu release, better/new/improved system tools than you'll find in Ubuntu, a better menu system and all the codecs and such that you have to install manually in Ubuntu already installed in Mint by default. One exception in Isadora is Java is not installed by default on the usual Live CD .iso. That's easily installed though via the package manager.
BTW, Linux Mint is not a light version of Ubuntu nor a slimmed down version. It's a vastly improved fork of Ubuntu.