One of my favourite Linux distributions, Linux Mint, has just entered the release candidate phase.
Linux Mint 12 is much more revolutionary than Mint 11 was (I dare say that Mint 11 was evolutionary).
These are just a few of the GNOME 3 improvements that MGSE brings. There are many other smaller and less visible improvements that in my opinion make the Mint 12 experience much more enjoyable than Ubuntu 11.10 (with Unity).
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| The Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" Desktop (from LinuxMint.com) |
Linux Mint 12 is much more revolutionary than Mint 11 was (I dare say that Mint 11 was evolutionary).
Mint 12 is revolutionary for Linux Mint because it comes with a brand new desktop, built with GNOME 3 and MGSE (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions). Essentially what the Mint team have done is take GNOME 3 and changed the pet hates many users in the Linux community had and get rid of the causes. The new Mint desktop uses GNOME 3 as its base, and then reverts certain tasks/activities back to something more similar to what people are used to and love from GNOME 2.x. As a result you get GNOME 3 with:
- A panel at the bottom of the desktop (as there was in classic Mint desktops)
- An application menu (a bit shinier, but just like in classic Mint desktops)
- A window list
- A task-centric desktop (you switch between windows, not applications. This will make many users very very happy)
- Visible system tray icons (I can hear GNOME 3 hater cheers...)
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| An Application Menu! (from LinuxMint.com) |
As usual with a new release of Mint, there is new artwork and theme tweaks. Shininess is always good in my opinion.
The default search engine in Linux Mint 12 will be Duck Duck Go. (I'm still waiting for Leo Laporte to start a new show on the TWiT Network called This Week in Duck Duck Go...).
You can read about all the new features of Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" here.
You can download the release candidate of Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" here.
Thanks to everyone involved in bringing us the Linux Mint distribution. It is probably the best Linux distribution for Linux newbies, and still one of the shiniest and most easy to use out of the box/liveDVD/liveUSB!
As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below and let me know how you get on with Linux Mint if you give it a go.