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Linux Mint 12 Is On The Way!

One of my favourite Linux distributions, Linux Mint, has just entered the release candidate phase.
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...)
An Application Menu! (from LinuxMint.com)
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).

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.

Joli OS 1.2

During the last week Tariq Krim announced the changes happening with Jolicloud, the Ubuntu-based Linux operating system.


The Jolicloud OS has now been renamed Joli OS, and has been updated to version 1.2. Joli OS 1.2 has a newer user interface with various tweaks, the facility to create your own web application launchers and seamless Dropbox integration in the OS. You can read about the changes in Joli OS 1.2 in the blog post here.


I was prompted to update my system this morning and did so. The update ran in the background while I continued using my trusty Asus EEE PC 900A for my usual web browsing, social networking (using Seesmic Web) and news reading (using Google Reader).



After the update finished, I restarted my netbook and I was in Joli OS 1.2. The login page is slightly different, there are a few new wallpapers and it generally feels shinier.



Well done to Tariq and the rest of the Jolicloud / Joli OS team! I'm enjoying Joli OS 1.2!

You can download Joli OS 1.2 from here. Enjoy!

Please feel free to post comments/questions on this article.