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Linux Mint

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News from the Dev Team
URL: http://www.linuxmint.com/blog
Updated: 57 min 51 sec ago

Linux Mint Debian (201009) released!

Tue, 07/09/2010 - 18:37

Linux Mint Debian (201009)

Today is very important for Linux Mint. It’s one day to remember in the history of our project as we’re about to maintain a new distribution, a rolling one, which promises to be faster, more responsive and on which we’re less reliant on upstream components. Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) comes with a Debian base, which we transformed into a live media and on top of which we added a new installer. It’s rougher and in some aspects not as user-friendly as our other editions, it’s very young but it will improve continuously and rapidly, and it brings us one step closer to a situation where we’re fully in control of the system without being impacted by upstream decisions.

LMDE also represents an alternative, with the same desktop, the same functionality, but a different base, and a difference in hardware support and compatibility. In the scope of our distribution, and our role, which is to provide a modern and elegant operating system, it’s important to give people a choice. We did it with many upstream components. The Software Manager gives users an easy choice when it comes to selecting their favorite applications. We maintain editions for alternative desktops such as KDE, Xfce, Fluxbox and LXDE. And we also provide a choice between 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. From a technical point of view, a package base is a huge part of an operating system. It makes the system using it a derivative of the distribution maintaining it, something that is both based and fully compatible with it. From a user and project point of view though, this is yet another component, and like any other, it can be changed and replaced with alternatives. The Linux Mint desktop which you’ve come to enjoy on top of an Ubuntu base, can be ported to alternative package bases. By the past, I expressed my enthusiasm about this and my interest in experimenting with Debian, Fedora and our own independent base. Work started on Debian about 3 years ago, it was hesitant and we didn’t have the resources to make it a priority. After the release of Linux Mint 9 LTS, we decided to set some time aside for this project, and we’re now proud to announce that Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is out, and available for download!

Welcome to Linux Mint Debian. I’d like to thank all the testers and our development team, Ikey Doherty in particular, for the work that they put in it. I personally had a lot of fun working on this project, and I hope you’ll enjoy this new distribution.

Important links LMDE in brief
  • Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is a rolling distribution based on Debian Testing.
  • At the moment, it comes as a 32-bit live DVD with a Gnome desktop.
  • The purpose of LMDE is to look identical to the main edition and to provide the same functionality while using Debian as a base.
FAQ 1. Is LMDE compatible with Ubuntu-based Linux Mint editions?

No, it is not. LMDE is compatible with Debian, which isn’t compatible with Ubuntu.

2. Is LMDE fully compatible with Debian?

Yes, 100%. LMDE is compatible with repositories designed for Debian Testing or Debian Squeeze.

3. What is a rolling distribution?

LMDE constantly receives updates. Its ISO images are updated now and then but users do not require to re-install it on their systems.

4. How does LMDE compare to the Ubuntu-based editions?

Pros:

  • You don’t need to ever re-install the system. New versions of software and updates are continuously brought to you.
  • It’s faster and more responsive than Ubuntu-based editions.

Cons:

  • Although it’s using Romeo for unstable packages, LMDE continuously changes as it receives updates and new software. Compared to a frozen version of Linux Mint which changes very little once it’s publicly released, it’s not as stable. Things are likely to break more often but fixes can also come quicker. For this reason, LMDE requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT.
  • Debian is a less user-friendly/desktop-ready base than Ubuntu. Expect some rough edges.
5. Will it come in 64-bit? With KDE or other desktops?

The decision wasn’t made yet. LMDE is an experiment. Although we’re quite confident it will gain in popularity, we want to get an idea of how many users will switch to a Debian base before going further with it and bringing impacts to other editions. The idea of reaching the same level of functionality without using Ubuntu is quite challenging. It means there are missing pieces in the equation, components which need to be ported or re-written, and whether the pros outweight the cons, this is something we need to assess. A 32-bit Debian-based Gnome edition allows us to work on this with the community. When it’s fully on par with the Main Edition and if there is a demand for it, further editions will come for LMDE.

Additional notes:
  • About the installer: The live installer is developed from scratch with Debian in mind. It’s configurable and it can be re-used by other Debian-based distributions. We noticed a lack in live technologies and in live Debian installers, so we’re happy to take the lead on this. If you’re a developer and you’re interested in using it, have a look at its source repository and don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you fork it and merge upcoming changes between our two projects.
  • About bugs: Please do not use Launchpad for bug reports. We’re considering the best strategy to collaborate with upstream Debian developers. In the meantimes, we opened the following forum thread.
  • About the “wrong ISO”: We recorded that 0.3% of our user base got the wrong ISO, which was synced a few days ago. If you did, you can either download the correct one, or simply update live-installer using the update manager.
  • About the media: It comes as a liveDVD. Locales work differently in Debian and the package base requires more space. We made LMDE compatible with unetbootin though, so you can install it using a USB stick.
  • Dedicated chat room: #linuxmint-debian is open to new LMDE users on irc.spotchat.org.
Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox released!

Mon, 06/09/2010 - 19:06

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox.


Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Windows installer
  • Theme issues
  • Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes.

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 4 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Upgrade instructions:

  • To upgrade from a previous version of Linux Mint follow these instructions.
  • To upgrade from Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox RC, simply apply any level 1 and 2 updates (if any) available in the Update Manager.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox is available in 32-bit as a liveCD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

Categories: Linux

LMDE: Wrong ISO file in download mirrors

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 17:38

Description of the problem:

Linux Mint Debian (LMDE) was approved for a stable release yesterday and an ISO made its way towards our download mirrors. As we were ready to make the announcements, a bug was spotted and a decision is now being made to re-spin a new ISO for this release.

We’re in the process of re-spinning a new ISO file. The ISO that is currently available in some of our download mirrors isn’t the correct one.

Information about the bug:

It’s still unclear what causes this bug, and why it wasn’t detected by the three testers (including myself) who worked on this ISO. The last step of the installation cleans APT by performing a call to “dpkg –configure -a”. This step hangs the installer and consequently the user needs to force-kill the installer and is faced with a dialog asking him/her to run “dpkg –configure -a” the first time he/she launches mintUpdate or Synaptic. Once this is done, the system acts normally. The installation itself, apart from not cleaning APT, isn’t impacted.

Information about the (wrong) ISO:

linuxmint-debian-201009-gnome-cd-i386.iso md5sum: b1c7b0e2fb97dece42ee4db9016aff65

What to do if you downloaded this ISO:

If you successfully installed LMDE, you can start using it. Please throw the ISO and the DVD away though, and don’t re-distribute them to anybody.

What to do if you haven’t downloaded this ISO:

Wait for a few days and we’ll have everything ready for you. Our apologies for the delay and, though I still don’t understand how it did, for letting this bug go undetected.

Updates:

  • Apparently this bugs only affects installations using the en_US locale (this explains why it wasn’t detected by our 3 testers.. using en_IE, fr_FR, sv_SV and en_GB).
  • Another bug was found which affects hard drives on which there is no valid partition table.
  • Both bugs were fixed in preparation for the new ISO.
Categories: Linux

Monthly Stats – August 2010

Wed, 01/09/2010 - 19:32

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

  • $121, Security Camera (USA) – http://www.security-camera-warehouse.com/
  • $100, Michael D. (USA)
  • $100, Thomas P. (USA)
  • $100, William D. aka “eagleshadow” (USA)
  • $75, Joseph B. (USA)
  • $60 (2nd donation), Laurent P. (Luxembourg)
  • $60, Alexander T. (France)
  • $60, Giuliano L. (Italy)
  • $60, Jari K. (Finland)
  • $50, Richard F. (USA)
  • $50, DataMan (USA) – http://www.boomerclan.info
  • $36, Lars K. (Germany)
  • $35 (9th donation), Pete Molina aka “pmolina” (USA)
  • $35, Gnana K. aka “Jakkal” (United Kingdom)
  • $30 (2nd donation), Bill E. (USA)
  • $30, Pinna A. (Italy)
  • $30, Kevin Dermott (United Kingdom)
  • $25 (4th donation), Harvey Elliott (United Kingdom)
  • $25, Larry’s Technology Services (USA)
  • $25, Randy T. (USA)
  • $25, Peter James C. (United Kingdom)
  • $25, Jack D. (USA)
  • $24 (6th donation), Olli K. (Finland)
  • $24, Tom S. (Germany)
  • $24, Erkka J. (Finland)
  • $24, Joseph R. (France)
  • $24, Ivan M. (Italy)
  • $24, Ulrik W. (Germany)
  • $24, Yuhuan X. aka “jeditech” (China)
  • $24, Tobias A. (Germany)
  • $21 (3rd donation), Frederic S. (France)
  • $20 (5th donation), Matthew M. (USA)
  • $20 (3rd donation), Barry W. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Seth S. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Edward H. (USA)
  • $20, Anonymous (USA)
  • $20, Anonymous (USA)
  • $20, Brian B. aka “ubii” (USA)
  • $20, Don R. (USA)
  • $20, Brinley T. (Australia)
  • $20, Chan C. Y. C. (Hong Kong)
  • $18 (9th donation), Frank Bechstein (Germany) – http://www.gamer-site.de/
  • $18, Anonymous (Netherlands)
  • $17, Dennis V. H. (Denmark)
  • $16, John-Egil U. L. (Norway)
  • $15 (14th donation), Slavoljub M. (Norway)
  • $15 (2nd donation), Vance R. aka “helmsdeeper” (USA)
  • $14, Rizwan Javaid (United Kingdom)
  • $13, Kimmo B. (Sweden)
  • $12 (11th donation), Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $12 (11th donation), Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $12 (2nd donation), Eniko V. (Italy)
  • $12, Marco K. (Germany)
  • $11 (6th donation), Robert D B. (USA)
  • $11, Jaarin P. (Czech Republic)
  • $10 (3rd donation), Anthony S. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Ashley Peach (United Kingdom) – http://www.dog-toy.co.uk
  • $10 (2nd donation), Barron R. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), David O. (United Kingdom)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Raimond L. (Lithuania)
  • $10, Jonathan O. (USA)
  • $10, Giulio G. (Italy)
  • $10, Hector Richart P. (Spain)
  • $10, Jeff W. (Canada)
  • $10, Gareth D. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Bartlomiej H. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Demostene M. (Italy)
  • $10, Stephanie O’G. G. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Sarah A. (USA)
  • $10, David R. (USA)
  • $10, Anonymous (Hungary)
  • $10, Rodion B. (Ukraine)
  • $10, George M. (USA)
  • $9, Zachary Brian Hill (USA) – http://www.hillz.me
  • $9, Markus D. (Germany)
  • $7.5, Mr R H. (United Kingdom)
  • $7, Flemming B. (Sweden)
  • $6 (4th donation), Sylwia Bialczak (Finland)
  • $6 (2nd donation), Nathan B. (United Kingdom)
  • $5.5, frager3rd (USA)
  • $5 (3rd donation), Michael G. (Germany)
  • $5, Daniel T. (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Jason M. (USA)
  • $5, Aaron C. (USA)
  • $5, Ian Carson aka “xtreem0″ (Canada) – http://www.2sidereviews.com
  • $5, Gary Armstrong aka “GaryArmstrong” (Canada)
  • $5, Darin B. (Canada)
  • $5, Nate S. (USA)
  • $5, Srinath V Srinath (Singapore)
  • $5, Mark D. (USA)
  • $5, Paul V-W. (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Don Brubaker (USA)
  • $5, Janelle B. (Canada)
  • $5, Arthur H. (USA)
  • $5, Александр Борисов (Russia) – http://metric-ghost.livejournal.com
  • $4 (9th donation), Savant B.D. (USA) – http://www.allyourprices.com
  • $3, Stef A. (Netherlands)
  • $2 (6th donation), Jennifer McBride (Canada) – http://www.only-green.ca
  • $2 (4th donation), Ryan G. (Philippines) – http://azcoding.com
  • $2 (2nd donation), Nils K. (Germany)
  • $2, Angel M. B. (Dominican Republic)
  • $2, Sinan B. (Canada)
  • $1 (5th donation), Inga Muste (Latvia) – http://inga.lv
  • $1 (4th donation), Ken Weill P. Lumacad aka “kenweill” (Philippines) – http://tinyurl.com/kenweillref
  • $1 (4th donation), Ken Weill P. Lumacad aka “kenweill” (Philippines) – http://tinyurl.com/kenweillref
  • $1 (2nd donation), Sylvestre Burgos aka “sylvestre” (France) – http://burgos.sourceforge.net
  • $1 (2nd donation), Gonzalo C. (Argentina) – http://www.vagobit.com.ar
  • $1, Javier C. (USA)
  • $1, Anonymous (India)
  • $1, Daniel F. (Austria)
  • $1, Michael B. (Germany)
  • $1, Thomas G. (USA)
  • $0.5, Eric Cooper (Canada)
  • $0, Rashed Al R. (Saudi Arabia)

Sponsors:

Money raised in August:

* Donations: $2098.5 (114 donors)
* Sponsors: $860.5 (68 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

  • Linux Mint 9 Isadora: 59% (+6%)
  • Linux Mint 8 Helena: 18% (-4%)
  • Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 16% (-2%)
  • Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 3% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 2% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 2% (-0%)

Web Stats:

  • Visits: 2,548,494 (-2.98%)
  • Unique views: 3,192,820 (-3.75%)
  • Pageviews: 4,147,616 (-3.62%)
  • Page impressions: 1,755,402
  • Search queries: 6,342,252
  • Forum users: 35,875
  • Forum posts: 298,723

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1374 (3rd)
  • Distrowatch (traffic share): 4.7% (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 19,065

Events:

Summary:

  • In August, LMDE (Linux Mint Debian) was finalized. The rolling distribution based on Debian is now being tested by our QA team and a public release should be out early this month.
  • The Fluxbox edition is also in testing and waiting to be approved for a stable release.
  • August was by far the most quiet month we ever got to see. The activity on the blog, on the forums, the amount of emails received, the donations, and even the sponsorships were extremely low compared to previous months. In terms of income, we’re not doing too bad. We’re down 2.7% but we’re hoping for a more dynamic month in September.
  • Early September will see the release of the new anticipated Debian-based distribution: LMDE. And we’re also really excited to start the work on the new Linux Mint 10 which will be released in November.
  • If like many you were away in August, we’d like to welcome you back and we look forward to an exciting month. The Summer was relaxing, but Autumn is going to be fun!
Categories: Linux

Local Communities

Tue, 31/08/2010 - 08:30

There are 16 local Linux Mint communities across the World:

  • 3 in Asia
  • 12 in Europe
  • 1 in South America

Local Communities promote our distribution in their locale, in their country and among people who do not speak English or who prefer to use their own language. They can organize the translation and the distribution of localized versions of the Linux Mint User Guide, and of the ISO images that we release. They can also translate our announcements and provide local support and communication media to Linux Mint users.

Some of these communities are very active. In France, LinuxMint-fr partnered with OXY Press to publish two magazine issues dedicated to the releases of Linux Mint 7 and 8. In Bangladesh, the Ubuntu Loco Team and Linux Mint Bangladesh joined forces and co-organized one of the biggest Linux event in the country. These initiatives need to be acknowledge and it’s important for our project to keep a close relationship with the Local Communities.

A new listing was published on the website to show the Linux Mint Local Communities: http://www.linuxmint.com/communities.php

A team will be formed with the community leaders of each local community so that we can talk about their needs and how Linux Mint and the Local Communities can help each others.

Categories: Linux

Translations: The User Guide

Fri, 27/08/2010 - 16:56

The Linux Mint 9 User Guide is now available in the following languages:

Previous versions of the guide are also available in the following languages:

Many thanks to all the people involved in translating this book.

Note: All versions of the User Guide, in PDF and ODT are available at the following address: http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/docs/user-guide/

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 Xfce released!

Tue, 24/08/2010 - 20:03

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 Xfce.


Linux Mint 9 Xfce

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 Xfce“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Problems with Xfce mixer
  • Desktop and delete options
  • Gigolo and Windows shares
  • Small fonts
  • fusion-icon installs Compiz KDE packages
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes.

System requirements:

  • x86 processor (for both 32 & 64-bit versions)
  • x86_64 compatible processor (for the 64-bit version)
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 4 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Upgrade instructions:

  • To upgrade from a previous version of Linux Mint follow these instructions.
  • To upgrade from Linux Mint 9 Xfce RC, simply apply any level 1 and 2 updates (if any) available in the Update Manager.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 Xfce is available in both 32 & 64-bit as a liveCD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

Categories: Linux

Monthly Stats – July 2010

Sun, 01/08/2010 - 18:31

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

  • $100, Anant S. (India)
  • $100, William C. (USA)
  • $60, C L. (United Kingdom)
  • $60, Laurent P. (Luxembourg)
  • $60, Henrik Tranberg (Denmark) – http://www.henriktranberg.dk
  • $50 (7th donation), Gordon Hilliard aka “ghilly” (United Kingdom)
  • $50 (3rd donation), Digital Linx Hosting (Canada) – http://vpsnoc.com
  • $50, Darrel Norstrom aka “Darrel” (Canada)
  • $50, Steven Campbell (USA)
  • $50, David H. (USA)
  • $50, Christopher B. (USA)
  • $50, A Webb aka “allen9013″ (USA)
  • $50, William R. (Australia)
  • $40 (3rd donation), John M. aka “jmro3006″ (USA)
  • $36, J C. (Netherlands)
  • $36, Olivier G. (France)
  • $35 (8th donation), Pete Molina aka “pmolina” (USA)
  • $35 (3rd donation), Andrew M. (Australia)
  • $30, Riel B. (USA)
  • $30, Steve Jain (USA) – http://www.essjae.com
  • $30, willie42 (USA)
  • $30, Philip B. (United Kingdom)
  • $27, Udo Uebel (USA)
  • $25 (5th donation), Jay Stewart aka “jag1182″ (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Kamal G. (United Kingdom)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Ian Dunn (United Kingdom) – http://www.salutus-solutions.com
  • $25 (2nd donation), Peter T. (United Kingdom)
  • $25, Diego Urbina Lebron (Puerto Rico)
  • $25, David Gagne aka “davidgagne80″ (Canada)
  • $25, Fran L. (USA)
  • $25, 野田 英明 (Japan)
  • $25, Scott S. (USA)
  • $25, Anthony F H. (USA)
  • $25, James B. (USA)
  • $25, Rathish M. (India)
  • $24 (12th donation), Manuel F. (Portugal)
  • $24 (11th donation), Marco R. (Italy)
  • $24 (11th donation), Marco R. (Italy)
  • $24 (5th donation), Olli K. (Finland)
  • $24, Jan F. (Czech Republic)
  • $24, Daniele Gazzola (Italy)
  • $20 (13th donation), Slavoljub M. (Norway)
  • $20 (5th donation), Jaxon L. (USA) – http://um-reloaded.blogspot.com
  • $20 (5th donation), Colin Casey (Canada)
  • $20 (4th donation), Matthew M. (USA)
  • $20 (3rd donation), Anders B. (Norway)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Anonymous User (Singapore)
  • $20, Victor Skovorodnikov aka “victorsk” (Canada)
  • $20, Keith B. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Clifton W. (USA)
  • $20, Juhani K. (Finland)
  • $20, Arthur Moe (Sweden) – http://www.arthurmoe.net
  • $20, Kieren Hinch aka “khinch” (United Kingdom)
  • $18, David C. (Ireland)
  • $18, Chris (Australia)
  • $12 (9th donation), Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $12 (2nd donation), Stephan H. (Germany)
  • $12 (2nd donation), Janni L. (Denmark)
  • $12, Ermanno L. (Italy)
  • $12, Slavko B. (Germany)
  • $12, Marion T. (United Kingdom)
  • $12, Roel Z. (Netherlands)
  • $11, Anton Konnoff (USA)
  • $10 (4th donation), Andrew A. (USA)
  • $10 (3rd donation), Carl K. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Jose P. (USA)
  • $10, Giovanni A. (USA)
  • $10, Jeffery S. (USA)
  • $10, Gerardo J R. (USA)
  • $10, Troy Strobel aka “troyj” (USA)
  • $10, Jonathan Langley (New Zealand)
  • $10, Pedro F. G. (Venezuela)
  • $10, Kota O. (Japan)
  • $10, Bruce Wallace aka “delighted” (USA)
  • $10, Ila S. (Canada)
  • $10, Philippe D-P. (Canada)
  • $8 (3rd donation), Sylwia Bialczak (Finland)
  • $6 (2nd donation), Joan P. N. (Spain)
  • $6, Giancarlo N. (Italy)
  • $6, Nathan B. (United Kingdom)
  • $6, Gary B. (United Kingdom)
  • $5 (8th donation), Savant B.D. (USA) – http://www.allyourprices.com
  • $5 (2nd donation), Hendrawan (Indonesia) – http://dot.choosen.net
  • $5, Ahmad Dahrouj aka “ahmad” (United Kingdom)
  • $5, GlycoPlex (USA)
  • $5, Alan G. (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Alvin P. (Philippines)
  • $5, Robert G. Van den H. (USA)
  • $5, Niklas H. (Austria) – http://www.rakeback-account.com
  • $5, Валерий Л. (Russia)
  • $5, Chew Chean Hoe (Malaysia)
  • $5, Michael P. (USA)
  • $3, Ales Pospichal (Czech Republic)
  • $2 (5th donation), Jennifer McBride (Canada) – http://www.only-green.ca
  • $2, Alessio C. (Italy)
  • $1 (2nd donation), Ken Weill P. Lumacad aka “kenweill” (Philippines)
  • $1 (2nd donation), Ken Weill P. Lumacad aka “kenweill” (Philippines)
  • $1, BladeWS (Greece) – http://twitter.com/bladews
  • $1, Azhar Bin Hafiz Muhammad Nur (Singapore)
  • $1, Gonzalo C. (Argentina)
  • $0, 孟 非 (China)

Sponsors:

Money raised in July:

* Donations: $2153 (101 donors)
* Sponsors: $981.5 (77 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

  • Linux Mint 9 Isadora: 53% (+14%)
  • Linux Mint 8 Helena: 22% (-12%)
  • Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 18% (-1%)
  • Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 3% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 2% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 2% (-0%)

Web Stats:

  • Visits: 2,594,041 (-2.42%)
  • Unique views: 3,274,141 (-3.56%)
  • Pageviews: 4,246,007 (-3.01%)
  • Page impressions: 1,777,569
  • Search queries: 6,067,762
  • Forum users: 34,551
  • Forum posts: 289,645

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1473 (3rd)
  • Distrowatch (traffic share): 6% (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 16,893

Events:

Summary:

  • July was a very busy month for the project. The testers and maintainers managed 4 releases: 2 stable (KDE and LXDE) and 2 RC (Fluxbox and Xfce). The new ISO testing module proved extremely useful. Myself and Ikey worked hard on the Debian edition and its installer is now ready. Also, work started on new features for mintinstall and ideas are currently selected for implementation for the upcoming Linux Mint 10 “Julia”.
  • With only two stable releases left in this release cycle, we’re hoping to announce Xfce and Fluxbox early . We’re also giving Linux Mint Debian a final push, hoping to get results this month. By the end of August, we want to be fully focused on developing the new features for Linux Mint 10, with a complete roadmap, design and brainstorming done.
  • About 12% of our user base migrated from Linux Mint 8 to Linux Mint 9. This is surprising and it’s probably related to the stable releases of the KDE and LXDE editions. I’ll organize polls to get a better idea of how popular each edition is.
  • Donations were low in July, and even though we noticed a slight increase in our user base, advertising generated less money than last month. Overall, our income is down 6.4%. A lot of people are on holidays, and the economy as a whole is probably more quiet this time of year.
Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox RC released!

Wed, 28/07/2010 - 22:59

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox RC.


Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Animated flash
  • Windows installer
  • Theme issues
  • Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes.

Important information:

As an RC (Release Candidate) this release is targeted at developers and beta-testers who want to help Linux Mint find and correct bugs before the stable release. Please do not use this release as your main desktop.

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 4 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Bug reports:

Please report any bug you may find in Launchpad.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox RC is available in 32-bit as a liveCD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun testing the release candidate!

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 KDE released!

Wed, 28/07/2010 - 02:36

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 KDE.


Linux Mint 9 KDE

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 KDE“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Two kernels (amd64 version)
  • Browse C:\
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 512 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 5 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • DVD drive or USB port

Upgrade instructions:

  • To upgrade from a previous version of Linux Mint follow these instructions.
  • To upgrade from Linux Mint 9 KDE RC, simply apply any level 1 and 2 updates (if any) available in the Update Manager.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 KDE is available in 32-bit and 64-bit as a liveDVD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

Categories: Linux

Bontu-Mintu’r Adda

Tue, 27/07/2010 - 01:41

In Bangladesh, the Linux Mint and Ubuntu communities joined forces to organize the biggest Linux users get-together in the country. 400 people signed up for the event which was organized in the University of Dhaka and streamed live on ustream.tv.

The event lasted 4.5 hours. Users talked about Linux, they described their experience and they enjoyed a troubleshooting session where speakers got the opportunity to answer questions from the crowd. With the permission of J.T.S. Moore, they also projected the film Revolution OS. Finally, t-shirts were sold and DVDs were given to participants.

Links:

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 10: “Julia”

Sat, 24/07/2010 - 18:27

Linux Mint 10, based on the upcoming Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick Meerkat”, will be released in November this year under the codename “Julia”.

Origins: Gens Julia was one of the most ancient Patrician families at Ancient Rome, and the gens of the famous Gaius Julius Caesar.

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 Xfce RC released!

Wed, 21/07/2010 - 18:00

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 Xfce RC.


Linux Mint 9 Xfce

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 Xfce“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Problems with Xfce mixer
  • Desktop and delete options
  • Gigolo and Windows shares
  • Small fonts
  • fusion-icon installs Compiz KDE packages
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes.

Important information:

As an RC (Release Candidate) this release is targeted at developers and beta-testers who want to help Linux Mint find and correct bugs before the stable release. Please do not use this release as your main desktop.

  • Local repository

To get more information, read the “Important information” section of the release notes.

System requirements:

  • x86 processor (for both 32 & 64-bit versions)
  • x86_64 compatible processor (for the 64-bit version)
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 4 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Bug reports:

Please report any bug you may find in Launchpad.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 Xfce RC is available in both 32 & 64-bit as a liveCD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun testing the release candidate!

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 KDE Final is Close

Wed, 21/07/2010 - 05:53

I have just uploaded the 32bit and 64bit versions of Linux Mint 9 KDE for testing. All the updated packages are in the mint repositories, so if you are using the RC version and have been updating packages you have the final build already.

Categories: Linux

New forum admin: oscar799

Tue, 20/07/2010 - 21:50

Oscar799 is now our forums administrator.

After the tragic loss of our friend Husse, and his phenomenal contribution to our community, a team of moderators was put in place earlier this year. “Aging Technogeek”, “Jay514″ and “Oscar799″ quickly organized themselves and managed to work together and to give our forums part of what was missing. They got significant results against spam, moderation issues, and unanswered posts and they managed to keep a good ambiance on our forums and within our community.

The forum moderators also worked very well with the IRC operators team, and we’re now planning to merge the two teams together to grant operators rights to forum moderators and vice versa. The members of these two teams are also likely to moderate the emerging community website.

On the forums, it was important to give full control to one of these members, so that the team could tackle issues related to forums management, its settings and configuration, user registration issues, permissions and announcements. Oscar799 is tactful, careful when it comes to change and communicative with the rest of the team. She’s often present on the IRC and always involved in internal discussions to bring all team members to focus and brainstorm on the issues they’re facing. I appreciated the way the team moderates in the background, with gloves, and without giving the impression that moderation was performed or even needed, there’s a respect for the community and an idea that the forums belong to its users.

I think the timing is right to name an administrator and I’m glad to give the keys to our forums to Oscar799 and to wish her good luck and congratulations with her new role among our community.

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 LXDE released!

Sun, 18/07/2010 - 23:04

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 LXDE.


Linux Mint 9 LXDE

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 LXDE“.

Known problems:

  • Splash screen resolution
  • Windows installer
  • Moonlight
  • Menu localization
  • Applications in the file manager
  • Menu launcher color
  • CD ripping with Exaile
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 192 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 3 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Upgrade instructions:

  • To upgrade from a previous version of Linux Mint follow these instructions.
  • To upgrade from Linux Mint 9 LXDE RC, simply apply any level 1 and 2 updates (if any) available in the Update Manager.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 LXDE is available as a 32-bit liveCD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

Categories: Linux

Monthly Stats – June 2010

Sat, 03/07/2010 - 21:18

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

  • $300, Kernel.net (Switzerland) – http://kernel.net
  • $148, Christian Dierickx aka “zorbeck” (Luxembourg)
  • $120, Garrelt van H. (Netherlands)
  • $100 (2nd donation), John K. (USA)
  • $100, Krishna Mahadev B. (United Arab Emirates)
  • $74, Newman Vehicle Services (Australia)
  • $60, Bob M. aka “gnome_refugee” (Australia)
  • $60, Jean Jacques Gutter (Belgium)
  • $50 (2nd donation), V. Mark Lehky aka “SiKing” (Ireland) – http://siking.wordpress.com/
  • $50, Robert F. H. (Denmark)
  • $50, Chase C. (USA)
  • $50, Joseph A. Buckley (USA)
  • $50, stewy (Australia)
  • $50, Kristian Scheibe aka “kris” (Germany)
  • $50, Paul S. (USA)
  • $40, Richard ten D. (Netherlands)
  • $30, Robert R. (Australia)
  • $30, Derek L. (United Kingdom)
  • $30, Andrea A. (Italy)
  • $30, David S. (United Kingdom)
  • $30, Johann S. (Germany)
  • $25 (4th donation), Olli K. (Finland)
  • $25 (3rd donation), David R. (USA)
  • $25 (3rd donation), DB. aka “Dick” (Netherlands)
  • $25 (3rd donation), Michael Nordmark (Sweden)
  • $25 (3rd donation), John M. (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Anthony F H. (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Kenny H. (USA)
  • $25, William R. Jr (USA)
  • $25, Greg White (USA)
  • $25, Tore Andre D. (Norway)
  • $25, Richard A. (USA)
  • $25, Nicholas Riley aka “matrose” (United Kingdom)
  • $25, Randy Chaulk (Canada)
  • $25, Petr Kolar (Czech Republic)
  • $25, Deconn Technical Services (USA) – http://www.deconn.com
  • $24 (11th donation), Manuel F. (Portugal)
  • $24 (9th donation), Marco R. (Italy)
  • $24 (2nd donation), Agathe R. (France)
  • $20 (12th donation), Slavoljub M. (Norway)
  • $20 (4th donation), Ludovic G. aka “Lewdsquirrel” (Canada)
  • $20 (3rd donation), Matthew M. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Barry W. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Daniel F. aka “danielpiupiu” (Brazil)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Jens B. (USA)
  • $20, Michael P. (USA)
  • $20, David K. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Al H. (Australia)
  • $20, Daniel A. (USA)
  • $20, Alex Dolhescu aka “alex894″ (Canada)
  • $20, Finn S. (Norway)
  • $20, AltGro.com (Canada)
  • $20, Louis F. (USA)
  • $20, Marco C. (USA)
  • $20, Evgeny D. (Russia)
  • $20, Sout P. (USA)
  • $20, Frederick W. (USA)
  • $20, Thomas K. (Philippines)
  • $18.5, Roberto Trevisi aka “klamath” (Italy)
  • $18, Thorhall O. (Germany)
  • $18, Bruno V. (France)
  • $15 (3rd donation), Matthew G. (USA)
  • $15 (2nd donation), Brian G. (United Kingdom)
  • $15, Gilbert F. (Canada)
  • $15, Chuck Litchfield (USA)
  • $15, Julian C. (United Kingdom)
  • $12 (9th donation), Francisco C. C. (Spain)
  • $12 (8th donation), Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $12 (2nd donation), Paul Evans aka “paul” (United Kingdom)
  • $12 (2nd donation), Jindrich R. aka “amino” (Czech Republic)
  • $12, Guido K. (Germany)
  • $12, Peter H. (Austria)
  • $12, Charles McM. (USA)
  • $12, Haiqiang X. X. (Spain)
  • $12, CaIn Computer Solutions (Germany)
  • $12, Antti P. (Finland)
  • $12, Nuwantha Wanasinghe (France) – http://linuxmint.wanasinghe.com
  • $11 (5th donation), Robert D B. (USA)
  • $10 (3rd donation), Andrew A. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Danie van der Merwe aka “Danie” (South Africa) – http://dvdmerwe.googlepages.com/
  • $10 (2nd donation), Amber H. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), David S. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), J Anil K. (India)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Michael Meehan aka “uirusu.ningen” (New Zealand)
  • $10, Martin Nash (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Michael Austin aka “oldfart52″ (USA)
  • $10, Ruben C. de L. (Spain)
  • $10, Gary P. (Canada)
  • $10, Christopher M. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Ambica J. (Australia)
  • $10, Lie J. (Indonesia)
  • $10, Ken B. (USA)
  • $10, Marion F. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Kalyankumar R. aka “kalyan” (India) – http://kkthegeek.wordpress.com
  • $10, Mark M. aka “BubbaBlues” (USA)
  • $10, Jose Rivera (USA)
  • $10, Henry Dubb aka “henrydubb” (USA) – http://henry.freeshell.org
  • $10, Egor A. (Russia)
  • $10, Bucks for Bytes (Canada)
  • $10, Simon S. (Bahamas)
  • $10, Alex Ullrich aka “AlexCuse” (USA) – http://lessthandot.com/
  • $10, Philip J. (Sweden)
  • $10, Simon P. (Canada)
  • $8 (2nd donation), Sylwia Bialczak (Finland)
  • $8, Zhiwei L. (China)
  • $6 (3rd donation), Salvatore D. (Italy)
  • $6, Volker R. (Germany)
  • $6, Patrick K. (Germany)
  • $6, Boris S. (Germany)
  • $6, Gianluca B. (Italy)
  • $5 (7th donation), Savant B.D. (USA) – http://www.allyourprices.com
  • $5, Chelsea W. (USA)
  • $5, Promotional Gifts (USA) – http://www.prodpromo.com
  • $5, David I. (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Josef E. (USA)
  • $5, Ke C. (Germany)
  • $4 (2nd donation), Daniel F. aka “danielpiupiu” (Brazil)
  • $4 (2nd donation), Alex W. (Germany)
  • $4, Joe U. (Germany)
  • $4, Tom K. (USA)
  • $3.5, orchid_ink (United Kingdom)
  • $3.32, Sudharshan R. C. (India)
  • $3, Roman R. (Slovakia)
  • $2, Kumar B. S. (India)
  • $2, Hendrawan (Indonesia) – http://dot.choosen.net
  • $2, Peter H. (United Kingdom)
  • $1 (3rd donation), Ryan C. (Philippines) – http://azcoding.com
  • $1 (2nd donation), Islam C.I. (Turkey)
  • $1, Romeo Cristian D. (Romania)
  • $1, Colby B. (Canada)

Sponsors:

Money raised in June:

* Donations: $3025.32 (131 donors)
* Sponsors: $1013.5 (77 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

  • Linux Mint 9 Isadora: 39% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 8 Helena: 34% (-1%)
  • Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 19% (+1%)
  • Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 3% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 2% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 2% (-0%)

Web Stats:

  • Visits: 2,658,271 (-9.60%)
  • Unique views: 3,395,007 (-15.88%)
  • Pageviews: 4,377,764 (-16%)
  • Page impressions: 1,811,644
  • Search queries: 6,049,978
  • Forum users: 33,485
  • Forum posts: 281,280

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1501 (3rd)
  • Distrowatch (traffic share): 4.7% (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 17,308

Events:

Summary:

  • June was an interesting month. Although only one ISO was released, a lot of things were achieved to improve the project, and the tools available to the team and to the community. Iso-localize, for instance, is a great addition to our distribution and will have a significant impact on the adoption of Linux Mint in non-English speaking countries. The ISO testing module is another important addition. We now have a testing team, dynamic test cases and the whole process is transparent so anyone can monitor our progress. An important project also started in the background: the Debian edition.
  • We received less donations than in May. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering how surprisingly high the figures were in May. 131 people supported us this month, for a total of $3,025.
  • Sponsorships are at an all-time high and now represent a significant share of our income. In June, our distribution was backed by 77 sponsors.
  • July 2010 should see the stable releases of the KDE and LXDE editions. The Fluxbox Edition is extremely close to an RC release and it’s possible its stable release could also happen in July.
Categories: Linux

A system based on Debian

Fri, 02/07/2010 - 18:04

The idea of a Linux Mint desktop based on top of Debian Testing is quite seducing. It’s much faster than Ubuntu and the current Linux Mint desktops, it uses less resources, and it opens the door for a rolling distribution, with a continuous flow of updates and no jumps from one release to another. It’s something we’ve always been tempted to do. Needless to say, whether it’s been because of our lack of communication on that topic or not, this has been a source of numerous rumors within the community.

A while ago, we released an ALPHA non-installable liveCD based on Debian. Then, last August I announced I was working on a new installer, and recently, I was joined by Ikey Doherty to work on the Debian base again.This time we’re producing our own liveCD, straight from the Debian Testing repositories, and it also comes with its own installer. What we’re aiming at, this time, is a fully working and fully installable liveCD which behaves in every way as similarly as the main Linux Mint edition.

Before I explain a little more about this project, I just need to stress a few important points:

  • Until we release it as stable and we can assess the feedback of the community and the percentage of our users using it, the priority of this project is secondary.
  • We’ve never considered our goal to be linked to Ubuntu in anyway. We consider Ubuntu one of the upstream components that we use on some of the systems we distribute. The same way we distribute Gnome on most systems and other desktops on some others, it’s possible for us to distribute a system with a different package base such as Debian. We’ve also considered experimenting with an RPM Fedora base, a Slackware/APT base  and even making our own from scratch. Of course, changing the base represents more work than changing the desktop, which itself is harder obviously than changing a user application, but we’re a distribution and this is what we do: We distribute a system made of the best upstream components available to us, including our own alternatives.
  • We’re not “switching base”, we’ll continue to use Ubuntu on most of our systems. This Debian-based project will produce an additional system (to start with), it’s something we want to try, and if it proves successful, it’s something we’ll continue to maintain.

At the moment, we’ve got an installable liveCD which comes with a rough Linux Mint desktop. All tools are present, the look and feel is almost identical to the Main edition, but there are a few rough edges. The installer itself is working fine, it supports locales and most features, but it’s still missing a partitioner. That’s what we’re working on at the moment.

Here’s a screenshot of the installer:

And here’s what the installed system looks like (this particular installation is in Korean, as we were testing the new locale support in the installer):

We’re starting with Gnome and i386. We’re not sure whether it will be a CD or DVD yet, and we really can’t say much in terms of ETA. You can follow our progress on the installer on github:

http://github.com/linuxmint/live-installer/commits/master

And once the installer is ready, we’ll start testing ISO images on the Community Website:

http://community.linuxmint.com/iso

I’d like everyone to be patient with this project. A lot of things are happening indeed, but as I said before, the other editions take priority over this and until it gets the release and success it certainly deserves, we’re still considering it an R&D project. Whether you’ll be able to try this out in a few weeks, in a few months or even next year is really hard to say at this stage. Be confident that it will happen, that the team is extremely interested in it and that Ikey and I are working really hard on it. I planned to work on this during the last release cycle, but the development of the new mintInstall and the new Linux Mint 9 features took priority. We’ve got some time at the moment and we’ll make as much progress as we can. No matter what happens, we won’t release it publicly until we’re 100% happy with it.

To those who’ve waited a long time already and to everyone in advance, thank you for your patience.

Categories: Linux

KDE 4.4.5 is Out

Wed, 30/06/2010 - 16:06

Linux Mint 9 KDE RC tester may have noticed that KDE 4.4.5 has hit the ppa repository and is available via mint update. The final release of Mint 9 KDE will have KDE 4.4.5 installed by default, unless a newer version is out. Happy KDEing.

Categories: Linux

Linux Mint 9 KDE RC released!

Mon, 28/06/2010 - 19:03

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 9 KDE RC.


Linux Mint 9 KDE

New features at a glance:

For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 9 KDE“.

Known problems:

  • Localization (keyboard layout)
  • Linux Mint branding in mint4win and Plymouth’s text theme
  • Ubuntu branding in Software Sources
  • Splash screen resolution
  • Moonlight
  • Upstream issues

To get more information about these problems and their solution, read the “Known problems” section of the release notes

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 512 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 5 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Bug reports:

Please report any bug you may find in Launchpad.

Download:

Linux Mint 9 KDE RC is available as a 32-bit liveDVD, via Torrent and HTTP download:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun testing the release candidate!

Categories: Linux
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