Linux Mint 12 KDE RC released!

Blue Systems is a German company sponsoring Free and Open Source projects such as Netrunner and KDE-projects like kcm-gtk-config. As part of the partnership, Linux Mint will share its knowledge and expertise with Netrunner and both distributions will work together on improving their respective KDE editions. Although Netrunner and Linux Mint KDE offer a different

Installation


Installation of Linux Mint is generally performed with the Live CD. The Linux Mint OS can be run directly from the CD (albeit with a significant performance loss), allowing a user to "test-drive" the OS for hardware compatibility and driver support. The CD also contains the Ubiquity installer, which can guide the user through the permanent installation process.

The main edition of Linux Mint is available in 32-bit and 64-bit. Installation CD images can be downloaded, or installation CDs purchased from 3rd party vendors. Linux Mint can be booted and run from a USB Flash drive, with the option of saving settings to the flash drive. This allows a portable installation that can be run on any PC capable of booting from a USB drive. The USB creator program is available to install Linux Mint on a USB drive.

A Microsoft Windows migration tool, Migration Assistant, can be used to import bookmarks, desktop background (wallpaper), and various settings from an existing Windows installation into a new Linux Mint installation.

The Windows installer "Mint4Win", is included on the Live CD and allows Linux Mint to be installed from within Microsoft Windows. The operating system can then be removed similar to any other Windows software using the Windows Control Panel. This method requires no partitioning of the hard drive. It is only useful for Windows users; it is not meant for permanent installations because it incurs a slight performance loss.

About DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas with KDE 4.7.3 and kernel 3.1.4

DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas Live DVD is a remaster of Linux Mint 12 - codenamed "Lisa" released on 26 November 2011. The original system includes the Desktop Environments Gnome 3.2, Gnome Classic (Gnome 2.32) and Mate (a fork of the venerable GNOME 2 Desktop Environment). In DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas Edition, I have installed KDE 4.7.3 (latest stable version), as an alternative, so that everyone on the spot (during live operation) can compare the different Desktop Environments. I have replaced the original kernel 3.0.0-12-generic (the same kernel as in Ubuntu 11.10) with "my" kernel 3.1.4-exton-xmas-custom. Kernel 3.1.4 is the latest available stable kernel, which can be downloaded from kernel.org. The system language is English.

Why has the kernel been replaced?
Latest Ubuntu (11:10) and Linux Mint 12 original uses kernel 3.0.0-12-generic. There has been added a lot of different kinds of hardware support etc. in the latest stable kernel 3.1.4. So if you have acquired new hardware, which is not supported in Ubuntu 11.10 and/or Linux systems based on Ubuntu 11.10 it might be worth testing DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas. There is, among other things, support for brand new USB devices, like printers and cameras, etc. Odd support: Wii (which is not supported in Ubuntu's latest kernel 3.0.0-12-generic). 

Program content etc
Among many other programs LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, Wicd, Brasero, VLC, Gimp and win32 codecs. In addition, Java and all necessary additions in order to install programs from source. All programs have been updated to the latest available stable version as of 7 December 2011. See a complete list of all installed programs HERE.

DOWNLOAD
The ISO file (debex-mint-12-special-kde-gnome-1460mb-111207.iso) can be downloaded from the Swedish Linux Society's server.

DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas can also be downloaded from Sourceforge.net - Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory.

md5sum for DebEX-Mint 12 Xmas ISO which is of 1460 MB.