Linux Mint is one of those distributions you just can't help but love. Easy to use, stable, flexible, and so much more. Built from Ubuntu, it's been my mantra for a while that Linux Mint is “Ubuntu done right”, as I've had issue with Ubuntu and it's quality for a long time. But the better Mint gets, the bigger the shoes it has to fill each time.

The Mint development team has announced the release of Linux Mint 7 XFCE, a Community Edition code named 'Gloria'. Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution that aims to be user friendly and provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including support for DVD playback, Java, plug-ins and various media CODECs.

Linux Mint has made its name by adding visual polish and implementing Mint-specific tools on top of its Ubuntu base. Times and changing though as we now have something new from the Linux Mint team. This latest release from Linux Mint is the first to be based on Debian Linux. Another surprise is that Linux Mint 9 “Debian” is a rolling release.

Installable packages are already available for a few distributions. However, I have only been able to install and use it on Linux Mint 12 and Fedora 16 (see how to install Cinnamon on Fedora 16).

The team is proud to announce the stable release of Linux Mint 8 Helena. The 8th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular Linux Mint 8 comes with support for OEM installs and a brand new Upload Manager.

The Linux Mint team has released the final version of Linux Mint 9 ("Isadora"), based on Ubuntu 10.04. Linux Mint 9 features a new software manager with 30,000 packages, a new backup tool, and menu and interface improvements, says the team.

The Linux Mint team has released a development RC version of Linux Mint 9 ("Isadora"), based on Ubuntu 10.04. Linux Mint 9 features a new software manager with 30,000 packages, a new backup tool that restores previous software selections, and various menu improvements, says the team.

It’s been a long time since I last looked at Mint, and a lot has changed since. After Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was released, I thought I would take a look at Linux Mint 9 “Isadora” to see what they are doing with the latest Ubuntu base.

One of the nicer features about the office lab is the fact we have a number of still-powerful workstations on which to run various operating systems. Linux Mint 9 KDE was actually the second Mint 9 distribution installed; the first was Linux Mint 9 Gnome.