Article by George Norman

On 13 Nov 2009

Lead Linux Mint Developer, Clem Lefebvre, has today announced that the first Release Candidate of Linux Mint 8, codename Helena, has been made available for download to people all over the world. All you have to do is download the Linux Mint 8 RC1, install and put the operating system though its paces. You’ll also need at least 512MB of RAM to install Helena; if you do not have at least 512MB of RAM, the installation process may hang or fail. Once the installation process is complete, Linux Mint 8 RC1 will run just fine with 256MB of RAM.

As mentioned above Lead Linux Mint Developer, Clem Lefebvre, was the one to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 RC1. Here’s what he said: “The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 Helena RC1. 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, a brand new Upload Manager, the menu now allows you to configure custom places, the update manager now lets you define packages for which you don’t want to receive updates,the software manager now features multiple installation/removal of software and many of the tools’ graphical interfaces were enhanced.”


Linux Mint 8 Helena highlights:
- Based on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic koala
- Linux 2.6.31 kernel, Gnome 2.28 and Xorg 7.4
- The user can define his own Places in Menu Preferences
- Enable/disable any button for the System and Places section in Menu Preferences
- The user interface has been enhanced. It is now easier to use and it displays more content.
- The Update Manager will automatically inform the user when a new version of mintInstall-data is available. This way the user does not have to manually refresh the Software Manager.
- Software Manager is ware of the APT status of each application.
- The user can mark several applications for installation/removal.
- The looks of the Update Manager have been improved.
- Update Manager now uses Synaptic to refresh the list of update. When Update Manager is visible, the user will see progress information on the screen.
- If a problem occurs, Update Manager displays an error message in the main window (previously the error message was displayed only in the logs).
- Software Sources tool can be accessed in the Edit menu (this is another Update Manager improvement).
- The user can define a list of packages for which updates will not be received. Wildcard characters can be used to define groups of package updates the user wants to ignore.
- Faster and more reliable update detection.
- Brand new Upload Manager (mintUpload has been split into Upload Manager and File Uploader).
- Gnome Colors icon theme and the Shiki gtk theme.
- Firefox comes bundled with the Stylish add-on.
- Removed branding from Mint tools
- OEM installation can be launched from the LiveCD boot menu.
- Community editions use their own repositories
- Community editions can pin packages to from the main edition
- Mint tools are more modular
- Added Inxi buttons to xchat

If you would like to get Linux Mint 8 RC1, a download location is available here.
Before you download anything, take heed to Clem Lefebvre’s warning: “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.”



Tags: Linux, Linux Mint, Linux Mint 8 RC1, Release Candidate, Helena

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