The development process of Linux Mint 8 has come to an end late last month when the Main and Universal Editions were released as a final, stable operating system. For computer users that have a 64-bit processor configuration, this was not exactly good news. Linux Mint 8 x64 was released for them a short while after – but the downside was that it was Linux Mint 8 x64 RC1 (Release Candidate 1).

There are great news to report from the Linux Mint camp: the final version of Linux Mint 8 x64 has been released to the masses. As always, the announcement was made by Lead Linux Mint Developed, Clem Lefebvre.

“The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 x64 “Helena”. This x64 edition of Linux Mint 8 is almost identical to the Main Edition but compiled for 64 bit processors (Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad, AMD Athlon X2 64 and all x86-64 compliant processors). It comes with all the improvements featured in Linux Mint 8 Helena Main Edition," said Lefebvre.

Here is what you can expect to get from Linux Mint 8 x64:
- 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 x64, a download location is available here.