The Release Candidate (RC) of Linux Mint Debian 201204 with updated ISOs for MATE/Cinnamon and Xfce has been released to the public, the team behind the popular Linux Mint operating system announced on Wednesday, 11th of April 2012. Or to put it in other words, the Linux Mint team announced yesterday that LMDE 201204 RC with updated ISOs for MATE/Cinnamon and Xfce is now available for download.

If you would like to get Linux Mint Debian 201204 RC (MATE/Cinnamon & Xfce), multiple download links are available on the Linux Mint blog here. The RC is available as a live DVD with MATE/Cinnamon or Xfce, in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

Before you go get Linux Mint Debian 201204 RC, here are the operating system’s main highlights:

• MATE 1.2
• Cinnamon 1.4
• Kernel 3.2
• Update Pack 4 – released earlier this month, it is the latest update pack for Linux Mint Debian. The Linux kernel is upgrade to v. 3.2 and Gnome 2 is upgraded to Gnome Shell.
• Hybrid ISO images – they can be used to effortlessly make bootable USB sticks that act like a liveDVD. The hybrid ISOs are compatible with Unetbootin and Startup Disk Creator.

And if you’re not familiar with Linux Mint Debian, here is the lowdown: it is a semi-rolling distro based on Debian Testing; the purpose for Linux Mint Debian is to offer the same visual experience and the same functionality as the main Linux edition, but with the main difference that it uses Debian as its base.

Linux Mint Debian is not compatible with Ubuntu-based Linux Mint editions; it is compatible with repositories designed for Debian Testing or Debian Squeeze. Compared with Ubuntu-based Linux editions, Linux Mint Debian does not have to be reinstalled as new software versions and updates are released. Another advantage is that Linux Mint Debian is faster and more responsive that the Ubuntu-based counterparts.