Linux Mint 12 KDE Almost Ready

Last month Linux Mint 12 was released to quite a buzz. It addressed many of the issues disaffected users experienced with GNOME 3 (and Unity). This was great for GNOME users and Linux Mint in general, but hey, what about us KDE users? Well, the KDE version is nearly ready and users can test a release candidate now.

Really the only new feature listed in the announcement is KDE 4.7.4. Like the GNOME version, the KDE images are hybrid ISOs that can produce bootable USB sticks as well as optical disks. Duck Duck Go is the new default search engine. Upstream components again mirror the GNOME version being based on Ubuntu 11.10 and Linux 3.0.

I'm glad to see Mint experimenting with their colors. For too long their KDE versions were shipped out green or gray just like the GNOME. But at last, we finally have blue, and it looks good on Mint. Other components include things like Firefox 8.0 and LibreOffice 3.4.3 as well as apps like GIMP, Amarok, VLC, and Minitube. Underneath is X.Org X Server 1.10.4 and GCC 4.6.1. Of course, all of Mint's own handy tools are part of the deal too.

I just took a quick look around this evening, but the Software Manager kept crashing on me and the whole thing felt a bit heavy and slow. Both of these can possibly be given the benefit of the doubt because a) it's a developmental release, and b) it was running in live mode. Overall, it looks very promising.