| Mint 8 achieves RC1, and Fedora 12 goes final |
Nov. 17, 2009
 The Linux Mint team has announced the first (RC1) release candidate of the Ubuntu 9.10-based Linux Mint 8. Meanwhile, the Fedora community has released the final version of Fedora 12, and an eWEEK review praises the release for its improved system privilege management and virtualization features.
Codenamed Helena, Linux Mint 8 is based on the recently released Ubuntu 9.10 ("Karmic Koala"). The new version incorporates Linux 2.6.31 and the Gnome 2.28 desktop, and also supplies Xorg 7.4, says the Mint team. Improvements include new OEM installation features, an option to ignore updates, and "menu places" that can now be configured by users (see image below).
Menu Places configuration screen
The Software Manager function now offers an improved GUI interface, adding multiple selection capability, and the Update Manager has also received a GUI scrub-up. The MintUpload feature is now split into an Upload Manager, providing upload services for FTP, SFTP, and SCP, and a File Uploader, which offers support for drag and drop and multiple-file uploads.
Upstream enhancements, meanwhile, include Ubuntu 9.10 improvements in the boot sequence and notifications. In addition, the default Gnome 2.28 desktop is said to bring Mint users enhancements such as Bluetooth support, DVD playback, and PulseAudio integration. In addition, Gnome's Ubiquity installer provides graphical improvements and support for the ext4 filesystem.
Linux Mint 8 RC1
(Click to enlarge)
The RC1 release is admittedly rough, and should not be used in production environments. As always, bug reports are said to be welcome.
Known for being a multimedia-rich, consumer-friendly version of Ubuntu, Mint offers the open source Amarok, Totem, and Mplayer for multimedia display and playback, and also supports MP3, Flash, Windows Media, and encrypted DVD playback support. Bundled applications include OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, Tomboy Notes, GIMP, and Rhythmbox.
Last year's Linux Mint 5 offered UI enhancements, a backup utility, CNR support, and the Compiz 3D desktop. This summer, the Ubuntu 9.04-based Linux Mint 7 ("Gloria") was released, adding a variety of Jaunty Jackalope-inspired improvements.
Fedora 12 final released
The Fedora Project has released the final version 12 of its Red Hat-related Linux distribution. As we reported when we covered the beta release of Fedora 12 ("Constantine") last month, the new release is notable for offering speed optimizations for i686 CPUs and the Intel Atom. The latest version also provides IPv6 support, plus enhanced Bluetooth, virtualization, multimedia, and power management features (see our previous story for more details).
Fedora 12
(Click to enlarge)
Fedora 12 also adds support for the netbook-oriented Moblin desktop environment, in the form of a Fedora 12 Moblin Fedora Remix edition. Released in beta form last month, the Remix version was planned to be made available on an installable Live CD in conjunction with the final release of Fedora 12, but it does yet appear to be available.
An eWEEK review of Fedora 12's beta last month concluded that the new release adds features "that strengthen not only Fedora but also Linux distributions in general." In particular reviewer Jason Brooks notes that the new system privilege management features could end up advancing the state of Linux (and more specifically, Red Hat and its clones) in the field of system security. The new feature is said to sandbox potentially untrusted graphical applications with SELinux.
Brooks also noted some interesting virtualization improvements. In particular, he discusses Kernel Shared Memory (KSM), a recent addition to the Linux kernel that enables applications to identify and share duplicate memory pages. In conjunction with Fedora's KVM hypervisor, KSM "promises to boost virtual machine density on a given host by enabling administrators to overcommit memory without requiring that VMs swap to disk," writes Brooks.
Availability
More information on Linux Mint may be found here. At presstime, the LinuxMint download page appeared to be overloaded, but the page should be available from the Mint project's home page, here.
More information on Fedora 12 may be found here, and download pages should be here.
The eWEEK review of the Fedora 12 beta should be here.
-- Eric Brown
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