The team behind Linux Mint has released their latest distribution – Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’ – as a general release making it available for everyone to download.
Dubbed as a long term support release, Linux Mint 17.1 will be supported till 2019. The latest distribution packs a number of new features, which the team claims will make the distribution more comfortable to use.
One of the major features of Linux Mint 17.1 is that it allows for a much smoother upgrade path for Linux Mint 17.1 RC users as they will be able to just select the level 1 update that haven’t been installed already. This will take them to Linux Mint 17.1 directly without requiring a fresh install.
The team has also promised that it will be providing a similar upgrade path to Linux Mint 17 users as well, but these users will have to wait a little longer – the result will be that they won’t be required to do a complete reinstall either.
“Please wait a little while. We’ll provide updates to Linux Mint 17 and information in an upcoming announcement. Upgrading will be easy, fully supported and it will be an opt-in (i.e. you will have the choice to upgrade to 17.1 but also to keep 17 as it is)”, notes Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint Team.
Another big part of Linux Mint 17.1 is the latest desktop environments — Cinnamon and Mate. Those using latest hardware can opt for Cinnamon as it provides a great look and feel and will be an eye candy to use, while those using older harder are recommended to use Mate as it is lot more light-weight.
Linux Mint 17.1 features Linux Kernel 3.13 and is based on stable Ubuntu 14.04 thereby making lot many packages available for users to download, install and use.
Those who wish to download and install Linux Mint 17.1 right away can do it from here.
Demo of Linux Mint 17.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi8prqkEikI