Linux Mint 17.3 “Rosa” KDE – BETA Release

This is the BETA release for Linux Mint 17.3 “Rosa” KDE Edition.

Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa KDE Edition

Linux Mint 17.3 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2019. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.

New features:

This new version of Linux Mint contains many improvements.

For an overview of the new features please visit:

What’s new in Linux Mint 17.3 KDE

Important info:

The release notes provide important information about known issues, as well as explanations, workarounds and solutions.

To read the release notes, please visit:

Release Notes for Linux Mint 17.3 KDE

System requirements:

  • 2GB RAM
  • 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution (1024×768 recommended).
  • DVD drive or USB port.

Notes:

  • The 64-bit ISO can boot with BIOS or UEFI.
  • The 32-bit ISO can only boot with BIOS.
  • The 64-bit ISO is recommend for all modern computers (Almost all computers sold in the last 10 years are equipped with 64-bit processors).

Upgrade instructions:

  • This BETA release might contain critical bugs, please only use it for testing purposes and to help the Linux Mint team fix issues prior to the stable release.
  • It will be possible to upgrade from this BETA to the stable release.
  • It will also be possible to upgrade from Linux Mint 17, 17.1 and 17.2. Upgrade instructions will be published next month after the stable release of Linux Mint 17.3.

Bug reports:

  • Please report bugs below in the comment section of this blog.
  • Please visit https://github.com/linuxmint/Roadmap to follow the progress of the development team between the BETA and the stable release.

Direct download:

64-bit:

32-bit:

Torrent download:

Signatures (to verify your downloaded ISO):

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Many thanks in advance for testing the BETA!

31 comments

  1. A question: will this release include the option to install alongside my Windows partition? I’ve wanted to use Mint KDE for some time, but unlike the Cinnamon or Mate editions, the install has not featured the option to install with a GRUB menu so that I can easily dual-boot. Is this option now included?

    Thanks!

  2. Hello,

    i really would like to work with KDE but i dont understand why the os is not running on my computer. After a short while is the system freezing. If i look a video and the system is freezing is the sound still there but nothing else is functional. I have a Notebook with a i7 intel cpu and a nvidia grafic card, 6 GB Ram and 1 TB Harddisk…all other Linux OS are running only not KDE 🙁

  3. Wow, thank you for all your hard work, especially over the christmas period.

    This probably gets asked a lot but is there a way to upgrade to 17.3 beta from 17.2 without having to do a fresh install/Use the ISOs? I’m a bit new to Linux.

  4. @ Daniel G
    see above
    Upgrade instructions:

    This BETA release might contain critical bugs, please only use it for testing purposes and to help the Linux Mint team fix issues prior to the stable release.
    It will be possible to upgrade from this BETA to the stable release.
    It will also be possible to upgrade from Linux Mint 17, 17.1 and 17.2. Upgrade instructions will be published next month after the stable release of Linux Mint 17.3.

  5. re. Linux Mint 17.3 KDE running Picasa 3.9 via wine

    Picasa does not show folder names beside the folder icon. I believe this was working on 17.1 KDE but I lost the names when I upgraded to 17.2 . I never tried a fresh install of kde 17.2.

    I have installed Cinnamon 17.3 (fresh install) and the folder names correctly appear beside their folder icons.

    Today I did a fresh install of 17.3 KDE and no folder names just folder icons.

    On both installs I followed — http://www.webupd8.org/2012/01/install-picasa-39-in-linux-and-fix.html

    Since wine Picasa 3.9 works correctly on Cinnamon 17.3, I am hoping there may be a fix for KDE 17.3.

    My system–
    System: Host: dwight-desk Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
    Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.6 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
    Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
    Machine: Mobo: Gigabyte model: GA-78LMT-USB3 6.0 v: SEx
    Bios: Award v: F2 date: 11/25/2014
    CPU: Octa core AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core (-MCP-) cache: 16384 KB
    flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 56243
    clock speeds: max: 3500 MHz 1: 2300 MHz 2: 1400 MHz 3: 1400 MHz
    4: 1700 MHz 5: 1700 MHz 6: 1400 MHz 7: 1700 MHz 8: 1700 MHz
    Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GK106 [GeForce GTX 650 Ti OEM] bus-ID: 01:00.0
    Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
    Resolution: 1360×768@60.0hz
    GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 340.96 Direct Rendering: Yes
    Audio: Card Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
    driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
    Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
    Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
    driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: ce00 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac:
    Drives: HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (14.6% used)
    ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
    Partition: ID-1: / size: 37G used: 8.3G (24%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
    ID-2: /home size: 873G used: 120G (15%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
    ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.57GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
    RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
    Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 24.9C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:47C
    Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
    Info: Processes: 220 Uptime: 43 min Memory: 1037.6/7966.3MB
    Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
    Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28

  6. Thanks for all of your hard work folks! I have Inspirion 15 7548 with 4k screen and intel 7265 WIFI. Could not load any Linux distro until now. 17.3 runs fine on the creature. God bless for allowing me to dump WIN 10.

  7. Any news on LMDE *3*?

    Edit by Clem: Hi Sharon, LMDE 2 is continuously updated and it’s based on Debian Jessie (i.e. Debian 8). We won’t see LMDE 3 until the next Debian (i.e. Debian 9).

  8. Please update the distro before you release it…
    (gnutls, openssl, policykit, etc.)

    It is really a shame to demonstrate to newcomers that Linux is better than windows and the official Medium is not up-to-date…
    People dont want to install it they just want to see how it work first.
    How could we seriously tell them where they should download it and they found some glitches as security issues ?

  9. How to I disable Intel Graphics Drivers? I can’t get my nVidia 970 properly configured because Intel and Nouveau always seem to rear their ugly heads all the time and nothing I try works to get my nVidia card the primary GPU.

  10. Running live cd on a Toshiba satellite A500.
    After running live cd’s Ubuntu, Debian, Knoppix all were pretty good os but Mint comes across very similar to windows making it very easy on the eye and easy to navigate, If I do migrate to a Linux system, Mint for me is the front runner, excellent job
    On first impressions looks great Love the layout and running very smooth and fast, I would love to see an aero style transparency ability added to Mint but I’ve always been visual addict lol, I have always loved that addon and the fact that windows 8 and above removed it stinks, I’ll stick with windows 7 for now but I will certainly try a dual boot with this little number, the more I play with it the more I like it, Great job guys thanks for the use.

  11. @ #2,

    Martin,

    When I have that kind of problem on a computer with an nVidia graphics card, the first thing is to check that the correct nVidia graphics driver is installed.
    The default driver is called Nouveau, I believe, and it will work with an nVidia card for a while, and then tends to freeze when asked to do something challenging… like play a video.
    Go to the Control Center, and the third icon should be the Driver Manager… that will tell you what driver is being used.

  12. Why KDE edition use KDE 4.14.2 when latest bugfix release is 4.14.3?

    Edit by Clem: Hi Kukuruzo, it’s a huge update in terms of maintenance, yet it brings no new functionality and none of the changes it brings were requested by our users (here’s a complete list: https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?bug_file_loc=&bug_file_loc_type=allwordssubstr&bug_id=&bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=VERIFIED&bug_status=CLOSED&bugidtype=include&chfield=cf_versionfixedin&chfieldfrom=2014-01-01&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=4.14.3&cmdtype=doit&email1=&email2=&emailassigned_to2=1&emailcc2=1&emailreporter2=1&emailtype1=substring&emailtype2=substring&field0-0-0=noop&keywords=&keywords_type=allwords&longdesc=&longdesc_type=substring&order=Bug%20Number&query_format=advanced&short_desc=&short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0=&votes=). The last KDE upgrade on the 17.x base brought a regression for KDE apps running outside of KDE, so I’d rather be selective and backport components selectively and on-request rather than jumping on this point release. Note also that we changed the way APT priorities work in Linux Mint 17.3 and that makes Linux Mint 17.3 able to follow the Kubuntu PPAs now.

  13. while I appreciate any improvements, there isn’t much for KDE 17.3. It miss the “windows-cinnamon 17.3” renaming function. Also Mint need a face lift as the theming is quite bland and uninspired as noted by many comments in YT.

    Happy New Year to my favorite Linux team !

  14. Thanks for all of the hard work by all of the Mint team! It’s been the pleasure of my wife, daughter, and mine to run Linux Mint KDE at home as well as in the lab where I work. The whole 17 series has been very good to us and we appreciate it. Believe me when I say the other Engineers where I work are paying attention to the geek running Linux in their midst while they suffer the Microsoft way. Looking forward to trying 17.3

    You guys are the BESTEST!!

  15. Funny, now you censor messages? Why? I just said that I consider inappropriate to still use KDE 4 and that old and ugly launcher as default in this edition of Mint KDE. To be honest, I like a lot Mint Cinnamon, Mate and XFCE (in this order), but KDE never touched my soul. Including this edition. But because I see the big picture, thank you for your work.

    Edit by Clem: Hi, I’m not really sure (we go through a lot of comments here). If your original message contained many links it might have been caught by our antispam filters. Other than that, it the way you expressed yourself was aggressive our showed a lack of respect towards other people, then it could have been deleted or edited.

  16. I’ve already upgraded my kernel to 4.2… I already have LibreOffice 5… I don’t actually use the mdm much at all (sleep my machine, single-user, etc) so I guess I can wait until the Mint 18 KDE when (if?) KDE is upgraded to 5.0.

    Have to say, 17.1 and 17.2 have been rock solid for me so far, and Mint 17.2 KDE is my only computing environment now… well, except for that 200 hour stint in windows to play Fallout 4 (grrr!).

  17. KDE 5?
    If it wasn’t for Google Material design 16 colour look garbage I would say, ok Mint, give us KDE 5.
    I can’t for the life of me understand why people accept garbage that is touted as “best ever” while those making such a garbage are probably laughing at the stupidity of masses.

    Who wants their desktop to look like Google Lollipoop? or whatever they call the next one, Mushmellow?

    Edit by Clem: ^^ That’s a typical example of a comment which could/should be edited/deleted. I’m leaving it here to illustrate why moderation is needed. I’m sorry Jake, whatever you think of Plasma 5, you can’t think it’s ok to call someone’s work “garbage”. Let me make it clear, it’s not OK here.

  18. Thank you Mint team for this release.

    A small request please? Like someone else already mentioned earlier – the latest version for KDE is 4.14.3 and is available on Kubuntu, but I prefer Mint KDE.

    Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

    Edit by Clem: Hi Jacques, yes, we decided not to backport it automatically but 17.3 is now 100% compatible with the Kubuntu PPAs.

  19. Mint KDE 17.3 looks and so far works great with one exception. You can not enable the firewall from the settings window. The program starts but will not allow anything to be done. Nothing worked at least for me, and I had to start the firewall via the terminal. So far that is the only thing I found wrong with the latest version.

    Edit by Clem: Hi Jim, it’s working well for me here (I can enable it, add rules etc..).

  20. Is there an estimate as to when the final Mint 17.3 “Rosa” KDE distro will be released? I’ve been using Windows for awhile now, but I think it’s finally time to switch, and I wouldn’t mind switching to the NEWEST final version of a distro. Probably KDE Rosa.

    But only if it’ll be within a reasonable amount of time.

    So what’s the ETA on the final release of this KDE version of Mint, rather than just a beta release? Thanks.

  21. Thanks for the hard work linux team. Just one question … When will a stable KDE be released . Can’t wait . And just for interest sake , I tried the new Windows 10 for almost 5 hours before coming back to linux …Never again

  22. Hi guys, I get a failure to install with the 17.3 KDE beta. It fails at the disk partitioning stage, failing to create a swap partition after I tell it to use the whole disk. This installation failure is on a VirtualBox VM. XFCE beta and Cinnamon and Mate 17.3 all install and run fine in identical VirtualBox VMs. I downloaded the KDE beta ISO twice from different sites, same behavior.

    Edit by Clem: Make sure to give the VM at least 2GB RAM.

  23. Dan, On your graphics driver issues, not working, this applies to 17.1 or .2, did you make sure to set up your BIOS to use your graphics card instead of the built in graphics? Usually after you do that you can install the latest nvidia drivers from the system settings.

    Volcano,
    Just install 17.2, which clearly states it is the “stable edition” 17.3 is in BETA so people who want to help can find bugs just the same way Windows is still doing. And BTW- If you build your own computers and don’t own a copy of windows it costs 130 bucks, to still find bugs. Linux depends on donations. Read the release notes before installing any new software, 17.3 clearly states BETA for bug testing….It is your choice on whether to install it or the stable version.

  24. In the December 2015 monthly news, Clem said:
    “Of course, in January we’ll announce stable releases for Linux Mint 17.3 KDE and Xfce editions…”
    The hard disk and server issues in November delayed the main edition quite a bit… the Cinnamon edition came out December 4th. Unfortunately, that is going to impact the KDE edition as well.
    Clem is always cautious when announcing releases… he’s NOT going to release anything before it’s ready.
    And fixing software bugs is a very unpredictable process akin to “looking for a needle in a haystack”, looking for a line of bad code among thousands of lines of good code. It could take only days, or it could take weeks to swat the bugs.

  25. What I would really like to see is a place where to open bugs for Linux Mint in general (or for a specific distribution of Mint). Apart from these “BETA release” announcements, in fact, I couldn’t find yet a place where bug reports are really looked at. The Linux Mint section in Launchpad is almost ignored, while on GitHub you can notify problems only about some specific Mint-provided utilities. But what if I find a problem that is more “general” or for which I can’t determine on my own if it’s a Mint specific problem or an upstream problem or a combination of those?
    For instance, in my Linux Mint KDE 17.2 if I change the MTU size of my cable eth0 connection in the “Edit Connection” dialog, it has no effect at all (the MTU size is not applied).
    Another problem is that my system cannot resume correctly from hibernation. I know this is a much more complex problem, but I can’t even track it.

  26. Been using Mint KDE for many years now. Rosa “Beta” causes reboot when opening office segments.
    Please fix.

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