Linux Mint 8 “Helena” LXDE released!

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 “Helena” LXDE Community Edition.

Quick steps:

Introduction to Linux Mint 8 LXDE:

Based on Linux Mint 8 Main Edition, Linux 2.6.31, Openbox 3.4.7.2, PCManFM 0.5.2, and Xorg 7.4, Linux Mint 8 LXDE Edition features a complete and familiar desktop experience while being low on resource usage and is suitable for a good variety of older hardware.

For a detailed overview of the new features and improvements included in Linux Mint 8 LXDE, please read “What’s new in Helena LXDE?“.

Benchmark:

Here’s a quick benchmark comparing this edition to the Fluxbox and Xfce editions of Linux Mint. All 3 editions were tested on the same hardware (a computer with 384MB RAM).

RAM usage at idle:

  • Fluxbox: 131MB
  • LXDE: 141MB
  • Xfce: 154MB

Maximum RAM usage during the installation:

  • Fluxbox: 235MB
  • LXDE: 246MB
  • Xfce: 262MB

Boot time from Grub to the login manager:

  • Fluxbox: 31.16 seconds
  • LXDE: 26.79 seconds
  • Xfce: 26.46 seconds

Boot time from the login manager to the desktop:

  • Fluxbox: 3.32 seconds
  • LXDE: 3.77 seconds
  • Xfce: 9.63 seconds

System requirements:

  • x86 processor
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 3 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or USB port

Important information and known issues:

For a complete list of known issues read the release notes.

Download Linux Mint 8 LXDE:

This edition is available via HTTP and torrent from the download page.

Enjoy!

Have a lot of fun with this edition and let us know what you think. Reviews will be answered and your feedback will be used to improve the distribution before the next release. We hope you enjoy this release as much as we enjoyed making it and we wish you a very nice experience with Linux Mint.

35 comments

  1. This is totally amazing!!
    LXDE version is so lite and so swift!

    Keep going, you’re doing very well, LinuxMint Team!

  2. Fantastic! I’ve always loved LXDE as a great way to re-use old systems and the launch of this only makes me happier! I’ll be sure to use this quite often; thanks again, Mint community, for the great work you all do!

  3. Excellent! I have been waiting this for a long time. (Not to say that you took too long, nothing like that). I love Mint’s fine graphics and excellent usability, but I also have a passion for swiftness and lightness. This release combines those features in a perfect balance. A big thank you from Finland!

  4. I am usually very impressed by whatever Mint turns its hands to and am looking forward to testing out this LXDE version on older and new hardware. Much appreciated.

  5. Just installed Mint LXDE on my 8 year old Dell Inspiron 4100 laptop with only 256 MB memory and 1 G Pentium III processor. This is just what this old gear needed!! Many thanks!!

  6. So, it looks great! Are packages available in the repository so I can add LXDE to my Mint 8 Main edition?

    Thanks for the great work.

  7. Bravo à tous ! Et merci,
    ceci sera LA distribution de mes élèves en classe de Math :
    belle, rapide, et 100% accessible pour eux à la maison.

    —-

    Poor english :
    Thanks a lot.
    LXDE will be THE distro for my students (10-15 years old) in my
    math’s lessons. They will find LXDE Mint, beautyfull, fast, and I hope they will install this mint or main edition.
    I think it’s the best choice for beginners,
    … and as well for those who wants élégance.

    Francky H

  8. Fantastic. I have LXDE on my old HP tablet, but miss the conveniences of Mint on my destop computer. Now I can have the best of both worlds on my tablet!

  9. Thanks a lot for your efforts.
    LXDE works a treat on an old HP omnibook.
    A second life for old computers, and beautiful at that.

  10. Thanks so much to Clem, Kendall and the rest of the Mint team. I distro hopped for a long time until discovering LM a year ago and since then this is all I need, beautiful, stable and the best out of the box experience. I’ve been a fan of LXDE for awhile and am grateful to the community for putting this together. Right now I’m running it on my netbook and so far everything just works, which is exactly what I have been looking for. Much appreciated and keep up the fantastic work. Linux Mint Rocks!!!!!

  11. Pingback: Linux Critic
  12. I love LXDE, I’ve noticed that it hasn’t had in the past, the attention it deserves, and I’m very happy that the Linux Mint community decided to give it a go. I’m sure that this release will be successful due to it’s ability to fly at powerful hardware, run at old hardware, and namely on most netboxes out there. Now, regarding the netboxes, I’d like to make a repair: as we know, these are very portable machines, that people can carry out and use everywhere, in the out-doors, buses, trains… etc. For this reason many of their owners do a contract with a 3G GSM carrier, in order to access the net, everywhere they take their machine. It happen that the LXDE Mint uses the wicd, that unfortunately does not support these devices. So, all the 3g users, even that preferring your LXDE release, may be forced to migrate to your XFCE iso….. or to Lubuntu, when it’s final release become available.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *