Linux Mint 6 Felicia will reach end of life on April 30, 2010. This release was based on Ubuntu 8.10 which is planned to reach end-of-life at the same date.
Repositories will remain open for another while but no more updates or security fixes will be made available. Users of Linux Mint 6 Felicia are asked to migrate to Linux Mint 8 Helena (which will be supported until April 2011) or to wait for the upcoming Linux Mint 9 LTS Isadora (Long Term Release which will be released in the end of May and supported until April 2013).
Announcement from Ubuntu: “As with the earlier releases, Ubuntu committed to ongoing security and critical fixes for a period of 18 months. The support period is now nearing its end and Ubuntu 8.10 will reach end of life on Friday, April 30, 2010. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 8.10.”
Note: Linux Mint follows the Ubuntu release cycle with a new release every 6 months, a lifespan of about 1.5 years per release and 3 years per LTS release. LTS stands for Long Term Support. Linux Mint 9 will be an LTS release.
This is perhaps the most irritating aspect of Ubuntu which I fully realize you have no control over. Mint 6 is a great release and will be missed. It seems hard to stomach the same will become of Mint 7 in October. Its utter madness
Mint 6 RIP
Rolling release, then? 🙂
You know, I think I only used 6 for a few weeks before Felicia was released – and I’m still here, eagerly awaiting Isadora.
I dislike Ubuntu for its quick cycle of new release and extinction of old ones.
I wonder how well mint would work if it was based on Debian testing instead?
thats why i use multiple HDDs on my linux computers
1 for Root
1 for Home
1 for Swap
never have to worry about losing changed things because i don’t format the home drive when i install
“Linux Mint 8 Helena (which will be supported until April 2011)”
You mean April 2012?
can you still continue using the software after its extinction with no problems?
@Guy: It might be irritating to some people to use an operating system for 18 months, but if that’s a problem, there are the LTS versions out there. 3 years are good enough considering software evolves. On top of that, this is about Mint. I was pleased with all Mint versions so far, so based on this I am happy with any version of Mint. Felicia had its time and served beautifully, just like Gloria and Helena are still doing it. Isadora will be even better, so I’m not worried or irritated at all. Simply enjoy the change – if 18 months are short, choose the full 3 years starting with Isadora. 🙂
@theminter: Sure, there is no limitation in Felicia. If it suits your needs, then everything will be fine. It’s just that you will have to take care of your updates manually. If you’re up to that, there’s no other downside. 🙂 However, don’t forget to check up on the latest Mint versions. They’re all great so you can pick a fresh Mint when you find another one that suits your needs. 🙂 Good luck!
Good bye, Felicia! 🙂 It was nice to have you around!
Gbye felicia D:, i had never the change to try felicia, cusethe first mint i installed (and still using) is helena…
but im waiting for isadora 8D
Well, I disagree that short realease cycle is a bad thing. It’s certainly not – I remember when Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 98, lots of people complained about that. But Win98 at that time had become a piece of crap! It was brilliant in 90’s, but in this quickly evelving world it’s, imho, silly to stick with one version for years. Security holes, incompability, lots of preblems for new users… And that’s all because someone is too lazy to change his/her habits.
Personally, changing my OS every 6 months is perhpas the best balance between stability and innovation.
Well, it’s just my opinion.
@kneekoo
My point is in the case of normal releases if you have a system that is set up perfectly to your needs it is an utter pain having to upgrade.I work with both Mint 7 and Mint 8, both of which are set up to my needs but both these releases are subject to the same insane support schedule.
As I stated before I fully realize the Mint developers have no control over this however I do feel the support cycle should be changed to a more reasonable 3years for normal releases and 5years for LTS releases
Afterall Linux is all about choice which is not being offered in the current support cycle
If your migration routine is well established and you have the necessary experience, then yes, it’s OK for you. But computers these days are no longer tools for specialists but rather consumer products just as washing machines and refrigerators. It’s just not necessary for people to learn how to tweak and fix these products, so for simple users 6 months are too few because most of them only use those products without any interest in learning more about them. That’s about the same as people using a cell phone for calls and maybe short messages but nothing else.
So what it can do a lot more? So what others can fix their inners when it comes to it? They only need to browse the net, listen to their music, use a messenger, see some movies and work for school or some other projects. Not everyone in front of the computer must become a specialist. If they know how to operate the software they need for their activities, that’s enough for most of them.
Of course I also like to “refresh” every 6 months but that’s because I’m very passionate, I know what I’m doing and I encourage others to “refresh” if possible. But it doesn’t work for everyone because, just like using phones, sometimes we’re only interested in the basic things and when we like a certain device we would like to settle with it for a longer period of time just because it feels comfortable. Anyway, changing a phone is much simpler than migrating to a new operating system or upgrading its version, but I’m sure you got my point. Can you “refresh” all your habits every six months? 😛
The above was meant for brennus. 🙂
@Guy: For regular people, you are right that a 3 year support time frame would be great. But that’s what Ubuntu LTS offers right now for workstations. Linux is not a simple product. There are hundreds or even thousands of packages installed in a regular distribution and all of them must be maintained. If the desktop LTS distributions would be around for 5 years, then all software developers would have to spend quite some time to compile their software on so many different distributions… and I’m not sure they would be delighted nor efficient with it.
The server market doesn’t need updates on ALL packages, so only server tools/services would have to be recompiled for many ditros, which is not so time exhaustive. Besides, I’m almost sure that conservative people can find an IT guy to get their old theme and background back if three years are not enough for them. 😛
@kneekoo
Personally, I regad all habits as negative thigs in my life, unless it’s something that helps increase security (driving) or… well, I don’t know. I even change skins and layouts of my mobile phone menus regulary 🙂 It just helps not to become asleep in life and see usual things from a new perspective again and again. Well, perhaps it’s just me and that is the main reason I have such opinion. And it’s the same for computers I have – I think of a 3 years old systems as of a security risk and full of rubbish that is slowing everydays work. Usually the user who doesn’t upgrade does not update, he simply does not care about his computer. I wish it was all like you said – that there would be no need take take care of the system if you needed just browsing, listening to music, chatting. But most of the people I know turn their systems into a mess over time. Then I advice them to upgrade and refresh regulary.
Maybe that’s just the way I see life? 😀 That would explain things. 🙂 Sometimes I think that computers opened a whole new era, compared to Gutenberg’s bible, and as at one point of history massive education began and people began learning writing and reading, now we are at the beginning of a new era that would regard being computer-literate even more important than being able to write. And it also means being able to take care of the tools you write with. But maybe it’s too early? I don’t know.. Oh well. Good thing is that people I help install Linux, become more aware of the principles of their basic tool 🙂
Why can’t we get downloads of repositories so we can have them on cd/dvds?
I know Ubuntu has one set of cd repositories, but for downloading them ourselves none of the links seem to work.
I’d really like to see downloadable repositories for all the versions of Ubuntu and Mint because there are times some folks just don’t have internet services for updates, and there are times when the old versions of Ubuntu and Mint are preferred and used because they work well on certain computers. For example, we have a Dell laptop around here that Mint 6 works like a miracle on and other versions don’t. And lardy lardy let’s not even get into iMacs and other Apple computers that will spit out new versions of everything Ubuntu/Mint and load/work like a charm the older versions.
These aren’t complaints, guys. Just ideas and things I wonder about.
Thanks so much for all the work you do and the marvelous Mint operating system!
why cant mint make updates
I don’t consider it an inconvenience having to change every 3 years i look on it as just a small amount of work and then you literally have a brand new computer.
This cuts both ways for me. I will ALWAYS have soft spot for Mint 7. Gloria was the girl for me. But I did upgrade to 8. In many ways, that is what made me appreciate Mint 7 so much. I don’t blame the Mint team for my belief that Gloria was better than Helena. In my opinion, they were working with a slightly buggy product.
I’m going to upgrade to Mint 9 and I think I’m going to stay there. I want to see how things go with Mint long term. I can always upgrade if there is something I can’t live with.
The bottom line is, long term, short term, Linux Mint is the OS for me. Clem and the group really do a great job.
I must say, I maybe half will switch back to Ubuntu when Lucid will be released. In short, Mint is just “too perfect”.
It works ootb so I am so damn bored when using Mint. The Mint LTS will be maybe my OS of choice for my Desktop / VCS-Server, depends latest MintTools and other aspects for me choosing between Isadora and Lucid. But netbook and laptop definately will be Ubuntu again (Testing and Developing).
Don’t get me wrong 🙂 I suggest everyone to Mint and not Ubuntu, but for me, Mint is just too perfect / easy.
Anyway lookin forward to some killer features of Mint that will bring me back 🙂
Well, I have a very good reason to stick with Mint 6 even after it is declared dead.. I’ve got an old (2 years old) MSI laptop with an onboard ATI Radeon Xpress 200M video card. Since ATI dropped linux support for this card, there are no new drivers compatible with new ubuntus or derivatives.
Felicia, don’t be afraid of the time to come, I’ll be by your side for a long time 🙂
For all of those who are complaining that a 3 year life cycle isn’t long enough, just keep using it. Obviously you are not interested in any changes anyway so what difference does it make to you whether you receive any more support? The only constant with technology is that it will change. It is always improving so just accept it.
Somebody – I think it was Dedoimedo, the excellent software reviewer – suggested that OS’s really don’t have to – and shouldn’t – release as often as they do. He cited WinXP as a (very imperfect) example. I agree. How about a release cycle along the lines of Debian – oh, ah, uh-huh, a Debian-based Mint in our future… I can’t wait.
I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Mint evolve (I started using it at mint 8 about 2 or 3 months ago) but like all things they must come to an end.
Goodbye Felicia, hope you have a smooth ride over the river Styx. Have fun in paradise =)
I totally agree with the idea of a Debian based Mint. The problem with being based on Ubuntu is that Mint will have to deal with whatever direction Ubuntu goes. When I look at where Ubuntu is going, it doesn’t seem good, lots of bad ideas, like including beta software in a final release etc. I think this might have been the motivation for Crunchbang moving from Ununtu to Debian-based.
Mint 6 is the best.
@2 (Silent Warrior): having – once more – converted to PCLinuxOS, I must agree that it would be a *huge* thing. Imagine a rolling Linux Mint based on Debian, using Ubuntu’s developments… But I understand that having a 6 months release allows smaller distros (Mint) to communicate more easily and to get money for their work more constantly.
I fully agree with Kneekoo’s well explained reasoning, I am a non-techie who just wants an OS to run some programs without needing to know how things work!
I wouldn’t mind upgrading to a newer Mint version if there was a more automated, simple process! I mean I started with Mint 6 as a dual boot PC with XP (now Vista), took the upgrade path to Mint 7 (blundered through the process) and even started to upgrade to Mint 8, but it had been too long since I struggled to understand the last upgrade and the many options confronted just made it too hard, technical terms, how and how much space to allocate to Mint & to Vista, how Not to wipe out all my current settings, emails, address book ect
OK, all simple stuff for those who are computer literate and love delving into the innards of an OS, but very confronting for those who just want the PC to turn on, surf the Web, use emails and do some wordprocessing
Come on let us face the facts. Constant upgrades are a pain in the butt for the average user. Ubuntu need to address this if more folks are to be encouraged in to working with Linux
@Guy:
Actually, my focus group studies have all indicated that, if security is the primary motivator for such an update schedule, many if not most are okay with a more rapid OS update schedule IF IT’S EASY.
Ubuntu’s come pretty close (once users had the commands, they were able to quite easily upgrade from 9.1 to 10.04, a process which earned MUCH higher marks than either MS’ or Apple’s offerings did), but the biggest feedback was that the necessity of using commands (a keyboard shortcut and a simple command string) was unclear. Most wanted to know why Update Manager just simply couldn’t check for new releases when checking for other updates. (If there IS a way, can somebody kindly let me know? bpaone(at)replayelectronics.com)
If the updating is made easy – and for the most part, our focus groups have found updating to be VERY easy once they become acclimated to the differences between Ubuntu/Mint’s system and MS/Apple’s – then people generally don’t have a problem. All the typical end user seems to want is the following:
* Easy to use
* Familiar programs
* Works out-of-the-box
* Is as safe as possible from viruses/malware
…but I digress. What would you suggest should be different as far as updating is concerned?
I’m VERY new at linux. Tried Ubuntu and the last update hung up and would not boot the puter. Now I found Mint! WOW is all I have to say and I congratulate all the developers of Mint.
I also just want the system to work without any problems. Web surfing with security is my main reason for switching from M$ Windows.
Provide us with a secure, sound operating system and you will have me for life! I’m looking forward to the LTS edition.
Again congrats to the developers, keep up your good work.
@eddy you should back up your work before every new install and actually installing linux mint is quite easy. i think 3 years is a good time thats like getting 3 new computers in 10 years which seems fair enough. besides one great thing pastimes for linuxers(people who are very competent at using linux system and have been using them for more than 2 years) before linux mint was distro hoping hell clem was a former distro hoper. having a short release cycle enables you to distro hop in the same linux flavour that you love. besides 18 months is not a short time in the fast evolving tech world (10TB of memory will be nothing in the next 18 months compared to how big 1TB seems now).
@theminter, thanks for your advise, but everything you know is easy, but not that easy if you are unfamiliar with allocating partition space to Mint & Vista on a dual boot PC, and what do you need to backup in the Home directory? Can what you save be simply put back on your new Mint clean install, will it conflict with anything new there?
Actually, lots of technical stuff comes up in the process that us non-techies find very challenging!
Would be nice when Mint is installed if it automatically checks out your current setup and gives you the option to keep existing things like partition sizes just the way they are and just install the new Mint in it’s current directory, formatting or overriding the existing version and leave your Home partition alone or just update files within there if required
Like I said earlier, a more automated, simple option should be available for newbies (especially for dual boot PC’s) and allow a manual version for those who like to tinker
Don’t get me wrong, I love Mint and seldom have to boot into Vista these days, but for newbie non-technical people like me, an easier Mint installation or update would be greatly welcomed and move many more people away from Windows 🙂
Debian-Mint would be great for people who don’t want to bother upgrading too often (for their taste/needs), plus they would have a reliable system on their hands, even if not a “bleeding-edge” one.
Eddy, your idea about the “leave home intact” is great! That would be the best thing in Linux for newbies, because it’s already hard enough for you people to understand concepts as partitioning, file system types, the importance partition labels and others, so I really hope the Mint developers will once day write their own installer that will wipe everything from the Linux partition except for the /home/ directory – IF THAT’S POSSIBLE, or at least offer the possibility to easily back it up on a partition with free space OR the local network.
Clem, Ikey, if you’re reading this, think about it. 🙂 I have no idea what’s behind Ubuntu’s installer but if you guys make this happen you will write Linux history, I tell ya! 😀
I already knew that, but I’m sorry anyway. Felicia is compatible with my old laptop, and Gloria and Helena aren’t. I would like that new releases had continued offering support for old computers 🙁
I have to disable ACPI if I want Gloria or Helena working in my old Pentium IV laptop. But if I do that, then battery life is only 15 minutes and with Felicia it’s almost an hour and a quarter.
I do need my laptop and it seems being fully-working only with old distros or with Debian. I would prefer using a non-deprecated Mint GNU/Linux.
I’ll miss Felicia.
Regards.
I’ve never tried Felicia, cause when you discovered Mint, the latest was 7, and that the one i tried 🙂
Inovation is always welcome. Sure it might be a pain to upgrade when you don’t really need to. But that’s why LTS Releases are for. People who don’t want to reformat their drive every 6 months have that other option. But, even LTS have to end some day. Nothing lasts forever, and inovation is allways good.
I use Mint 8 now, and it works like a charm, just as 7 did. And when 9 gets here that’s not gonna stop me from reformating and installing it, in a heartbeat… I would’ve done already, if i could… Can hardly wait to see what new surprises await me 🙂
Felicia was before my time, but it seems sad to see a perfectly good operating system lose support. Everything I have read about updates in Ubuntu scares me. Just count the number of “b0rked after update” threads in their forums! All I can say is, thank God for the MintUpdater that lets you ignore a lot of the flotsam that is coming at Mint users from upstream. I do wish we could upgrade APPLICATIONS, though, without having to wait six months or more for a whole ‘nother release. If (when) Mint is based on Debian someday, that will totally rock. I’ll make mine “rolling release” by editing the sources list (to “testing”)! But, back to topic:
I too will do the separate /home partition thing, leaving it unformatted. But I would never upgrade by any method without doing a full backup first anyway. It’s amazing that we can do a fresh OS install without losing bookmarks, e-mail settings, saved documents and music and pictures, etc! Bot possible in Windows!
Felicia was My First Mint Experience and i have 3 Felicia Original Cd’s
That Will now RIP on my Desk
But i have To Say Mint6 is one of the best Release of mint ever
“talcking about the artwork”
🙂
Ah, good ole Mint. Been using it since Mint 5, worked alright on my Laptop, but once Mint 6 came around, it worked right out of the box. No gripes, nothing, could use everything on this laptop with Felicia. Then Gloria came alright. That was alright, but it took a while to get a few things to work since they were clunky. Then Helena.. ugh, I had to really work at it to get sound to even work, which actually forced me to go back to Felicia.
When Mint 9 comes around, I’ll give it a try, but I make no real guarantee I’ll stick to it. This all depends on what distro actually works on this laptop. Though software and hardware do update, but not everyone has the money to continuously buy new hardware or laptops and such. Though Helena was alright when I had it, Felicia is what I still fall back to when I need a functioning and stable OS.
I’m currently dual booting Mint 7 & 8. Mint 7 works better than Mint 8 with my ATI 9200SE video card. Will Mint 9 be better or worse?
On Mint 7, I’ve uninstalled Firefox from Synaptic and manually installed the newest version by downloading it from Mozilla. This makes my connection to the internet more up to date with Mint 7 than it is with Mint 8.
If Mint 9 is unhappy with my aging video card, I’ll dump it and stay with Mint 7 until after my next hardware upgrade.
I’d love to see Mint cut it’s Ubuntu umbilical cord and base off of Debian testing. With that said –
More focus should be set on best practices of ALWAYS slice up your drive to at least the bare minimum of –
/boot
/
/home
That and highly recommending /var/log be on it’s own slice also, it’s not hard.
Having /home on it’s own slice makes upgrades easy
@Pagan
I couldn’t agree more Mint is more than ready to ditch its Ubuntu base and go Debian which would be awesome. A Fedora based Mint would be very interesting as well. I wonder if Clem and the team have discussed such things
I know there was an Alpha of Mint 4.0 Debian But I am wondering why it reached no further
Mint should do away with with Ubuntu,since Mint is a much superior product and base it is system on Debian testing the way sidux does with great success or go the Arch way.Arch is just amazing your system is upto date all the time.I have mint and Arch (Archisolive,Archbang)
on the same machine along Mepis 8.5
I haven’t done much distro hopping (Mint really stuck with me) so I haven’t tried out Debian. From what people are saying it would be cool (at least interesting) to see how it would do.
Still a bit unsure of what the rolling releases are, if you would be kind enough to explain E-mail me at unknownfriend45@gmail.com.
The only thing made me upgrade form Felicia 6 is the newer software
like FF & OpenOffice, I rememper it was perfect
and I upgraded then to Gloria 7 and stay now with it
put Felicia is still very goof for me and I think I would not change it if I can use newer software in it
I hope the new LTS will solve the software computability problem and looking after those 3 years for Debian based one for more support & stable & newer softwares
In a rolling release you don’t need to wipe out your hard drive to install a new version the update and upgrade of your system will take care of it and you will have the latest version of your installed packages or software as soon as they come up at least it is the case with Arch,and in mu opinion everybody should follow the Arch philosophy
and sidux.Mint will become even better if they do that
One shouldn’t forget the massive amount of work that goes into ubuntu and the great benefits it bring to the Mint users it terms of hardware support and forum support (broad user community). If the mint team had to do their job + the job of canonical, would there be any other release BUT mint 4 to talk about? And would anyone of us use it?
Of course it’s a trade off and it means we’re tied to ubuntu’s release cycle. As the french proverb roughly goes: “You can’t have the butter, the money of the butter and take off with the dairyman’s wife.”
@jack.herbert
I am sorry but I disagree. How about a rolling Debian base with updated Mint packages annualy. Afterall it is Ubuntu that sets the twice annualy release at present.
So a Debian base with one update of Mint a year instead of two. Working this way as an example Mint 10 would arrive May 2011
@guy
having shorter release cycle has an advantage of bringing more cash revenue for them, and i think they should stick with ubuntu
This comes as bad news to me.
I’m a newbie and have no idea how to upgrade to Mint 8. To make matters worse, I know so little that I have about 5 drive partitions from when Mint 6 locked up on me and I had to do a fresh install in order to get working again. Is there a tutorial on how to wipe the drive while leaving the BIOS and do a fresh install of Mint 8?
@IBM6221 if you have windows you can go to rightclick my computer->manage->drives, once there you can delete a volume shrink it and format it. besides when i was installing linux mint 8 KDE CE, it gave me an option of reformating all my hard drive and install it cleanly i dont know about the gnome version(main version). if you google it you will probably find a tutorial about formating your hard drive.
theminter: Actually, Windows can’t read the EXT* filesystem that Linux tends to use as its default. So, if that is used, you can’t use it and you’ll need a partition editor.
IBM6221: GParted is a free partition editor that you can either run off a USB flash drive or burn to disc and launch it as a livecd. Works pretty well for me when I need it.
Linux Mint 6 Felicia was my introduction to Mint, it has lived on a few of my computers and is still living on my laptop…this laptop. Of all the flavors of Linux I have tried,Mint has been the most stable and worry free, Felicia in particular. I kind of wish the life cycle was a bit longer, but I do look forward to seeing what comes next.
I’m running mint6. I don’t really have any data to worry about other than my kid’s bookmarks. If the install of Mint 8 gives the option to wipe and reformat the drive, that would seem to be the way to go.
Ah GOOD.
This was helpful and may be useful to others.
http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linux-mint-8-helena
Mint 8 does offer the option to erase and reformat the disk
@TwinShadow the windows partition editor has worked for me for 3 linux mint installs ,you have to erase the partition twice and use it.