Linux Mint is proud to announce its very first 64 bits release: Elyssa x64 RC1.
The purpose of the x64 edition is to offer the same desktop features as the Main edition but in a 64 bits environment. We received a lot of requests to support the X86_64 architecture (commonly referred to as “amd64”) and we’ve managed to come with an edition which is almost 100% in par with our main desktop.
As an RC (Release Candidate) this release is targeted at developers and beta-testers who want to help Linux Mint find and correct bugs before the stable release. Please do not use this release as your main desktop.
The x64 Edition aims to be as similar to the Main edition as possible, but due to the nature of its architecture, its package base and its origins it defers in the following ways:
- Linux Mint x64 Edition was forked from Ubuntu Hardy as opposed to Ubuntu Edgy for the Main Edition,
- Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with a java plugin implemented by OpenJDK, as opposed to Sun for the Main Edition.
- Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with Xchat instead of Xchat-Gnome
- Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with Flash 9 instead of Flash 10
More packages are available for i386 than they are for amd64 and we also believe the Main edition to be a bit more stable than will in time be its 64 bits equivalent. The Main edition only recognizes RAM to a maximum of 4GB though and even on computers with less than 4GB RAM the performance gain provided by x64 over the Main edition can significantly enhance the user’s experience.
Introduction to the x64 edition:
We published a mini-benchmark and an introduction to the x64 edition within the release notes. To have a better idea of what x64 can do for you, please read http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa_x64.php
System requirements:
A minimum of 512MB of RAM is recommended. Once installed the system works fine with as low as 256MB RAM. The installation process deals with 2.5GB of data compressed on a 700MB CD and it can hang or fail on systems with less than 512MB RAM. If you have between 256MB and 512MB RAM you may have to try to install several times.
Download x64 RC1:
Size: 682MB LiveCD
MD5Sum: 65a436f5ee945abceae18e5393d34213
Torrent download: http://www.linuxmint.de/downloads.html
HTTP download: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=30
Europe:
- http://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/linuxmint/testing/ (Portugal)
- http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ (Ireland)
- http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/linuxmint/testing/ (Denmark)
- http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/linuxmint/testing/ (Greece)
Northern America:
- http://mirror.amarillolinux.com/linuxmint/testing/ (USA)
- http://linuxmint.norhex.com/linuxmint.com/testing/ (USA)
- http://linuxmint.secsup.org/testing/ (USA)
- ftp://mirrors.secution.com/linuxmint.com/testing/ (USA)
- http://linuxmint.sourcemirrors.org/testing/ (USA)
Rest of the World:
- http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linuxmint/testing/ (Australia)
- ftp://202.78.230.5/LinuxMint/testing/ (Vietnam)
Test x64 RC1, report bugs and feedback:
The purpose of this Release Candidate is to gather as much feedback and bug reports as possible before the final release.
- Depending on your hardware x64 Edition could potentially be faster and show better performance than the Main edition. We’re interested to know how both editions compare so don’t hesitate to measure your boot time, and common scenarios and compare them on the same computer with the Main edition. Contact us by email and send us your benchmarks and your conclusions.
- Participate in testing the Release Candidate CD. If you find bugs please report them here: http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=17276
- Tell us what you think and give us feedback on this release by commenting here on this blog.
I enjoyed testing this release and am very anxious to read people’s reactions!
This release is awesome! Both Ubuntu Hardy 64 bit and Kubuntu Hardy 64 bit gave me issues viewing video on http://www.ctv.ca/news. However, Elyssa 64 bit worked right away!
no parada konecne 64-bit edition este keby to malo wubi 🙁 tak by to bolo OK ale co uz 🙂
Quick note about the torrent: We heard a lot of complaints about the lack of seeders on previous releases. We’re boosting the seeding for a short amount of time on this release to ensure many people have the ISO completed. It’s been a few hours since the release and we’ve already uploaded 12GB of data. Right now there are 28 completed ISO, 12 seeders and 2 leechers so the download is extremely fast (we’re uploading at 1.5MB/s). Whether you downloaded the ISO via HTTP or torrent, if you have completed your download please help us seed so the download speed remains fast after we stop boosting the upload. The reason we can’t keep it going is because it has an impact on the performance of the repositories.
One thing is certain. As of now I will install only the 64 bit version of Mint! I have tested it about one o hr as live CD. It is more responsive and I found all softwares that I need!
Thank you Clem and the team!
Looking forward to completing my download and testing it out. Can someone please clarify what hardware has used in the comparisons of app launch and completion times as it will be very difficult to compare the results between systems and architectures.
Also would be good to state how you were timing the apps (with the exception of shell apps) so that we can post apples to apples reviews.
Thanks All :)>
iambryan: It doesn’t really matter what the specs were as we’re not benchmarking the computer against other computer but the Main edition against the x64 edition. Both editions were tested on the same computer, installed on the same partition and timed in the same manner (stopwatch basically…). The figures have no meaning, its the difference between them that matter here. For the record the computer was a Dell 200 Vostro desktop, Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 8300GS. Tests were made on vanilla installs with the addition of “hardinfo”, an ndiswrapper wireless driver for WUSB54G (the ones provided by mintWifi) and the latest nVidia driver provided by the “Hardware Drivers” tool. Also, tests were made in the exact same conditions but that doesn’t mean you need to do them in the same manner. Do your own benchmarks, your own tests, and compare your own results between your own installations of Main and x64. What we really want to know isn’t whether you’ll boot faster than us, it’s whether in the exact same conditions (defined by you) x64 gives you more performance than Main.
Thanks Clem, was mostly just curious as to what you were benching on so that I could compare on my own hardware what the differences would be like. I will let post my results up later in the weekend 😛
Hi Clem!
i am using 32bit Main version on my eeepc900 (20gb sdd,2gb ddr2,sdhc 16gb installed on)
and i would like to know if you can realise drivers for wifi atheros integrated card..
thank you very much
Roberto from Italy (TURIN)
Iroby: Check http://ilearneditonline.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/install-linux-mint-on-asus-eeepc-with-usb/ and if it still doesn’t work http://wiki.eeeuser.com/getting_ubuntu_8.04_to_work_perfectly
Nice edition. It is fast, as I as a user can see without benchmark programs.
for torrent seeding I’m using Ktorrent. Funny thing is, it’s faster than Transmission.
it will stay open for a week.
Thank you Clem and team
H.
Hello Clem and team,
Elyssa 64 bit runs smoothly on my Fujitsu with 2X AMD Turion and only 1024 MB RAM. Memory-use when idle has slightly increased, is now 220 MB instead of 180 MB (Elyssa 32 bit). Overall everything seems to work a bit faster specially opening pictures with EOG or GIMP. Under normal conditions it takes longer before I hear the cooling-fan coming in. Does it mean that 64 bit is a bit more energie-efficient (AMD ‘Cool and quiet’ is switched on in BIOS). By the way, is Elyssa 64 bit based on Hardy dot one and what kernel is used? Greetz, Midas.
Midas: 2.6.24-16-generic, Ubuntu 8.04.
Thank you for doing that great piece of work for the community!
I’ll help seed for awhile too
Hi
Have just tried the live CD on an Acer Aspire 5101AWLMI, a french laptop. The CD did boot, but gave no choice of keyboard layout – its french, nor language. It also did not seem to recognise the wifi hardware and I could not get an internet connection. Graphics was OK as was everything else I tried. I am having he same problem with a Hardy 8.04.1 64bit live CD, so there would seem to be some hardware which is not accommodated?
I found that Elyssa works but 64 bit version doesnt. There seems to be no support for french keyboard.
This is on An Toshiba A200 laptop
Wheres bug reporting for this at? I did level 2 firefox 3.0 upgrades and flash player doesn’t work.
Oh actually theres a conflict with running Second Life, which I believe is a 32 bit app, and watching youtube videos in firefox. But closing out Second Life enables firefox to play youtube videos.
Yeah sorry ignore my comments, its working fine now after a restart.
The SNAPPY Factor can not be underestimated! BEAUTIFUL JOB–THIS IS WHY MINT IS so impressive!–you all just keep cranking out the good stuff!
THANKS SO MUCH!
Roger: Try and launch the Language Support tool from the menu and install support for French from there. Language support is part of our test cases and French is the language I personally test, so I know it works. I don’t know what could have been wrong for you but it does work, for the language at least. I haven’t tested the keyboard mapping support (I’m almost allergic to AZERTY) 🙂
Note: Language support is downloaded during installation and not included on the liveCD so if your connection doesn’t work at that time it will fail to add French and it will continue to work in English. Once you’ve fixed your connection, you should be able to add French support via the Language support tool. Let me know how things work out.
finally, the last nail in my linux coffin! I was waiting for this!
Finally! This release is now officially awesome, my Truecrypt is faster, and the browser and menus are lightning fast. All 4 cores are loving this release, and thus far the browsing seems more stable.
This deserves a donation, and I urge everyone here to pony up some love to Clem and the Gang.
Roger, language support problems might have been caused by the medibuntu repos being up and down yesterday.
The only thing is, VLC still seems to be superior to totem, my H.264 no longer stutters with an NVidia card as it did with the 32.bit version.
really stupid question, but:
i’ve got 6gigs of ram and want to try out linux mint (and if it convinces me keep it 😉 ). should I try “normal” elyssa or this x64 rc1 release?
Everything seems to work perfect with this edition. Amazing work guys. I’m going to use it as my main OS.
This and the other Mints are as Desktop-Linux should be for the “normal” consumer-user.
Easy to install, easy to use out of the box, friendly dedicated developers and an enthusiastic community.
Thank you all, I could destroy the last M$ licence key of our family. All four compus are running now under Mint. One with KDE, one with xfce and two with the 64.
H.
“sorry”: x64 since Main will only recognize 4GB RAM max.
thanks you clem (have tried the live cd and it worked perfectly, now it’s time to install 🙂
Hello! Thanks for this release.
Finally I can get rid of this Vista and use enjoyable x64 edition of Linux Mint. It will be my main OS, hopefully it works, if it doesnt I must install x32 or Ubuntu <.<
would not boot with an adaptec 39160 scsi card installed. booted after removing it from the system.
I installed as a separate partition using free space and x64 booted with no problems, but after installing using the entire drive, or using a manual partition the boot failed every time, this was a similar problem I had with main edition. I’d like to just use x64 but can’t 🙁
All snap and no crackle and pop.Great release.Thanks.
@ island dan:
the best is to use for making partiones a seperate program as partition magic or geparted before the install. Than you have late only to say there / with ext3 and there /home with ext3
and last but not least check that Grub is installed in the Master Boot Sector.
H.
I installed mint 64 but I was afraid of my wifi card “Atheros AR5006EG”, because I tried ubuntu 64 some months ago in an acer 5100 with intermittent connections.
Sadly the same problem came out… some times it works, some times no.
I’ll wait for the final release to test it again… cross my fingers wishing the best for LinuxMint 64.
But if someone knows how to fix this problem in Mint64 I’ll be very grateful .
thanks
till now seeded bytes for 10 CDs 😉
leechers from all over the world Philippines Barbados Thailand USA UK
Chile France Germany Honduras etc.
Have found problems.
Couldn’t install Open Arena.
I got a message, I have “to repair the broken packages” first. To bad, I like to play it from time to time to handle with stress or anger 😉 better than beating up persons who caused that, I think 😉
Under the KDE Edition it works.
Second problem Google Earth
It will not show the uploaded photos and is at all a little bit sensible under 64
Under KDE Edition it works perfectly.
Third problem
64 has problems with graphic. on our (family) machines.
sometimes when I open a window with a lot of graphic files or a browser with a lot of pics the screen gets gray for a while.
acer inspire SA 80, Celeron D 2,8, 1005MiB DDR, 1,9GiB swap, MSI NVIDIA FX 5200 128 DDR
second machine nearly the same, but noname and with AMD 64. same things happen there.
ok, the photoproblem in Google Earth is solved, must have been a problem in G-E. Brought it here because in G-E under KDE Edition it worked. Sorry H.
If you download with the torrent make sure to enable DHT (it’s enabled by default in most torrent clients) because when we boost the torrent, we basically do it via DHT.
I’ve seen a lot of people who don’t have enabled DHT. For me it looks as if it is not enabled y default. In my KTorrent it was not. I had to change that. In transmission it is.
Hi.
I like mint as it is and I think it provided for a much better computer experience. However in answer to ‘How can we get mint more known’ Im afraid my answer may not be popular.
Basically the vast majority of computer users are accustomed to the relatively simple to use windows or mac o/s. When I first came to Linux there was a steep learning curve regarding console commands, hardware compatibility issues etc. I have a lot of spare time on my hands and have the luxury of time to learn all this stuff. I dont think most people do and as a result, unless mint becomes as simple to use as other mainstream o/s I doubt its popularity will soar. That of course applies to all distros of Linux.
A very positive improvement was including an instaler for downloaded programs. I would reccomend an extention of that. People need to be able to install, see where the installation is and get right on using their new program. having to figure out how to ‘expand’ ‘compile’ and such, will be a put off for many newcomers to linux. I doubt even the fact its open source would tempt many away. People just want their o/s to work as simply as possible.
In short we either recognize that the populations decades of conditioning and learning to do things one way needs to be matched by our o/s or we simply face remaining a ‘geeky’ idea that remains comprehensible only to computer literate people.
Make it easier to use and I reckon its use will propagate naturally.
@hamburn
The GRUB boot menu does load and mint x64 does start to boot, but the progress bar just goes back and forth and then it crashes in to the black & white prompt screen after 5 or so minutes
I had a similar problem when I first installed Main edition with manual partitions. I’ve also tried partitioning from the Live CD before installing but this has the same outcome. I shall try using another partition program
Dan
Island dan: That’s what happens on one of my boxes if I don’t use the “irqpoll” boot option. Give it a try, you never know.
@ island dan,
if Clem’s advice don’t brings a solution then use gparted or pMagic. I had the same problem with my first install of Daryna after making the partitions with the Daryna “board weapons” on a Windows system.
Then I used gpartet and after the new install it worked. Since then I make the maintenance before the install that way. works charming.
@ Anthony.
If you ever had to reinstall Win you must know that that is also most time to much for the normal user. And Win had a lot of crashes in the more than ten years I used it. first 95 then xp.
The learning curve in Mint is very smooth. There is no need to use the command line. My sister, my brother in law (both 69 this year) and their daughters (both in their beginning 40th) (all four computer illiterate as I see it) have used Win till the last weeks, when I told them I didn’t like to do the maintenance on their Win systems any more and installed them Mint on the computers.
Ok, it looks a little bit different, but they could work with it with no difficulties from the beginning and clearly with out to use the command line 😉
Mint is ready for the end user, we have to spread the word.
@hamburn & clem
I downloaded and used gparted live and repartitioned my HD, x64 installed fine, so I used the irqpoll option on my 1st boot and it worked fine but crashed on trying to connect to my wireless router, so rebooted and left the boot option as is and it booted fine!
@ island dan
congratulations, have fun
H.
Anyone else had problems with screensavers? It’s the BioF theme that’s causing me problems as when I try to select a new one the Screensaver app crashes, and when the screensaver was active my laptop crashed when I moved my mouse. Is there any other way to select a different screensaver as I can’t choose a new one now? 🙁
Thanks
Dan
have tried BioF just now. First I got only a short time black screen, and after that could not change the screensaver. Restarted my compu and then I could change without problems. Even the BioF works now.
wish you luck
H.
I can confirm the broken packages with openarena. I’m fixing this right now and I’m taking the opportunity to upgrade it to version 0.8.0.
Thank you Clem. That’s good news
H.
Ok… well I can’t change from the BioF screensaver and my laptop crashes every time I try to exit it
Have you un hooked the starter for the screensaver before?
That’s what I did in my trial.
H.
Have uploaded with Ktorrent till now 10.55 GiB.
There is one leecher from Russia with a very slow line, leeching since three days and only got 3.41%.
That are sad conditions for the people there.
So I have to hold open the line for at least one more week.
If I would know the address of that person, I would send him/her a CD.
Aww.. hamburn, you’re so sweet, do marry me.
All you people at Mint, keep doing a fantastic job! I haven’t tried x64, still newbie and I am still taking some baby steps. Glad to say that the power of Linux is starting to spread slowly but sure here in Indonesia.