I have been posting a lot of progress report updates and other Linux Mint KDE related information/questions to the forums in the past but that limits Linux Mint KDE’s exposure potential feedback. From now on I will be posting to the Linux Mint blog to gather more support and feedback for Mint KDE.

Look here for the old forum progress report for Isadora KDE.

I have uploaded my Linux Mint KDE dev-022 ISO for testing by exploder, Clem and the other mint developers. Exploder’s testing has been positive so far. Clem had done some heavy/ detailed testing on the last development ISO and caught some final bugs that really tidy things up for a clean RC release. Hopefully the RC of Linux Mint 9 KDE will be so good it will also be the final ISO.

Hang in there Linux Mint KDE fans the wait will soon be over…

Cheers Jamie

Following the speed improvements coming with the previous update, additional fixes and features were added to the Software Manager today. We strongly recommend you update the mintinstall package to version 7.1.6 using the Update Manager.

Changes:

  • When showing a package, the Software Manager now only lists the 10 latest reviews. A link appears at the bottom of the page which you can click to see all the reviews.
  • When showing a category, the Software Manager now only lists the 500 most popular packages.
  • The communication between The Software Manager and the APT daemon now takes place entirely in the background, making the UI more responsive, in particular when you click the “install” or “remove” buttons.
  • A new option called “Open links in the web browser” was placed in the “Edit”->”Preferences” menu so you can choose whether to visit the packages websites within the Software Manager or using your own browser.
  • Bug fix: Double-clicking or clicking multiple times on a category or any other element of the UI does not result in duplications of elements in the navigation bar anymore.

Notes:

On the computer on which the Software Manager is developed, it used to take 43 seconds for the “All packages” category to be displayed. Although the data is already loaded in memory, GTK is relatively slow and rendering 30,000 rows in a table takes a lot of time. This new version of the Software Manager now only shows the 500 most popular packages in the category. On the same computer, the “All packages” category is now displayed in 1.3 seconds.

We could argue that functionality was lost since browsing through categories now doesn’t show all the packages from that category anymore. But browsing through a long list of 30,000 rows isn’t particularly useful to anybody. We can still browse through the top-500 for each category and reach particular packages using the search feature.

This update introduces two new localized character strings which will be displayed in English until new translations become available through an update of the “mint-translations” package.

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

  • $200 (3rd donation), Terry Mansfield aka “tmansfield” (USA)
  • $127, Thomas L. (Germany)
  • $127, funkajja (Germany)
  • $101 (4th donation), Robert D B. (USA)
  • $100 (2nd donation), Andrew Grace aka “crushedbyadwarf” (USA)
  • $100 (2nd donation), Richard M. (Canada)
  • $100, About Canada (Canada) – http://www.aboutcanada.ca
  • $100, Mogens Andersen (Sweden)
  • $100, Josep B. A. (Spain)
  • $100, Richard Z. (USA)
  • $100, Stefan G. (Norway)
  • $100, Bjorn N. (Norway)
  • $100, Wei-chien H. (USA)
  • $100, Robin C. (USA)
  • $63 (4th donation), Eric H. (Germany)
  • $63 (3rd donation), Frans Van O. (Netherlands)
  • $60, Trenton Isaacson aka “Mr_Shifty” (USA) – http://linuxcritic.wordpress.com
  • $50 (6th donation), Jonathan B H. (USA)
  • $50 (3rd donation), Barry Patterson (United Kingdom) – http://www.redsandstonehill.net
  • $50 (2nd donation), Eugene C. (USA)
  • $50 (2nd donation), Andrew Grace aka “crushedbyadwarf” (USA)
  • $50 (2nd donation), Mark B. (Australia)
  • $50 (2nd donation), Peter S. (Australia)
  • $50 (2nd donation), Gary M. (USA)
  • $50, Malcolm B. (USA)
  • $50, Mark A. (USA)
  • $50, Nora Elisabeth F. (Norway)
  • $50, Anthony L. (Australia)
  • $50, Nathan H. (United Kingdom)
  • $50, Adrian S. (United Kingdom)
  • $50, David W. (USA)
  • $50, James L Bowen (USA)
  • $50, Christian Porter (USA)
  • $50, Nyan W. (South Africa)
  • $50, Bruce R. (United Kingdom)
  • $50, Victor Skovorodnikov aka “victorsk” (Canada) – http://www.victorskovorodnikov.com
  • $50, Louis P. (USA)
  • $50, F. Reinbold Translations (Spain)
  • $38, Richard C. (Germany)
  • $38, Jan S. (Denmark)
  • $32 (6th donation), Philippe W. (Switzerland)
  • $32, Nils G. (Belgium)
  • $32, Graham C. (United Kingdom)
  • $32, Holger H. (Germany)
  • $30 (7th donation), Pete Molina aka “pmolina” (USA)
  • $30 (2nd donation), Bevan Hay (Australia)
  • $30, David deSouza-Kirby (United Kingdom) – http://www.g3vfp.org
  • $30, Dominic M. (USA)
  • $27 (3rd donation), Olli K. (Finland)
  • $25 (10th donation), Manuel F. (Portugal)
  • $25 (8th donation), Francisco C. C. (Spain)
  • $25 (5th donation), Dan B. (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Tim B. (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), John M. (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Happy Nerds Workshop (USA)
  • $25 (2nd donation), Dominik H. (Germany)
  • $25, John Abbott aka “FewClues” (USA)
  • $25, John S. (USA)
  • $25, James S. (USA)
  • $25, Terry H. (USA)
  • $25, Sergi S. S. (Spain)
  • $25, Eric J. (France)
  • $25, Charlene Craig (USA)
  • $25, John S. (USA)
  • $25, Julian D. (USA)
  • $25, Georg B. (Belgium)
  • $25, Jozef M. (United Kingdom)
  • $25, Michael D. (Canada)
  • $25, Jonathan B Alden aka “briggs_1978” (USA)
  • $25, Ian Dunn (United Kingdom) – http://www.salutus-solutions.com
  • $25, Jack H. (USA)
  • $25, Pascual S. (USA)
  • $20 (4th donation), Phillip H. (Australia)
  • $20 (3rd donation), Bernard S. (Netherlands)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Henry W. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Sebastian C. (Australia)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Matthew M. (USA)
  • $20 (2nd donation), Graham C. aka “gee7” (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Tim D. (USA)
  • $20, Stephen V. (USA)
  • $20, Christopher Y. (USA)
  • $20, Javier G. M. (Mexico)
  • $20, Reiner K. (Germany)
  • $20, Paul T. (USA)
  • $20, Steven Heidel aka “stevenheidel” (Canada) – http://www.livingskyweb.ca
  • $20, mitch (France)
  • $20, Vance R. aka “helmsdeeper” (USA)
  • $20, James T. (USA)
  • $20, Abraar S. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, James K. (USA)
  • $20, Morten H. (Norway)
  • $20, Stuart H. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Darryl E. (USA)
  • $20, Bill Goebel (USA)
  • $19, C J van den B. (Netherlands)
  • $19, Raymond T. (United Kingdom)
  • $19, Mark Wolstenholme aka “markfiend” (United Kingdom)
  • $19, David R. (United Kingdom)
  • $19, Mike S. (Germany)
  • $19, Neal Quincey (United Kingdom)
  • $19, Intars Students aka “mobix” (Latvia) – http://intarstudents.lv
  • $15 (11th donation), Slavoljub M. (Norway)
  • $15 (3rd donation), George R. aka “Az4x4” (USA)
  • $15 (2nd donation), Aleksander S. (Norway)
  • $15, George D. (USA)
  • $15, James Masek aka “vineyardtechie” (USA) – http://www.sculpturebyjamesmasek.com
  • $15, German Heberto Duran (Mexico)
  • $15, Fabio Baratti (Italy)
  • $15, Dennis T. (Brazil)
  • $15, David M. (United Kingdom)
  • $15, Jason R. (USA)
  • $13 (7th donation), Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $13, Henk Oegema aka “henkoegema” (Belgium)
  • $13, Mark L. (United Kingdom)
  • $12 (8th donation), Marco R. (Italy)
  • $12 (3rd donation), Miguel Cunha Duarte aka “mcduarte2000” (Portugal) – http://www.miguelduarte.net
  • $12 (3rd donation), Samuel M. aka “vtired” (Italy) – http://it.ismico.org
  • $12, Philippe S. (Luxembourg)
  • $12, Adrian Gudas (Canada)
  • $12, Anonymous aka “MrNiceGaay” (Netherlands)
  • $12, Jens C. (Germany)
  • $12, Peter Portin (Finland)
  • $12, Alexandru L. (Italy)
  • $12, Damian H. (Spain)
  • $12, Gernot W. (Italy)
  • $12, Jose Luis F. M. (Spain)
  • $12, Gisbert H. (Germany)
  • $12, Giacomo from Ripon (United Kingdom)
  • $10 (4th donation), Jennifer McBride (Canada) – http://www.only-green.ca
  • $10 (3rd donation), Juergen G. (Canada)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Jeff Reid aka “jlr1701” (USA) – http://channelsforthelight.com
  • $10 (2nd donation), John Minear aka “sparky51” (United Kingdom)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Clemens N. (USA)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Paul V. (Canada)
  • $10 (2nd donation), Platypus Products (USA)
  • $10, Jose A. (USA)
  • $10, Mansour K. (USA)
  • $10, Wyramuttu N. (Canada)
  • $10, BJ S. (USA)
  • $10, Luis D. (Brazil)
  • $10, Jon F. (USA)
  • $10, bwjpg (United Kingdom)
  • $10, Nicolas J. (Belgium)
  • $10, Алексей Калюкин (Russia)
  • $10, John P. (USA)
  • $10, Ben Barnes (USA) – http://www.e-lectiostore.com/store.html
  • $10, Michael Meehan aka “uirusu.ningen” (New Zealand)
  • $10, Magnus Olsson aka “XeroXer” (Sweden) – http://www.xeroxer.com
  • $10, Steven K. (USA)
  • $10, Francois H. (Canada)
  • $10, Mary F. (USA)
  • $10, Ashish S. (USA)
  • $10, Jonathan T. (Singapore)
  • $10, Stephen T. (Australia)
  • $9, Richard L. aka “rlindsey0” (USA)
  • $8, Divyesh K. (Canada)
  • $7 (3rd donation), Johan T. (Sweden)
  • $7, Pedro Almeida (Portugal)
  • $7, Lukas E. (Germany)
  • $6, Joao E. (Portugal)
  • $6, Stuart C. (United Kingdom)
  • $6, Christopher D. (United Kingdom)
  • $6, Marcin Skiba aka “marcinski” (United Kingdom)
  • $6, Sylwia Bialczak (Finland)
  • $6, Daniel an der B. (Germany)
  • $6, Tolga K E. (Australia)
  • $6, Goran K. (Croatia)
  • $5 (6th donation), Savant B.D. (USA) – http://www.allyourprices.com
  • $5 (4th donation), Dan Jackson (United Kingdom)
  • $5 (2nd donation), Tauras G. (Lithuania)
  • $5 (2nd donation), Michael G. (Germany)
  • $5, Micko C. (Ireland)
  • $5, Lee S. (New Zealand)
  • $5, Alejandro Q. H. (Mexico)
  • $5, Jacob M. (USA)
  • $5, Redouane B. S. (Spain)
  • $5, Ciglet (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Sascha H. (Germany)
  • $5, Tyra K. (USA)
  • $5, David Wands (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Martin F. H. (USA)
  • $5, Cagatay C. (Turkey)
  • $5, Normunds Mazurs (Latvia) – http://mazurs.livejournal.com
  • $5, Mr Steven J Murray aka “mintymintminty” (United Kingdom)
  • $5, Craig Stock aka “craig10x” (USA)
  • $4, Mark F. (USA)
  • $4, Richard Cross aka “blip” (United Kingdom) – http://www.printeng.co.uk
  • $3 (4th donation), Inga Muste (Latvia) – http://inga.lv
  • $3, Kollar K. (Hungary)
  • $2.5, Le T. (Vietnam)
  • $2 (2nd donation), Carl K. (USA)
  • $2 (2nd donation), Carl K. (USA)
  • $2, Evgeny D. (Russia)
  • $2, Nandor T. (Hungary)
  • $2, Yu Tor Ho (Malaysia)
  • $2, Rini D. (Indonesia)
  • $1 (2nd donation), Ryan C. (Philippines) – http://wartrolreviews.info
  • $1, Ahmad K. (Indonesia) – http://feedvillages.com
  • $1, Kevin K. (Norway)
  • $1, Islam C.I. (Turkey)
  • $1, Louis G. (USA)
  • $1, Kevin Naidoo (South Africa)

Sponsors:

Money raised in May:

* Donations: $5117.5 (202 donors)
* Sponsors: $658 (72 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

  • Linux Mint 9 Isadora: 39% (-26%)
  • Linux Mint 8 Helena: 35% (+35%)
  • Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 18% (-8%)
  • Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 3% (-2%)
  • Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 2% (-1%)
  • Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 2% (-0%)

Web Stats:

  • Visits: 2,940,652 (+20%)
  • Unique views: 4,035,597 (+26%)
  • Pageviews: 5,255,355 (+27%)
  • Page impressions: 2,605,594
  • Search queries: 6,066,755
  • Forum users: 32,150
  • Forum posts: 270,743

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1599 (3rd)
  • Distrowatch (traffic share): 5% (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 17,239

Events:

Summary:

  • May was marked by the release of Linux Mint 9. There was a significant increase in traffic on the website (about 25%) and the user base grew by 6%. As with every release, we’re expecting the numbers to drop a little bit next month.
  • We received more donations than ever before. 202 people supported us this month, for a total of $5,117. Whether this was in appreciation of the latest release or in reaction to the poor results the project got in April, it’s really appreciated. It is often said that Linux Mint doesn’t benefit from corporate funding, but we’ve got such a strong community. There aren’t many projects like ours with that level of support from their community. This is really inspiring. Many thanks to everyone involved in helping us.
  • The overall income went up by 24%. May 2010 was the best month for the project since its creation in 2006.
  • June 2010 should see the releases of two additional editions: LXDE and KDE.