News:

• The release of the Cinnamon and MATE editions of Linux Mint 17.1 “Rebecca” were very well received. We were excited to unveil what we had worked on since the previous release and continuing to work on the same package base was a breeze. It was fun also to see people upgrade to 17.1 with ease, that went really well as well. We’re getting close to the end of the year though so I hope we’ll get the opportunity to talk about 17.1 and design topics again, but for now I’d like to touch a few words on the Xfce and KDE editions. We’re expecting their release candidates to be available next week. Only minor bugs remain and we’re confident they’ll pass QA very easily. KDE was upgraded to 4.14 and MDM received support for KDE Wallet (the wallet is now created and opened in the background, so no user interaction is necessary). Xfce was given out-of-the-box support for Compiz (just like in the MATE edition), Xfburn received Blu-ray support, the Whisker menu was upgraded and the default configuration was refined. The stable release for these two editions was estimated for the end of December but the RCs are a few days late, Christmas and the New Year will certainly eat a few days and there are items in the roadmap which were postponed but might come back into 17.1 as the dev. team is still looking into them (in particular we’re not happy with the look and feel of xscreensaver and with the fact that unlocking the session doesn’t unlock the screensaver in KDE and Xfce). It’s too hard to say just yet whether the stable ISOs will be out this year or the next.
• The decision was made to use GTK 3.14 in LMDE 2 “Betsy” (the same version as in Debian Jessie). Themes and parts of Cinnamon will be adapted to work properly with it. The decision to switch to systemd or to continue to use sysvinit was not taken yet.
• A few bugs were fixed and will be pushed towards the repositories. In particular two of them prevent the Cinnamon “System Settings” from opening (the first one when a theme thumbnail is unreadable, the second when gir1.2-notify-0.7 is not installed). Expect a package update in the coming days.
• 351 people donated to us in November. Add to that all the feedback we got, the help we received and your many words, emails, comments of encouragement. It’s a real pleasure to be working for you. Not only does your support make everything easy for us, along with your feedback and just after a release like this one, it feels really good to do what we do. In memory of Husse and the people who shaped this community from the early days into what it is now, it’s a real privilege to be part of this, to make you happy and to feel your support on a daily basis. Many thanks to everybody in our community.
• We’ll announce the RCs for Xfce and KDE before the holidays but release announcements are pretty formal… so I’ll take this opportunity and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

Gold Sponsors: Silver Sponsors: Bronze Sponsors:

Community Sponsors: Alyx Biologicals B.V. Sam Torno 0xnak 0xnak AWcode Co Ltd Charles Rivers Clare Florist fotokasten GmbH IEMS Jeramy Ross John Bayles Pianos Kevin Marx Kevin Marx Mahendra Tallur Martin del Mazo Nikolaj Petersen Sascha Reinsch SEER Interactive sefcom computers switchbit Tam Le Uwe Klosa

To become a sponsor or to see the full list of Linux Mint sponsors, please visit: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Donations:

A total of $9335 was raised thanks to the generous contributions of 351 donors:

• $260.24, Birgit N.
• $200 (2nd donation), Kenneth P.
• $200 (2nd donation), Marie I.
• $200, Jonathan McDowell
• $195.18 (3rd donation), RJGR aka “nzc3“
• $195.18, Thomas R.
• $150 (6th donation), Jon Espenschied aka “xeno”
• $130.12 (3rd donation), Frederic L. aka “”nofrog””
• $130.12, Dirk L.
• $128.82, Bernhard S.
• $109.3, Mimi
• $104.09, Rémi C.
• $100 (15th donation), Ralph Siegler aka “ziggy“
• $100 (15th donation), Wolfgang P.
• $100, Clayton H.
• $100, Michael D.
• $100, Ross W. aka “Roscoe_Oz”
• $100, David S.
• $100, Roy L.
• $78.07 (2nd donation), André L.
• $75, David S.
• $70 (4th donation), Doug L.
• $70, Alan H.
• $65.06 (2nd donation), Bertrand PLE
• $65.06 (2nd donation), Antonio A. T.
• $65.06 (2nd donation), Andreas B.
• $65.06, Javier G. Valdivia aka “@JavierGValdivia“
• $65.06, Rhydwen V.
• $65.06, Vincent L. aka “vincentsteven“
• $65.06, Fritz E.
• $65.06, Patrick B.
• $52.05, Jorge P.
• $52.05, Peter C.
• $50 (56th donation), Matthew M.
• $50 (3rd donation), Richard L.
• $50 (3rd donation), Magne L.
• $50 (2nd donation), D Joseph Frazier aka “Joe“
• $50 (2nd donation), Kenny Schiff
• $50 (2nd donation), Michael Dowden
• $50 (2nd donation), Kwan L.
• $50, Marco S.
• $50, Rod Hassler
• $50, Tommy W.
• $50, Marco S.
• $50, Louis L.
• $50, comwerkstatt.net
• $50, Rune E.
• $50, Stuart C.
• $50, Tomas Sobek
• $50, Tony V.
• $50, Matthew F.
• $50, Ananchai S.
• $45.54, Frédéric B.
• $45.54, Frédéric B.
• $40, Fry B.
• $39.04 (57th donation), Olli K.
• $39.04, Antony P.
• $39.04, Csaba S.
• $39.04, Andrzej C.
• $39.04, Mats L.
• $39.04, German S.
• $39.03, Alex K. aka “BS86”
• $39.03, Ulrich H.
• $35, Porter M.
• $32.53, Stefan E.
• $32.53, Jha V. D. H.
• $32.53, Dawid M.
• $32.53, Ludger S.
• $32.53, Neil M.
• $32.53, Ben H. aka “hozza“
• $32.53, Steve Brown
• $30.21, Lasse K.
• $30 (4th donation), Brooke Dukes aka “BandonRandon“
• $30 (3rd donation), Anthony C.
• $30 (2nd donation), BestPokerRooms.com
• $30, Joe K.
• $30, Mihai C. G. aka “Snowfall”
• $30, David C.
• $30, Rs C.
• $28.63, Bernard L.
• $28, Bernhard J.
• $26.02 (2nd donation), Uwe S.
• $26.02 (2nd donation), Michael S.
• $26.02 (2nd donation), James Eldridge aka “turtlesedge“
• $26.02 (2nd donation), Han-kwang N.
• $26.02 (2nd donation), S D
• $26.02, Fabrice P.
• $26.02, CySoTec
• $26.02, Martin P.
• $26.02, Christian S.
• $26.02, Mika J. aka “Kode”
• $26.02, Antti P.
• $26.02, Jean-philippe P.
• $26.02, Georg G.
• $26.02, Thorsten M.
• $26.02, Oleksiy Sagirov
• $26.02, John M.
• $26.02, Thomas R.
• $26.02, Dr. H. L.
• $26.02, Stefan B.
• $26.02, Nomko N. aka “nomko“
• $26.02, Kyösti V.
• $26.02, Montpellier journal
• $26.02, Alan R.
• $26.02, Diederik K.
• $26.02, Fehér K.
• $26.02, Ludwig W.
• $25 (38th donation), Ronald W.
• $25 (7th donation), Anthony F H.
• $25 (4th donation), Larry Jones aka “LarryJ2“
• $25 (3rd donation), Robert S.
• $25 (2nd donation), John M.
• $25 (2nd donation), Michael S.
• $25 (2nd donation), Michael M.
• $25, Bill B.
• $25, Scott C.
• $25, Fabrizio R.
• $25, Chris L.
• $25, August L.
• $25, Mark P.
• $25, Stuart T.
• $25, Craig S.
• $25, Infonomics Ltd
• $25, Michael N. aka “Nuke”
• $25, John R.
• $25, Robert S.
• $25, Simon H.
• $25, Daniel G.
• $25, Edmund S.
• $25, Felippe H D de Castro
• $22, Walter P.
• $20.82 (6th donation), Rüssel
• $20 (41th donation), Tsuguo S.
• $20 (4th donation), Bruce D. aka “travtek”
• $20 (3rd donation), Arrowhead Computer Consulting, LLC aka “Jim (JR)“
• $20 (3rd donation), David E.
• $20 (2nd donation), Daniel H.
• $20 (2nd donation), Don R.
• $20 (2nd donation), Ian M.
• $20 (2nd donation), Robert E.
• $20 (2nd donation), James F. aka “jtflynnz”
• $20, Placidus S.
• $20, Roy V. J.
• $20, Edward G.
• $20, M. J. Stewart aka “Mason”
• $20, William S.
• $20, Stratis G.
• $20, Scott M.
• $20, Christophe A.
• $20, John S.
• $20, Ilya K.
• $20, Daniel B.
• $20, Wolfgang H.
• $20, James D.
• $20, Norm S.
• $20, Chris aka “Pao”
• $20, Paul L.
• $20, Paul W.
• $20, Reve B.
• $20, James K.
• $20, Jim D.
• $20, Larry H.
• $20, Terje D.
• $20, Jinseok J. aka “JeonLab“
• $20, Galina S.
• $20, Tim M.
• $20, Daniel V. M.
• $20, Paul J.
• $19.52 (6th donation), Robert P.
• $19.52 (2nd donation), Dea Engineering s.r.l. aka “Andrea Tozzato“
• $19.52 (2nd donation), Simon B.
• $19.52, Giorgio O.
• $19.52, Christiaan P.
• $19.52, Esko K.
• $19.52, Alberto G.
• $19.52, Bernardeau A.
• $19.52, Apostol B.
• $19.52, Michael K.
• $19.51, Ronnie W.
• $18 (3rd donation), Roger A.
• $15.61, Gautier M.
• $15 (4th donation), Better2morroW
• $15, Frederico P.
• $15, James F.
• $15, Emily G.
• $15, Charles C.
• $15, Brian M.
• $15, Grant C.
• $14.46, Eike C. L.
• $13.01 (15th donation), Raymond E.
• $13.01 (8th donation), Joachim M.
• $13.01 (4th donation), Alrik S.
• $13.01 (4th donation), Nicolae Crefelean aka “kneekoo“
• $13.01 (4th donation), Veeti
• $13.01 (4th donation), Isidro P. A.
• $13.01 (4th donation), Richard
• $13.01 (3rd donation), Nandu K.
• $13.01 (3rd donation), Stoyan
• $13.01 (3rd donation), Christian B.
• $13.01 (2nd donation), Uros S.
• $13.01 (2nd donation), Matúš L.
• $13.01 (2nd donation), Samir D.
• $13.01 (2nd donation), Thomas S.
• $13.01, Jörg J.
• $13.01, Friedemann M.
• $13.01, Rainer L.
• $13.01, Mikhail L.
• $13.01, Jean F. D.
• $13.01, Diana H.
• $13.01, Simon K.
• $13.01, An H.
• $13.01, Launay D.
• $13.01, Alain S.
• $13.01, Martin D.
• $13.01, 苟 青.
• $13.01, Helge Z.
• $13.01, Gary W.
• $13.01, Lazar R.
• $13.01, Nicolas R.
• $13.01, Joseph C.
• $13.01, Matteo O.
• $13.01, Philippe D.
• $13.01, Karimov Danil aka “Danatela“
• $13.01, Michael B.
• $13.01, John R.
• $13.01, Rinke Bok
• $13.01, Alan T.
• $13.01, Torsten A.
• $13.01, Juergen F.
• $13.01, Sebastiano L.
• $13.01, Paolo C.
• $13.01, Nicolas G.
• $13.01, Jens E.
• $13.01, Ricardo G. C.
• $13.01, Pekka H.
• $13.01, Nicolas D. R.
• $12.99, Wilfried E.
• $12.34, Joozt B.
• $12, Nono W.
• $11, Ромашев Д.
• $10.41, Jeremie G.
• $10 (44th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”
• $10 (10th donation), Dan Jackson
• $10 (9th donation), Christopher R.
• $10 (5th donation), Trey H. aka “Ubuntaur”
• $10 (3rd donation), Michael E. aka “West”
• $10 (3rd donation), Mike C.
• $10 (2nd donation), Hemant P.
• $10 (2nd donation), David T.
• $10 (2nd donation), Eitan R.
• $10 (2nd donation), David S.
• $10, SEO Genetics
• $10, Daniel B.
• $10, Jerome M.
• $10, Scott M.
• $10, Chris T.
• $10, Trevor D. V.
• $10, Alexandre O.
• $10, Michal S. aka “Mikk“
• $10, James H.
• $10, Jonathan W.
• $10, Edson P.
• $10, CB Photography
• $10, Tudor P.
• $10, George K.
• $10, Robert G.
• $10, Michael P.
• $10, E M. G.
• $10, Lyle S.
• $10, John N.
• $10, Colm G.
• $10, A W. A.
• $10, Carl B.
• $10, Hostoople
• $10, Jamie J.
• $10, Dennis T.
• $10, Paul G.
• $10, Michael M.
• $10, Just Classic Cars Parts PL aka “Greg“
• $10, Ермаков А.
• $10, Richard P.
• $10, Pavel P.
• $6.51 (15th donation), Mark W.
• $6.51 (3rd donation), Stijn D.
• $6.51 (2nd donation), Rafael B. M.
• $6.51 (2nd donation), Martin F.
• $6.51 (2nd donation), Jörg U.
• $6.51, Nicholas J.
• $6.51, Florent V.
• $6.51, Aroua Y.
• $6.51, Corentin B.
• $6.51, Marc S.
• $6.51, Timo L.
• $6.51, Scott D.
• $6.51, Dariusz D.
• $6.51, Dirk K.
• $6.51, Kevin W.
• $5.2 (2nd donation), Christoph C.
• $5.2, Dancuta A. Mihai
• $5 (13th donation), Carlos W.
• $5 (6th donation), Stuart K.
• $5 (4th donation), John aka “Pbone”
• $5 (3rd donation), Graham A.
• $5 (3rd donation), frisky
• $5 (3rd donation), Guy B.
• $5 (2nd donation), Best RC Helicopter/Quadcopter aka “PilotMart“
• $5 (2nd donation), 李 宽.
• $5 (2nd donation), Ib O. J.
• $5 (2nd donation), Richard C.
• $5, Brian O.
• $5, Jee hyun
• $5, Jan G.
• $5, Alex S.
• $5, Best RC Helicopter/Quadcopter aka “PilotMart“
• $5, Eduardo D. T.
• $5, Maximiliano O.
• $5, Randy P.
• $5, Will S.
• $5, John Amaretto
• $5, Tim Apple aka “parzzix“
• $5, Feng J.
• $5, Ryabov V.
• $5, Kouznetsov A.
• $5, Andrew T.
• $5, Dhaveedhu R. M.
• $5, Visualtroop
• $5, Osman V.
• $5, Chris K.
• $4.93, M.Hanny Sabbagh
• $4 (2nd donation), David D.
• $4, Guillaume V.
• $3 (2nd donation), Karl B.
• $30.46 from 19 smaller donations

If you want to help Linux Mint with a donation, please visit http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php

The following OEM installation images are now available:

• Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon OEM 64-bit
• Linux Mint 17.1 MATE OEM 64-bit

Reminder: OEM images are for computer vendors and manufacturers. They allow Linux Mint to be “pre-installed” on a machine which is then used by another person than the one who performed the installation. After an OEM installation, the computer is set in such a way that the next reboot features a small setup screen where the new user/customer has the ability to choose his/her username, password, keyboard layout and locale.

Note: “No-codecs” ISOs are also available for magazines and distributors at http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=23

It is now possible to upgrade the Cinnamon and MATE editions of Linux Mint 17 to version 17.1.

If you’ve been waiting for this I’d like to thank you for your patience.

Upgrade for a reason

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

You might want to upgrade to 17.1 because some bug that annoys you is fixed or because you want to get some of the new features. In any case, you should know why you’re upgrading.

As excited as we are about 17.1, upgrading blindly for the sake of running the latest version does not make much sense, especially if you’re already happy with 17 and everything is working perfectly.

Make sure to read the release notes and to known the new features so you have all the information you need before deciding whether you want to upgrade.

Be selective with updates

Upgrading from 17 to 17.1 will upgrade from Qiana to Rebecca of course, but also apply all level 1 updates for you.

You do not need to apply level 2, 3, 4 or 5 updates to upgrade to the new version of Linux Mint, and doing so won’t apply these for you.

Level 4 and 5 updates are not recommended unless they bring solutions to issues you’re facing. Level 3 updates should be applied selectively and with precautions.

Enjoy

Upgrading to 17.1 is relatively easy:

In the Update Manager, click on the Refresh button to check for any new version of mintupdate. If there is one, apply it and wait for the Update Manager to restart itself.

Launch the System Upgrade by clicking on “Edit->Upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca”.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

Once the upgrade is finished, reboot your computer.

Additional info

• The same upgrade path will be available for the Xfce and KDE editions, after they are released as stable 17.1 at the end of the month.
• Although Linux Mint 17.1 features a newer kernel than the one used in the 17 release, this upgrade does not change the kernel on your behalf. This is a decision only you should take. Should you decide to upgrade to 17.1’s recommended kernel you can do so by applying the “linux-kernel-generic” update, post-upgrade.
• Although they are featured in the 17.1 release, this upgrade doesn’t automatically include “retro” backgrounds and backgrounds for Maya, Nadia, Olivia and Petra. They represent a significant amount to download so the choice to do so was left to you. These backgrounds are provided via packages which name start with “mint-backgrounds”.