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The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 “Helena” LXDE Community Edition RC1.

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:

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. For a complete list of known issues read the Release Notes.

Feedback and bug reports:

Please report any bug you may find via the Linux Mint 8 LXDE RC1 Bug Thread and give us your feedback on this release by posting a comment right here on the blog.

Download Linux Mint 8 LXDE RC1:

You can download Linux Mint 8 LXDE RC1 via torrent or via HTTP:

Size: 669MB LiveCD
MD5Sum: b66991424a718eeccc972c5509a20a5c

Torrent download: http://www.linuxmint.com/torrent/LinuxMint-8-LXDE-RC1.iso.torrent
 HTTP download: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=51

Africa:

Asia:

Europe:

Northern America:

Oceania:

Enjoy!

Have a lot of fun testing this release candidate and let’s all hope it will help us make a great stable release.

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* News about Mint

Some news in the blog – a LXDE edition is on its way as well as the Helena XFCE edition Development started on Mint 9, a new menu and a completely new software manager are to be introduced

A new Software module in the Community website is based on the new software manager

Monthly Stats – February 2010 The overall income is up again, by 3% in February

mintCast, the Mint podcast, is  found here

* News about Linux

3D support on nouveau

Plasma Javascript Jam Session Contest

If you have Adobe Reader 9.3 and earlier Adobe advices you to upgrade for security reasons

A Fresh Look for Ubuntu

Ubuntu single sign on service launched – you have noticed it already if you log in to Launchpad

Ubuntu One Music Store

Zemlin’s blog – Microsoft/Amazon Deal: Nothing to See Here

The latest news about the kernel is always found here

* News about Open Source

Open letter to Google: free VP8, and use it on YouTube

Microsoft open-sources clever U-Prove identity framework

* News about IT

US government rescinds ‘leave internet alone’ policy – this could be serious

Echelon computers can’t cope with bad lines

According to Mcafee in the last quarter of 2009 135.5 billion spam mail were sent every day

Microsoft’s ‘Operation b49’ chokes Waledac botnet

Mariposa botnet busted by Spanish police

Google donates $2 million to Wikimedia

Google gets US approval to buy and sell energy

EU Commission Investigates – How Anti-Competitive Is Google?

Google wins patent for location-based advertising

Europe’s new front in the browser battle

‘Kneber’ Botnet Attacks PCs Worldwide

Comcast.net hacker who redirected Web traffic pleads guilty

*Hardware news

* Other news

New flaws in chip and pin system revealed – the researchers blog post – not quite easy to use as you must have some gadget between the card and the card reader

* Comic of the week


Credit goes to xkcd

* More about Linux Mint

How to donate

Home page

Blog The planet Wiki Forum Twitter Mintcast community.linuxmint.com

* Editors comment

As always – if you find something I’ve missed in the newsletter please tell me – you can post a comment.

Enjoy life

Husse

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Donations & Sponsorships:

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

Donors:

  • $200, Terry Mansfield aka “tmansfield” (USA)
  • $140, Hans G. (Germany)
  • $71, Alfred A. (Germany)
  • $60, Kitchener-Waterloo LUG (Canada) – http://www.kwlug.org
  • $57, Philip D. aka “phd7” (Ireland)
  • $50 (3rd donation), Mike G. aka “subslug” (USA)
  • $50 (2nd donation), Jonathan B H. (USA)
  • $50, Digital Linx Hosting (Canada) – http://vpsnoc.com
  • $50, Richard H. (USA)
  • $50, Louis P. aka “BikeLouP” (USA)
  • $50, Stephen B. (USA)
  • $50, James J. (USA)
  • $50, Nathan B. (USA)
  • $40, Pete Molina aka “pmolina” (USA)
  • $40, Rod McLaren aka “Ambertone” (Australia) – http://www.ambertone.com.au
  • $35, Andrew M. (Australia)
  • $35, Andreas S. (Germany)
  • $35, Marcus Norrgard (Finland) – http://www.hanken.fi/staff/manorrga
  • $30, James P. (United Kingdom)
  • $30, Bill R. (USA)
  • $28 (3rd donation), Marco R. (Italy)
  • $28, Mark R. (United Kingdom)
  • $28, Frank Schmidt (Germany)
  • $28, Lee B. (United Kingdom)
  • $28, Philippe Camus (France)
  • $28, Manuel F. (Portugal)
  • $28, Sven B. (Sweden)
  • $25, Aleksander S. (Norway)
  • $25, Peter B. (Australia)
  • $25, Brad Little aka “thelynx” (United Arab Emirates)
  • $25, Norman H. (USA)
  • $25, Tony R. aka “tonyric” (USA) – http://www.ournuthut.net
  • $25, Jens K. (Germany)
  • $25, Happy Nerds Workshop (USA)
  • $25, Glenn W. (Canada)
  • $25, Steve T. (Canada)
  • $21 (2nd donation), Antonio Gemelli aka “Antowen” (Italy)
  • $21, Francisco C. C. (Spain)
  • $21, Jose Luis S. M. (Sweden)
  • $21, Michael Krusch aka “MAD” (Germany)
  • $21, Hugh Crooke (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Edward H. (USA)
  • $20, Ludovic G. aka “Lewdsquirrel” (Canada)
  • $20, Sergio T. (USA)
  • $20, Jene W. (USA)
  • $20, David T. (USA)
  • $20, Bernardo Dias (Brazil)
  • $20, Peter C. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Anthony S. (USA)
  • $20, Danielle S. (USA)
  • $20, David Tomlin (USA)
  • $20, Terry D. (Australia)
  • $20, Richard L. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Anthony D. (United Kingdom)
  • $20, Mark E. aka “engram” (USA)
  • $20, Barry W. (USA)
  • $20, Samuel L. (USA)
  • $20, Anthony B. (USA)
  • $20, Beom K. (Australia)
  • $15, Darren K. (United Kingdom)
  • $15, Jacques St-O. (Canada)
  • $15, Darryl S. (USA)
  • $15, Slavoljub M. (Norway)
  • $15, Tobias S. (Germany)
  • $14, David Holstein (United Kingdom) – http://www.davyhulme.net
  • $14, Kevin Dermott (United Kingdom)
  • $14, Thomas S. (Austria)
  • $14, Michel A. (France)
  • $14, Antonis M. (Greece)
  • $14, Uwe M. (Germany)
  • $14, Emil Pavlov aka “emil_pavlov” (Bulgaria)
  • $14, Frank Dominik L. (Germany)
  • $10, D.Snyder aka “capt” (USA)
  • $10, Michael N. (USA)
  • $10, Salim Farah aka “Verix” (USA)
  • $10, Trey H. aka “Ubuntaur” (USA)
  • $10, Barron R. (USA)
  • $10, Alexander G. (USA)
  • $10, Paul V. (Canada)
  • $10, Apollo V. Melo aka “teflashfire” (USA) – http://militarylinuxusers.blogspot.com
  • $10, David E. (USA)
  • $10, Marcus Hui (USA) – http://marcushui.blog.co.uk
  • $10, Shofi A. (United Kingdom)
  • $10, George R. aka “Az4x4” (USA)
  • $10, Fyodor K. (Denmark)
  • $10, Desmond W. (USA)
  • $7, Rienk D. (Netherlands)
  • $7, Roberto T. (Italy)
  • $7, Alessio C. (Italy)
  • $7, Paulo Bartolomeu aka “bartmanpt” (Portugal) – http://pt.linkedin.com/in/paulobartolomeu
  • $7, Michael Klitschka (Germany)
  • $5, Thomas B. (USA)
  • $5, Donald McL. (USA)
  • $5, Eric W T. (USA)
  • $5, Dennis B. (Australia)
  • $5, Savant B.D. (USA) – http://www.allyourprices.com
  • $5, Matt G. (USA)
  • $5, Muhammad B. (Indonesia)
  • $4, Jackie R. (USA)
  • $3, Leo Ryan (Philippines) – http://websitesvalue.net
  • $3, Salvatore D. (Italy)
  • $2, Robert M. (Austria)
  • $2, Dominique Lemieux (Canada)
  • $1, Sylvestre Burgos aka “sylvestre” (France) – http://burgos.sourceforge.net
  • $1, Stefan B. (Germany)
  • $1, Rafal Kudlinski (Poland)
  • $1, Rovshan P. (Azerbaijan)
  • $1, Timothy G. (USA)
  • $1, Michael Falk (Germany) – http://wi.uni-giessen.de

Sponsors:

Money raised in February:

* Donations: $2518 (110 donors)
* Sponsors: $777 (56 sponsors)

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

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

  • Linux Mint 8 Helena: 58% (+6%)
  • Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 30% (-7%)
  • Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 6% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 3% (-0%)
  • Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 2% (-0%)

Web Stats:

  • Visits: 2,439,390 (+2%)
  • Unique views: 3,317,827 (+3%)
  • Pageviews: 4,330,486 (+3%)
  • Page impressions: 1,805,045
  • Search queries: 5,470,848
  • Forum users: 28,078
  • Forum posts: 237,158

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1595 (3rd)
  • Distrowatch (traffic share): 4.6% (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 18,142

Events:

Summary:

  • The overall income is up again, by 3% in February. This is particularly good considering there were only 28 days that month as opposed to 31 the month before.
  • Donations decreased. From $4,000 in December they’re down to $2,500 in February.
  • February was a very busy month for the team. 3 stable releases were out.
  • Although the most important Distrowatch indicator is down (traffic share: 4.6%), the distribution started to get more coverage in the press and in the media.
  • Development started on Linux Mint 9.
  • March should see the releases of the Xfce and LXDE editions.