- [ Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" RC ] -

I decided to try out the new Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" RC release. Installation is easy as usually with Mint, nice and fast. Looks pretty similar to the previous release.

On first boot you'll notice the really fast bootup time it takes. The looks and feel are pretty much the same as before. System seems to be working really fast and stable.

Honestly not much to say about this distro but that it really works well, fast and stable. And in my opinion is a perfect build for someone who wants to give Linux a try for the first time or any other desktop users out there. Please remember that this is still the RC release and there might be buggy. I dont know if i think the new Software Manager is better or worse, one thing i really liked was the software description.

Mint try to make things work out of the box which is pretty nice for people who don't know how or don't wanna be bothered with complicated driver installations such as Wifi cards, graphic drivers, multimedia codec's etc.

New features are as follows :

• New Software Manager
  
  • 30,000 packages
  • Review applications straight from the Software Manager
  • APT daemon
  • Visual improvements
• New Backup Tool
  
  • Incremental backups, compression, integrity checks
  • Backup/Restoration of the software selection
• Menu improvements
  
  • Editable items
  • Transparent menu
  • Always start with favorites
  • “Add to” shortcuts
• Desktop settings
  
  • Changes apply immediately
  • Additional options
• Better look & feel
  
  • Backgrounds
  • Welcome screen
  • Update Manager
• System improvements
  
  • Windows installer
  • Husse quotes
  • USB Creator
  • Default software selection
  • Local repository and Gnome-PPP
  • Apt hold/unhold/held commands
• Project changes
  
  • Community Website
  • CD & DVD
  • Community Editions
  • OEM installation disks
  • USA/Japan distributors disks
  • 32 & 64-bit
• Upstream improvements
  
  • Faster boot
  • Long Term Support

System requirements:

• x86 processor (for both 32 & 64-bit versions)
• x86_64 compatible processor (for the 64-bit version)
• 512 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

Download links:

Download Linux Mint 9 RC i386
Download Linux Mint 9 RC amd64