Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Linux Mint 11 - Katya Review

For famous Linux distribution - Linux Mint, version 11 code-named "Katya" has been released on May 26th 2011. Finally after hefty 864MB downloading, I finally gave it a spin.

Looks:
May I dare to describe the looks of Mint 11 when the tag line "From freedom came Elegance." says it all. The default theme "Mint-X-Metal" is a blend of Minty green and metallic shades. Let the pictures do the talking, (Click on the image to see actual sized image)

Home Screen

Mint Menu - Favorites panel 

Mint Menu - All applications

Copy Dialogue

Window Switcher

Window Switcher - Close Up

File Browser - Nautilus

Default Wallpapers

Menu Shades


Applications:
Mint 11 features several necessary applications that do not ship with Ubuntu. Important applications include
  • GIMP (Image Editor)
  • MPlayer (Video Player)
  • Banshee (Music Player)
  • VLC Media Player (Nothing you don't know here.)
  • Firefox - 4
  • Sun Java 6
  • Pidgin Messenger
  • Libre Office 3.3.2
  • Revamped Software Center
  • Revamped Update Manager

LibreOffice Welcome screen

Software manager

Update Manager


Features:
Overlay scroll-bars is a new feature which aims to save scroll-bar space. This project initiated by Ubuntu, aims to shrink scroll bars to thin lines until you hover over them. On a mouse-over the scroll-bars appear.


Window maximizing via dragging it to top is also a new feature. To maximize any window, just drag it to top edge and it gets maximized.


Similarly dragging it towards left or right edge enables window to cover half of respective screen.



Summing it all up, It seems Linux Mint 11 is the best Distro offering traditional Gnome desktop with Fedora moving to Gnome3, Ubuntu moving to Unity.

If you are interested to feel the Mint, here are some useful Links.

 For an average Joe it would be this I recommend.

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