14 DAY TRIAL // A few moments ago, Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre proudly announced the release and immediate availability of the Beta version of the upcoming Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena."
Still based on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system, Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena" Beta is here in both Cinnamon and MATE flavors, and it's using the latest Cinnamon 3.2 and MATE 1.16 desktop environments, while the kernel is based on Linux 4.4 LTS.
"Linux Mint 18.1 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2021. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use," said Clement Lefebvre in today's announcement.
Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena" will be released later in December
Now that the Beta is out, we can expect the final Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena" release to arrive later in December, probably in two or three weeks from the moment of writing this article, depending on how fast the remaining issues are patched and if positive feedback is received from beta testers.
Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena" promises all the goodies of the Cinnamon 3.2 desktop environment, including support for virtual panels, improved hardware support, better look and feel, new screensaver, and more. Most of the in-house built applications distributed as part of the X-Apps projects have been updated as well. Check out the video overview below courtesy of W00den D3sk.
Therefore, if you want to help the Linux Mint developers polish the upcoming Serena release, we invite you today to download the Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon and MATE Beta ISO images for either 64- or 32-bit computers and report any issues you might encounter, but please try to always keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, not suitable for daily use.
