The new install mediums are offered as Beta

Jan 26, 2017 23:41 GMT  ·  By

Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre has announced today the availability of new ISO images for those who want to install the Debian-based LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) 2 "Betsy" operating system.

Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 "Betsy" is the rolling flavor of the popular Linux Mint distribution, but using Debian GNU/Linux packages instead of Ubuntu's. It was first introduced to the world almost two years ago, in April 2015, as a computer OS targeted at experienced users.

Because it follows a rolling release model, LMDE 2 offered its users all the latest package versions from the upstream Debian Jessie repositories, but the install mediums were outdated if you wanted to reinstall the OS or deploy it on new PCs, requiring you to download a large number of updates.

"LMDE 2 received many updates in the last 2 years, including many improvements which were ported from Linux Mint as well as all the new versions of MATE, Cinnamon and the XApps," said Clement Lefebvre in today's announcement. "This release provides a new set of installation images for LMDE 2 which includes all these updates."

Up-to-date LMDE 2 "Betsy" Cinnamon ISOs now in Beta

Therefore, today's LMDE 2 "Betsy" ISO images come with up-to-date components and the Cinnamon 3.2 desktop environment by default for the live session, allowing you to install the operating system without having to download hundreds of updated packages from the repositories after installation.

For now, the new ISOs are offered as Beta, which means that they might need a little polishing before they can be fully recommended for mass deployments. You can download either the 64-bit (for UEFI and BIOS machines) and 32-bit (only BIOS PCs) ISO images of LMDE 2 "Betsy" Cinnamon Edition Beta right now from our website.

The Linux Mint team recommends users to install the OS using the 64-bit ISO, if they own a modern computer. In the meantime, the developers are preparing to release Beta images of Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 "Betsy" with the more lightweight and customizable MATE desktop environment, which should be out any moment now.