Linux Mint is one of those user friendly distributions I love to talk about. It seems to have everything a new user will need, and more. It also runs great, and keeps getting better with each new version. But is Mint 7 KDE an improvement on its predecessor, or has the ever venerable Mint KDE tripped and broke it's crown?

The Mint development team has announced the release of Linux Mint 7 XFCE, a Community Edition code named 'Gloria'. Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution that aims to be user friendly and provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including support for DVD playback, Java, plug-ins and various media CODECs.

Linux Mint 11 is the latest release of Linux Mint, a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. This is different from Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), a version of Linux Mint based on Debian.

Linux Mint 10 KDE is the latest release of Linux Mint. It is one of several editions of Linux Mint, a desktop-oriented distribution that is based on Ubuntu Desktop Edition. This release comes more than three months after the main Linux Mint 10 edition was released. The main edition, by the way, uses the GNU Object Model Environment (GNOME).

If you currently use another edition of Linux Mint 12, like Linux Mint 12 KDE or Linux Mint 12 GNOME, you will find that there is very little difference, if any, in functionality between this LXDE edition and those other more popular editions, other than for some LXDE-specific applications.

Linux Mint 11 LXDE has been released. This is the first release, other the main edition, which uses the GNOME 2 desktop environment, of Linux Mint 11, the edition of Linux Mint based on Ubuntu.

While a full review on the main website is still in the works, here are a few screenshots from a test installation.

This is the default desktop. According to sources from deep inside the Linux Mint team, this is the best desktop background ever designed by man, or woman. That’s why it will be the default desktop on all releases of Linux Mint or Linux Mint Debian from now till Thy Kingdom Come.

This tutorial is supposed to guide the reader through the features of the Cinnamon desktop, Mint's new desktop environment to be used in Linux Mint 13. Cinnamon concentrates on holding on to classic design and functionality in times where Gnome 3 and Unity come up with different innovations to the user interface.

Linux Mint has made its name by adding visual polish and implementing Mint-specific tools on top of its Ubuntu base. Times and changing though as we now have something new from the Linux Mint team. This latest release from Linux Mint is the first to be based on Debian Linux. Another surprise is that Linux Mint 9 “Debian” is a rolling release.