Linux Mint 12 – Lisa is launched very recently. It was out on November 26, 2011. This is yet another update from Linux mint team; second one this year. Linux mint 12 replaces older desktop with an elegant and brand new desktop. Anyway lets dig into the new features.
Linux Mint Lisa
Gnome 3 and MGSE – A new mix up
This new desktop is built on MGSE and Gnome 3. MGSE is the abbreviation for Mint Gnome Shell Extensions. It is a layer of desktop added to Gnome 3 which makes it easier for you to run Gnome 3 without any hassles. That means, if you disable all components within MGSE, then you will get a Gnome 3 experience, while if you enable them all, then yuo will get a desktop experience that is similar to your earlier mint desktop.
The core features in MGSE are :
- A panel at the bottom
- A separate menu for applications
- List for windows
- Desktop Switcher
- Visible Tray Icons
Alt + Tab Pop Up Window
The Linux mint 12 comes with exciting features, and the components using MGSE gives us the old Linux mint isadora feeling. In a normal view, Linux Mint 12 behaves like the traditional desktop, but it is packed in a new, attractive form. Now launching applications has become easier, because you can switch between applicatons and workspaces using the keyboard shortcuts. A notification bar sitting at the top gives you latest updates, and access to “activities” from the top left corner.
The new MGSE menu
MATE
It is a Gnome 2 fashioned tool using which you can run both versions of Gnome ; i.e. Gnome 2 and 3 on the same system.
Mate with Mint's menu
MATE is available for users to download, in the DVD edition. If you have downloaded the CD edition, then you can install a mint-meta-mate package via Package Manager.
Artistic Linux
MintZ - new theme in Lisa
Now Linux Mint, has 2 more awesome themes named Mint-Z and Mint-Z-Dark in addition to old Mint themes.
Mint Z theme Set up
Backgrounds : Like in the older releases, the default appearance tab shows a 3D Linux Mint logo. There are plenty more artworks to choose from. You can choose them according to your taste. This time they’ve included photographs from India too, that made me happy anyways.
Search Engines
DDG : This time Linux Mint comes with another default search engine, named Duck Duck Go. The good here is that, this search engine provides completely unbiased results for your queries.
Installation procedures : Installing search engines has become a lot different from previous releases. In earlier editions, we manually needed to update the search engine via “about:config” in Mozilla Firefox. This time they’ve also launched additional search engines installation facility.
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