So you're craving something Minty Fresh? Well I've got your answer, Linux Mint 12. The Mint team has put their best foot forward developing their next flagship release based on Ubuntu 11.10. Lead developer and founder of the Mint project "Clem" made it a priority to carefully consider feedback from his current fan base as well as embrace the new technologies found in Gnome 3 and Gnome-Shell. This consideration is clearly evident with the very custom version of Gnome-Shell found in Linux Mint 12.
Ok, ok enough talking already. The following tutorial will show you how to install the most recent build of Linux Mint 12 but be advised it is pre-release software so everything may not be be fully functional.
1. Install Ubuntu 11.10
2. Open a terminal and type the following:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
3. At this point it may be a good idea to back up your sources.list file
4. Next delete all the text in your current sources.list then copy & paste the following:
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ lisa main upstream import
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ oneiric partner
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ oneiric free non-free
# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu oneiric-getdeb apps
# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu oneiric-getdeb games 5. Save the file and close.
6. Next in terminal type the following:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install linuxmint-keyring 7. Then type.... sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get install mint-common mint-artwork-gnome mint-meta-mgse 8. After the above packages have been installed, reboot 9. At the login screen select "GNOME" Enjoy! 
I tried this in virtualbox, but it keeps booting into fall back. I have 3d acceleration enabled in the virtual machine settings. Not sure what I'm doing wrong :-( I'd really like to check out the custom Gnome-Shell...
ReplyDeleteFigured it out, need to install a proprietary driver for virtualbox :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you got it working. Leave a comment with your thoughts on the upcoming Mint 12 release.
ReplyDeleteI love what they are doing with the DE, however I expected something more from them, it seems like they are making a deeper learning curve for new linux users wanting to try our different os' in a short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteSeems you can also download it here: http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ which is a lot simpler. Installed it yesterday and it works fine:-)
ReplyDeleteI do realize it probably wasn't available when the post was written, just wanted to point out that it is now:-)
ReplyDelete