14 DAY TRIAL // The final version of Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela" KDE edition has been released and is now ready for download. The distribution comes with a large number of changes and improvements, although there is nothing too exciting.
Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela KDE is a distribution based on Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environments. As many of you know and will remark from the screenshots, this distro is still employing the previous generation of the Plasma desktop, and it doesn't look like this is going to change anytime soon. In any case, if you are a user of this distro, you will notice a number of improvements.
Quite a few important KDE upgrades have been made in the meantime, but the Linux Mint project is still using an older version. It's likely that many users prefer to keep it that way.
The upgrade to the KDE Plasma 5.x is a huge step, and it will be interesting to see how the Mint devs will choose to implement this new branch. The project doesn't just integrate a vanilla version of KDE, and quite a few customizations are in place.
Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela" KDE is ready for download
If you are already using Linux Mint with KDE, you won't be terribly surprised by the new release, but the upgrade is worth your time since it comes with a ton of fixes. It's not a required update, but it's usually a good idea to do it anyway.
"Linux Mint 17.2 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2019. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use," reads the official announcement.
Users will find that the Software Sources have been upgraded, the Update Manager now presents information to the user in a more meaningful way, the display manager has been improved as well, the Better support for UEFI, NVIDIA and Optimus cards is now much better, and various other changes have been made.
You can download Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela" KDE from Softpedia and give it a spin.