14 DAY TRIAL // The Linux Mint 17.3 Beta "Rosa" MATE Edition has been released and is now available for download. This is one of the last steps in the development cycle before the launch of the stable version.
The MATE edition of Linux Mint 17.3 Beta "Rosa" was released along with the Cinnamon one and it's one of the two main flavors of the Linux Mint distribution. There are also Xfce and KDE versions, not to mention editions that are based on Debian, but those are not the main focus of the team.
It's a well-known fact that Linux Mint 17.x is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. It was established a while back that Linux Mint would only use Ubuntu LTS versions, and the developers are sticking to this plan. It has worked great until now, and they will keep basing their OS on the long-term support distros from Canonical.
Linux Mint 17.3 Beta "Rosa" MATE Edition is ready for testing
As the version suggests, this is still a Beta version, and that means that bugs are still present. It might feel like a stable version, but it's not.
"Linux Mint 17.3 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," wrote the developers.
According to the changelog, the application menu looks much better, thanks to the addition of a frame, borders and shadows, the "Desktop Settings" tool now supports more window and compositing managers, MATE 1.12 has been implemented by default, multi-monitor support has been improved, the Software Sources tool now detects your location, the Update Manager now also performs more checks than before, and many more fixes have been implemented.
You can download Linux Mint 17.3 Beta "Rosa" MATE Edition right now from Softpedia, but please keep in mind that it's not a stable version.