Linux Mint 15 ‘Olivia’ released

Linux enthusiasts who have got past Fedora and OpenSUSE, can now sit up and take notice of the latest Linux Mint 15 ‘Olivia’. Debian-based Linux distributions have come a long way and are doing very well, currently. With Linux Mint 15, users get to choose between the Cinnamon or MATE desktop offerings. Both options essentially do the same task, though Cinnamon is clearly the popular choice.

This latest Olivia release is the first of the two annual releases that the company has planned for 2013. It is definitely a renewed approach that the developers have taken, compared to last November’s release.

The first thing that you notice is the new version of Cinnamon—Cinnamon 1.8. There are a number of bug fixes and you can no longer control it through GNOME, which was the predecessor to both Cinnamon and MATE.

In addition, the login screen can be customised through HTML5, making it pretty advanced in comparison to other operating systems. Users can now create their own login screens and add animation too.