The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 “Helena” KDE Community Edition RC1.

Quick steps:

• Download the ISO or the torrent.
• While it’s downloading look at the overview of the new features in Linux Mint 8 KDE CE, read the User Guide and make sure to quickly go through the known issues.
• After the ISO is downloaded verify the MD5 (as described in the user guide).
• Burn the ISO at low speed and enjoy testing Linux Mint 8 KDE RC1.
• Report bugs on the dedicated forum thread.

Introduction to Linux Mint 8 KDE:

The KDE Community Edition aims to provide a version of Linux Mint which uses the KDE desktop.

For a detailed overview of the new features and improvements included in Linux Mint 8 KDE, please read “What’s new in Helena KDE?“.

System requirements:

A minimum of 4GB of free space and 256MB RAM are needed. For a comfortable experience we recommended to have at least 512MB RAM and 10GB of free space.

Important information and known issues:

As an RC (Release Candidate) this release is targeted at developers and beta-testers who want to help Linux Mint find and correct bugs before the stable release. Please do not use this release as your main desktop. For a complete list of known issues read the Release Notes.

Feedback and bug reports:

Please report any bug you may find via the Linux Mint 8 KDE RC1 Bug Thread and give us your feedback on this release by posting a comment right here on the blog.

Download Linux Mint 8 KDE RC1:

You can download Linux Mint 8 KDE RC1 via torrent or via HTTP:

Size: 1.1GB LiveDVD
MD5Sum:  011e30de612adeccaa555da16c4ff0c6

Torrent download: http://www.linuxmint.com/torrent/LinuxMint-8-KDE-RC1.iso.torrent
HTTP download: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=47

Asia:

• http://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/Linux/LinuxMint-ISO/testing/ (Japan)
• http://ftp.riken.jp/pub/Linux/linuxmint/testing/ (Japan)
• http://ftp.oss.tw/pub/Mint/LinuxMint-ISO/testing/ (Taiwan)

Europe:

• http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/linux/mint/isos/testing/ (Austria)
• http://mint.nano-box.net/iso/testing/ (Bulgaria)
• http://mirrors.cytanet.com.cy/linux/mint/testing/ (Cyprus)
• http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/linuxmint/testing/ (Denmark)
• ftp://ftp.linuxmint-fr.org/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ (France)
• http://linuxmint.copahost.com/testing/ (Germany)
• http://linuxmint.cybermirror.org/testing/ (Germany)
• http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/debian/mint/testing/ (Germany)
• http://mirror.netcologne.de/mint/testing/ (Germany)
• http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/linuxmint/testing/ (Greece)
• http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ (Ireland)
• http://ftp.akl.lt/Linux/Mint/testing/ (Lithuania)
• ftp://ftp.tpnet.pl/pub/linux/linuxmint/isos/testing/ (Poland)
• http://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/linuxmint/testing/ (Portugal)
• http://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/linuxmint/testing/ (Sweden)
• http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/linuxmint.com/testing/ (UK)

Northern America:

• http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/linuxmint/testing/ (Canada)
• http://mirror.amarillolinux.com/linuxmint/testing/ (USA)
• http://mint.ez.by/linuxmint.com/testing/ (USA)
• http://linuxmint.secsup.org/testing/ (USA)
• ftp://mirrors.secution.com/linuxmint.com/testing/ (USA)
• http://mira.sunsite.utk.edu/linuxmint/testing/ (USA)

Rest of the World:

• http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linuxmint/testing/ (Australia)

Enjoy!

Have a lot of fun testing this release candidate and let’s all hope it will help us make a great stable release.