Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" Now Available, Is Most Popular Open Source OS

In just the last twelve months, Linux Mint has surpassed Ubuntu as the most popular open source operating system on open source ranking website DistroWatch. Why, you ask? Perhaps because the latter has been looking with a new perspective on the user interface, and begun aiming at mobile platforms instead. However, note that Linux Mint is actually built on Ubuntu, so it has quite a few of Ubuntu's advantages while doing away with some of its shortcomings, and serving up a plethora of multimedia codecs.

Version 12 of the Mint distro, "Lisa" is now available, escorting in with it a new desktop based on Gnome 3 with some Mint-specific improvements and an open source-friendly search engine called DuckDuckGo. Also, the extras from Ubuntu make Linux Mint 12 take up a bit more space than usual , but you get to use a solid desktop interface that isn't trying to do something crazy.

The rudimentary system requirements to run Linux Mint 12 are as follows:

x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).

512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).

5 GB of disk space

Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution

CD/DVD drive or USB port

You can download the most recently released version of Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" here from the official Linux Mint Blog here. Do any SlashGear readers use Linux? Do any of you use either Ubuntu or Mint? Why either distro? Why Linux, instead of OS X or Windows? Leave your thoughts and comments in the comment section below.

[via The Verge]