This is Linux Mint 5, codename Elyssa, based on Daryna and compatible with Ubuntu Hardy and its repositories.

Linux Mint's purpose is to produce an elegant, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.

Some of the reasons for the success of Linux Mint are:

• It's one of the most community driven distributions. You could literally post an idea in the forums today and see it implemented the week after in the "current" release. Of course this has pros and cons and compared to distributions with roadmaps, feature boards and fixed release cycles we miss a lot of structure and potentially a lot of quality, but it allows us to react quickly, implement more innovations and make the whole experience for us and for the users extremely exciting.
  
• It is a Debian-based distribution and as such it is very solid and it comes with one of the greatest package managers.
  
• It is compatible with and uses Ubuntu repositories. This gives Linux Mint users access to a huge collection of packages and software.
  
• It comes with a lot of desktop improvements which make it easier for the user to do common things.
  
• There is a strong focus on making things work out of the box (WiFi cards drivers in the file system, multimedia support, screen resolution, etc).

For full Release Notes please visit http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa.php
In this edition, look for;

1. mintMenu improvements
2. mintUpdate improvements
3. mintInstall improvements
4. Improvements in other tools
5. Desktop improvements
6. Performance improvements
7. Better Look and feel
8. Better Localization and documentation
9. More software available
10. Changes in the default software selection
11. Upstream improvements
12. LTS aspects

A complete Screenshot tour can be found at http://www.linuxmint.com/screenshots.php

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