The Linux Mint Blog

Linux Mint traditionally uses a dark background and a light theme.

Linux Mint 3.1 Celena, 4.0 Daryna, 5 Elyssa and 6 Felicia looked like this:

Mint 3.1 Celena

Mint 4.0 Daryna

Mint 5 Elyssa

Mint 6 Felicia

We were happy with this theme and it suited most people.

When Linux Mint 6 Gloria was ready to come out people wanted something new, a new artist called Zwopper had surfaced in the community, and there was a new popular style available for Gnome called Shiki. I remember being nervous about changing the theme and so we decided to go for it in the RC release and see what would happen next. The success of the new theme was phenomenal and so we decided to keep it for the stable release. As a consequence, Linux Mint 7 Gloria looked radically different:

Mint 7 Gloria (Shiki theme, Dew wallpaper)

The artwork used for Linux Mint 7 (above) was Shiki for the theme (as opposed to Murrina in previous releases) and “Dew” (by Zwopper) for the wallpaper.

In Linux Mint 8, my intention was to keep the Mint 7 theme and to use a new wallpaper from Zwopper called  “Fresh”:

Shiki theme, Fresh wallpaper

Many members of the development team commented on the wallpaper and expressed concern about it. The “Fresh” wallpaper was kept in the default installation (it’s available in the “Appearances” tool in your Mint 8 RC1 desktop) but the default wallpaper was changed to a new one, which was designed by Johonunu. The team was much happier with this new wallpaper and so Linux Mint 8 RC1 ended up looking like this:

Shiki theme, Johonunu wallpaper

The reason I’m talking about all this, of course, is because I see a lot of concern in the feedback I’m receiving for this RC. Many people aren’t happy with this default wallpaper and I don’t know if it’s just that those who like it simply don’t feel the need to say it, or if, really, that wallpaper just isn’t popular.

I know we’re only talking about the looks here, and there are more important things to focus on, but we have time to think about this before the stable release. No matter what people say, the first look, the general impression given by the desktop actually means a lot. Even if people change the wallpaper and the looks then-after, the first impression is nonetheless very important, so it’s important to get it right.

I’ve created a poll below. I would like people not to just look at the screenshots, but to go in the “Appearances” tool and to try the different themes and the different wallpapers before making up their mind. A wallpaper can look very different in a screenshot than when it’s actually used as your wallpaper. One of the options is to organize a paid contest to quickly get new wallpapers on a website like 99designs.com for instance. It’s not my preferred option, not because of the money it would cost but because we would potentially run out of time in asking you what you though of the “new” one.. it’s an option nonetheless, so if you think none of Dew, Fresh, or the older themes are suitable, then please vote that option.

Finally, this is a poll, not a vote. Decisions are taken in accordance with what we think is best and our judgement relies on your feedback.  Many thanks in advance for taking part in this poll.

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Introduction to translations:

All it takes for Linux Mint 8 to support your language is for you to translate it.

In Linux Mint, non-translated sentences or words simply show up in English. So if nobody contributes the translations we need to support your language, your experience with the desktop won’t be as good as it could be, since some tools will show up in your language, some others in English, and some even feature a mix of the two languages.

Translating Linux Mint is easy and it doesn’t take much time. You read a sentence in English and write the translated sentence in your own language. Every now and then we collect all the translations and package them into a package called “mint-translations”. Users are notified of an update via their Update Manager and the new translations get integrated within their desktop.

How to translate:

For translations, we use a popular website called Launchpad. First, you need a Launchpad account. You can register at this address:

https://launchpad.net

Once you’re logged in your Launchpad account, click on your name in the top right corner of the screen to access your personal page. Then click on the edit sign beside “Languages” and select all the languages you’re fluent in.

You’re now ready to translate, head towards the translations for Linux Mint 8 at this address:

https://translations.launchpad.net/linuxmint/helena

Here you can see the progression of the translations for each language. When the number of “untranslated” and “Needs review” items both reach 0, then Linux Mint is fully translated in your language.

In Launchpad, you can submit translations for untranslated items but you can also contribute corrections (i.e. alternative translations) when you see translations you don’t find accurate. You can also flag translations for “review” in which case somebody will have to look into it and chose among the available translations for a particular item.

Guidelines:

When you translate, think about the user and the application you’re translating for. Try to be coherent with the rest of the desktop, for instance Gnome calls “it” a “Trash”, not a “Bin”, so use “Trash” instead of “Bin”

You can also open the application you’re translating for and see if you can identify where in the application is the sentence you’re currently translating.

Your translation should reflect the message given to the user more than the accuracy of the terms that are used. Literal translations should be avoided. If a sentence makes sense in English but not in your own language don’t hesitate to rephrase it. What matters is the message and the general meaning, what is said to the user, and the action he’ll consequently take, the accuracy of the translation word for word doesn’t matter at all.

Don’t force your language on users when it doesn’t sound natural. All languages use foreign words and when it comes to the Internet, computers and IT, a lot of these words come from English. Some languages “invented” their own versions of these words in an effort to protect themselves against English. If, for a given word, people still use the English term, then please do so. An example of this in French would be “televersement” instead of “upload” or “mel” instead of “email”. Please avoid these terms. The same way the accuracy of the translation is less relevant than the reflection of the original meaning, following the dictionnary is less important than speaking the “natural” language most people would expect.

Teams:

In Launchpad, Linux Mint uses a “structured” translation policy. This means that anyone can suggest translations, and if a particular language isn’t assigned a particular translation team, anyone can also confirm and apply translations for that language.

Teams are formed to review and organize translations for a particular language. So if you’re member of a translation team you can review other people’s translations and decide which translation is better suited for a particular sentence.

If you feel you don’t need a translation team (for instance, Italian was fully translated without any translation team) then that’s fine. If you think you do, then don’t hesitate to contact me via Launchpad https://launchpad.net/~clementlefebvre) and I’ll create a team for your language and add you to it.

The list of teams can be seen here:

https://translations.launchpad.net/+groups/linux-mint

If there’s already a team for your language and you feel you should be part of it, simply click on it and then apply to be a member of it.

Goals:

The most important goal is to get Linux Mint fully translated in most languages before we can release the stable version of Helena. Missing translations is considered an issue which can delay the stable release of Linux Mint 8. Please take your time though, quality is more important that delays.

Once this is done, we’ll then collect translations on a monthly basis and update the mint-translations package so users can get newly translated items via their Update Manager.

Working together:

Translations are a community effort. All the development team does is to provide the environment for it to happen. The tools we develop were adapted to show in any language and support the format used by Launchpad. As for us, we make sure things work but all we ever do when it comes to development is to get the English version of the software ready. After that, for it to show up in your language, the magic is performed by you

Many thanks to all the people who already helped in translating Linux Mint and thanks in advance to all of you.

Thank you, merci, gracias, khop kun khrap

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 Helena RC1.

Quick steps:

• Download the ISO or the torrent.
• While it’s downloading take an overview of the new features and make sure to quickly go through the known issues.
• After the ISO is downloaded verify the MD5.
• Burn the ISO at low speed and enjoy testing this RC of Linux Mint 8.

Introduction to Linux Mint 8:

The 8th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular Linux Mint 8 comes with support for OEM installs, a brand new Upload Manager, the menu now allows you to configure custom places, the update manager now lets you define packages for which you don’t want to receive updates,the software manager now features multiple installation/removal of software and many of the tools’ graphical interfaces were enhanced.

This is just a summary of the new features coming with Linux Mint 8. For a complete overview of the new features, please read: “What’s new in Linux Mint 8 Helena”.

System requirements:

A minimum of 512MB of RAM is recommended. Once installed the system works fine with as low as 256MB RAM. The installation process deals with 2.5GB of data compressed on a 700MB CD and it can hang or fail on systems with less than 512MB RAM. If you have between 256MB and 512MB RAM you may have to try to install several times.

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.

Upgrade instructions:

Upgrade instructions will be published with the stable release.

Feedback and bug reports:

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

Download Linux Mint 8 RC1:

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

Size: 688MB LiveCD
MD5Sum: 93614f823d9d07c9560dfdb17d4db8fb

Torrent download: http://www.linuxmint.com/torrent/LinuxMint-8-RC1.iso.torrent
HTTP download: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=44

Asia:

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

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)
• http://linuxmint.cybermirror.org/testing/ (Germany)
• ftp://ftp.linuxmint-fr.org/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ (Germany)
• http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/linuxmint/testing/ (Greece)
• http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/ (Ireland)
• 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)

Enjoy!

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

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

• $461, Einar Orn Eidsson (Iceland)
• $182, Jonas K. (France)
• $117, Gwa Cobbett (United Kingdom) – http://gwa.tumblr.com
• $101, Kevin W. (USA)
• $100, Philip C. Freytag aka “phil” (Canada)
• $100, J.-Yves Lortie aka “amadeus128″ (Canada)
• $100, Charles P Poltrock aka “chuckpo” (USA)
• $92, Dusan P. (Slovenia)
• $75, Uwe T. (Germany)
• $53, Mikael J. (Sweden)
• $51, Suyog B. (Australia)
• $50, John Mason aka “merc68k” (Canada)
• $50, Edward Comer aka “celem” (USA)
• $50, gazza (Australia)
• $50, Campbell M (United Kingdom)
• $50, G. Sheffield (USA)
• $50, Ernest G. (USA)
• $50, Enderle P. (USA)
• $46, Anthony H. aka “anthony2010″ (United Kingdom)
• $46, Richard Cail (United Kingdom)
• $38, Manuel F. (Portugal)
• $38, Antonino T. (Italy)
• $38, Michael Krusch aka “MAD” (Germany)
• $30 (3rd donation), Marco R. (Italy)
• $30 (2nd donation), Jonathan B H. (USA)
• $30, Barrie M R. (Australia)
• $30, Volker Schulz-von der G. (Germany)
• $30, Francisco P. (USA)
• $30, Josef K. (Czech Republic)
• $30, Russ S. (USA)
• $30, Abraham L. (USA) – http://www.eggsinthemorning.com
• $30, Roberto P. (Italy)
• $30, Jan de G. (Netherlands)
• $30, Daniel W. (World) – http://www.downloadstube.net
• $30, Christ L. (Greece)
• $28, Alison R. (United Kingdom)
• $28, Philip Watson aka “Eraph” (United Kingdom) – http://www.rakhama.com
• $28, Nadege Austin aka “nadglobtrotter” (France)
• $28, Ruben Z. (Netherlands)
• $25, Anthony S. (USA)
• $25, Matthew Hancock aka “mwhancock” (USA)
• $25, Martin Colville aka “colvillem” (Australia)
• $25, Daniel B. (USA)
• $25, Sheffoy F. (USA)
• $25, Philip S. (United Kingdom)
• $25, Stephen B. (USA)
• $25, Keith Templeman aka “mansfields1964″ (United Kingdom)
• $25, Michael F. (USA)
• $25, Donald D’A. (USA)
• $25, Rod McLaren aka “Ambertone” (Australia) – http://www.ambertone.com.au
• $23, Cong-Truc T. (France)
• $23, Massimo Campanini aka “campamax” (Italy)
• $20 (2nd donation), Blaine R. (USA)
• $20, Worawit W. (Thailand)
• $20, Michael H. (USA)
• $20, Justin Johansson (Australia)
• $20, Gerald E. (USA)
• $20, Kazuhiko T. (Japan)
• $20, William R. (USA)
• $20, Victor W. (USA)
• $20, Michael Nordmark (Sweden)
• $20, Sammasati Enterprises (USA)
• $20, Tomislav Pintaric (Canada)
• $20, Ricardo Calimanis aka “ricardo.calimanis” (Brazil) – http://goetti.blogspot.com
• $20, Mario Castro (Spain)
• $20, Chris Jones (USA) – http://caringcompy.blogspot.com
• $20, Juan Carlos C. (USA)
• $20, Michael D.-M. (Canada)
• $19, Olivier B. (France)
• $18, Lee Sturman aka “Hammerlee” (United Kingdom)
• $15 (2nd donation), Colin Casey (Canada)
• $15, Dimitris C. (Greece)
• $15, Joachim W. (Germany)
• $15, Russell Aldrich aka “Russman” (USA) – http://www.myspace.com/rockinroll69
• $15, Philip S. (USA)
• $15, Greg Dawes aka “Greg-NZ” (New Zealand)
• $15, Nikos K. (Greece)
• $15, Royden L. (United Kingdom)
• $15, Jason S. (Canada)
• $15, Allen B. (USA)
• $15, Mark C. aka “geekman” (USA)
• $15, Paul E. (United Kingdom)
• $14, Francisco C. C. (Spain)
• $14, Charl P. (Netherlands)
• $14, Nico W. (Austria)
• $14, Justin Braime (United Kingdom)
• $12, Pavel Gelnar aka “wil-m” (Czech Republic) – http://www.brblal.net
• $10 (2nd donation), Richard G. (USA)
• $10, Shiva L. (India)
• $10, Clocktower Arts Monthly (USA)
• $10, Technadicts (USA)
• $10, Damon Catling (Australia)
• $10, Raimond L. (Lithuania)
• $10, Tom Cordina aka “4Foot” (Canada)
• $10, Suleyman B. (Turkey)
• $10, Andrzej W. (USA)
• $10, Senad S. (USA)
• $10, Sedat C. (Turkey)
• $10, Anthony G. (USA)
• $10, Jeff Walker (USA)
• $10, Christopher De R. (USA)
• $10, http://billstoolstore.co.uk (United Kingdom)
• $10, jmkent aka “Burton” (USA)
• $10, Ed W. (USA)
• $10, Paul Thomas aka “liassic” (United Kingdom) – http://www.south-wales.org
• $10, Ernest L. (USA)
• $10, Anders B. (Norway)
• $10, Travis T. (USA)
• $10, Gavin F. (United Kingdom)
• $10, MartinF aka “badwolf9″ (Switzerland)
• $10, Kevin B. (Canada)
• $10, 室津 恵三 (Japan)
• $10, Daniel C J. (United Kingdom)
• $10, Priyantha T. (Norway)
• $8, Dino G. (Italy)
• $8, Lazaros S. (Greece)
• $8, Kai P. (Germany)
• $7, Dave G. (USA)
• $7, Lukas M. (Czech Republic)
• $7, Robert M. (United Kingdom)
• $7, Kostas P. (Greece)
• $5, Thomas C. (USA)
• $5, Donna Fontenot aka “DonnaFontenot – DazzlinDonna” (USA) – http://www.dazzlindonna.com
• $5, Michael K. (USA)
• $5, Aaron R. (USA)
• $5, Jim H. (United Kingdom)
• $5, George238 (Portugal)
• $5, Chuck W. (USA)
• $5, Jens Stenneken (Germany) – http://www.stenneken.de
• $5, Freddy W. (USA)
• $5, Richard K. (USA)
• $5, Todd J. (USA)
• $5, Salvatore D. (Italy)
• $5, tvardy (Poland)
• $5, Enrico Galli (Italy) – http://www.egw.it
• $5, Matthew L. (USA)
• $4, Patrik R. (Sweden)
• $4, Kyle H. (USA)
• $4, Romel S. (USA)
• $3, Danny J. (United Kingdom)
• $3, Diego C. (Italy)
• $3, Remy van Elst (Netherlands) – http://relst.nl/
• $2, Adam S. (USA)
• $1, Rain Clark aka “Melon Bread” (USA) – http://otaku-unlimited.net/Forums/index.php
• $1, Fredrik G. (Sweden)
• $0.02, Samuel L. M. (Chile)

Sponsors:

• $75, John Ritchie aka “Aging Technogeek” (USA)
• $45, Linux Compatible Poker (USA) – http://www.linuxcompatiblepoker.com/
• $40, Az Van aka “newW2″ (USA)
• $20, Scott P. (USA)
• $20, TOPIMMOBILIEN aka “Tim” - http://www.immobilien-es.com/
• $15, Linux in the HAM Shack aka “HamShackLinux” (USA) – http://blacksparrowmedia.com/lhs
• $11, cheap vps hosting – http://www.neosurge.com/
• $10, Rechtsberatung, Steuerberatung, Internetrecht (Tim) aka “Tim” – http://www.rechtsundsteuerberatung.de/
• $10, Todd W.
• $10, Stitz Computers, LLC (USA) – http://stitzcomputers.com/
• $10, Brandon P.
• $10, Gustav Holm aka “Gustav” (Sweden) – http://gustavholm.com/
• $7, Jesse Burroughs aka “JpBя” (USA)
• $7, Panagiotis Papasaikas (Greece) – http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ppapasai/
• $7, Unixmen – http://www.unixmen.com/
• $5, Christopher D.
• $5, Linuxmint-FR.org (France) – http://www.linuxmint-fr.org
• $5, Sohier C.
• $5, Contact lenses (Ireland) – http://www.eye-care-4u.com
• $5, Stuart C.
• $5, DLX Company (USA) – http://www.dlxcompany.com/
• $4, Ian E. aka “EchoLynx ” (USA)
• $2, Joerg Dreckmann (Germany)
• $2, NVISN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AND CONSULTING (USA) – http://www.nvisn.com/
• $2, funkelectric (Spain) – http://www.funkelectric.com/
• $2, Scott M.
• $1, Prasad.S.R (India) – http://saysprasad.wordpress.com/
• $1, Cyprus Property (Cyprus) – http://www.leptosestates.com/
• $1, Cyprus Resale (Cyprus) – http://www.cyprusresaleproperties.com
• $1, Surf in Peace (United Kingdom) – http://www.surfinpeace.co.uk/
• $1, Busybits aka “Submit Website” – http://www.busybits.com/
• $1, Expert Bookings (Romania) – http://www.expert-bookings.com/
• $1, very-clever.com – http://www.very-clever.com/
• $1, LinBoo.com – http://linboo.com/linux/mint.html
• $1, Erin G.
• $0.9, Michael K.
• $0.5, Nottingham web design (United Kingdom) – http://www.drawmyattention.co.uk/
• $0.5, Dedicated Servers Hosting – http://www.dedicatedservershostingdeals.com
• $0, Martijn van Loon aka “aapiethaaap” (Netherlands)

Money raised in October:

* Donations: $3828.02 (147 donors)
* Sponsors: $349.9 (39 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

User Stats:

Repartition of Linux Mint users across releases:

• Linux Mint 7 Gloria: 81% (+3%)
  
• Linux Mint 6 Felicia: 11% (-3%)
  
• Linux Mint 5 Elyssa LTS: 5% (-1%)
  
• Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna: 3% (-0%)
  

Web Stats:

• Visits: 2,150,333 (+8%)
  
• Pageviews: 3,655,481 (+7%)
• Page impressions: 1,414,004
• Search queries: 4,817,791
• Forum users: 22,485
• Forum posts: 193,513

Rankings:

• Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1328 (3rd)
• Distrowatch (traffic share): 3.9% (2nd)
• Alexa (website ranking): 25,039th

Events:

• No releases this month.
  
• The LXDE and Fluxbox editions of Linux Mint 7 were cancelled.
• Clem is now working full time for the distribution.
• mintCast released 2 episodes of their podcast: http://mintcast.org/

Summary:

• October 2009 was the (8th consecutive) best month ever since the creation of Linux Mint.
• The overall income is up 8%.
• Our user base is the second largest in the desktop Linux market.
• The community support has never been so big. 147 people gathered to send us more than $3,800! We also got a single donation of $461 from Einar Orn Eidsson (Iceland). This has never been so high.
• In terms of events this was a very quiet month. We’ve been working hard on the new upcoming release though and there will be plenty of reasons for people to get excited about Linux Mint 8. November will be eventful and I hope this will please the community, especially after seeing how much it’s been supporting our project. Many thanks to all the donors and sponsors behing Linux Mint and congratulations to them, to us and to this project for another fantastic month.

There’s good and bad news about the boot sequence in the upcoming Linux Mint 8.

The Ubuntu developers implemented a new splash technology called xsplash which I find much more powerful than the older usplash. There’s a lot of underlying reasons involved in using xsplash but in this blog post I’d like to focus on the graphical part. The visuals produced by xsplash are nice-looking and it’s now easy to produce good-looking animations.

The problem in Ubuntu 9.10 and Linux Mint 8 though is that it is not possible to rely solely on xsplash and so it has to be used in combination with usplash. So when you boot the system you’ll see usplash, then xsplash, then GDM, then xsplash and then finally the desktop. We’ve made our usplash, xsplash and GDM artwork coherent and so did Ubuntu so even though the whole thing could be more integrated, that’s not a big problem for now and it still looks better than in the previous releases of both distributions.

The real problem is for users who like to customize their system. Xsplash isn’t a mature technology yet and it simply doesn’t take any configuration. It’s easy to tweak but it’s not themeable. To modify its looks you’ll have to modify the system files it uses and tell mintUpdate to ignore xsplash related package updates (this is a new feature in mintUpdate coming in Mint 8, so thankfully that’s quite easy to do).

Grub 2 replaces Grub and just as Grub wasn’t complete without its gfx-boot patch, Grub 2 isn’t complete without its new gfxmenu patch. According to some of the Grub developers though the patch is considered for inclusion and likely to be integrated soon. So the decision is for Linux Mint 8 to use Grub 2 and to wait for it to support gfx-menu.

That basically means our Grub menu will look more like this:

Than like this:

I know we got people used to nice boot menus in the previous releases and most of you will probably miss grub-gfxboot, but at this stage it makes more sense to stick to the official Grub branch and to patiently wait for them to support this feature.

GDM also comes with a lot of changes.

In brief, the boot sequence in Mint 8 is going to radically different than in Mint 7, with pros and cons compared to it, but overall with a general feeling of improvement. I hope most of you will appreciate it, if you’ve tried the RC of Ubuntu 9.10 you probably have an idea of what’s coming up. Unlike previous releases of Linux Mint, we’ll use the same technology than Ubuntu this time around and we’ll make our best to produce nice artwork for it.

I was recently contacted by a person called Graeme Cobbett. In his email he told me he got his Windows license refunded and donated that money to Linux Mint. Of course, as you can imagine, he felt pretty happy about it and he wanted to let people know how he did it.

So here’s his article on the topic. Good reading everyone!

Hello, my name is Graeme Cobbett. Today, I donated $112 to Linux Mint. But I didn’t fund this myself: Microsoft gave me the money. Here’s how I did it.

This is the story of how I bought a new notebook PC, replaced Windows with Linux and got a refund for the operating system I didn’t want. Not many people do that last bit about getting a refund, but perhaps you can too, if you have a calm attitude and persevere then it can be straightforward.

1. Choose your new computer.

Take a look at the vast array of new PCs on the market. Does the one you like come without Microsoft Windows? Unless it’s a netbook, probably not. Even if you do strike lucky, chances are it costs the same (or even more in some cases) than the equivalent with Windows. So you are probably kinda fixed with buying a copy of Windows you don’t want.

2. Don’t switch on your new computer yet!

You can only reject your software license if you do not use it. You’ll need to use another computer to do step 2:

3. Download Linux.

This one’s pretty easy. First, you choose what kind of Linux you want. I got Linux Mint because, being based on Ubuntu, it has a huge support base so you can easily Google for help. But unlike Ubuntu, it comes ready to play DVDs, music files and Flash files with no tinkering. If you use Windows to download your replacement operating system, the only tricky bit is that you have to use a special utility like Isorecorder to burn the file. (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm).

4. Test Linux to make sure it works

You can do this on your new computer without starting Windows: just put your newly-burned CD or USB stick into your computer before you switch on. Not everything might work perfectly first time. For example, on my Dell Studio 1555, the sound didn’t work. So I just googled “Dell Studio 1555 Ubuntu Sound” and found a step-by-step fix which fixed things straight away.

5. Reject your software license

Have you ever read the Microsoft Windows End User License Agreement? It’s pretty scary what you commit yourself to. If you buy Dell, then as soon as you start Windows then you agree to a second set of scary software terms. So reject them. Email is probably the best way: unlike support phone lines it’s free, you can make your case concisely, and if your vendor makes an offer you have proof right in your inbox, so they can’t go back on their word. Don’t delay – for example, Dell like you to do this within 7 days. Here’s what I wrote:

“I do not agree to the terms of the Dell Software Licensing Agreement or the Microsoft Windows End User License Agreement.

“I confirm that I have not used any of the software, have not opened or broken the seal on any software packet and have deleted all preloaded or embedded software from my Dell.

“1. How may I promptly return the disks and other software items to you?

“2. How will you refund the cost of the software? I note that Windows Vista Home Premium retails at £133.96, Microsoft Works at £39.99 and Cyberlink PowerDVD at £39.99 today, which means a total refund of £213.94 is due.

“best regards”

6. Argue the case
I was all fired up for this bit. The article at http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/59381 covers your bases really well: I recommend looking there if your vendor tries to reject your request the first few times.

So, I was all ready for a pitched battle with Dell when they replied within 48 hours offering this:

“The software Cd’s can be returned to Dell.

“However, the refund for Cyberlink PowerDVD cannot be arranged as this software is already preinstalled on the system.

“The amount that would be refunded for  Vista Home Premium is £57.82+vat
and for Microsoft Works is £3.86+vat”

Brilliant! With tax, that adds up to about £70 (US$110), enough for me to overlook their nonsense about the DVD software. I made sure never to say “I accept your offer”, instead preferring “thank you for your offer. You may collect the CDs on [date].” Then, if they screw me around later, I can take them to court for full retail.

7. Gently persevere

So then comes the interesting bit. Dell arranged to collect the software from me but their collection agent didn’t show. Why would they? That’s going to cost them £70 ($110). They had me over a barrel, asking me to wait at home for a whole extra day. So I upped the “firm” factor with a message:

“On 27th August 2009, I wrote to you rejecting your software license terms. You wrote back on 31st August saying I could have a refund if I returned the software CDs.

“You offered to collect the CDs on 11th September. I lost a day’s work waiting at home for you to collect the CDs but you did not collect them. You have acknowledged this but not offered me an explanation.

“You now say I may not have a refund unless we arrange for you to collect the software CDs another time. I cannot afford to take another day off work, so I offered to post them to you. You declined my offer.

“I would like to give you another chance to make amends. Please grant me a refund now. If you are unable to do this, please send me a copy of Dell’s formal complaints procedure so that I may raise my complaint at the appropriate level.”

Dell knows that if I refuse a reasonable request by them then a small claims court will throw out any legal claim I make. So I played nice until they realised they would have to let me use regular post to send the CDs.

So eventually I got my refund. It took me 12 email exchanges in total, and Dell probably didn’t get a refund from Microsoft for the license. But I suspect that every time someone secures a license refund, it has a more than proportionate effect on the PC manufacturers’ next round of negotiations with Microsoft, gently loosening their tight monopoly grip on the operating system market.

8. Donate your refund to Linux Mint

Because you’re one of the good guys. Or just because you get a nice squidgy feeling from the idea that your the money you got back from your unwanted Microsoft software is keeping free, open-source software ahead of the game. Pat yourself on the back!

We’ve been very busy working on the upcoming Linux Mint 8 lately and I haven’t taken much time to communicate with the community, so here are some news of what is going on at the moment:

- The development of the LXDE edition never really started and so this edition is cancelled.

- Shane, the maintainer of the Fluxbox edition, had to focus on personal matters and is likely to be unavailable in the future. The maintenance of this edition might be delegated to another member of the team, to myself or to a new person in the near future, but in the meantime there will not be a Fluxbox edition of Linux Mint 7.

- A lot of new features and improvements were made for mintUpdate and mintInstall. Both tools are ready to be included in Linux Mint 8. Among other things, mintUpdate now comes with better error handling and the ability for the user to block particular updates based on the name of the package. The graphical interface was also enhanced.

- Linux Mint 8 will come with support for OEM installs.

- Drastic changes were planned for mintBackup and mintUpload and were partly implemented. Both tools are however far from being stable at the moment and so we might reduce the scope of these developments or include the old versions of these tools in the upcoming Linux Mint 8. For mintBackup, the ambition was to rely on rsync, for mintUpload it was to implement a brand new concept called an “Upload Manager”.

- I resigned and left the company I used to work for. To compliment the income generated by Linux Mint I also take part in contracting work based on the distribution itself. So in other words, I’m now working full time on Linux Mint and on projects based or related to it.

- The members of the team were asked to provide commercial support to customers buying it from Linux Mint, and are given the money generated through this activity. Although this isn’t enough for them to work full time on Linux Mint, it generates an income which helps them invest more time working on our project. So far, emorrp1 and husse joined in on that scheme. As we go along and as the overal income gets bigger, more money will be spent on the team and directed towards the people who are devoting their time to make Linux Mint better.

Now, with all I’ve said, you probably have even more questions than before I would like to apologize for being so silent and for not giving more frequent news. A lot is happening under the curtains at the moment… we’re all running as fast as we can and sometimes in different directions, when Linux Mint 8 comes out, I hope the work we’ve put in it will be worth it and that you’ll enjoy it a lot. As always we’re planning to release in the end of November. In the meantime I’ll try to give you more news update and I’d like to thank everyone for their patience.