Linux Mint 17 "Qiana" Cinnamon: Slick, Stable, and Definitely Worth the Upgrade
My experience upgrading to Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon: it resolved lingering NVIDIA driver problems on an Alienware desktop and delivered a fast, stable, polished system. A short appraisal of that release, rather than a full review.
Linux Mint 16 was solid but this release, which is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, is by far the best product the team has ever produced. My previous install, the KDE version, had lingering issues with proprietary drivers which didn’t really impact my workflow but also wouldn’t let me leverage the two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460s in my old Alienware Aurora R3. Installing 17 not only painlessly resolved that issue, it also delivered a long list of enhancements.
Stability and security are more important to me than performance (most of the time) but this release delivers on all fronts. It is fast, it is stable, and it is refined. If you’re a Linux user considering an upgrade, or just something different, you will want to check this one out. And if you haven’t tried Linux before, or recently, this is a perfect place to get started.
I’m not going to conduct a full review but IT World has a solid roundup. You can download Linux Mint 17 for free here.