In today's open source roundup: Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon and MATE are now available to download. Plus: Reviews of Linux Mint 17.1, and disgruntled developers have forked Debian into a new entity called Devuan Linux Mint 17.1 released The final release of Linux Mint 17.1 is now available to download. You can opt for the Cinnamon or MATE versions of Linux Mint 17.1, depending on which desktop you prefer to use. MATE now has support for the Compiz window manager, and Cinnamon has had numerous improvements including performance tweaks and additional polish. The Linux Mint site has details about the addition of Compiz in Linux Mint 17.1 MATE: Linux Mint 17.1 MATE Edition comes with two window managers installed and configured by default: Marco (MATE’s very own window manager, simple, fast and very stable). Compiz (an advanced compositing window manager which can do wonders if your hardware supports it). Among the various window managers available for Linux, Compiz is certainly the most impressive when it comes to desktop effects. There’s nothing quite like a rotating cube to catch everybody’s attention. More at Linux Mint 17.1 MATE What’s New The Linux Mint site also shares some of the details about the performance tweaks done in Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon: A lot of care went into attention to details and Cinnamon 2.4 received many little improvements to make your experience smoother and more enjoyable than before. CJS was rebased on a newer version of GJS in an effort to reduce memory usage and provide faster execution times. All Cinnamon components were reviewed and their source code was checked with static analysis tools. Although most of them were small, about 30 memory leaks were fixed. Icons used in Cinnamon Settings were added to the Mint-X icon theme. This increased responsiveness (This is specific to Linux Mint so we encourage all artists and distributions to do the same). More at Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon What’s New Desktop Linux Reviews The Compiz window manager running in Linux Mint 17.1 MATE. You can download Linux Mint 17.1 via these torrents: Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 32-bit Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 32-bit Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit Linux Mint 17.1 gets positive reviews Reviews of Linux Mint 17.1 have also started to trickle in, and the consensus seems to be that this is a very good release indeed. My review on Desktop Linux Reviews noted the value of the common features that extend across both desktops: I was very impressed with Linux Mint 17.1. The common feature upgrades and bug fixes add real value to this distribution. The changes in Update Manager, the Login Screen, Language Settings, Kernel Menu, and artwork should please almost all Linux Mint users. And the huge range of background wallpapers, along with the slideshow feature make it a great choice for those who want frequent changes to the look of their Linux Mint systems. More at Desktop Linux Reviews J.A. Watson at ZDNet did a hands on with Linux Mint 17.1 and liked what he found: The final rease of Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon and MATE was announced this weekend. I have picked up both versions, and I have installed them on a number of computers around here, with both legacy (MBR) and UEFI boot. The results have been very good, as expected. …the new Linux Mint 17.1 release is exactly what we have come to expect – easy to install, easy to use, and solid as a rock. More at ZDNet Disgruntled developers fork Debian into Devuan Systemd is still causing shockwaves throughout the Linux community. And now it has resulted in Debian – the granddaddy of Linux distributions – being forked into a new entity called Devuan. Sam Varghese at ITWire reports on the forking of Debian: A group styling itself as veteran UNIX administrators has announced that it has set up a fork of the Debian GNU/Linux project. Named Devuan, the fork comes as a reaction to the Debian decision to adopt systemd as the default init system for its next release, Jessie. The new project says its priorities are to “enable diversity, interoperability and backward compatibility for the existing Debian downstream willing to preserve Init Freedom and avoid the opaque and homogenising systemd avalanche”. More at ITWire The Devuan announcement page has much more information about this new fork of Debian: Dear Init-Freedom lovers, the Veteran Unix Admin collective salutes you! Our project is called “Devuan”. Devuan is spelled in Italian and it is pronounced just like “DevOne” in English. Devuan aims to be a base distribution whose mission is protect the freedom of its community of users and developers. Its priority is to enable diversity, interoperability and backward compatibility for existing Debian users and downstream distributions willing to preserve Init freedom. Devuan will derive its own installer and package repositories from Debian, modifying them where necessary, with the first goal of removing systemd, still inheriting the Debian development workflow while continuing it on a different path: free from bloat as a minimalist base distro should be. Our objective for the spring of 2015 is that users will be able to switch from Debian 7 to Devuan 1 smoothly, as if they would dist-upgrade to Jessie, and start using our package repositories. More at Devuan A redditor found a message in Italian from one of the folks behind the Devuan fork of Debian and kindly translated it: I want to emphasize that Devuan is NOT Debian without – or worse, “against” – systemd. Systemd will be supported in Devuan. Devuan is a fork in favor of freedom of choice. Sysvinit will remain the default init system, but all init systems will be supported – at least, all those that are packaged in Debian at the moment. So, what changes in Devuan with respect to Debian? Many things. It has been said that systemd can be avoided in Debian, but this is NOT true. You can choose not to run it as PID 1, but its tentacles still remains everywhere in the system, and it’s not possible to avoid it completely. We want to be able to choose to avoid it entirely. More at Reddit What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below. Open Source