Linux Mint Forums

Hi,

I'm in the middle of trying to decide how to resurrect a new-to-me laptop. I'm leaning towards Mint right now, and I have many questions.

The first:

What is a "community edition?" I've done lots of searching and can't find a good definition anywhere. I'm thinking maybe I should pop some popcorn and chill some drinks and invite the neighbors before downloading it.

(Clem, you might need to add this to your FAQ on the main Mint site; you define what "regular" and "light" are, but not this one).

A Community Edition is a version of LinuxMint that a community member has created and maintains. Community editions go through the same testing as the main edition and must meet the same quality standards. The people that maintain the community editions voluntarily devote their time and effort for the benefit of the community. The maintainers of the community editions are very hard working and innovative individuals. These guys spend countless hours of their time to resolve issues so you can enjoy the system of your choice. These editions include custom built tools that make complicated tasks easy. Whatever desktop environment you choose you can be assured that the level of quality you would expect is met.

Thanks! That makes it much clearer. So it's not been developed by the normal Mint team, then, but has passed Mint's standards to be included as an "official" Mint distro, is that correct?

Maintainer's of the Community Editions are Team Members. As I remember the term community edition was originally used because you are guaranteed that the main edition would always exist and be supported. The maintainers for the CEs have been through quite a few release cycles and I think it is safe to say these guys will continue to bring you these great choices of desktop environments.