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The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 x64 Helena RC1. Quick steps: Download the ISO or the torrent. While it’s downloading look at the overview of the new features in Linux Mint 8, read the User Guide and make sure to quickly go through the known issues. After the ISO is downloaded verify [...]

Read more: http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1171
Bug thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=37178

Clem.

Good to see this RC coming so soon after the 32-bit edition! How is Helena 64-bit shaping up stability-wise, for those people who remarked about version 7 not being as stable as 32-bit?

I didn't see any difference in stability between Mint 7 32 and 64 bit. I'm so excited about Mint 8 x64. Running Mint 8 in a VM now until the stable Mint 8 x64 release and I've fallen in love with Linux all over again it seems. So clean, so crisp, and so utterly amazing.

Truly Gods work being done here (if God had a PC, for some reason I think he's a Mac guy [we can pray otherwise]).

Is there really any point in running 64 bit in a VM? Unless you have an ungodly amount of RAM (9 Gig Minimum) it kinda seems redundant. You cant use VM's to test for 32-64 bit incompatibilities, it just doesnt work.

Specifically on the issue of RAM: doesn't the 32-bit version use a PAE kernel to break the 3GB barrier?

I meant I'm just running Mint 8 32bit in a VM until Mint 8 x64 is released when I'll dual boot it with Windows 7. Instead of creating a partition for Mint 8 then replacing with the x64 variant a few weeks later just running the 32 bit in a VM until x64 is released.

You can get a PAE kernel by installing the Ubuntu server kernel

Very nice. I'm looking forward to the official release.

But a few questions:
- Will the x64 official release be on par with the 32 bit 8.1 (bug fixed) version?
- Wouldn't it be possible to include the actual alsa 1.0.21 for it contains lots of improvements for newer sound hardware (especially HD audio) -- the forums are quite filled with questions and problems regarding audio/alsa.

Is there any way to upgrage from Gloria 64x to Helena RC1 64x?

It'd be nice if they could manage to make all the "editions" along side eachother. Or at least release 32-bit and 64-bit together so us 64-bit guys don't have to wait.

Hi,

Well, i left Gloria 7 x64bit behind and installed Helena 8 x64bit RC1
So far, very good, so amazing.
I think i will not need no stable release because this RC1 is fantastic. It really rocks.

Many thanks to the Linux Mint Team

Cheers
Roberto

I've been running 32-bit forever, but now that I have 4GB of ram, I'm also interested in the 64-bit version. If RC1 is close to the final product, I'd be interested in it, but not if I had to to a total re-install for the stable version. If that's the case, I'll wait because I use this machine for work and can't have it down for long. I must say, tho' that I'm really happy with the Mint 7 32-bit I'm running now.
[edit: fixed a really dumb looking typo ]

Rizzo wrote:It'd be nice if they could manage to make all the "editions" along side eachother. Or at least release 32-bit and 64-bit together so us 64-bit guys don't have to wait.

I'm in no hurry to upgrade from Mint 7 64bit, it's working perfectly so what's the rush?
There's no guarantee the newer version will be better.

Besides, you don't have to wait. Just install the 32 bit version if you must.

Like whorider, I see a Linux Mint 8 X64 in the stable folder. Is this the final stable release? Can I install this as final? http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/stable/8/

Last night I installed what appears to be the stable release of Mint 8 64 and I am a very happy camper. The triple boot install worked fine, both of my NVIDIA cards in SLI installed without having to do any X11 editing. Every package I have added or changes to the base packages have worked as well. So, a big thanks to all that have worked on the release.

Running Mint 8 x64. Runs very well so far. Thanks for the great work.

Burning it to CD right now. I've been pleased with 32 bit Mint 7 KDE. Going to avail myself of the missing 800MB of RAM that the 64 bit version will access for me, and play around with Gnome. I have a spare HD to put it on and if I like it, I can just copy some files and be in business. If not, I'll just go back to the old one and wait for the KDE release. I'm really used to KDE now and like it a lot, so I'll see how it goes with Gnome. What I saw with Ubuntu didn't impress me, but hey, this is Mint!

x64 Helena is up and running and I'm learning my way around Gnome. Not bad, so far. Having to learn a few different ways of doing things, but not as alien as I thought it might be. We'll see what happens when I try to use the scanner and some other hardware. So far, though, no issues at all. Yippee!

I'd read comments about 64-bit OS's loading slower due to larger files because of the bigger numbers available in 64-bit. I can't see any difference. But then again, it's a 2.66Ghz quad 4 processor.

k, stupid question time;

Does the Linux Mint 8 x64 edition have the same java issues that the x64 of Mint 7 had? (For example, I couldn't log into Facebook because the cursor wouldn't show up, problems like that) were those problems fixed?

Or am I better off using the 32 bit version of Mint? (If I DO use the 32bit version, will it recognize a full 2GB stick, or will it be like Vista and recognize only 1.6 of the 2 GB?)