14 DAY TRIAL // The Linux Mint developers released today the beta versions of their upcoming Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" KDE and Xfce operating systems.
Incorporating pretty much the same improvements that the Linux Mint devs implemented in the final releases of the Cinnamon and MATE editions of Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" earlier this week, today's KDE and Xfce flavors are based on Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS (Xenial Xerus) and powered by the Linux 4.10 kernel.
"Linux Mint 18.3 is a long-term support release which will be supported until 2021. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop experience more comfortable to use," read the release announcements for Linux Mint 18.3 KDE and Xfce Editions.
Shipping with KDE Plasma 5.8 and Xfce 4.12
While Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" Xfce Beta edition ships with the latest Xfce 4.12 desktop environment, the Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" KDE Beta edition comes with the long-term supported KDE Plasma 5.8 desktop environment, which will receive upstream support up until April 10, 2018, when the KDE Plasma 5.8.9 maintenance update is out.
It's important to mention here that this would be the last KDE edition that the Linux Mint project will ever release. They announced their lack of interest in the KDE edition last month to concentrate better on the main Cinnamon and MATE ones. So there won't be any other KDE releases after Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia."
If you wish to test drive them right now on your personal computer, go ahead and download the Linux Mint 18.3 KDE Beta and Linux Mint 18.3 Xfce Beta live ISO images for either 64-bit or 32-bit machines through our website. However, please keep in mind that these are pre-release versions, not suitable for any production work.
