Linux Mint Debian Edition, more commonly known as LMDE, has a new beta release out on third-party mirrors even though no official announcement has yet been made about its availability. LMDE 4 was discussed in the last Linux Mint blog post and is expected to come with all the improvements that were shipped with Linux Mint 19.3 such as Cinnamon 4.4, new default software, a boot repair tool, and more.

Unlike typical Linux Mint versions which use Ubuntu as the base, LMDE uses Debian Stable. The software packages that are included with Debian Stable are thoroughly tested and are considered to be a bit more stable than the ones Ubuntu ships with (Ubuntu is based on Debian Unstable/Debian Testing depending on whether it’s an Ubuntu LTS release). LMDE also acts as an emergency option if, in future, Ubuntu is not a suitable base.

The release of the beta image on several Linux Mint mirrors comes days after they were tested and approved for release by Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project. We’re still waiting for the official announcement of the beta releases but it should be made within the next couple of days via the Linux Mint blog.

In the January blog post, Lefebvre did state that the final build of LMDE 4 will make an appearance before Linux Mint 20 which is due sometime in the summer. The period between the beta release of LMDE 3 and the final release was exactly one month. Once the LMDE 4 beta has been officially announced, we’ll probably have to wait another month for the final release again.