elementary OS 5.1

 

 elementary OS is an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution. Some of its more interesting features include a custom desktop environment called Pantheon and a custom software centre. The project's latest release is elementary OS 5.1 "Hera", which introduces many package updates, a refreshed login screen, and an onboarding application to guide new users through available features. "The newly redesigned login and lockscreen greeter looks sharper, works better, and fixes many reported issues with the previous greeter including focus issues, HiDPI issues, and better localization. The new design in Hera was in response to user feedback from Juno, and enables some nice new features. It now always shows usernames for all users, shows users' backgrounds as cards so you can more easily find users who maybe haven't set differentiating avatars, notifies when Caps or Num Lock are on, and makes 'Log In as Guest' more distinct when it's enabled. The new Onboarding app that ships with Hera introduces key features to users and handles common first-run tasks like managing privacy settings." Further details and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement. Download: elementaryos-5.1-stable.20191202.iso (1,399MB, pkglist).

 

ArchBang Linux 0111

 

ArchBang developer "mrgreen" has announced the release of ArchBang Linux 0111, the minimalist, Arch Linux-based distribution's first stable release after the recent switch from Openbox to i3 as the preferred window manager. From the release announcement: "November release, i3 tiling window manager based. Have just uploaded a release for November, usual thing - updated packages and configurations. The guide can now be viewed by using Super + g; it includes some basic keybind shortcuts in i3. Firefox is back for now; while huge, it does support many features that other lighter browsers do not have. Minor changes in abinstall fixes to remove installers from Conky post install." The switch from Openbox to i3 was initiated a couple of weeks ago: "ArchBang has been Openbox-based for over ten years. Over the next few weeks I will be working towards switching to i3 tiling window manager. It might be a little different at first but once you get used to it, you will never look back." ArchBang Linux 0111 can be downloaded from SourceForge: archbang-i3-0111-x86_64.iso (914MB, pkglist).

Voyager Live 20.10

 

The Voyager Live project has published a new version of their desktop distribution. The new release, Voyager 20.10, is based on Ubuntu 20.10 and offers nine months of package updates and security fixes. "I introduce you Voyager GE 20.10 which continues the adventure with the GNOME Shell desktop version 3.38 by introducing new features. With the promise finally made to have a light, fast, modern, fluid and efficient GNOME system. This version is based on the Linux 5.8 kernel and the Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla distribution . 20.10 is an intermediate version with 9-months of updates that prepares for the future 5-year LTS - long-term support - version. With integrated options like Tablet PC, Wine-staging and Steam Gaming in the Box Voyager. Voyager comes in 2 desktop versions, with Xfce by default and GNOME Shell for this version called GE, Xfce is only offered in LTS version. Also you can choose according to your wishes and machine capacities. The general idea of Voyager, is to introduce into GNOME Shell pre-installed GNOME extensions and scripts grouped in a box which optimize the system with a choice of necessary software. All in a redesigned ergonomics with many wallpapers." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (MD5): Voyager-GE-20.10.amd64.iso (2,851MB, torrent, pkglist).

OpenIndiana 2020.10

 

Andreas Wacknitz has announced the release of OpenIndiana 2020.10, the latest version of the project's community effort to keep alive the OpenSolaris distribution and its many popular technologies, such as ZFS, DTrace or Zones. This version updates the MATE desktop environment to version 1.24: "After almost 6 months of development, we have released the new OpenIndiana 'Hipster' snapshot 2020.10 right on time on October 31st, 2020. Some of the noticeable changes are: after BHyVe has been upstreamed into illumos-gate, we automatically got it and we were able to supply this with a bhyve branded zone for OpenIndiana; FreeRDP and Remmina have been added; the Squeak Virtual Machine (v4, v5 and v5 Cog) have been added and so it's possible to run older and newer versions of Squeak Smalltalk and also Cuis Smalltalk on OpenIndiana; MATE, our main desktop environment, has been updated to 1.24; GCC 10 has been added; a buch of other packages have also been updated." See the release announcement and the release notes for further information. Download (pkglist): OI-hipster-gui-20201031.iso (1,598MB, SHA256), OI-hipster-minimal-20201031.iso (345MB, SHA256).

Pop!_OS 20.10

 

 System76, a US-based manufacturer of Linux desktops, laptops and servers, has announced the release of Pop!_OS 20.10, the latest version of the company's Ubuntu-based Linux distribution. It includes various usability improvements, such as stacking tiled windows, floating window exceptions, fractional scaling or external monitor support in hybrid graphics mode: "Pop!_OS 20.10 is the result of fine-tuning features released in version 20.04. Similar to the tabs in your web browser, stack tiled windows atop one another for easier organization. First, use Super + S to convert a window into a stack. Using Super + Enter and your arrow keys or Vim shortcuts will add a window to your stack. You can also launch an application into the stack using Super + / to add it automatically. Super + Left or Right arrows cycles between windows in the stack. Lastly, move windows out of the stack and press Super + S to convert it back to a standard window." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information, screenshots and screencasts. As always, there are separate ISO images for computers with Intel and NVIDIA graphics cards; download (SHA256, pkglist): pop-os_20.10_amd64_intel_1.iso (2,295MB), pop-os_20.10_amd64_nvidia_1.iso (2,619MB).

Linux Lite 5.2

 

Jerry Bezencon has announced the release of Linux Lite 5.2. The project's latest release is based on Ubuntu 20.04.1 and introduces a number of small changes and improvements. The firewall can now be managed through a module in the settings panel, old GTK2 software and themes have been removed, Adobe Flash is no longer included in the distribution, and new packages have been added to the Lite Software package manager. The distribution also includes some package updates: "Details: kernel: 5.4.0-52 ( custom kernels also available via our Repository for versions 3.13 - 5.9); Firefox: 82.0; Thunderbird: 68.10.0; LibreOffice: 6.4.6.2; VLC: 3.0.9.2; GIMP: 2.10.18; Base: 20.04.1. Known Issues: No prompt to eject Media at the end of the Legacy install, prompt is available at the end of the UEFI install. Release Notes - not working on first installer slide. Desktop icons - English support only. GRUB - holding shift down whilst booting in UEFI mode does not bring up the GRUB menu (works in Legacy mode), waiting for Ubuntu fix. GRUB menu shows Linux Lite as 'Ubuntu'. After you install Linux Lite, you can change GRUB to show 'Linux Lite'." Further information and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA256): linux-lite-5.2-64bit.iso (1,365MB, torrent, pkglist).