Several days ago the release of the new version of Astra Linux Common Edition 2.12.40 was announced, which is a Linux distribution built on the base of the package Debian 9 "Stretch" and provided with its own Fly desktop with components that use the Qt library.
The ISO image, binary repository, and package sources are available for download, and the distribution is distributed under a license agreement that imposes a number of restrictions.
For example, users in particular are prohibited from commercial use, decompilation and disassembly of the product. So distribution for personal non-commercial purposes only, the distribution kit can be used free of charge.
Main new features of Astra Linux Common Edition 2.12.40
This new version of the distribution arrives with Linux kernel 5.4 (previously kernel 4.15 was offered), which introduces exFAT driver and improves support for processors tenth generation of Intel and AMD, GPU drivers and network components. The installation disk image has been updated with the new kernel.
Added tool pack in portable mode for laptop power and power management and working with multi-monitor configurations in the fly-wm window manager has been improved.
It also highlights the optimized placement of app buttons when there is not enough space on the taskbar, in addition to the file manager, support for applications using KDE plugins ("submit" actions from KDE) has been added and working with SMB resources has been sped up.
Win + F11 hotkey added, by means of which any application opens in full screen without decorations and overlaying the taskbar.
Of the updated package versions, the following versions are integrated: NVIDIA 450, osync 0.0.1, hwinfo 21.38, Firefox 83.0, Thunderbird 78.5.1, Chromium 86, firejail 0.9.58, cups 2.2.13, hplip 3.20.9, LibreOffice 6.4.6, mesa 20.1.7, qmmp 1.4.2, kde-spectacle 2.12, bleachbit 3.9, samba 4.12.
Also, it is mentioned in the announcement that new graphical interfaces have been implemented:
- fly-admin-format to format USB drives, with support for quick and full modes.
- fly-admin-usbip to configure USB mountable devices over the network (usbip).
- fly-admin-multiseat to configure the simultaneous work of several employees with shared profiles on a PC.
- fly-csp-cryptopro (formerly fly-csp) to create and verify the electronic signature of the CryptoPro provider.
- fly-admin-time to select NTP servers and configure time synchronization services.
And of the improved graphical interfaces, we can find that in fly-admin-int-check, added ability to include directories specific items in the list of excluded from the integrity check.
While Fly-admin-ltsp includes the ability to reconfigure dnsmasq, improved USB media auto mount setup and remote connection function.
In fly-admin-smc for a graphical kiosk, it is possible to deactivate the power saving mode and lock the screen.
In fly-admin-printer, hplip driver search has been improved, allowing you to more accurately determine your Hewlett Packard printer model and select the correct driver.
Fly-admin-repo implements automatic detection of the name, architecture and components of the created repository, adding the ability to sign the apt repository.
In fly-admin-winprops the window options "not shown in tray" and "forced decorations" (relevant for GTK3 applications) are enabled, as well as starting "in full screen mode"
Of the other changes that stand out:
- Reworked design of the "Shutdown" dialog (fly-shutdown-dialog).
- The new login interface design (fly-qdm) added support for domains and tokens.
- In fly-notify-prevlogin the information about the time of the previous login is available.
The brightness control widget has been updated. - Added the FLY_SHARED_DESKTOP_DIR environment variable to centrally place shortcuts on all users' desktops.
- Fly-reflex provides a call from a pop-up window to format an external drive.
- Updated date and clock widget (fly-admin-date), added integration with fly-admin-time app.
Download Astra Linux Common Edition 2.12.40
Finally, for those who are interested in being able to try this Linux distribution, they can download the image of the system from this link.
And it is important to remember that the distribution is in Russian by default, but in the installation process we can configure the language in English.