After just over a year of development, we already have a new version of "the endless operating system" here. happening to the v4.0 of 2021, EndlessOS 5.0 promises a renewed desktop experience, and reading its list of news we began to believe it when we learned that support for Wayland has been included. It must be taken into account that Wayland is the future, already present in desktops like GNOME, and that without it you cannot enjoy (or not so well) experiences such as gestures on the touch panel.
In addition to this improvement that we can consider "internal", other points have also been improved, such as its software store and various tweaks that make us look askance at GNOME. Do not forget that this operating system is based on GNOME, but so far he was going a little further on his way.
Endless OS 5.0 Highlights
Although publicity has started today, the project says that Endless OS 5.0 It was released on the 27th of January. Among the most prominent changes, we have:
Renewed desktop experience.
It is still the operating system with the applications in the center It's a bit reminiscent of how things are laid out on mobile systems, but while the app grid and search box keep their size, the taskbar at the bottom that was in Endless OS 4.0 has been split in two: the dash or dock at the bottom for applications and a top panel in the purest GNOME style.
Multitasking
This new version of the operating system introduces multiple workspaces and the new Activities view, once again getting closer to what we know from GNOME.
New App Center
The new version of App Center has a fresh design and improved performance, making it easier than ever to navigate and learn about the nearly 2000 apps available on Endless OS. Furthermore, App Center now includes parental controls.
Multi-touch gestures
Endless OS 5 supports multi-touch gestures:
- Two fingers to scroll.
- Two-finger pinch-to-zoom in some third-party applications, such as GNOME Web.
- Swipe left/right with three fingers to switch between workspaces.
- Swipe up with three fingers to show workspaces while using apps.
- Swipe up with three fingers again to show the app grid.
Improved multi-graphics support
On systems with multiple graphics cards, Endless OS 5.0 defaults to the most power-efficient one. Applications that require more resources, such as 3D games, will automatically start with the more powerful card. With this it will save battery.
Support for Wayland
We mentioned earlier that Endless OS 5.0 supports multi-touch gestures, and this wouldn't be possible (or not as easy) if it wasn't for another feature they've added: support for Wayland. X11 is still available, but to choose this protocol you will have to log out and select it from the login screen.
More apps like flatpak
After this release, the file roller (File Roller), calculator, contacts, sources, logs, Shotwell and Gedit have been added to the list of applications that already came as flatpak packages.
Endless OS 5 Wallpaper
New wallpaper.
Endless OS 5 with GNOME 41
Endless OS is built on top of GNOME, and the Endless OS Foundation works closely with the GNOME community to help develop the desktop itself. In this version, the system has been built on top of GNOME 41, a couple of versions behind the most up-to-date version, but also with more maintenance updates. Also, this project uses its own mods, so there's no need to treat your desktop as one that's out of date.
They recommend reading up on GNOME 41 and GNOME 40 to learn about some of the changes introduced since Endless OS 4. Our articles on those desktops are this y this other.
Other relevant information
As for specific versions, Endless OS 5.0 includes:
- gnomes 41.3.
- Linux 5.15.
- OSTree 2022.1.
- Flatpack 1.12.14.
- Flatpak Builder 1.2.2.
On the other hand, two bugs related to Google Chrome have been discovered that are already fixed, but we will have to wait for v5.0.1 for them to disappear.
Endless OS 5.0 Now Available
Endless OS 5.0 can now be downloaded from the developer's website or by clicking the button below.
More information and pictures at release note.