Little more than a month after giving us the Alpha, the project behind the most used desktop in Linux launched GNOME 42 Beta. In addition to the fact that the software is already more polished than it was four weeks ago, this beta marks the beginning of the freezing of the interface, functions and APIs, that is, tweaks can still be introduced, but they will focus more on correcting bugs than on changes important and visible.
What the release note doesn't mention is that the new screenshot tool. Some GNOME users know that in addition to taking "snapshots," GNOME has a native feature for recording the desktop, but using it is anything but easy. They have long since accepted its integration into the next version of GNOME, so it stands to reason that it will be testable in GNOME 42 beta already.
After GNOME 42 Beta they will release the Release Candidate, and then the stable version
Among the new features that arrive with GNOME 42 Beta, which are also expected in the stable version, we have that the calls application can manage tel:// URIs and can add contacts from the call history, Epiphany has updated its PDF code .js and readability.js, GJS now uses SpiderMonkey 91, which makes it compatible with new JavaScript features, added new wallpapers for light and dark themes, and a transition to switch between them, Bluetooth now shows battery info on supported devices, Files (Nautilus) now supports dark mode, like GNOME Software, a lot of software has switched to using GTK4 and libadwaita, and my favorite feature, the screenshot app that now lets you record your desktop.
As Project GNOME explains, the best and safest way to test GNOME 42 Beta is by using your OS image, available at this link. Although they call it GNOME OS, it is not a complete operating system, but rather an image to test all the new features ahead of time. In a few weeks they will release the Release Candidate, and GNOME 42 will arrive as a version stable March 23.
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