The release of the new branch of the Linux distribution "Nitrux 2.0.0" in which a series of changes have been made in the appearance of the distribution, in addition to the updates of the packages and, above all, the corrections of errors.
For those who are unaware of this distribution, they should know that It is built on the basis of the Debian package, KDE technologies, and the OpenRC boot system. This distribution stands out for the development of its own desktop "NX", which is a complement to the user's KDE Plasma environment, in addition to the application installation process is based on the use of AppImages packages.
Main news in Nitrux 2.0
In this new version that is presented changed the layout of the elements in the Latte Dock panel. Default, a new panel design nx-floating-panel-dark has been proposed, which includes the top and bottom panels as before, but moving the app menu to the bottom panel and adding a plasmoid to activate overview mode (Parachute).
It is also highlighted that window decoration settings changed. For all windows, now the frames and the line with the title are removed. Client-Side Window Decoration (CSD) has been disabled in order to uniform the appearance of all applications for Maui applications.
Besides that, to move application windows, as programs based on the Electron platform, it is mentioned that the Alt modifier can be used or select the option to move a window from the context menu. To change the size of the window, you can use the combination Alt + right click + move the cursor.
Another of the changes that stands out is the updating software versions, including Mesa 21.3.5 (the Mesa 22.0-dev build is available in the repository), Firefox 96.0, and the package manager Pacstall 1.7.1, KDE Plasma 5.23.5, KDE Frameworks 5.90.0 and KDE Gear (KDE Applications) 21.12.1.
While by default, Kdenlive, Inkscape and GIMP are excluded from the distribution, which can be installed from the repository in AppImage format, as well as in the nx-desktop-appimages-studio bundle along with Blender and LMMS.
Default Linux kernel 5.16.3 with Xanmod patches is used, but Tare also offered for installing packages with the kernels of Linux Vanilla 5.15.17 and 5.16.3, as well as the 5.15 kernel with Liquorix patches.
Of the other changes that stand out of this new version:
- The app menu changed from Ditto to Launchpad Plasma.
- KWin settings have been changed to improve performance and improve user interface responsiveness.
- The top panel retains the global menu with window and title controls, as well as the system tray.
- Upgrading of packages with 5.4 and 5.10 branches is discontinued. Added a package with additional firmware for AMD GPUs that are not in the package with the Linux kernel.
- Updated optional latte bar layouts to offer a single menu option on either the bottom bar or top bar.
- Removed AppImage bundle with Wine; instead it is proposed to install the AppImage with the Bottles environment, which includes a collection of ready-made setups for running Windows programs in Wine.
- At an early stage of loading an iso image, microcode loading for Intel and AMD CPUs is provided. Added i945, Nouveau and AMDGPU graphics drivers to initrd.
- The OpenRC boot system configuration has been updated, the number of active terminals has been reduced to two (TTY2 and TTY3).
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it of this new version of the distribution, you can check the details in the following link
Download the new version of Nitrux
If you want to download this new version of Nitrux 2.0, you should go to the official website of the project where you can get the download link of the system image and which can be recorded on a USB with the help of Etcher. Nitrux is available for immediate download from the following link.
The size of the main ISO image has been reduced from 3,2 to 2,4 GB, and the size of the reduced image from 1,6 to 1,3 G (without the 500 MB linux-firmware package, the image minimum could be reduced to 800 MB).