The OS doesn't seem to be any closer to the final release

Oct 28, 2014 13:27 GMT  ·  By

Bodhi, a minimalistic Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that uses the E17 desktop environment, has reached version 3.0 RC2 and is now available for download and testing.

It's been quite a while since the launch of the previous revision in the series. The last update for this particular distro was made all the way back in June and it was the RC1 for the 3.0 branch. Quite a few things have happened since then, including the fact that it's now made by another dev.

Changing developers during the release of a Linux distribution is somewhat unusual and you would expect things to remain largely the same, especially so late in the distribution's cycle. The second Release Candidate is not the best version that you want to use to add new important packages or to make big changes. Nonetheless, this is exactly what happened and we can only hope that the final version won't be delayed too much.

Bodhi Linux 3.0 RC2 is still a light OS

Bodhi is based on Ubuntu, but its developer usually favored simple and minimalistic desktop designs. That hasn't changed, but the current dev has done a lot of things differently. For example, he's changed the desktop environment from the newer E19 back to E17. The main reason is that he wants to make this version a legacy one and he wants people with lower-end hardware to be able to use it just fine.

"After much hard work and lots of learning, I am proud to announce the release of our 3.0 Legacy RC2 version. Breaking from tradition, our other versions will no longer be released at the same time due to our recent change in head devs and because the others are being built on E19. I have stripped E19 and revived the E17 desktop and engage for this release, bringing extra speed and consistency back to legacy machines. (You're welcome)."

"This is my first official version of Bodhi, so expect a few small mistakes. While I have changed the look of Bodhi quite a bit, I have worked hard to maintain the same feel, stability, speed, and functionality that our users have come to love over the years, only changing things when I thought it improved usability. Hopefully most of my changes will go unnoticed in normal use," says Doug Yanez, the developer of the distro.

A complete list of changes can be found in the official announcement. You can download Bodhi 3.0 RC2 right now from Softpedia. This is not a stable release and it can be prone to errors. Don't install it on a production machine.

Bodhi Linux 3.0 RC2 (5 Images)

Bodhi Linux desktop
Bodhi Linux with E17File manager in Bodhi Linux
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