14 DAY TRIAL // KaOS 2014.08, a Linux distribution built from scratch that uses KDE as the default desktop environment, is now available for download.
KaOS is not your regular Linux distribution because the developers didn't choose to base it on something else. The operating system is built from scratch and this provides the devs with the freedom to do as they please, without being tied to upstream.
“With KDE releasing the new major version KDE 4.14.0, offering primarily improvements and bugfixes, KaOS is happy to be able to present you a new ISO with KDE 4.14.0 the same day it is released. KDE Applications 4.14 is not about lots of ‘new and improved stuff’. As with KaOS, many KDE developers are focused on the Next Experience (Plasma 5) or porting to KDE Frameworks (based on Qt5). Mostly, the 4.14 release is needed by aspects of the workflow. This release offers more software stability, with little emphasis on new and less-proven stuff.”
KaOS is probably the first operating system to get the new KDE 4.14 release, which shows just how ready this operating system is to integrate the latest improvements.
The developers have explained that the biggest change in this latest iteration of the operating system is not integration of the latest KDE, but the work that's being done on the installer. The installer for KaOS uses the work of Cinchi by Antergos and Thus by ManjaroLinux. The result is quite impressive and it provides drive encryption, better locale integration, and a minimal 1GB of RAM requirement.
A number of packages have been upgraded as well. For example, Xorg has been updated to version 1.16.1, Mesa has been updated to version 10.2.5, libdrm is now at version 2.4.56, glib2 2.40.0 has been implemented, and GTK+ 3.12.2 is also available.
Also, it's worth noting that KaOS devs are also preparing the switch to KDE Frameworks 5 and KDE Plasma 5, and the result should be quite interesting, because it also seems that they will stick with GTK+ and they won't move to Qt.
It looks like the developers of KaOS have worked very hard to integrate only the latest packages in their distro and it shows in the final product.
The number of packages that received new updates and various improvements is in the hundreds, but the normal update process should take care of everything.
Check the official announcement for more details about this release. You can download KaOS 2014.08 right now from Softpedia.
