14 DAY TRIAL // Manjaro 0.8.10 is a Linux distribution based on Arch Linux that is 100% compatible with the repositories of the base system. A new update pack has been made available for this release and it looks like the developers are not slowing down.
This particular branch of Manjaro was launched in June and this is the 11th update pack that has been made available for it. Usually, the updates for a Linux distro have a maintenance purpose or they fix some security issues, but Manjaro is based on Arch and that is a rolling release model.
Manjaro is different in this regard and many updates for the operating system are actually quite large and bring major changes, like new versions of the desktop environment, for example.
The 11th update pack for Manjaro 0.8.10 is exciting
The developers are oscillating between small and large releases. The 10th update was pretty ordinary, but the current one is more than just interesting. Some of the major components of the OS have been updated, including the proprietary drivers, the Linux kernel, and the desktop environment.
"We updated our xorg-stack to xorg-server 1.16 series. This also includes an updated Catalyst driver (14.201) and Nvidia driver (343.22). The later one drops some supported GPUs (G8x, G9x, and GT2xx). We created the nvidia-340xx packages (340.46) for this case. You might need to call 'mhwd' in a terminal and install the needed drivers before you restart."
"Octopi and Pamac got updated to newer development snapshots. They fix some known issues we had in our current versions. Our Steam-native package got another bugfix rework. We also updated some XFCE packages," say the devs.
Also, users will find that KDE 4.14.1 is now available by default, LibreOffice 4.3.2 has been added, Firefox 32.0.3 is now included, and numerous other packages have been updated.
Here are the Linux kernels that are available in the repositories: 3.10.56, 3.12.29 (default in Manjaro 0.8.10), 3.13.11.8 (maintained by Canonical), 3.14.20, Linux kernel 3.15.10 (EOL), Linux kernel 3.16.4, and Linux kernel 3.17.0 (the most advanced stable). EOL stands for end of life.
How to get it
If you already have the system installed and you perform regular updates, then you don't really have to do anything extra. All the packages will be installed and some of them, like the Linux kernel, will need a restart to get in place.
You can download Manjaro 0.8.10 right now from Softpedia and upgrade your system with the regular updater tool.