14 DAY TRIAL // The Manjaro 0.8.10 Linux distribution, an operating system based on Arch Linux and compatible with its repositories, has just received a new update pack and at least one of the new features is quite surprising.
Manjaro 0.8.10 was released on June 9, so it's not really an old operating system. In fact, for most people, this is quite a recent version, but the developers always make sure that they have the latest and most interesting applications installed.
This is actually something that's pretty unique to Manjaro. There might be a few other distributions out there that are doing something similar (discounting the ones following a rolling release model), but none of them makes such drastic changes.
Most distributions are usually released with a specific set of packages and applications, and all the subsequent updates are normally constrained to those branches. Manjaro devs do things a little bit differently, and the update packs usually bring major updates and even brand new components.
A new, beautiful desktop environment for the Manjaro users
The highlight of this latest release is actually the implementation of a new desktop environment, called Budgie. We wrote about it on a number of occasions and you can take a look at it running in Evolve OS. It's still under development, so it's likely that users might encounter problems.
"With this update-pack we ship Budgie-Desktop 6 now. This desktop uses Gnome3 technology in a new way. With it you can create a slim gnome-like desktop with low ram usage," say the devs in the announcement.
Here are all the kernels that users have access to from Manjaro, after the update: 3.8.13.28 (EOL), 3.10.53, (default in Manjaro), 3.11.10.15 (EOL), 3.12.27 (default in Manjaro 0.8.10), 3.13.11.6, 3.14.17, 3.15.10 (EOL), and the latest 3.16.x branch.
It's also worth mentioning that some of the other components have been updated. The Octopi file manager has been updated, LibreOffice 4.3.1 has been integrated by default, Mozilla Firefox 32 has been added, Mozilla Thunderbird 31.1 has been implemented, and Systemd is now at version 216.
Where can you get all these goodies?
If you already have the operating system installed and you perform regular updates, you won’t have to do anything special in order to get this pack. You also need to be aware that upgrading the Linux kernel can cause some problems. The new desktop environment can be downloaded from the repositories.
Manjaro 0.8.10 has just started its life, so it's very likely that many other updates are on their way. More details about this release can be found in the official announcement.
You can download Manjaro 0.8.10 right now from Softpedia, but you can also upgrade your system with the regular updater tool.