14 DAY TRIAL // The first RC version of Manjaro KDE 0.8.11, a Linux distribution based on well-tested snapshots of the Arch Linux repositories that uses a custom version of KDE, is now available for download and testing.
Along with the Manjaro 0.8.11 Xfce flavor, the developers have also released the KDE edition. As usual, it brings a lot of interesting changes and improvements, but above all else, it comes with a completely new desktop experience.
Users will immediately notice that Manjaro is different from what they've tried until now, making this particular edition a very nice addition to the family.
Most developers usually integrate the default KDE desktop in their operating systems and very few even go through the trouble of making any kind of modifications or customizations.
The same can't be said about Manjaro, which is so different that it might take users a while to realize that it's actually a KDE-powered experience.
Not all KDE desktops are created equal
The Manjaro team is one of the few that actually customize the desktop of the operating system well beyond what is normally done. This is not about just a few widgets added to the desktop or some small changes.
The launcher, the themes, the desktop, and even the icons have been completely overhauled, making this one of the most interesting operating systems with this particular environment.
"Hi community! We present to you our first RC of Manjaro KDE Edition. We updated our kernel to Linux 3.16 and use the latest MESA release with latest free and proprietary drivers. Also you find our latest graphical tools we develop to get Manjaro easier to be managed with a few mouse clicks. Also we worked on octopi. Mostly you will notice our new theme design we started for this release cycle. We updated our new theme and fixed issues you found in our first RC of Manjaro 0.8.11."
"With Manjaro-settings-manager 0.4.2-1 we offer you an enhanced kernel and graphic driver management experience. We will notify you about newer drivers and kernels, tell you when you run an unsupported kernel or new language packages are available. Other nice and needful user interfaces will come to our settings manager soon," say the developers in the announcement.
Also, the devs have added Linux kernel 3.16.7, the new Manjaro Settings Manager, a much newer LibreOffice suite, and numerous other packages. More details about this release can be found in the announcement. You can download Manjaro KDE 0.8.11 RC right now from Softpedia.
