The developers have upgraded quite a few packages, including the Linux kernel

Jul 29, 2014 14:49 GMT  ·  By

A preview version of Manjaro Openbox 0.8.11, a Linux distribution based on well-tested snapshots of the Arch Linux repositories that are completely compatible with Arch, is now available for download and testing.

The Xfce flavor was the first to get a new preview version of the new 0.8.11 development branch, but now we can also test the Openbox release. This flavor should be even lighter than Xfce and that will be immediately noticeable on low-end systems.

The developers have updated the Linux kernel to the 3.14 LTS branch, which has already had a hundred releases until now. It's a stable version, but this is an early build and that means that the kernel will most likely change.

“We updated our kernel to Linux 3.14 LTS 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. We fixed some issues in our openbox theme and other small bugs so far.”

“This install media is based on our unstable branch, so you get the latest packages with it. It is not for everyone in this early stage, but play with it and give us feedback. We will try to implement your ideas and thoughts on this one,” reads the official Manjaro blog.

According to the developers, the new Manjaro Settings Manager 0.2.3 has been implemented into the distribution. Users will receive information about new drivers and kernel releases and even more features will be added soon to this application.

This is just the first version in the new 0.8.11 branch and it looks like we might have to wait a little bit more until a much bigger change is implemented by the developers. In any case, this only means that a new development cycle has started and that more versions are on their way, for all the flavors.

Numerous other flavors, like GNOME and Fluxbox are expected to arrive from the Manjaro community, so make sure you check back for other news.

More details about this release can be found in the announcement. You can download Manjaro Xfce 0.8.11 Preview right now from the website.

Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only. This is a very early version and users should only test it in a virtual machine, like VirtualBox for example.