14 DAY TRIAL // Dear all, it's time for you to get your hands on the first ISO snapshot of the popular Arch Linux operating system for 2017. Yes, you're reading it right, the Arch Linux 2017.01.01 dual-arch image is now available for download.
It seems that Arch Linux 2017.01.01 appeared online on the first day of the year, as the version number suggests, which means that its devs had no time to rest during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. As expected, it brings all the updates that have been released on the stable, official repositories during the month of December 2016.
The bad news, however, for fans of the independently-developed Linux-based operating system is that Arch Linux 2017.01.01 is still powered by a kernel from the Linux 4.8 series, more exactly version 4.8.13, as the team didn't have time to update to the latest release in the series, namely Linux kernel 4.8.15.
Linux kernel 4.9 now available in the testing repos
Instead, they preferred to track the Linux 4.9 kernel, which landed in the distro's testing repositories on December 22, 2016. As with any new major kernel release, things are not so easy when upgrading the core of the OS, which needs to be thoroughly tested before users can install it on their computers.
That being said, if you plan on reinstalling your Arch Linux operating system or deploying it on new machines, this is your chance. Download the Arch Linux 2017.01.01 dual-arch (64-bit/32-bit) ISO image right now from the official website. As usual, existing users don't need to download the new ISO to keep their installations up to date, just make sure you have all the latest updates installed by running the "sudo pacman -Syu" command.