14 DAY TRIAL // The developer of the Debian-based SparkyLinux operating system announced on Wednesday the general availability of the SparkyLinux 5.2 "Nibiru" release.
SparkyLinux 5 series of the GNU/Linux distribution follows a rolling release model and is based on the Debian Testing, which means that SparkyLinux 5.2 "Nibiru" borrows all the goodies of the upcoming Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster" operating system.
Available as a full-featured computer operating system, SparkyLinux 5.2 is targeted at older PCs as it comes with the lightweight Xfce, LXQt, and MATE desktop environments, as well as the Openbox window manager for the Sparky 5.2 MinimalGUI edition, and a text-mode variant for the MinimalCLI flavor.
The MinimalCLI edition of SparkyLinux 5.2 lets users create their perfect installation of SparkyLinux by allowing them to first install the base system and then add the desktop interface and apps of their choice. All of that is possible thanks to the Sparky Advanced Installer.
Here's what's new in SparkyLinux 5.2
Fully synced with the Debian Testing (Buster) repositories as of December 17, 2017, SparkyLinux 5.2 is powered by the Linux 4.14.2 LTS kernel from the Debian Sid repos and uses the latest Calamares 3.1.10 universal installer framework as default graphical installer, which comes with full disk encryption support.
Other than that, there's now a symlink of the "sparkylinux-installer" binary that points to the "sparky-installer" one (Sparky Advanced Installer), and the "spb" shortcut now points to the "sparkybackup" command (Backup Tool). Eight new wallpapers of Polish nature were added to the "sparky-artwork-nature" package as well.
Due to abnormal CPU usage of the "xfce4-pulseaudo-plugin" package in the SparkyLinux Xfce edition, the developers had to replace the plugin with "pasystray" tool. Also, the PCManFM file manager was replaced by Thunar in the MinimalGUI edition, which now automatically months external USB disks.
If you want to use a newer kernel, you can always find the latest Linux 4.14 kernel in SparkyLinux's unstable repository. Right now, there's Linux kernel 4.14.8 available for installation. However, you should keep in mind that SparkyLinux 5 series isn't considered a stable edition.
"Sparky based on Debian testing is not a stable edition; can make problems sometimes and can need individual fixing. If you prefer much stable operating system – Sparky 4.x of the stable line will be better choice," said the SparkyLinux developer on today's announcement.
You can download SparkyLinux 5.2 Xfce, SparkyLinux 5.2 LXQt, SparkyLinux 5.2 MATE, as well as SparkyLinux 5.2 MinimalGUI and MinimalCLI editions right now through our web portal of Linux software, but existing SparkyLinux 5.x users need only to update their installations to receive the newest software releases.