In this update we decide to make MATE as the default desktop for NetHydra (for SONAR it would still be using Xfce), classic and technical feel. As with every NetHydra release, this update also introduces several new tools and package additions to complement and expand the scope of NetHydra: Fluxion - a security auditing and social-engineering research tool; ligolo-ng - an advanced, yet simple, tunneling/pivoting tool that uses a TUN interface; chisel - fast TCP/UDP tunnel, transported over HTTP, secured via SSH with a single executable; Evilginx2 - standalone man-in-the-middle attack framework used for phishing. Also, we've added some old tools into NetHydra ISO image, including cisco-auditing-tool (CAT), cisco-global-exploiter, cisco-torch, 0trace, unix-privesc-check and smtp-user-enum.
From a development story arc perspective, AerynOS has been deliberately kept under a very tight leash over the last year, as we have focused on strengthening our core tooling and infrastructure code bases. Whilst we are nowhere near “done” with our vision for our tooling, now that our ability to seamlessly deliver updates to our on-disk repository and file formats has been secured, you will see AerynOS deliberately transitioning into a more open and collaborative space for those of you who want to get involved with the project and work on areas that you find fun, interesting and engaging. This shift in approach has already been evident over the last couple of months, as engagement around the project continues to grow through all of our social media platforms and particularly in our Zulip server. Reilly has worked on adding OpenZFS data drive support in AerynOS. This means that we now support Btrfs, bcachefs and OpenZFS drives for user-managed data drives. Reilly has tested OpenZFS on one of his drives; however we need help from you all, our community of early adopters, to test OpenZFS on your drives and provide feedback that we can then use to iterate.
This release presents the new Linux kernel 7.1.5 as well as the new version 150.0.7871.186-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has improved its upgrade software.
The status of the 4MLinux 52.0 series has been changed to STABLE. Edit your documents with LibreOffice 26.2.5 and GNOME Office (AbiWord 3.0.8, GIMP 3.2.4, Gnumeric 1.12.61), surf the Internet with Firefox 153.0 or Chrome 151.0 and send emails via Thunderbird 153.0. Enjoy your music collection with Audacious 4.6.1, watch your favorite videos with mpv 0.41.0 or VLC 3.0.23, and play games powered by Mesa 26.0.3. You can also set up a very lightweight HTTP/FTP server (based on BusyBox 1.37.0). PHP 8.5.4, Perl 5.42.1, Python 3.14.3 and Ruby 3.4.8 are also available. As always, the new major release has some new features, including simplified Wi-Fi configuration and improved support for legacy graphics cards. Rocks'n'Diamonds (a classic platform game), Elvis (an old vi clone), PDF Tricks (a Ghostscript GUI for handling PDF images) are available as downloadable extensions, while ksh (KornShell) and audioconvert (a command-line utility) are included out of the box. Support for Ultra HDR images (via libultrahdr and ImageMagick) has also been added. And finally, the Linux kernel in 4MLinux has been upgraded to its latest LTS version, i.e. 6.18.
August 2026 ISO image of Archcraft is now available for download. A release focused on stability, compatibility and polish. From a completely revamped installation experience to improved desktop sessions, better VirtualBox support and countless bug fixes, this is one of the biggest Archcraft updates yet. Highlights: brand new Qt6 SDDM theme; new Sway Wayland session; reliable encrypted installations across installers; restored Btrfs and XFS installation support (Calamares); updated to archiso 88-1; improved VirtualBox compatibility; better GTK/GNOME application integration; hundreds of small fixes and improvements. One of the biggest additions in this release is the introduction of Sway, providing another lightweight Wayland session alongside the existing window managers.