This is our first release of the year, bringing a host of improvements to the installer, the new display manager (Plasma Login Manager), and much more. First, we have significantly reworked the installer and added many quality-of-life improvements. The bootloader selection has been moved directly into the installer, featuring a description for each option; Limine is now selected as the default bootloader. Architecture detection now happens at the very beginning of the installation process, which reduces the download size by around 1 Gigabyte. Additionally, we now pass the --needed flag to pacman to avoid reinstalling up-to-date packages. The mount options for NVMes have also been improved when Btrfs is selected, now defaulting to compression level 1. Next, the ISO has been switched to Plasma Login Manager, and the Live ISO now uses Wayland instead of X11.
Skywave Linux has been upgraded to version 5.10, bringing some software changes, a kernel upgrade and bug fixes: Linux kernel 6.18.5, with the XanMod efficiency and speed tweaks; adjustments to Tor-Remote and Tor-Controller scripts; added I2P darknet access using Purple/i2pd; adjustments to the Neovim LSP configuration; Neovim plugins have been upgraded; Qtel, the Echolink client, has been removed; upgraded the dwm window manager dwm-flexipatch to version 6.6; updated satellites and transponders for Gpredict and SatDump; expanded the scope of the KiwiSDR list to include OpenWebRX sites; the theme for this upgrade cycle was 'Delegate more to systemd and reduce manual interventions'. I have cleaned out the user's dot profile and xinit files, moving environmental variables to the user's .config directory, for handling by systemd. I also deleted the code which forcefully set the screen dots per inch, based on specs detected by X11. Fonts and application windows are now more consistently sized across more diverse hardware.
Three years is a long time for free and open source software! Enough time for 12,525 new packages and 29,932 package updates to the Guix repository. Here are the best highlights: To start, KDE Plasma 6.5 is now available with the new plasma-desktop-service-type. Screenshot of KDE Plasma with a welcome window and the About This System tab of system settings open. The Guix and KDE logos are visible, as well as Konqi. Continuing on desktops, GNOME has been updated from version 42 to 46 and now uses Wayland by default. The gnome-desktop-service-type was made more modular to better customize the default set of GNOME applications. Guix System is now using version 1.0 of the GNU Shepherd, which now supports timed services, kexec reboot and has new services for system logs and log rotation which are now used by Guix System instead of Rottlog and syslogd. There are around 40 new system services to choose from, including Forgejo Runner, RabbitMQ, iwd and dhcpcd to name a few.
In order to further optimize the deepin 25 system update experience and enhance stability, the deepin 25.0.10 image is now officially released. This update focuses on system installation experience, file management, system interaction and stability, optimizing multiple high-frequency usage scenarios, fixing a large number of known issues, and improving system smoothness and reliability. Key updates in this release: system installer - optimized the prompt text for data formatting during full-disk installation, now supporting the option to retain user data and reuse the original account data, configurations and files; comprehensive upgrade of file manager - added practical features such as automatic scrolling during file drag-and-drop, group display and pinned tabs, significantly improving file operation efficiency; system interaction and interface polish - optimized interaction details of the taskbar, control center, lock screen, clipboard....
ELEGANCE 4 'Leanora' with style. The desktop environment has received its update, including a new design for the icons and menus, a return to the roots for our beloved theme, where grey returns in a dark theme this time! But the historic blue remains. The base: Manjaro Linux 26.0.1, recently released; Cinnamon 6.6.3 with its new design; the Linux kernel remains at 6.12, pending the next with a long-term support; ISO image name - 26.0.1-260117-linux612. Changes to the applications: the new camera application allows you to scan codes; a basic drawing application has been added for beginners; if you need to resize images for uploads, Curtail allows it and copies them to the original image location.
Making a return as of 25.1 is a dual-init setup with both systemd and SysVInit on the same ISO image. This drastically cuts the number of builds we do and also brings back a feature that was uniquely MX and many users enjoyed. In addition to the usual bug fixes and updates, there are a few nice user-oriented changes related to the dual-init setup from our past releases. Users will be able to choose the init system from the live boot menu on first boot of the live system. The installer will set up whatever init system is running at the time of install as the default for the installed system. The other init will be in the GRUB boot menu under 'advanced', like systemd was on our MX-23 and earlier releases. The tendency for MX-23 to break polkit/dbus on logout/login cycles when systemd-shim was in operation, the main symptom being the root privilege escalation prompt would not appear, appears to not happen with the new setup.
We are kicking off 2026 with the release of 'Ganymede Neo'. As you are accustomed to with our Neo releases, this release includes upstream updates and minor changes compared to the 'Ganymede' ISO image. Before I go into the release notes, I just want to remind you of the following. The changes described over here are affecting new installs, our Calamares installer and the live environment on the ISO image only. Running systems don't have to 'upgrade' to 'Ganymede Neo'; if you update regularly, your system is fine. This ISO image and offline installer ships with: Calamares 26.01.1.5, Firefox 146.0.1, Linux kernel 6.18.4, Mesa 25.3.3, X.Org Server 21.1.21, NVIDIA 590.48.01. And has the following bug fixes: the long startup time issue with Calamares has been resolved; the Nemo preview package was removed from the default package bundle for Cinnamon and Budgie during installation due to its removal from the Arch repository; starting with this release, the NVIDIA proprietary drivers have been switched to 'nvidia-open' due to the upstream changes to NVIDIA drivers.
2026 brings something new but also old to TROMjaro - the Unity layout style is back because we managed to fix an annoying thing with it. Let me explain. When I first discovered Linux I fell in love with Ubuntu's Unity. A desktop that had the apps icons on the left bar, then a thinner top bar with useful info and tray icons. If you maximized an app, the app's menu and window buttons were part of the top main bar, and this maximized the space for any maximized app. On top of this (pun intended) you could search through an app's menu to quickly access its settings and options. Again made so much sense. I can quickly search through huge menus for whatever I quickly needed. Lastly, Unity had all sorts of smart searches in their main app search, like you could search online, inside the folders, etc. It made so much sense that they decided to discontinue it. When I released TROMjaro with Xfce I realized that I can simulate the Unity Layout since Xfce is so damn easy to customize.
The 'System Reports' tool received many new features and it was rebranded as 'System Information'. In addition to its 'System Information', 'System Reports' and 'Crash Reports' pages, the tool received four new pages to show you more information and help you troubleshoot common issues. The 'USB' page shows a detailed view of all plugged-in devices, including their type, name and ID (which uniquely identifies the device and its manufacturer). Devices are grouped by USB controller, so you can see where each device is plugged and compare its connection speed and power usage with the controller's maximum connection speed and total power capacity. This helps troubleshoot common USB issues such as slow transfers or random disconnections.
The new ISO image of MODICIA O.S. 'Caravaggio' 6.12.63-RT-LTS has been released. This updated and optimized version integrates all improvements introduced by the real-time LTS 6.12.63 kernel, delivering greater stability, responsiveness and overall performance. Kernel improvements: enhanced real-time responsiveness; significantly reduced latency in audio, video and I/O processes; smoother multitasking, even under heavy workloads; faster response from the interface and professional applications; ore stable RT scheduling for JACK, PipeWire and PulseAudio; elimination of audio drops and micro‑lags during recording and complex editing tasks. Improved graphics and video performance: better CPU/GPU synchronization; more stable video pipeline for 4K/8K editing and rendering; reduced processing times in multimedia applications; integrated LTS patches for stronger protection; improved memory management and crash prevention.