The developers of KaOS Linux have just released the latest ISO snapshot of their distribution, KaOS Linux 2024.03. This independent, Arch Linux-inspired distro features the stable KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment series, offering users a pure Plasma 6-based experience.
KaOS Linux was among the first distributions to embrace KDE Plasma 6, providing users with a cutting-edge environment since its 2024.01 release, which included the second Release Candidate of Plasma 6. With the launch of KaOS Linux 2024.03, users can enjoy a more stable Plasma 6 desktop experience, thanks to the inclusion of KDE Plasma 6.0.1, KDE Gear 24.02, and KDE Frameworks 6.0. These updates ensure a smoother and more reliable user experience for those installing this rolling distribution on their personal computers.
The highlights two major upgrades in this new version: a transition to the latest version of the application framework Qt and a migration to the modern Linux graphics platform, Wayland. These upgrades, though under-the-hood, bring significant benefits to Plasma. They enhance security, efficiency, and performance, while also improving support for modern hardware.
In this release, the developers of KaOS Linux have removed the GTK2 packages from their repositories, as they are no longer required by any major application. One notable application that was still using the old GTK2 toolkit, even four years after it reached end of life, was Ardour. However, this is no longer the case, starting with the Ardour 8.4 release.
Under the hood, KaOS Linux 2024.03 is powered by the Linux 6.7 kernel series, specifically Linux kernel 6.7.9. It also includes the latest Mesa 24.0.2 graphics stack, GStreamer 1.24 multimedia framework, GCC 13.2.1, GNU C Library 2.39, GNU Binutils 2.42, systemd 253.17, OpenZFS 2.2.3, KMod 32, OpenSSL 3.2, and OpenCV 4.9.0.
This release introduces a new package called , developed by KDE to seamlessly integrate systemd management into the Plasma 6 desktop. KaOS Linux 2024.03 is now available for download from the official website or through the direct download link below, offering users a modern and feature-rich Linux distribution.
