The developers of SparkyLinux have begun 2024 with a new ISO snapshot of this Debian-derived distribution, based on the soon-to-be-released Debian GNU/Linux 13 “Trixie” operating system series.
Equipped with the Linux 6.6 LTS kernel series, SparkyLinux 2024.01 signifies the first update of the SparkyLinux Rolling series in 2024, integrating all package updates from the Debian Testing (Debian Trixie) and SparkyLinux Testing repositories as of January 17th, 2024.
An interesting feature of the SparkyLinux 2024.01 release is the inclusion of the MLVWM X11 window manager— a Macintosh-like Virtual Window Manager offering users a classic MacOS desktop experience. Users have the option to install SparkyLinux with MLVWM using the command-line installer.
Beyond providing support for the MLVWM window manager, the SparkyLinux CLI installer now increases its web browser support, which now includes SRWare Iron, LibreWolf, Midori, Min, Mullvad, Opera, Slimjet, and ungoogled-chromium.
Moreover, the SparkyLinux CLI installer now offers users progress output when copying files to a disk drive. On the other hand, the devs removed the ability to install SparkyLinux with the Btrfs file system on BIOS machines and the ability to install SparkyLinux with the XFS file system using the CLI installer.
Of course, you’ll still be able to install SparkyLinux with the XFS file system using the Calamares graphical installer, which has been updated to the latest Calamares 3.3.1 release in the SparkyLinux 2024.01 snapshot.
Keeping up with the times, this is also the first SparkyLinux Rolling update to ship with the PipeWire audio server installed by default instead of PulseAudio. Of course, the latest Pipewire 1.0.1 release is available in this ISO snapshot.
SparkyLinux 2024.01 is available for download right now from the official website as MinimalCLI, MinimalGUI (featuring Openbox 3.6.1-11), KDE Plasma (featuring KDE Plasma 5.27.10 LTS), Xfce (featuring Xfce 4.18), LXQt (featuring LXQt 1.4.0), and MATE (featuring MATE 1.26) editions.
While the distro is powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.6 LTS kernel series, you’ll also be able to install the latest Linux 6.7 kernel or the Linux 6.1.73 LTS and Linux 5.15.147 LTS kernels from the SparkyLinux repositories.
Credits: MLVWM
Last updated 12 hours ago