The latest ISO snapshot of Arch Linux-based CachyOS for August 2024 is now accessible for download, featuring multiple enhancements, new technology support, and updated elements.
In this update, CachyOS introduces compatibility with System76’s COSMIC Alpha desktop environment, which is developed in Rust. To install this on CachyOS, use the command sudo pacman -S cosmic-session in a Terminal app post-installation.
Users with NVIDIA GPUs will find that the latest CachyOS version includes the NVIDIA 560 Beta graphics driver, which now uses open GPU kernel modules by default. Accordingly, the CachyOS team has enhanced hardware detection to automatically identify and use the open GPU kernel modules for supported NVIDIA GPUs.
On the topic of hardware detection, improvements have been made to the CachyOS Hardware Detection tool, specifically in fixing the NVIDIA PRIME/Hybrid Profile detection and removal of the RTD3 workaround that caused compatibility issues in certain setups.
The CachyOS Kernel Manager tool has been updated extensively in the CachyOS August 2024 release. It now allows users to apply custom flags to the sched-ext configuration for each scheduler through the graphical user interface. The support for NVIDIA open GPU kernel modules for custom-built kernels has been integrated, along with a new feature to recall the last options used in these custom builds. Additionally, enhancements have been made to the password prompt handling and the capability to construct a custom pkgname with LTO and NVIDIA modules enabled has been introduced.
Furthermore, the latest release of CachyOS in August 2024 introduces a script to facilitate Secure Boot management, incorporates an Arch Linux mirror and Cache CDN (CDN77) during installation as defaults, and enhances support for automatically mounting user partitions from the Live ISO. Support for the ROG Ally X gaming handheld in the CachyOS Handheld Edition has also been added in this release.
The technical foundation of the CachyOS August 2024 release is the Linux kernel version 6.10.5, and it ships with the latest KDE Plasma 6.1.4 desktop environment by default. The new ISO rolls out with updated core components and applications to provide an enhanced user experience.
Visit the release announcement to discover more, and to download the CachyOS August 2024 as either a Desktop or Handheld editions. Existing users of CachyOS should simply execute the sudo pacman -Syu command in their preferred terminal to update their systems.