EndeavourOS Marks Fifth Anniversary with Plasma 6.1 Release

Arch-based EndeavourOS marks five years with major updates, a special release of Plasma 6.1, and ARM's return.
EndeavourOS Marks Fifth Anniversary with Plasma 6.1 Release

Over two months after the debut of the Gemini release, EndeavourOS, a beloved Arch-based Linux distro known for its user-friendly yet powerful interface, has launched its latest update, Endeavour, to celebrate its five-year anniversary.

During the last year, the distro faced some challenges, but fortunately, those seem to be over.

The Return and Revamp of ARM Support

April 2024 marked a brief hiatus for EndeavourOS’s ARM development when developer Pudge decided to step back. However, this break was short-lived as he returned with renewed vigor and a fresh perspective, leading to a significant revamp of the ARM project.

Moving away from the Calamares installation method, EndeavourOS has re-introduced ARM support with simplified, device-specific downloadable images for:

  • Raspberry Pi 4b and 5b
  • Odroid N2
  • Pinebook Pro
  • RPi 4b & 5b headless server

These images promise an easier and more streamlined installation process that aims to enhance user-friendliness and accessibility.

The team is also eyeing future expansions, including support for devices powered by the Snapdragon X Elite and seeking collaborations with Mac M1, M2, and M3 owners and various ThinkPads with ARM architecture.

The New “Endeavour” Release

EndeavourOS 'Endeavour'

But the return of the ARM support isn’t the only good news. To mark the fifth EndeavourOS anniversary, the devs released a new OS update aptly named “Endeavour.” This special edition includes key updates such as:

  • Calamares 24.06
  • Firefox 127.0
  • Linux Kernel 6.9
  • Mesa 24.1
  • Xorg-server 21.1.13
  • Nvidia 550.90
  • Plasma 6.1

Moreover, this release brings some improvements, including fixes for installation crashes and language selection issues. However, a notable unresolved issue remains with the GRUB bootloader installation on older hardware, for which the team has provided a workaround.

Being a rolling release distribution, keeping EndeavourOS up-to-date is enough to always be at the latest version; just execute the well-known pacman -Syu command.

The release announcement provides detailed information about all changes. EndeavourOS can be downloaded from the project’s website if you opt for a fresh install.

Bobby Borisov

Bobby Borisov

Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies.

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