Nitrux is a free, beautiful, open-source, desktop-oriented Linux distro. It’s powered by Debian, KDE technologies, and Qt, emphasizing aesthetics, user efficiency, and portable universal app formats.
The distro features a modified version of the KDE Plasma desktop called NX Desktop. Furthermore, Nitrux brings its own set of Nitrux applications built upon Maui kit and Qt.
So, in terms of appearance, Nitrux is arguably on par with today’s best-looking distros, such as Deepin or Zorin OS.
Nitrux team released its major version 2.0 in January 2022. And now, the second release of this systemd-free (Nitrux uses the OpenRC init system) Linux distro for this year is out. So let’s see what’s new.
Nitrux 2.1.0 Highlights
We start with the fact that the 5.16.16 XanMod kernel is now the default in the distro. The XanMod kernel is widely popular amongst Linux gaming, streaming, live productions, and ultra-low latency enthusiasts.
It features custom settings and new features and is built to provide a responsive and smooth desktop experience, especially for new hardware.
Additionally, Nitrux 2.1.0 offers the latest mainline LTS and non-LTS kernels in their repos, currently 5.15.32 and 5.17.1, respectively. If you want to use any of them, run one of the following commands.
sudo apt install linux-image-mainline-lts
sudo apt install linux-image-mainline-currentHowever, perhaps the most noteworthy new feature in this release is the upgrade of the KDE Desktop Environment to the latest and most current version. In Nitrux 2.1.0, you can enjoy updated versions of KDE Plasma to version 5.24.4, KDE Frameworks to version 5.92.0, and KDE Gear to version 21.12.3.
On top of that, several apps have also received updates. For example, Firefox has been updated to version 98.0.2, which provides an easier way to download files. In addition, the widely popular open-source office suite LibreOffice has also been updated to version 7.3.1.3.
Another key highlight of this release is the availability of firmware packages for Broadcom 43xx and Intel SOF devices. On top of that, Nitrux 2.1.0 adds various packages, including the ifuse FUSE module for iPhone and iPod Touch devices and other software provided by libmobiledevice.
We can’t fail to mention that gaming enthusiasts and Steam users have reason to rejoice with this release. So why do we say it? Nitrux 2.1.0 adds a shortcut to the application menu to install Steam. Keep in mind that Steam’s installation will take place in the background.
Last but not least, due to numerous user reports mentioning how they were logging in to the Wayland session, which is inoperable, resulting in a negative user experience, Nitrux 2.1.0 excludes the graphical sessions of Cask from appearing in SDDM.
You can refer to the official announcement for detailed information about all changes.
Download
Nitrux 2.1.0 is available for immediate download. If you want to try it right now, the installation ISO image (nitrux-nx-desktop-20220401-amd64.iso) is available to download from here.
The devs recommend performing a fresh installation using the latest available media. To upgrade from the previous version of Nitrux 2.0.1 with NX Desktop to version 2.1.0, do the following:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade nitrux-repositories-config amdgpu-firmware-extra
sudo apt install -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" linux-firmware/trixie
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt autoremove
sudo rebootCode language: PHP (php)
