Three months after celebrating its fifth anniversary with an edition specially released to mark this milestone, the Linux astronauts announced the availability of EndeavourOS Neo.
According to devs, initially, they mentioned that the Endeavour release name would be a one-off without plans for subsequent Neo or Nova versions. However, due to recent changes in the Pacman package manager, they named this refresh EndeavourOS Neo. Now, to the novelties.
First, it should be made clear that this release does not introduce new features or major fixesโthose are still in the works. Instead, it focuses on essential bug fixes to ensure a smoother installation experience.
Additionally, it includes upstream updates for the live environment and the offline installation option, providing users with the most stable base from which to work.
On the desktop side, being an Arch-based distro, Neo brings only the latest and greatest from the KDE ecosystem. Users will find a Plasma 6.1.5 desktop environment accompanied by the KDE Gears 24.08.1 apps collection and Frameworks 6.6.0.
On top of that, EndeavourOS Neo comes equipped with several key components to enhance your experience.
It includes Calamares 24.06.2, the latest version of the universal installer framework, which streamlines the installation process. You’ll also find Firefox 130, offering the newest iteration of Mozilla’s web browser for improved performance and security.
The system is powered by the Linux Kernel 6.10, delivering better hardware support and performance enhancements. Mesa 24.2.3 has been updated to provide better graphics capabilities for those concerned with graphics rendering.
Finally, the latest Xorg-server 21.1.13-1 makes managing your display settings more efficient. Additionally, users with NVIDIA graphics cards will benefit from the updated Nvidia 560.35 drivers, ensuring enhanced graphics performance.
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. If you opt for a fresh install, EndeavourOS can be downloaded from the projectโs website.