KaOS is an independent rolling-release distribution inspired by Arch Linux and entirely focused on the KDE Plasma Desktop and related Qt Toolkit-based software.
It uses Pacman as its package manager but does not rely on software repositories developed and maintained by Arch Linux. Instead, the software is available from in-house repositories and is built exclusively for 64-bit machines.
KaOS 2022.10 is the sixth update in this year’s 2022 series for this Linux distro. So, let’s have a look at what’s new.
KaOS 2022.10 Highlights
In this release, the Calamares installer has received the most significant attention. As a result, it has received several improvements.
It is now possible to complete the installation without even touching the keyboard. In other words, you only need a mouse or a touchpad. For modules that require text input, a virtual keyboard has been provided.
Moreover, the slideshow that the installer showed during the installation was reworked. The layout has also been tweaked, making it easier to move through the steps. On top of that, some new modules have been added.
For example, for those who prefer PulseAudio over Pipewire, a module has been included that allows users to choose which sound server they want, as Pipewire is the default choice.
Another exciting new feature in KaOS 2022.10 is the possibility of installing on top of ZFS, which includes all of the benefits of the ZFS file system, such as excellent RAID capabilities. But, of course, the distribution still installs on an XFS filesystem by default, with Ext4 as an option.
The third significant change in this release is that KaOS has been moved to Dracut as the new initramfs infrastructure. For those not in the know, Dracut is a set of tools that provide enhanced functionality for automating the Linux boot process.
It is actively developed, maintained, and used in Linux distros such as Fedora, openSUSE, Void Linux, Gentoo, and others.
In addition to the three major changes mentioned above, we should highlight several others in this KaOS 2022.10 release.
The ISO installation image includes the recently released KDE Gear 22.08.1 application collection. This means that users can take advantage of the new features and improvements included in this release. In addition, the most recent KDE Frameworks, 5.98.0 and Plasma 5.25.90, are also included, all built on Qt 5.15.6.
Under the hood, KaOS 2022.10 ships with the Linux kernel 5.19.13. In addition, of course, a number of the other core elements have also received updates, such as Systemd 251.5, DBus 1.14.4, and Mesa 22.1.7.
Finally, we’ll add that since LibreOffice 6.2 has been able to provide a pure Qt5 user experience, it has taken the place of Calligra as the default Office Application for KaOS.
You can refer to the official announcement for detailed information about all changes.
Download
Unlike most other Linux distros, KaOS does not provide various installation images with GNOME, Xfce, LXQt, or any other desktop. Moreover, the packages for other desktops are not even included in the KaOS repositories.
In addition, since KaOS Linux is a rolling distribution, keeping up with the updates is enough to get you the latest packages. So, to upgrade to the most recent release, do the following:
sudo pacman -SyuThe official ISO is also updated every few months to keep it up to date with all the latest changes for new installations, so you are not presented with a sizeable first update.
The users can download the latest KaOS 2022.10 installation ISO image from the project’s website for those wishing to carry out a new installation.
