KDE Neon is a Linux distribution and live DVD developed by KDE based on Ubuntu LTS releases.
In addition, it includes a collection of additional software repositories containing the most recent versions of the Plasma desktop environment, Qt 5 toolkit, and other suitable KDE apps.
Neon is conceptually similar to KaOS, another fully KDE-focused Linux distribution, but the well-known Ubuntu is the proposed base on which it builds.
As previously said, one of the essential aspects of KDE Neon is that the distribution is always based on the most recent Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) version.
Following this pattern, KDE Neon has successfully rebased its distribution entirely on top of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS ‘Jammy Jellyfish’ six months after its release.
As a result, it inherits all of the benefits of the latest Ubuntu LTS, such as updated packages and features. For example, one of them is Linux kernel 5.15, which has better support for new hardware, optimized file systems, and the new NTFS file system driver named NTFS3.
Furthermore, Linux kernel 5.15 brings initial M1 support and a new SAMBA driver, delivering a fast kernel-space SMB3 module that integrates with user-space SAMBA tools and libraries.
On top of that, the rebase to 22.04 LTS brings OpenSSL 3.0.2 Cryptographic Utility Toolkit and GCC 11.2 GNU Compiler Collection. Programming languages have also been updated, with Python 3.10 and Ruby 3.0 available in Neon.
Users will receive the recently released Plasma 5.26, keeping with the KDE Neon tradition of giving the desktop environment the most up-to-date version.
Finally, unlike in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, where the Firefox browser is only available as a Snap, in KDE Neon, it is installed as a classic DEB app.
Starting today, if you already have KDE Neon installed, you should get a popup notifying you that an update to Ubuntu 22.04 is available.
It will ask you to check that your system is up to date before upgrading the base to 22.04, which will take some time to download and then some more time to install.
However, if you want to install everything from scratch, click the link below to get the installation ISO image, and then pick ‘User Edition.’
