GNOME 42 is the most recent popular desktop version, but it is not yet available on most Linux distributions.
Fortunately, individuals interested in trying out GNOME 42 can do so with openSUSE Tumbleweed, a rolling-release version that incorporates the most recent software upgrades. The 20220323 snapshots included this highly anticipated release from GNOME contributors.
Suppose you’re not familiar with the concept of snapshots in Tumbleweed. In that case, they are a layer of repo management software and a history of official-release snapshots that sits logically above the standard Tumbleweed official-release repo.
Tumbleweed snapshots allow you to use any recent official snapshot as the basis for your Tumbleweed installation. This helps avoid the official bleeding edge by opting for less risky releases.
GNOME 42 will also be the default in Fedora 36 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS “Jammy Jellyfish,” however, those releases are still in beta.
But what’s the hype about? GNOME 42 has a revised Screenshot Tool, new Text Editor app, new GNOME Console app, and a new system-wide dark User Interface style setting.
In addition, GNOME 42’s core programs have been converted to GTK4 and now offer next-generation features.
On top of that, videos now use the latest OpenGL widgets with hardware-accelerated decoding, and input handling has been considerably improved, resulting in lower input latency and more excellent responsiveness.
Other features found in openSUSE Tumbleweed include the latest Linux5.16 kernel, VLC 3.0.17, and the latest NetworkManager 1.36, which now loads all the known plugins found in the plugin directory.
Apart from those mentioned above, we can’t fail to say that in the latest Tumbleweed snapshot, Flatpak 1.12.7 was upgraded with a feature that allows apps created with Flatpak 1.13.x to export AppStream metadata in share/metainfo.
Read the official announcement from openSUSE, and then download a copy of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
