Three months after its previous 2024.1 version, the Rhino Linux team announced the release of Rhino Linux 2024.2, a significant update that brings many new features, enhancements, and community-driven changes.
For those unfamiliar, Rhino is an Ubuntu-based rolling-release Linux distro that provides an in-house modified Xfce desktop environment called Unicorn Desktop.
In addition, it offers the rhino-pkgย tool that allows you to search, install, remove, and update packages fromย multiple sources, such as native DEB repos,ย Pacstallย (the AUR for Ubuntu), Flathub, and Snap Store.
A Revamped Experience with Rhino 2024.2
The updated Unicorn theme is one of the most eye-catching changes in the new release. Departing from the previous Yaru-Purple scheme, Unicorn adds a deeper purple tint and greater visual integration across applications like Thunar and XFCE4-Terminal.
Another big surprise in this release, however, lies under the hood. The Setup Wizard has been overhauled to offer an array of containerization options, including Docker, Podman, and Distrobox, for both novice and power users. This enhances the flexibility and utility of application deployment.
Furthermore, the addition of Nix as a package manager and Redshift to adjust screen color temperature tailors to a more personalized usage environment.
Pacstall, an integral component of Rhino Linux, has seen two major updates. The recent versions introduce pkgbase splitting, allowing multiple packages to be built from a single script and new commands for enhanced package searching capabilities.
Additionally, Rhino Linux 2024.2 includes new default kernel versions for various platforms, such as Generic ISO, Pine64, and Raspberry Pi images. The team has also addressed a previous issue with the GRUB bootloader and squashed numerous bugs.
In a major stride towards community involvement, the Rhino Linux Wiki has been ported to a new platform, allowing users to contribute more easily. But the devs are not stopping here. Plans for further development, including a React rewrite of the main website and a comprehensive roadmap for future releases, are already underway.
Despite the advancements, some known issues persist from the previous release. However, the development team has provided workarounds and continues to work on fixes.
The release announcement provides detailed information about all changes. Installation ISO images for the x86_64 and ARM64 architectures are available from the project websiteโsย downloads section.
Lastly, current Rhino users can upgrade to the latest version by running rpk update -y in their terminal.
