risiOS is a relatively new Linux distribution that has set itself the not-so-easy goal of expanding on what Fedora offers by adding user-friendly tools to make the distribution even easier to manage and use.
If we can draw a parallel of how risiOS relates to Fedora, the closest comparison is that the distro is chasing what Ubuntu achieved by building on Debian – adding tools that make the user’s life easier.
Following the previous major release in mid-April, risiOS 37 “The Beautiful,” although without a codename, risiOS 38 is out, so let’s see what’s new.
What’s New in risiOS 38
The first thing that strikes you about the new risiOS 38 is the absence of the vivid red color used by default throughout the previous release.
It shows that the developers are reconsidering their color preferences because the previous choice was, to put it mildly, not the most pleasant option for the eyes.
Betting on GNOME 44, risiOS 38 ships with preinstalled Caffeine GNOME extension, allowing you to disable auto-suspend/sleep mode on your computer easily.
However, one of the significant changes in this release is related to risiTweaks, an in-house developed tool that has been completely redesigned. It now features a clean UI with a brand-new look and feel.
The other thing that impresses us about risiOS 38 is the changed and simplified interface of the Quick Setup tool.
With its assistance, you can do the initial setup of your system quickly and efficiently; with a few clicks, you can set up Flathub and install your favorite web browser or driver for your GPU.
rTheme, the default risiOS theme, now comes with version 1.0, closer to the stock GNOME’s Adwaita, only with support for accent colors and GNOME Shell theme changes.
On the apps side, as in the previous risiOS release, the popular office suite LibreOffice is replaced by ONLYOFFICE. On top of that, you’ll find the Timeshift Backup & Restore app preinstalled and the Celluloid media player, which replaced Totem for a better video experience.
Under the hood, as with Fedora 38, risiOS 38 is powered by Linux kernel 6.3 and systemd 253.5 init system. Mesa, an open-source implementation of OpenGL, was updated to version 23.1.
You can check out the release announcement for more detailed information about what’s new or visit the redesigned risiOS website.
Finally, if you are currently using the previous risiOS 37 release, you can upgrade to 38 by following the commands below:
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=38
sudo dnf system-upgrade rebootIn addition, download the risiOS 38’s ISO installation image from here if you prefer to perform a fresh install.
