One thing is sure: the activity of SparkyLinux developers this month has been impressive. Today, barely a week after delivering updated versions of their main rolling release distro, they welcome us with three more updated versions.
But before we go any further, let’s briefly explain to our readers in a few words what SparkyLinux is. It is a Debian-based lightweight desktop Linux distribution that aims to be easy on system resources and can breathe new life into aging computers.
The distro has two editions. The first is a regular point release based entirely on the stable Debian branch that adheres to the established pattern of releasing new versions over time.
The second version of SparkyLinux adheres to the rolling release model and features three Special Editions: GameOver, Multimedia, and Rescue.
Today, the Sparky team announced the release of three updated ISO images for its Special Editions, so let’s look at what’s new.
SparkyLinux 2022.10 Special Editions Highlights
As you can see, the names of the three editions are pretty descriptive, indicating their intended use. All of them include the lightweight and easy-to-use Xfce 4.16 desktop environment.
The main changes in all these Special Editions releases are solely related to the updated package base. In other words, all available packages have been updated to the current versions in the Debian and Sparky testing repositories as of October 13, 2022.
Users of any three releases will also receive the brand new ‘sparky7-theme’ with GTK 2, 3, and 4 support. It’s worth noting that the theme supports both light and dark modes.
Moreover, with the latest Special Editions releases, you can also find updated application packages that include the following:
- Xfce 4.16
- Openbox 3.6.1
- Firefox 105
- Thunderbird 102.3
- VLC 3.0.17
- LibreOffice 7.4.1
- GRUB 2.06
Under the hood, Sparky 2022.10 Special Editions ships with the Linux kernel 5.19.11 as versions 6.0.2, 5.15.74-LTS, and 4.9.330-LTS are also available in Sparky’s unstable repositories.
Finally, we’ll mention that the ‘sparky-upgrade‘ command can now be invoked using its shortened version, ‘spu’ (SParkyUpgrade).
You can refer to the official announcement for detailed information about all changes in SparkyLinux 2022.10 Special Editions.
Download
Users can download SparkyLinux 2022.10 Special Editions installation ISO images from the download/rolling page of the project.
Of course, there is no need to reinstall Sparky Semi-Rolling if you already have it installed on your computer. Instead, you may easily update via the command line, executing:
sudo sparky-upgrde
