Very few Linux distros have the privilege of being endorsed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). One of those distros is Trisquel GNU/Linux.
You can be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Trisquel. It is an Ubuntu-based desktop oriented distro which features free and open source software exclusively. This means that there is no closed source proprietary software of any kind included in this distro. That includes the kernel, all the apps, all the libraries, drivers, everything.
Keep in mind that if you wanted to go out and get proprietary drivers, Trisquel doesn’t provide any easy tools for you to use to get those proprietary drivers. Certainly, you’re not gonna like spending a ton of money on that high-end Nvidia graphics card and then having to run the nouveau drivers.
What’s New in Trisquel GNU/Linux 10.0
This latest version, code-named Nabia, follows the distro’s tradition of naming new releases from the Celtic mythology.
Trisquel GNU/Linux 10.0 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) but comes with the GNU Linux-Libre kernel 5.4 by default. Unlike the Ubuntu Linux kernel, the GNU Linux-Libre kernel lacks by design any non-free firmware. It also prevents users from loading non-free firmware even if they wish to do so. That should not matter to newcomers or seasoned Linux users.
The desktop environment used in this release is MATE 1.24. Besides the complete set of LibreOffice 7.1.7 (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, Base), Trisquel 10.0 has 2.9 GiB worth of ISO size with a full set of daily desktop applications.
Trisquel’s default web browser is Abrowser. This is a version of Mozilla’s Firefox browser that treats users’ freedom and privacy more strictly than more mainstream choices. This browser received a major update, based on Firefox 96.
Trisquel GNU/Linux 10.0 comes in four flavors. You get a default version, a more feature-rich offering KDE-based edition (Triskel), an educational-incentivized edition (TOAST), and a more basic version for netbooks (Trisquel Mini) running LXDE desktop environment version 0.99.
Among other noteworthy changes, this release comes with the addition of support for ARM devices, incorporating armhf as a newly supported architecture. We can’t fail to mention that Trisquel 10.0 is the first release to not have support for 32-bit hardware on x86. Luckily, the previous Trisquel v.9 “Etiona” release will continue to provide support for x86 32-bit machines until April 2023.
The list of other changes since Trisquel 9.0.1 is rather short. It has included software packages such as VLC video player 3.0.9, Icedove 91.5, and Xorg 7.7.
For detailed information about all changes in Trisquel GNU/Linux 10.0, you can refer to the release announcement.
Download
If you want to give Trisquel GNU/Linux 10.0 a try right now, the installation ISO image is available to download from here. This release will be supported with security updates until April 2025.
