KaOS 2024.01 is Released, Linux distribution focused on Qt/KDE toolkit and desktop

 

KaOS is a desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE desktop environment, the Calligra office suite, and other popular software applications that use the Qt toolkit. It was inspired by Arch Linux, but the developers build their own packages which are available from in-house repositories. KaOS employs a rolling-release development model and is built exclusively for 64-bit computer systems.

Version 2024.01 of KaOS, an independently-developed Linux distribution focused on Qt/KDE toolkit and desktop, has been released. This is the project's first stable release that incorporates KDE's upcoming Plasma 6 release, currently in the release candidate 2 stage.

This release marks the end of Plasma 5 as the default Desktop Environment for KaOS. Almost fifteen months ago work started to fully migrate to a Frameworks 6, Plasma 6 based distribution, and with the release of Plasma 6 Release Candidate 2) this migration is now deemed ready to bring a better user experience than Plasma 5. From the onset of this migration, there was never a plan to mix the two environments. What you will see on this ISO is a pure Plasma 6 based environment.

KaOS though has been shipping all ported applications from their Frameworks 6 branch in the many snapshot ISOs it has released to get ready for this migration. Just about all applications that users have become used to seeing in a Frameworks 5 / Plasma 5 version are available as a Frameworks 6 / Plasma 6 port.

For the few applications that are not ready yet, Frameworks 5 is still packaged, so they can be used in a Plasma 6 environment. Those that rely on parts of Plasma 5 will be missing from the KaOS repositories until their ports are ready for daily use.

SDDM for Midna 2024/Plasma 6

The Look & Feel is also updated for the Plasma 6 move, with the Midna theme, exclusive to KaOS, fully redone.

Once this ISO is released, all Plasma 5 packages will be removed from the repositories, and KaOS will once again go back to focusing on one Desktop Environment.

Updates to the base of the system included a move to FFMPEG 6, fully updated Boost 1.83.0/ICU 74.1 stack, LLVM/Clang 17.0.6, kernel moved to Linux 6.6.14, Systemd 254.9, Python 3.10.13, Util-Linux 2.39.3, IWD 2.13, MariaDB 11, and Postgresql 16.

For the Plasma 6 desktop, the latest Plasma (5.93.0), KDE Gear (24.01.95)], and Frameworks (5.249.0) are included. All built on Qt 6.6.1.

The Cube is back for Plasma 6

SDDM 0.20.0 added the option to run this display manager in Wayland mode, so KaOS is one step closer to being ready to move away from X11. The shell used to run in Wayland mode is kwin_wayland (upstream default is using Weston).

The automated partitioning option in the installer (Calamares) now offers the use of all popular filesystems, so no need to use manual partitioning to be able to choose XFS, EXT4, BTRFS, or ZFS.

Big thanks goes to YourHostingSolutions for not only providing a mirror but also providing a server for KaOS. With the discontinuation of Fosshost, a new server was sorely needed.

Calamares Qt6 based

Getting good logs has always been a bit of a challenge since you have to know what journalctl commands to use. That is now a thing of the past, Kjournald gives the option to view the logs from a nice GUI, with all kinds of filter options in the left-hand pane (it is part of the default install)

Read the complete release announcement for further information and screenshots.

The ISO ships with Frameworks 5.249.0, Plasma 5.93.0, KDE Applications 24.01.95, Linux 6.6.14, Systemd 254.9, Kmod 31, NetworkManager 1.44.2, LibreOffice 24.2.0, Elisa, Xorg-Server 1.21.11, Mesa 23.3.4, Glibc 2.37, GCC 12.3.0, non-free Nvidia 545 and Python3 3.10.13 to name a few.

The package manager is Pacman 6.0.2, with the simple but powerful Octopi 0.14 as GUI frontend. Default web browser is Qt based Falkon. GFXboot is included with KaOS artwork, Grub theme is Midna, Look & Feel is a KaOS exclusive version "Midna".

Repositories of KaOS will stay limited in size and expect it to stay at the current maximum of about 2100-2200. A gist of what is available, besides the stable kernel there is Linux-next 6.7, Calligra 3.2.1, VLC, Vokoscreen, Blender, Kodi, Calibre, Sigil, Vulkan packages, a few games like 0ad and Knights.

A limited number of the most well-known GTK applications are available, examples Firefox 122, Chrome 123, Ardour 8.2.0, Inkscape 1.3, GIMP 2.99.16 and Thunderbird 115.

Complete language packs are available for KDE, Calligra, Firefox, LibreOffice and Thunderbird. For IM, Fcitx 4.2.9.9 is available as a rather complete group.

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