This release presents the new Linux kernel 6.8.0-64. In addition, Starbuntu has further improved its own package manager as well as its wallpaper software. Moreover, a bug in its launch-all program "all-open" has been fixed.
RefreshOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution that focuses on stability, native applications, and a user-friendly KDE experience that feels familiar from the start. Version 2.5 expands driver support and tightens security, with usability improvements built directly from user feedback. We’ve kept things lightweight, intuitive, and free of data collection, aiming for a system that just works out of the box.
If you have a blank screen, try 'Graphical Fallback Mode' from the Rescuezilla boot menu (after selecting a language), if that doesn't work, try the alternative ISO image; each variant has slightly different video drivers and Linux kernel versions, so often have slightly different graphics support; adds release based on Ubuntu 25.04 'Plucky' for best support of new hardware; fixed regression where swap partitions stayed unintentionally mounted causing restore and clone operations to destination disks containing Linux swap partitions to fail; re-enabled Image Explorer (beta) after it was temporarily disabled in 2.6.0; enabled Firefox on the Ubuntu 24.10 'Oracular' release after it was temporarily excluded in 2.6.0; added ability to specify NFS version - NFSv3, NFSv4 and the (existing default) of automatically negotiating down; improved touchpad support for tap-to-click and multifinger gestures using libinput driver.
This release presents the latest upgrade of the web browser google-chrome-stable (version 138.0.7204.157-1). In addition, a critical bug in the Starbuntu package manager has been fixed. Moreover, a very powerful search tool for contents in text files, pdf files and libreoffice files has been added.
RELIANOID 7.7 marks a major step forward in hybrid and multi-cloud readiness. With full integration for AWS, Azure, and GCP, users can now seamlessly deploy and manage RELIANOID instances across major cloud platforms, unlocking powerful scalability and redundancy options. In addition, the introduction of VPN support significantly extends the platform's capabilities for secure remote access, site-to-site communication, and private cloud extension. The new noid-support utility replaces the legacy supportsave, offering a more modern and comprehensive support data collection tool for faster issue resolution. The system backend has been upgraded to Debian 12.11, ensuring a secure and up-to-date operating environment. The GUI also gets a major refresh, with a full upgrade of Angular libraries and deprecated components removed, resulting in a smoother and more responsive user interface.
The 8th update of Sparky 7 - 7.8 is out. It is a quarterly updated point release of Sparky 7 'Orion Belt' of the stable line. Sparky 7 is based on and fully compatible with Debian 12 'Bookworm'. Changes: all packages updated from Debian and Sparky Stable repos as of July 14, 2025. Linux kernel PC: 6.1.140-LTS (6.15.6, 6.12.38-LTS, 6.6.98-LTS in Sparky repos) - LibreOffice 7.4.7 (25.2.3 in Debian Backports repos). KDE Plasma 5.27.5; LXQt 1.2.0; MATE 1.26; Xfce 4.18; Openbox 3.6.1; Firefox 128.12.0esr (140.0.4 in Sparky repos); Thunderbird 128.12.0esr. Fixed problem with conflicted libs installed previously from debian-multimedia repos; it blocked installation of some packages, such as GIMP; to fix it manually, uninstall libavutil57 (v10:5.1.3) and its deps, and install it back (v7:5.1.6). Anyway, GIMP is preinstalled now in live media.
This release presents the new Linux kernel 6.8.0-63 and the latest upgrade of the web browser google-chrome-stable (version 138.0.7204.92-1). In addition, Starbuntu has improved its own package manager. Further, Starbuntu has translated the appreciated efficient search tool searchmonkey into Spanish and Italian.
The GParted team is pleased to announce a new stable release of GParted Live. This release includes GParted 1.7.0, updated packages and other improvements. Items of note include: only amd64 (x86-64) images are available going forward - as mentioned in the Debian release mailing list, dropping i386 kernel packages, the i386 Linux kernel packages were dropped in our upstream, Debian 'Sid' repository, hence i686/i686-pae GParted Live will be no more in the future; from this release on, only amd64 (x86-64) release will be available; includes GParted 1.7.0; implemented a mechanism to reduce the possibility of random order of block devices in GParted Live; based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2025-07-12; Linux kernel image updated to 6.12.37. X Desktop GUI fails to display with default boot options? Try Other modes of GParted Live - GParted Live (Safe graphics setting, vga-normal).
This is our fifth release this year, and it includes a long-awaited requested feature, improvements for chwd, and more. The user's shell can now be chosen at installation time. In the package list selection, there is now an option to choose between cachyos-fish-config and cachyos-zsh-config. If neither is selected, the system will default to Bash. The default configuration will still be Fish, as it was before. We received some reports that systemd-oomd was killing processes too early in some cases. We have removed its integration to avoid these issues. For Plasma installations, we are now defaulting to Wayland. For graphics configurations that do not support Wayland (e.g., NVIDIA legacy drivers), the plasma-x11-session will be automatically installed to prevent issues. Additionally, fwupd has been added to the Plasma and GNOME environments.
Worker node version check - A safety check has been added when a new worker node joins the cluster: its core version is now compared with that of the leader node to ensure compatibility. Before joining the cluster, always update the cluster core and ensure the latest core version is used on new worker nodes. Hetzner S3 backup support - Added support for configuring Hetzner S3 as a custom backup destination. Also fixed a bug that prevented renaming custom S3 backup destinations. Samba domain member role and new features - The core Samba application can now be installed from the Software Center and configured as an Active Directory domain member, providing shared folders in a domain File Server role.