Linux news you might have missed - 18th March to 7th April 2019
837Here is a small roundup of what you might have missed in the last weeks in the Linux world ! I can't cover everything, so I'll stick to the major announcements, feel free to remind me of what I missed in the comments !
Links of note:
GNOME 3.32 Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRuj8EL_tXw
Ubuntu 19.04 Beta : https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2019-March/000242.html
New Steam Client Beta : https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/valve-have-put-out-a-new-steam-client-beta-its-small-but-good-for-steam-play-users.13853
elementary OS supports flatpak: https://medium.com/elementaryos/elementary-appcenter-flatpak-b1f970a33861
Linux Mint 19.2 announced : https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3736
Fedora 30 beta: https://fedoramagazine.org/announcing-the-release-of-fedora-30-beta/
KDE 5.15.5 : https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.15.4.php
elementary OS updates for March: https://medium.com/elementaryos/juno-updates-for-march-2019-d2dedb7e5500
Proton 4.2-2 : https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/releases/tag/proton-4.2-2
DXVK 1.1: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/dxvk-the-vulkan-based-layer-for-direct3d-10-11-in-wine-has-a-major-11-release-out-now.13906
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18th March:
GNOME 3.32 was released on the 18th of April, with a brand new Adwaita theme, as well as a complete revamp of it's icons, giving it a whole new look, which is a welcome change, in my opinion. Flatpak apps now display the permissions they require, and you can check that in the settings app, in a new "applications" panel. Other improvements include much smoother animations in GNOME Shell, improvements to GNOME Web. Sound settings also have been tweaked to be more legible.
28th March:
The Ubuntu 19.04 beta was released. Codenamed Disco Dingo, this new version is based on GNOME 3.32, and benefits from its various improvements, and restores the desktop icons feature by default thanks to a new extension. It's stated to release on the 18th of April, I'll cover everything in a dedicated video when it's out !
29th of March:
Steam released a beta version of its steam client, fixing some issues with the mouse cursor not showing up in the steam overlay in some proton games. This version also fixed a problem where steam would not download the required version of proton before starting a steamplay game, which should make things a bit easier.
1st April:
elementary OS let loose with the announcement of their support of Flatpak in the AppCenter. While they won't include the flathub repo by default, the AppCenter will accept flatpak apps and enable an elementary OS specific repo.
Linux Mint 19.2 also was announced, codenamed Tina, and will focus on improvements to the window manager, called Muffin, to make interacting with windows smoother. The Mint-Y theme will be tweaked as well to improve contrast and legibility, the update manager will see some big improvements, and the bluetooth applet will let you disconnect and connect devices in a single click.
2nd April
The beta version of Fedora 30 was released, sporting the whole new GNOME 3.32. A lot of applications and system components also have been updated. It's stated to release the 7th of May, I'll make sure to cover it in more detail then !
On the same day, KDE 5.15.4 has also been released, bringing a ton of bugfixes and enhancements to a desktop environment that is quickly shedding its incoherences and simplifying the experience.
3rd April
elementary OS kept on with a recap of updates they brought to the distro during March. Code has seen a few fixes, especially for handling new windows, and better supports GIT as well with the ability to switch branches. Keyboard shortcuts have been added to the session menu to quickly lock a session or log out, and the sound indicator now supports more interactions with the microphone. The audio settings panel should now display more hardware so you can select more finely which audio source you want to use.
Finally, on the 3rd of April, Proton 4.2-2 has been released, improving on Proton 4.2, which was only made available a week ago. This new version is based on Wine 4.2, and includes a new version of DXVK, FAudio, which should fix quite a few audio bugs.
4th April
Those of you that followed my "switching from google" video series might have taken a look at Qwant Maps. Well, the Qwant Team just released an update to their service, which now supports itineraries.
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