Manjaro Linux has reached the version 0.8.10, bringing many new features, updated translations, lots of fixes and the latest software packages such as LibreOffice 4.2.4. According to the official announcement the followings are included in this release of this linux distribution that is becoming very popular:
- Linux 3.12.20
- Mesa 10.1.4
- Xorg-Server 1.15.1
- Gstreamer 1.2.4
- MHWD 0.3.901
- libdrm 2.4.54
- Catalyst 14.04
- Nvidia 331.79
The development team has really worked very hard on this version of Manjaro, doing their best to deliver high quality stuff to the community. Manjaro 0.8.10 includes look-and-feel improvements, a modern graphical bootsplash and a new look for the Welcome screen. It is worth mentioning the fact that a new theme named Menda is now available by default.
There are some small fixes implemented in this release such as fixes for lxdm, ext2 mounting, LVM partition removal, filesystem and partition shrink operation. Much attention is focused on infrastructure development in this release, bringing many improvements to the installation framework (Thus).
“Although the general layout of our supported environments has not changed dramatically, there have been look-and-feel improvements, including a modern graphical bootsplash, new default theme (Menda) and a new look for our welcome screen. Where much attention has been focused since our last release is on infrastructure development, including improvements to our installation framework (Thus), package management & update interfaces (Pamac & Octopi), post-installation configuration framework (Turbulence) and to our user-friendly hardware detection and driver installation tool (MHWD).”, reads the official blog.
Unfortunately, Manjaro 0.8.10 does not make use of the latest linux kernel, but it has been updated to version 3.12.20. According to the changelog the AMD Catalyst drivers have been updated to version 14.04, fs freeze function is added in order to support grub installation on xfs, Gstreamer has been updated to version 1.2.4 and support for network driver installation is now made available by the developers of Manjaro.
You can read the full details on this release of Manjaro below:
New features in Thus – graphical installer
- Fix lxdm for LXDE edition
- Fix keyboard and keymap placement before encrypt hook
- Fix filesystem and partition shrink operation
- Fix partitioning calls to consistently use MiB instead of mixing MiB and MB
- Fix ext2 mounting
- Fix issue with LUKS and LVM (optional home)
- Fix issue with LVM partition creation
- Fix issue with LVM partition removal
- Fix rsync issue reported by Demiray
- Fix issue we have when no plymouth was on install media
- Add support for plymouth
- Add support for sddm
- Add 1MB offset for ROOT size calculation
- Add swap to grub kernel parameters
- Add xfs freeze function to support grub installation on xfs
- Add automatic network driver installation routine to mhwd.sh
- Do not swapoff ZRAM
- Filter out empty strings from the list of swap partitions
- Move swap to the end of free space, and do not leave unused space
- Mount swap after manual partitioning
- Load_html_string is deprecated since webkitgtk 1.1.1
- Remove cairo coloring for check page
- Rework auto_partition.py
- Set_from_stock_name is deprecated since gtk 3.10
- Sort to_be_deleted and changelist in installation_advanced
- Using ‘encoding=utf8′ prevents an exception to rise when using env vars in the command line
- Update DBusException in misc
- Simplify grub installation routine
- Use timeout to see if grub installation fails
- Do not use /mnt as temporary mount point
- Update translations
Only four editions are available for download at the moment: Manjaro XFCE Edition, Manjaro Openbox Edition, Manjaro KDE Edition and Manjaro Minimal Net Edition. All of them are available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. According to the official announcement, many other editions will be updated to 0.8.10 and will be released over the coming weeks.
For those that don’t know, Manjaro is a very user-friendly linux distribution which is based on the Arch linux operating system. It is available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. Unlike Ubuntu, Manjaro uses a Rolling Release development model which means that the same core system is not replaced but continually updated and upgraded.
You can read the official announcement here.
