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The team behind the Neptune Linux distribution released Neptune 8.0 as a major update to this Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution built around the latest KDE Plasma desktop environment.
Dubbed “Juna”, Neptune 8.0 is here eleven months after Neptune 7.5 and it’s the first release of this GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian’s stable branch to rebase the entire system on the recently released Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series.
Being based on Debian Bookworm, Neptune 8.0 inherits all of the upstream package versions, including the kernel, which is based on the long-term supported Linux 6.1 series that will receive updates until December 2026.
On top of these major underlying changes, the Neptune 8.0 release ships with the latest and greatest KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS desktop environment series, which is accompanied by the KDE Frameworks 5.103 and KDE Gear 22.12.3 software suites. KDE Plasma 5.27.5 is included by default in this release.
I have to admit that both KDE Frameworks 5.103 and KDE Gear 22.12.3 releases are a bit old, but that’s what Debian Bookworm can offer right now for Plasma users. Hopefully, this will change soon so that Plasma users can also enjoy newer KDE apps and the numerous improvements included with the latest KDE Frameworks and Gears releases.
To offer out-of-the-box support for Flatpak apps, the Neptune 8.0 release has adopted KDE’s Plasma Discover graphical package manager as the default software management tool replacing the Muon package manager, which has been removed from the distribution. The Neptune devs think that Plasma Discover is mature enough to handle Flatpak apps and the Flathub repository.
Of course, many of Neptune’s default applications have been updated to their latest versions, including the Chromium 115 web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird 102 email and calendar client, as well as VLC 3.0.18 media player.
But Neptune comes with many other cool apps like Ardour DAW, LibreOffice office suite, Inkscape SVG editor, GIMP image editor, Audacity audio editor, and many others.
Neptune 8.0 is available for download right now from the official website for new deployments. Existing Neptune 7 users will have to wait a little longer to upgrade to the new series, but the devs assure them that their installations will be kept up-to-date with the latest security updates.
Last updated 9 months ago
