Nitrux 3.4 Released, the systemd-Free Distro Now Uses KDE Software from Debian

This release is powered by Linux kernel 6.7.11 and includes four new apps, namely saferm, GeoClue, Ethtool, and Powercap.
Marius Nestorby Marius Nestor0
Nitrux 3.4

Nitrux developer Uri Herrera announced today the release and general availability of Nitrux 3.4 as the latest stable version of this Debian-based, systemd-free, and immutable distro built around the KDE software.

The monthly Nitrux releases continue and Nitrux 3.4 is here as another release shipping with the KDE Plasma 5.27.10 LTS desktop environment series, which will continue to be Nitrux’s default graphical environment throughout 2024 until the devs switch it to Maui Shell.

This means that Nitrux won’t upgrade to the latest KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment. In addition, starting with this release, Nitrux is now using the KDE Plasma, KDE Gear, and KDE Frameworks packages from Debian rather than KDE neon, which has moved to KDE’s latest Plasma, Frameworks, and Qt releases.

“This means that, yes, in late 2024, we will start using Maui Shell, by default, as our primary (and only) desktop environment, bidding goodbye to ten years of using KDE Plasma,” said Uri Herrera in a blog post. “However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t continue using KDE technologies; we will.”

Why Nitrux won’t use KDE Plasma 6? Because its custom Plasma desktop, NX Desktop, uses too many widgets and plasmoids that have not yet been ported to Plasma 6. This will give Nitrux devs time to focus better on their Maui Shell and Maui Apps instead, which are being ported to the latest Qt 6 application framework as well.

The Nitrux 3.4 release also comes with Linux kernel 6.7.11, Mozilla Firefox 124 web browser, an updated Nitrux Update Tool System utility that will now display a warning when it detects NVIDIA hardware, and an updated NX Desktop config utility that now lets you turn on/off double-clicking for opening folders in Maui Apps.

On top of that, the new Nitrux release comes with an updated custom page add-on for the Plasma System Monitor app to display the CPU temperature and frequency, as well as four new packages, namely the saferm wrapper for intercepting the execution of the rm command, GeoClue D-Bus geoinformation service, Powercap tool for accessing the powercap Linux kernel feature, and Ethtool utility for controlling network drivers and hardware.

Of course, various bugs were squashed and drives have been updated for better hardware support. Nitrux 3.4 is available for download for new installations right now from the official website or by clicking on the direct download link below.

Download Nitrux 3.4.0

Last updated 4 weeks ago

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