Although Linux is moving towards becoming an easy-to-use operating system, accessible to all users, there are still distributions that are characterized by their purity and, at the same time, by their difficulty, as is the case with Arch Linux. Luckily, there are distros derived from it that seek to bring us all the benefits of Arch in a system that is easy to install, configure and use on a day-to-day basis. And one of these simple operating systems is Manjaro.
Manjaro is a Linux distro that, as we say, is based on Arch. This system is designed to be positioned as a quality alternative to Windows and macOS, allowing all users to take advantage of the main features of Arch Linux, but without the prominent curve of difficulty that this system has both to install it and to configure it and use it on a day-to-day basis. Manjaro is the “easy-to-use Arch Linux” that users with some Linux experience decide to use.
A few hours ago, those responsible for this distro announced the launch of the new version, Manjaro 20.2, which comes with the nickname “Nibia”. And it comes with a large number of changes and news as we will see below.
What’s new in Manjaro 20.2
The news of this Arch-based distro is divided into two parts. The first of these are the changes that have reached all editions of it, regardless of the desktop used. For example, we must highlight the arrival of kernel 5.9, along with the latest drivers available, leaving Kernel 5.4 only in the minimum ISOs for those who need better compatibility with older hardware. In addition, we must highlight a renewal in the Calamares installer. Now it supports encrypted systems without a boot partition, or with an encrypted partition. Users can see a dialog where they enter the password in graphical mode to unlock the drive. Additionally, wait times for working with encrypted drives have been reduced, and the automatic partitioning wizard detects and prevents these partitions.
And the second of the parts divides the news according to the chosen desk. For example, in the case of GNOME we can highlight the update to version 3.8 of the same, together with the arrival of Gnome-Initial-Setup to start up and configure the desktop to our liking. Manjaro’s native applications have been improved as well, as well as new keyboard shortcuts, new login boxes, Wayland use has been configured for everyone and RAM memory use reduced by 40%.
The KDE edition of this distro now uses the Plasma 5.20 desktop. This release brings improvements to Wayland, new power saving options and the KDE 20.08 suite of applications.
And finally, the XFCE edition offers the most polished experience possible. This includes version 4.14 of the desktop and is ideal for anyone looking to get the best performance.
Download Nibia
This new version of Manjaro is now available to all users. Those who want to download it from scratch to install it on the PC, or in a virtual machine, can download the ISO for free (of course) from the following link .
If we already have Manjaro installed on the PC, we can easily jump to “Nibia” from the updater that is included in this distro, or using the command line with the following instruction:
sudo pacman -Syu
After restarting, we will have our Linux up to date.