Arch-based Manjaro 19.0 'Kyria' Linux distro is here with GNOME, KDE, and Xfce
If you are a Linux user, you are undoubtedly in heaven right now. Recently, there have been updates to some truly excellent distributions, such as MX Linux 19.1, Netrunner 20.01, elementary OS 5.1.2, and OpenMandriva Lx 4.1. While I suppose having to choose from so many distros can be seen as a negative for some, I say it's a damn good problem to have!
Guess what? Things are getting a bit more crowded! Today, one of the most popular Linux distributions gets a new version. Yes, Manjaro Linux 19.0 is finally here! Named "Kyria," it can be had with your choice of three desktop environments -- Xfce 4.14, KDE Plasma 5.17, and GNOME 3.34. While Xfce is highlighted by the developers, the others two DEs are arguably superior.
"The Xfce edition remains our flagship offering and has received the attention it deserves. Only a few can claim to offer such a polished, integrated and leading-edge Xfce experience. With this release we ship Xfce 4.14 and have mostly focused on polishing the user experience with the desktop and window manager. Also we have switched to a new theme called Matcha. A new feature Display-Profiles allows you to store one or more profiles for your preferred display configuration. We also have implemented auto-application of profiles when new displays are connected," says The Manjaro Team.
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The team further says, "Kernel 5.4 LTS is used for this release, such as the latest drivers available to date. Relative to the last installation media release, our tools have been improved and polished. Pamac 9.3 series received a few updates. With a more robust and reliable transaction backend our update process should be much smoother now. Also we improved package sorting by relevance in our GTK-UI. Enhancing our package management we have enabled snap and flatpak support by default. You can now install snaps or flatpaks very easily, with our new tool Bauh and make use of a larger selection of the latest Linux applications."
If you are ready to install one of the best Linux-based operating systems on the planet, you can download a Manjaro 19.0 "Kyria" ISO using the below links. If you want the purest Manjaro experience -- as the developers intend it -- you should get the Xfce variant. With that said, I would suggest trying both the GNOME and KDE versions too. The former in particular is considered to be the best overall desktop environment by many people -- including yours truly.
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