GNOME 42, the most recent and popular desktop environment for modern GNU/Linux distributions, has been released by the GNOME Project.
After six months of development, GNOME 42 is here and it’s packed with some cool new features and enhancements for fans of the GNOME desktop environment. This major release features the porting almost all default GNOME applications to the latest GTK4 toolkit, and the libadwaita1.0 library for a modern look and faster performance.
I took an Anabolic Steroid Test earlier in the year. A detailed look at some of the latest GTK4 appsThese changes will be available in GNOME 42. I was impressed by the new design of these GTK4 apps. For a consistent feel, the visual UI changes to the Settings app as well as all the system dialogs, UI elements, and the System Dialogs are affected.
Among the GNOME core apps that have been ported to GTK4, there’s GNOME Software, GNOME Settings, GNOME Calculator, GNOME Clocks, GNOME Calendar, GNOME Characters, GNOME Contacts, Disk Usage Analyzer, Fonts, To Do, and GNOME Tour. Other core apps, such as Sound Recorder and Contrast, were also ported over to GTK4.
Unfortunately, the Files (Nautilus) app’s GTK4 port was postponed for a future release due to some major issues. Files did however receive major changes such as a new navigation bar, reorganization and updated file rename popover. Also, GNOME’s default icon theme includes a new, vibrant folder color.
GTK4 is the GTK4 porting for the GNOME Settings App. It includes redesigned Applications, Displays and Remote Desktop settings. RDP is the default remote desktop protocol. This allows for a more feature rich and performant experience.
The GNOME Web browser (Epiphany), was not ported into GTK4, but it received hardware accelerated rendering for all websites by default and improved scrolling performance.
GNOME 42 also features two other major changes: New screencast UI and screenshotInstead of using a standalone app (e.g. GNOME Screenshot. Also, all apps have system-wide Dark Mode support via the new Appearance panel in the GNOME Settings. This panel replaces the Background panel and supports both dark and light backgrounds.
GNOME 42 also introduces Text Editor, an app created by Christian Hergert (GNOME Builder), which replaces Gedit as the default text editor app. Text Editor is fully portable to GTK4 with many features and a sleek, modern design.
There’s also a new Console app that aims to provide Linux newcomers with a simple terminal emulator for simple CLI (command-line interface) tasks. Console is not a replacement for GNOME Terminal, but a core app for GNOME’s Phosh mobile interface for Linux phones and tablets.
GNOME 42 offers better support underneath the hood Flatpak appsWayland support has been improved, performance improvements in file indexing have been made, input handling has been significantly improved, perception of responsiveness for games and graphics-demanding applications has been enhanced, as well as direct scanout support for full-screen OpenGL and Vulkan apps (media players etc.). to reduce energy consumption.
Check out the Release Notes for more details. GNOME 42 desktop environment is coming soon to the software repositories for some of the most popular rolling release GNU/Linux distributions such as OpenSUSE tumbleweed, Clear Linux, and Arch Linux.
Other upcoming distros like Fedora Linux 36 or Ubuntu 22.04 LTSGNOME 42 updates will be available most likely after GNOME 42, the first point release, hits the streets in April 2022. You can also check out the official promo video, which highlights all the highlights of the major new release.
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