Arch Linux-based Manjaro 20 Lysia available for download with Xfce, GNOME, and KDE
Ubuntu 20.04 was released this past Friday, and Linux fans around the world were understandably excited. However, "when it rains, it pours," as they say, because not only is Fedora 32 right around the corner, but today, yet another top-tier distribution gets a new release. This time, it is the Arch Linux-based Manjaro 20, which is code-named "Lysia."
The newest version of the wildly popular operating system can be had with your choice of three desktop environments -- Xfce, GNOME, and KDE Plasma. All three are great, but Xfce is the default for Manjaro. In version 20 of the OS, Xfce gets bumped up to 4.14. Manjaro 20 "Lysis" also gets Linux kernel 5.6 and a new ZFS installation option in Architect. Pamac 9.4 package manager gets support for both flatpaks and snaps by default -- very cool.
"Our KDE edition provides the powerful, mature and feature-rich Plasma 5.18 desktop environment with a unique look-and-feel, which we completely re-designed in 2020. The full set of Breath2-themes includes light and dark versions, animated splash-screen, Konsole profiles, Yakuake skins and many more little details. We have rounded off text editor Kate with some additional color schemes and offer Plasma-Simplemenu as an alternative to the traditional Kickoff-Launcher. With a wide selection of latest KDE-Apps 20.04 and other applications Manjaro-KDE aims to be a versatile and elegant environment ready for all your everyday needs," says Philip Müller, developer.
Müller further says, "With our GNOME edition based on 3.36 series we include visual refreshes for a number of applications and interfaces, particularly noteworthy being the login and unlock interfaces. GNOME shell extensions are now managed using a new Extensions app which handles updating, configuring and removing or disabling extensions. A Do Not Disturb button was added to the notifications popover. When enabled, notifications are hidden until the button is toggled off. By default our own dynamic wallpaper changes its colour theme throughout the day. Additionally we updated GDM and improved our Gnome-Layout-Switcher a lot. We updated our list of pre-installed packages, zsh is the new default shell and applications are now sorted in folders in a clean app drawer."
If you are ready to install one of the best Linux distributions, you can download a Manjaro 20.0 "Lysia" 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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