Mageia 9 Alpha Linux-based operating system ready for testing
This website may be called "BetaNews," but today, we have some Alpha news to share with you. If you aren't familiar, an Alpha release of software is even earlier than Beta, and as a result, it is often quite buggy. And so, such a release should never be used for anything but testing.
With all of that said, today, Mageia 9 Alpha becomes available for download. Yes, you can begin testing the pre-release Linux-based operating system immediately. If you have a 64-bit computer, you can choose from three desktop environments at installation -- KDE Plasma, GNOME and Xfce. 32-bit machines are limited to Xfce
"We are happy to announce the release of the test images of Mageia 9. These are available to early testers to help with the development towards a stable final release of Mageia 9. There have been large scale updates of all packages as well as new features implemented to improve what Mageia already offered," says Filip Komar, Mageia Developer.
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Komar further says, "The Control Centre now adds a new feature that will allow the removal of old kernels. This feature will be automated by default in Mageia 9, but will also allow the user to configure and run it manually. There are also improvements in boot times with the Plasma update to 5.25 and Systemd."
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The developer shares some of the updated packages below.
- Kernel – 6.0.5
- glib – 2.36
- gcc – 12.2.1
- rpm – 4.18.0
- Chromium – 106
- Firefox ESR – 102.5
- LibreOffice – 7.4.2
- Plasma – 5.25.9
- GNOME 43.1
- Xfce 4.17
- LXQt 1.2.0
An ISO of Mageia 9 Alpha can be downloaded using one of the two links below -- most people should opt for the 64bit variant. Before you install it, however, please remember that this is a pre-release operating system that is likely full of bugs. Proceed at your own risk!
Image credit: 3Dalia/Shutterstock