Rhino Linux unveiled recently your expected 2024.1 update after a longer than expected development period. This update brings with it important changes and improvements and incorporating feedback from the community.
It is mentioned that Rhino Linux development has faced a period of stagnation due to developer burnout and a new organizational structure with strong community involvement has been established.
For those who do not know about Rhino Linux, you should know that This is an Ubuntu-based distribution with a focus on continuous updates, obtaining recent versions of software from the Ubuntu and Debian Unstable development branches.
RhinoLinux uses its own package manager called rhino-pkg (rpk), which acts as a link to manage packages through APT, Pacstall, flatpak and snap, allowing standard tasks such as installing, uninstalling, updating and searching for packages in a unified way.
What's new in Rhino Linux 2024.1?
In this new version of Rhino Linux 2024.1 that is presented, it is mentioned that the new version I face challenges in the development process and the Ubuntu code changes , the Snap-related forced patches In vital audio software, 64-bit time shifting, the vulnerability in xz utils, and a major update in progress to the XFCE4 codebase
In addition, Rhino Linux 2024.1 includes the new version of Pacstall 5.0.0, a package manager that introduces a concept similar to AUR (Arch User Repository) for Ubuntu users.
Pacstall 5 has significantly improved the pacscript package format, adding capabilities for sandbox operations, improving management of multiple repositories, and expanding testing and problem reporting capabilities.
Aside from the stagnation in development due to exhaustion, this release has also been delayed by the enormous amount of changes that have occurred to the Ubuntu codebase over the past few months. From forced snap-related patches to vital audio software, to 64-bit time shifting, the xz utils backdoor, and a surprisingly substantial update in progress to the XFCE4 codebase, the develrama has hit several roadblocks. For short-term cases, we were able to provide quick solutions through Pacstall that were not immediately addressed by upstream. All critical bugs have now been fixed. While some minor issues remain with Unicorn (which is based on XFCE4), we felt it was more pertinent to release this long-awaited update than to wait any longer.
The new pacscript format resembles the capabilities of PKGBUILD in AUR, simplifying the transfer of packages from AUR to the Pacstall repository.
Another change that stands out in the new version is the compilations for desktop systems and Pine64 devices now using the Linux 6.9 kernel, while the builds for Raspberry Pi boards are based on kernel 6.8. In addition, the versions of the available packages have been updated.
Finally it is mentioned that Among the problems detected, are included size issues with global menu plugin in the Unicorn dashboard due to updates in XFCE4.
Another problem mentioned is that if you want to start Calamari from the desktop icon, can be done as follows: You must right-click on the desktop and select “Organize desktop icons.” You should then log out and log back in by clicking the icon in the top left corner and the desktop icon should now appear normally.
If you are interested in knowing more about it, you can consult the details in the following link.
Download and get Rhino Linux
For interested in being able to try or install this distribution, you should know that Rhino Linux installation images are available for multiple architectures, including x86_64 and ARM, as well as specific devices such as PineTab, PinePhone, and Raspberry Pi. The link is this.
If you already have a previous version of Rhino Linux and want to upgrade to the newly released version of Rhino Linux 2024.1, you can do so from a terminal by typing the following:
rpk update -y
Or you can also use this command:
pacstall -PI rhino-core
In case you are a Pine64 user, you can choose to use this command:
pacstall -PI rhino-pine-core