Solus 4.4 Fortitude releases, Linux distribution

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Solus is an independent desktop operating system based on the Linux kernel. Solus comes pre-installed with a wide range of software that includes the latest Firefox, Thunderbird, Transmission and GNOME MPV. Additional software that is not installed by default can be downloaded using the included Software Center. Wireless chips and modems are supported through optional non-free firmware packages.

Solus is currently available in three editions:

  • Budgie flagship edition, a “feature-rich, luxurious desktop using the most modern technologies”;
  • GNOME edition, running the GNOME desktop environment, “a contemporary desktop experience”;
  • MATE edition using the MATE desktop environment, a “traditional desktop for advanced users and older hardware”

Changelog v4.4:

Default Applications

All our editions feature:

  • Firefox 114.0.1
  • LibreOffice 7.5.3.2
  • Thunderbird 102.12.0

For audio and video multimedia playback, we offer software out-of-the-box that caters specifically to our desired experience for each edition.

  • Budgie, GNOME, and MATE editions all ship with Rhythmbox for audio playback, with the latest release of the Alternate Toolbar extension to provide a more modern user experience.
  • Budgie and GNOME ship with Celluloid for video playback.
  • MATE ships with VLC for video playback.
  • Plasma ships with Elisa for audio playback and Haruna for video playback.

Hardware and Kernel Enablement

This release of Solus ships with Linux kernel 6.3.8, enabling us to provide support for a broader range of hardware, such as:

  • Secure Boot support. See our documentation for enablement.
  • AMD Radeon RX 7600, 7900 XT, and 7900 XTX cards.
  • Intel Arc cards
  • NVIDIA 40 series cards
  • Support for laptops defaulting their NVMe controllers to RAID mode
  • Support for laptops with ATH11K wifi
  • Better support for various light sensors and accelerometers

Additionally, we continue to refine our kernel configuration, and this release features changes such as:

  • zram enabled by default out of the box providing a better user experience for devices with low amount of memory (< 3GB)
  • Enable CONFIG_NFT_FIB_INET to allow Firewalld/nftables to work

Mesa has been upgraded to 23.0.3. This introduces various improvements, such as:

  • Nouveau 3D support for NVIDIA 30 series GPUs
  • Improvements to Zink driver
  • RADV Vulkan mesh shaders
  • RADV ray-tracing changes
  • Optimizations for Intel Arc / DG2 graphics

More…

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