The developers of System76 (a company specialized in the production of laptops, PCs and servers shipped with Linux) they made known recently published the launch of the new version of its Linux distribution «Pop! _OS 20.10.
And it is that this new release arrives as usual shortly after the launch of a new version of Ubuntu. Like the Ubuntu flavors and many derivatives of it, Pop! _OS is no exception in having many of the changes that are integrated into the new versions of Ubuntu.
Well, this new version of Pop! _OS 20.10 ″ comes with the Linux Kernel 5.8, the new version of Gnome 3.38, as well as many of the features that these two components bring to Ubuntu.
About Pop! _OS
For those who are unfamiliar with Pop! _OS, they should know that is developed for the delivery of System76 equipment instead of the one previously proposed by Ubuntu and it comes with a redesigned desktop environment.
Pop! _OS comes with a modified GNOME Shell, the original system76-pop theme, its own set of icons, different fonts (Fira and Roboto Slab), modified settings, and an extended set of drivers.
The project is developing three extensions for GNOME Shell:
- Sleep button to change the sleep / sleep button
- Always show workspaces to constantly display virtual desktop thumbnails in overview mode
- Right-click to view detailed information about the program when you right-click the icon
Main novelties of Pop! _OS 20.10
As we mentioned, the package base has been updated to Ubuntu 20.10 with the Linux 5.8 kernel and a GNOME 3.38 user environment and several of the features of these two components. (If you want to know about them you can consult the following link).
Regarding the changes inherent to the distribution, in the ad it is highlighted that sand added support for repositories in deb822 format, which made it possible to use more compact and understandable entries in the source list to install packages.
As well a new library is included to manage repositories, which supports features like changing active mirrors and renaming repositories.
The custom skin implements a stackable window layout system that resembles tabs, but works in the context of placing overlapping windows on the desktop.
To convert a window into a stack, the keyboard combination "Super + S" is offered, to attach a new window to the stack - "Super + Enter", to start an application with the automatic addition of a window to the stack - "Super + /" and to switch between windows in the stack - "Super + left / right".
In addition, it is noted that the ability to prohibit the transfer of certain windows was added to mosaic mode, which may be necessary for small windows with which it is more convenient to work without coupling.
The mode is activated through the "Floating window exceptions" section in the menu in the upper right corner of the screen, followed by the selection of the windows to be left floating.
Another important change is that added support for fractional scaling, allowing you to set intermediate zoom levels, such as 125%, 150%, and 175%.
And it also stands out that it was added support for external monitors in hybrid graphics mode, which can now be connected on the fly (previously, when connecting an external monitor, a reboot was required to operate only with a discrete NVIDIA video card).
Finally if you want to know more about it about this new release, you can check the details In the following link.
Download Pop! _OS 20.10
In order to obtain this new system image and install this Linux distribution on your computer or you want to test it under a virtual machine. You just have to go to the official website of the distribution and in its download section you can get the image of the system.
ISO images are generated for x86_64 architecture with NVIDIA (2,2 GB) and Intel / AMD (2,6 GB) graphics chips.
Finally, you can make use of Etcher, which is a multiplatform tool to save the system image to a USB.