Fedora 39 Officially Released: This is What’s New

Fedora 39, the latest iteration of the renowned Fedora Linux distribution, has officially landed, promising a slew of exciting updates and features to enhance your Linux experience. In this article, we’ll round up the significant changes and new features in Fedora 39, making sure you’re well-prepared to make the most of this release.

Fedora 39: What’s New

Linux Kernel 6.5

The Fedora 39 ships with Linux Kernel 6.5.9, a release packed with performance improvements, security enhancements, and expanded hardware support. This means that you can expect improved compatibility with the latest hardware, a smoother computing experience, and enhanced security. Notable highlights of Kernel 6.5 include initial support for Wifi-7 and many more.

That said, the current Kernel 6.6 is likely to arrive within a few weeks of this release since it has already been released for some time.

GNOME 45

For Fedora’s Workstation edition 39, we’ve got a fresh and elegant update in the form of GNOME 45. This update revamps your desktop environment with new Adwaita styles, featuring split headerbars and improved system settings dialogs. However, there’s more to it:

• Speedier file search: GNOME 45 introduces a global search feature that lets you “search everywhere,” making file searches quicker and more efficient, boosting your daily productivity.
• Enhanced usability: Fedora Workstation now features new workspace icons for a more user-friendly experience, making it easier to organize your workspace and access applications.
• Loupe replaces ‘Eyes of GNOME’: The new ‘Loupe’ application takes over from the ‘Eyes of GNOME’ image viewer. Although it’s still a work in progress, this change opens up exciting possibilities for image viewing on Fedora.
• Keyboard backlight control: GNOME 45 also introduces a dedicated control in quick settings, allowing you to adjust your keyboard backlight intensity conveniently.

Auto-Updates in Fedora Kinoite

For Fedora Kinoite users, there’s a significant improvement with auto-updates enabled by default. Plasma Discover now supports automatic updates through rpm-ostree staged updates, ensuring you receive bug fixes and updates effortlessly. This feature enhances the security and reliability of your Fedora system running the KDE Plasma environment.

Fedora Onyx

Another exciting addition is the birth of ‘Fedora Onyx,’ a new official Fedora immutable variant featuring the sleek Budgie Desktop environment. Designed for users who value both the Fedora computing platform and Budgie but need to add immutability and atomic capabilities provided by rpm-ostree.

No more custom Qt theming

Fedora Workstation is saying goodbye to custom Qt theming and embracing what Qt upstream has to offer. This change streamlines the Qt application experience, offering better compatibility and reducing potential issues, ensuring a more stable and bug-free environment.

Fedora on Azure Cloud

Fedora 39 now offers an official Fedora Cloud image on Azure, opening up new possibilities for Fedora users in the cloud. This strategic move promises to expand Fedora’s user base and provide more choices for cloud deployments.

Retiring Modularity

In a significant shift, Fedora will discontinue building modules for Fedora Linux 39 and beyond. This change leads to the retirement of the ‘fedora-repos-modular’ and ‘fedora-repos-rawhide-modular’ packages, marking the end of modular repositories. This transition streamlines the Fedora ecosystem and paves the way for a more straightforward packaging process.

Colourful bash prompt

Fedora 39 introduces a small yet impactful change: a coloured shell prompt. Say goodbye to monochrome prompts and hello to a more visually appealing and user-friendly experience. You can even customize it to match your taste!

Core module updates

Fedora 39 includes essential core module updates for applications like Firefox 117, Python 3.12, LibreOffice 7.6, RPM 4.19, Perl 5.38, GCC 13.2, Binutils 2.40, GLIBC 2.38, GDB 13.2, Golang 1.21, ensuring you have access to the latest versions of these critical software tools.

Spins updates

Fedora Linux offers various desktop environments and window managers as “Spins.” In this release, you can enjoy KDE Plasma 5.27 in the KDE Spin, while the Xfce 4.18 version graces the Xfce edition. Additionally, you can explore the latest versions of MATE, Budgie, LXQt, i3, and Sway spins, catering to different user preferences.

Missed Features

While Fedora 39 brings numerous improvements, we need to note that the new web-based installer, which was planned to replace the Anaconda installer, has been dropped due to ongoing bugs. Hopefully it will arrive in Fedora 40.

Summary

With these updates, Fedora 39 continues to embrace the latest technologies and tools, ensuring that you have access to cutting-edge software for your daily tasks. In conclusion, Fedora 39 is a significant release that brings numerous enhancements and optimizations to the distribution ecosystem, making it a compelling choice for Linux users.

If you want to upgrade to this version from earlier releases, read this exclusive guide: How to Upgrade to Fedora 39.

To download Fedora 39, visit the below page.

Torrent download links for workstation and all flavours:

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