Exploring the Exciting New Features of Fedora 38

Fedora 38 has arrived with exciting updates and fresh desktop environments. The latest release includes an upgrade to GNOME 44 and introduces two new desktop environment options: the Budgie desktop environment and the Sway tiling window manager.

Fedora Linux is known for its commitment to stability and reliability, making it a go-to choice for users who prioritize performance. The popularity of this approach is evident in Fedora's continued growth and success. Fedora 38 is set to be released on April 18, with a possibility of being pushed back to April 25 as the final target date.

To provide a closer look at what to expect from Fedora 38, we took the beta version for a spin. With updated applications and an emphasis on stability, this Linux distribution is sure to impress.

Fedora 38 has recently been released with an array of refreshed versions of its desktop environments. Among the most popular spins are Xfce 4.18, KDE Plasma 5.27, MATE 1.26, LXQt 1.2.0, and GNOME 44. Additionally, two new official spins have been introduced - one featuring the Budgie desktop, originally developed as the default desktop environment for Solus Linux, and the other being a tiling window manager called Sway that works with i3 configuration files. The default Fedora spin now ships with GNOME 44, which, although not as radically different as GNOME 40, still includes numerous refinements and impressive touches.

More Desktop Choices

GNOME 44

The system menu has undergone improvements, now supporting two lines of text for each quick settings button. The label for each button is displayed in large text, with the current setting shown in smaller text below it, where applicable. For instance, the "Power Mode" button displays the current power mode, while the Wi-Fi button shows the name of the connected network. Additionally, a new "Screenshot" icon is located in the top-left corner, which opens up the screenshot tool, behaving the same as the "PrtSc" button on a keyboard. Furthermore, if there are background applications running, a new entry will appear at the bottom of the menu, indicating the number of background applications currently running.

Opening the "Background Apps" menu is just a click away with the arrow button. The menu displays all the background applications, and you can easily close them by clicking the "x" next to the name of the application you want to close. However, the interaction is limited as you cannot access a context menu by right-clicking a menu entry, making it inadequate as a substitute for tray icons. Future releases may bring about advancements in this aspect.

The file browser now incorporates thumbnails to visually display files whenever possible, which has been a highly sought-after feature among users.

Additionally, the latest release includes a much-anticipated improvement that allows for expandable or navigable directories in the list view. To enable this feature, access the files browser’s settings by clicking on the hamburger menu and selecting Preferences > General.

Long filenames are truncated with ellipsis in the middle rather than at the end, which is quite useful as it allows you to identify the type of file. Additionally, tabs have been improved with a context menu that pops up upon right-clicking. This menu allows you to close a tab, close all other tabs, re-open a closed tab, move the tab to the left or right, or open the tab in a new window. Furthermore, there is a new feature that lets you create an image file by pasting a copied image. Simply right-click on an image in your web browser and select "Copy Image" from the context menu. Then, in your Files folder, right-click and select "Paste" to create a file named "Pasted Image."

The console in GNOME's terminal emulator now features a convenient tabs overview mode. By simply pressing "Ctrl+Shift+O", users can access this mode, which displays a thumbnail of each open tab. From here, tabs can be rearranged, closed, and new tabs can be opened with ease. Clicking on a thumbnail will close the overview and take users directly to that tab. Additionally, the Settings application has been updated, with the Settings > Network > VPN dialog now offering the option of using Wireguard VPN.

Display a QR code on your Wi-Fi connection to easily share network information with trusted individuals. The kernel version is now visible in the "About" pane and the "Accessibility" pane has been reorganized into groups for simpler navigation. Don't forget to use the placeholders:

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The design of the "Keyboard" and "Mouse and Touchpad" panes have undergone a revamp, resulting in a more user-friendly interface.

Customizing gestures and mouse settings is now possible with the updated "Mouse and Touchpad" pane.

- Other GNOME Tweaks

The login screen has also undergone a facelift, with a larger user avatar and a blurred version of your desktop wallpaper as the background.

Mutter's integration with Wayland is superior, especially noticeable when utilizing Wayland fractional scaling. The team is actively working on replacing all old GTK3 code.

Unrestricted Flatpaks

Fedora provides a user-friendly software installation experience through its Software application and dnf terminal tool, both of which previously installed applications exclusively from the Fedora repositories using RPM files. In addition, flatpak comes pre-installed on Fedora, however, its implementation was limited to the Fedora remote. Although it was possible for advanced users to enable additional remotes, the whitelisting scheme in place restricted certain applications based on proprietary or unofficial status, as well as specific licensing terms deemed unfavorable by Fedora.

Fedora 38 allows for unrestricted access to the wider flatpak ecosystem by removing all whitelisting and filtering. While dnf continues to function as before, the flatpak implementation is now vanilla. Additionally, the changes to flatpak extend to the Software application, where users can see whether an application is available as a RPM or flatpak in Fedora remote or another remote such as flathub. This gives users the ability to make an informed decision about which installation option to choose. In line with these updates, major applications bundled with Fedora have been updated to their latest versions.

Kernel: 6.2.8-300.fc38.x86_64

LibreOffice: 7.5.1.2 (X86_64)

Boxes: 44.0-stable

GCC: 13.0

binutils: 2.39

glibc: 2.37

GNU Debugger: 12.1

GNU Make: 4.4

Golang: 1.2

Ruby: 3.2

PHP: 8.2

Another Great Release from Fedora

Fedora's latest release is a testament to its unwavering strength and meticulous engineering. While some users may find it lacking in the cutting-edge features of other distributions, Fedora's reliability and stability make it a standout choice. Don't be fooled by its cautious approach, Fedora still delivers stunning aesthetics, lightning-fast performance, and an intuitive user experience. Try it out for yourself by downloading the official desktop version from the Fedora Workstation page or exploring one of the many alternative desktop options available through the spins. Install it on your computer or in a virtual machine, and discover why we're so excited about Fedora.