[manjaro-dev] [testing] Manjaro KDE 15.09-rc1 is online now

[Philip Müller]

With this release we have focused our efforts, bringing more attention
to the common core requirements of Manjaro's broad user-base.

Our KDE edition continues to deliver this powerful, mature and
feature-rich desktop environment with a unique look-and-feel, and with
the perks of Manjaro's latest tools. We ship now Plasma 5.4 desktop in
combination with the latest KDE-Apps 15.08. It was a huge step to get
all playing together smoothly to give the user experience the same
feeling as we did with our KDE4 editions in the past.

The Linux kernel used on the 15.09 installation media is the 4.1 (LTS)
series. This series of kernel has been selected for it's blend of
stability, long-term viability and modern features & hardware support.

Our graphical installer Thus (default graphical installer) aswell as the
CLI installer have been thoroughly tested to meet a huge variety of
system and encryption environments. Additionally we added Calamares as
an alternative graphical installer to try out.

Within Plasma 5 we updated our theme Maia, created by David Linares
(mcder3). It includes a slick icon theme and nicely put out green-based
look and feel. Take a look and get wowed!

Relative to the last installation media release, our tools have been
improved and polished.

The Manjaro Settings Manager now provides an easy-to-use graphical
interface for installing and removing the many series of kernels we
offer. Manjaro's selection of readily available kernels remains the most
extensive of all Linux distribution we know of. At the time of this
15.09 release, nine series of kernel are available directly from our
binary repositories, ranging from the mature & rock-solid 3.10 series to
the latest 4.2 release. Such a wide array of available kernel options
results in extensive hardware support, getting the most out of your
system for you, be it old or new.

Manjaro Settings Manager now also includes friendly graphical interfaces
for adjusting system date/time settings and for customising
notifications for available kernel & language pack updates. Additonally
we created a kcm module to integrate Manjaro Settings Manager seamlessly
into System-Settings of Plasma 5.

Both our graphical package management tools have received important updates.

Our Qt package management tool, Octopi, is now at version 0.7.1 bringing
many improvements and bug-fixes, and shipped using Qt5 for the main
interface. Alternate to the generic updates notifier, a notifier package
with KDE Frameworks 5 support is also available.

Steam is now provided with two launcher choices, one for using the
native system libraries and one for using the Steam compatibility
libraries, in an effort to offer the best compatibility and performance
for different Steam games.

Although the main installation medias continue to utilise systemd,
Manjaro now optionally offers extensive support for the OpenRC init
system, giving you the power of choice for your init system, something
rarely readily offered in Linux distributions nowadays.

We hope you enjoy this release.

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http://sourceforge.net/projects/manjarotest/files/15.09/kde/15.09-rc1/