The Regata OS 24 “Arctic Fox” is now available for download. This update brings the new KDE Plasma 6 graphical environment and more improvements and fixes to the apps. Users will find “under the hood” Linux Kernel 6.7, which is combined with Mesa 24 to better support new hardware.
To further improve the user experience, Regata OS applications also received some visual changes, including improvements to the dark theme, rounded corners and other changes to the color scheme.
Additionally, OnlyOffice is now installed by default. This office application suite comes with all the essential features and can be used to create text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF files and forms.
The KDE Plasma 6 arrived at Regata OS, check out the main highlights
The KDE Plasma 6 is the newest series of the popular Linux graphics environment. This is a launch that has a flurry of changes, improvements and new features.
Highlights include Wayland session improvements, new overview screen for switching between workspaces, and the task switcher (triggered with the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut) now uses a grid appearance when you have many apps open (or few apps, but uses a smaller screen width).
Additionally, the default Breeze theme has received a good overhaul to create a more modern look, increasing the size of margins and padding around elements, as well as reducing the number of frames “inserted” into applications. There is also a new default sound theme called “Ocean”.
Among other changes, we can mention: click on the scroll bar to scroll to the clicked location, improvements to the System Settings application, Plasma Search is faster and allows you to reorder search results, improvements to the unlock feature by fingerprint on the lock screen and a new 3D desktop cube effect.
For more details on KDE Plasma 6, be sure to check out the release announcement on the official website from the developers.
Better support for newer hardware with Linux Kernel 6.7
While Linux Kernel 6.8 will arrive soon via update, Regata OS 24 users will find Linux Kernel 6.7, which is considered one of the biggest releases in recent history, an indicator of how much effort has been invested in improving this version.
Among the highlights, support for Intel Meteor Lake graphics is now considered stable and enabled by default, and there is support for NVIDIA GPU System Processor (GSP) firmware to provide initial acceleration support for GeForce RTX 40 cards and improve performance. optionally support RTX 20/30 series hardware. However, the NVIDIA driver is still recommended for those who want to get the most out of their GPU.
In addition, there are also improvements in support for newer Intel and AMD sound hardware, sensor monitoring support for more desktop hardware, ASUS Screenpad support, improvements for Dell and Lenovo keyboards, and support for the “Cooler Boost” feature. ” for MSI laptops.
For more technical details about Linux Kernel 6.7, check out this very complete article from the Phoronix website.
Improvements to Ray-Tracing with AMD graphics cards
The most enthusiastic users with an AMD graphics card will certainly be happy to know that the Mesa 24, the popular graphics library with a wide range of open source video drivers, brings many improvements to the Radeon Vulkan “RADV” driver, including faster ray-tracing performance and support for several new Vulkan extensions.
Similarly, the Intel ANV Vulkan driver has also received support for a number of new Vulkan extensions, which allow you to run more modern games with Intel graphics.
Some games have also been patched with Mesa 24, including: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, The Finals, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, Atlas Fallen, Crysis 2 Remastered, Doom Eternal, Resident Evil 2, War Thunder, GTA, Dead Space ( 2023), Valheim, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, DiRT Rally, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, DIRT 5, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Battlefield 4, Counter-Strike 2, The Lords of the Fallen and Wolfenstein: The New Order.
In addition, there is also a fix for a possible regression with Flatpak applications, fixes antialiasing in Blender on systems with AMD GPUs and improves support for Unreal Engine 5.2.
Last but not least, Regata OS Game Access now makes use of VKD3D-Proton 2.12, to allow more games developed with DirectX 12 to run out of the box. Among the titles that received corrections are: Atlas Fallen, Warhammer: Darktide, Resident Evil 4, World of Warcraft and several other games developed with Unreal Engine 5.
How to update to the Regata OS 24
You can update to the Regata OS 24 right now through the Regata OS Update application. However, those who wish to perform a new installation can download the Regata OS 24 ISO image from official website.
