EndeavourOS Mercury Neo Launches with KDE Plasma 6.3, NVIDIA 570, and Mesa 25
EndeavourOS Mercury landed on February 10th, 2025, powered by Linux kernel 6.13 and featuring the KDE Plasma 6.2.5 desktop environment on both the live environment and the offline installation option. EndeavourOS Mercury Neo is here to bump the kernel to Linux 6.13.7 and the live session to KDE Plasma 6.3.3.
In addition, this release improves the installation to automatically create a 2GB EFI partition instead of a 1GB partition when choosing systemd in the auto-install option. According to the devs, this change will give users more space and freedom to install multiple kernels and other desirable options.
More Updates:
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Mercury Neo with Linux 6.13.7 and Arch mirror ranking bug fix - EndeavourOS
Our refresh release, Mercury Neo, is now available with updated core packages for the offline installation option and the live environment and a few bug fixes and improvements for the online installation option.
After Mercury was released on February 10th, we received a lot of valuable feedback from new and experienced users, for which we are incredibly thankful. Without that feedback we can’t move forward, so keep sending us those, no matter how trivial it might seem. We will always respond to your feedback, whether we are capable or not of addressing the issue or adding a new feature in our future releases.
There were some minor issues and upstream changes reported that were fixed through our Hotfix feature that Mercury received, but the fixes and features we are presenting with this refresh release needed a new ISO.
EndeavourOS Mercury Neo ISO Lands with Updated Packages
EndeavourOS has unveiled its latest refresh release, “Mercury Neo,” which introduces some enhancements and resolves several lingering issues from its predecessor, “Mercury.”
According to official announcements, this update focuses primarily on the offline installation environment, as well as several improvements to the online installation option.
Although some of these changes were addressed through hotfixes delivered to existing systems, EndeavourOS devs ultimately decided that a new ISO would better accommodate the most substantial improvements.
DW:
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Distribution Release: EndeavourOS 2025.03.19
Bryan Poerwo has announced the release of EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, a refreshed build of the Arch Linux-based distribution's "Mercury" line. The new release updates the Linux kernel to version 6.13.7 and the KDE Plasma desktop to version 6.3.3. The Calamares installer and the included NVIDIA video driver have also been brought up to their latest versions: [...]
The Serial Slopper seems to have written a real article now:
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EndeavourOS Linux Mercury Neo refresh arrives with updated ISO and proves Windows 11 isn’t worth the hassle
There’s a new ISO out for EndeavourOS called “Mercury Neo,” and it’s the kind of Linux release that makes you seriously question why you’re still putting up with the annoying Windows 11. Let’s be honest, folks, Microsoft’s flagship product feels more like a roadblock than an operating system at this point. Mercury Neo, on the other hand, just quietly works.
This isn’t some big flashy overhaul, and that’s totally fine; it’s more of a quiet tune-up. Mercury Neo is a refreshed take on the Mercury release from February, and it brings some important fixes, updates, and improvements -- especially for folks doing new installs. If you’ve already got Mercury installed and you update regularly, you’re good. There's no need to reinstall anything.
The new ISO brings updated packages and tools that make the install experience smoother and more predictable. The Calamares installer has been bumped to version 25.02.2.1-2. Firefox 136 is baked in. The Linux kernel in this release is version 6.13.7.arch1-1. There’s also Mesa 25, the latest Xorg server, and updated Nvidia drivers for those using discrete graphics.
Neowin:
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EndeavourOS ‘Mercury Neo' arrives with Linux 6.13.7
A new version of the GNU/Linux distribution EndeavourOS, dubbed 'Mercury Neo', aims to provide an easy-to-use experience with the very latest software, including Linux 6.13.7.
Linux Mag:
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EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available
A new release from the EndeavorOS team ships with Plasma 6.3 and other goodies.
Linux Magazine:
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EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available » Linux Magazine
EndeavorOS is one of those distributions you see and immediately think, "I want that!" This beautiful Arch-based Linux distribution performs like a champ because it's lightweight and terminal-centric. Although the latest release is considered a maintenance update, it still has plenty to offer.
As always, there are the usual bug fixes and refinements, which include the removal of obsolete NVIDIA options from the NVIDIA boot menu, the removal of the xwalyandvideobride package from the installation script, improved offline installation, a refined Calamares installer, an auto-install option with systemd that creates a 2GB EFI partition (instead of the previous 1GB) to allow more space for multi-kernel and customized installs.
The big ticket items for Mercury Neo are Linux kernel 6.13.7, KDE Plasma 6.3.3, NVIDIA driver 570.124.04-4, Mesa graphics stack 25.01-2, Mozilla Firefox 136.0.2-1, and XOrg Server 21.1.16-1.