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Fedora Linux 42 Is Out Now, Powered by Linux Kernel 6.14 and GNOME 48 Desktop
Powered by Linux kernel 6.14, Fedora Linux 42 ships with the latest GNOME 48 desktop environment for the flagship Fedora Workstation edition, which now features the long-anticipated Anaconda WebUI installer by default to provide users with a more advanced and modern installation experience.
This is also the first Fedora Linux release to promote the Fedora KDE Spin, which ships with the latest KDE Plasma 6.3 desktop environment, to full Edition status. This means that Fedora KDE Spin is now being promoted as Fedora Linux KDE Plasma Desktop Edition alongside the GNOME-based Fedora Workstation edition.
Update (by Roy)
Christian F.K. Schaller:
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Fedora Workstation 42 is upon us!
We are excited about the Fedora Workstation 42 released today. Having worked on some great features for it.
I would say that the main feature that landed was HDR or High Dynamic Range. It is a feature we spent years on with many team members involved and a lot of collaboration with various members of the wider community.
The fact that we got this over the finish line was especially due to all the work Sebastian Wick put into it in collaboration with Pekka Palaanen. Don’t want to downplay the work put into this by others, but getting the Walyand protocol defined and the tools like libdisplay info written was largely down to those two, with others providing more feedback and assistance in the final stretch of the effort.
[...]
Of course getting Fedora Workstation 42 to out with these features is just the beginning, with the baseline support it now is really the time when application maintainers have a real chance of starting to make use of these features, so I would expect various content creative applications for instance to start having support over the next year.
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Fedora Linux 42 Is Here With GNOME 48
After about a month of testing, the full release of Fedora Linux 42 is finally here, bringing with it a bunch of upgrades and improvements for all of its many spins and editions.
If you're using the flagship Fedora Workstation and you upgrade to 42, you'll find yourself boosted to GNOME 48, nicknamed "Bengaluru." That change will bring you things like improved HDR support, a "Wellbeing" screen time manager, and a battery health preservation tool. Wayland is also now the default for SDL apps, so you'll be getting a more Wayland-ified experience with Fedora 42.
As anticipated in the Fedora 42 beta, the installation experience has also been overhauled. Among the many changes is a simplification, in that you have fewer configuration tasks on the front-end of the experience. I gave it a try myself and was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward and frictionless the installation process was. Things like choosing a hostname and root password are now saved for post-installation. That might seem like a arbitrary arbitrary change, but I can see it being nice if you want to install Fedora on a friend's computer for them but want to leave the administration of it up to them.
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Ditch Windows 11 and switch to Fedora Linux 42
It’s raining Linux distributions! Earlier today, we told you about the release of Manjaro 25. And now, Fedora Linux 42 has officially arrived. If you’ve been looking for a fast, polished, and privacy-respecting replacement for Windows 11, this open source operating system could be the one.
This new Fedora release gives users a powerful and flexible desktop experience across multiple editions and devices. Whether you prefer GNOME or KDE, use x86 or Apple Silicon, or just want to ditch Microsoft’s operating system entirely, Fedora 42 definitely has something to offer.
Media/Serial Slopper:
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Fedora Linux Now Runs Windows Games (and Other x86 Apps) on ARM PCs
Fedora Linux 42 includes an x86 emulation layer for ARM PCs, much like Apple’s Rosetta 2 compatibility layer for Apple Silicon Mac computers. It allows ARM Linux PCs to run many applications and games that haven’t been ported to ARM yet, including Windows software through the Wine compatibility layer.
Fedora’s x86 emulation was originally built for Fedora Asahi Remix, the Linux distribution for Apple Silicon Mac computers. It could already run Windows games like Control, Hollow Knight, Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, and Portal 2 with decent performance on an M1 Mac. Fedora has now ported that work to regular the other ARM editions of Fedora Linux as an installable package, and it’s installed by default in Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop 42.
The emulation layer uses three tools: the FEX emulator for translating x86 instructions to ARM, the nuvm tool for running software in micro virtual machines, and binfmt-dispatcher for picking the right emulator when an x86 application is opened. This works for both 32-bit x86 and 64-bit x86_64 (also known as ‘amd64’) software. Running x86 Windows software also adds Wine, or one of its forks like Proton, to the stack. You can also swap FEX for other emulators, like box64 or QEMU, if needed.
Two More:
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Fedora 42 Officially Released, This Is What's New
Another six-month cycle has passed, and the highly anticipated Fedora 42 release is finally here, now available for download, powered by the latest and greatest Linux kernel 6.14.
The first thing that will immediately impress you is that Anaconda’s installer has undergone significant changes. Most prominent is a newly introduced Web UI, which is now the default for Fedora Workstation installations. This interface includes an installation progress indicator, built-in help, a configuration review, and a Wizard function that lets users skip unnecessary steps.
Also, the web-based partitioning feature adds a guided partitioning function—giving users the option to specify their installation goal and customize partitioning further.
Announcing Fedora 42
Today, the Fedora Project is excited to announce the general availability of Fedora Linux 42, the latest version of the free and open source operating system. Learn more about the new and updated features of Fedora 42 below and don’t forget to ensure your system is fully up-to-date before upgrading from a previous release.
A couple more (later):
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Distribution Release: Fedora 42
The Fedora team have announced the release of Fedora 42. The new version elevates the KDE Plasma spin to "edition" status, alongside the existing GNOME edition, and introduces a new COSMIC desktop spin. [...]
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Fedora Linux 42
The stable version of Fedora Linux 42 is now available, featuring Gnome 48 in the Workstation edition and a new edition based on KDE Plasma (6.3.4), which has been promoted to the same status as Workstation in this cycle. Despite sharing the same status, the naming logic is different; the team is aware of the confusion and states that “we’ll get that figured out eventually.”
GoL:
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Fedora Linux 42 is out now with KDE Plasma Desktop promoted and x86 programs on ARM
A big release for the Linux world is here. Fedora Linux 42 has arrived bringing with it the latest and greatest in open source software and a good choice to run on your desktops, laptops and more.
ZDNet:
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Fedora 42's big upgrade delivers new spins for COSMIC and KDE Plasma - and much more | ZDNET
Fedora 42 has arrived, and this time it offers an array of significant updates and improvements.
Right out of the gate, the Anaconda Web UI installer is now a native Wayland application, with X11 support removed. The new installer UI simplifies the installation in every area, including guided partitioning, improved keyboard control, enhanced dual-boot support, and even a new "Reinstall Fedora" option for easy recovery if something goes wrong.
Next up, Fedora benefits from all the updates to the GNOME 48 desktop environment, which includes the new Wellbeing panel, triple buffering, notification stacking, enhanced accessibility, updated default fonts, and more.
Linux Magazine:
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Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins » Linux Magazine
If you're a fan of Fedora, today's your lucky day, as the development team has released version 42 of the well-loved Linux distribution. The latest version not only includes the usual upgrades but also comes with the announcement that the official KDE Plasma spin is now available, as well as a brand new spin with System76's COSMIC desktop.
As far as upgrades are concerned, there's an improved Anaconda installer that is now Wayland native. You'll also find DNF5, Linux kernel 6.14, and upgrades for all of the available desktops, such as Gnome 48, KDE Plasma 6.3.4 (with KDE Frameworks 6.12.0), LXQt 2.1.0, and Xfce 4.20.
Of course, the biggest news is the updating of the KDE Plasma spin to "Edition" status and the availability of the new COSMIC spin. It's important to note that the COSMIC desktop is still in alpha, so only use this spin for testing purposes.
Neowin shoehorning a Windows narrative of Fedora:
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Fedora Workstation 42 arrives with GNOME 48, WSL images, and more
Fedora Workstation 42 is now available for download. It includes loads of new features, including GNOME 48, which has notification stacking, new fonts, well-being settings, and more.