14 DAY TRIAL // The development team behind Trisquel GNU/Linux, a 100% libre distribution based on the Ubuntu Linux operating system, announced the availability of the first Alpha images for the upcoming Trisquel GNU/Linux 8.0 release.
Dubbed Flidas, Trisquel GNU/Linux 8.0 is powered by a Linux-Libre 4.4 based kernel and built around the lightweight MATE 1.12.1 desktop environment. The inclusion of MATE, which is a fork of the old GNOME 2 desktop, should enchant many of the old-school Trisquel users, and it looks like the team also did some polishing job to both the control center and file manager components.
"This decision comes from the current editions of GNOME requiring 3D acceleration even in fallback mode, a requirement that in many cases forces the user to choose between a degraded user experience and performance, or the usage of non-free graphics drivers. Instead, we aim to provide a fully functional, highly performing desktop for all users," reads the announcement.
Live and CLI installers to be included in the next development releases
Being an Alpha version and all that, the first development ISO images of Trisquel GNU/Linux 8.0 "Flidas" do not yet contain a predefined software collection, nor a Live or text mode (CLI) installer. All these, along with the design of the new artwork and various other needed improvements should be implemented in the next development releases, which, most probably, will be announced next year.
In the meantime, you can download Trisquel GNU/Linux 8.0 "Flidas" Alpha right now from our website if you're curious to know what's coming to the Ubuntu-based distribution, but please try to keep in mind that this is an early development version that's not polished and may contain various issues. Have fun testing it and don't hesitate to report any bugs you might encounter.