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SpiralLinux 12.231001 release
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@geckolinux geckolinux released this 02 Oct 12:54
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12.231001
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SpiralLinux-transparent-small

Download from: https://spirallinux.github.io

⚠️ Important note: Rufus, LinuxLive USB Creator (LiLi), Ventoy, and Unetbootin are NOT recommended by SpiralLinux for creating the bootable USB device due to many reports of failure.

ℹ️ Update: The newer 12.231008 release is now available with some additional tweaks and updates:
https://github.com/SpiralLinux/SpiralLinux-project/releases/tag/12.231008

The SpiralLinux project is pleased to announce its 12.231001 release built directly from Debian 12, with the addition of a newer kernel from Debian Backports for newer hardware compatibility. SpiralLinux offers live installable ISO images for the Cinnamon (5.6.8), XFCE (4.18), Gnome (43.6), Plasma (5.27), Mate (1.26), Budgie (10.7.1), and LXQt (1.2.0) desktop environments.

About SpiralLinux

SpiralLinux is a selection of Linux spins built from Debian GNU/Linux, with a focus on simplicity and out-of-the-box usability across all the major desktop environments. SpiralLinux serves as an alternative live installation method for a highly reliable customized Debian system using only official Debian package repositories. Please visit the official SpiralLinux website to download it and learn more about its unique features and reasons for existence.

Notable changes in SpiralLinux 12.231001

  • Low-latency Pipewire configuration: For this release all editions of SpiralLinux are now using Pipewire with a proper out-of-the-box configuration for low-latency (5.3ms by default) JACK-compatible live audio applications even on standard consumer hardware. The default configuration is unique to SpiralLinux and includes overrides to the default Pipewire configuration as well as a number of low-level system tweaks as recommended by rtcqs. This makes SpiralLinux an excellent base system for professional live audio production JACK workflows while simultaneously offering compatibility with normal PulseAudio consumer applications. To take full advantage of the low-latency JACK compatibility simply run sudo systemctl enable cpupower to enable the optimal performance CPU governor.
  • Mouse and touchpad control: The libinput library is now used by default instead of synaptics for mouse and touchpad control, with important improvements for the logic of disabling laptop trackpads while typing.
  • Snapper disk usage limits: The Snapper configuration has been modified from its defaults to not use more than 40% of the available disk space for its automatic Btrfs snapshots1 – 20% maximum for system rollback snapshots and 20% maximum for snapshots of user data in /home/ .
  • Font rendering and theming: For each edition, many intricate details were analyzed and refined related to theming of GTK3, GTK4, and Qt apps, taking into account the unique characteristics and limitations of each toolkit running on a specific desktop environment, as well as the unique challenges of theming Flatpak apps created in those same three toolkits. Beyond simple aesthetic preferences, special priority was given to font legibility, contrast, and rendering, as well as overriding modern trends in all three toolkits that are detrimental to usability, such as thin and disappearing scrollbars without up/down arrow controls. The end result, while not completely uniform, is visually coherent and highly legible and usable even with a mix of Debian packaged apps and Flatpaks using different toolkits.
  • Other minor improvements and fixes: Issue tracker

How to upgrade SpiralLinux

Once installed to the hard disk the system no longer has any connection with the SpiralLinux project, as it has been carefully designed to be completely dependent on the Debian project and not on a single developer. Therefore, users of existing SpiralLinux installations can upgrade to the latest Debian release as soon as it is available in the Debian repositories. Most aspects of the unique SpiralLinux configuration will be maintained across upgrades, but new SpiralLinux features will not be applied to existing installations as there are intentionally no package repositories created specifically for SpiralLinux. To upgrade a SpiralLinux 11 installation to Debian 12, or to move to Debian Testing or Debian Unstable, please follow these simple graphical instructions:
https://github.com/SpiralLinux/SpiralLinux-project/wiki#updating-and-upgrading-spirallinux

⚠️ Important note: The Debian 12 version of the "Software & Updates" GUI tool has a significant unhandled bug that prevents it from enabling the Debian Security updates repository.2 3 Users that have upgraded to Debian 12 with Synaptic and the "Software & Updates" GUI should use the file manager's "Edit as root" function that is provided by default in all editions of SpiralLinux to replace the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list with the following:

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

deb https://security.debian.org/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware  #Debian Bookworm Backports

Known issues

Many workarounds and fixes for upstream issues have been implemented in SpiralLinux and also in the deployments of Debian's live-build tool used to generate the ISOs.4 5 The following issues can not be corrected within the scope of the SpiralLinux project:

  • Budgie window manager theme: In most cases after the initial login to the Budgie desktop the window manager will use the wrong theme for the window controls. Subsequent logins will use the correct theme.
  • Software & Updates GUI: As mentioned previously, the Debian 12 version of the "Software & Updates" GUI tool has a significant unhandled bug that prevents it from enabling the Debian Security updates repository.2 3
  • Displayed memory usage: Most programs that display the system RAM usage will now show a much higher number in Debian 12 compared to the same system running Debian 11. However, this is not indicative of drastically higher RAM consumption, but rather is due to a change in the way that memory usage is calculated.6 The htop program still measures RAM usage according to the previous method.
  • Other long-standing issues: Issue tracker

Other notes:

  1. SpiralLinux includes an advanced Btrfs subvolume layout by default with supporting tools that take automatic snapshots of user data and the system state, allowing for booting into snapshots and performing instant system rollbacks. While it is extremely rare for a Debian Stable update to break the system in a way that would require a rollback, it is much more likely to happen to users that have upgraded their SpiralLinux system to Debian Testing or Unstable (easy method here). Additionally, the system rollback mechanism provides a layer of protection again system administrator mistakes, as well as taking automatic snapshots of user data in /home/ in case of accidental file edits and/or deletions. Please read the documentation for easy instructions to perform a system rollback in SpiralLinux. ↩

  2. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1023242 ↩ ↩2

  3. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1040743 ↩ ↩2

  4. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1051547 ↩

  5. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1018873 ↩

  6. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2003033 ↩

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