EndeavourOS has done well to take its place as a top Arch-based Linux distribution that doesn't overwhelm newcomers by being too complex to handle. It had its beginnings in the discontinued Antergos project, going on to grow into the dependable offering it is now.
As this is a rolling release distro, it constantly receives updates, so when a new release drops, it is essentially a snapshot of the latest version with all recent improvements and fixes included.
So, let's take a look at what the latest one, code-named “Mercury”, has to offer. 😃
🆕 EndeavourOS Mercury: What's New?
Coming slightly late after the earlier Neo release, this new one comes bearing some mildly unsettling news. The developers of EndeavourOS have revealed that going forward, people will have to get used to an irregular release schedule.
One of the main reasons for this is said to be EndeavourOS developer Joe Kamprad's focus on studies for becoming a certified programmer, which will help the project in the long run. Regardless, new releases will still be coming, but with some degree of uncertainty surrounding their arrival.
We will now direct our focus on the Mercury release, which is powered by Linux 6.13.1.arch2-1.
To start things off, there is a new memory test function for EFI systems on the live ISO, a fix for the installer showing double entries in the EFI selection dropdown, and mirrorlists ranked/sorted during installation now being copied over to the final install.
Moving onto the desktop environment changes, Plasma, GNOME, XFCE, MATE, and Budgie will now automatically use the dark theme by default, with the XFCE4 theme now being more in line with the vanilla XFCE experience.
This release also delivers many updated packages:
Firefox 135.0-1
Mesa 1:24.3.4-1
Nvidia 570.86.16-3
Calamares 25.02.1.4-3
Xorg-server 21.1.15-1
That was all for this release. If you are looking for more details, then you can go through the announcement blog.
📥 Get EndeavourOS Mercury
You can get this modest release from the official website, with many download mirrors being there for wide global coverage.
If you were wondering if there was any impact on existing users, there isn't any. The changes mentioned above only affect fresh installations, the installer, and the EndeavourOS ISO's live environment.
Just keeping your system updated using the following command should be enough:
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