EndeavourOS Turns 5: ARM Makes a Comeback and More

EndeavourOS is well known to be one of the top Arch-based Linux distributions around, rivaling the likes of Manjaro Linux and Garuda Linux with what it has to offer.

To mark the project's fifth anniversary, the developers have introduced two new major changes that set the stage for a very exciting future for the distro.

So, let's get right into it. 😃

EndeavourOS: What's Cooking?

a screenshot of the endeavour os endeavour release desktop view with the new wallpaper — EndeavourOS “Endeavour”

We kick things off with the new EndeavourOS “Endeavour” release, which has been introduced as a one-off release, that won't be receiving a “Neo” or “Nova” release, with the next one set to be a major release with a different code-name.

As for what it offers, there are the many fixes, such as for the Calamares installer, that doesn't crash anymore when EOS apps are not selected, and the language selection being fixed for Italian users of vconsole.

Then we have the removal of the r8168 legacy driver package from the default installation options due to the Arch repo also removing it. The developers mentioned that most legacy Realtek hardware would still run with the drivers already present on the Linux kernel.

The developers have also packed in many updated packages, such as:

Mesa 1:24.1.2-1
KDE Plasma 6.1
Firefox 127.0.1-1
Nvidia 550.90.07-4
Calamares 24.06.1.2-1
Linux kernel 6.9.6.arch1-1

The other major change is the return of the ARM installation options. Earlier this year, we had reported that EndeavourOS was dropping support for ARM owing to maintenance issues.

But, the situation has taken a turn, for the better, as the developer behind EndeavourOS's ARM implementation, Pudge has returned after he took some rest, and had a change of heart about leaving the project.

He has returned with a different approach to this, with new ARM images for the following devices now being made available:

Odroid N2
Pinebook Pro
Raspberry Pi 5 B
Raspberry Pi 4 B
RPI 4 B & 5 B Headless Server Installation

The developers also mention that they are keeping an eye on the upcoming Snapdragon X Elite support for Linux, and when it's out, they intend to add it to their list of supported hardware.

To mark this important chapter in EndeavourOS's development, Founder and Project Lead, Bryan Poerwo, said that:

We, Dalto, Fernandomaroto, Joekamprad, Manuel, Pudge and I, would like to thank all of our past and current contributors, our moderators, our financial contributors, our mirror providers and all the Endeavournauts out there for the incredible ride the past five years… But the journey continues and we hope you’ll stick with us to make some more memories.

You can go through the announcement blog for learning more about the five-year anniversary and the new release.

Get EndeavourOS “Endeavour”

Users looking for setting up a fresh installation of EndeavourOS can head to the official website to get this release. Existing users can just update their system as usual to get the improvements.

EndeavourOS “Endeavour”

💬 What are your thoughts on EndeavourOS's fifth anniversary release? Happy that the ARM releases are back?

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