The new Gnome 42 Linux desktop, which will follow on March 23 in Gnome 41 and already with numerous applications based on the free GUI toolkit GTK comes in version 4 can now be tested for the first time in public beta. There are numerous optical and technical innovations to discover.

GTK 4 and system-wide themes

In addition to porting GTK 4 applications, the developers have also focused in particular on the open desktop look and feel for Linux, BSD, Unix, and Unix-like systems. For the first time, Gnome offers a system-wide light and dark look and many new features.

Both themes can be applied permanently or used via a configurable day/night plan. If desired, automatic background image synchronization is also provided. New accent colors are designed to better highlight important buttons.

New GTK 4 applications for Gnome 42

GTK 4 is implemented using the Libadwaita 1.0 library and already includes the following applications in the just released Gnome 42 beta:

For the first time with Gnome 42 Beta, the new screenshot and screencast feature has come to the free desktop and replaces the old Gnome screenshot tool. In addition, a completely revised OSD (“On-Screen-Display”) provides information on volume and screen brightness.

Flatpak integration and support for Wayland

Also Linux Flatpak package management integration and modern Nvidia GPU support for the display server protocol. Wayland it was further advanced and extended with Gnome 42 Beta.

Updates for Mother, Wayland and integrated applications

Also, elementary components like Gnome Desktop, Gnome Maps, and Gnome Videos have been aliased. totem revised and also in the free window manager motherwhich is very deeply embedded in the shell and is comparable to win acts as a composer for the Wayland display server protocol, improvements and bug fixes have been incorporated.

The candidate version will be available on March 5

After the first beta version was slightly delayed, the developers want to release the first release candidate of the free desktop on March 5, before the final version of Gnome 42 appears on March 23.

Fedora 36 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS start with Gnome 42

The first Linux distributions with Gnome 42 are Fedora 36 Workstation, which is scheduled to appear as a successor to Fedora 35 Workstation with Gnome 41 in the spring of this year, and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (“Jammy Jellyfish”).

Officials give more information release notes and the project page in the development platform GitHub.