Fedora 38 beta is here and it heralds a spectacular release to come

Some of the most recent releases of Fedora Linux have proven me wrong about my previous conclusions about the distribution. I used to think of Fedora as a Linux distribution only for people who really understood the open source ecosystem. All in all, it’s an operating system that is not only difficult to use, but also not always 100% stable. But starting around Fedora 35, all that changed and I now consider this flavor of Linux as a strong candidate for new users.

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From the installer to the desktop to the bundled apps, Fedora 38 is breathtaking…even in beta. I installed the beta to see what it was and I was impressed.

Much of the good that comes to Fedora 38 is the fruit of the GNOME team’s hard work. Fedora 38 benefits from all the hard work put into GNOME 44 and it shows. With GNOME 44 we get performance improvements, bug fixes, new screenshot icons (available in Quick Menu), new Bluetooth selection in Quick Menu, much improved Settings menu, lots of improvements. Moving on to the file manager and all the upgraded GNOME apps you might need.

But that’s not all about Gnome. Fedora 38 also includes/improves things like:

• Kernel 6.2
• Updates for non-GNOME spinners, such as Xfce 4.18, KDE Plasma 5.27, MATE 1.26 and LXQt 1.2.0.
• New Budgie and Sway Wheel.
• Beautiful new wallpaper.
• Initial support for Unified Kernel (all-in-one efi binary containing kernel, initrd, cmdline and signature).
• Significant improvements for live media.
• Shorter shutdown timer.
• rubies 32.
• PHP8.2.
• gcc 13.
• LLVM16.
• Golang 1.20.

And, of course, all bundled packages are up-to-date (such as Firefox 110.0, LibreOffice 7.5.0.3) and the initial run app makes integration easier. From this app you can enable/disable location services and automatic crash reporting, enable third-party repositories, connect online accounts and create your users.

Flatpak becomes stronger

There is no doubt about the power and usability of flat pack (one of Linux’s universal package managers). Before Fedora 38, many Flatpak apps were hidden behind filters. Users can turn off filters and access those apps, but that’s not the default behavior. As of Fedora 38, that filter has been removed, so users will have unrestricted access to all Flatpak apps. Those apps will also be available through the Software app store GUI, so there’s no need to touch the command line to install.

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One thing I really appreciate about the work on integrating Flatpak into Fedora 38 is the ability to easily choose between installation methods within the Software application. Select an app to install, click the drop-down list below the Install button, and choose the method you want to use.

But how does it perform?

You have to keep in mind that this is a beta release, so there will be issues. Even so, I find this first release very solid. Apps open quickly, work as expected, and show no signs of instability. After using Fedora 38 for a few days, I completely forgot I was on a beta release.

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Its that thing Good.

No matter how deeply I dig into the operating system, it adds up all the time, thereby proving to me that this use of Linux is a great choice for any user of any level. What skill level? You won’t have to touch a terminal window (unless you want to) and you can be productive, entertained, and educated. And for those who need help, there’s always the GNOME Help tool, which includes a number of topics to help ease you into the GNOME desktop environment.

Should you use Fedora 38?

Although Fedora 38, in beta, is stable and usable as My current desktop OS, Pop!_OS, I do not recommend using this release on production machines. Yes, it’s stable. Yes, it performs very well. But beta software is for testing purposes and you shouldn’t depend on it as a day job.

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But if you have a spare machine lying around (or have VirtualBox or VMware installed), I highly recommend installing it to see how beautiful and easy to use Fedora 38 will be when it’s finally released. That release date could be any date now (target is March 14-21), so by the time you read this, Fedora 38 should be officially available.

Congratulations to both the Fedora and GNOME team for creating such a remarkable open source operating system. Fedora 38 made such an impression on me that I considered making it the basis of my daily work.

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Download a copy of Fedora 38 from Official download page and enjoy the power and user-friendliness of Linux.