Solus Project proudly announced a few moments ago the release and immediate availability for download of the Solus 2017.04.18.0 ISO snapshot of the independently developed operating system.

Containing all the latest package updates that have been released on the stable channels of the distribution, Solus 2017.04.18.0 is here today as the most up-to-date installation mediums, allowing users to either reinstall their systems or deploy the OS on new PCs without having to download hundreds of MB of updates.

"This snapshot is the culmination of months of work across nearly every aspect of our operating system, ranging from multiple under the hood upgrades and changes to improvements to our desktop experiences," reads the announcement. "This snapshot features a multitude of new improvements and upgrades to almost every package that ships on any of our ISO snapshots."

As expected, Solus 2017.04.18.0 includes Clear Linux's clr-boot-manager tool for bulletproof boot management and updates, most of the packages from the latest GNOME 3.24 Stack, an updated graphics stack based on the Mesa 17.0.4 3D Graphics Library and X.Org Server 1.19.3 display server, and the long-term supported Linux 4.9.22 kernel.

The Linux Driver Management (LDM) utility developed by the Solus Project to provide users with an easy-to-use, straightforward method of installing the latest available drivers for their hardware is also included in the Solus 2017.04.18.0 ISO snapshot, along with numerous updated components, such as FFMpeg 3.2.4, GStreamer 1.10.4, PulseAudio 10.0, Mozilla Firefox 52.0.2 and Thunderbird 52.0.1.

Budgie 10.3.1 now available with brand-new Alt+Tab switcher

While the Solus Budgie Edition 2017.04.18.0 is shipping with the recently released Budgie 10.3.1 desktop environment featuring the Alt+Tab task switcher contributed by the community, new customization options for the Clock applet, better GTK+ 3.22 support, and support for downloading artwork for the built-in MprisClient, the Solus MATE Edition comes with the MATE 1.18 desktop environment and Brisk Menu 0.3.5.

Both Solus Budgie and GNOME editions now include GNOME MPV as default media player instead of VLC Media Player, and the LibreOffice 5.3.2.2 office suite. For a list of updated packages, we strongly recommend that you check out the release notes because there are dozens of them and it would be impossible for us to list them all in this article.

Introducing Solus GNOME Edition

As part of today's Solus 2017.04.18.0 release, the Solus Project is also proud to announce the official and initial release of the Solus GNOME Edition, a specially crafted variant of the operating system built around the highly anticipated GNOME desktop environment. A vanilla, untouched version of the latest GNOME 3.24 desktop environment is used for this edition.

The Solus GNOME Edition includes various popular extensions, among which we can mention Dash To Dock for faster access to apps, Impatience for faster GNOME Shell animations, TopIcons for providing a single place for the app tray icons, and chrome-gnome-shell for out-of-the-box installation of GNOME Shell extensions via Google Chrome. Of course, new wallpapers were contributed by me.

Download Solus 2017.04.18.0 right now!

Solus GNOME Edition