

Trisquel 5.5 uses the GNOME 3 "fallback mode" by default

The Trisquel project has announced the release of Trisquel 5.5, code-named "Brigantia". This is the first version of the distribution that is based on the GNOME 3 desktop environment, although it is using the 2D fallback mode option by default. Trisquel GNU/Linux is approved by the FSF as a Free Software distribution and as such cannot rely on a 3D composited desktop like Gnome Shell, as many 3D drivers for Linux are proprietary in nature. Trisquel 5.5 also uses version 3.0.0 of the Linux-libre kernel, which is a parallel distribution of the regular Linux kernel that aims to remove all non-free components and firmware.

According to the developers, Trisquel 5.5 is their "biggest effort in eight years", partly because of the many changes inherent in switching to GNOME 3 and the 3.0 Linux kernel. Other new features include LibreOffice 3.4.4, Abrowser 11 (Trisquel's unbranded version of Mozilla Firefox), and further improvements to accessibility. In Trisquel, the Orca screen reader can be used from the installer to the login manager right through to the installed desktop, enabling visually impaired users to install the system without assistance. The developers also point out that many more NVIDIA graphics cards are supported in the release, mostly due to recent improvements in the open source Nouveau driver.

More information on Trisquel is available from the project's wiki and several editions of the distribution can be downloaded from the project's web site.

(fab)