For Linux fans, there’s a new version of OpenSUSE Leap out today, bringing the version number to 15.2. OpenSUSE is one of the big Linux distributions so it’ll be a solid release. “Leap” is the distribution’s traditional regular release programme, compared with the rolling release of “Tumbleweed”.
In additional to the 5.3.18 kernel, KDE is bumped to 5.18 and Gnome to 3.34. SUSE has always been a strong proponent of the KDE desktop (my personal favourite) so I’ll be checking that out later. LibreOffice brings word processing and spreadsheets to the party and Gimp is on hand for image editing. As you’d expect in 2020, there are a pile of AI and machine learning tools including Tensorflow, PyTorch and ONNX. A feature list is included here.
“Leap 15.2 represents a huge step forward in the Artificial Intelligence space,” said Marco Varlese, a developer and member of the project. “I am super excited that openSUSE end-users can now finally consume Machine Learning and Deep Learning frameworks and applications via our repositories to enjoy a stable and up-to-date ecosystem.”
I run OpenSUSE on my main PC so I’ll be upgrading soon. Based on my experience of previous upgrades, the OpenSUSE team have got the online upgrade process down to a fine art. A few clicks and the upgrade gets under way.
For those who feel more confident with a DVD or USB, a full distro is available for download as well. It’s always good to have a copy to hand in case of hard drive failure too.
The full press release is here.