Mageia 9 beta 2 released with several package updates and bug fixes

Yesterday, the second beta of Mageia 9, a stable and secure Linux operating system for desktop and server, was released.

Mageia 9 beta 2 mostly carries package updates over the first beta build issued earlier this year. The latest update comes with Linux kernel 6.3.3, Chromium 110, Firefox ESR 102.11, LibreOffice 7.5.2, KDE Plasma 5.27.4, GNOME 44, Mesa 23.1 graphics drivers, and more.

At this point in Mageia 9 development, the team is basically under a version freeze ahead of the stable release. This means that no new features will be added, and the focus will be on fixing any remaining bugs and improving stability.

Mageia 9 is derived from the iconic Mandriva Linux distribution, and is one of the few Linux distributions that still offer installation media for 32-bit systems. It also provides live images for 64-bit systems with Plasma, GNOME, and Xfce desktop environments, as well as a 32-bit live image for Xfce.

Mageia is a community-driven project that relies on volunteer contributions. The team encourages users to test the beta release and report any issues to help improve the stability and performance of the final release. The stable release of Mageia 9 is expected to be available later this year. Until then, users can download and test the beta release from the Mageia website.