Gaming-focused Linux distro Nobara 41 brings open NVIDIA drivers and enhanced installer

Nobara has released the latest version of its gaming-focused Linux distribution, Nobara 41, which is based on Fedora 41. The new version introduces several significant updates and enhancements aimed at improving user experience and performance for gamers.

The Calamares installer has been updated, now based on a fork from KaOS Linux, offering expanded features like an on-screen keyboard toggle and removing the previous requirement for a network check during installation. A notable shift in strategy is seen in the way Nobara handles Mesa and Vulkan drivers. Instead of defaulting to drivers built from git, the distribution now includes stable Vulkan drivers with each Mesa release.

Nobara 41 also ships with the open NVIDIA driver by default. Users with older GPUs that are still supported by the closed-source driver will need to perform some manual configuration steps to ensure compatibility. The update includes improvements across various tools such as the Nobara Updater, Nobara Tweak Tool, Nobara Welcome, and Nobara Driver Manager, enhancing functionality and user interaction. The package manager now supports seamless management of Flatpaks, with the addition of the Flatpak beta channel and an initial background scan to quickly populate package metadata.

Additional enhancements in Nobara 41 include theming improvements and various bug fixes, further refining the user experience.