Dear Community,
Gnoppix was initially created with the GNOME desktop in mind. Due to technical difficulties and a lack of manpower, we decided to switch Gnoppix to a more stable base with the more resource-efficient XFCE desktop. The XFCE community warmly welcomed our efforts to promote their desktop and has supported us for the last two years.
Nevertheless, we were often asked if it would be possible to create a KDE desktop version as well. The question was always whether we had enough people to maintain it. We are now proud to announce that we have found enough volunteers to provide a free KDE desktop for everyone.
Our New Desktop Offerings
We will offer two desktop versions in the future:
- Gnoppix KDE Developer: This version includes the newest packages and allows you to follow the latest developments in KDE. This will help us migrate much more quickly between major releases. For example, the upgrade from Bookworm to Trixie took months with many changes. This approach will greatly assist with future migrations. Gnoppix 27 is coming soon!
- Gnoppix KDE Stable: This version is intended for users who want a stable desktop, as well as for companies that require long-term support (LTS) and don’t have the resources to handle the minor fixes that can arise with rolling-release distributions like Arch Linux. Therefore, we have decided to release a very stable, “unbreakable” KDE version that will be supported for the next five years.
Gnoppix KDE Developer Is Available Now
Today, we are releasing the Developer version, which is not intended for stable use, similar to a standard Arch Linux installation that can occasionally have issues with updates. Here you will always get the latest versions, such as the recently included Linux Kernel 6.16.8 and the upcoming KDE 6.5 Beta.
Note on AI Implementation
The AI implementation is included but is optional, as we don’t want to force anyone to use it. We must emphasize again that we are not a free alternative to commercial AI providers like OpenAI or Google AI. We must disappoint anyone who expects no-cost AI here. While you can run AI locally on your own computer for free, the costs of providing a centralized service are simply too high without proper sponsorship.
To use our AI, you can either activate and install our free local AI models, if you have the hardware for it, or we can provide an AI model for you on our servers if your system is weaker. However, since we are a non-profit, open-source project without a large budget, we cannot offer all AI models to the entire world for free. You will need an API key that all Gnoppix members receive. If you are not a Gnoppix member, please use the models from your own provider. Every AI provider makes an endpoint and an API key available to its customers.
There are no hardware keys or any requirement to use our models. You can run Gnoppix with any AI provider almost exactly as if the model were from us, with the key difference being that we offer all models, whereas with a provider like OpenAI, you will, of course, only get the OpenAI models.
Download
This version is available immediately for our members at the following link: https://patreon.gnoppix.com/iso/?file=Gnoppix/gnoppix25_10-kde-rolling.iso.
The public version will be released, as always, 1-2 weeks later on SourceForge.
If you are running an earlier version, you just need to run a system upgrade. You do not need to install it every time.
Best regards, Your Gnoppix Team