Fedora 38, which was released on April 18, 2023, is taking a different approach than usual. While it is known for integrating pioneering features early, this time it is expanding with new spins, i.e. derivatives with alternative desktop environments, and more Flatpak apps. At the same time, it lays the technical foundation for functions such as hard disk encryption with TPM and UKIs for a seamlessly signed boot process.
Most of the innovations that affect users in everyday life go back to the Gnome 44 desktop environment, which delivers the main edition Fedora Workstation 38 unchanged. The Gnome developers have added a feature to the file selection dialog that the community has been longing for: the dialog now shows previews (thumbnails) so that you can quickly find the image you’re looking for. However, this only applies to the GTK4 version of the file selection. Apps that still use GTK3 still don’t show a thumbnail.
There is now an area in the quick settings panel at the top of the screen that lists apps that are running in the background. What initially looks like a practical collecting station for tray icons, which the Gnome project banned from the user interface some time ago, turned out to be a confusing implementation in our test.
In addition to these changes, Fedora 38 is also expanding with new spins. These are derivatives with alternative desktop environments, such as the KDE Plasma desktop or the Xfce desktop. There are also special spins for scientific applications or gaming.
Fedora 38 also introduces more Flatpak apps, which are sandboxed applications that can be installed and run independently of the operating system. Flatpak is an increasingly popular way of distributing Linux applications and has become a significant part of the Fedora ecosystem.
Overall, Fedora 38 takes things slowly, focusing on expanding its offerings rather than introducing game-changing features. Nevertheless, the introduction of new spins and more Flatpak apps will be welcomed by many users, especially those who value choice and flexibility.
