Along with release of Solus 3, the Solus project has also released Budgie Desktop 10.4, latest stable release of independently developed desktop environments that is compatible with GNOME application stack. This release implements various long awaited features in Budgie Desktop.
When the previous Budgie 10.3 was released, it was told as final release in Budgie Desktop 10.x series. The next expected release was Budgie 11, a completely rewritten version of budgie using C++ and Qt frameworks. However, considering the demand from community, budgie team was working on various features in 10.x series itself and it ended in release of Budgie 10.4. Comparing to previous releases, budgie 10.4 has enjoyed more contribution from the community which is a promising trend. The release announcement of Solus 3 has specially appreciated various contributions of community in development of Budgie 10.4.
Following are various long awaited features implemented as part of Budgie Desktop 10.4 release:
When the previous Budgie 10.3 was released, it was told as final release in Budgie Desktop 10.x series. The next expected release was Budgie 11, a completely rewritten version of budgie using C++ and Qt frameworks. However, considering the demand from community, budgie team was working on various features in 10.x series itself and it ended in release of Budgie 10.4. Comparing to previous releases, budgie 10.4 has enjoyed more contribution from the community which is a promising trend. The release announcement of Solus 3 has specially appreciated various contributions of community in development of Budgie 10.4.
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| Improved Budgie Menu in Budgie 10.4 |
For more information and illustrations, read Solus 3 release announcement Solus blog. In official budgie website, there is no announcement yet. Though an announcement is expected soon.
- Support for Vertical Panels : In budgie 10.4 release, you can vertically place your panels on right of left of the screen. In addition to required adjustment for various components in panel, it also shows popover direction in correct location. Popover direction and jumping menu problem were long standing issues with budgie desktop. Hopefully no more worries about it.
- Panel dock mode : There is no need to use 3rd party dock applications now. You can set your panels as dock and can be placed at any side of the screen. This dock provides options for custom theme.
- Panel Transparency : Now, there is no need to hack around CSS files to get transparent panels. You can use budgie settings app to set the transparency of panels.
- Budgie Settings : Instead of filling Raven with various configuration options, Budgie 10.4 introduces a stand alone settings application. It includes option to configure panels, widgets and 3rd party developed applets.
- Introduces Budgie.Popover : The Gtk.Popover has been replaced with Budgie.Popover to avoid various animation and consistency issues with the former. It enables granular position regardless of it's origin. Say, top, bottom, left or right.
- Improved Budgie Menu : Based on experiences with Brisk Menu for mate desktop, the budgie team has redesigned application menu. It provides a better search mechanism with intelligent prediction, no - duplicate entries, ..etc. All these improvements are available in classic mode as well in compact mode.
- Updated Alt + Tab switcher : The Alt + Tab switcher has been updated to use native icon theme instead of standard icons from X11. It also provides support for Shift + Alt + Tab for switching applications in reverse order.
- Night Light Applet : Inspired by GNOME Night Light extension, budgie also ships a Night Light Applet for providing a more pleasant light during night time. This makes less stress and pain for eyes when computer is used during night time.
- And various other bug fixes.