Chakra Linux is a distribution that uses all the latest KDE components while providing a unique desktop experience that's different from what everyone else is doing.
The Chakra developers like to give interesting monikers to their distros, and they tend to go for scientists, but now they’ve chosen to name the latest version of the OS after the late Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian.
The distribution follows the KDE project, so it usually integrates the latest packages available at the time of the build. Since the developers also take the time to customize KDE quite a lot, users might notice that the OS is not exactly on the bleeding edge. This might be for the better since there is a smaller chance of something going wrong.
Chakra Linux now based on KDE Plasma 5.5.4
The team says that no major changes have been made to the OS, but this is the first edition for 2016, which means that a lot of users are going to be really happy about this. It's also worth mentioning that the developers also update the repositories quite often so that users don't have to wait around for these major upgrades.
"This ISO doesn't introduce any major changes but offers an updated snapshot of our stable repositories to new users. It can be considered a maintenance release, providing all the bug fixes and package updates that occurred in the last 3 months, ever since the previous ISO was released. As always, we ship the latest available versions of KDE's Plasma, Applications and Frameworks," reads the official announcement.
According to the changelog, Plasma 5.5.4, Frameworks 5.19.0, Applications 15.12.2, and Calligra 2.9.11 are the KDE packages that have been implemented, Linux kernel has been upgraded to version 4.2.6, systemd is now at version 228, and new free and proprietary drivers are now available for download.
A complete list of new features and updates can be found in the official announcement. You can download Chakra 2016.02 "Ian" right now from Softpedia.
