[valtam]

Release Announcement

Linux Lite 8.0 Final is now available for download.

To every person who filed a bug report, shared feedback, and has stuck with us - this release is dedicated to you.

Series 8 represents 14 years of community-driven purpose culminating in Linux Lite's largest development cycle ever: a brand-new installer, new performance driven kernels, end-to-end GTK4 theming, plentiful customisation, a Game Center that gives you all the tools you need to get up and running in minutes, a slew of new in-house applications and unprecedented translation coverage at every level of the system. Series 8 will continue to build on this foundation with improved usability, expanded applications, more choice, more control and ongoing performance refinements to our custom kernels. Thank you. Genuinely.

See below for more details.

Linux Lite 8.0

Base: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute)
Desktop: XFCE with LightDM
Codename: Hematite
Kernel: Linux 7.0 (Linux Lite Advanced Performance Kernels)

PLATFORM CHANGES

- Linux Lite codename: galena -> hematite
- NEW Linux Lite High Performance Custom Kernels
- All Linux Lite applications have been translated into 22 languages.
- All GUI applications ported to GTK4 (from GTK3/WebKit2)
- APT sources migrated to DEB822 .sources format (replaces .list files)
- Installer: Calamares replaces Ubiquity
- Firefox returns
- ISO slimmed from 2.77gb to 2.36gb over Series 7 - 410mb saving
- Python 3.14.4+ (up from 3.12)
- Btop replace Htop
- Synaptic Package Manager has now been replaced by an new expanded Lite Software
- Dirty Frag Vulnerability patched
- BTRFS and XFS filesystems added (by request)
- JPEG-XL files work out-of-the-box
- HEIC image support
- Some Lite apps are hardcoded with a dark theme, because of the complementary contrast effect
- Lite Info - new detection method, now completes significantly faster
- New Plymouth boot theme: animated feather spinner (script-based, replaces text-based)
- Desktop - translated into 23 languages
- OEM installer for hardware vendors - translated into 25 languages

Series 8 has been rebuilt on Ubuntu 26.04 with brand new applications. The bulk of our applications are now in Python and GTK4.

These include:

- Linux Lite Advanced Performance Kernels (NEW)
- Lite About (NEW)
- Lite Core (NEW)
- Lite Distro Builder (NEW)
- Lite Driver Manager (NEW - Mint Drivers fork)
- Lite Game Center (NEW)
- Lite Kernel Manager (NEW)
- Lite Menu Sorter (NEW)
- Lite Series Upgrade (NEW)
- Lite Share Folder (NEW)
- Lite Software Sources (NEW)
- Lite Terminal (NEW)
- Lite Time and Date (NEW)
- Lite Update Tray (NEW)
- MyAI (NEW)

LINUX LITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CUSTOM KERNELS

Menu > System > Lite Kernel

Linux Lite ships with a custom kernel built specifically for desktop and gaming use on everyday hardware. It is based on the latest Ubuntu kernel source and incorporates a curated set of patches from the community, alongside targeted configuration improvements.

The Two Kernels

linuxlite — default desktop kernel

This is what every Linux Lite installation boots into. It prioritises a smooth, responsive desktop experience for everyday tasks: web browsing, office work, media playback, and general use.

linuxlite-gaming — optional gaming kernel

This kernel goes further in reducing input lag and improving frame delivery. It is best suited to users who play games regularly or run audio/video production software where timing matters. It can be installed at any time after setup without removing the default kernel.

Both kernels take advantage of the EEVDF scheduler. On top of this, both kernels include the full BORE scheduler modification (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer).
BORE tracks each task’s burst time — how long it runs in short, intense bursts — and uses this to bias scheduling decisions. Tasks that have been waiting and then run in short bursts (like a desktop application repainting its window or a game processing a frame) receive a priority boost, keeping interactive work feeling snappy even under heavy background load. BORE is controlled by a dedicated CONFIG_SCHED_BORE kernel option and exposes several sysctl tunables under kernel.sched_bore for fine-tuning.

The two kernels differ in how aggressively they allow the scheduler to interrupt running work:

- linuxlite uses dynamic preemption, which balances throughput and responsiveness. It can switch between modes at runtime.
- linuxlite-gaming uses full preemption, which allows the kernel to interrupt almost any running task immediately. This reduces the worst-case delay before a game or audio application gets CPU time.

These kernels also ship with a new application - Lite Kernel Manager which has all of the features shown below:



There are so many kernel optimisations that we've had to create to full web pages explaining all the features.

Please visit:

https://www.linuxliteos.com/linux-lite-kernel.html

and:

https://www.linuxliteos.com/linux-lite-k...rison.html

Benchmarking

Lite Kernel Manager also features a benchmarking tool where people can upload their scores. This should present a unique opportunity for people to squeeze every ounce of performance out of their Kernel tuned systems.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/benchmark.php

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird

We are now hosting these applications, which means the thorn in my side - PPA'S and the mess they can cause are no where to be found in Linux Lite 8.0.

LITE SERIES UPGRADE (Series 7 > 8)

Menu > Settings > Lite Series Upgrade

- Full Series 7 to Series 8 upgrade path
- Dry Run mode to simulate upgrade without changes
- Real-time progress bar with download speed display
- Live scrolling log viewer
- DEB822 source file deployment (linuxlite.sources, ubuntu.sources, mozillateam-ubuntu-ppa-noble.sources)
- APT sources backup before modifications
- Battery/power check warning for laptop users
- Automatic desktop launcher trust and executable marking for all users
- XFCE wallpaper restoration after upgrade
- Broadcom b43 firmware URL fix via dpkg-divert
- Legacy upgrade tool (series7) force-removal
- Unhold of zenity, zenity-common, and inxi packages
- Plymouth theme set to new linuxlite theme
- GRUB and initramfs rebuild
- Installation and upgrade of all Linux Lite applications
- Clean up of old .list files and sources.list

If you are wanting to upgrade from Series 7 to Series 8, consider the following serious advice:

Step 1: Either clone your disk using something like Clonezilla, or perform a full Timeshift backup.
Step 2: Install Updates and be sure to resolve any update issues before committing to a Series upgrade. We have mitigated as many as we can think of but there will always be exceptions - including preparing any of those awful PPA'S to resolute. Reboot if prompted.

Step 3:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

VERY IMPORTANT: Reboot if prompted to, then proceed to Step 4.

Code:

sudo apt-get install lite-series-upgrade

Step 4: Menu, Settings, Lite Series Upgrade (may be at the bottom of the Settings menu).

Step 5: Go make a coffee/cup of tea and indulge in your favorite cake or buscuit, the upgrade process will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on your internet connection and PC specs).

During the upgrade you will see some blocks where text used to be in the Live Log window, just ignore that, after a few moments it will all go back to text.
Most should go through without a hitch, if you get any errors DO NOT try again straight away. Zip up the upgrade log and attached it into a new thread under Software - Support > Series to Series Upgrade Support in these Forums - https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/forum...php?fid=49

Linux Lite 8.0 Highlights

BTRFS and XFS filesystems (to select from the installer)

These are niche filesystems (both commonly used on servers and storage-heavy systems). Out of the 2 if you have to use one on your desktop or laptop, I'd go with XFS.

Calamares

The installer that copies Linux Lite onto your computer. Walks you through choosing a language, time zone, keyboard layout, disk setup and creating your account, with a slideshow showing off the system while it installs.

Calamares Linux Lite

The Linux Lite branding wired into the installer above - our logo, welcome page, slideshow and an extra "set up for someone else" mode that small shops use to pre-install machines for customers. The installer log can be found here for troubleshooting (should you need it):

Code:

/root/.cache/calamares/session.log

- Replaces Ubiquity installer
- Fully supported OEM installs
- Slides translated into 25 languages for both install types OEM and normal install (will need help verifying the accuracy of translations)
- Apt defaults to the City you chose during install (Ubuntu mirror) eg. Netherlands.
- Internet not required for install






Lite Distro Builder

Menu > System > Lite Distro Builder

Lets you build your own customised Linux Lite installer image from a working machine. Choose what gets included, click Build, and out comes a USB-ready image you can pass on to friends.



Lite Driver Manager

Menu > Settings > Lite Driver Manager

Finds the right graphics driver for your computer and installs it with one click. Shows your card by name, tells you whether the free driver or the manufacturer's driver is recommended, and says clearly when nothing extra is needed.





Lite Game Center

Menu > Games > Lite Game Center

A one-stop gaming setup. Press the big button and it installs Steam, Lutris, Proton, Wine, game controller support and a few popular helpers all in one go - or pick individual tiles if you only want certain pieces.







Lite Menu Sorter

Menu > System > Lite Menu Sorter

Tidies up the start menu so the apps inside each category appear in alphabetical order. Tick which categories to sort, click Apply.



Lite Software

Menu > System > Lite Software

A friendly app store that bundles around a hundred popular Linux applications into one window. Browse by category, click Install, type your password, and it handles the rest. Includes a Snap package filter so you know what you are installing. This also replaces Synaptic Package Manager.







The package also ships several extra applications:

Some of these are available from Settings Manager

Lite About - a tidy system summary screen showing your Linux Lite version, hardware specs, uptime and other useful information at a glance.



Lite Core - strips Linux Lite back to the bare essentials by letting you tick off and remove anything you don't use.



Lite Share Folder - right-click any folder in the file manager and pick Share Folder to share it across your home network. The first time you use it, everything needed for sharing is set up for you automatically. A notoriously fickle configuration issue that had most people retreat to the command line is now finally, and simply resolved.





Lite Updates - installs system and application updates with a clear progress bar and a list of what's changing.





Lite Update Tray - a small icon in your panel that quietly watches for updates. White means you're up to date, green means updates are waiting. Hover for a one-line summary (how many, how many are security-related, when it last checked). Click it for a window with a live network graph, pause options and the list of what's pending.









Lite Software Sources

Menu > System > Lite Software Sources

The behind-the-scenes list of download locations that feeds Lite Software. Installs automatically with the system. Replace Ubuntu's software-properties-gtk and we've folded Lite Sources into this application as a one-stop-shop for managing and configuring Ubuntu repos and mirrors, Linux Lite repos and mirrors, Keyrings and PPA's (vomit) and other third-party sources.










Lite System Monitor

Menu > Settings > Lite System Monitor

A real-time look at what your computer is doing right now - processor load, memory use, disk activity, network traffic, running programs - with colourful graphs and tabs.



Lite Terminal

Menu > System > Lite Terminal

A super light, responsive built from the ground up terminal. Beautiful font rendering, predictive auto-complete, a slew of right click options, a title bar that turns light red when you are in sudo or about to go into sudo as a reminder to be careful along with other customizations. Written in Vala + VTE + GObject, it's fast and has a low memory footprint.











Lite Time and Date

Menu > Settings > Lite Time Date

Set your clock and time zone, with an option to keep the time in sync from the internet automatically.



Lite Tweaks

Menu > Settings > Lite Tweaks

A big toolbox of one-click cleanup and tuning tasks - clear caches, free up disk space, smooth out performance. Has a green One-Click Clean button that bundles a safe set of these to run together.





Lite Widget

Menu > Settings > Lite Widget

A small overlay you can park on your desktop showing the time, weather, system stats and any pending updates at a glance.



MyAI

Firefox > Bookmarks bar

A completely private AI chat assistant that runs entirely on your own computer - no cloud, no account, no telemetry. It suggests a model that fits your hardware, chats happen in a browser tab, and your conversation history stays on your machine. Yes, we understand that A.I. is a polarising topic. With an estimated 1.2 billion people using it, we felt a responsibility to provide the option, but in a way that respects people's choice rather than forcing it on them. Available in all Linux Lite supported languages, ask questions and get replies in your native language.

Information page: https://www.linuxliteos.com/llmmodels.html

















If you don't want it:

Code:

sudo apt purge myai

Right click, Delete Bookmark in the Toolbar in Firefox.

Linux Lite Search Page

Now running SearXNG - A Privacy-first Search Engine that pulls in information from Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. There are some ads on the results page, but that's how we pay the bills around here.

Linux Lite Wiki

Menu > Favorites > Wiki

Has had a make over and now contains many updates and images for Series 8.
Translated into 18 languages.
We are in need of help with updating and maintaining our documentation. If you enjoy helping people and or have an instructive background, please DM me here on the Forums.

Fastfetch replaces Neofetch

Terminal

Fastfetch is a system info tool written in C that replaces Neofetch (which is no longer maintained). It's significantly faster, actively developed, and highly configurable.



Starship replaces Powerline

Terminal

Starship is a cross-shell prompt written in Rust. It works with bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell, and most other shells, dropping in as a replacement for whatever prompt you're currently using.
The appeal is that it's fast, configurable, and contextual. It detects what you're working with in the current directory and shows relevant info automatically — Git branch and status, language versions (Node, Python, Rust, Go, etc.), Docker context, cloud provider etc.



Plymouth Lite

The Linux Lite splash screen and logo you see while the computer is booting up and shutting down.

Theming:

Window Theme: Lite Theme (Orchis fork)
Icon Theme: Papirus
Font: Roboto Regular
Terminal Font: JetBrainsMono LL Nerd Font

Secure Boot is not supported on Series 8. You must disable Secure Boot in firmware before installing. We made this call so the system stays simple and reliable for everyone — no MOK enrolment, no shim quirks, no surprise breakage after a kernel update.

Default Software Details:

Kernel: Linux Lite Kernel 7.0 (custom). Additional kernels available via Menu > System > Lite Kernel Manager.
Firefox: 151.0
Thunderbird: 140.0
LibreOffice: 26.2.2
VLC: 3.0.2.3
Gimp: 3.2.2
Base: 26.04

Known Issues:

So much of this code is brand new, as such, there's bound to be some settling in and maturing. Please don't fill this thread with issues you may encounter. Place any issues in the appropriate Support section of the Forum. Thank you.

There is no upgrade to or from RC releases. RC releases are for testing only and it is not recommended to run them as your main or secondary operating system. IF you like RC2 and are happy to stay on it, that is up to you - you can still get Series 8 updates all the way through. Existing Linux Lite 7.x users can migrate using Lite Series Upgrade (scroll to near top of this thread).

Huge thank you to our Sponsor:



Presale.Codes has presale password information that helps fans, ticket brokers, ticket flippers, concierge desks, personal and virtual assistants and anyone who needs a presale code to find it and use it ASAP. Click the here to learn more.

Fresh installing Linux Lite 8.0:

BIOS Settings (IMPORTANT)

CSM: Enabled
Secureboot: Disabled

RECOMMENDED PARTITION LAYOUT

Code:

PARTITION TABLE: GPT
512MB FAT32 mountpoint /boot/efi FLAGS - boot
rest-of-partition EXT4 mountpoint / FLAGS - none

The Erase Disk option is my favorite, no messy partitioning or setting flags (providing you're happy with wiping your storage device clean).

Downloads:

Release Name: Linux Lite 8.0 Final
Size: 2.36Gb (DVD, USB)

Download Linux Lite 8.0 Final from one of the mirrors: (some may still be syncing)

HTTP & HTTPS:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-lite/files/8.0/

China - https://mirrors.sjtug.sjtu.edu.cn/linuxliteos/isos/
Ecuador - http://mirror.ueb.edu.ec/linuxliteos/isos/
Ecuador - https://mirror.cedia.org.ec/linuxliteos/isos//
Germany - https://mirror.alpix.eu/linuxliteos/isos/
Greece - http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/linuxlite/isos/
Greece - https://fosszone.csd.auth.gr/linuxlite/isos/
Hong Kong - https://mirror-hk.koddos.net/linuxlite/isos/
Netherlands - https://mirror.koddos.net/linuxlite/isos/
New Caledonia - http://mirror.lagoon.nc/linuxlite/linuxlite/isos/
Singapore - https://mirror.freedif.org/LinuxLiteOS/isos/
Sweden - http://ftpmirror1.infania.net/linuxlite/isos/
Sweden - https://mirror.accum.se/mirror/linuxliteos.com/isos/
United Kingdom - https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/repo...lite/isos/
United Kingdom - https://mirror.vinehost.net/linuxlite/isos/
USA - http://mirror.clarkson.edu/linux-lite/isos/

Validating Linux Lite 8.0

Checking the MD5SUM of the Linux Lite ISO:

Open a Terminal on Linux Lite and do:

Code:

md5sum linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso

MD5SUM: af78a8761bc7a1b389ff6eeb3125afa4

Check that it matches the exact characters in sequence above.


Checking the SHA256 of the Linux Lite ISO:

Open a Terminal on Linux Lite and do:

Code:

sha256sum linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso

SHA256: 7cfc63baf597156a0a5ecac87e860aff3967279694b19fa67fb410a34802857e

Check that it matches the exact characters in sequence above.


TORRENT (Fastest way to download the Final - please help to Seed, thank you)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-l...t/download

64bit Torrent - linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso.torrent
Hash: a25c2c46c23a7fd707fe02788fd5ac95fbd612a5
Size: 2.36Gb (DVD, USB)

Live USB/DVD/VirtualBox/Vmware:

Login is automatic, no credentials are required. The image can be written to a 4gb or larger USB stick, or a writable DVD. Alternatively, you can use the dd command: sudo dd if=linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M where 'x' is the letter of your usb stick. In linux to find out the letter of your usb stick, open a terminal and type: df -h It is usually listed as 'media' or similar. Please see the built in Help Manual if you require a more detailed explanation of this procedure.

A good, simple point and click USB ISO burner is https://www.balena.io/etcher/ or https://rufus.ie/
In our testing, Etcher and Rufus (for Windows only) have proven to be the most reliable. Etcher is available for Mac, Windows & Linux.

Recommended Computer Requirements:

1.5 Ghz Dual Core Processor or greater
4GB ram
40GB HDD/SSD/NVME
VGA, DVI, DP or HDMI screen capable of 1366x768 resolution
DVD drive or USB port for the ISO image
Disable Secure Boot

Login to the live desktop is automatic.

The first thing you MUST do after a fresh install of Linux Lite is run Menu, Favorites, Install Updates. There are quite often last minute features/tweaks that get added after the ISO has been published.


Thank you

Jerry and the team.