Changelog

Nobara repository changes:

Moving forward, Nobara will take a monthly snapshot of Fedora’s base and update repositories, which will be provided to Nobara users as the standard ‘fedora’ and ‘updates’ repositories. The packages in these repos are considered non-vital in terms of needing an update more than once a month.

There are a few reasons behind this:

(1) It provides a stop-gap when fedora upstream pushes package updates and therefore allows us (Nobara developers) time to update the copr packages we provide either in replacement of and/or reliant-on the upstream packages. What this means is Nobara users should (mostly) no longer hit package conflicts when upstream Fedora updates things like GNOME or KDE or various media codec packages.

(2) We have moved the repositories to Cloudflare CDN + R2 (Same as S3 buckets for Amazon). This means all of the repositories should be much easier to reach since they now are behind a cloud based CDN instead of a singular server, and therefore should mean much less downtime and/or server issues.

Again I want to be clear here that the monthly stop-gap between snapshots is for NON-VITAL components from ONLY fedora upstream.

Users will still receive the latest updates we are able to provide in terms of kernel updates, mesa/nvidia gpu driver updates, wine, lutris, goverlay, mangohud, and so on.

We have moved all of our repos — baseos (copr), appstream to the same CDN + R2 setup, however these will be kept updated regularly as we push updates, -not- on the same cadence as the monthly fedora upstream snapshots.

If you happen to find a vital component that needs an update from fedora upstream that is not in the current snapshot, please let us know, it is quite easy to update the snapshot, it just takes a bit of time (fedora upstream repo is 100gb to sync, and fedora updates is 45gb)

Nobara ISO image changes:

We have also uploaded the ISO images to the CDN + R2 configuration. This should allow the ISOs to be more accessible and not so dependant on user location for download connection speeds.

Changelog:
– fixed flatpak-discover missing from KDE iso
– calamares installer “Replace a partition” option fixed. Nobara can now be installed alongside other existing installs on the same hard disk
– calamares installer encryption default now uses LUKS2 instead of LUKS1. LUKS2 now supported in calamares
– fixed issue with display randomly cutting out in Virtual Machine environments
– mesa updated to 23.0.0
– kernel updated to 6.1.14
– gamescope-session ‘Switch to Desktop’ functionality now works with both GNOME and KDE. Please note that gamescope-session does not work on Nvidia.
– jupiter-hw-support and jupiter-fan-control packages added to repositories for Steam Deck compatibility.
– nvidia installer now uses DKMS module instead of akmods, which means no longer having to wait up to 600 seconds before rebooting.
– nvidia installer now uses dnf instead of pkexec so that the latest package data is used when installing packages, it’s also easier to read in the installer log output.
– AMD proprietary driver stack updated. When installed (we do not ship them pre-installed), it allows 7000 series GPUs to use H.264/HEVC AMF encoding in OBS. Please note that you can already do this using the VAAPI encoder in OBS and the proprietary drivers are completely optional/not required.
– WEBSITE: fixed code blocks using white text and being illegible
– WEBSITE: added documentation on how to install Nobara alongside windows on the same hard disk: https://nobaraproject.org/docs/live-installer-troubleshooting/how-to-install-nobara-alongside-windows-on-the-same-drive/

Changelog:
-Hotfix: Re-add flatpak, apparently for some reason it was missing from the 02-22-2023 ISOs.

Changelog:

This is a small ISO refresh update so that it has the latest nvidia installer changes which should be a much better user experience:

– Fixed up the nvidia installer:
-no longer refreshes repos before attempting to install
-no longer attempts kernel update + reboot before install (this shouldn’t be necessary anyway)
-no longer attempts to check for old nvidia repos (in N37 we only use 1 repo for nvidia drivers, which is our own. No rpmfusion, no negativo17.)
-new status dialogue now shows terminal progress of what’s being installed (thanks cosmo)
-5 second wait timer before opening removed

Other changes:
– nautilus typeahead search re-added (it broke when gnome 43 released and finally received a rebase)
– Removed the AMD ROCM pop-up installer. The goal is to not bombard new users with post-installation popups. We already have the codec popup and the nvidia installer. Instead, we’ve moved the rocm-opencl package back to part of the base installation. This is what’s needed to allow Davinci Resolve to run out of the box. Then we added rocm-meta and the rocm hip packages as a requirement for blender, as those are required for blender to install. Doing it this way allows users to not have the extra rocm bloat on their system other than rocm-opencl. The reason we can’t include the rocm HIP runtime is because the packages perform post-install configurations which break the live environment build.

Changelog:
– fixed issue with ISOs not booting due to auto-cpufreq still being included (we use power-profiles-daemon now)
– fixed another issue with ISOs not booting due to custom-device-pollrates attempting to reset USB devices mid USB-boot.
– fixed issue with supergfxd always reporting failed state.
– fixed issue with nvidia installer not popping up (again) after recent laptop hybrid mode detection changes.
– fixed issue with totem video player in gnome being broken

Changelog:
– calamares installer issue fixed where new installations being stuck with kernel 6.1.4 at the top of the grub list after updating their system. For existing systems follow instructions here: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/82#note_1258412945

– calamares installer default hostname updated to ‘nobara-pc’ instead of ‘derp-x8664’

– calamares installer default swap option updated to ‘swap with hibernate’ instead of ‘none’.

– calamares installer updated to latest version, fixes not showing install progress page + loading bar when installing on a vm

– fixed password being needed on codec installer

– removed post installation cleanup script (this was actually just ROCM installation taking forever). It has now been moved to an amd-detected-only installer, similar to the nvidia driver installer.

– fixed issue with some applications not detecting the OS as nobara and/or being based on fedora: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/88

– Disabled automatic updating from gnome software. Updates should be performed from the “Update & Sync” app, or from Nobara package manager: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/84

– Changed default gedit theme to ‘Oblivion’ for better visibility: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/86

– Added v4l2loopback device. This should show up as /dev/video7. When you open OBS you should see “Start Virtual Camera” button under Controls. For existing installations see: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/67#note_1265951341

– fixed several gnome extensions not respecting the system-wide locale/language settings: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/85

– fixed lutris not respecting system-wide locale/language settings: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/72

– fixed issue with blender not having language options: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/59

– fixed issue with nvidia installer popup still coming up when laptops enter integrated gpu and/or vfio mode

– obs studio updated to 29.0.2

– a new kernel patch and service has been introduced which allows setting any USB device to 1000hz polling rate: https://github.com/KarsMulder/Linux-Pollrate-Patch/pull/1 This is enabled by default for PS4/5 controllers: https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/64. The service name is custom-device-pollrates, its configuration can be set in custom-device-pollrates.conf

– kernel has also been patched so that PS4/5 bluetooth polling rate is set to 1000hz

– kernel has been patched with a fix that stops MediaTak SM76 devices from kernel panicking

– we have switched back to power-profiles-daemon from autocpu-freq after discovering a bug in autocpu-freq that causes game FPS loss due to mismanagement with bluetooth devices: https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/issues/472

– lenovolegionlinux kernel patches added: https://github.com/johnfanv2/LenovoLegionLinux/issues/12

– gamescope-session, jupiter-fan-control, jupiter-hw-support packages added to repositories for steam deck support. Essentially these should allow you to run nobara on the steam deck in ‘deck mode’ with full hardware support (audio, fan controls, sd card reader should now work). gamescope-session is still a work in progress. Currently using ‘Switch to Desktop’ just boots you to login instead of switching to the desktop session, but you -can- login to the gnome or kde desktop from there. Note these are -not- included by default on any ISO image, you must manually install them.

– mesa updated to 22.3.4, mesa-vulkan-drivers updated to git from 02/04/2023
– linux-firmware updated to git from 02/04/2023
– a workaround has been added so that discord will not pop up asking for a .deb package update the next time a new update is available. The popup is pointless as we provide our own rpm package. Discord will continue to function as expected until the rpm package is downloaded as an update in the nobara repos.

Changelog:
– fixed issue with installer desktop icon on Official/GNOME ISOs not being executable
– fixed issue with nobara-login needing an update before applying nvidia driver update and codec fixes
– updated to 6.1.4 kernel (improves stability, added gamescope HDR patches)
– updated to Mesa 22.3.3
– updated mesa-vulkan-drivers to git from 01/06/2023 (includes required patches for gamescope HDR)
– fixed kde dependency issue during package updates
– fixed blender dependency issue during package updates
– fixed issue with snaps/snapd not working

Changelog:
Nobara packages rebased on top of Fedora 37

Notable package updates:
– Kernel updated to 6.0.16, all previous patches included, gamescope HDR patches added
– glibc updated to 2.36 (still includes all previous fixes)
– gamescope updated to latest git
– mangohud updated to 0.6.8
– goverlay updated to 0.9.1
– blender updated to 3.4.1
– rocm opencl/HIP packages updated to 5.4.1
– steamtinkerlaunch updated to 12.0 and re-added to baseos
– vkbasalt updated to 0.3.2.8
– supergfxctl updated to 5.0.1 (removes broken/invalid “dedicated” mode)
– asusctl updated to 4.5.8
– apparmor dnsmasq profile updated to allow waydroid
– auto-cpufreq updated to 1.9.7 and fixed issue with it not auto-enabling by default after install
– linux-firmware updated to 2022-12-14
– lutris updated to 0.5.11
– protonup-qt updated to 2.7.6
– llvm updated to 15
– mesa updated to 22.3.2
– mesa-vulkan-drivers (git) updated to 2022-12-26
– python-rivalcfg (for steelseries accessories) added to baseos
– wine-staging updated to 8.0rc2
– nvidia drivers updated to 525.78.01
– firefox builds moved from appstream to baseos

Changelog:

KDE:
-remove duplicate ksysguard system monitor package: done
-remove global fedora theme: done — replaced with Nobara theme (clone of BreezeDark)
-Remove the SDDM theme from Fedora: done (now set to Breeze)
-change icon to nobara icon
-add plasma-workspace-wallpapers as dependency for plasma-workspace
-install plasma-workspace-wallpapers by default so KDE users have the full set of KDE default wallpapers available
-enable the default “View/Hide Password” on SDDM
-add sddm-kcm for sddm options in kde settings

GNOME:
-webextension-gsconnect and nautilus-gsconnect added to default install
-mutter updated to resolve freeze with protonup-qt

ALL:
-we now provide our own packaged nvidia drivers (still using the nvidia installer) which provide full CUDA H264/H265 encode support for Nvidia hardware in Davinci Resolve Studio. Previously this did not work with rpmfusion OR negativo17 drivers. Details on that can be found here: https://nobaraproject.org/docs/nvidia-troubleshooting/the-never-ending-nvidia-driver-story/
-added workaround to fix Davinci Resolve audio delay without alsa-plugins-pulseaudio being needed
-added workaround so that Davinci Resolve first-install ‘Welcome’ window/onboarding popup gets skipped since it never renders properly and is not required.
-remove no longer needed alsa-plugins-pulseaudio (previously only needed to fix a Davinci Resolve bug but broke other things)
-we’ve disabled SELinux and instead replaced it with AppArmor (woohoo! AppArmor is more user friendly, easier to write policies for, and is what’s used in Ubuntu and OpenSUSE)
-timeshift added to all installs
-protonup-qt has been updated
-firefox has been updated

Install:
-Anaconda installer replaced with calamares
-btrfs default install options provide @ and @home subvolumes for easy use with timeshift for backups

This should be the final Nobara 36 ISO release, as we’ll be moving on to porting everything to F37 now.

Changelog:

– Mesa has been updated yet again. We’ve split mesa into 3 different parts:

BASE (mesa):
This contains all packages for the latest release of mesa (22.2.2) with the exception of mesa-vulkan-drivers and mesa-va-drivers.

VULKAN (mesa-vulkan-drivers):
This contains mesa-vulkan-drivers pulled directly from upstream mesa-git.

VAAPI-DRIVERS (mesa-va-drivers-freeworld):
This contains the mesa vaapi encode and decode drivers with codecs enabled, since they were disabled in upstream Fedora 37.

There are a few reasons this was done:
(1) We found that Fedora 36’s mesa is still outdated at 22.1.0. By providing our own mesa version it allows us more control over mesa, and therefore allows us to provide the latest version faster than upstream Fedora.

(2) With the mesa codec support removed in Fedora 37, this allows us to prepare for that, as well as to pre-prep. As of now we are already providing a separate package for mesa-va-drivers-freeworld. This is the same pending package that rpmfusion is planning and will be removed from our repos once it is available in rpmfusion. This also allows us to tie in the mesa-va-drivers-freeworld package with our codec installer, while keeping our distribution legal.

(3) We found that when providing full upstream mesa-git, many times they would break OpenGL compatibility for both Nvidia (nouveau) and VMs. By splitting the vulkan parts into their git counterparts and keeping everything else at the latest release, it allows a much more stable fresh install and/or ISO live environment experience, while still allowing users with Intel and AMD GPUs to get the latest and greatest vulkan patches and updates from upstream mesa-git.

– blender has been updated to version 3.3.1 LTS
– dnf fastestmirror=True has been disabled. Originally it was enabled as we thought it would help with deciding between NA and EU mirrors, however we received reports that it does not help with this, and in fact hinders connection to those mirrors (https://gitlab.com/GloriousEggroll/nobara-images/-/issues/58)
– the nvidia driver script was fixed shortly after the previous 10/10 release, but the fix was not included in the latest ISO. The problem with the script was that it was only searching for numbers in the PCI ID, rather than alphanumerical characters, so PCI IDs which contained letters were being ignored. We have not received any reports of the nvidia drivers failing any more since this change was implemented almost a month ago.
– OpenTabletDriver has been added to the ISOs by default — this should provide a better experience for tablet users.
– The welcome app has undergone several changes/updates to better categorize what’s needed after install versus what isn’t needed but may be recommended. This again should provide a much better new user experience.
– welcome app missing icons issue has been fixed
– The kernel is now updated to version 6.0.7