Elementary OS 5.1 Hera released with Flatpak support

Among the improvements introduced are the following:

• New first-run experience. The login and lock screen manager Greeter has been redesigned to improve usability. It’s now easier to locate users and, among other things, notifies when capitals or numbers are activated. The new Onboarding app simplifies the management of different settings, such as privacy options.

• Flatpak support with Sideload. The creators of this OS recommend installing the applications from their AppCenter, but they have incorporated Flatpak support for those who choose to do it in another way. To facilitate the loading of these applications, they have added Sideload, an application that shows all the details of the app to be installed. Regarding its AppCenter, this version has improved its performance, uses less memory and is 10 times faster than in Juno.

• Important updates related to accessibility and system configurations. An important effort has been made to improve accessibility, incorporating new configuration options for sound, alert system, mouse, bluetooth, networks…

• Improvements in virtually all applications, such as the camera, calendar, music, photos, files, Code, Terminal…

• Latest hardware support thanks to the new Linux 5.0 kernel and the long-term support (LTS) hardware enablement (HWE) stack from Canonical.

For full details of this new version, check the official announcement.