The Fedora Project has just announced the availability of Fedora 40 which comes in many editions including Workstation, Server, IoT, Cloud, CoreOS, Atomic Desktops, Fedora Spins and Fedora Labs. Since most people will probably opt for the desktop edition of Workstation, we’ll focus on what’s new in this one.

The main change in this update is the inclusion of GNOME 46. It includes improvements to the Files app, improves accessibility, and the Settings app and other core apps have been refined for better usability.

Some other GNOME improvements highlighted by Fedora Magazine include:

• Grouping messages by application. Now, each alert has a title. It shows the name and icon of the app. This allows you to see which app sent a notification. The message now also has an expand button.
• You can now open a new window for hyphenated apps by adding Ctrl. For example: Super+Ctrl+1 opens a new window for the first app in the dashboard, complementing the existing Super+ shortcut that launches the app itself.
• By default, tap-to-click is now enabled for the touchpad.
• GNOME 46 now includes a remote login option. You can connect remotely via RDP to a new dedicated desktop session when no session is active.

One of the improvements to note in the files update is the new global search feature that allows you to search for files in all defined locations. It even lets you search the contents of files, filter files by type and modification data, and search multiple locations at once.

The Files app has also been improved so that switching between list and grid views in files now happens quickly, compared to the lag seen in older versions.

Besides GNOME 46, Fedora Workstation 40 includes performance improvements. Search memory usage is reduced, terminal applications are significantly faster, application interfaces are more attractive, and there is experimental support for variable refresh rate (VRR) for smoother video performance.

VRR support must be enabled with the following command: gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features “[‘variable-refresh-rate’]”

Finally, there is a rebranding with the Atomic desktop. Previously, Fedora treated Silverblue, Kinoite, Sericea and Onyx as immutable. Earlier this year, the Fedora project decided to stop calling them immutable and described them as atomic instead. Fedora Sericea and Fedora Onyx are now known as Fedora Sway Atomic and Fedora Budgie Atomic, respectively.

Fedora Silverblue, the GNOME-based atomic option is supposed to be similar to Workstation, but may offer more security features than Workstation, but is admittedly a bit more limited. You can read Neowin’s editorial on why you should choose Fedora Silverblue 40 over Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

For more information about the new update and to download the ISOs, visit the site Fedora website. If you have Fedora installed, note the software so that the upgrade is available.