Manjaro Linux 26.1 "Bian-May" RC2 lands with GNOME 50, three kernels
The second preview of Manjaro's July release offers fresh desktop environments and hardware support ahead of the stable drop.
Manjaro Linux 26.1 "Bian-May" RC2 hit the forums today. It's the second release candidate for the upcoming mid-year version, arriving six months after the 26.0 "Anh-Linh" launch. You can grab the ISOs now if you want to test the waters before the stable version drops.
Manjaro keeps to its roughly biannual release schedule. If you're on the January build, you've got a few months to decide whether to stick with it or jump to this preview. RC2 is for the tinkerers and the bug-hunters. You're helping stress-test the release before it goes stable.
The Kernels
You get three kernel choices for this build. There's Linux 7.1 for the bleeding edge, plus 6.18 LTS and 6.12 LTS for stability.
If your hardware acts up on the newest kernel, switching back is straightforward. Manjaro has always made it easy to toggle between kernels, and this release keeps that tradition alive. Next, the minimal ISOs let you pick your kernel at install time. The full editions default to Linux 7.1.
All downloads come with SHA1 and SHA256 checksums, GPG signatures, torrent files, and package lists. Standard checksums. Nothing fancy, but you'll want to verify those hashes.
GNOME 50 Takes Center Stage
The GNOME edition gets the biggest shake-up. It's running the GNOME 50 series, which shipped in March. Manjaro has had enough time to polish the Wayland stack.
Variable refresh rate gets improved stability and low-latency cursor operation. The cursor moves independently of application frame rates now. Fractional scaling feels native in display settings. You can set scales like 125% or 150% without third-party tools.
There's also a first for GNOME on Manjaro: parental controls. The release includes "Big Parental Controls 1.0" imported from sister-project Big Linux. You get screen time monitoring, bedtime schedules, and automatic screen locking for child accounts.
It's a pragmatic call. Big Linux has a well-maintained fork of the extension, and porting it saves Manjaro from maintaining its own version. However, at the same time, you're relying on upstream from a Brazilian project rather than the GNOME community directly. If Big Linux drops the package, you're waiting on them.
NVIDIA users should take notice. Remote desktop performance gets a boost through Vulkan and VA-API hardware acceleration. Explicit sync integration improves driver compatibility. Workarounds address stuttering and frame-timing issues.
Wayland color management protocol v2 brings higher color accuracy. HDR screen sharing and recording also work now, keeping vivid colors intact.
KDE Plasma 6.6 editions get global theme switching for day and night modes. Four color blindness correction filters land in System Settings, including a new grayscale option. Spectacle can extract text from images. The installer separates disk partitioning from account creation, which helps advanced users script their setups.
XFCE 4.20 rounds out the options. Thunar adds file highlighting with custom colors and recursive search. Panel length is now configurable in pixels instead of percentages. The control centre gets a consolidation with header bar toggles and multi-monitor defaults.
The Verdict
It's a solid feature set for RC2. GNOME 50 shipped back in March, so getting Wayland color v2 and HDR screen sharing integrated by July is reasonable. The kernel support covers both new hardware and older machines that need LTS.
For what it's worth, this might be the most polished Manjaro release in a while. The GNOME parental controls are a nice touch for families. The NVIDIA fixes address some long-standing pain points. If you're a GNOME fan, the 26.1 release could be a strong upgrade path.
Head here to the Manjaro Forum thread for the full announcement.
