Sparky Linux 7.8 has been released. The update includes updates to all packages from Debian and Sparky stable repos, fixes for issues with installed packages, and new ISO images for the stable version. Sparky 7 is available in various versions, including amd64 BIOS/UEFI+Secure Boot, i686 non-pae BIOS/UEFI (Legacy), and ARMHF & ARM64. Users can keep their Sparky 7 installed and download new ISO images from the stable page.

Sparky 7.8

The 8th update of Sparky 7 – 7.8 is out.

It is a quarterly updated point release of Sparky 7 “Orion Belt” of the stable line. Sparky 7 is based on and fully compatible with Debian 12 “Bookworm”.

Changes:
– all packages updated from Debian and Sparky stable repos as of July 14, 2025
– Linux kernel PC: 6.1.140-LTS (6.15.6, 6.12.38-LTS, 6.6.98-LTS in sparky repos)
– LibreOffice 7.4.7 (25.2.3 in Debian backports repos)
– KDE Plasma 5.27.5
– LXQt 1.2.0
– MATE 1.26
– Xfce 4.18
– Openbox 3.6.1
– Firefox 128.12.0esr (140.0.4 in sparky repos)
– Thunderbird 128.12.0esr
– fixed problem with conflicted libs installed previously from debian-multimedia repos; it blocked installation of some packages, such as Gimp; to fix it manually, uninstall libavutil57 (v10:5.1.3) and its deps, and install it back (v7:5.1.6)
– anyway, Gimp is preinstalled now in live media
– ARM images are not updated, you can still use version 7.7

Sparky 7 “Orion Belt” is available in the following versions:
– amd64 BIOS/UEFI+Secure Boot: Xfce, LXQt, MATE, KDE Plasma, MinimalGUI (Openbox) & MinimalCLI (text mode)
– i686 non-pae BIOS/UEFI (Legacy): MinimalGUI (Openbox) & MinimalCLI (text mode)
– ARMHF & ARM64: Openbox & CLI

PC live user:password = live:live
ARM user:password = pi:sparky

If you have Sparky 7 installed – simply keep it up to date. No need to reinstall your OS.

New iso images of Sparky 7 “Orion Belt” can be downloaded from the  /download/stable/ page

Sparky 7.8