With so many Linux distros out there, and each maintaining unique and not-always-consistent release cycles, it can be hard to keep up with what's new.To keep you in the loop, here are some of the major Linux releases from January 2026.I'll acknowledge here that there are a lot distros out there getting updated than these alone.
But the ones I'm listing today I thought were most worth checking out, and might be worth your time if you're thinking of switching distros or migrating from Windows to Linux.CachyOS One of the most hip distros on the block CachyOS, one of the hottest desktop Linux distributions right now, released an ISO refresh on January 24.It happens to be the distro I'm using to write this article as well.
CachyOS 260124 made Limine its default bootloader (where as most popular Linux distros rely on good-old GRUB2).It also gained some download optimizations by having the installation wizard detect the architecture at the very start.Related I Tried CachyOS, and Now It Might Be My New Main Distro At first glance, CachyOS looks like another "Arch Linux but Easy" distro, but here's why I'm such a fan of it.
Posts 10 By Kris Wouk There were some interesting display changes too.The live ISO now uses Wayland instead of X11, chalking up another mark in the overall trend in Linux distros toward Wayland.It's also now using Plasma's Login Manager to sign in rather than the SDDM, which has been around for a long time.
If you're running CachyOS and want to use the latest software, just use the update alias.If you want to download CachyOS 260124, head to the CachyOS download page.To get more details on the update, see the CachyOS January 2026 blog post.
DietPi A great Raspbian replacement Folks using a Raspberry Pi or another single-board computer saw an update to DietPi last month.DietPi is an alternative to Raspberry Pi OS, and it comes with a bunch of scripts for automatically installing and configuring common homelab software.This latest release is DietPi 10.0, a major step forward which brings the minimum package base up to Debian 12 "Bookworm." Because of that, support for some aging SBCs that couldn't run anything newer than Debian 11 got dropped by DietPi.
I personally run DietPi myself on one of my Raspberry Pi devices, and when I was checking out the beta for DietPi 10, I was excited to see some new software options.They include the Uptime Kuma system monitor service and the self-hosted office software ownCloud Infinite Scale.If you want to learn more, check out the DietPi 10.0 release notes.
You can download an image file for flashing by visting the DietPi downloads page and selecting your device.GNU Guix A technically advanced distro with powerful features GNU Guix, a freedom-centered distro, got its first release in three years in January.Guix 1.5.0 brought many improvements, including a commitment to a new annual release cycle.
Guix targets developers and power users with its highly flexible and unique system management tooling.Some notable upgrades in this update include KDE Plasma getting moved to Plasma 6.5, as well as GNOME leaping from version 42 to 46.It's a bit odd seeing GNOME 46, released almost two years ago, appearing in a newly updated image, but it does make Wayland the default.
The release also has some interesting improvements in the area of security, including the ability to run the Guix daemon without superuser privileges.There's also now support for running Guix on RISC-V 64-bit systems with dedicated riscv64-linux binaries.To learn more, you can read the GNU Guix 1.5.0 release notes.
To get it, just visit the [Guix downloads page] and find the download link that matches your use-case and architecture.Linux Mint Everyone's favorite Windows replacement Linux Mint 22.3 exited beta in January 2026, and it brought with it some interesting changes to the system information tools.In particular, there's a new System Information tool replacing the System Reports app.
It shows you a bunch of information about your hardware and installed software all in one place, making troubleshooting setup-specific issues easier for yourself and anyone helping you.Mint's signature desktop environment, Cinnamon, also got several improvements with its upgrade to version 6.6.It includes an overhauled application launcher menu, expanded keyboard layout support, and an improved data transfer experience in the file manager.
If you want to read more, check out the Linux Mint 22.3 release notes.You can download an image by going to the Linux Mint downloads page.MX Linux A Debian-based distro with portable potential MX Linux, a Debian-based distro made by some of the same folks behind the well-known antiX distro, got updated to MX Linux 25.1 in January.
It's known for its power in live booting, and it can easily use MX Linux as a portable operating system on a flash drive.Subscribe to the newsletter for curated Linux release coverage Get the newsletter for clear, curated coverage of Linux distro releases, important changelogs, and related Linux ecosystem updates—handy context and comparison to help you evaluate distros and plan migrations.Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime.The 25.1 "Infinity" update adds several improvements, including an upgrade to kernel 6.12 (and version 6.18 of the liquorix kernel for the advanced hardware support release) and a package base shift to Debian 13.3.A big change is the return of MX Linux's "dual-init" support in a single ISO, meaning you get to choose between systemd and sysvinit at installation.
Read the MX-25.1 release notes to learn more.If you want to try it yourself, go to the MX Linux downloads page to get an ISO.Then you can follow our guide to installing Linux to get started.
EndeavourOS Another Arch-made-easy distro EndeavourOS, famous for making Arch accessible while still centering the terminal, released a ISO refresh on January 15 called "Neo." It was a minor update following the release of EndeavourOS Ganymede in November 2025, and it simply updated some packages and did some bug squashing.Namely, EndeavourOS 2026.01.12 brought with it updates to the bleeding edge versions of Mozilla Firefox, the Mesa graphics library, the Linux kernel, and the Calamares installer used by Endeavour installation images.Interestingly, NVIDIA's proprietary graphics card drivers have been replaced with their newer open source substitutes.
That means some EndeavourOS users may need to intervene if they're running Pascal and older NVIDIA cards.To learn more, check out the EndeavourOS Ganymede Neo release notes.You can get this refreshed ISO by going to the EndeavourOS home page and scrolling until you see download links.
Related Here's Why There Are So Many Linux Distros Because the more the merrier.Posts 24 By Dibakar Ghosh
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