Sparky 8.2 Refreshes KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, and Openbox Editions

The Sparky team has announced the release of Sparky Linux 8.2, the second quarterly update in the “Seven Sisters” series built on Debian 13 “Trixie.” This update includes all package updates from both the Debian and Sparky stable repositories as of February 14, 2026.

The release ships with Linux kernel 6.12.69 LTS by default. However, users who need alternative kernels can install newer or older options from the Sparky repositories, including 6.12.72 LTS, 6.6.125-LTS, and 6.19.1.

Desktop environments have also been refreshed in line with the Debian 13 base. The KDE edition features KDE Plasma 6.3.6, while other available environments include LXQt 2.1, MATE 1.26, Xfce 4.20, and Openbox 3.6.1. The team has also fixed a small issue in the Openbox edition that previously prevented the terminal emulator from launching through the package manager.

Core software packages have been updated as well. Sparky 8.2 includes LibreOffice 25.2.3, Firefox 140.7 ESR (with a newer version available in the repositories), and Thunderbird 140.7 ESR.

Installation images for Sparky 8.2 are available for amd64 systems with BIOS/UEFI and Secure Boot support. Users can choose from Xfce, LXQt, MATE, KDE Plasma, MinimalGUI (Openbox), or MinimalCLI editions. ARM64 images are also provided, currently in Openbox and CLI variants.

Existing Sparky 8 users do not need to reinstall the system — a standard update will bring their installation up to date.

One known issue affects ARM64 builds, where Wi-Fi may not function after the first boot. Simply rebooting the system resolves the problem and enables wireless connectivity automatically.

For full details, users can refer to the official release announcement.