NewBe 0.1.0

NewBe 0.1.0 is the first public release of the NewBe desktop experience.

Highlights:

• Wayland-first Fedora Workstation 44 / GNOME Shell 50 reference platform
• Light and dark GTK 3 and GTK 4 themes plus GNOME Shell styling
• NewBe icon theme with 100% native coverage of the defined 83-name core baseline
• Fifteen-design cursor theme with HiDPI sizes and compatibility aliases
• Seven original wallpapers with GNOME Background integration and light/dark pairing
• Optional GNOME Shell extension installation, validated for GNOME Shell 48–50 on Fedora 42–44
• User-local install/uninstall with dry-run and audit tooling
• Reproducible release archives and clean-room extracted-archive validation
• Documented libadwaita limitations and split MIT / CC BY-SA 4.0 licensing

The primary live-tested target is Fedora Workstation 44 with GNOME 50 on Wayland. Fedora 42/GNOME 48 and Fedora 43/GNOME 49 have automated extension-package validation.

Verify the downloaded archive before extraction:

sha256sum --check NewBe-0.1.0.tar.gz.sha256

SHA-256: 2400747f702cea9cbbd9aa7aa283793d90bfce097f034f628c27ea30af9bdd5e

NewBe 0.1.0 alpha 2

NewBe 0.1.0 alpha 2 is the release-stabilization preview.

Highlights:

• Accessible keyboard-focus styling across GTK 3, GTK 4, GNOME Shell, and the extension
• Automated WCAG-inspired contrast and focus checks
• Verified Large Text and High Contrast system overrides
• GNOME Shell extension package validation for versions 48, 49, and 50 on Fedora 42, 43, and 44
• Release metadata consistency checks and expanded compatibility documentation

The primary live-tested target remains Fedora Workstation 44 with GNOME 50 on Wayland. Fedora 42/GNOME 48 and Fedora 43/GNOME 49 have automated extension-package validation; community live-desktop feedback is welcome.

Verify the downloaded archive before extraction:

sha256sum --check NewBe-0.1.0-alpha.2.tar.gz.sha256

SHA-256: 197c72b8f2109598c9850e1a7305a1b2a547a112e25481d98bfc7d634fa40e22

NewBe 0.1.0 Alpha 1

NewBe 0.1.0 Alpha 1

This is the first public preview of NewBe, a Wayland-first GNOME desktop experience inspired by an evolved BeOS design language.

Included

• Light and dark GTK 3/GTK 4 themes
• GNOME Shell theme and preferences extension for GNOME 50
• NewBe icon theme with 100% coverage of the 46-app baseline
• Fifteen original cursor designs in four HiDPI sizes with 53 aliases
• Seven original wallpapers registered with GNOME Background settings
• User-scoped installer and reversible uninstaller
• Reproducible archive, per-file manifest, SHA-256 checksum, and 14-stage verifier

Verify and install

Download both release files into the same directory, then run:

sha256sum --check NewBe-0.1.0-alpha.1.tar.gz.sha256
tar -xzf NewBe-0.1.0-alpha.1.tar.gz
cd NewBe-0.1.0-alpha.1
./scripts/verify.sh
./scripts/install.sh

Installation requires no root privileges and does not change or enable GNOME settings automatically.

Compatibility

The initial tested target is Fedora Workstation 44 with GNOME 50 on Wayland. This is an alpha release; please report compatibility problems through GitHub Issues and security concerns through the repository security policy.

Licensing

Software, scripts, extension code, and CSS are MIT licensed. Original icons, cursors, wallpapers, and preview artwork are CC BY-SA 4.0 licensed.