Home » Cybersecurity » SBN News » Kali Linux 2019.4 released with Xfce, a new desktop environment, a new GTK3 theme, and much more!

Kali Linux 2019.4 released with Xfce, a new desktop environment, a new GTK3 theme, and much more!

by Savia Lobo on November 27, 2019

On November 26, the Kali Linux team announced its fourth and final release of 2019, Kali Linux 2019.4, which is readily available for download. A few features of Kali Linux 2019.4 include a new default desktop environment, Xfce; a new GTK3 theme (for Gnome and Xfce); Kali Undercover” mode, the kernel has been upgraded to version 5.3.9, and much more.

Talking about ARM the team highlighted, “2019.4 is the last release that will support 8GB sdcards on ARM. Starting in 2020.1, a 16GB sdcard will be the minimum we support.”

What’s new in Kali Linux 2019.4?

New desktop environment, Xfce and GTK3 theme

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The much-awaited desktop environment update is here. The older versions had certain performance issues resulting in fractured user experience. To address this, they developed a new theme running on Xfce. Its lightweight design can run on all levels of Kali installs.

The new theme can handle various needs of the average user with no changes. It uses standard UI concepts and there is no learning curve to it. It looks great with modern UI elements that make efficient use of screen space.

Kali Undercover mode

For pentesters doing their work in a public environment, the team has made a little script that will change the user’s Kali theme to look like a default Windows installation. This way, users can work a bit more incognito. “After you are done and in a more private place, run the script again and you switch back to your Kali theme. Like magic!”, the official blog post reads.

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BTRFS during setup

Another significant new addition to the documentation is the use of BTRFS as a root file system. This gives users the ability to do file system rollbacks after upgrades.

In cases when users are in a VM and about to try something new, they will often take a snapshot in case things go wrong. However, running Kali bare metal is not easy. There is also a manual clean up included. With BTRFS, users can have a similar snapshot capability on a bare metal install!

NetHunter Kex – Full Kali Desktop on Android phones

With NetHunter Kex, users can attach their Android devices to an HDMI output along with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and get a full, no compromise, Kali desktop from their phones.

To get a full breakdown on how to use NetHunter Kex, check out its official documents on the Kali Linux website.

Kali Linux users are excited about this release and look forward to trying the newly added features.

with the new public packages, is it now also possible for package maintainers of tools already included in kali to get access to the repos to release new versions on theirselves?
— Christian Mehlmauer (@firefart) November 26, 2019

Hey @kalilinux team well done for the 2019.4 release. Was playing around with it and it is brilliant. It will take some time to get used to xcfe. Yes it is faster so will stick to it. But the prize goes for the undercover mode. Love it #CyberSecurity #KaliLinux pic.twitter.com/ezJL3hhuXl
— N∀W⅄∀ pǝᴚOX (@azelhajjar) November 27, 2019