Version 5.11 of the anonymizing Linux distribution Tails has been released about a week late. Among other things, it uses compressed memory.

The maintainers of the anonymizing Linux distribution Tails have not only updated the software packages in version 5.11 that has just been released. They now enable compressed memory and promise better performance as a result.

Tails: New Features

The developers particularly emphasize the use of Linux’s zram module for RAM compression. This should increase the storage capacity of the computer used. “You can run more applications or use your session for longer periods of time. Tails can handle more load before it freezes or gradually slows down,” write the Tails maintainers in the release announcement. This has yet to be proven in practice.

In the Tails resource monitor, the active zram usage is not yet noticeable after a short session. But that should change with longer sessions. (Image: Screenshot)

They also point out that screen recordings in the form of screenshots or videos are possible with the function integrated into Gnome. A brief guide explains, for example, the keyboard shortcuts that can be used for this – pressing Strg+ Alt+ Shift+ together starts Ra recording and the same key combination also stops it again. However, no sound ends up in the recording, so the Sound Recorder app should run in parallel and take care of the audio track that can then be added in post-processing. The Tails makers vowed improvement for version 6.0, which should be available from the middle of the year. It should contain better screencast functions.

In addition to these changes, the developers have of course updated the central packages for the distribution: Tor Browser is now up to date 12.0.4, Thunderbird in the freshly bug-fixed version 102.9.0 on board. They also tweaked the unlock dialog on the welcome screen for persistent storage (“persistent data storage”).

Tails 5.11 Download Sources

The project provides the installation instructions for moving Tails to a new USB stick for different operating systems: For Linux macOS, Windows or the expert version for Debian or Ubuntu at the command line. The images are available on separate download sites for USB sticks or for burning to DVD or for use in the VM.

Tails 5.10 was released about a month ago. The developers had sealed a possible security gap in it. The next release plans the project for April 18 this year.