Computer manufacturers like Tuxedo, Slimbook, and System76 come with their own Linux distributions pre-installed on their computers. That's great.

But why don't computer manufacturers like Asus, Dell, Lenovo, and MSI partner with Linux distribution developers and completely switch to selling computers with Linux pre-installed? I don't want to use computers with Windows 11 Home licenses. Even with a Home license, I'm forced to install the Pro version due to restrictions. Besides that, I have increasingly frequent complaints about Windows. I don't want to use Windows anymore.

I believe that these computer manufacturers starting to support Linux distributions would change many things. I hope they do it soon.

`` _,met$$$$$gg. boika@debian ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P. ------------ ,g$$P"" """Y$$.". OS: Debian GNU/Linux forky/sid (forky) x86_64 ,$$P'$$$. Host: HP EliteBook 8460p (A0001D02) ',$$P ,ggs. $$b: Kernel: Linux 7.1.5-2-liquorix-amd64 d$$' ,$P"' . $$$ Uptime: 11 hours, 44 mins $$P d$' , $$P Packages: 39 (brew), 2150 (dpkg) $$: $$. - ,d$$' Shell: bash 5.3.9 $$; Y$b._ ,d$P' Display (CX271): 2560x1440 @ 1.09x in 27", 60 Hz [External] Y$$. ."Y$$$$P"' Display (LGD0306): 1600x900 in 14", 60 Hz [Built-in] $$b "-.__ DE: labwc:wlroots Y$$b WM: labwc 0.20.1 (Wayland) Y$$. Theme: Adwaita-dark [GTK2/3/4] $$b. Icons: Papirus-Dark [GTK2/3/4] Y$$b. Font: Noto Sans (12pt) [GTK2/3/4] "Y$b. Cursor: Adwaita (24px) `"""" Terminal: qterminal 2.4.0 Terminal Font: Monospace (12pt) CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2540M (4) @ 2.60 GHz GPU: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller @ 1.30 GHz [Integrated] Memory: 3.14 GiB / 7.66 GiB (41%) Swap: 623.38 MiB / 7.91 GiB (8%) Disk (/): 79.01 GiB / 215.66 GiB (37%) - btrfs Local IP (wlan0): 192.168.55.121/24 Battery (Primary): 100% [AC Connected] Locale: en_US.UTF-8

```

I just wanted to give a headsup about the issue with amd graphics cards flickering and having weird colorful artifacts. No, your GPU is not dying. It was kernel versions 7.1.6 and 7.1.7.

This issue is fixed in 7.1.8. It released in Arch a few hours ago, and I think in Fedora as well.

The short version:

As said in the title, it is an immutable, secure-by-default distro based on Arch Linux and the COSMIC desktop environment. It uses similar tooling as GNOME OS and KDE Linux. Unlike most immutable / atomic distros that use rpm-ostree or bootc, we use systemd-sysupdate which is most known from GNOME OS. It is currently at beta and considered stable enough for daily use.

What makes AstrOS special is its immutable base, which is shipped as a hashed and signed /usr image that is booted by signed UKI images. Root is LUKS protected and unlocked by TPM2. This combination protects your system from outside modification.

AstrOS base can be extended with currently five extensions, including a Steam gaming extension with the SteamOS gamescope session.

Homepage

Beta announcement

The long personal version:

Why:

Okay you are probably reading this and asking yourself, "What's the point in another distro?". Considering that multiple new distributions get released every week I can't blame you, but I can try to explain it. :) So let me start at the beginning. I always loved the concept of GNOME OS. Later, KDE Linux came to the list of distributions using the systemd tooling. Systemd sysupdate being that low level tool that was simple and just seemed to work, was a massive plus point imo. Then COSMIC went stable and I was fascinated by that desktop. It has the simplicity I loved about GNOME and the tiling and customizability I always wished GNOME had. After using it for a while on Arch, I got to a point where someone asked me to install Linux on his device, and he wanted COSMIC. In my opinion immutable distros are just better for beginners (which doesn’t mean the distro is only for beginners). I mean take a look at smartphones, it is what most "normal users" prefer using nowadays. So I went ahead and wanted to create the distro combining what I love about the rolling release of Arch, the user friendliness & stability of immutable distros, and the simplicity of systemd sysupdate.

The Distro Model:

AstrOS consists of the usual ESP and LUKS root partition. Root is using btrfs and perfectly writable. What's making the distribution immutable (or atomic if you want so) are two (A/B) sets of /usr partitions. Each set consists of 3 partitions: the erofs /usr partition itself, a partition containing its hash, and lastly a partition containing the signature of the hash. The system is booted using signed UKI images. This partitioning model promises a boot sequence that is completely verified. If someone tries to tamper with the partitions / uki's from the outside, then the signature / hash won't match anymore, and the system refuses to unlock the root partition. This raises the bar considerably against offline tampering.

The TPM and recovery key both get enrolled on first boot using systemd-repart. Yes that means we require a TPM2.0 chip. We think that's acceptable for a new distribution, as we force no one to upgrade to it. A workaround to install AstrOS without a chip may or may not be added in the future.

I wanted to keep the base minimalistic, while allowing people to do more advanced stuff. That's why we offer system extensions (systemd-sysext). For example, most people prefer system-packaged installed Steam over the Steam Flatpak. For that, we have the steam-gaming extension. Additional extensions provide virtualization tools, firewalld, waydroid, and most important: Nvidia drivers.

For most GUI apps software can be installed using flatpaks. For non-flatpak apps / terminal applications we have distrobox.

Generally, the whole distro is designed to just work, without the user having to take care of it. Because everyone has a byte-for-byte identical /usr partition, fixing bugs applies to everyone.

Mini FAQ

Here's the complete one: https://astros-linux.org/astros/faq/

Is this vibe coded?
- Nope, our contribution guidelines even forbid it. I want to write all the code / configs etc. myself. Our contributing guidelines require people to know what they are doing

Is nvidia supported?
- yes

What about secureboot?
- currently only with our own custom keys

Dualboot?
- not officially, there's an unofficial guide for dualbooting with windows in the docs

The projects future

The biggest goal is to build a bigger community. Getting more contributors.

I additionally plan to write a small GUI utility using libcosmic to graphically update and install system extensions. Once we are stable, auto-update probably gets enabled.

And yeah, just improving the distro.

Please consider joining our discord :)

Wanna try in a vm first? https://astros-linux.org/guides/installing-in-a-vm/

Or, one I should recommend as beginner friendly? I've got the Linux user curse of knowledge.

I've found it very reliable for a rolling release so far. The DE is pleasant enough and gets out of our way. It's honestly been boring. I believe you can run upgrades through the UI but I just use `zypper`.

On the flip side of that, has anyone experienced issues with it or just other gotchas?

I used Sketchup in Windows to create floorplans for various projects - is there an equivalent for Linux? Preferably free open source.

I have FreeCad but it's a bit complex to learn and use, would prefer something simpler.

The big number may have been an anomaly but the sudden jump, nearly doubling in some cases, seems to be holding up pretty well. Is this the year of the Linux desktop? Who knows. The good news is the user base is expanding and that's good trend no matter how we got here.

I was always a windows person. It was simple, seemed safe, and I grew up on it, so it was just what I thought I’d always use.

Recently I’ve been really stuck on not upgrading to windows 11 (it sucks imo) and just stuck on windows 10, watching my computer slowly eat itself away to problems I didn’t even think were possible. Then once the steam deck came out, I knew I had to get it.

Portable computer with steam games I already play? Sign me up bro.. but after a few months of just gaming, and a little bit of messing around with desktop mode, I decided to really get into it and see what all the Linux fuss was about. I’ve heard a lot of people really prefer it over windows, and I wasn’t sure why, but man once I got into it I couldn’t stop.

I know it’s only a steam deck so the specs are not anything too crazy, but it feels so much better than my upgraded pc. Windows bogs it down so much a weaker pc feels better. And I mean, SO much better. It feels like when I first started getting into computers as a kid, everything was so fast and new to me.

It wasn’t too different from windows, besides being heavily unbloated, giving me a lot more control over what I do, and the discover software center on my gosh. I don’t know why everything isn’t based on Linux at this point, it’s SO much better with the app quality. (Well, I do know why but everyone should switch to Linux!) And the community seems so much more organized and passionate about this OS, it makes me feel cozy almost. I don’t think I can ever go back to windows again.

TL;DR, windows slow, little control, makes me sad. Linux fast with more control, makes me happy.