https://os.watch OS.watch is exploring the world of Operating Systems http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification python-feedgen https://os.watch/static/images/favicon.png https://os.watch 48 48 en Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:21:01 +0000 https://os.watch/omarchy/4.0.0 Omarchy 4 aka 'Quattro' is the biggest release since the project started. The entire desktop shell has been reimagined in Quickshell - the bar, launcher, menus, notifications, on-screen displays, control panels, lock screen, and polkit agent now all live inside a single long-runn Omarchy 4 aka 'Quattro' is the biggest release since the project started. The entire desktop shell has been reimagined in Quickshell - the bar, launcher, menus, notifications, on-screen displays, control panels, lock screen, and polkit agent now all live inside a single long-running shell process with a plugin architecture. That means Waybar, Walker, Mako, SwayOSD, hyprlock, hypridle, swaybg and polkit-gnome are all gone, replaced by one coherent, fully-themed, IPC-scriptable shell. Headline features: reimagine the entire desktop shell in Quickshell; move Omarchy internals from git to system packages for safely separating user modifications; offer dual-boot installation when free space is available; setup a machine for a new owner during install, so OEMs and gift givers can prepare a machine for others; allow for factory reset from new Quattro installs for safe resale/gifting of your machine; shrink the ISO image by over a gigabyte (now under 6GB); speed up installation by +30%; convert all Hyprland configurations to lua for full 0.56 compatibility.... https://os.watch/omarchy/4.0.0 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/tuxedo/20260813 Welcome to the open beta of the next generation of TUXEDO OS. TUXEDO OS is moving to a new foundation - Debian 'Testing'. With this open beta, we are opening up the development process and inviting you to try the new system, use it in real-world scenarios and help us shape the fi Welcome to the open beta of the next generation of TUXEDO OS. TUXEDO OS is moving to a new foundation - Debian 'Testing'. With this open beta, we are opening up the development process and inviting you to try the new system, use it in real-world scenarios and help us shape the final release. This is not just about finding crashes or obvious bugs. We want to know how the system feels. If something surprises you, confuses you, slows you down or simply does not behave the way you expected: please tell us. Future versions of TUXEDO OS will use Debian 'Testing' as their permanent base. We call this approach 'Continuous Debian'. It allows us to keep the hybrid release model of TUXEDO OS while working on a more flexible and continuously updated foundation. For everyday use, much of TUXEDO OS will remain familiar. The system continues to use Debian's package management ecosystem and KDE Plasma as its desktop environment. https://os.watch/tuxedo/20260813 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.26 This release presents the new versions 151.0.7922.108-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable and 255.4-1ubuntu8.17 of systemd. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has anchored the freshly introduced 'Open With' list of adequare mime type specific applications in its des This release presents the new versions 151.0.7922.108-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable and 255.4-1ubuntu8.17 of systemd. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has anchored the freshly introduced 'Open With' list of adequare mime type specific applications in its desktop environment and, moreover, adjusted its documentation according to this new achievement. https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.26 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/mainstreamos/1.3.0 Put the dock on any edge of the screen: top, bottom, left or right; the bar steps aside when you give the dock the edge it was using; themes now carry which edge the dock sits on, along with everything else they remember; the flexible-space widget is retired — the bar packs its o Put the dock on any edge of the screen: top, bottom, left or right; the bar steps aside when you give the dock the edge it was using; themes now carry which edge the dock sits on, along with everything else they remember; the flexible-space widget is retired — the bar packs its own sections now, and a layout you already saved moves across on its own; bar pop-ups open centered under the widget they belong to, wherever you have put it; a pop-up near the edge of the screen stays on screen instead of running off it; the media widget keeps its size and its pop-up in the right place outside the center; the timer keeps a steady width while it counts down, instead of nudging its neighbors; dividers stay inside the bar's rounded background; close the window rule editor from its own corner, and switch between rules without closing it.... https://os.watch/mainstreamos/1.3.0 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/fydeos/23.0 We are delighted to announce the release of FydeOS 23 'Chromatic Cadence'. This release upgrades the underlying Chromium OS platform from r144 to r150 and introduces a new Android subsystem framework, refreshed system apps, and enhanced remote desktop capabilities for enterprise We are delighted to announce the release of FydeOS 23 'Chromatic Cadence'. This release upgrades the underlying Chromium OS platform from r144 to r150 and introduces a new Android subsystem framework, refreshed system apps, and enhanced remote desktop capabilities for enterprise devices. FydeOS 23 focuses on strengthening the foundations of the operating system. These changes provide a more robust base for future improvements to app compatibility, system maintenance, and enterprise device management. FydeOS 23 upgrades the Android subsystem across all editions to Android 13 and introduces fyDroid, a new implementation for supporting Android apps on FydeOS. We plan to make fyDroid fully open source. Going forward, we will continue to develop this framework, progressively update its Android version, and improve app compatibility, performance and security. https://os.watch/fydeos/23.0 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/garuda/260819 When creating new disk layouts, the installer will pick the biggest sector size a disk supports, and for people wanting to encrypt their disks with LUKS, the installer now uses LUKS2 with argon2 encryption and the same sector size as the disk. Previously, this would default to 51 When creating new disk layouts, the installer will pick the biggest sector size a disk supports, and for people wanting to encrypt their disks with LUKS, the installer now uses LUKS2 with argon2 encryption and the same sector size as the disk. Previously, this would default to 512 on disks that supported the more optimal size of 4096. A new default kernel:laptop: Traditionally, Garuda Linux has shipped with linux-zen for many years, mostly due to being more stable than alternatives that were around during the time we chose it as our kernel of choice. This is going to change starting with this release - linux-garuda is the excellent Linux CachyOS many of us already used, ensured to always build against the NVIDIA drivers via DKMS before updating. https://os.watch/garuda/260819 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/porteux/2.8 This release is built around two new in-house projects: aufs-ng and xfwm4-gl. aufs-ng is our new union filesystem, written from scratch to replace aufs, which PorteuX has relied on since day one. It keeps the same on-disk format and the same mount command grammar, so everything k This release is built around two new in-house projects: aufs-ng and xfwm4-gl. aufs-ng is our new union filesystem, written from scratch to replace aufs, which PorteuX has relied on since day one. It keeps the same on-disk format and the same mount command grammar, so everything keeps working as before. It's around 5,000 lines instead of Aufs's 28,000, and it uses the kernel's modern I/O passthrough, which means much less filesystem-wide locking, considerably faster copy-up thanks to in-kernel splice instead of page-by-page buffering, and it tracks inodes only, so a warm system uses about a third of the memory. It's the default from now on. xfwm4-gl is our fork of xfwm4 that finally brings OpenGL compositing to Xfce in X11, with XRender kept as an automatic fallback. Compared to XRender it draws about a third less power and delivers roughly 10% more frames per second to applications. https://os.watch/porteux/2.8 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/cuerdos/2.1.1 CuerdOS 2.1.1 “Skycatcher” brings several small updates, including replacing OnlyOffice with LibreOffice, updating Cuerdtools to Qt6, and refreshing the ISO images. It also fixes an issue with the `config-updates-skycatcher` package in the GNOME ISO. The LabWC edition has been di CuerdOS 2.1.1 “Skycatcher” brings several small updates, including replacing OnlyOffice with LibreOffice, updating Cuerdtools to Qt6, and refreshing the ISO images. It also fixes an issue with the `config-updates-skycatcher` package in the GNOME ISO. The LabWC edition has been discontinued. https://os.watch/cuerdos/2.1.1 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/vanilla/3 Two years after the release of Vanilla OS 2 'Orchid', Vanilla OS 3 'Reunion' is now available. Our mission remains the same - to make Vanilla OS simple, stable and secure. With Reunion, we're bringing users together across architectures, and offering everyone an experience that w Two years after the release of Vanilla OS 2 'Orchid', Vanilla OS 3 'Reunion' is now available. Our mission remains the same - to make Vanilla OS simple, stable and secure. With Reunion, we're bringing users together across architectures, and offering everyone an experience that works out of the box. Vanilla OS 3 now officially supports ARM64 devices with UEFI firmware, opening the door to a wide range of hardware, from single-board computers to ARM-based laptops and workstations. To make this possible, all images are now multi-architecture, and every package includes ARM64 builds. The experience on ARM64 is identical to what you'd expect on AMD64, with no compromises in functionality. Security and transparency remain at the core of Vanilla OS 3. Most images (except NVIDIA images due to kernel modules) are now fully reproducible, meaning the build process always produces bit-for-bit identical images from the same sources. https://os.watch/vanilla/3 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.27 This release presents the new version 151.0.7922.137-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has improved its 'Open With' routine as well as its message program for new update opportunities and its app for connecting to remote sources This release presents the new version 151.0.7922.137-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has improved its 'Open With' routine as well as its message program for new update opportunities and its app for connecting to remote sources. https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.27 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/armbian/26.8 Armbian 26.8 is a major quarterly release featuring 787 merged pull requests and significant updates across the project. Highlights include Linux 7.1, a rewritten installer, Armbian Imager 2.0 with new Qualcomm flashing support, bootable UEFI ISOs, U-Boot 2026.07, improved wirele Armbian 26.8 is a major quarterly release featuring 787 merged pull requests and significant updates across the project. Highlights include Linux 7.1, a rewritten installer, Armbian Imager 2.0 with new Qualcomm flashing support, bootable UEFI ISOs, U-Boot 2026.07, improved wireless drivers, and broader ARM and RISC-V hardware support. The release also promotes 14 boards to standard support and introduces a modernized Debian Trixie-based CI and build infrastructure, while extensive cleanup and upstreaming work reduces long-term maintenance and improves reliability. https://os.watch/armbian/26.8 Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/butterbian/0.4.0 Butterbian Xfce 0.4.0 is out. The snapshot-first foundation hasn't changed - Btrfs subvolumes laid out for you, a Timeshift snapshot before every apt operation, rollback from the GRUB menu. What changed is everything you look at. 0.3.3 looked like stock Xfce with a wallpaper, 0.4 Butterbian Xfce 0.4.0 is out. The snapshot-first foundation hasn't changed - Btrfs subvolumes laid out for you, a Timeshift snapshot before every apt operation, rollback from the GRUB menu. What changed is everything you look at. 0.3.3 looked like stock Xfce with a wallpaper, 0.4.0 looks like a distro. The wallpaper is a twilight scene drawn for this release - a lone lighthouse lamp on a dark ridge. The boot menu uses the same art, so it's one scene from power-on to desktop. Cottage and lantern variants ship alongside it, and the SVG sources are in the repo if you want to remix them. LightDM now gets the dark Butterbian treatment instead of stock gray - spotlight artwork, the Butterbian glyph as your account picture, and a login box that matches the rest of the system. Locking your screen takes you to the same place. The desktop theme is Orchis in its black variant - near-black, flat, blue accents, with matching window borders, so titlebars and applications finally agree with each other. https://os.watch/butterbian/0.4.0 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/nawaos/2.0 NawaOS 2.0 is the biggest release so far. Setup, updates, saves and recovery are now things the system handles for you. What's new? Setup wizard on first boot, in Arabic or English - drivers, apps, done in minutes; NawaOS Store - 60+ games, launchers and tools, one click each; Co NawaOS 2.0 is the biggest release so far. Setup, updates, saves and recovery are now things the system handles for you. What's new? Setup wizard on first boot, in Arabic or English - drivers, apps, done in minutes; NawaOS Store - 60+ games, launchers and tools, one click each; Companion 2.0 - your phone as an encrypted remote, straight from the browser, no app to install; a snapshot before every update, with Recovery Mode right in the boot menu; Game saves synced to your own Google Drive or Dropbox after each session; instant replay - Super + R saves the last 30 seconds of gameplay; handhelds - console mode, TDP control and a working guide button on ROG Ally, Legion Go and Steam Deck; driver manager - the right NVIDIA driver for your card in one click; firewall on by default and automatic security updates; a redesigned dark theme across the whole system, with a new wallpaper collection. https://os.watch/nawaos/2.0 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.28 This release presents the new Linux kernel 7.2.0 and the new version 151.0.7922.169-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has improved its "Open With" software for listing and adding adequate apps as well as its software for automou This release presents the new Linux kernel 7.2.0 and the new version 151.0.7922.169-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has improved its "Open With" software for listing and adding adequate apps as well as its software for automounting file systems and opening remote sources. https://os.watch/starbuntu/24.04.4.28 Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/reactos/0.4.16 We are pleased to announce the release of ReactOS 0.4.16. After a year and a half of development, we're excited to showcase the improvements we've made between a new graphical installer, a unified boot CD and live CD image, video, audio, networking and storage stack improvements, We are pleased to announce the release of ReactOS 0.4.16. After a year and a half of development, we're excited to showcase the improvements we've made between a new graphical installer, a unified boot CD and live CD image, video, audio, networking and storage stack improvements, a new installation type, and third-party code syncs. Historically, ReactOS offered two images for download - a live CD which let you test ReactOS in a read-only environment, and a boot CD which let you install ReactOS to your hard disk using a text-based installer. Thanks to the efforts of Hermès Bélusca-Maïto, ReactOS 0.4.16 has a new graphical installer and a combined boot CD and live CD. Now you can test and install ReactOS using the same image. During 0.4.15 development, core developer Hervé Poussineau put in the ground work for multi-monitor support and falling back to a VGA driver when display drivers fail to load. This foundation enabled us to continue pursuing better video driver compatibility in 0.4.16. https://os.watch/reactos/0.4.16 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/ubuntu/26.04.1 Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS, code-named 'Resolute Raccoon', is here. This release continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open-source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, toge Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS, code-named 'Resolute Raccoon', is here. This release continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open-source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, together with the community and our partners, to introduce new features and fix bugs. As usual, this point release includes many updates and updated installation media has been provided, so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-severity bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. https://os.watch/ubuntu/26.04.1 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/endeavouros/2026.08.15 Titan Nova's live environment and offline installer are shipping with Calamares 26.03.2.3, Firefox 153.0.4, Linux kernel 7.1.8, Mesa 26.1.7, X.Org Server 21.1.24, nvidia-utils 610.57.04, nvidia-open 610.54.01. Keyboard setup fix - fixed an issue where recent keyboard configuratio Titan Nova's live environment and offline installer are shipping with Calamares 26.03.2.3, Firefox 153.0.4, Linux kernel 7.1.8, Mesa 26.1.7, X.Org Server 21.1.24, nvidia-utils 610.57.04, nvidia-open 610.54.01. Keyboard setup fix - fixed an issue where recent keyboard configuration updates caused setup errors. A temporary patch is in place to ensure everything configures smoothly, with a permanent fix planned in the upcoming Triton release. Improved the experience on the ISO when using the Nouveau drivers for NVIDIA GPUs. Budgie desktop removed - the option to install the Budgie desktop environment has been temporarily removed. The current upstream software version is in a transition phase to newer display technology (Wayland) and isn't providing a default experience we are comfortable with. We expect Budgie to return in future releases. https://os.watch/endeavouros/2026.08.15 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/liya/2026.08.29 AI-generated content and tools have been removed from the default Liya Linux experience. While AI can be useful in some situations, a number of users found the previous implementation difficult to use, and it also didn't really fit with the general philosophy and preferences of t AI-generated content and tools have been removed from the default Liya Linux experience. While AI can be useful in some situations, a number of users found the previous implementation difficult to use, and it also didn't really fit with the general philosophy and preferences of the Linux community. Because of that, we've decided to move away from it rather than keep something around simply for the sake of having it. Modularisation of tweaks and configurations - the way Liya's tweaks and configuration files are handled has been changed. Previously, many of these tweaks were statically built into the system. They are now handled through pacman, which means they can be updated independently instead of requiring changes to the entire system. The same approach is being used for configuration files as well. This should make future updates easier to maintain and allow individual components to be changed without rebuilding everything. A big thanks to CachyOS for their tweaks and the work that helped inspire some of these changes. XLibre instead of X11 - Liya Linux now uses XLibre instead of the traditional X11/X.Org stack. https://os.watch/liya/2026.08.29 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/aboraos/2026.08.28 Everest ships as five editions: Cosmic, Hyprland, GNOME, KDE Plasma, and Other. The edition controls the live ISO experience, while all 23 supported desktop profiles remain available during installation. The release adds non-destructive installation onto an existing partition, Ab Everest ships as five editions: Cosmic, Hyprland, GNOME, KDE Plasma, and Other. The edition controls the live ISO experience, while all 23 supported desktop profiles remain available during installation. The release adds non-destructive installation onto an existing partition, Abora adoption for existing NixOS systems, ANIX v2 with pluggable configuration languages, GPU driver selection for NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, optional Abora Gaming, a dedicated Abora Gaming Welcome GTK app, TinyPM rewritten in Rust, Linux kernel 7.2, MediaTek MT7902 Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth support, and expanded MINT installer support. The App Catalog continues to provide optional Fan Favorites, Essentials, Social, Creator, Developer, Gaming, and System Tools bundles. https://os.watch/aboraos/2026.08.28 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://os.watch/openkylin/3.0 OpenAtom openKylin (hereafter referred to as "openKylin") version 3.0 is officially released. In this version upgrade, openKylin has upgraded the system kernel across generations to Linux 7.0, completing the comprehensive iteration of more than 180 core components, building an op OpenAtom openKylin (hereafter referred to as "openKylin") version 3.0 is officially released. In this version upgrade, openKylin has upgraded the system kernel across generations to Linux 7.0, completing the comprehensive iteration of more than 180 core components, building an open foundation for intelligent agents, enabling AI to run through the entire system chain, innovating multimodal interaction such as air gestures, voice input and screen reading, scenario coverage extends from smart desktops to mobile devices, servers and other full scenarios. openKylin 3.0 upgrades the system kernel directly from Linux 6.6 to Linux 7.0. GCC 15, glibc 2.42, LLVM 22, JDK 25, with more than 180 core components comprehensively upgraded around the new kernel. Core base libraries and compilation toolchains are aligned with the latest versions of international upstream communities. This version integrates the three NIST post-quantum cryptography standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA), enabling system-level invocation through the openHiTLS open-source cryptographic suite.... https://os.watch/openkylin/3.0 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000