It’s a challenge to set up a completely atomic Linux distro but a pleasant experience to use.

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ZDNET Highlights

• AerynOS is a free Linux distribution.
• It includes a unique installation and package manager.
• You can download and install this OS for free.

I love a good challenge, and it’s been a while since I’ve thrown a challenge at Linux.

Then I ran into AerynOS.

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To be fair, this Linux distribution isn’t that difficult; It just has an installer that doesn’t hold your hand. Once you’ve completed the installation, you’ll find yourself with a Linux distribution that’s built from scratch, is completely atomic, and offers a beautiful KDE Plasma desktop.

What is an atom?

First, let’s talk about the atomic nature of AerynOS.

Although you might think that atomic distribution is immutable, this is not always the case. Immutable distributions (which my esteemed colleague, Steven Vaughn-Nicholls, and I have been discussing for some time) mount the core of the operating system as read-only, so it cannot be changed.

Also: 5 reasons to switch to an immutable Linux distro today – and which one to try first

Immutable distributions provide you with serious security (far stronger than traditional operating systems) and assurance that upgrades will always work. AerynOS aims to eventually become an immutable distribution, but for now, it is only atomic.

Atomic distribution is one that manages software updates and installations by making changes on top of the core system image, rather than modifying the system directly. This approach increases stability and allows easy rollback to previous states in the event of an update failure. In other words, atomic distribution is about ensuring that upgrades are always successful.

What’s up with the installation?

Modern Linux distributions generally offer straightforward installation, making them a point-and-click affair. In fact, most Linux distributions are easier to install than MacOS or Windows.

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AerynOS takes a different approach to installation. First, the installer tool is text-based, but it requires that you manually partition your drive.

Sounds easy enough, right? Finally, AerynOS includes the GParted GUI partition manager, which is quite easy to use. However, the partition requirements for AerynOS are slightly different from the typical Linux layout.

When you use GParted on AerynOS, you need to do the following:

1. Create a new partition table (it should be of gpt type).
2. Create a partition for the boot sector. Make sure the size of this file is around 2GB. It must also be a FAT32 file system.
3. apply changes.
4. Right-click on the FAT32 partition and select ESP (which will automatically select boot and deselect MSFTDATA).
5. Close GParted.

This is the process of partitioning a drive. You then need to run the AerynOS installer, which despite being command-line based is actually quite easy to use.

And, my friends, this is where the challenges end.

Post-install AerynOS

When you log into AerynOS, you’ll find yourself on the KDE Plasma desktop. Everything is already up to date, so you don’t need to run updates right away, as you would with a non-update distribution.

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AerynOS does not make changes to the KDE Plasma desktop – not even the wallpaper. This is vanilla KDE Plasma, so it should look instantly familiar. You also get the KDE Discover App Center, which includes Flathub support, so you’ll have plenty of software to choose from.

If you look in the Office category of the desktop menu, you’ll find that KDE Plasma has switched from its old Calendar and Contacts apps to Mercuro Contacts and Mercuro Calendar.

What I like about Mercuro Calendar is that it allows you to easily sync with a variety of services, including NextCloud, Google Calendar, Outlook, CalDAV, and others. Within seconds, I connected Mercuro Calendar to Google Calendar and all was well.

Of course, if you need other Office apps (such as LibreOffice), just open Discover, find the desired app, and install it.

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As I expected, KDE Plasma comes with the dark theme enabled, so I immediately entered System Settings to change it. Sadly, KDE didn’t want to install a collection of downloadable themes for Plasma. Luckily, the Breeze theme was pre-installed, which is a lightweight theme.

What makes AerynOS unique?

Beyond installation, AerynOS represents a revolutionary approach to Linux.

There are some low-level differences, such as the use of the LLVM toolchain (instead of the traditional GNU version). Then there is the atomic nature of the OS – which makes it more secure and reliable. (The developers indicate that 100% immutability is planned for a future release.)

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The system automatically manages boot entries, kernel synchronization, and rollback, eliminating the need for manually written configuration files. If the EFI system partition is accidentally wiped, it can be recreated automatically.

package management

AerynOS uses its own package manager, Moss, which is quite simple. For example, if you want to install curl, you would issue the command:

sudo moss install curl

Moss Package Manager also includes options like list, remove, search, sync and more. You also get KDE Discover, which is great for installing GUI apps.

Display

KDE Plasma is a fast desktop environment, and AerynOS doesn’t slow it down one bit. I found that apps installed quickly and opened very quickly. Even enabling animations didn’t slow down the desktop. (Speaking of which, my installation of AerynOS does not include the KDE Plasma wobbly window effect because my hardware won’t support it. I installed it as a virtual machine.)

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No matter what I threw at AerynOS, it handled it beautifully. After installing curl, I did my usual performance checks using Olma Local AI. After installing olma (which uses curl) and pulling the qen3-coder xml, I ran the query:

Write a Python script to take user input for name, date of birth, email, and phone number and add it to the user_input.txt file.

Of course, qwen3-coder easily (and quickly) spit out the response, which was a working Python script to accept user input.

What is AerynOS for?

AerynOS isn’t for everyone. To work effectively with this Linux distribution, you need to understand how to partition a drive and use the command line. This doesn’t mean that AerynOS is as difficult as Gentoo, but newcomers to Linux should avoid this distribution.

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However, if you are tired of the same old, same old, I suggest you try AerynOS. It’s unique enough to present a challenge, but not challenging enough to keep you from pursuing it.