Test Cycle 2026.01 ISO

demm

First, minimal test ISO is built (not uploaded yet) for the January stable ISO release. With this ISO, Limine is now the default bootloader.
But that is not the big news for this test cycle. Plan is to not use a Plasma based ISO this time, instead test if a Niri/Noctalia based ISO is doable. There are no plans yet to make this permanent, but it would be good to get a stable ISO one time with this setup.
Normally, no mention is made in the forum of these first, internal test ISO's, but with this big of a change, early mention is needed.

Image of this ISO running in VirtualBox, during the install:

Image of new install, right after first boot (so most settings are already working):

orangezipper

Very cool! I look forward to giving it a try as a VM.

demm

A first test ISO is uploaded. Rather minimal as usual, and still not as should be, but good enough to get the testing cycle going.

Not tested at all yet is the use of non-free nvidia, this ISO has the 590 & 580xx drivers included though, so it is now possible to test.
For virtualbox system, 3d is needed to get it to work with wayland (nothing to do with KaOS or Niri, upstream not moved to wayland), so you will need to use VMSVGA for display, with 3d enabled. In my testing, those setting won't save when applied in the GUI. You will need to set to VMSVGA in the GUI, then run:

VBoxManage modifyvm KaOS --accelerate3d on
VBoxManage setextradata "KaOS" "VBoxInternal2/VideoPBufferDriver" "GL"

Adjust KaOS to the name of your virtual system.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.01.19-x86_64.iso

SHA256SUM:

5051a0673be6aebcd5e163c02a2719766cca6634029099ab4b26cd2d3e9374f2  KaOS-2026.01.19-x86_64.iso

demm

Nvidia 580xx is now tested (no hardware available to test 590), all works, but it needs an adjustment on startup of this ISO. After selecting non-free, you need to edit the kernel command line in the bootloader and add nvidia_drm.modeset=1
Lots of other issues/ theming fixed, so a new ISO will be up today, which will automate the nvidia support.

demm

A second minimal ISO is uploaded.
Kernel moved to the 6.18 series, 6.18.7 is used.
Nvidia-utils packages have been patched, so the needed Wayland settings are now included.
Theming & KaOS packages Welcome & Croeso have been adjusted to reflect niri/noctalia.

Calamares local map is fixed, another map provider was needed. General theming still doesn't work as should though for Calamares, I have not found out yet how to set theming for root in niri.

Install boots correctly, but there are some issues with applying settings in Noctalia, not clear yet if it is a permission issue.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.01.24-x86_64.iso

SHA256SUM:

8059f308d579afadcf2274a67b11609a5048369c318db0c375ce0b35f0570c50  KaOS-2026.01.24-x86_64.iso

shalokshalom

Is btrfs repaired by now?

demm

A third minimal ISO is uploaded.
Booting in non-free needed extra kernel command line entries, otherwise the needed DRM modeset wouldn't be loaded.
Issues remain with settings permissions for Noctalia.
Starting Calamares is still a trial and error thing....
Trying to launch from the Welcome (which autostarts) fails. Many times closing Welcome & re-opening fixes it, but at times it is needed to launch Welcome from cli to get Calamares to run (or use launch-calamares.sh directly).
Since no feedback from anyone, not clear if no one is testing the ISOs, or if they are not working at all, if the latter, then it will be needed to end this trial, and move back to a regular Plasma ISO.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.01.27-x86_64.iso

SHA25SUM:

a10c768e00c84e3c9ed61c6690373e70828572095050f5938dcf6aec8b12bc0d  KaOS-2026.01.27-x86_64.iso

shalokshalom

Considering the Plasma ISO was already not able to install in my case, I guess its safe to assume that such a massive change won't fly as well.

I can try it later, to give some insight if you want, but I doubt its time to fully replace Plasma just now.

The differences need to be worked out by active testing, and I guess its hard to find people who want to put in the work.

I will see if I can find some testers for it. 🙂

demm

Obviously, a January release did not make it.
The last 2 weeks were used to get rid of most of the bugs presented in the niri ISO.
The Welcome app was rewritten, now is CMake based, no longer uses any Plasma, but had some C++ added to run commands & button actions (same C++ now also used in Croeso).
Calamares now uses pkexec to run, this makes it use the correct theming & environment.
A major bug caused by a broken ca-certificate in the build chroot is corrected.
For non-free, the kernel boot line is adjusted, so it runs correctly in Wayland.

One odd thing you will see is that Konsole auto-starts, this is needed to make the correct env load. For Calamares to run, it needs QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland in the env, so far the only way found to get this is by running Konsole, before launching Calamares from the Welcome app.....

This is now a full ISO and close to being the final.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.02.08-x86_64.iso

SHA256SUM:

c71bdc20878b73fffe5e25aced7db8084d72e101b698b08d892dd88549653b43  KaOS-2026.02.08-x86_64.iso

orangezipper

@demm Very cool. I am downloading it now and will try it in VirtualBox tonight.

Will KCP still work the same? I ask because I want to continue to use the Brave web browser after going to Niri.

demm

Things work the same, just get used to the scrolling window manager (I have fully moved to it for almost 3 months now). And make sure to read the earlier post about adjusting virtualbox to run with Wayland.

orangezipper

@demm Excellent, thank you! Right, I will go over that post on Wayland again.

orangezipper

@demm I got it to run Live in VirtualBox and I am installing it on a virtual disk. Is this ISO no longer using Limine as the bootloader? During the install process I am presented with the option of installing Grub or no bootloader.

demm

orangezipper During the install process I am presented with the option of installing Grub or no bootloader.

That means you set your Virtualbox session in legacy BIOS mode, use UEFI mode, nothing to do with the ISO 🙂
And in UEFI mode, Limine is now default.

orangezipper

@demm Haha! You caught me. I was in legacy BIOS mode. I changed it to UEFI and now I have the option to install Limine. Thank you!

orangezipper

Niri sure is smooth. But I cannot find a way to adjust my screen resolution. Is that option hidden in the settings for some reason?

demm

This thread is for testing a new ISO, for questions regarding the use of niri/noctalia, please open a new thread under technical issues, applications.
I'll leave a link though: https://niri-wm.github.io/niri/Configuration%3A-Outputs.html

orangezipper

@demm Whoops! You're right. Based on my limited testing, the ISO worked fine for me. Especially once I set the VM to UEFI mode.

demm

There will be one more full ISO coming up, with the feedback above, a few more buttons are added to Croeso to aid with this new environment, also added, a button to the niri website under the Docs section.
Kio-extras needs to be on the final ISO to have full Dolphin support and some changes were done to a few config files, thus one more ISO is needed.

demm

Second full ISO is now up, this should be the final ISO, and will be released as the next stable & first niri ISO in 1-2 days.
No more workarounds needed to launch Calamares (thus no konsole starting), 2 modules in Calamares moved to the widgets version (users & keyboard) due to an issue with keyboard not captured for input fields with QML.
Lots of updates and settings tweaks the last few days, too many to all list here.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.02.13-x86_64.iso

SHA256SUM:

98575009c68dd90ca11eb679b7b5145a5b21b73d625c00deb82f55cb4b5df031  KaOS-2026.02.13-x86_64.iso