Arch Linux-Based EndeavourOS Atlantis Is Out with Linux 5.15 LTS, PipeWire, and More

EndeavourOS Atlantis

The EndeavourOS team released today a new ISO snapshot of their Arch Linux-based distribution built around the lightweight Xfce desktop environment, EndeavourOS Atlantis.

EndeavourOS Atlantis is the first ISO release of the Arch Linux-based distro with a new naming scheme using codenames instead of version numbers. I think this should make it easier for users to identify an EndeavourOS release, but, after all, these are snapshots targeted at new deployments as EndeavourOS follows a rolling-release model where you install once and receive updates forever, just like Arch Linux.

What’s new in EndeavourOS Atlantis for newcomers who want to use Arch Linux on their personal computers? Well, the first major change is the fact that the ISO release is powered by the latest and greatest Linux 5.15 LTS kernel series, which not only brings a lot of goodies but it’s also supported for the next two years, at least.

EndeavourOS Atlantis sticks to Xfce 4.16 as default desktop environment on the live session and adds several improvements and new additions to the EndeavourOS apps/tools. For example, there’s a new sanity check for NVIDIA GPU users and kernel updates to prevent boot failures after an update.

Additionally, the eos-apps-info tool is now installed by default, the Welcome app received a new button that takes users to a page with more info about the pre-installed desktop environment, the eos-apps-info-helper tool has been updated to display information about more apps, the eos-update-notifier tool got a new and improved schedule configuration window, and the paccache-service-manager tool now lets users delete the cache of uninstalled packages.

Furthermore, the AKM tool has been improved to mark the current running kernel with the * symbol, and grub-tools now adds information and warnings about the GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER variable in /etc/default/grub when needed.

Also improved in this new EndeavourOS release is the Calamares graphical installer, which makes installing Arch Linux a breeze for newcomers. The installer now supports installing the Xfce desktop environment and i3 window manager at the same time, adds zstd for Btrfs for installation on both SSD and HDD drives, enables fstrim.timer by default, uses randomized EFI path naming, supports reading the output from pacman actions, enables DRM modesetting by default for NVIDIA GPU users, and lets users send installation logs to the devs.

Other interesting changes in the Calamares installer include support for EndeavourOS repo packages and the Welcome app to connect to GitLab by default, removal of GitHub from the EndeavourOS mirrorlist, and a new method for installing one of the EndeavourOS Community editions.

“Now you choose the community edition first, which is a fixed settings package that can’t be altered to avoid failed installs, then you get to the base package module where you can deselect certain packages if you wish to,” reads the release announcement.

Among other changes, EndeavourOS Atlantis improves Legacy Boot, introduces the ability for users to write their own bash commands, ships with OS prober installed by default, ships with PipeWire installed by default for audio, improves support for certain PCIe-based M.2 drives, replaces the r8168 driver with r8169 by default, and adds seveal new wallpapers.

You can download EndeavourOS Atlantis right now from the official website or by clicking on the direct download link below. While your ISO is being downloaded, check out my first look video below, and don’t forget to subscribe for more videos!

Last updated 2 years ago

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