TermOS: Fedora, Ubuntu and Nix in one system

Three distros, one system

TermOS is built on Fedora, with Ubuntu and Nix layered on top. You get Fedora's fresh, stable base and the software from all three. (The name doesn't mean anything. It's not a terminal OS; TermOS is just a cool name.)

base system

Fedora 45

The kernel, dnf and RPM packages, systemd, SELinux and Btrfs. Fedora's release cycle keeps things current without breaking them.

layer

Ubuntu

Friendly defaults, and Ubuntu's software: .deb packages install into an Ubuntu container with Distrobox and run like native apps.

layer

Nix

Nix runs alongside dnf for reproducible per-user setups, and gives you the huge nixpkgs collection. Try any package without installing it.

Run anything

termos-run works out what a program was built for and sends it to the right place. You just run it.

App	How TermOS runs it
Windows `.exe` / `.msi`	Wine, plus Bottles, Lutris and Proton for games
macOS binaries and `.app`	Darling, or a Mac over SSH
BSD binaries	A BSD virtual machine, over SSH
Nix packages	`nix run`, with nothing installed for good
Ubuntu `.deb`	The Ubuntu Distrobox container
Linux	Directly, of course

$ termos-run notepad++.exe
$ termos-run ./SomeTool.app
$ termos-run ./freebsd-tool --help
$ termos-run nix:cowsay moo
 _____
< moo >
 -----
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

BSD and macOS programs can't run on the Linux kernel by themselves, so TermOS uses Darling or a virtual machine for them. Darling is still experimental: command-line tools work best.

termos-fetch

System info with the TermOS Matrix logo, the way fastfetch and neofetch show it. Pipe fortune into it and TermOS turns into a termite, and every stat becomes a fortune.

$ termos-fetch
 1   0 1    0   1  0    1   you@termos
 0 1 1 0  1 1 0 1  1  0 1   -----------
 1 0 0 1  0 0 1 0  0  1 1   OS: TermOS 0.1 (Fedora Linux 45)
 0 1   0  1   0 1  1  0 0   Kernel: Linux 6.19
 1 0 1 1  0 1 1 0  0  1 0   Shell: bash 5.3
   1 0 0  1 0   1  1  0 1   DE: KDE Plasma
 0 0 1 1  0 1 0 0  1    1   Memory: 3.1 GiB / 16 GiB
 1 1 0    1 0 1 1  0  1 0

$ fortune | termos-fetch
        \     /       termite@TermOS
         \___/        -----------------
       .-(o o)-.      OS: You will be fortunate.
      /  `-^-'  \     Host: There is no spoon.
     /|  (___)  |\    Kernel: Beware of low-flying butterflies.
    / |  (   )  | \   Uptime: The termite was here first.
      |  (___)  |     CPU: Your lucky number is 0x1F.
     /   (   )   \    Memory: You forgot something.
          ( )

Example output. Your stats (and fortunes) will differ.

The look

Green digital rain behind the TermOS logo, from the boot menu to the desktop.

Wallpaper. The default on the KDE Plasma desktop and lock screen.

The TermOS boot menu: a green-framed menu with 'Start TermOS 0.1' highlighted, over the rain. — **Boot menu.** A GRUB theme for the ISO and for installed systems.

Boot splash. The rain keeps falling while the system starts.

The TermOS wallpaper in portrait, for phones.

The wallpaper comes in phone sizes too (1080×2400 and 1440×3200). Grab them from the repository.

Ready out of the box

Everything for running apps from anywhere is already on the ISO.

desktop

KDE Plasma

With the KDE apps, and Flatpak with Flathub ready to go. Prefer GNOME, Xfce or another desktop? termos-desktop install gnome adds it.

windows

Wine and friends

Wine with Mono, Gecko and DXVK, plus Winetricks, Bottles, Lutris and Protontricks.

macos + bsd

Darling and VMs

Darling for macOS apps, and QEMU/KVM with virt-manager for a BSD virtual machine.

ubuntu + nix

Distrobox and Nix

Distrobox and Podman for Ubuntu software, and Nix with its daemon enabled.

PCs, ARM boards and phones

One look, four editions. Pick the file for your hardware from the release.

x86-64 iso

PC

PCs and laptops, BIOS or UEFI, plus x86-64 boards like the Radxa X4. The full set: Windows, macOS, BSD, Ubuntu and Nix apps.

aarch64 iso

ARM64

ARM machines with UEFI: Snapdragon laptops, ARM servers and boards with UEFI firmware like the Radxa Dragon Q6A and Q8B (pick the Qualcomm boot entry). Everything except Windows and macOS apps.

board image

ARM64 board

Write it to an SD card for a Raspberry Pi 3, 4 or 5, an Orange Pi (Allwinner models), a Radxa ROCK Pi 4 or another U-Boot board. It asks for your user on first boot.

phone

Phone

Nura (formerly postmarketOS) with Plasma Mobile and the TermOS look, for the OnePlus 6, Pixel 3a, PinePhone, Galaxy S9, Poco F1, several Redmi Notes and more.

iPhones can't run Linux (Apple locks the bootloader), and the Galaxy Z Fold has no Linux port. The full phone list is in phone/devices.txt; each phone's download has its own flashing steps.

Download and install

On a PC, TermOS is a live ISO: try it from a USB stick, then install it from the desktop. (Board and phone images are written straight to an SD card or the phone; see the README.)

Download
Get the files from the latest release. GitHub limits release files to 2 GiB, so a bigger ISO comes in parts. Download them all, plus SHA256SUMS, and join them:
```
cat TermOS-0.1-x86_64.iso.part* > TermOS-0.1-x86_64.iso
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS
```
Write it to a USB stick
Use Fedora Media Writer (Windows, macOS or Linux), or dd on Linux. This erases the stick.
Boot it
Restart from the USB stick and pick Start TermOS 0.1. You get a live KDE Plasma desktop to try everything out.
Install
Double-click Install TermOS on the desktop. Fedora's installer, Anaconda, walks you through language, disks (encryption included) and your user account.

Prefer to build it yourself? Clone the repository and run make iso on Fedora, or make iso-container anywhere with Docker or Podman. The README has the details.