DevOS

Arch Linux for developers who want everything working on day one.
XFCE desktop · LTS kernel · Calamares GUI installer · Apple MacBook ready.

Live Installer Preview →   ·   Build the ISO →   ·   What's Included →

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What is DevOS?

DevOS is a custom Arch Linux distribution assembled from a battle-tested developer workstation. It ships as a bootable ISO with a friendly Calamares GUI installer — no manual partitioning commands, no pacstrap, no post-install configuration marathon.

Boot the ISO. Click through the installer. Reboot into a fully configured XFCE desktop with your browser, editor, container runtime, and dev toolchain already in place.

The realtime-audio / DAW variant (dwm, linux-rt, JACK, LV2 plugins) is the separate MusicOS project — DevOS is the developer workstation build.

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Desktop

Window Manager	XFCE 4 with xfwm4 compositing
Theme	WhiteSur-Light GTK · Gruvbox-Plus-Dark icons
Dock	Plank (macOS-style bottom dock)
App Overview	xfdashboard — 4-finger swipe-up for GNOME-Shell-style overlay
Terminal	Alacritty → tmux → zsh with Powerlevel10k
Login	TTY autologin → startx → XFCE (no display manager)
Gestures	libinput-gestures: 4-finger swipe-up = overview, 3-finger = workspace switch

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What's Included

Browser & Communication

• Brave (stable, brave-bin) — tuned flags for Intel GPU compatibility
• Chromium, Firefox available via pacman/AUR post-install

Development Tools

• VS Code (visual-studio-code-bin)
• Docker + docker-compose (opt-in, see Docker)
• Node 20 + npm, yarn, GitHub CLI (gh), vsce, playwright
• Python 3.14 + pip, agate, httpx, opentelemetry stack
• Git + delta pager
• Paru AUR helper
• PlatformIO + udev rules for embedded hardware (Arduino, J-Link, Microchip, EFR)

System & Utilities

• htop, btop, nvtop, iotop — system monitors
• bat, eza, fd, ripgrep, fzf, zoxide, tldr — modern CLI replacements
• ncdu, duf — disk usage
• tmux + Oh-My-Tmux config
• mdcat, tiv, ccze, cfonts, neofetch — terminal eye candy
• cups, cronie, acpid, tlp, bluetooth — hardware services
• ufw + fail2ban — firewall and intrusion protection

Security Hardening

• Root account locked — access only via sudo from the wheel group
• sudo drop-in validated with visudo -cf at build time
• UFW firewall enabled by default (deny-all inbound)
• fail2ban enabled for SSH and other services
• sshd disabled by default — enable after setting a real password
• Live ISO password expired at first login — forces password change on installed system
• IPv6 disabled by default via sysctl.d
• systemd-resolved with local DNS stub

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Apple MacBook Support

DevOS ships with full Apple MacBook hardware support out of the box. No post-install driver hunting.

Hardware	Solution	Status
Broadcom BCM WiFi	broadcom-wl DKMS · conflicting drivers blacklisted	✅
Intel Iris Pro / HD Graphics	xf86-video-intel · TearFree · DRI3	✅
Magic Trackpad 2	hid-magicmouse DKMS · libinput pressure curves	✅
Magic Mouse 2	hid-magicmouse DKMS · udev acceleration	✅
FaceTime HD Camera	facetimehd DKMS	✅
Thunderbolt 2	Native kernel support	✅
Fan control	mbpfan service	✅
Built-in Display Audio	Disabled at boot (prevents HDMI conflicts)	✅
USB SuperDrive	udev rule	✅
Clamshell / lid	acpid handler · logind defer · external display handoff	✅
Battery alerts	systemd user timer	✅
Suspend / resume	acpid + tlp	✅

WiFi connects automatically on first boot. The wl module loads at boot — open nmtui or click the panel applet to choose your network.

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System Requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	x86_64, 2 cores	Intel Core i5+ (Haswell or newer)
RAM	2 GB	8 GB+
Storage	20 GB	60 GB+ SSD
Firmware	UEFI	UEFI (systemd-boot)
Network	Ethernet or Broadcom/Intel WiFi	—

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Installation

Option A — GUI (Calamares)

1. Write the ISO to a USB drive:

   sudo dd if=devos-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

2. Boot the USB on your target machine
3. Connect to WiFi via the panel applet (Broadcom loads automatically)
4. Double-click "Install DevOS" on the desktop
5. Follow the steps: Location → Keyboard → Partitions → Users → Install → Reboot

The installer erases the selected disk and configures systemd-boot with a GPT layout: 512 MiB ESP + ext4 root.

Option B — CLI (install.sh)

For headless or scripted installs:

# 1. Partition and format
cfdisk /dev/sdX              # GPT: sdX1 = 512 MiB EFI, sdX2 = rest Linux
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdX1
mkfs.ext4     /dev/sdX2

# 2. Mount
mount          /dev/sdX2 /mnt
mount --mkdir  /dev/sdX1 /mnt/boot

# 3. Run installer
sudo bash /opt/devos/installer/install.sh

install.sh runs pacstrap, generates fstab, applies the system overlay, installs systemd-boot, and auto-fills the root PARTUUID — no manual loader entry editing.

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First Login

Username	user
Password	user (expired — you will be prompted to change it immediately)
Root	Locked — use sudo

startx launches automatically on tty1; XFCE starts.

# Suggested first steps
passwd                              # set your real password
sudo pacman -Syu                    # sync and upgrade all packages
paru -S <aur-package>               # install AUR packages with paru
sudo systemctl enable --now sshd    # enable SSH (only after setting a real password)

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Docker

Docker is opt-in and not pre-enabled:

sudo systemctl enable --now docker
sudo usermod -aG docker "$USER"     # log out and back in to apply group

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Build the ISO

Build from source on any Arch Linux system:

sudo pacman -S archiso git
git clone https://github.com/SalDevX/devos
cd devos
sudo mkarchiso -v -w /tmp/devos-work -o ./out .

Including AUR packages

packages.x86_64 is official-repo only. For a full build with Brave, Calamares, xfdashboard, and 112 other AUR packages, pre-build a local repo:

./tools/build-aur-repo.sh ~/devos-local    # builds all 115 AUR packages
# Uncomment [devos-local] in pacman.conf, then re-run mkarchiso

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Repo Layout

devos/
├── profiledef.sh              archiso ISO metadata
├── packages.x86_64            470 official-repo packages
├── aur-build-list.txt         115 AUR packages (priority-ordered)
├── pacman.conf                build repos (+ optional [devos-local])
├── airootfs/
│   ├── etc/
│   │   ├── calamares/         GUI installer config, branding, scripts
│   │   ├── skel/              Default user dotfiles (zsh, alacritty, xfce4)
│   │   ├── modprobe.d/        Broadcom wl + conflicting driver blacklist
│   │   ├── systemd/system/    Apple hardware services, firstboot, autologin
│   │   └── X11/xorg.conf.d/   Intel TearFree, libinput, Magic Mouse
│   └── root/customize_airootfs.sh   Build-time setup
├── installer/install.sh       CLI installer (auto-detects PARTUUID)
├── tools/
│   ├── build-aur-repo.sh      makepkg loop → local pacman repo
│   └── scrub.sh               Personal-data scrubber (idempotent)
└── docs/                      GitHub Pages: live installer preview

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Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome for:

• Build failures or archiso compatibility breaks
• Hardware support improvements
• Package additions (open an issue with rationale — each package adds build time)
• Calamares installer UX improvements

For general Arch Linux questions, the Arch Wiki is the definitive reference.

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License

• Scripts, configs, and dotfiles in this repo — MIT
• Packages installed via packages.x86_64 and aur-build-list.txt retain their upstream licenses. The base system is predominantly GPL-3.0.

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