Running Vocalinux on Bazzite (Fedora Atomic / Immutable)

[jacola]

AI generated notes of what I needed to do to get this working on Fedora Atomic. Maybe it will be helpful to someone else who can't stand typing because it feels like such an insane waste of time.

Running Vocalinux on Bazzite (Fedora Atomic / Immutable)

This guide covers installing and running Vocalinux on Bazzite and other Fedora Atomic desktops (Silverblue, Kinoite, Aurora, etc.), where the root filesystem is immutable and dnf install is blocked on the host.

📋 Overview

Fedora Atomic images use rpm-ostree for system packages, which means you cannot run dnf install on the host. Vocalinux must be installed inside a Distrobox container instead.

There are three things to be aware of:

1. Installation — must happen inside Distrobox, not on the host
2. Process detection — the installer's process check can match Distrobox itself (fixed in recent versions)
3. Keyboard shortcuts — Wayland's evdev backend needs /dev/input/ access, which requires a host-side udev rule

🚀 Setup

1. Create a Distrobox (if you don't have one)

distrobox create --name fedora-dev --image registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:latest
distrobox enter fedora-dev

2. Install Vulkan tools (for GPU acceleration)

Inside your Distrobox, whisper.cpp uses Vulkan for GPU-accelerated speech recognition. The vulkaninfo command is needed for detection:

sudo dnf install -y vulkan-tools

Verify your GPU is detected:

vulkaninfo --summary 2>&1 | grep deviceName

You should see your GPU listed (e.g., Radeon 8060S Graphics, Intel UHD Graphics, etc.).

3. Install Vocalinux

Inside Distrobox:

git clone https://github.com/jatinkrmalik/vocalinux.git
cd vocalinux
./install.sh

The installer will detect your Vulkan GPU and set up whisper.cpp accordingly.

4. Fix keyboard shortcut permissions (Wayland)

On Wayland, Vocalinux uses evdev to detect keyboard shortcuts by reading /dev/input/event* devices. Inside Distrobox, rootless Podman remaps device ownership so these devices appear as nobody:nobody, making them unreadable even if you're in the input group.

On the host (exit Distrobox first, or open a new terminal), create a udev rule:

echo '# Allow distrobox containers to read input devices (Vocalinux)
KERNEL=="event*", SUBSYSTEM=="input", MODE="0664", TAG+="uaccess"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-vocalinux-input.rules

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=input

Then verify inside Distrobox:

python3 -c "open('/dev/input/event0', 'rb').close(); print('OK')"

If it prints OK, keyboard shortcuts will work.

Note: This rule persists across reboots. It makes input devices readable by any local user, which is standard on single-user desktops. If you have security concerns, see the Alternatives section.

5. Launch Vocalinux

Inside Distrobox:

vocalinux

Or with debug logging:

vocalinux --debug

⚠️ Troubleshooting

Installer kills my Distrobox session

The install script used pgrep -f "vocalinux" to find running instances, which matched the Distrobox container process itself (since the working directory path contains "vocalinux"). You must modify the installer now uses targeted patterns that only match actual Vocalinux application processes.

"No GPU detected" / falls back to CPU

Make sure vulkan-tools is installed inside Distrobox:

sudo dnf install -y vulkan-tools
vulkaninfo --summary

If vulkaninfo runs but shows no GPU, check that /dev/dri/ is accessible:

ls -la /dev/dri/

You should see card* and renderD* devices.

Keyboard shortcut doesn't work

1. Check permissions — verify you can read input devices (see Step 4 above)
2. Check your config — the shortcut is stored in ~/.config/vocalinux/config.json:

   {
     "shortcuts": {
       "toggle_recognition": "ctrl+ctrl",
       "mode": "toggle"
     }
   }

3. Check logs — run with vocalinux --debug and look for evdev-related errors

Alternative permission approaches

If you prefer not to use the udev rule, you can:

• Set ACLs per-session (does not persist across reboots):

  # Run on the host
  sudo setfacl -m u:$(whoami):r /dev/input/event*

• Use X11 instead of Wayland: Vocalinux can use the pynput backend on X11/XWayland, which doesn't need /dev/input/ access. Switch to an X11 session at the login screen.

📌 Summary

Step	Where	Command
Create Distrobox	Host	distrobox create --name fedora-dev ...
Install vulkan-tools	Distrobox	sudo dnf install -y vulkan-tools
Install Vocalinux	Distrobox	./install.sh
Fix input permissions	Host	Create udev rule (see Step 4)
Run	Distrobox	vocalinux

[jatinkrmalik]

@jacola This is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up, it's exactly the kind of real-world documentation that helps other users.

I love the comprehensive approach here: Distrobox for the immutable filesystem, Vulkan tools for GPU detection, and especially the udev rule for input device access.

Question: Would you be open to us incorporating some of this into the installer itself?

Specifically:

1. Detecting immutable/Atomic distros and automatically suggesting Distrobox
2. Adding a --distrobox flag or auto-detection to handle the installation path
3. Including the udev rule setup as an optional step

It would make Vocalinux much more accessible on modern Fedora derivatives. Would you be interested in collaborating on that, or would you prefer we link to your guide as the authoritative source?

Thanks again for this awesome contribution! 🙌