Summary
- AerynOS 2026.02 alpha has been released, an OS that uses an atomic workflow without an immutable filesystem.
- Major desktop updates: Cosmic 1.0.8, GNOME 49.4, KDE Plasma 6.6.1; Plasma choice in first-time wizard.
- Console-only installer now detects Wi-Fi connections, and tooling (Moss, Boulder) and dashboard speed/automation have been improved.
A few weeks ago, I gave AerynOS a spin because nobody was really talking about it. What I found was a cool little distro that offered the atomic experience without the immutable filesystem. Usually, the two go hand-in-hand, so it was interesting to see what happened when a distro adopted one but not the other.
Now, the AerynOS team has posted an update for version 2026.02 of the operating system. And while there’s a lot to go over, they’re all interesting changes that should make AerynOS even better to use.
I switched to the COSMIC Linux desktop, and I can’t wait for the future
COSMIC is out of this world, even with its flaws
AerynOS 2026.02 alpha is ready to download
And there’s a bunch of changes to explore
As spotted by Phoronix, the AerynOS 2026.02 alpha build is now available for download. AerynOS as a whole is still in alpha, so keep that in mind before you download it. However, I personally had a great time with the OS, so I do recommend giving it a shot if you want to try an atomic OS without the immutability.
The AerynOS February log starts off strong:
February has been a busy month for the project with a lot of activity around our tooling and infrastructure. We have merged a number of smaller improvements, which have both led to an increase in useful features, correctness and maintainability. Moss has become significantly quicker in usage, boulder has seen improvements to help automate recipe creation & updates to a set standard, and our summit dashboard has seen improvements to better represent build queues live and dynamically in graphical form.
So, what changed? Well, Cosmic desktop is now on version 1.0.8, bringing with it fixes for VLC freezes in applets, the File Manager Recents section removing unsupported actions, and the ability to copy the current path using the Shift key. Gnome has been updated to 49.4, which comes with a fix for Quick Menu focus behavior, a fix for default folders reappearing after deletion, and ‘many more fixes.’ On the KDE side, we’re seeing an update for KDE Plasma to 6.6.1, KDE Frameworks to 6.23.0, and KDE Gear to 25.12.2, with the Plasma setup being an option in the first-time wizard.
The new ISO also contains a console-only setup option. Previously, AerynOS only supported ‘headless install’ mode, which was ideal for servers and used the PC’s Ethernet connection to download packages. However, after people mentioned to the developers that they wanted to use a console-only option that could identify and use Wi-Fi connections, the AerynOS devs added that option, too.
There are a lot more changes in this version, so be sure to check out the log for all the details. And if you want to give it a spin, you can grab it from the AerynOS download page.
