The release of the CachyOS 260426 distribution has been presented, which is based on the Arch Linux package base, using a continuous delivery model for updates, and is popular among gamers. According to ProtonDB service, the CachyOS project is the most popular Linux distribution (21.1% share) used by gamers.
The distribution is notable for its performance optimizations and the ability to install various desktop environments. In addition to the base environment based on KDE, GNOME, Xfce, i3WM, Wayfire, LXQT, OpenBox, Cinnamon, Cosmic, Niri, MangoWM, LXDE, Mate, Budgie, Qtile, Hyprland, and Sway are available for installation. The size of the installation iso image is 3.1 GB. There are separate builds (2.8 GB) available for portable devices (Handheld Edition) featuring a GameMode-style interface and components for gamers.
The distribution includes the BORE task scheduler by default, optimized to reduce latency on the desktop and prioritize interactive processes. The kernel and packages are built with LTO (Link-Time Optimization) enabled, utilizing instructions available in processors based on the x86-64-v3, x86-64-v4, and Zen4 microarchitectures. The base packages also include PGO (Profile-Guided Optimization) or BOLT (Binary Optimization and Layout Tool) optimizations. Filesystem options include btrfs, zfs, ext4, xfs, and f2fs.
Key Changes:
- The installer features a new package management interface called Shelly, which provides both a command-line interface and a GTK4-based GUI with Wayland support. The package management is handled using the libalpm library. In addition to the main repositories, AUR is supported, and packages in Flatpak format can be installed.
- The installer has improved the interface for selecting GNOME-related packages.
- After the installation is complete, a snapshot is created in the file system, allowing for a rollback to the initial state.
- A composite environment has been added to the available graphical environments for installation. server MangoWM with the DMS (Dank Material Shell) interface has been included. The option to install the UKUI (Ubuntu Kylin User Interface) desktop environment has been removed.
- The GRUB bootloader now automatically detects other installed operating systems via the os-prober package.
- The settings provided by the CachyOS-Welcome application have been updated to include enabling DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), specifying a custom DNS server, viewing DNS server information, testing DNS query latency, installing the WezTerm terminal emulator, and enabling the dmemcg-booster service (which moves data of background applications from video memory to system memory to increase the video memory available for active gaming).
- For NVMe devices, the 'kyber' I/O scheduler is enabled by default, which uses separate queues for read and write operations, prioritizing read request processing.
- The chwd utility (CachyOS Hardware Detection), used for automatic detection and installation of drivers and kernel modules, has added support for USB devices, the Xbox ROG Ally game console, and CPU models. Intel CPU support now includes activation of the intel-lpmd module to reduce power consumption during idle states. A hardware profile for the Marvell AVASTAR 88W8897 Wi-Fi, used in the Surface Pro 4 tablet, has been added. NVIDIA profiles for PCs and laptops have been separated. Profiles have been separated and updated for of virtual machines.
- Support for fingerprint sensors for authorizing operations through sudo has been added.
Source: opennet.ru
