Hello CachyOS Enthusiasts, @everyone  
 
This is our second release of the year, bringing animated desktop previews in the installer, Winboat integration, a reworked website, and significant handheld edition changes!
 
First, the installer now shows animated GIF/WebP previews in the Desktop Selection to showcase each desktop environment. This is currently enabled for Plasma, GNOME, Niri and COSMIC, giving users a much better idea of what to expect before making their choice. And also, added support for JPEG XL in the Desktop Selection to reduce image sizes. The Desktop Environment list has also been sorted from easy and accessible setups to more advanced ones like window managers. Cachy-Update is now enabled by default for GNOME and KDE installations. The microcode installation logic has been improved - it will now detect the hardware and install the proper microcode instead of installing both and then removing the unneeded one. The error message when the EFI partition is too small has also been improved.
 
CachyOS-Welcome now includes a button to easily install and enable Winboat for a seamless Windows Docker VM experience. We have also added support for keyboard navigation to improve accessibility.
 
On the kernel side, linux-cachyos now publishes tagged releases in a dedicated Linux repository, replacing the previous single-patch (0001-cachyos-base-all.patch) workflow. chwd has massively decreased the initramfs size for NVIDIA dGPU configurations. We have also improved the experience for users in China with cachyos-rate-mirrors, which now includes a proper check before rating the mirrors. In cachyos-settings, the wireless regulatory domain is now automatically set based on the user's timezone. The website design has been reworked and improved to follow more modern standards.
 
For the Handheld Edition, we have replaced gamescope-session-plus with gamescope-session-cachyos, which is forked from Valve's gamescope-session and enables firmware updates for Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go devices. SDDM has been replaced with plasma-login-manager, and Limine is now selected as the default bootloader with automatic snapshots - systemd-boot will still be selectable.
 
On the fixes side, we have  removed bcachefs from the filesystem selection, as it now requires bcachefs-dkms. We also fixed encryption when LUKS2 is used and fixed enabling the "ly" display manager. In cachyos-settings, cachyos-bugreport.sh now redacts IP, username, hostname, and MAC address.
 
Finally, we are happy to announce new mirrors in Russia (jura12), Sweden (Zyner), and Canada (All Things Linux).
Features:
 
    Installer:
        Added support to show GIF/WebP videos in the Desktop Selection to showcase the desktops. This is enabled for Plasma, GNOME, Niri and COSMIC
        Added support for JPEG XL in the Desktop Selection to reduce image sizes
        Cachy-Update is now enabled by default for the GNOME and KDE installations
        Improved microcode installation logic — it will now detect the hardware and install the proper microcode instead of installing both and then removing the unneeded one
        Improved error message when the EFI partition is too small
        Sorted the Desktop Environment list from easy and accessible setups to more advanced ones like WMs
    CachyOS-Welcome:
        Added a button to easily install and enable "Winboat" for an easy Windows Docker VM
        Added support for FFMUC DNS server in DNS selection
        Added Ukrainian translation
    chwd: Decreased the initramfs size massively for NVIDIA dGPU configurations
    linux-cachyos: Instead of generating a 0001-cachyos-base-all.patch, a release is now generated in a Linux repository for each release of our patched kernel
    cachyos-rate-mirrors: Improved the experience for users in China&Russia massively with a proper check before rating the mirrors
    cachyos-settings: Added support to automatically set the wireless regulatory domain based on timezone
    website: The website design has been reworked and improved to follow more modern standards
    GitHub: Added issue templates to important GitHub repos to improve the quality of bug reports and provide guidance for the user
    Mirrors: New mirrors in Russia (jura12, cachy-arch.ru), Sweden (Zyner), and Canada (All Things Linux)
 
 
Fixes:
 
    Installer:
        Removed support for bcachefs in the filesystem selection due to the requirement of bcachefs-dkms
        Fixed encryption when LUKS2 is used for specific devices
        Fixed enabling the "ly" display manager
    cachyos-settings: cachyos-bugreport.sh now redacts IP, username, hostname, and MAC address
    chwd:
        Generic handheld profiles and improved support for handheld GPUs
        fwupd is now enabled for Lenovo handhelds
 
 
 
Changelog for Handheld Edition:
 
    gamescope-session: Replaced gamescope-session-plus with gamescope-session-cachyos, which is forked from Valve's gamescope-session
        Enables firmware updates for Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go devices
    plasma-login-manager: Replaced SDDM with plasma-login-manager for the login manager
    bootloaders: Limine is now selected as default with automatic snapshots. systemd-boot will still be selectable
    Installer: Merged Handheld Calamares with desktop edition calamares together
    ISO: ISO now uses Wayland instead of X11
 
Manual changes for existing users:
No manual changes needed. Just the usual updating:
 
sudo pacman -Syu
 
 
 
Download:
 
Desktop Edition:
 
Grab your copy of the latest ISO from our mirrors on SourceForge:
 
    CDN: https://iso.cachyos.org/desktop/260 [...] 260308.iso
    CDN2: https://cdn77.cachyos.org/ISO/deskt [...] 260308.iso
    Germany: https://mirror.cachyos.org/ISO/desk [...] 260308.iso
    USA: https://us.cachyos.org/ISO/desktop/ [...] 260308.iso
    China: https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.c [...] 260308.iso
    Russia: https://archlinux.gay/cachy/ISO/des [...] 260308.iso
    Russia: https://mirror.yandex.ru/cachyos/IS [...] 260308.iso
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/cachyos-arch/files
 
 
Handheld Edition:
 
    CDN: https://iso.cachyos.org/handheld/26 [...] 260308.iso
    CDN2: https://cdn77.cachyos.org/ISO/handh [...] 260308.iso
 
 
Support Us:
 
Your contributions help us maintain our servers. Consider supporting CachyOS through:
 
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CachyOS
 
 
Thank you for your continued support!
 
The CachyOS Team

Hello CachyOS Enthusiasts, @everyone
 
This is our third release of the year, bringing a new default GUI package manager, DNS-over-HTTPS support, fingerprint-based sudo, and a variety of installer and hardware detection improvements!
 
First, the installer now ships Shelly as the GUI package manager, replacing Octopi. A clean snapshot is now created immediately after the installation has finished and is retained permanently, providing users with a reliable baseline restore point. GRUB os-prober is now enabled by default to detect other operating systems on the same machine. The UKUI desktop has been dropped from the selection, and the GNOME package selection has been cleaned up and modernised. For AMD GPUs, a different Plymouth theme is now used, as the amdgpu driver was unable to render the previous theme reliably on laptops with a secondary monitor attached. Last but not least, a new option was introduced in the installer that sets up MangoWM with DMS shell.
 
CachyOS-Welcome supports DNS over HTTPS for better privacy. The redesigned DNS page lets you test connection speeds, auto-select the fastest server, or add custom ones. We also added a VRAM Management toggle to optimize graphics memory on AMD and Intel GPUs, full keyboard navigation, and sharper, dark-mode-friendly icons.
 
chwd automatically configures fingerprint readers for sudo prompts, detects specific Intel CPUs for better power saving, and correctly handle laptop edge cases. Firmware update fixes for the Legion Go.
 
In cachyos-settings, the default NVMe I/O scheduler was switched from none to kyber for better overall responsiveness under mixed workloads.
 
On the fixes side, the installer now prints the chosen partition method to the debug log, and old microcode packages are properly removed when reusing an existing boot partition. In chwd, the kernel search in the NVIDIA profiles is now more accurate, the forced Xorg session was removed from the 470xx profiles, and handheld product name matching was improved. In cachyos-settings, S01x power management was dropped due to issues with the NVIDIA 595 driver, and AggressiveVblank was disabled due to VR-related issues with the NVIDIA driver.
Features:
 
    Installer:
        Shelly now replaced Octopi as the GUI package manager
        A clean snapshot is now created immediately after installation and retained permanently, providing a baseline restore point
        GRUB os-prober is now enabled by default
        Added MangoWM as Desktop Option with dotfiles
        Dropped the UKUI desktop
        AMD GPUs now use a different Plymouth theme, as the amdgpu driver is unable to render the previous theme reliably on laptops with a secondary monitor attached
        Cleaned up and modernised the GNOME package selection
        Added option to install MangoWM with DMS shell
    CachyOS-Welcome:
        Added DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) support via blocky
        Added custom DNS server support and DHCP automatic indicator/reset
        DNS servers now display metadata (region, homepage, filtering) and support individual latency testing
        Added VRAM management toggle dmemcg-booster (additionally installs plasma-foreground-booster on KDE)
        Added full keyboard navigation support for accessibility
        Replaced PNG social icons with crisp, HiDPI-aware SVGs
        Added wezterm to the terminal helper
    chwd:
        Added native USB device detection (via libusb/sysfs) and chassis type detection
        Added support for fingerprint (fprint) sudo integration
        Added CPU family/model detection to support intel-lpmd
        Handhelds: Added exact patterns for Xbox ROG Ally
        Network: Added Marvell AVASTAR 88W8897 Wi-Fi profile (Surface Pro 4)
        Split NVIDIA profiles for laptops and desktop environments
        Split and updated profiles for Virtual Machines
    cachyos-settings: Switched the default NVMe I/O scheduler from none to kyber
 
 
 
Fixes:
 
    Installer:
        The partition method is now printed to the debug log
        Old microcode packages are now removed when reusing an existing boot partition
    CachyOS-Welcome:
        Fixed connectivity checks incorrectly returning true when ping fails
        Ensured external link icons are visible in dark themes
        Prevented multiple instances of the welcome app from launching simultaneously
        Added StartupWMClass for improved .desktop window matching
    chwd:
        Removed the kms hook from mkinitcpio.conf on non-portable desktops to fix NVIDIA driver conflicts
        Made the installed kernel search in NVIDIA profiles more accurate
        Removed forced Xorg session from the NVIDIA 470xx profiles (fixes compatibility with plasma-login-manager)
        Removed outdated WaylandEnable=false for GDM in Virtual Machine profiles
        Fixed false-positive handheld detections (e.g., specific MSI laptops being mistaken for the MSI Claw)
    cachyos-settings:
        Dropped S01x power management due to issues with the NVIDIA 595 driver
        Disabled AggressiveVblank due to VR-related issues with the NVIDIA driver
 
Manual changes for existing users: No manual changes needed. Just the usual updating:
 
sudo pacman -Syu
 
 
 
Download:
 
Desktop Edition:
 
Grab your copy of the latest ISO from our mirrors on SourceForge:
 
    CDN: https://iso.cachyos.org/desktop/260 [...] 260426.iso
    CDN2: https://cdn77.cachyos.org/ISO/deskt [...] 260426.iso
    Germany: https://mirror.cachyos.org/ISO/desk [...] 260426.iso
    USA: https://us.cachyos.org/ISO/desktop/ [...] 260426.iso
    China: https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.c [...] 260426.iso
    Russia: https://archlinux.gay/cachy/ISO/des [...] 260426.iso
    Russia: https://mirror.yandex.ru/cachyos/IS [...] 260426.iso
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/cachyos-arch/files
 
 
Handheld Edition:
 
    CDN: https://iso.cachyos.org/handheld/26 [...] 260426.iso
    CDN2: https://cdn77.cachyos.org/ISO/handh [...] 260426.iso
 
 
Support Us:
 
Your contributions help us maintain our servers. Consider supporting CachyOS through:
 
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CachyOS
 
 
Thank you for your continued support!
 
The CachyOS Team