Linux Garuda i3WM Edition (20210809)

Garuda Linux – A rolling distribution based on the Arch Linux

Garuda Linux is a rolling distribution based on the Arch Linux that comes with a graphical installer (Calamares) for easy installation, and other advanced graphical tools for managing your system. It’s a performance-oriented distribution that uses zram, a performance CPU governor, along with custom memory management software. Garuda has striven to provide system stability by including the Timeshift backup utility.

Garuda i3WM Edition (20210809)

i3-wm is a lightweight window manager that is operated exclusively with the keyboard. Our version has a simple and easy configuration with LXappearance to handle GTK themes. We do ship the configuration with an easy cheat sheet to get you started. Due to its light resources, it has a really small memory footprint.

Easy Installation – We make the install process simple by using the Calamares installer, which is both fast and easy to use

Unleash the beauty – With handpicked desktop themes, appealing shell look and beautiful blur effects out of the box, Garuda Linux never lets you down

BTRFS as the default filesystem with zstd compression – BTRFS is a modern, Copy-on-Write (CoW) filesystem for Linux, aimed at implementing advanced features while also focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration

Automatic snapshots out of the box using Timeshift – You can access 5 recent snapshots directly from GRUB. While being a rolling release distro, our goal is to ensure that your system will not be left in an unbootable state after a problematic update. Thus, we use the BTRFS filesystem integrated with Timeshift which employs an automatic snapshot feature, backing up the system configuration before each update*
Note: *Garuda Linux does not imply that Timeshift and BTRFS are a full backup solution. If you wish to ensure your data’s security you must implement your own full data backup regimen. Garuda is not responsible in any way or manner if a data loss occurs. The user is solely responsible for ensuring the safety of their own data. Likewise, Garuda cannot guarantee that Timeshift can recover your system to a functional state in the event of a serious system breakage.

GUI for managing drivers and kernels (Garuda Settings Manager)

GUI tool for various common tasks (Garuda Assistant)

GUI for GRUB boot options (Garuda Boot Options)

GUI for network assistance & hotspot creation (Garuda Network Assistant)

GUI for installing curated gaming software (Garuda Gamer)

Features

Rolling Release
Garuda Linux is a rolling release distro based on Arch Linux, which ensures always getting the latest software updates.
We only use one extra repo on top of Arch Linux repos, placing us very close to Arch Linux without having to install the system via command line.

Linux-zen
A faster, more-responsive Linux kernel optimized for desktop, multimedia and gaming.
Result of a collaborative effort of kernel hackers to provide the best Linux kernel possible for everyday systems.

Ease of Use
We use micro as the default, terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while taking advantage of the capabilities of modern terminals.
Garuda Linux offers you various GUI tools for managing system settings out of the box to make your jumpstart easier.

Always Free
Garuda Linux will always remain free and open source. Our source code is currently hosted on GitLab . Everyone has right to copy, compile, study, modify and redistribute the source code. We create it to have a Linux-based operating system that is easy to use and beautiful.

Focus on Performance
Our goal is to provide a distro that focuses only on performance while making it beautiful. Thats why we made some (sane) performance tweaks.
1. Improved I/O performance
2. CPU scheduler set to performance – optional: install power-saving tweaks –
Code:
https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq
3. ZRAM enabled by default –
Code:
https://github.com/systemd/zram-generator
4. Nohang, an OOM prevention daemon –
Code:
https://github.com/hakavlad/nohang

Minimum requirements

Code:
https://wiki.garudalinux.org/en/home

30 GB storage space
4 GB RAM
Video card with OpenGL 3.3 or better
64-bit systemInstallation Procedure

Boot the PC and press the manufacturers key to open the menus. Common keys used: Esc, Delete, F1, F2, F9, F10, F11, or F12. Find more common keys and buttons.
Reset BIOS to factory default and reboot.
Disable fastboot in BIOS settings.
Go to security > secure Boot and disable secure boot in BIOS settings.
Make sure that SATA controller is set to AHCI mode in BIOS settings.
If your firmware supports UEFI then set your BIOS settings to UEFI only.
Create a bootable USB using DD/Etcher/Ventoy, if using Rufus make sure to use DD mode to flash the iso to usb.
From the firmware menu boot to usb drive while in UEFI or BIOS mode:
You might see separate commands for the same device. For example, you might see UEFI USB Drive and BIOS USB drive. Each command uses the same device and media but boots the PC in a different firmware mode. We recommend to boot drive in UEFI mode if listed.
After booting live media start the installer and choose ‘Erase Entire Disk’ in the Calamares Installer.Recommendations

We do not support dual booting as it can lead to many potential problems regarding peripherals such as Wifi & Bluetooth not working. It might also cause the system to be unbootable after other operating system updates and overwrites Garudas bootloader.
Our distro is optimized for performance on real hardware. Installing in virtual machines is not recommended as it might result in a bad experience!
We sacrifice extra RAM to improve the responsiveness of the system.
We believe in the principle “unused RAM is wasted RAM”.
More information on some common myths concerning RAM usage
Code:
https://www.linuxatemyram.com/

If you want to know how to install & setup Garuda Linux watch this short tutorial
Code:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsL5J5vVC4

We do not recommend the usage of Snap or Flatpak for software installation.Live session login details
Username: garuda
Password: garuda

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