AnduinOS 2.0.3: Dracut, Control Panel, Voice Input and a Refactored Installer #448
Replies: 4 comments 13 replies
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Great release Anduin thank you , i have two questions:
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you are the men |
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AnduinOS 2.0.4 will be shipped with a rescue center. Rescue center only available in live USB. It can detect existing AnduinOS installs, browse files, reset password, revert btrfs snapshots. So in case your machine run into a problem, boot the install stick, start the rescue center, fix it! By the way, any more features suggested for it? 
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I think your approach is excellent; using a I've also recently come across a project called grub-btrfs, which should be related to the topics you're discussing. I saw this project on Butterbian. I don't know the the practical details, and I haven't tried the relevant steps myself. Therefore, I don't know if it's feasible. I just happened to see this topic, so I'm providing this information for your reference. |
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It's problem is that made every snapshot requires regeneration of the grub. Since AnduinOS creates snapshots automatically, this is a huge performance regression. |
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Oh Oh, I understand your point of view now. I didn't expect this part to have side effects. |
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I have done fresh install of this version 2.0.3 and I really like all the improvements. After using the new installer, I can say that it is one of the most intuitive installer I have tried. And most importantly, now I can install AnduinOS on external USB drive from within Virtualbox, hence my case is solved (despite some small hurdles as below Note). Thank you @Anduin2017 and all contributors of my new favorite distro ! Note: |
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Ack! Will investigate! |
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Update: Apparently my laptop BIOS automatically always set Secure Boot enabled, even if I set to disable it. So I reinstalled AnduinOS, this time I set Secure Boot enabled. However upon booting, I still had to do the same steps as above. |
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Thank you for the update. We now understand what is happening. The fact that manually selecting EFI/AnduinOS/shimx64.efi successfully starts AnduinOS confirms that the signed boot chain and MOK enrollment are working correctly. grubx64.efi is the second-stage loader and is not intended to be launched directly, while mmx64.efi is MokManager rather than an operating-system loader. The remaining problem is specific to portable/external-drive booting. Because the installation was performed inside VirtualBox, the AnduinOS UEFI boot entry was stored in the virtual machine’s firmware NVRAM. That entry does not travel with the USB drive when it is moved to the physical laptop. The laptop therefore cannot automatically discover AnduinOS and requires manually selecting shimx64.efi. We are aware of the apparent solution—installing a generic EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI removable-media entry—but unfortunately it is not safe to enable unconditionally. A previous implementation caused some systems to enter an endless firmware “Reset System” loop, which was addressed in issue #422. The current installer deliberately avoids that fallback path during normal UEFI installations to prevent this regression. We are now investigating a safer solution that would install a directly bootable, Secure Boot-compatible fallback chain only when:
This needs to be tested both with and without Secure Boot, on fresh firmware state without any existing NVRAM entry, while also ensuring that the #422 reboot loop cannot return. For now, manually selecting EFI/AnduinOS/shimx64.efi is the correct workaround. Your additional testing has helped us identify the exact remaining gap, and we are researching a proper portable-drive fix. Thank you again for the detailed report and for your patience. |
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Noted your reply with many thanks. As a non technical user, I learn a lot from you, thanks again ! |
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Maybe an option for automatic updates for older people would be nice to have |
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You can install the unattended-upgrades package and enable a timer for apt-daily. |
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yeah i know but i was tinking about a gui interface like linux mint |
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AnduinOS already using unattended-upgrades. It was preinstalled. Upgrading is automatic already. |
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Good to know , thank you |
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We are pleased to announce AnduinOS 2.0.3, available now for AMD64 PCs and compatible ARM64 UEFI systems.
This release makes AnduinOS easier to set up, manage, and recover. A new Control Panel brings system tools together, private voice typing adds another way to work, and the installer gives users more control over their disks. Underneath those visible changes, the move to Dracut simplifies how both the installation media and the installed system boot.
One Place to Manage Your Computer
The new AnduinOS Control Panel gives our growing collection of system tools a common home. Drivers, appearance, networking, software, security, and recovery are organized into searchable categories, with individual settings also available through GNOME Shell search.
This lets us make the Welcome Center shorter. Settings you may want to revisit are available from the desktop, so getting through the first launch takes fewer pages.
For example, software-mirror selection now lives under Programs → Software Source. If you move to another country or change networks, you can test the available mirrors and switch from the Control Panel. The same window also provides controls for checking and installing system-package updates.
Recovery with a Clear Choice About Personal Files
The Control Panel also provides access to Factory Reset. On supported new Btrfs installations, this restores the system to its installation baseline while keeping your current Home files and settings by default. You can explicitly choose Roll back user data to restore Home to its initial state as well.
Disk Snapshots Manager now offers browsing and rollback for both System and Personal Files snapshots. Home can be rolled back independently, without undoing changes to system packages. Recovery creates a safety snapshot before replacing the affected system or Home subvolume, and rollback takes effect through a restart.
Home snapshot history remains available after rollback. This makes earlier recovery points reusable; it also means rolling back user data is not a secure erase operation.
Voice Typing That Runs on Your Computer
AnduinOS 2.0.3 introduces optional Voice Typing, powered by
whisper.cpp.After you choose to install the speech model, recognition runs locally and can work offline. You can configure your microphone and keyboard shortcut, then start and stop dictation from the desktop. The setup shows the model's download size before installation and includes a short performance check to select a suitable CPU or GPU configuration.
Live transcription can display words as you speak. Its Automatic mode adapts to the computer's measured performance, while manual controls remain available. You decide whether to enable the feature and download its model.
More Flexible Installation Alongside Windows
The native installer introduced in 2.0.2 now has a redesigned advanced-storage workflow. The manual partition editor makes it easier to plan which partitions to keep, resize, create, format, or remove, with clearer feedback before installation begins.
For users making room beside Windows, manual partitioning can shrink an eligible, healthy, unencrypted NTFS partition without moving its starting position. If the volume needs attention, the installer explains how to repair it in Windows before continuing. Guided coexistence remains available for disks that already have unallocated space.
This release also adds configurable Swap sizing and a dedicated disk-layout settings flow. Btrfs remains the default, with Ext4 available for traditional installations. As always, back up important files before changing disk partitions.
Dracut: A Simpler Boot Foundation
AnduinOS now uses Dracut for both its Live installation media and installed systems, replacing the previous combination of Casper and initramfs-tools.
Dracut prepares the early boot environment that loads the necessary components and locates the operating system. Using it consistently gives us a single approach to maintain and test across Live boot, installation, and the installed system.
Existing installations receive a staged migration through the normal package upgrade process. The migration checks the new boot environment and retains a recovery path until a successful boot is confirmed, then removes obsolete components. This is a substantial change beneath the desktop, with the transition handled by the system's packages.
Available Now
Get the AMD64 or ARM64 image from the official AnduinOS website. Choose the architecture that matches your computer and verify the SHA-256 checksum before installation. The two checksum files and two Torrent files are also preserved in the AnduinOS 2.0.3 GitHub Release.
Existing AnduinOS 2 users can receive compatible updates through the usual APT commands:
Review the proposed package changes and restart after the upgrade. Installation-media improvements apply to new images; upgrading does not repartition your disk or create missing factory recovery baselines. Factory Reset requires the baselines created by a supported Btrfs installation.
For the complete changes and technical details, read the AnduinOS 2.0.3 Release Notes.
Thank you to everyone who tested builds, reported problems, translated the system, and contributed code. Your feedback continues to shape how AnduinOS works, from the first installation to everyday use.
— Aiursoft
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