NebiOS 10.2 launches with ground-up napp-runtime and Bundle Store overhaul

Born as a personal project over a decade ago, when it was known as "Spez Linux," today's Ubuntu-based NebiOS has grown to become a full-fledged operating system with an entire ecosystem that accompanies it. What makes it stand out is the NebiDE desktop environment, which is a Wayfire-based custom Wayland compositor. Other highlights include Steam Proton integration, easy multi-kernel installation thanks to the integrated kernel switcher, the NebiOS App Runtime (napp-runtime) portable app with bubblewrap containerization, and more.

Version 10.2, released earlier today, focuses on the completely rewritten napp-runtime and Bundle Store. This component manages apps, packages, and services for users to install. In addition to these two rebuilt parts, this new stable NebiOS release comes with the following highlights:

• Overhauled widget moving and editing system in the NebiDE wallpaper engine, which now features a redesigned widget add screen.
• Automatically scroll to the selected language during setup in OOBE.
• The NebiDE rewrite squashed three bugs, which affected the lock screen, client minimize animation, and Control Center keyboard shortcuts assignment.
• Waybar side tooltip flickering is now gone.
• Due to the login screen freeze on Nvidia hardware, the Cage compositor has been replaced with Weston as a temporary measure.

Although it is still in the experimental stage, it is worth mentioning that NebiOS 10.2 is the first release to get a separate ISO for systems with Nvidia GPUs under the hood. In the official download page, this ISO is labeled "Generic PC (64 bit) with Latest NVIDIA Drivers," and those interested in grabbing it should be aware that it bundles the 590 driver, which lacks support for Pascal-based cards such as the GTX 1080 Ti or 1050 Ti. The last issue worth being mentioned with this experimental ISO is that, if the login screen asks for a password, the user should just press Enter.

Sadly, NebiOS 10.2 comes with two known issues. The first one consists of flickering in NebiDE when using software rendering, and the second is a session logout after installing the update through Bundle Store. In this case, the user should close all apps and save work prior to updating. Last but not least, SourceForge users can grab the downloadables from this page. The regular ISO has 4.8 GB in size, while the experimental one is beefier at 5.5 GB.