Features
Everything AuxiNuxOS does
A modern desktop, a permanent safety net and complete freedom of choice.
Desktop
KDE Plasma, on Wayland
AuxiNuxOS uses KDE Plasma (the Debian 13 version) in a Wayland session, with the SDDM login screen and an AuxiNux-branded wallpaper.
The desktop is intentionally clean: Discover, the Plasma welcome screen, KDE Connect and browser integration are removed. Applications go through the AuxiNux OS Center, with a shortcut on the desktop.
The AuxiNux Office suite is included: AuxiWriter, AuxiSheet, AuxiPresent, AuxiPDF and AuxiText (which replaces Kate). LibreOffice can still be installed.
AuxiNux OS Center
The control centre
Written in Rust. Privileges go through polkit: the app never writes directly to /etc.
Applications
Search and install from Flathub (default) or AuxiNux DEB packages.
Updates
Apps and system, with a prior snapshot and progress bar. No update ever reboots the machine without warning.
Health
Disk, memory, failed services, updates, boot — with plain-language advice for each issue.
Restore
The last five restore points, plus the installation’s “Original state”.
Sources
APT repositories, well-known repos (VS Code, Docker CE, Firefox, Mullvad VPN, Signal), Flatpak remotes, test kernel.
First-boot wizard
Browser (Firefox, Brave, LibreWolf, Chromium, Vivaldi), player (VLC, Haruna, mpv), privacy tools, profile. Can be re-run from Settings.
Restore
Rollback, built in
The system is installed on BTRFS (zstd compression) with separate subvolumes. snapper and grub-btrfs take a snapshot:
- before every DEB package transaction, whatever tool is used;
- every day, automatically;
- on demand, plus the “Initial installation” snapshot.
A restore never touches /home or your Flatpak apps, and the previous system is kept. If the machine no longer boots, choose “AuxiNux OS - snapshots (restore)” in GRUB.
auxi snapshots
sudo auxi snapshot "before test"
sudo auxi rollbackBoot protection
A sentinel watches every boot
The boot-sentinel service only counts a boot as successful once a real graphical session is running.
- If the desktop fails twice in a row, the machine switches to a rescue console offering a restore.
- On the 3rd failure, the last pre-update snapshot is restored automatically.
The sentinel can be disabled with the auxinux.nosentinel kernel parameter. A console is always available with Ctrl+Alt+F2.
Usage profiles
What each profile changes
sudo auxinux-profile set gaming — or from the AuxiNux OS Center.
| Setting | Office | Multimedia | Gaming |
|---|---|---|---|
vm.swappiness | 100 | 60 | 60 |
vm.vfs_cache_pressure | 100 | 50 | 50 |
vm.max_map_count | default | default | 2147483642 (SteamOS value) |
split_lock_mitigate | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PipeWire quantum | 1024 | 256 | 512 |
| Audio real-time priority | — | 95 | 90 |
| Power profile | balanced | performance | performance |
These values rely on well-known mechanisms; no benchmarks have been published yet.
Windows apps and gaming
Your Windows programs have a home
Double-click an .exe, .msi or .lnk file: the AuxiNuxOS Windows wizard offers three choices:
- Look for a Linux alternative (default);
- Install in an isolated space with Bottles;
- Run directly with Wine.
Each application gets its own Wine prefix, so one failure does not affect the others. Wine, winetricks, DXVK, 32/64-bit Vulkan and gamemode are included; Steam + Proton, Heroic and Lutris install on demand.
Privacy
What you do is your business
Zero telemetry
No telemetry enabled by AuxiNuxOS; Plasma/KDE telemetry is turned off. No popularity-contest, whoopsie or apport.
No account
No mandatory cloud account, no ads, no forced applications.
Protection
UFW firewall, optional LUKS2 encryption at install, screen lock after 10 minutes.
Bundled tools
Offered by default: KeePassXC, Kleopatra, OnionShare, Metadata Cleaner, BleachBit.
And also
Bilingual, Canadian, efficient
Canadian bilingual
Default fr_CA locale with en_CA fallback, Canadian French and English dictionaries, “French (Canada)” keyboard, America/Toronto time zone. The live image first asks “Français / English”.
Memory under control
zram (zstd, up to 50% of RAM) and systemd-oomd, which closes the hungriest app instead of letting the machine freeze.
The auxi command
One simple command to update, search, install, snapshot or roll back. Direct APT can be re-enabled.