KaOS launches first Dinit-based ISO, mostly systemd-free & shifts from KDE Plasma to Niri

KaOS 2026.06 marks a major milestone for this independent Linux distro by completing its transition to Dinit as the core init system, moving away from systemd after years of preparation and testing. System startup now runs through dinit, turnstile, and seatd, with a minimal systemd retained only for udev and tmpfiles. The display manager has also changed: greetd with tuigreet now replaces SDDM and integrates fully with seatd, suiting KaOS’s new architecture.

In addition, the distro adopts the Linux 7.0.13 kernel, bringing updated hardware support and stability improvements. While these backend changes enhance startup, KaOS also introduces a new user experience. Niri, combined with the Noctalia shell, is now the default desktop environment, fully displacing KDE Plasma and Kwin. Nonetheless, the system remains Qt-focused, and all shipped applications are still Qt or KDE based. For users who want to continue with Plasma, version 6.7 remains in the repositories until it is discontinued upstream.

Following these interface changes, Limine is now the default bootloader, with systemd-boot no longer offered. The Calamares installer supports pure Wayland environments and adds automatic partitioning choices for XFS, EXT4, BTRFS, or ZFS without manual setup. Finally, major system packages like GStreamer, Pipewire, OpenSSH, Bash, Nano and Mesa have been updated, and new tools, including starship as the shell prompt, are now bundled. Lastly, a new Phonon backend replaces the VLC backend for audio.