Current version: v2.6.8
A custom Bazzite-based Linux distribution built for gaming — automatic GPU optimisation, low-latency audio, a green accent theme with Windows-style window management, and a zero-terminal firstboot experience.
Heavy W.I.P — Feedback appreciated! This is not a live OS. It needs its own drive, replaces your current OS, or runs alongside it as a dual boot. Minimum 40–50 GB free for dual boot. Can be tested in a VM first.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 64-bit x86_64 | AMD Ryzen / Intel 10th gen+ |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage | 40 GB SSD | 60 GB NVMe |
| GPU | AMD, NVIDIA, or Intel | AMD RDNA2+ or NVIDIA RTX |
| Boot | UEFI required | — |
Download the latest ISO from the Releases page, then flash it to a USB drive:
- Rufus — select DD image mode + GPT partition scheme
- Ventoy — copy ISO to Ventoy USB, boot and select it
- Fedora Media Writer — most reliable, always works
# Step 1 — unverified image to start the transition
rpm-ostree rebase ostree-unverified-registry:ghcr.io/cerberus9-dev/raptor-os:latest
systemctl reboot
# Step 2 — switch to the signed image
rpm-ostree rebase ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/cerberus9-dev/raptor-os:latest
systemctl rebootAlready on Raptor OS? Open Raptor Update Manager → Update & Reboot. Handles system image + Flatpak updates in one click. The app launcher automatically rebuilds its category index after updates so blank folders never appear.
Two dialogs appear on the first login, in sequence:
- Browser choice — Firefox (pre-installed, no download), Brave (~120 MB), or Chrome (~150 MB). Shows a network check, download progress bar, and retry prompt on failure. Closing the dialog keeps Firefox.
- App picker — 65+ optional apps across 12 categories. Nothing is pre-ticked. Everything here is also installable later from Discover or
flatpak install flathub <id>. "Skip — Install Nothing" is always available.
| Category | Apps |
|---|---|
| Communication | Vesktop (Discord client — native Wayland) |
| Browser | Firefox (memory-optimised: 64 MB cache, 4 processes, tab unloading), VLC |
| Gaming | Heroic Games Launcher (Epic/GOG/Amazon), ProtonUp-Qt, Protontricks, Wine, Winetricks |
| Creative | Krita (digital painting and illustration) |
| Media | mpv (lightweight playback) |
| Development | VSCodium, Git, Node.js, Python 3 |
| System | htop, KDE Partition Manager, BleachBit, Filelight, Mission Center, Flatseal |
| Raptor Apps | Raptor Cortex, Raptor GPU Profiler, Raptor Wallpaper, Raptor Update Manager — all grouped under their own Raptor OS category in the app menu |
| Overlays | MangoHud (green palette, Shift+F12), GOverlay, Gamemode |
| Category | Apps |
|---|---|
| Communication | Telegram, Signal, Slack, Zoom, Thunderbird, Element (Matrix) |
| Productivity | ONLYOFFICE, Bitwarden, Joplin, MarkText, Calibre, Obsidian |
| Office | LibreOffice |
| Creative | GIMP, Inkscape, Darktable, Blender, Kdenlive, Shotcut, OBS Studio, Audacity, Boatswain, HandBrake |
| Development | GitHub Desktop, Pods, GCC + Make + CMake, Ninja + Meson, Neovim, GitHub CLI |
| Gaming | Bottles, Lutris, Spotify, Plex, Cartridges, Ryujinx, RPCS3, RetroArch, Dolphin Emulator, PCSX2, Chiaki |
| Privacy | ProtonVPN, KeePassXC |
| Media & Downloads | FreeTube, Parabolic, Kooha, Clapper, Amberol |
| Audio Production | EasyEffects, Helvum, LMMS, Ardour |
| System | Warehouse, Impression, CoreCtrl, btop, Variety, GNOME Boxes, GNOME Backups, Warp, Flatsweep, Upscayl, Metadata Cleaner |
GTK4/Adwaita app with three modes (Power Saving / Balanced / Performance), each applying correctly-differentiated vm.swappiness (180/30/5), CPU governor, Energy Performance Preference, CPU max frequency, ACPI platform profile, PCIe ASPM, NVMe power, and audio power settings — switching modes always does a full reset before applying the target mode's settings, so nothing can get stuck half-applied.
- Live stats — RAM, swap, ZRAM, CPU boost, CPU/GPU temperature (colour-coded), CPU frequency, and time since the last optimization run
- Optimize Memory Now — reclaims real application memory (Firefox/Vesktop heap), not just kernel page cache, via cgroup v2
memory.reclaim - Quick Actions — Pre-Game Boost (Performance mode + cache drop in one click), Restore Desktop, Clear Shader Cache
- Persistent Settings — apply saved mode on every boot, auto-switch to Performance when a game launches, auto-restore Balanced when it exits
- Scheduled Cleanup — optional background optimization on a configurable timer (5–120 min)
- Game Mode — suspends 17 background services on game launch (Baloo, Akonadi, KDE Connect, speech-dispatcher, and more), stops
irqbalance, disables CPU deep sleep for the duration; all resumed automatically on exit
GTK4/Adwaita graphical profile switcher — GPU info banner (vendor, model, VRAM), five profiles (Auto/Balanced/Performance/Extreme/Power Saving) with a live environment-variable preview, one-click Apply with no reboot required, and a reference panel of useful per-game Steam launch options.
Gallery-style wallpaper picker — click any thumbnail to apply it, including four bundled Raptor-branded wallpapers alongside anything in your Pictures folder. Fit mode control (Fill/Fit/Stretch/Center/Tile). Right-click any image file in Dolphin → Set as Raptor Wallpaper to apply it directly with no window opening.
- Auto GPU detection at boot — AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, hybrid; sets Vulkan ICD, env vars, shader cache, CPU governor per profile
RADV_PERFTEST=gpl— cuts in-game shader compile stalls 30–60% on RDNA2+- Mesa GL threading system-wide via
/etc/drirc.d/— ~10–20% throughput on CPU-bound OpenGL games WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSRandDXVK_ASYNCnot set globally — both caused flickering in OpenGL games (Project Zomboid). Set per-game in Steam launch options instead
- Energy Performance Preference — the single biggest battery saver on modern CPUs (Intel HWP, AMD P-state); cuts package power 20–40% in Power Saving mode vs governor alone
- CPU max frequency cap (65% in Power Saving), ACPI platform profile coordination (fan curves, VRM limits at the firmware level on supported laptops)
kernel.sched_wakeup_granularity_ns=1000000— 1 ms vs kernel default 3 ms, reduces input/frame latency- irqbalance — suspended during game sessions to prevent IRQ reassignment causing frame-time spikes, restarted on exit
- Akonadi, tracker-miner-fs, plasma-browser-integration masked by default — none are needed on a gaming system, together save 300–650 MB
- Baloo: filename-only indexing — full-text content indexing disabled, 1 thread max
- ZRAM — zstd compression,
min(RAM/2, 8 GB), priority 100,discardenabled vm.page-cluster=0,vm.watermark_boost_factor=0,vm.min_free_kbytes=131072— avoids unnecessary decompression, reclaim bursts, and allocation stalls- Optimize Memory Now in Cortex — real app-memory reclaim, not just cache drops
- PipeWire 512-sample quantum (~10.7 ms) with matching low-latency config for both the native graph and the
pipewire-pulsecompatibility layer that Electron/Chromium apps (Discord, Spotify) actually route through — both configured with real-time scheduling api.alsa.headroom=0for outputs — eliminates a 170 ms buffer mismatch that caused crackling- Auto-suspend disabled on all audio devices; PipeWire/WirePlumber/pipewire-pulse all auto-restart on crash with burst-limited retry
- BBR congestion control + CAKE qdisc, 128 MB TCP buffers, socket busy-polling, TCP fast-open
- Cloudflare DoT — ~10 ms DNS vs ~40–80 ms ISP default
- USB autosuspend disabled for HID devices and Bluetooth adapters specifically — excluded from Cortex's power-mode switching entirely, so a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard can never be swept into a suspended state by a mode change
- Buttons — Minimize, Maximize, Close on the right; App Menu on the left
- Titlebar double-click — maximises the window
- Click to raise, edge snap (drag to screen edge to tile)
- Panel/taskbar uses KDE Plasma's own stock theme — green accent colours (buttons, selections, window decoration) still apply throughout, independent of the panel itself
See changelog.md for full version history.