TUXEDO OS Shifts Gears: Moving from Ubuntu to Debian Testing for a Fresh Rebase

TUXEDO Computers has announced that TUXEDO OS will rebase on Debian Testing, moving away from Ubuntu. Initially launched in 2022, TUXEDO OS was built upon an Ubuntu long-term support (LTS) release, primarily to support TUXEDO’s own hardware. Although the distro was available for general use, it experienced challenges over time.

The decision to drop Ubuntu stems from several key concerns. First, TUXEDO cited the growing difficulty of maintaining their hybrid update model as the underlying LTS stack ages, leading to conflicts when backporting core components. Users had already noted issues, such as the distro still using KDE Plasma 6.5 despite the release of Plasma 6.7.

Secondly, TUXEDO has expressed dissatisfaction with Canonical’s direction for Ubuntu, particularly regarding the increasing reliance on Snap packages. The company believes that Canonical is prioritizing Snap over traditional DEB packages, complicating their ability to keep it out of their system. The perceived lack of transparency in Canonical’s roadmap for AI features and the slow rollout of security updates were additional frustrations.

By shifting to Debian Testing, TUXEDO OS aims to offer users a quasi-rolling experience, with access to newer software while reducing the maintenance burden of outdated packages. Users can expect a consistent user experience, as TUXEDO OS will still utilize apt for updates and maintain support for DEB packages.

Significantly, TUXEDO OS will adopt Btrfs as the default filesystem instead of EXT4, enabling automatic snapshots for easy rollbacks through SUSE’s Snapper tool. As a result, existing users will be required to perform a clean install to migrate to the new version, though paths will be provided for those preferring to remain with Ubuntu, allowing a transition to Kubuntu.

Further changes, including a new kernel cadence and a redesigned visual theme, are forthcoming. A beta version of the Debian-based TUXEDO OS is also expected soon.

For more information, visit TUXEDO’s announcement.