The Cassini Neo ISO with bugfixes for the latest Intel/ARC machines and more has arrived

We have been well over a month into 2023 and there has been a lot of development, upstream and by us since Cassini was released in December. So, it was time we brought you a refreshed ISO. I know I say this every release but the fixes described over here are for the installation process of the ISO, so running systems don’t have to upgrade to Cassini Neo. EndeavourOS is a rolling release based on Arch, just update your system regularly and you’re fine.

As the name already makes clear, this release is still operating under the main Cassini flag and it ships with some additional improvements on the main release, made thanks to precious feedback from our community. So without further ado, let’s dive into the features of our Cassini Neo ISO release.

Cassini Neo

The ISO ships with the following main package versions:

• Calamares 3.3.0-alpha3
• Firefox 109.0.1-1
• Linux kernel 6.1.9.arch1-2
• Mesa 22.3.4-1
• Xorg-Server 21.1.7-1
• nvidia-dkms 525.85.05-3

This release ships with the following bugfixes:

• A fix for slower machines during the installation process causing a time-out during the build of the boot images (intrams)
• When selecting none of the options in the Calamares bootloader field, the installation won’t crash anymore. (see image below) In that case, the system will be installed with the default systemd-boot option instead of GRUB, as introduced in our Cassini release.
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• bashrc is moved into /etc/skel instead of forcibly overwriting the one in an existing user’s home directory.
• A fix for the lack of full resume support hibernation after installation in some cases.
• Openssh will be installed by default again, which was accidentally left out on the Cassini ISO.
• The file /etc/default/grub isn’t installed anymore when systemd-boot has been chosen.
• The xf86-video-intel package is partially broken for 12th gen. Intel CPUs and doesn’t entirely work on ARC GPUs, causing the ISO/installed systems not to boot on those machines. Hardware detection has been added to not install the Intel video package on those machines, previous gen. Intel machines will get the Intel video installed by default for a better experience.
• The option for encryption has been added in the Calamares field when the replace a partition is chosen. (See image below.)
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ARM changes

In June 2022 we introduced the integrated install option on our main ISO for ARM in our Artemis release, after many requests to make the ARM install more user-friendly.

We received a lot of positive reactions for that but there were also requests to make the installation option available for dd, instead of downloading the entire ISO for x86_64 systems, but remaining the user-friendly approach with Calamares.

Well, we heard and understood that feedback and the ARM team has been working hard to make this possible. From now on we offer three installation options for ARM in a desktop setting and as a headless server install:

• Method one – Use the EndeavourOS x86_64 Live ISO to install an image.
• Method two – Download a script and use it to install an image.
• Method three – Download an image to be installed with dd or RPI imager.

I have to add that those install options are for our supported hardware, the RPi 4, Odroid N2, and PineBook Pro ARM SOC. For non-supported hardware, the install option remains the same. You can read more on the installation process over here.

A special thanks

We would like to thank the community and our financial contributors for their continuous support and feedback, without you we couldn’t continue our journey.

Also, a special shoutout to Ricklinux. Without your elaborate and unending testing, any release of ours would’ve fallen into shambles from the get-go.

Jonathon Fernyhough, 1982 – 2023

Recently, the entire Arch community, including the derivatives, received the shocking news that Jonathon Fernyhough passed away from cancer on January 7th 2023.

Jonathon was an avid FOSS advocate and brought a numerous string of work to the Arch world. Not only was he active in developing but he has helped the entire Arch universe effortlessly where he could.

When we launched our forum and website back in June 2019, he immediately offered his help and continued doing that in the background, even in the midst of his battle against his disease.

We lost a true gentleman but his memory and legacy will live on. So, we dedicate this release in memory and honour of Jonathon Fernyhough aka “Jonathon the Great”.

You still can share a personal thought or memory about Jonathon over here, if you feel to. It would help to comfort his family and loved ones during this period of their tragic loss.

The ISO can be downloaded on our homepage.