What's Included
Shanios comes fully equipped with a comprehensive software stack, carefully curated for desktop computing, development, gaming, and professional workloads. Everything works out of the box—no configuration required.
System Foundation
- Base: Arch Linux with rolling release updates, latest stable kernel with Intel and AMD microcode
- Firmware: Comprehensive collection split by vendor: AMD GPU, Atheros, Broadcom, Cirrus, Intel, MediaTek, NVIDIA, Radeon, Realtek, and others
- Bootloader: systemd-boot with UEFI and Secure Boot support
- Boot Graphics: Plymouth with BGRT theme (displays manufacturer logo during boot)
- Initramfs: dracut with full UKI (Unified Kernel Image) generation via
gen-efi - Filesystem: Btrfs with compression, CoW snapshots, automated maintenance and continuous background deduplication via bees
- Encryption: LUKS2 (cryptsetup), fscrypt, ecryptfs-utils, gocryptfs
- Network Storage: NFS client/server, Samba/CIFS, SSHFS
- Updates: Atomic deployment via shani-deploy with automatic rollback on failed boot
Security
- Mandatory Access Control: AppArmor enabled by default with policies enforced at boot
- Firewall: firewalld active with pre-configured rules for KDE Connect and Waydroid
- Intrusion Prevention: fail2ban for automated log-based banning
- TPM: tpm2-tools and tpm2-tss for hardware security module interaction
- Smart Card & Hardware Keys: opensc, ccid, libfido2 (FIDO2/U2F security keys)
- Remote Access: OpenSSH 10.x, Tailscale mesh VPN, cloudflared zero-trust tunnels
- VPN Protocols: OpenVPN, WireGuard, L2TP, PPTP, strongSwan/IKEv2, Cisco AnyConnect, SSTP, Fortinet SSL, Cisco VPNC — all pre-installed
Desktop & Applications
- Desktop Environment: GNOME or KDE Plasma (chosen at download), Wayland-first with full X11 compatibility
- Pre-installed Apps (both editions): Vivaldi browser, OnlyOffice, Gear Lever, Warehouse, Flatseal, Pods, BoxBuddy
- KDE extras: Kate, Okular, Gwenview, Elisa, Haruna, Kamoso, KolourPaint, and games
- GNOME extras: Papers, Loupe, Showtime, Decibels, GNOME Text Editor, Gnote, Meld, Boxes, and games
- Package Formats: Flatpak (primary, from Flathub, auto-updates every 12 hours), AppImage via Gear Lever, Nix package manager (pre-installed)
- Containers: Podman (rootless), podman-docker, buildah, skopeo, Distrobox, LXC, LXD, Apptainer, Snap
Multimedia
- Audio: PipeWire 1.4.x with full ALSA, JACK, and PulseAudio compatibility; WirePlumber session manager
- Audio Codecs: FLAC, OPUS, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AC3/DTS, ALAC, Speex, SBC, LDAC, aptX, LC3, WavPack
- Video: Complete GStreamer plugin suite; FFmpeg (full build); AV1, HEVC, VP8/VP9, H.264, H.265, AVIF, HEIF, JPEG XL, WebP
- Image Processing: ImageMagick, camera RAW via libraw; HDR via libplacebo and libdovi
Graphics Drivers & APIs
- OpenGL/GLES: Mesa 3D 25.x for Intel, AMD, NVIDIA (nouveau), and software rendering
- Vulkan: Drivers for Intel, AMD, NVIDIA open, software, VMs, DirectX-on-Vulkan, Qualcomm, Apple Silicon
- Hardware Video Acceleration: Intel iHD driver, NVIDIA open kernel module, VDPAU, VA-API
- Hybrid Graphics: nvidia-prime (PRIME render offload), switcheroo-control
Printing & Scanning
- Print System: CUPS 2.4 with filters, PDF printer, network browsing, ipp-usb for driverless printers
- Printer Drivers: HP, Epson, Brother, Canon, and generic PCL drivers
- Scanning: SANE with sane-airscan (driverless network scanning via IPP)
Networking
- Connection Management: NetworkManager 1.54.x, ModemManager (3G/4G/5G), wpa_supplicant
- Mesh VPN / Tunneling: Tailscale, cloudflared
- DNS & Discovery: dnsmasq, openresolv, Avahi (mDNS/DNS-SD)
- Web Server: Caddy 2.10.x with automatic HTTPS via Let's Encrypt
- Remote Desktop: FreeRDP client; kRDP/kRFB (KDE); gnome-remote-desktop (GNOME)
Gaming
- Controllers: 8BitDo, PlayStation DS3/DS4/DualSense, Xbox, Nintendo Switch Pro, Joy-Cons, and many more
- Racing Wheels: Logitech, Thrustmaster, Fanatec with full force feedback
- RGB Peripherals: OpenRGB udev rules for keyboards, mice, headsets, fans from all major manufacturers
- GameMode: Auto-applies CPU governor, I/O priority, and GPU performance mode when games are launched
Shell Experience
- Default Shell: Zsh 5.9 with fish-style syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and history substring search
- Prompt: Starship — fast cross-shell prompt with git integration
- Smart History: McFly — neural network command history search
- Fuzzy Finder: FZF — integrated into Zsh for Ctrl+R, Ctrl+T, and Alt+C
- Alternatives: Bash 5.3 and Fish 4.5 also installed
Fonts & Accessibility
- Fonts: Noto fonts family (including CJK, emoji), TTF Hack; Indian language support (Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, etc.) pre-configured
- Input Methods: IBus with typing booster, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indic scripts
- Accessibility: Orca screen reader, espeak-ng TTS, brltty (braille), speech-dispatcher