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FAQ#

What desktops are officially supported?#

You can make your own tracks to support whatever desktop or WM you want, this is just what we offer by default.

The language I want isn't there!#

Firstly, to change languages later on and check what's there, you can go to Settings > System (scroll down) > Region and Language.

To add a new language, edit /etc/locale.gen and add your locale. If you don't know what yours is, we need to construct it first.

Locales look like this:

Structure
<language>_<COUNTRY>.<ENCODING> <ENCODING>

i.e.

Example: English (US)
en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

You can find a list of country codes and language codes (look under set 1) on Wikipedia. All language and country codes are 2 letters long. Your encoding will always be UTF-8.

To help you further, the example locale.gen file with all options is included below, just copy one ending with UTF-8.

Once you have your locale, add it in on a new line in /etc/locale.gen. If you don't know how to edit the file, open a terminal window and type sudo nano /etc/locale.gen.

locale-nano Put the locale on a new line, right there.

Go to the end with the arrow keys and hit Enter to make a new line. Paste your country code in with Ctrl+Shift+V or just type it. Hit Ctrl+X to save.

Now, edit /system.yaml (covered further down) and add these lines:

system.yaml
commands:
  - 'locale-gen'

Some languages need additional fonts!

CJK:

system.yaml
packages:
  - 'noto-fonts-cjk'

Arabic:

system.yaml
packages:
  - 'noto-fonts'

Bengali & Indic:

system.yaml
aur-packages:
  - 'ttf-freebanglafont'

Cyrillic (i.e. Russian):

system.yaml
aur-packages:
  - 'ttf-paratype'

Hebrew:

system.yaml
aur-packages:
  - 'opensiddur-hebrew-fonts'

Khmer:

system.yaml
packages:
  - 'ttf-khmer'

Persian:

system.yaml
aur-packages:
  - 'ttf-x2'

Save the file and update your system, then reboot.

Now, set your language. In the default GNOME desktop, you need to go to Settings > System > Region and Language.

region-gnome

Once there, click on Language.

lang-gnome-1

Now, click the icon to show all languages.

lang-gnome-2

My language still isn't there!

If you've installed the needed fonts for your language and it still won't show up, validate that your /etc/locale.gen and /system.yaml files are correctly formatted. If they are properly formatted, manually find and install a font for your language, then reboot.

Find your newly added language and click it, then Select. It will now show a banner at the top of the settings window saying that you need to log out to apply language settings. Click the Log Out button to do so.

lang-gnome-banner

Log back in, and revel in the fact that you can use your system in your own language.

System Settings (not Settings) may still be in English.

Why can't I use another init system?#

blendOS relies heavily on systemd-nspawn for containers, which is like chroot but on steroids. It is included with the systemd package on Arch.

Why are my aliases not showing up on fish?#

blendOS has a file in /etc/profile.d that tells POSIX-compliant shells (i.e. bash, zsh) where to find your container binaries. These shells source it by default and understand the format. Fish is not POSIX-compliant. All you have to do is add the following to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

if status is-login
    exec bash -c "test -e /etc/profile.d/blend.sh && source /etc/profile.d/blend.sh;\
    exec fish"
end

The Plasma track isn't working!#

On the boot menu, hit E on the Arch Linux option. This will open an editor with controls shown at the bottom (arrow keys to move).

Remove splash from the kernel parameters and hit Ctrl+X.

grub-settings

This is only temporary, and will allow you to boot.

Once in your system, open the terminal. Type:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

This will open a basic editor (arrow keys to move).

Remove splash from the second GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT near the end and hit Ctrl+X to save and quit (hit Y to save, Enter to save as the same file name).

splash-boot

Now type:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

The edit is now permanent and KDE Plasma should work.

What should go on the host?#

Things like:

  • Drivers
  • Game Launchers (as a flatpak or a host package)
  • Terminal emulators
  • Web Browsers
  • File managers
  • Desktops/WMs
  • Podman containers
  • Anything that doesn't work in containers or as a flatpak

What is updating?#

It means to click the Update button in System Settings.

system-update

You can also run sudo akshara update in your terminal.

This should be done after editing system.yaml.

Then how do I edit system.yaml?#

Open your favorite text editor as root:

# GNOME
sudo gnome-text-editor /system.yaml

# KDE
sudo kate /system.yaml

# CLI editors
sudo nano /system.yaml

sudo micro /system.yaml

Make your edits, save, and update.

See the reference for details.

I need to switch to X11!#

Only the plasma and default-gnome/gnome tracks use Wayland.

Android support will no longer work after switching.

First, install Xorg and update:

system.yaml
packages:
  - xorg
* xorg is a package group, not a standalone package.

Then, change your session to X11 depending on your desktop's login screen:

GNOME (GDM)#

There is a cog in the bottom right. Click it and choose GNOME on Xorg.

KDE (SDDM)#

In the bottom left there is a session selector. Click it and choose Plasma (X11).

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