Who We Are
Universal Blue is a manufacturing process that focuses on community-driven sharing of best practices via automation to make awesome desktop and server operating systems. That's nerdspeak for the ultimate Linux client: the reliability of a Chromebook, but with the flexibility and power of a traditional Linux desktop. We produce a diverse set of continuously delivered operating system images using bootc.
This is a tool that allows cloud infrastructure people to use their skills to help the Linux desktop. There are millions of cloud native system administrators who are passionate about Linux and keep the modern world running. It's not a distribution, but a new way to consume existing distributions, put together by these same people.
We also provide tools for users to build their own image using our templates and processes, which can be used to ship custom configurations to all of your machines, or finally make the Linux distribution you've long wished for, but never had the tools to create.
At long last, we've ascended.
This is a tool that allows cloud infrastructure people to use their skills to help the Linux desktop. There are millions of cloud native system administrators who are passionate about Linux and keep the modern world running. It's not a distribution, but a new way to consume existing distributions, put together by these same people.
We also provide tools for users to build their own image using our templates and processes, which can be used to ship custom configurations to all of your machines, or finally make the Linux distribution you've long wished for, but never had the tools to create.
At long last, we've ascended.
Our Images
Aurora is a clean and reliable desktop operating system for every type of user. Many batteries included.
Simply delightful.
Aurora features a lightly customized KDE Plasma 6 desktop experience that can be customized indefinitely. Super smooth and delightful.
Zero Maintenance
Install the system once and forget about maintenance. Updates are automatic. Upgrade your system in one-click, including all your apps.
The next generation of Linux Gaming for all of your devices - including your favorite handheld.
Play Your Favorites
Bazzite comes ready to rock with Steam and Lutris pre-installed, Steam Game Mode, HDR support for AMD GPUs, and numerous community-developed tools for your gaming needs.
Expanded Hardware Support
Support for handhelds PCs, Nvidia drivers and the latest Mesa for AMD & Intel pre-installed, and numerous tweaks applied as needed to ensure your games just work.
The next generation Linux workstation, designed for reliability, performance, and sustainability.
For You
Bluefin is an operating system featuring the best of both worlds: The reliability and ease of use of a Chromebook and the power of a GNOME desktop.
For Developers
Container focused workflows to get you started depending on where you're coming from, or bring your own. Wield the industry's leading tools at your fingertips.
An OCI base image of Fedora CoreOS with batteries included; a lightweight server image including most used services or the building blocks to host them.
Server-grade
Ready for running containerized workloads on either bare metal or virtual machines, with tools like wireguard, firewalld, cockpit, tailscale, ZFS support, and more.
Compute-ready
Optional support for Nvidia hardware, including containerized CUDA workloads.
Base Images
Universal Blue maintains a set of base images built from Fedora Atomic Desktops and then enhanced with additional hardware support and fixes. Note that these images are lightweight by design, and do not ship with many of the enhancements of our other images.
Universal Blue images are endlessly customizable and may be derived into new images through the use of a Containerfile and our GitHub build actions. We look forward to seeing what you create from them!
Create a custom image
Universal Blue images are endlessly customizable and may be derived into new images through the use of a Containerfile and our GitHub build actions. We look forward to seeing what you create from them!
Advantages over traditional Linux systems
- Reliable, atomic updates with built in rollback
- Built using industry standard OCI compliant images
- Hosted on ghcr.io
- Ninety (90) days of image archives allowing for flexible rollback options
- Globally distributed via CDN for fast image downloads
- Images signed with industry standard sigstore tools
- Known-good State and Fewer Failures
- Installation designed to last for the life of the hardware with minimal maintenance
- Significantly reduced configuration drift
- Kernel mods preinstalled on the image - including Nvidia drivers
- Clean separation of the base system from applications and your data
- Powerful Developer Features
- Container-focused development for clean and reproduceable environments
- Develop locally with the same tools and patterns used to deploy in production
- Community Maintained
- Shared maintenance of our desktops leads to better desktops, we strongly value fixing things for everyone so they can do the least amount of work possible
- Focuses expertise where it is needed the most so we can concentrate on our work instead of our operating system
- The project is maintained by a community of cloud native contributors with an explicit mission
- Unbridled customization
- Craft your perfect image from scratch or derive from others
- Rebase back to Fedora without reinstallation
- Not a new distribution, a layer of customization on Fedora that can be cleanly removed
Community
Whether you want async discussion, live support, or to learn about the project, we are here for you!I’ve seen what the future of operating systems at scale could be, and it starts with Project Bluefin.
When I experimented with Universal Blue over the weekend, I was reminded of just how cool the Linux operating system is. All of a sudden, I felt like I was back in the late 90s or early 2000s and was seeing the future of operating systems before my eyes.
The team behind Bluefin has taken care to make the project lightweight from a contribution perspective, fully automating much of the maintenance work, thus allowing developers to focus on innovation rather than upkeep.
Universal Blue is made up of alumni from organizations like:
And community members like you!
We're always looking for people to join, all skill levels and areas of expertise are welcome.
Universal Blue is not affiliated or endorsed by any of the above organizations.
Cloud Native
Universal Blue rests on the idea of bringing cloud native patterns to the operating system. We leverage standard cloud tools like the OCI standard images, Docker/Podman, and GitHub to build our images. This is a much lighter and faster way of building and deploying Linux environments. Professionals in the industry can leverage their pre-existing knowledge to create a better desktop experience for everyone. Simply put, our community shares the work of maintaining our desktops and investing in automating every aspect in order to provide a maintenance-free experience.
We feel that a dedicated group of enthusiasts can automate a large amount of toil that plagues existing Linux desktops today. This is achieved by reusing cloud technologies to deliver a more reliable experience running natively on your hardware.
This project is made possible by bootc. Here is s a video with more information about bootc joining the CNCF. (Note: Universal Blue is an open source project and does not have a formal relationship with Red Hat or any other vendors.)
We feel that a dedicated group of enthusiasts can automate a large amount of toil that plagues existing Linux desktops today. This is achieved by reusing cloud technologies to deliver a more reliable experience running natively on your hardware.
This project is made possible by bootc. Here is s a video with more information about bootc joining the CNCF. (Note: Universal Blue is an open source project and does not have a formal relationship with Red Hat or any other vendors.)
Metrics
It's important for users to have insight on the health of the projects they depend on. Below you'll find a detailed summary of users and contributors across the Universal Blue organization.
Contributions
Note: Image builds are automated, long periods of inactivity are normal.
Our thanks go out to Repobeats for their support.
Our thanks go out to Repobeats for their support.