Vanilla OS 3 ‘Reunion’ released with ARM64 support

Vanilla OS has released its third major version, codenamed ‘Reunion’. This Debian-based Linux distribution features an immutable, atomic system management style through its ABRoot technology, which maintains two system versions to allow for safe updates and reboots.

A primary highlight of this release is the introduction of official ARM64 support for UEFI-compatible devices, making the OS available for single-board computers, ARM-based laptops, and workstations. The update includes the GNOME 50 ‘Tokyo’ desktop environment, operating exclusively with Wayland, and utilizes Linux kernel 7.1.3.

New features include ‘Vanilla Continuity’, an in-house backup and restore tool that uses snapshots to protect home folders, Flatpak app lists, and ABRoot metadata. The release also introduces several application changes, such as the Ptyxis terminal replacing Black Box, Papers replacing Evince, and Resources replacing the GNOME system monitor. Additionally, the Apx tool has been overhauled to include Debian and openSUSE Leap in its default stacks, and most system images now support reproducible builds, with the exception of NVIDIA-specific images.