🐚 Chiral OS

A hand-built Linux distribution powered by XFCE compiled from source, not assembled from a base image.

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What is Chiral and why it exists?

Chiral OS is a custom Linux distribution built from Linux From Scratch and BLFS, with XFCE as its desktop environment. Every core package — toolchain, init flow, desktop stack — is compiled by hand rather than inherited from an upstream distro. It boots from a self-built live ISO using a custom BusyBox initramfs, and currently runs verified in a VM (QEMU/VirtualBox), with bare-metal driver support being expanded ahead of a full release.

✨ Highlights

• 🧱 Built from source — full LFS toolchain + BLFS package set, no upstream base distro
• 🖥️ XFCE desktop — lightweight, fast, and fully themed as the default experience
• 🎨 Ricing built in — Catppuccin / Nordic themes, Papirus icons, Bibata cursors, picom, rofi, dunst, kitty, starship, JetBrainsMono Nerd Font — shipped via /etc/skel
• 💿 Custom live ISO — hand-rolled BusyBox initramfs, mksquashfs, grub-mkstandalone, xorriso
• 📦 Native package management — integrating xbps-src, wrapping LFS DESTDIR builds into .xbps packages
• 📡 Real hardware support — NetworkManager GUI stack built from source, WiFi drivers debugged and working (including ath9k/ath9k_htc)

📊 Project Status

Component	Status
Live ISO (x86_64)	✅ Boots — verified in VM (QEMU/VirtualBox)
XFCE desktop + ricing	✅ Working, set as default via /etc/skel
NetworkManager / WiFi	✅ Built and working from source
Bare-metal boot	🚧 Driver/hardware coverage in progress
xbps-src packaging	🚧 In progress (Path A: DESTDIR → .xbps)
Calamares installer	🚧 In progress
Distributable ISO	🔜 Planned

📥 Download

The ISO is currently distributed via Google Drive while releases are set up:

⬇️ Download chiral-live.iso

🚀 Booting the ISO

GRUB boot entry (live ISO)

The ISO ships its own GRUB config, generated with grub-mkstandalone. On boot you'll land on a menu equivalent to:

menuentry "Chiral OS (Live)" {
    linux  /boot/vmlinuz boot=live quiet
    initrd /boot/initramfs.img
}

If you land at a GRUB rescue/command prompt instead of the menu, boot it manually with:

set root=(cd0)
linux (cd0)/boot/vmlinuz boot=live quiet
initrd (cd0)/boot/initramfs.img
boot

💡 Swap (cd0) for the correct device if your VM presents the ISO differently — check with ls at the GRUB prompt.

Running in a VM

QEMU:

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm \
  -m 4096 \
  -smp 2 \
  -cdrom chiral-live.iso \
  -boot d \
  -vga virtio \
  -display gtk

VirtualBox:

1. Create a new VM — Type: Linux, Version: Other Linux (64-bit)
2. Allocate at least 4GB RAM and 2 CPUs
3. Attach https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxKLTWrWFhGB3HCN_wByQT9bIwV05XEM/view?usp=sharing as the optical drive
4. Enable EFI in Settings → System if booting via GRUB EFI mode
5. Boot — GRUB will load from the ISO automatically

🎨 Default Desktop Stack

Layer	Tool
Desktop Environment	XFCE
Theme	Catppuccin / Nordic
Icons	Papirus
Cursor	Bibata
Compositor	picom
Launcher	rofi
Notifications	dunst
Terminal	kitty
Shell prompt	starship
Font	JetBrainsMono Nerd Font

🗺️ Roadmap

• Broaden bare-metal hardware/WiFi driver support
• Land xbps-src packaging (Path A: wrap DESTDIR builds into .xbps)
• Ship Calamares installer
• Strip personal config for a clean distributable ISO
• First public ISO release

🤝 Contributing

Chiral OS is a solo-built distro that's opening up to contributions. Issues and PRs are welcome — especially around hardware compatibility, packaging, and desktop polish.

📜 License

Released under the MIT License.

Built from source, byte by byte. 🐧

LFS COUNTER FINDER - LFS ID = 32420 LFS VERSION - 13.0 SYSTEMD LFS WEBSITE - [GO TO LFS COUNTER PAGE] - (https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/cgi-bin/lfscounter.php)

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