[Beta testing] New installer

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Hello everyone! :grin:

We have been working on an alternative installer based on Calamares for a while. Our decision to use Calamares was based on Calamares being widely used and supported, having contributions by a lot of developers. The old Cnchi installer became difficult to maintain as it lacks documentation and would require a full rewrite to become properly functioning.

After configuring a big selection of desktops, we are finally releasing a beta version of our ISO and installer for public testing. It has an online mode with 14 desktops and a wide selection of packages that you can freely select or deselect, and an offline mode to install the Xfce desktop that you see on the ISO.

This is your time to test the ISO and the Calamares installer, and provide us useful feedback. Help us discover and fix bugs before we release the installer officially. This gives us time to ensure that everything is running fine.

When our (Calamares-based) beta ISO and installer are live, our current stable ISO will continue to be available until the new installer leaves beta status. Afterwards, the old (Cnchi-based) installer will be discontinued.

Download the beta installer

Note: Please post any feedback and issues pertaining to the new ISO and Installer by creating a New Topic on the Forum here in the Beta Testing category. Learn more about how to do so here: https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/about-the-beta-testing-category

Below we provide guides that will help you use the new ISO and installer:
• Online Installation Guide: https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/guide-online-installation-an-introduction-to-the-calamares-based-rebornos-iso-and-installer
• Offline Installation Guide: https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/guide-offline-installation-an-introduction-to-the-calamares-based-rebornos-iso-and-installer

A Brief List of Changes

New features

  • Installer

    • The ability to install RebornOS Offline without an internet connection.
    • The ability to select more file-systems, like Ext4, Btrfs, JFS, XFS, and F2FS (Ext4 is selected by default).
    • The ability to select multiple desktops in Online mode.
    • The ability to deselect any pre-selected options.
    • Automatic mirror handling and keyring refresh before installation.

  • Live ISO

    • The Live ISO now uses XFCE as its desktop environment. This will result in a smoother experience, especially on limited hardware.
    • Nvidia modeset to prevent black screen on Nvidia Optimus (Hybrid GPU) computers.
    • Additional drivers have been added.

  • Miscellaneous

    • Nvidia hook by default to update the initramfs whenever any Nvidia package is installed or updated.
    • Pipewire is installed by default.

Road map / planned features

Here are some of the things we are working on, that will arrive in a future release:

  • Installer
    • The automatic handling of drivers(Graphics, Wifi, etc.).
    • UI reworks to improve the install experience.
    • The ability to do system reset, preserving your files.
    • The ability to setup system restore points.
    • Automatic handling of common issues.

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