Editions
Every edition is built from one catalogue, on the same boot, installer and system tuning. What changes is the session you log into, the apps that open your files, and the login screen.
Released editions
| edition | name | session | login screen | browser for links | base |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Based Workstation | dev/zorin/resolute |
Zorin's GNOME fork | GDM | Zen | Ubuntu 26.04 |
| Based Poweruser | dev/sway/trixie |
SwayFX with Omarchy's workflows | GDM | Zen | Debian 13 |
| Retro WhiteSur | retro/whitesur/trixie |
KDE Plasma | SDDM | Zen | Debian 13 |
| Retro Chicago95 | retro/chicago95/trixie |
XFCE | LightDM | Firefox ESR | Debian 13 |
| Pure Omarchy | pure/omarchy/trixie |
Hyprland with the Omarchy desktop | SDDM | Chromium | Debian 13 |
| Pure Sway (SwayOS) | pure/sway/trixie |
sway | greetd with gtkgreet | Chromium | Debian 13 |
The name is the edition's folder under os/ in this repo. Installing onto a system you
already have uses it.
Based Workstation and Based Poweruser are the same system with a different desktop. Both carry the Omarchy themes, menu and tray, the terminal setup, Docker, the C and C++ build tools and zsh, and both offer the same developer tools at the first login, see Developer tools.
Based Workstation is the one to take if you have no opinion: an everyday windowed desktop, Zorin's GNOME fork as the session, on Ubuntu 26.04. Zorin publishes its packages for Ubuntu 24.04 only, so Based rebuilds Zorin's themes, apps and shell extensions for 26.04 and runs them on Ubuntu's own GNOME. Zorin's sounds and wallpapers are not in the image, because their licences do not let Based pass them on. An Omarchy theme drives the terminal's colours, light or dark, and the wallpaper. The look and the icon set stay Zorin's, and Zorin's own appearance app still picks them.
Based Poweruser is the keyboard-driven one: SwayFX tiling with Omarchy's workflows, the
Based keybinding table, and the GNOME and Qt app integration tuned so ordinary apps behave.
Super+Ctrl+K lists the keys, and Keybindings has the list.
Retro WhiteSur is KDE Plasma with a macOS look: a top bar with the global menu and a dock at the bottom. It keeps that look, so it does not carry the Omarchy theme engine.
Retro Chicago95 is XFCE dressed as Windows 95, down to the installer. Its browser is Firefox ESR with the classic menu bar. No Omarchy theme engine here either.
Pure Omarchy and Pure Sway are the pure editions: stock upstream with no Based layer on top. Pure Omarchy is Omarchy's own desktop done the Debian way, and it carries no based-* package. Pure Sway calls itself SwayOS: sway as Debian ships it, every package Debian's own, behind gtkgreet's login screen.
Not released
Built from the same catalogue, with no new image: Based GNOME, sway, SwayFX, Hyprland and Plasma, the Zorin look without the developer tools, the developer GNOME edition, the flavours of sway, SwayFX and Hyprland that swap the GNOME apps for KDE's, and the Debian 13 and Ubuntu 26.04 twins of Based Workstation and Based Poweruser. The ISOs those editions published up to v3.1.3 stay downloadable. Based Mobile on Phosh is kept in the catalogue but parked.
Which browser, and why
Most editions install two browsers and use them for different jobs.
Zen is the browser and opens your links, on Based Workstation, Based Poweruser and Retro WhiteSur. Chromium there is for web apps: the Web Apps app makes Chromium windows. A web app from the Omarchy menu opens in your default browser instead, which is Zen unless you change it. Setup that needs you has both.
The pure editions carry no Zen, so stock Chromium is their browser. Retro Chicago95 has Firefox ESR alone, because Zen draws its own window frame and no theme reaches it.
No browser opens a website when it starts. Chromium's first screen is the new tab page, with no promotional tabs and no default-browser prompt.
Nothing sets BROWSER for the session, so the default is yours to change the usual way:
xdg-settings set default-web-browser <name>.desktop