{"slug": "cachyos", "name": "CachyOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Arch Linux-based distribution with performance-optimized kernels and CPU-targeted package builds.", "recommenders": 32, "commenters": 45, "warners": 1, "score": 31.053, "rising": 2.15, "first": "2025-11-16", "latest": "2026-10-21", "why": "Loved as a fast, Arch-based desktop that handles gaming well, and as a replacement for Windows or macOS.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 35, "neutral": 12, "compare": 3, "warn": 1}, "spark": [2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 1, 9, 1, 6, 2, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Gaming", "Performance"], "caveat": "AUR trust", "short_quote": "CachyOS guys, thank you, you made an incredible work on getting it all to this state. Absolutely great.", "icon": false, "domain": "cachyos.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://cachyos.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["CachyOS"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved as a fast, Arch-based desktop", "cites": [{"id": 787615248, "item_id": 49225953, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49225953", "by": "spockz", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast. Both with Firefox and Vivaldi. Especially compared to the windows install I used to have on the same machine. Or is your point only about windows?", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Can Intel finally beat ARM on performance per Watt?"}, {"id": 779726400, "item_id": 48732900, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48732900", "by": "Caboose8685", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The performance increases from their kernel + optimized packages are small but noticeable to me.", "excerpt": "CachyOS takes the default arch repos and re-builds packages targeting CPU generations and their instruction sets. There are no proprietary repos. Cachy has their own personal repo where some packages not in arch repos are built. Gaming stuff is NOT installed by default, but there is a button in the Hello app new users can click that installs 2 meta packages that install almost everything one might want for gaming. Ta", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 737490353, "item_id": 46093147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093147", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined", "excerpt": "Technically its performance is a bit slower than CachyOS, and some of the package versions can be a bit behind as well (like Mesa or the kernel), which can contribute to the slowness. Flatpaks work fine though for the most part. I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined, and don't mind ocassionally going into the terminal to fix something or do some maintenance (maybe o", "context": "has both installed", "use_case": "performance-focused gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}]}, {"text": " that handles gaming well", "cites": [{"id": 793037792, "item_id": 49564862, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564862", "by": "AmazingTurtle", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now.", "excerpt": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now. I play quite a few games. Only league of legends forces me to dual boot into windows every once in a week or so - fuck the anticheat cartel", "context": "gamer, dual boots Windows for League of Legends", "use_case": "daily driver OS, gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 748735328, "item_id": 46795958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795958", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "all the games I play work great on CachyOS.", "excerpt": "Those that love it will fight for it. Those that hate it will simply avoid using it. There may be some commercial incentives for IBM/Redhat to push for it. Either way it will always be divisive. Some sysadmins will begrudgingly support it at work and some absolutely love to support it. I have supported it in the enterprise and I use it on gaming machines at home. (CachyOS / Bazzite). My daily drivers, servers both ph", "context": "enterprise sysadmin", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Devuan \u2013 Debian Without Systemd"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}]}, {"text": ", and as a replacement for Windows or macOS.", "cites": [{"id": 779534736, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "daily driver desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 759433392, "item_id": 47464587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464587", "by": "ilitirit", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "excerpt": "Too little, too late. In fact, in this post they seem to be committing to keeping it as bad (or even making it even worse) for my use case. I've used Windows since 3.1. Win 11 was the straw that broke the camel's back. I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "context": "Windows user since 3.1", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 799338336, "item_id": 49958646, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958646", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS.", "excerpt": "Recently switched to KDE on a linux laptop (600 USD lenovo) and stopped using my macbook (m1 16\" pro). Speakers, touchpad and battery life are inferior. Speakers are OK after installing EasyEffects and I don't use the touchpad while programming. And battery life is close enough Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS. So it doesn't make sense to use macbooks for programming anymore IMO. You can't even see the updat", "context": "programmer who switched from a MacBook to a Linux laptop", "use_case": "programming laptop OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it suits technically inclined users", "cites": [{"id": 737490353, "item_id": 46093147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093147", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined", "excerpt": "Technically its performance is a bit slower than CachyOS, and some of the package versions can be a bit behind as well (like Mesa or the kernel), which can contribute to the slowness. Flatpaks work fine though for the most part. I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined, and don't mind ocassionally going into the terminal to fix something or do some maintenance (maybe o", "context": "has both installed", "use_case": "performance-focused gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}, {"id": 782635873, "item_id": 48914742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914742", "by": "alanwreath", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself", "excerpt": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself mainly because you can more easily affect the system if it isn\u2019t trying to enforce immutability). TBH with the onslaught of LLM CLI\u2019s like Claude I am a lot more promiscuous in my Linux OS choices as of late. I used to stick to Ubuntu because that was the Linux I knew, but the \u201cinterface\u201d has become the same to me because I just ask Cla", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}]}, {"text": ", since AUR packages and bleeding-edge updates can cause trouble.", "cites": [{"id": 779541377, "item_id": 48721336, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721336", "by": "keeganj", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy", "excerpt": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy but the model of using the AUR to install third party applications just seems broken. I don't want to have to trust some random install script maintainer in addition to the 3p app developer. And sadly I don't have the time and attention to spare to review the AUR scripts of apps every time I update. I switched to Kubuntu to keep KDE (which I really found I enjoyed from Cachy) while using a", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 776292817, "item_id": 48518301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518301", "by": "cge", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "distributions like CachyOS are being broadly promoted to a user base who can't be reasonably expected to check over AUR packages themselves.", "excerpt": "I'm not asking for myself. Yes, I understand the build process, and know what to check. I've also written PKGBUILDs before and have had packages in AUR. I'm sure you understand it too, as well as many people here. But many users don't. As far as I can tell, there is very little actual guidance about what to look for, not even to the extent of what you explain here, on the wiki. Users are told to check the PKGBUILD, a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arch Linux Now Believes Malware Incident Under Control: More Than 1,500 Packages"}, {"id": 795486336, "item_id": 49717896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49717896", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it. And if an update breaks it (which does happen - it's a small team pushing bleeding edge patches), then limine bootloader just lets you boot to the last working snapshot. Easy.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Gaming", "summary": "Commenters use it as a gaming machine and say their games run well, with tips like using the bore kernel to cut stutter.", "quotes": [{"id": 748735328, "item_id": 46795958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795958", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "all the games I play work great on CachyOS.", "excerpt": "Those that love it will fight for it. Those that hate it will simply avoid using it. There may be some commercial incentives for IBM/Redhat to push for it. Either way it will always be divisive. Some sysadmins will begrudgingly support it at work and some absolutely love to support it. I have supported it in the enterprise and I use it on gaming machines at home. (CachyOS / Bazzite). My daily drivers, servers both ph", "context": "enterprise sysadmin", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Devuan \u2013 Debian Without Systemd"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}, {"id": 791173761, "item_id": 49448360, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49448360", "by": "troupo", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to CachyOS, all issues were gone.", "excerpt": "> It\u2019s a really strong UX that\u2019s rapidly improving without a profit motive and people are excited about it. /r/unixporn is all about that. They don't get a $10 million fund though. > Closest thing to the \u201cit just works\u201d experience that Mac was always known for and it runs great on older hardware. Ubuntu. Debian. Fedora especiall via Bazzite. Arch via CachyOS. > Small example, running Zoom on i3 caused a tile cascade ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "Omarchy", "story": "Omarchy development practices lead to predictable security issues"}]}, {"label": "Performance", "summary": "Optimized kernels and CPU-targeted packages give small but noticeable speed gains over Windows, Fedora and Debian.", "quotes": [{"id": 779726400, "item_id": 48732900, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48732900", "by": "Caboose8685", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The performance increases from their kernel + optimized packages are small but noticeable to me.", "excerpt": "CachyOS takes the default arch repos and re-builds packages targeting CPU generations and their instruction sets. There are no proprietary repos. Cachy has their own personal repo where some packages not in arch repos are built. Gaming stuff is NOT installed by default, but there is a button in the Hello app new users can click that installs 2 meta packages that install almost everything one might want for gaming. Ta", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 787615248, "item_id": 49225953, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49225953", "by": "spockz", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast. Both with Firefox and Vivaldi. Especially compared to the windows install I used to have on the same machine. Or is your point only about windows?", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Can Intel finally beat ARM on performance per Watt?"}, {"id": 745280688, "item_id": 46580043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46580043", "by": "jadbox", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's been an overall good experience. 99% of the apps I need just run without issue", "excerpt": "My home nvidia desktop is running CachyOS and it's been an overall good experience. 99% of the apps I need just run without issue, and I've only needed to apply a few minor tweaks to get my other laptop set up (switched to deep sleep). As a long time Fedora fan, I was not sure about switching to CachyOS but the performance has been marginally better under heavy use-cases. However, Fedora is fine and can be tweaked to", "context": "long time Fedora fan", "use_case": "home desktop OS", "switched_from": "Fedora", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}]}, {"label": "Leaving Windows/macOS", "summary": "Switchers from Windows and macOS say they don't want to go back.", "quotes": [{"id": 779534736, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "daily driver desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 759433392, "item_id": 47464587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464587", "by": "ilitirit", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "excerpt": "Too little, too late. In fact, in this post they seem to be committing to keeping it as bad (or even making it even worse) for my use case. I've used Windows since 3.1. Win 11 was the straw that broke the camel's back. I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "context": "Windows user since 3.1", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 799338336, "item_id": 49958646, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958646", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS.", "excerpt": "Recently switched to KDE on a linux laptop (600 USD lenovo) and stopped using my macbook (m1 16\" pro). Speakers, touchpad and battery life are inferior. Speakers are OK after installing EasyEffects and I don't use the touchpad while programming. And battery life is close enough Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS. So it doesn't make sense to use macbooks for programming anymore IMO. You can't even see the updat", "context": "programmer who switched from a MacBook to a Linux laptop", "use_case": "programming laptop OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}]}, {"label": "Modest hardware", "summary": "Runs well on cheap tablets, budget laptops and an old Nvidia laptop.", "quotes": [{"id": 751970912, "item_id": 46998182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46998182", "by": "byb", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS on a 200-300 USD Intel n100 tablet with a wired or wireless keyboard of your choice is my go-to recommendation these days.", "excerpt": "Embrace cheap hardware. CachyOS on a 200-300 USD Intel n100 tablet with a wired or wireless keyboard of your choice is my go-to recommendation these days. I have one connected to a 4k display and it handles 4k YouTube just fine. It handles Windsurf as well. By comparison, Debian 13 could not handle 4k video and Windsurf overtaxed the system, causing write access errors. https://www.chuwi.com/product/items/Chuwi-hi10-", "context": "", "use_case": "laptop alternative OS on cheap hardware", "switched_from": "Debian", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 741337360, "item_id": 46333585, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46333585", "by": "zenlot", "date": "2025-12-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS guys, thank you, you made an incredible work on getting it all to this state. Absolutely great.", "excerpt": "I have Lenovo W530 from around 2012 or so. It has Nvidia K1000M card, full of RAM, i7. I kept upgrading it over the years and used Windows. I have decided to get back to FreeBSD, I used it as desktop 2002-2009 or so. Downloaded 15.0, start install, wifi driver works perfectly, out of the box. Promising start, never seen before with FreeBSD. Installed. Next, lets go to setup, graphics and Wayland. And here we started ", "context": "old Lenovo W530 with Nvidia", "use_case": "laptop OS", "switched_from": "FreeBSD", "story": "The FreeBSD Foundation's Laptop Support and Usability Project"}, {"id": 735124720, "item_id": 45945295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45945295", "by": "stevefan1999", "date": "2025-11-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there is znver4 and znver5 support baked in from CachyOS, so any Zen 4 laptop (7000, 8000 series) and Zen 5 (Strix Halo AI Max) would get good performance early on.", "excerpt": "Here's one nice thing about AMD is that there is znver4 and znver5 support baked in from CachyOS, so any Zen 4 laptop (7000, 8000 series) and Zen 5 (Strix Halo AI Max) would get good performance early on. I got a 8745HS laptop for just $400 and I swapped the 1T and 32GB RAM for 2x2T and 64GB RAM, and switched to CachyOS. Except for a weird keyboard issue when resuming from sleep, and some Arch kernel shenanigans, I g", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on AMD laptop", "switched_from": "", "story": "AMD continues to chip away at Intel's x86 market share"}]}, {"label": "Snapshot rollback", "summary": "When an update breaks the system, the Limine bootloader can boot the last working snapshot.", "quotes": [{"id": 795486336, "item_id": 49717896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49717896", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it. And if an update breaks it (which does happen - it's a small team pushing bleeding edge patches), then limine bootloader just lets you boot to the last working snapshot. Easy.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}]}, {"label": "Documentation", "summary": "One long-time Linux user calls the documentation excellent.", "quotes": [{"id": 751470658, "item_id": 46966916, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966916", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend reading the frankly excellent documentation from CachyOS", "excerpt": "You seem to have missed a couple of things that have caused you a bit of a headache here, I'm hoping I can encourage you to try again with a little bit of info. I've been using Linux for as long as it has existed, I'm also a backend-dev that works on a Linux machine and targets Linux-based platforms for deployment, even my kids use Linux. Windows went downhill for me after about Windows 2000 and Linux has only gotten", "context": "Linux user since the beginning, backend dev", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "AUR trust", "summary": "Relying on AUR scripts means trusting third-party maintainers, which many users can't vet.", "quotes": [{"id": 779541377, "item_id": 48721336, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721336", "by": "keeganj", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy", "excerpt": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy but the model of using the AUR to install third party applications just seems broken. I don't want to have to trust some random install script maintainer in addition to the 3p app developer. And sadly I don't have the time and attention to spare to review the AUR scripts of apps every time I update. I switched to Kubuntu to keep KDE (which I really found I enjoyed from Cachy) while using a", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 776292817, "item_id": 48518301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518301", "by": "cge", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "distributions like CachyOS are being broadly promoted to a user base who can't be reasonably expected to check over AUR packages themselves.", "excerpt": "I'm not asking for myself. Yes, I understand the build process, and know what to check. I've also written PKGBUILDs before and have had packages in AUR. I'm sure you understand it too, as well as many people here. But many users don't. As far as I can tell, there is very little actual guidance about what to look for, not even to the extent of what you explain here, on the wiki. Users are told to check the PKGBUILD, a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arch Linux Now Believes Malware Incident Under Control: More Than 1,500 Packages"}, {"id": 786290545, "item_id": 49143159, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49143159", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So far I've been unaffected by the AUR hickups, running Cachy for about 2 years now.", "excerpt": "There is much stuff which isn't in the AUR at all, or if so in versions similar to debian default, and/or orphaned. Nonetheless, the full tray is just one yay away, which also speaks git. How you use such tools is totally up to you. So far I've been unaffected by the AUR hickups, running Cachy for about 2 years now. But I've been always wary about the AUR, trying to minimize its use. Even in the phase where I used pu", "context": "", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Arch Linux", "story": "Arch Linux disables AUR package adoption"}]}, {"label": "Needs technical skill", "summary": "Recommended for technically inclined users who don't mind occasional terminal fixes, not for people who struggle with technology.", "quotes": [{"id": 737490353, "item_id": 46093147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093147", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined", "excerpt": "Technically its performance is a bit slower than CachyOS, and some of the package versions can be a bit behind as well (like Mesa or the kernel), which can contribute to the slowness. Flatpaks work fine though for the most part. I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined, and don't mind ocassionally going into the terminal to fix something or do some maintenance (maybe o", "context": "has both installed", "use_case": "performance-focused gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}, {"id": 782635873, "item_id": 48914742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914742", "by": "alanwreath", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself", "excerpt": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself mainly because you can more easily affect the system if it isn\u2019t trying to enforce immutability). TBH with the onslaught of LLM CLI\u2019s like Claude I am a lot more promiscuous in my Linux OS choices as of late. I used to stick to Ubuntu because that was the Linux I knew, but the \u201cinterface\u201d has become the same to me because I just ask Cla", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}]}, {"label": "Update breakage", "summary": "A small team pushing bleeding-edge patches means updates sometimes break things.", "quotes": [{"id": 795486336, "item_id": 49717896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49717896", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it. And if an update breaks it (which does happen - it's a small team pushing bleeding edge patches), then limine bootloader just lets you boot to the last working snapshot. Easy.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 735124720, "item_id": 45945295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45945295", "by": "stevefan1999", "date": "2025-11-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there is znver4 and znver5 support baked in from CachyOS, so any Zen 4 laptop (7000, 8000 series) and Zen 5 (Strix Halo AI Max) would get good performance early on.", "excerpt": "Here's one nice thing about AMD is that there is znver4 and znver5 support baked in from CachyOS, so any Zen 4 laptop (7000, 8000 series) and Zen 5 (Strix Halo AI Max) would get good performance early on. I got a 8745HS laptop for just $400 and I swapped the 1T and 32GB RAM for 2x2T and 64GB RAM, and switched to CachyOS. Except for a weird keyboard issue when resuming from sleep, and some Arch kernel shenanigans, I g", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on AMD laptop", "switched_from": "", "story": "AMD continues to chip away at Intel's x86 market share"}]}, {"label": "Anti-cheat games", "summary": "Games with kernel-level anti-cheat still require dual-booting Windows.", "quotes": [{"id": 793037792, "item_id": 49564862, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564862", "by": "AmazingTurtle", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now.", "excerpt": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now. I play quite a few games. Only league of legends forces me to dual boot into windows every once in a week or so - fuck the anticheat cartel", "context": "gamer, dual boots Windows for League of Legends", "use_case": "daily driver OS, gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}, {"id": 801480672, "item_id": 50092542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092542", "by": "kyxsc", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use CachyOS but don\u2019t really play many games on Linux.", "excerpt": "There is news - from 2h ago - talking about Fortnite and EAC userspace coming to Linux soon. As someone not too knowledgeable on Linux kernel anti-cheat games, I wonder: is this big news or just a farce? I use CachyOS but don\u2019t really play many games on Linux. I\u2019ve enabled secure boot so I can seamlessly swap to Windows for certain kernel-level anti-cheat games like Valorant. Using a shell alias/function (and menu ba", "context": "dual-boots Linux and Windows for anti-cheat games", "use_case": "dual-boot with Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gaming on Linux without cheating"}]}, {"label": "Btrfs snapshots", "summary": "One user hit Btrfs metadata exhaustion, likely from snapshots filling the drive.", "quotes": [{"id": 779538352, "item_id": 48721147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721147", "by": "rythmshifter", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been in love with cachy since I switched from windows", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been in love with cachy since I switched from windows but this past weekend has been extremely trying after experiencing metadata exhaustion probably due to the snapshots filling up my home drive. Learned a few things and I realize btrfs is not specific to cachy, but this was definitely the hardest thing I\u2019ve worked through since switching from windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}]}, {"label": "Initial adjustment", "summary": "Some Windows switchers found the first week rough.", "quotes": [{"id": 779555888, "item_id": 48722243, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722243", "by": "JaceComix", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's been pretty smooth since then", "excerpt": "I switched to Cachy in late February this year. First day was a bit rough, first week was still a little rough, but it's been pretty smooth since then, even when learning how to fix things and trying new software. I'm using Niri and Noctalia as my desktop setup, and it's been different than my Windows experience, but it feels fun and cool to just use a computer in a new way.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}]}], "who": [{"by": "kyxsc", "context": "dual-boots Linux and Windows for anti-cheat games", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092542", "date": "2026-10-14"}, {"by": "ozgrakkurt", "context": "programmer who switched from a MacBook to a Linux laptop", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958646", "date": "2026-10-04"}, {"by": "goolz", "context": "Linux gamer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49929000", "date": "2026-10-02"}, {"by": "AmazingTurtle", "context": "gamer, dual boots Windows for League of Legends", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564862", "date": "2026-09-04"}, {"by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "context": "long-time Unix admin", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421795", "date": "2026-08-24"}, {"by": "Imustaskforhelp", "context": "18-year-old distro hopper", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390492", "date": "2026-08-21"}, {"by": "Grombobulous", "context": "Framework 13 owner, former MacBook Pro user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49365175", "date": "2026-08-19"}, {"by": "derac", "context": "recent switcher from Windows", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723720", "date": "2026-06-29"}, {"by": "lenova", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "date": "2026-06-29"}, {"by": "dmpanch", "context": "plays on a projector", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48684853", "date": "2026-06-26"}, {"by": "Bender", "context": "avoids systemd", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808697", "date": "2026-04-17"}, {"by": "ilitirit", "context": "Windows user since 3.1", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464587", "date": "2026-03-20"}], "tags": ["for gamers", "for Windows switchers", "for macOS switchers", "for budget hardware", "for AMD Zen CPUs"], "use_cases": ["desktop os", "gaming", "daily desktop os", "linux distro", "gaming linux desktop", "daily driver os"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 4, "switched_from": 5, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "bazzite", "name": "Bazzite", "co": 9, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "arch-linux", "name": "Arch Linux", "co": 8, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "fedora", "name": "Fedora", "co": 6, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "omarchy", "name": "Omarchy", "co": 6, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "debian", "name": "Debian", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-11", "name": "Windows 11", "co": 2, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719361", "title": "CachyOS June 2026 Release", "mentions": 8}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095585", "title": "CachyOS: Fast and Customizable Linux Distribution", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50165484", "title": "NixOS is making me less afraid", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50102423", "title": "Ubuntu 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50088166", "title": "Gaming on Linux without cheating", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49957116", "title": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2025-12": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 3, "neutral": 2}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 4, "recommend": 9}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 6}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802990322, "item_id": 50186895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186895", "by": "routelastresort", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "nix on CachyOS", "excerpt": "I use nix-darwin and nix on CachyOS (and pretty much everything else, including a little NixOS for fun), daily. I can confirm all of your comments, and someone will come up with something similar that's easier on the eyes.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "NixOS is making me less afraid"}, {"id": 801666208, "item_id": 50104138, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104138", "by": "c7b", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "CachyOS is probably the new hip one (Arch-based).", "excerpt": "CachyOS is probably the new hip one (Arch-based). The new \"I use x, btw\" would be nixOS. Arguably, the distro matters a lot less if you use containers or flatpaks for most things (which I'd recommend). So there's nothing standing against using just boring Debian stable these days, or Fedora if you want to be more up to date. If you like fancy UI, check out the COSMIC desktop environment, should work on all mentioned.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ubuntu 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) released"}, {"id": 801480672, "item_id": 50092542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092542", "by": "kyxsc", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use CachyOS but don\u2019t really play many games on Linux.", "excerpt": "There is news - from 2h ago - talking about Fortnite and EAC userspace coming to Linux soon. As someone not too knowledgeable on Linux kernel anti-cheat games, I wonder: is this big news or just a farce? I use CachyOS but don\u2019t really play many games on Linux. I\u2019ve enabled secure boot so I can seamlessly swap to Windows for certain kernel-level anti-cheat games like Valorant. Using a shell alias/function (and menu ba", "context": "dual-boots Linux and Windows for anti-cheat games", "use_case": "dual-boot with Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gaming on Linux without cheating"}, {"id": 799338336, "item_id": 49958646, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958646", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS.", "excerpt": "Recently switched to KDE on a linux laptop (600 USD lenovo) and stopped using my macbook (m1 16\" pro). Speakers, touchpad and battery life are inferior. Speakers are OK after installing EasyEffects and I don't use the touchpad while programming. And battery life is close enough Cachyos with KDE is 10x better than MacOS. So it doesn't make sense to use macbooks for programming anymore IMO. You can't even see the updat", "context": "programmer who switched from a MacBook to a Linux laptop", "use_case": "programming laptop OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 798864000, "item_id": 49929000, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49929000", "by": "goolz", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Yeah! And I honestly feel like I am learning a ton more as I go. I love looking at the traces and it removes that burden of toiling for hours with little gain. I am glad to have known the before-time, but the future is nigh.", "context": "Linux gamer", "use_case": "gaming Linux desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Red Hat being phased out of existence?"}, {"id": 795486336, "item_id": 49717896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49717896", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been running CachyOS for a while now and I love it. And if an update breaks it (which does happen - it's a small team pushing bleeding edge patches), then limine bootloader just lets you boot to the last working snapshot. Easy.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 793037792, "item_id": 49564862, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564862", "by": "AmazingTurtle", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now.", "excerpt": "I use cachyos as my daily driver for a long time now. I play quite a few games. Only league of legends forces me to dual boot into windows every once in a week or so - fuck the anticheat cartel", "context": "gamer, dual boots Windows for League of Legends", "use_case": "daily driver OS, gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 792013426, "item_id": 49500839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49500839", "by": "pacificat0r", "date": "2026-08-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I should have gone with something like cachyos as games are important to me", "excerpt": "I got here because it was the first time I saw a tiling window manager on an Omarchy video. I was on windows my entire life, so when i saw it and how bad windows got, I decided to give it a try. A few months since I de-omarchyfied the system and went straight back to arch. And now still on it. I should have gone with something like cachyos as games are important to me, but I think at the time hyperland wasn't an opti", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Omarchy: Any User Process Can Escalate to Root"}, {"id": 791173761, "item_id": 49448360, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49448360", "by": "troupo", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to CachyOS, all issues were gone.", "excerpt": "> It\u2019s a really strong UX that\u2019s rapidly improving without a profit motive and people are excited about it. /r/unixporn is all about that. They don't get a $10 million fund though. > Closest thing to the \u201cit just works\u201d experience that Mac was always known for and it runs great on older hardware. Ubuntu. Debian. Fedora especiall via Bazzite. Arch via CachyOS. > Small example, running Zoom on i3 caused a tile cascade ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "Omarchy", "story": "Omarchy development practices lead to predictable security issues"}, {"id": 790748720, "item_id": 49421795, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421795", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "At the moment I feel really comfortable with CachyOS running Plasma/KDE", "excerpt": "Huh! I had to work with AIX and some AS400, HP-UX, SunOS/early Solaris, but mostly SINIX. Also held a Microsoft MCSE for WinNT 4 and IIS once. I abandoned Windows for personal use by about 1994, gotten fed-up/snapped because of the unreliability of finding network peers during private LAN-parties. While that instantly worked with some Linux booted from ONE 1.44MB floppy disk! OFC no gaming possible with that. But tha", "context": "long-time Unix admin", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "NetBSD and my life (2005)"}, {"id": 790247872, "item_id": 49390492, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390492", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I highly recommend Cachyos if you haven't already!", "excerpt": "For what its worth, I am part of the very young men you mention* (currently 18) and I have talked to people my age on discord who use Linux. My opinion is that I think that cachyos is a much more suitable option over omarchy. Personally out of so many of the distros that I have tried including Omarchy, I found Cachyos to be somewhat perfectly balanced (atleast for me). So I highly recommend Cachyos if you haven't alr", "context": "18-year-old distro hopper", "use_case": "desktop Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Omacom Foundation Launches with $8M"}, {"id": 789842800, "item_id": 49365175, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49365175", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are also a lot of things I like about CachyOS and KDE a lot better than macOS.", "excerpt": "Unfortunately, not to my knowledge. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if they get a retail partner soon, though. Surely they must realize that Micro Center would be an ideal partner for their demographic. I own the original chassis 13, AMD 7640U. My previous laptop was a MacBook Pro M2 14\u201d. There are some clear downgrades: battery life, screen, speakers. Processing power, yeah, though it\u2019s not like I ever maxed out the one I h", "context": "Framework 13 owner, former MacBook Pro user", "use_case": "Linux OS on Framework 13", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 787615248, "item_id": 49225953, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49225953", "by": "spockz", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m running CachyOS (based on arch) and it is blazing fast. Both with Firefox and Vivaldi. Especially compared to the windows install I used to have on the same machine. Or is your point only about windows?", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Can Intel finally beat ARM on performance per Watt?"}, {"id": 786290545, "item_id": 49143159, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49143159", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So far I've been unaffected by the AUR hickups, running Cachy for about 2 years now.", "excerpt": "There is much stuff which isn't in the AUR at all, or if so in versions similar to debian default, and/or orphaned. Nonetheless, the full tray is just one yay away, which also speaks git. How you use such tools is totally up to you. So far I've been unaffected by the AUR hickups, running Cachy for about 2 years now. But I've been always wary about the AUR, trying to minimize its use. Even in the phase where I used pu", "context": "", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "Arch Linux", "story": "Arch Linux disables AUR package adoption"}, {"id": 784470609, "item_id": 49029413, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029413", "by": "addajones", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I was looking into PopOS or CachyOS (with Cosmic).", "excerpt": "Awesome, I'll take a look at Toshy, too. I was looking into PopOS or CachyOS (with Cosmic). There seems to be such a vast amount of Linux distros and window managers than I remember from a good 5-10 years ago. Everything seems to be tied to a subscription now on the Windows/Mac side in some way, its been very off putting for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 782635873, "item_id": 48914742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914742", "by": "alanwreath", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself", "excerpt": "Bazzite or CacheyOS (if you wish to do gaming and have more rope to hang yourself mainly because you can more easily affect the system if it isn\u2019t trying to enforce immutability). TBH with the onslaught of LLM CLI\u2019s like Claude I am a lot more promiscuous in my Linux OS choices as of late. I used to stick to Ubuntu because that was the Linux I knew, but the \u201cinterface\u201d has become the same to me because I just ask Cla", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 780534945, "item_id": 48783434, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783434", "by": "BSDobelix", "date": "2026-07-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use Linux (CachyOS) for gaming (as a VM with pass-thru)", "excerpt": "I have FreeBSD on all my personal machines and i feel the opposite of handicapped, however i use Linux (CachyOS) for gaming (as a VM with pass-thru).", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming in a VM", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeBSD Ate My RAM"}, {"id": 779726400, "item_id": 48732900, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48732900", "by": "Caboose8685", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The performance increases from their kernel + optimized packages are small but noticeable to me.", "excerpt": "CachyOS takes the default arch repos and re-builds packages targeting CPU generations and their instruction sets. There are no proprietary repos. Cachy has their own personal repo where some packages not in arch repos are built. Gaming stuff is NOT installed by default, but there is a button in the Hello app new users can click that installs 2 meta packages that install almost everything one might want for gaming. Ta", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 779579521, "item_id": 48723720, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723720", "by": "derac", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from Windows a couple of months ago. I am loving it.", "excerpt": "I switched from Windows a couple of months ago. I am loving it. I cloned my favorite Windows window management solution, WindowGrid to KDE, https://store.kde.org/p/2363952/ I haven't found anything on Linux like it.", "context": "recent switcher from Windows", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779556339, "item_id": 48722271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722271", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I know of quite a few people using it successfully with CachyOS.", "excerpt": "If anyone is looking for a niri based opinionated set of configuration on top of CachyOS (or vanilla Arch) I put together: https://github.com/nickjj/dotfriedrice The goal is after installing the official ISO, you can get a developer focused desktop environment up and running in ~10 minutes with 1 command. It's quite configurable so you can change around anything you want ahead of time or after you install it. I use i", "context": "", "use_case": "base OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779555888, "item_id": 48722243, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722243", "by": "JaceComix", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's been pretty smooth since then", "excerpt": "I switched to Cachy in late February this year. First day was a bit rough, first week was still a little rough, but it's been pretty smooth since then, even when learning how to fix things and trying new software. I'm using Niri and Noctalia as my desktop setup, and it's been different than my Windows experience, but it feels fun and cool to just use a computer in a new way.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779552592, "item_id": 48722037, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722037", "by": "docsaintly", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also just moved from Linux Mint to Cachy and haven't had to use a single AUR package (yet).", "excerpt": "I also just moved from Linux Mint to Cachy and haven't had to use a single AUR package (yet). I use some relatively obscure programs too.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux desktop", "switched_from": "Linux Mint", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779541377, "item_id": 48721336, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721336", "by": "keeganj", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy", "excerpt": "Yeah I really enjoyed Cachy but the model of using the AUR to install third party applications just seems broken. I don't want to have to trust some random install script maintainer in addition to the 3p app developer. And sadly I don't have the time and attention to spare to review the AUR scripts of apps every time I update. I switched to Kubuntu to keep KDE (which I really found I enjoyed from Cachy) while using a", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming Linux desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779538785, "item_id": 48721174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721174", "by": "lordleft", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I'll probably install this in a few days.", "excerpt": "I switched to Bazzite from CachyOS and while I really appreciate how accessible it is, the immutability of the core OS doesn't do enough to scratch my Linux tinkering fix. So I'll probably install this in a few days.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Bazzite", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779538352, "item_id": 48721147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721147", "by": "rythmshifter", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been in love with cachy since I switched from windows", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been in love with cachy since I switched from windows but this past weekend has been extremely trying after experiencing metadata exhaustion probably due to the snapshots filling up my home drive. Learned a few things and I realize btrfs is not specific to cachy, but this was definitely the hardest thing I\u2019ve worked through since switching from windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779534736, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "daily driver desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 779202016, "item_id": 48700126, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48700126", "by": "scary-size", "date": "2026-06-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Already switched to CachyOS, haven\u2019t booted to Windows 10 since then.", "excerpt": "Already switched to CachyOS, haven\u2019t booted to Windows 10 since then. Desktop gaming was my only use, everything else happens on an M1 Air. It\u2019s a delight, no pop ups, sell ups, Cortana and whatever else MS kept throwing at you.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop gaming", "switched_from": "Windows 10", "story": "Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates"}, {"id": 778957650, "item_id": 48684853, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48684853", "by": "dmpanch", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use similar setup (CachyOS, Apple TV, Moonlight/Sunshine)", "excerpt": "I use similar setup (CachyOS, Apple TV, Moonlight/Sunshine), but I play on a projector instead of a TV, which results in slightly higher latency. With that in mind, I connect gamepad via Bluetooth to my PC rather than to the Apple TV to minimize input latency; all single-player games are fully playable without any noticeable lag.", "context": "plays on a projector", "use_case": "gaming PC OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Steam Machine Is a 50ft HDMI Cable"}, {"id": 778213776, "item_id": 48638361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638361", "by": "jrepinc", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite ...", "excerpt": "No need to wait and buy anything. Try any gaming focused Linux distributions and you can already have this. Check out CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite ...", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming-focused Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam Machine"}, {"id": 776756224, "item_id": 48547264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48547264", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "if you happen to be in CachyOS or some similar distribution", "excerpt": "For games, my tip is that if you happen to be in CachyOS or some similar distribution, make sure you use the bore kernel for gaming. I switched from the standard kernel to the bore kernel and went from a pretty disappointing experience in terms of performance and stutters to a really great one.", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 776292817, "item_id": 48518301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518301", "by": "cge", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "distributions like CachyOS are being broadly promoted to a user base who can't be reasonably expected to check over AUR packages themselves.", "excerpt": "I'm not asking for myself. Yes, I understand the build process, and know what to check. I've also written PKGBUILDs before and have had packages in AUR. I'm sure you understand it too, as well as many people here. But many users don't. As far as I can tell, there is very little actual guidance about what to look for, not even to the extent of what you explain here, on the wiki. Users are told to check the PKGBUILD, a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arch Linux Now Believes Malware Incident Under Control: More Than 1,500 Packages"}, {"id": 772166000, "item_id": 48260375, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48260375", "by": "tim-projects", "date": "2026-05-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now switched to cachyos + labwc", "excerpt": "I've been using arch + open box since 2011. Now switched to cachyos + labwc (Wayland version of open box). Every once in a while I try something else realise what an absolute bloated mess it is and come back. A long time ago maybe 18 years back I used wmii which did tiling and it was reasonable (you could still resize with a mouse) Why do you need tiling for anything that isn't s terminal? Just use tmux or ghostty? I", "context": "", "use_case": "daily desktop", "switched_from": "Arch Linux", "story": "Your Dotfiles Are Not a Distro"}, {"id": 764939152, "item_id": 47808697, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808697", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-04-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been happy with CachyOS.", "excerpt": "I've been happy with CachyOS. Using in on this laptop to respond. I use it for my gaming machine. My daily driver is still MX as I personally choose to avoid systemd for a myriad of reasons that have been discussed here ad nauseam. As part of my testing I blindly apply OS updates daily and wait for something to break. Thus far no breakage. What did I just do.", "context": "avoids systemd", "use_case": "gaming machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS Is Now the Most Popular Desktop Distro on ProtonDB"}, {"id": 762534067, "item_id": 47658379, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47658379", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-04-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend using cachyos niri", "excerpt": "I had once lost my LUKS encryption key to StackOverflow effectively making me lose all the data that I had within that disk. It was only when I had scrolled down the article AFTER running the command, that I saw warning: your data will be unrecoverable and I panicked (I then used chatgpt but to no avail, and I feel like it might've made things worse even) Anyhow, I think a larger lesson is to have a full context on w", "context": "", "use_case": "trying niri", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Tale of AI Betrayal and Snapshotting Victory"}, {"id": 759433392, "item_id": 47464587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464587", "by": "ilitirit", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "excerpt": "Too little, too late. In fact, in this post they seem to be committing to keeping it as bad (or even making it even worse) for my use case. I've used Windows since 3.1. Win 11 was the straw that broke the camel's back. I moved to CachyOS a few months ago and I honestly can't find a reason to switch back.", "context": "Windows user since 3.1", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 751970912, "item_id": 46998182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46998182", "by": "byb", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CachyOS on a 200-300 USD Intel n100 tablet with a wired or wireless keyboard of your choice is my go-to recommendation these days.", "excerpt": "Embrace cheap hardware. CachyOS on a 200-300 USD Intel n100 tablet with a wired or wireless keyboard of your choice is my go-to recommendation these days. I have one connected to a 4k display and it handles 4k YouTube just fine. It handles Windsurf as well. By comparison, Debian 13 could not handle 4k video and Windsurf overtaxed the system, causing write access errors. https://www.chuwi.com/product/items/Chuwi-hi10-", "context": "", "use_case": "laptop alternative OS on cheap hardware", "switched_from": "Debian", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 751470658, "item_id": 46966916, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966916", "by": "alias_neo", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend reading the frankly excellent documentation from CachyOS", "excerpt": "You seem to have missed a couple of things that have caused you a bit of a headache here, I'm hoping I can encourage you to try again with a little bit of info. I've been using Linux for as long as it has existed, I'm also a backend-dev that works on a Linux machine and targets Linux-based platforms for deployment, even my kids use Linux. Windows went downhill for me after about Windows 2000 and Linux has only gotten", "context": "Linux user since the beginning, backend dev", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey"}, {"id": 749246721, "item_id": 46827920, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46827920", "by": "bhewes", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use heroic launcher on cachyos", "excerpt": "Sweet I have about 500 of games on gog and I use heroic launcher on cachyos. Probably a total of 1.3k of titles across steam, gog and epic any idea gaming isn't Linux now is dumb thinking. Glad to see gog work on native.", "context": "Linux gamer", "use_case": "gaming OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "GOG: Linux \"the next major frontier\" for gaming as it works on a native client"}, {"id": 748735328, "item_id": 46795958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795958", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "all the games I play work great on CachyOS.", "excerpt": "Those that love it will fight for it. Those that hate it will simply avoid using it. There may be some commercial incentives for IBM/Redhat to push for it. Either way it will always be divisive. Some sysadmins will begrudgingly support it at work and some absolutely love to support it. I have supported it in the enterprise and I use it on gaming machines at home. (CachyOS / Bazzite). My daily drivers, servers both ph", "context": "enterprise sysadmin", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Devuan \u2013 Debian Without Systemd"}, {"id": 747932002, "item_id": 46745750, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46745750", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-01-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Cachy is getting popular these days too but I haven't used it.", "excerpt": "That's unfortunate to hear. I'd give kde a shot. It's been my preferred DE for years. But check out the below wiki and poke around for what your style is. The beauty of linux is adapting to you and switching DEs is a quick change (you do not need to change your DM to change your DE). If you're interested on Arch then give something like EndeavourOS a shot. Cachy is getting popular these days too but I haven't used it", "context": "", "use_case": "Arch-based distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops"}, {"id": 746142928, "item_id": 46633933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46633933", "by": "Rick76", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it.", "excerpt": "I've been gaming on Linux (CachyOS) for roughly a year now as well, and I love it. Better performance, faster loading, but I do admit there are drawbacks. I'm a developer, so I'm techy enough how to look up what I don't know, but I would never recommend this to someone who struggles with technology. Kernel antic heat is frustrating but usually its games where I feel like I won't lose anything if I don't play it.", "context": "developer", "use_case": "gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows"}, {"id": 737490353, "item_id": 46093147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093147", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined", "excerpt": "Technically its performance is a bit slower than CachyOS, and some of the package versions can be a bit behind as well (like Mesa or the kernel), which can contribute to the slowness. Flatpaks work fine though for the most part. I would recommend CachyOS if you're after raw performance and you're technically inclined, and don't mind ocassionally going into the terminal to fix something or do some maintenance (maybe o", "context": "has both installed", "use_case": "performance-focused gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming"}]}