Download
There is no public install image yet. This page exists so you can read, before there is anything to download, exactly what you would be installing.
Status
None is public. When one is, this section lists its file name, its size, its SHA-256 and a detached signature, and the two commands that verify them before you write it to a drive. Nothing is offered before it is ready.
The beta is a 64-bit image for a short list of machines. It installs onto an OpenZFS root with a snapshot before every update and a rollback from the login window, so an update cannot leave you without a computer.
Machines
- Built on today
- A ThinkPad X1 Yoga and a Lenovo Legion Go. These are the machines every build is tested on before anything is called done.
- Next
- A ThinkPad T480s and a Steam Deck, as soon as the installer image installs.
- Designed for
- Intel Macs, gaming handhelds, and touch ThinkPads and Framework laptops. AMD and Intel graphics first; Nvidia after the beta, for want of a machine.
- Architecture
- x86-64 only. No 32-bit image. 32-bit Windows games run through the Windows Compatibility Extension.
The installer checks the machine against a supported list and says plainly when it is not on it.
Secure Boot, both ways
Off. The installer detects the firmware state, and the hardware notes for each machine say how to turn Secure Boot off. The verified chain then starts at the kernel the firmware loaded, and the release notes say so.
On. A shim signed by Microsoft after the public shim review verifies the boot loader signed with our key, which verifies our kernel. First boot enrols our key. Kernel lockdown and module signing complete the chain from firmware to app. The shim review is being filed now that this site exists; until it is signed, Secure Boot must be off to install.
Games, honestly
Steam runs in its own jail, and Windows games run through the Windows Compatibility Extension. Games whose anti-cheat requires a Windows kernel driver do not run, and will not. That list is theirs to change, not ours, and the store pages inside Hiyu say which is which.
What you agree to
Nothing. Using Hiyu OS does not ask you to agree to anything. The paragraphs below are information, repeated in full on the Legal page.
Licences. The system, the shell, the daemons, the themes and every app we ship are AGPL-3.0-only. Hiyu Framework, the library your app links, is LGPL-3.0-only, and including its headers never changes the licence of your own code. The Development kit and every interface header are BSD-3-Clause. The Windows Compatibility Extension is LGPL-2.1-or-later so Wine can load it. Code we did not write keeps its own licence. The full map is under Licensing.
Privacy. The operating system sends nothing about you to anyone. Software Update fetches a signed feed from this site, and the AuraFarm app fetches a signed list of files; neither sends anything back, and the code that does it is published. This website keeps ordinary access logs for fourteen days to detect abuse and sets no cookie. The whole statement is under Privacy.
Names. Hiyu OS is the name of this system. The Windows, Qt, Wayland and X11 Compatibility Extensions are named for the platforms they bridge to; those names belong to their owners and say only what each extension is compatible with. Your app keeps the name you give it.
Copy protection. Hiyu bundles no content-decryption module and disables none. If you ask Browser to play a paid streaming service, it tells you what it would download, from where, and does so only when you say so. What you get is software-level playback, HD at most. That is the limit of a module we do not control, and Browser says so before you press the button.