A regular Debian install whose desktop is one fullscreen terminal.
Plebian-OS is stock Debian 13 (trixie) in every way except the “desktop”: where Debian + XFCE would give you a panel and a window manager, Plebian-OS logs you into Pleb — a single fullscreen kilix (a Tilix-styled kitty fork with clickable pane buttons, splits, pages, and images) as the whole session.
241ab26cc55b055825edbf36b468f7fd1f8cf863479a10daa8211fd36a465bdc
checksums
release notes
0.2.2 is a Linux release for Debian 13 (trixie), amd64.
It includes xorriso and fixes administrator password entry
in the Kilix-95 optional-software wizard. Fresh installation media also
includes the Ollama CPU/Vulkan runtime; no model weights are bundled or
downloaded during provisioning. Windows remains at preview 4.
See the release notes
for known issues and qualification limits.
$ git clone --branch v0.2.2 https://github.com/itsmygithubacct/plebian-os $ sudo plebian-os/bootstrap.sh --ollama-carrier "$HOME/Downloads/ollama-0.32.14-kilix-unix-vulkan-r1.tar.xz" # obtain and verify the runtime carrier first — see Quick start below # log out — the greeter now offers a session called Pleb ▶ Pleb one fullscreen kilix, the whole desktop
watch the series
Kilix, Pleb, and Plebian-OS: A Desktop Built Inside a Terminal — a ten-part tour of the whole stack: the terminal, the login session, the four desktop providers, the shared libraries, and the OS lifecycle. Ten parts, 31 minutes total, 1080p.
1The Machine Whose Desktop Is Kilix
2Kilix: Pages, Panes, and Clickable Chrome
3Pleb: Turning Kilix into a Login Session
4How Applications Stay Inside Kilix
5Desktop One: Kilix 95 and XP
6Desktop Two: Kilix Cap
7Desktop Three: Kilix TUI
8Desktop Four: Kilix Land
9Shared Libraries and the Application Ecosystem
10Plebian-OS: Installation, Updates, and the Complete System
Prefer one file? The complete 31-minute chaptered cut is a download on the plebian-os media release. Every part is also published on the repository it covers — kilix (parts 2, 4), pleb (3), kilix-95 (5), kilix-cap (6), kilix-tui (7), kilix-land (8), and plebian-os (1, 9, 10).
how it works
1Install
An ordinary Debian 13 install — just no desktop-environment
task, plus a thin graphical base (Xorg + LightDM) and
git/curl/tar.
Preseed it into an ISO, or convert an existing Debian with
bootstrap.sh.
2First boot
A one-shot systemd service provisions the machine after the
network is up: apt deps, then pleb and
kilix cloned straight from GitHub, built, and
registered as a LightDM session.
Nothing is forked or vendored — the installed system tracks upstream.
3Every boot after
LightDM → Pleb → fullscreen kilix. Log out to return to
the greeter. Ctrl+Alt+F2 is always a plain text
console.
Refresh the whole stack later with one rollback-safe command:
plebian-os-update. Moving an installed machine to a
new release is a deliberate second step: select that release's
closure first with plebian-os-select-closure 0.2.2,
then run plebian-os-update. See the release notes
for upgrade details. Updating from 0.2.1 does not install the
Ollama runtime carrier included on fresh installation media.
GUI apps still work. Common GUI commands normally use
kilix run <app>: the app gets a private X server and
streams into a Kilix tab. A minimal Openbox session handles unavoidable
native dialogs and applications explicitly opened as native windows.
quick start
To convert Debian or build an ISO from source, first download the 0.2.2 Ollama runtime carrier to your Downloads folder and verify it against the published checksums. Bootstrap and the ISO builder require this local archive and do not download it. It contains runtime software, not model weights. The downloadable installer ISO already includes it.
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/gpu_terminal/sources $ git clone --branch v0.2.2 https://github.com/itsmygithubacct/plebian-os ~/.local/gpu_terminal/sources/plebian-os $ cd ~/.local/gpu_terminal/sources/plebian-os $ carrier="$HOME/Downloads/ollama-0.32.14-kilix-unix-vulkan-r1.tar.xz" $ ./bootstrap.sh --ollama-carrier "$carrier" --dry-run # preview first $ sudo ./bootstrap.sh --ollama-carrier "$carrier" # add Pleb alongside your desktop # optionally add --kiosk to boot straight into Pleb
$ cd ~/.local/gpu_terminal/sources/plebian-os $ export PLEBIAN_OS_OLLAMA_CARRIER="$HOME/Downloads/ollama-0.32.14-kilix-unix-vulkan-r1.tar.xz" $ build/remaster-iso.sh # auto-download netinst, build the ISO $ build/remaster-iso.sh my-netinst.iso out.iso # …or use a local netinst
$ cd ~/.local/gpu_terminal/sources/plebian-os $ export PLEBIAN_OS_OLLAMA_CARRIER="$HOME/Downloads/ollama-0.32.14-kilix-unix-vulkan-r1.tar.xz" $ build/make-usb.sh --list # find your USB device $ build/build_usb_image.py --device /dev/sdX # safest physical USB flow $ build/make-usb.sh --device /dev/sdX --dry-run # preview, write nothing
Install it like normal Debian: the installer asks for your hostname, username and password. Normal installation media contains no shared login or known password, keeps root login disabled, and ships no SSH server. First boot needs internet to provision the selected stack. Flash tooling rejects partitions and disks used by critical filesystems or swap, and asks you to confirm the target before erasing it. Installation qualification covers BIOS and EFI virtual machines; bare-metal USB installation and physical GPU operation were not qualified.
get it
Download the current 0.2.2 installer ISO directly, or visit the plebian-os releases page for checksums, source archives, and older releases.