ArchibaldOS Community Edition (v.1.2-Omega-Alpha-Chad-Syndrome-Maestro)

Old codebase is in a zip file in the release section. I updated the repo to be easier to maintain and learn.

Real-time workstation for audio production and robotics + HydraMesh P2P networking.

What sets it apart? Bit-for-bit reproducibility across deployments, ensuring that your setup on a studio workstation matches exactly on a drone brain or secure edge router—eliminating the "it works on my machine" syndrome that plagues traditional OSes. Trust us, once you experience deployment consistency at this level, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

ArchibaldOS forms the foundational operating system layer for the DeMoD platform, a cohesive ecosystem for real-time digital signal processing (DSP) and demodulation. As detailed in the open-source guide at https://github.com/ALH477/DeMoDulation—a public blueprint released by DeMoD LLC on November 20, 2025—ArchibaldOS powers DIY DSP devices built from e-waste, Framework 13 mainboards, or Raspberry Pi 5. This integration enables sub-0.8ms round-trip latency at 24-bit/192kHz, transforming low-cost hardware into professional-grade audio and software-defined radio (SDR) rigs. The DeMoDulation repository provides Nix flake profiles that explicitly support ArchibaldOS as a native or virtualized build option, ensuring seamless scalability from embedded prototypes to production deployments.

Who Is ArchibaldOS For?

ArchibaldOS is a specialized, expert-oriented operating system designed for users who need deterministic performance, reproducibility, and deep system control. It is not intended to be a general-purpose or beginner-friendly Linux distribution.

This is for you if you are:

Professional Audio Engineers & DSP Developers

• Working with real-time audio, live performance rigs, or studio setups
• Comfortable tuning buffer sizes, IRQ priorities, and CPU governors
• Requiring sub-5ms round-trip latency with measurable, reproducible results
• Building DSP chains, neural amp models, or SDR-based audio systems

🤖 Robotics & Autonomous Systems Engineers

• Developing with ROS 2, PX4, LIDAR, and real-time sensor fusion
• Targeting ARM SBCs (Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, RK3588, etc.)
• Needing deterministic scheduling for control loops and autonomy stacks
• Integrating RF/SDR, audio, and robotics into a unified real-time system

AI & Systems Engineers (On-Prem / Edge)

• Running local LLMs and agentic workflows without cloud dependency
• Managing GPU acceleration, memory constraints, and inference pipelines
• Integrating voice, audio, and real-time I/O with AI agents
• Valuing reproducible, declarative infrastructure over convenience

Advanced Linux / NixOS Users

• Already familiar with NixOS or declarative system management
• Comfortable editing flake.nix and rebuilding systems
• Wanting bit-for-bit reproducibility across machines and deployments
• Building custom systems rather than installing off-the-shelf distros

Embedded, Edge, and Defense-Oriented Developers

• Building secure, minimal, ITAR/EAR-safe systems
• Deploying on e-waste, SBCs, or custom hardware
• Needing auditable configurations and deterministic behavior
• Prioritizing reliability over UX polish

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This is probably not for you if you are:

• New to Linux or uncomfortable using the terminal
• Looking for a plug-and-play audio workstation
• Expecting GUI tools for all configuration tasks
• Unwilling to read documentation or debug low-level issues
• Seeking a “daily driver” desktop OS with minimal maintenance
• Unfamiliar with concepts like xruns, PREEMPT_RT, or JACK/PipeWire tuning

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Design Philosophy

ArchibaldOS follows a “minimal oligarchy” philosophy:

Only components that directly contribute to performance, determinism, or reproducibility are included.

Convenience, abstraction, and mass-market usability are intentionally deprioritized in favor of:

• Measurable real-time performance
• Declarative, auditable configuration
• Cross-architecture reproducibility
• System-level transparency

If you want an OS that gets out of your way and lets you build serious real-time systems, ArchibaldOS is for you.

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Flake URI: github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS

License

BSD-3-Clause, copyright DeMoD LLC. See LICENSE. Per-file licensing, including third-party portions, is in REUSE.toml and LICENSES/, and CI checks it with reuse lint. Contributions: CONTRIBUTING.md.

Quick Start

# Build Audio Workstation ISO (CachyOS RT BORE)
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#iso

# Build Robotics Workstation ISO (CachyOS RT BORE)
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics-iso

# Build HydraMesh Networking ISO
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#hydramesh-iso

# Fallback: musnix PREEMPT_RT kernel variants
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#iso-musnix
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics-iso-musnix

# The installer, without Calamares (also on every ISO)
nix run github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#archibaldos-install -- --help

# RISC-V SD image for StarFive JH7110 boards (VisionFive 2 / Framework 13 RV)
# Build natively on the board (preferred):
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#packages.riscv64-linux.archibaldOS-riscv-sdimage
# ...or cross-build from x86_64 under binfmt qemu-user (slow) — see docs/riscv.md

RISC-V (StarFive JH7110)

A headless RT-audio SD image for the VisionFive 2 and DeepComputing Framework 13 RISC-V mainboard (StarFive JH7110). Mainline Linux 6.12 with native PREEMPT_RT (CachyOS RT doesn't build for riscv64). Build it on the board or cross-build from x86_64 — full guide in docs/riscv.md.

Kernel Options

Kernel	Scheduler	Use Case
CachyOS RT (default)	BORE	Best latency + responsiveness
musnix PREEMPT_RT (fallback)	CFS	Mainline RT, max compatibility

The desktop profiles use the same RT parameters with either kernel:

• threadirqs - Threaded IRQ handlers
• isolcpus=1-3 - Isolated CPU cores
• nohz_full=1-3 - Full tickless
• intel_idle.max_cstate=1 - Disable deep C-states

The companion profile does not. It uses threadirqs preempt=full, with no isolated cores and no C-state cap, because both cost more than they buy on a 2-core, passively cooled machine (see docs/companion.md).

Profiles

Profile	ISO	Description
Audio	iso	RT audio production with DAWs, synths, DSP tools
Robotics	robotics-iso	RT control systems, simulation, hardware I/O
HydraMesh	hydramesh-iso	Headless P2P networking node
Companion	installed from any ISO	Headless music computer for older 4 GB hardware, commanded by Oligarchy
Companion (Surface)	installed from any ISO	The companion on the linux-surface kernel
Rack unit / mixer	installed from any ISO	The companion with the DeMoD engine on board
Companion SD images	companion-pi4, companion-pi5, companion-riscv	Raspberry Pi 4/5 and StarFive JH7110 as companions

Installing

The ISOs install ArchibaldOS itself. Earlier ISOs used the stock NixOS Calamares step, which wrote a generic configuration.nix, so what landed on the disk was plain NixOS. The installer now offers a profile page (every profile above, plus plain NixOS), copies this flake to /etc/nixos on the target, and installs /etc/nixos#installed. On the installed machine:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake /etc/nixos#installed

Your own settings go in /etc/nixos/hosts/installed/local.nix. Details, including the CLI installer for the minimal ISO, are in docs/installer.md.

Companion

A headless music computer for older hardware (4 GB, 2 cores; first target an older Surface Pro), with JACK, zram and earlyoom and no desktop. An Oligarchy host commands it over WireGuard: dsp-ctl drives JACK and the DSP stack, and oligarchy-companion deploy builds on Oligarchy and switches the companion. Install steps, enrolment and what is still untested are in docs/companion.md.

Laptops, embedded boards, rack units

The same role runs on an x86 laptop, a Raspberry Pi 4/5, a JH7110 board or a rack PC. With a touchscreen attached, the front panel is DeMoD Mixer in kiosk mode; with none, the box is headless. Its DSP runs on the box (a rack unit) or on the Oligarchy DSP VM. Audio reaches the VM over NetJack2 inside WireGuard (wired boxes), and the mixer drives the VM's engine over DCF. docs/form-factors.md has the matrix, the link, and what is measured.

Audio Profile

• Kernel: CachyOS RT with BORE scheduler
• Latency: 32 samples @ 96kHz (~0.33ms)
• DAWs: Ardour, Audacity, Zrythm (REAPER is unfree and not redistributable, so no image ships it; add it on your own machine, see docs/installer.md)
• Synths: Surge, Helm, Carla
• DSP: Csound, Faust, SuperCollider, Pure Data
• Desktop: Plasma 6 with Wayland

Robotics Profile

Same RT kernel optimized for control systems:

• Simulation: Gazebo, Blender
• CAD/EDA: FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, KiCad
• Development: CMake, GCC, Clang, Python (VS Code is unfree and not redistributable, so no image ships it; add it on your own machine)
• Hardware: Arduino IDE, serial tools, CAN bus
• Vision: OpenCV
• Control: Octave, NumPy, SciPy, control library

Hardware Support

Preconfigured udev rules (profiles.robotics.hardware.arduino, granted to the dialout / plugdev groups at mode 0660 — add users to those groups) for:

• Arduino (all variants)
• FTDI USB-serial
• STM32 (DFU mode)
• Teensy
• Generic USB serial

HydraMesh P2P

Sub-10ms latency networking:

services.hydramesh = {
  enable = true;
  mode = "p2p";
  peers = [ "10.100.0.2:7777" ];
  bindAddress = "10.100.0.5";   # your WireGuard address: the DCF wire is plaintext
};

Docker-published ports bypass the NixOS firewall, so bindAddress is the access control; the gRPC API is published on loopback only (grpcBindAddress). Leaving bindAddress at 0.0.0.0, or image unpinned by digest, builds with a warning. See docs/security.md.

Community vs Pro

Feature	Community	Pro
CachyOS RT BORE kernel	✅	✅
musnix PREEMPT_RT fallback	✅	✅
Audio Profile	✅	✅
Robotics Profile	✅	✅
HydraMesh P2P	✅	✅
x86_64 Desktop ISOs	✅	✅
ARM Support	❌	✅ Orange Pi 5, RPi
Thunderbolt/USB4	❌	✅ 40Gbps
Auto-updates	❌	✅ With rollback
AppArmor + audit	❌	✅
DSP Coprocessor	❌	✅
Enterprise configs	❌	✅

Pro: https://github.com/ALH477/archibaldos-pro

Security

docs/security.md states what each image exposes, what was fixed, and what is still open. Changes you will notice:

• DSP guest: ssh takes keys only (add one with users.users.dsp.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys); the control bridge runs as dsp, not root, and accepts only archibald.dsp.control.allowFrom (default QEMU user-net's host, 10.0.2.2/32); the firewall is on; the image boots under UEFI (OVMF) as well as BIOS.

• HydraMesh: gRPC on loopback by default; bindAddress for the mesh port.

• Robotics: board access is 0660 to dialout/plugdev, not 0666.

• Companion: password SSH only until Oligarchy enrols it, then keys only; sudo is limited to the six systemctl commands dsp-ctl sends; the control bridge listens on the WireGuard interface for the commander's address only.

nix flake check runs the gates (checks.rt-exec, checks.dsp-vm-contract, checks.robotics-contract, checks.installed-contract, checks.installer-unit, checks.netjack2, checks.roles-contract); nix build .#dsp-vm-boot-proxy boots the DSP image layout under SeaBIOS and OVMF. See tests/README.md. .github/workflows/check.yml runs nix flake check on every pull request and every push to main; the KVM boot proxy stays on demand.

Development

# Audio dev shell
nix develop github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS

# Robotics dev shell
nix develop github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics

Credits

• CachyOS - BORE scheduler and optimized kernels
• musnix - Real-time audio NixOS module
• chaotic-nyx - CachyOS packages for NixOS
• NixOS - The reproducible Linux distribution

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Copyright (c) 2025 DeMoD LLC. All rights reserved.