Omarchy A

An experimental, Omarchy-inspired desktop for Apple A-series devices. Built on Arch Linux ARM, with Omarchy's look and feel reworked for touch.

Includes a device-aware CLI and release format for installation, diagnostics, and bringing Omarchy A to more hardware.

Development checkout

This repository is the distribution: desktop, root filesystem and release. The hardware support and the orchard tool live in orchard; put its launcher on your PATH once (see its README). Here, orchard runs orchard's newest nightly, whose kernels, m1n1, Pongo and tools this build then takes as they are. To work against your own orchard checkout, e.g. a branch with a driver you need, run that checkout's launcher instead (../orchard-installer/bin/orchard build). A gitignored orchard.local.toml may hold your board:

device = "j71b"

orchard.toml (its [release] table) makes this checkout an orchard distribution:

orchard build        # every component that changed, then a release in out/releases/dev-DATE-TIME
orchard run          # build, then start that release's recovery on the attached iPad, from RAM
orchard install      # install the last build
orchard python -m unittest discover -s tests

orchard build runs tools/build.py, which keeps each component (desktop, Labwc, base, loader, …) in out/components/ and rebuilds it only when its files change; orchard brings Pongo, the recovery tools and the kernels. BUILD.md describes the steps one by one.

RAM experiments and device bring-up happen in orchard itself, with its examples and bring-up guide.

Supported devices

A release covers every device orchard describes: one root image, and orchard's kernel, device trees and modules for each platform. How well a device works is orchard's device data, which the installer shows before it changes anything. Today the iPad 6 Wi-Fi (iPad7,5, J71b) is supported; the others are experimental. See orchard's devices.

The desktop finds the hardware at login. On the iPad 6 and iPad 7 (A10) it draws on the GPU, and Firefox plays H.264 video, YouTube included, through the hardware video decoder. On every other device it draws in software, as before. To start an A10 device on the software desktop once, boot with modprobe.blacklist=powervr.

Firefox reaches the video decoder only with its media decoding sandbox switched off (MOZ_DISABLE_RDD_SANDBOX=1, set by the login session on those devices): a video that exploits a decoder bug is then not contained by that sandbox. The sandbox around web pages stays on.

This image uses tethered boot: starting Linux after a cold restart requires a host computer running orchard launch.

Security: this experimental image logs in as tablet automatically at boot. sudo asks for the password chosen at install, and the screen lock takes a 6-digit PIN. There is no disk encryption, and the boot ROM exploit used to start Linux gives anyone holding the device full access. Use a dedicated test device; do not store sensitive data on it.

Contributions for additional devices are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Install

Use a computer running Linux or macOS with curl, libusb and OpenSSH installed, a USB data cable, and a supported iPad running iPadOS 16 or later. Allow several GB of free host storage for firmware downloads and extraction. You need no Python or other tools: the installer brings its own.

1. Back up your iPad

Storage changes can permanently erase data. Back up before continuing.

2. Make room for Linux

The installer needs at least 9 GiB that iPadOS doesn't use: free space, or an earlier Linux install to replace. It never resizes iPadOS itself. Skip this step if you already have that.

1. Download and extract Resize APFS. It uses palera1n; the installer below puts palera1n into ~/.local/bin if you don't have it yet, and stops without changing the iPad when there isn't enough room.
2. Run ./resize-apfs boot from its extracted folder and follow the prompts.
3. Once iPadOS starts, unlock the iPad and open Resize APFS when its icon appears.
4. Choose Adjust size and reserve space for Linux.
5. Wait for Completed and verified before restarting. Do not interrupt the operation; see the resize safety instructions if status becomes unavailable.

3. Install Omarchy A

Connect only the target iPad. Enter DFU: hold Home + Power for about 8 seconds, release Power, then keep holding Home for about 10 seconds. The screen should remain black. Then run:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/OrchardLinux/omarchy-a/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The installer of the latest release downloads its own Python and checks it, then the release. Choose where Omarchy A goes, then set a password (for sudo and system changes) and a 6-digit PIN (for the lock screen). It boots recovery, writes a boot partition and the system next to iPadOS, adds the device's firmware, and starts Omarchy A, all in one DFU boot. Keep USB connected until it says Omarchy A is starting. On Linux, it installs USB permissions with sudo; reconnect the device if it asks.

It also leaves orchard in ~/.local/bin for starting Omarchy A again (below); add that directory to your PATH if it isn't. orchard update updates it.

Coming from the previous installer

Installs from the previous installer (one Linux partition, no boot partition) can't be started or converted by this one. The installer offers that partition as a target and says so before erasing it. To keep files, copy them off first: start the old system with the previous CLI release, then copy them over the network (for example with scp).

Start Linux after a restart

Connect the iPad in DFU mode and run:

orchard launch

The bootloader reads the boot entries from the iPad's boot partition and starts the one you choose (or the only one). It works from any computer with Orchard installed: nothing is downloaded, formatted or reinstalled. See orchard.

More than an installer

Hardware work before and after installation (recovery boot, device-tree capture, firmware preparation, RAM experiments, bringing up a new device) happens with orchard from a checkout; see its device bring-up guide.

How it works

An iPad cannot boot a Linux installer like a PC boots an ISO. How Omarchy A gets from DFU to desktop explains the boot path, release format, device runtime, and installation lifecycle.

Contribute or bring up a device

• Desktop: improve touch interaction, the shell, applications, and Omarchy integration here.
• Hardware and host tooling: contribute kernel patches, device trees, firmware recipes, runtime support, device adapters, boot transports and installation workflows to orchard.
• Create your own remix: customize the desktop, root filesystem, and image policy using the same release format; minimal-linux provides a smaller, Alpine-based example.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for bring-up guidance and BUILD.md for image assembly and validation.

Troubleshooting

See Troubleshooting for USB connectivity, diagnostics, and failed installations.