LainOS Layer 02 is a privacy-hardened, rolling-release Arch Linux distribution running OpenRC instead of systemd. It uses a graphical installer (Calamares) and supports both UEFI and BIOS/legacy hardware.

This guide covers installation from a live USB to a single NVMe or SATA drive.

Requirements

Component	Minimum
CPU	x86_64, 2+ cores
RAM	2 GB (4 GB recommended)
Storage	20 GB
Firmware	UEFI or BIOS/Legacy
Network	WiFi or Ethernet (optional during install)

Step 1 ~ Download the ISO

Download the latest ISO from https://lainos.net/download

Verify the checksum before writing:

sha256sum lainOS-layer-02-*.iso

Compare against the checksum published on the download page.

Step 2 ~ Write the USB

Linux:

doas dd if=lainOS-layer-02-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Replace /dev/sdX with your USB drive ~ double check with lsblk first. This will erase the drive.

Windows: Use Rufus in DD mode (not ISO mode).

Step 3 ~ Boot the USB

UEFI Systems

Enter your firmware settings (usually F2, F12, Delete, or Escape during POST)
Disable Secure Boot ~ LainOS does not support Secure Boot
Disable CSM / Legacy Boot ~ set boot mode to UEFI only
Set the USB as the first boot device
Save and reboot

Verify UEFI mode: Once in the live session, open a terminal and run:

ls /sys/firmware/efi

If the directory exists, you are booted in UEFI mode. If not, go back and disable CSM.

BIOS / Libreboot Systems

Boot the USB normally. No special firmware settings required.

Step 4 ~ Install LainOS

When you log in as liveuser, the Calamares installer launches automatically. Follow the steps below.

Welcome

Select your language and click Next.

Location

Select your timezone. Click Next.

Keyboard

Select your keyboard layout. Click Next.

Partitions

Erase disk (recommended for new installs):

Select Erase disk
Select your target drive from the dropdown ~ double check this is the correct drive
Leave filesystem as btrfs
Set swap as desired (None, Small, or Suspend)
To enable full disk encryption, check Encrypt system and set a passphrase
Click Next

Manual partitioning (advanced):

Create a root partition (/) with ext4, minimum 20GB
On UEFI: create a FAT32 EFI partition (/boot/efi), minimum 512MB, flag as ESP
On BIOS: no EFI partition needed

Users

Enter your full name, username, and password
Set a root password
Click Next

Summary

Review your selections carefully ~ especially the target drive. Click Install.

Installation

The installation takes 3~10 minutes depending on hardware. Do not power off during this time.

Finish

Click Done and reboot when prompted. Remove the USB drive when the screen goes dark.

Step 5 ~ First Boot

On first boot you will see the OpenRC boot sequence followed by the tuigreet login prompt.

Log in with the username and password you set during installation. You will be dropped into a Sway Wayland desktop session.

Default Software

Category	Application
Desktop	Sway (Wayland)
Terminal	Alacritty
Browser	LibreWolf
File Manager	Thunar
Text Editor	Mousepad
Password Manager	KeePassXC
Media	mpv, VLC

Post-Install Basics

Connect to WiFi

wifi

Update the System

doas pacman -Syu

Install Packages

doas pacman -S <packagename>

Privilege Escalation

LainOS uses doas instead of sudo:

doas <command>

Brightness Control

brightness 7    # set brightness to 7
brightness 15   # maximum brightness
brightness 1    # minimum brightness

WireGuard VPN

Place your WireGuard config at /etc/wireguard/wg1.conf, then:

wg1     # bring up tunnel
wg1d    # bring down tunnel

Supports up to 4 tunnels (wg1~wg4).

Sway Keybinds (defaults)

Keybind	Action
`Super + Enter`	Open terminal
`Super + Space`	Application launcher (wofi)
`Super + Shift + Q`	Close window
`Super + Shift + C`	Reload Sway config
`Super + 1-9`	Switch workspace
`Super + Shift + 1-9`	Move window to workspace
`Super + W`	Open LibreWolf
`Super + F`	Open Thunar

Troubleshooting

System won't boot after install (UEFI)

The live USB must boot in UEFI mode for GRUB to install correctly. If you see GRUB errors like premature end of file, boot the live USB again and verify:

ls /sys/firmware/efi

If the directory doesn't exist, you booted in legacy/BIOS mode. Disable CSM in firmware and reinstall.

System won't boot after install (NVMe)

If you see VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0), the initramfs may not have loaded correctly. Boot the live USB and run:

lsblk
doas mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
doas arch-chroot /mnt dracut --force --no-hostonly /boot/initramfs-linux.img $(uname -r)
doas arch-chroot /mnt grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

No WiFi networks visible

doas rc-service iwd restart
wifi

Installer crashes or fails

Collect the session log and report at https://bugs.lainos.net:

doas grep -n "" /root/.cache/calamares/session.log | tail -100

Privacy Notes

LainOS Layer 02 is privacy-hardened by default:

MAC randomization enabled
Ephemeral machine-id ~ regenerated on each boot, preventing hardware fingerprinting
No telemetry of any kind
LibreWolf as default browser ~ hardened Firefox fork
KeePassXC for local password management
Tor and torsocks included
nftables firewall enabled by default
No IPv6 by default
hardened_malloc preloaded for key applications
Full disk encryption supported via Calamares (opt-in)

Getting Help

Website: https://lainos.net
Bug reports: https://bugs.lainos.net
Community: https://lainos.net/community
PGP (Lead Architect): 456F 268D 14C9 ECCE 1A77 3558 03E8 F5B6 3BAC 3998

NVIDIA Instructions

Note: NVIDIA support on Wayland is experimental. AMD and Intel GPUs are recommended.

Install NVIDIA drivers:

doas pacman -S nvidia-dkms nvidia-utils egl-wayland

Add NVIDIA modules to dracut config:

doas tee /etc/dracut.conf.d/nvidia.conf << 'EOF'
force_drivers+=" nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm "
EOF

Regenerate initramfs:

doas dracut --force

Enable NVIDIA kernel mode setting:

doas tee /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf << 'EOF'
options nvidia_drm modeset=1
EOF

Launch Sway with the unsupported GPU flag. Edit your Sway session file:

doas nano /usr/share/wayland-sessions/sway.desktop

Change Exec=sway to Exec=sway --unsupported-gpu, save and exit.

Reboot and log back in to test your GPU.

LainOS Layer 02 ~ どこに行ったって、人はつながっているのよ。