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EndeavourOS’s ARM endeavors just took a turn for the better as the team launched today a new ISO release of the Arch Linux-based distribution that integrates a new ARM installer to make it a lot easier to install EndeavourOS ARM on devices like the Raspberry Pi 4.
EndeavourOS Artemis is out now and it’s the first release of the Arch Linux-based distro to come with a built-in installer for the EndeavourOS ARM Edition. The new ARM installer is integrated into the Welcome screen you see when you enter the live session and it’s just one click away from trying EndeavourOS on an ARM device.
The EndeavourOS team started working on their ARM port for the distribution about two years ago. Until now, installing EndeavourOS on ARM devices required you to write the latest EndeavourOS ISO image on a microSD card, download the EndeavourOS ARM installation script, and then run the text-based installer that had several stages.
The previous ARM installer script, which is still available for unsupported devices, was for advanced users, but now anyone can try EndeavourOS on a supported ARM device (Odroid N2/N2+ and Raspberry Pi at the moment of writing this article) thanks to the new ARM installer, which requires just a few clicks.
Earlier this year, the EndeavourOS devs announced that their EndeavourOS ARM Edition now offers a 64-bit installation option for the Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer, which is what I’m using in this review.
Installation
The installation is quite easy. Once you click on the “EndeavourOS ARM Image Installer” button on the Welcome screen, you’ll see a new dialog where you just have to click on the “Start ARM Installer” button.
After that, the entire installation process will take place in a full-screen terminal window, in text mode. There, you will only have to select the ARM device you want to install EndeavourOS ARM to (e.g. Raspberry Pi 4 64-bit or Odroid N2/N2+), choose a file system type (e.g. EXT4 or Btrfs), and select the microSD card.
When selecting the microSD card, make sure that you write /dev/ in front of the device’s name (e.g. /dev/sdc). That’s it, the installer will automatically download the EndeavourOS ARM image for your device, extract it, sync it, and tell you that the default username and password is alarm and that the default root password is root (just in case you need them for the live system).
The best part is that you can do all this straight from the live ISO, without installing EndeavourOS on your PC!
Openbox live environment, Calamares installer
With this, you’ll get a basic live environment featuring the Openbox window manager with a few utilities pre-installed, but the installation of EndeavourOS ARM isn’t over as a new welcome screen gives me the choice to install the official or community editions of EndeavourOS. In addition, I can alter the mirrors to select a location that’s closer to me for a faster installation process.
Installing the official or community editions will fire up a modified Calamares graphical installer where you can choose your favorite desktop environment(s) and additional packages to install, configure the default user for the system, and select the default language and keyboard layout, just like with a normal EndeavourOS installation.
The installer will download the required packages and install them over the live session, which you won’t be able to use once the pseudo-installation is complete. That’s it, after a system reboot you will be able to enjoy your brand-new EndeavourOS ARM distribution on your ARM-powered device.
Conclusion
Thanks to the new ARM installer that’s integrated into the live ISO image of EndeavourOS, I believe the EndeavourOS ARM Edition will soon become very popular amongst Arch Linux/EndeavourOS/ARM fans.
Personally, I’ve only tried the Xfce desktop environment and, as you can see from the featured image, it looks and feels great. Everything appears to work properly on the Raspberry Pi 4 computer, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, YouTube Full HD playback, etc., just as expected from EndeavourOS.
The EndeavourOS team did an amazing job with the new ARM installer and the entire ecosystem around the EndeavourOS ARM Edition, and I bet that this is just the beginning as they will now have to start adding more and more devices to the ARM installer.
Last updated 2 years ago
