Bazzite, a gaming-focused Linux operating system, has garnered a reputation for being a good choice for playing video games but too restrictive for actual development work due to its read-only /usr partition and its weird package management quirks.

Often, people get tripped up by attempting to install certain toolchains for development work, realizing that installing packages on top of the bootable container image requires a reboot, and eventually conclude that this friction is an indication that the operating system is not suitable for serious software development.

Nostalgia often evokes melancholy for me. This video is a small capsule of yearning, like coming home to someplace that never really existed.

I am fascinated by discussions around so-called immutable Linux distributions, especially how the community debates whether operating systems like Bazzite are suitable for different kinds of users. Bazzite has become the most popular member of the Fedora Atomic family, even outpacing Fedora’s own offerings of Silverblue and Kinoite (see: countme stats). As it grows in visibility, people are starting to question what exactly sets it apart.

Consider a recent post in /r/linux_gaming that asks:

Sometimes I stumble across a project that feels right at home in Blue95. Felix Rieseberg’s Clippy is exactly that: a local LLM assistant wrapped in the aesthetic of everyone’s favorite (read: despised) paperclip. It’s charming, it’s nostalgic, and it’s surprisingly useful — three qualities I hold dear.

However, it’s more than just a novelty. It’s a reminder of how joyful computing can be when it’s personal, local, and just a little bit odd. It feels like a glimpse into a different path we could have taken — one where the future of computing stayed weird, creative, and people-driven, instead of being handed over to platforms that measure our lives in metrics and monetize our attention.

Having spent a couple of decades in the Linux world, I have always had an interest in Linux desktop environments and how they are themed. I would often come across a post on /r/unixporn that inspired me to try to customize the look and feel of my desktop environment. So I would install Xfce, LXQt or Sway and try to recreate components that I like from other users or create my own. I would end up installing different kinds of panels, plugins, docks and launchers as well as random themes, fonts and sounds.

We’re excited to announce that Blue95 Topanga, based on Fedora 42 is now generally available!

This post will go over some of the changes and improvements that Blue95 has made since the previous version Blue95 Ross was introduced.

What’s New

Blue95 Topanga is now based on Fedora 42, which brings several changes along with it, including:

• The latest version of Xfce 4.20. Partial Wayland support is experimental but functional. See the Xfce 4.20 Tour for more information.
• Fedora Atomic bootc images now use composefs for the default / filesystem. This should not have a user-visible impact, but it makes the root filesystem more resistant to accidental modifications.
• A new kernel and a bunch of other changes from Fedora 42.

Applications

Blue95 Topanga has introduced several new applications that fit the 90s aesthetic. For a full list, see Blue95 Applications: