I’m currently running Endeavor OS, basically vanilla Arch with management extras and easy installer, but Artix could become my new distribution of choice depending on what Endeavor does with age verification (they are against it but waiting to see what happens). I currently have to do extra work to run XLibre, and I wouldn’t mind ditching IBM/Red Hat’s systemd. And Artix has gone on record stating, “We’ll NEVER require any verification or identification from the user.”
https://9to5linux.com/systemd-free-artix-linux-sees-first-release-in-2026-with-xlibre-and-pipewire
This release ships with KDE Plasma 6.6, Xfce 4.20, Cinnamon 6.6, LXQt 2.3, MATE 1.28, and LXDE 0.11.1 desktop environments.
The development team behind Artix Linux has released today the Artix Linux 2026.04 ISO refresh for this Arch Linux-based, systemd-free distribution, which features multiple editions and init systems.
The Artix Linux 2026.04 release promotes XLibre as the default display server instead of Xorg Server, which can now be installed manually if you don’t want to use XLibre. For the KDE Plasma edition, users can choose between using Wayland or XLibre.
This release also ships with PipeWire as the default audio system instead of PulseAudio, support for user services when using either the OpenRC or Dinit init systems, Linux 6.19 as the default kernel, and all the latest versions of included applications and core components.
All settings have been updated as well to the newest releases of their respective desktop environments and applications. Artix Linux 2026.04 ships with KDE Plasma 6.6, Xfce 4.20, Cinnamon 6.6, LXQt 2.3, MATE 1.28, and LXDE 0.11.1 desktop environments with OpenRC, Dinit, s6, and Runit init systems.
“As usual, we provide a wide range of installation desktops and init systems, suited to all levels of Linux experience: from base profiles installable from the command-line to the fully-equipped community editions which offer a complete desktop setup,” said the devs in the release notes.
You can download Artix Linux 2026.04 right now from the official website as live ISO images with the aforementioned desktop environments and init systems for 64-bit machines. Of course, these new ISO images are here only for new deployments or those who want to reinstall their Artix Linux systems.
Since Artix Linux follows a rolling release model, existing users need only to update their installations by running the sudo pacman -Syu command in a terminal emulator or by using a graphical package manager on your favorite desktop environment, such as Plasma Discover or one of the many pacman GUIs.