Bluestar Linux

Bluestar Linux Buestar Linux is an Arch-based Linux distribution. Packed with a wide variety of up-to-date software

Bluestar Linux is provided in 4 distinct distributions - Desktop, DeskPro, DeskPro-Developer and Desktop-E17. Supporting both the i686 and x86_64 platforms, Bluestar uniquely provides additional versions prepared specifically for the Intel GMA3600 graphics chipset at a 1024x600 resolution. Due to its close relationship to Arch Linux, Bluestar Linux always includes the latest stable versions of software available. All Bluestar distributions are packaged with Apper and PacmanXG for seamless and flexible software management. Software update notifications are configurable and occur on a regular basis. Bluestar Linux provides a KDM/KDE Desktop Environment as its default, although the Desktop-E17 distribution is built upon Enlightenment for users who prefer a lighter desktop experience. Bluestar Linux is a systemd-compliant Linux OS, and thus provides the user with a fast-booting, highly optimized Linux environment.

11/01/2026

I'll be removing the nvidia-open driver from the build. Apparently, there are quite a few Nvidia adapters out there that are not supported by nvidia-open, and having it in the mix could potentially cause failed graphics startup. The models I know of, specifically, are Pascal and Maxwell. Anything in the 580 model line. For these, you need the nvidia-580xx driver.

So, to avoid the wrong video driver being loaded, for the sake of those with slightly older Nvidia cards, I've removed nvida-open. Use of proprietary drivers should not be be a decision made by the distro. If you need them, you are free to install them. Meanwhile, nouveau works well for most Nvidia cards.

Cheers

11/01/2026

Sonic Desktop

Despite some success in suppressing the kioworker crash at the KDE level by adding kioworkerrc and kioworkerfilerc, both of which apply the internal fusion renderer to KDE "style" graphics, the crashes are now being generated by dolphin. The solution is to force kioworker to use the fusion style renderer always. The next release will put this workaround in place that resolves the issue.

For those who have already installed the sonicde release, you first need to create 2 files - patch-kioworker.hook and kiowrapper.

patch-kioworker.hook

[Trigger]
Type = Path
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Target = usr/lib/kf6/kioworker

[Action]
Description = Applying SonicDE Fusion style wrapper to kioworker
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /usr/bin/bash -c 'mv /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker.real && cp -p /usr/share/sonic/hooks/kiowrapper /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker'

kiowrapper

#!/bin/bash
# SonicDE Drop-in: Protect Dolphin from background styling crashes
exec /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker.real -style fusion "$@"

As root, do the following:

mkdir -p /usr/share/sonic/hooks
cp kiowrapper /usr/share/sonic/hooks
chmod 755 /usr/share/sonic/hooks/kiowrapper
cp patch-kioworker.hook /etc/pacman.d/hooks

Force a reinstall of sonic-frameworks-io

pacman -S sonic-frameworks-io --noconfirm

What this does is to force kioworker to use the fusion style renderer whenever it's called.

Cheers

10/27/2026

bslx-sonicde-7.2.11-10-2026.10.26-x86_64 has been released and is available for download from

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bluestarlinux/files/distro/

Sonic released another 50 or so packages yesterday which are built into this release. Also, the sonic repository started using gpg signing with the signature key having to be manually installed from their github site. This has been fixed and built in. If you have already installed the sonic release, run the following:

curl -O https://sonicde-arch.github.io/sonicde-archlinux.asc
sudo pacman-key --add sonicde-archlinux.asc
sudo pacman-key --finger 3B87898C73F11DF5
sudo pacman-key --lsign-key 3B87898C73F11DF5

I also changed the server path for the bslxsonic repository. Despite a couple of hours trying to figure out why libalpm was requesting a signature key, and changing the db name and trailing path, no logical explanation was found. I finally tried changing the path 2 levels up and it worked. Still no explanation. So here's the new entry for /etc/pacman.conf:

[bslxsonic]
SigLevel = Never TrustAll
Server = http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/bluestarlinux/repo/bslxsonic/$arch

The change was repo/sonic->repo/bslxsonic

I'm guessing an undiscovered weird bug in libalpm. But for now it's resolved.

Cheers

10/24/2026

It has come to my attention via a user issue that the nvidia-open open source driver no longer supports adapters in the 580 branch, only the 590 branch specifically. The 580 branch includes a *huge* number of graphics adapters dating back as recently as a couple of years ago. Specifically the Pascal and Maxwell lines are no longer supported.

I built a release of sonicde for that user, set up for Nvidia 580 adapters specifically. If you need a version that supports this line of adapters, initial testing has been very successful.

bslx-sonicde-580xx-7.2.11-3-2026.10.23-x86_64 is available at

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bluestarlinux/files/distro/

Additionally, the full suite of nvidia-580xx driver packages are now available via the bluestar repository. Run 'pacman -Ss 580xx' to get a list of packages.

Hope it helps.

Cheers

10/23/2026

FYI for SonicDE Only

I'm preparing to remove all sonic packages from the bluestar repository and separate their sources into 2 repositories.

First, Sonic is actively updating their arch repository now and I can't keep up. You must switch to the sonic repository. Edit your /etc/pacman.conf (use sudo) and add this above the [bluestar] entry:

[sonicde]
SigLevel = Never TrustAll
Server = http://sonicde-arch.github.io/$arch

A few of the packages are bslx-specific, but intended for Sonic, not plasma and they're causing conflicts. I have to move these to a different repository.

[bslxsonic]
SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
Server = http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/bluestarlinux/repo/sonic/$arch

Cheers

10/23/2026

bslx-sonicde-7.2.11-7-2026.10.22-x86_64 has been released and is available for download from

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bluestarlinux/files/distro/

I had built and uploaded a release earlier this evening, only to discover an hour or so later that Sonic had added about 90 new packages to their repository in the interim. This is a brand new build with all 150 current SonicDE packages installed.

Cheers

10/19/2026

bslx-sonicde-7.2.11-4-2026.10.18-x86_64 has been released and is available for download from

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bluestarlinux/files/distro/

The biggest change with this release is that it is now using the Sonic Arch repository. This meant a bump in the most of the package versions.

I'd advise anyone using the bslx-sonicde release to add the following to /etc/pacman.conf, in the space just above the [bluestar] repository definition:

[sonicde]
SigLevel = Never TrustAll
Server = http://sonicde-arch.github.io/$arch

Cheers

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