ArchibaldOS Community Edition (v.1.2-Omega-Alpha-Chad-Syndrome-Maestro)

Old codebase is in a zip file in the release section. I updated the repo to be easier to maintain and learn.

Real-time workstation for audio production and robotics + HydraMesh P2P networking.

What sets it apart? Bit-for-bit reproducibility across deployments, ensuring that your setup on a studio workstation matches exactly on a drone brain or secure edge router—eliminating the "it works on my machine" syndrome that plagues traditional OSes. Trust us, once you experience deployment consistency at this level, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

ArchibaldOS forms the foundational operating system layer for the DeMoD platform, a cohesive ecosystem for real-time digital signal processing (DSP) and demodulation. As detailed in the open-source guide at https://github.com/ALH477/DeMoDulation—a public blueprint released by DeMoD LLC on November 20, 2025—ArchibaldOS powers DIY DSP devices built from e-waste, Framework 13 mainboards, or Raspberry Pi 5. This integration enables sub-0.8ms round-trip latency at 24-bit/192kHz, transforming low-cost hardware into professional-grade audio and software-defined radio (SDR) rigs. The DeMoDulation repository provides Nix flake profiles that explicitly support ArchibaldOS as a native or virtualized build option, ensuring seamless scalability from embedded prototypes to production deployments.

Who Is ArchibaldOS For?

ArchibaldOS is a specialized, expert-oriented operating system designed for users who need deterministic performance, reproducibility, and deep system control. It is not intended to be a general-purpose or beginner-friendly Linux distribution.

This is for you if you are:

Professional Audio Engineers & DSP Developers

• Working with real-time audio, live performance rigs, or studio setups
• Comfortable tuning buffer sizes, IRQ priorities, and CPU governors
• Requiring sub-5ms round-trip latency with measurable, reproducible results
• Building DSP chains, neural amp models, or SDR-based audio systems

🤖 Robotics & Autonomous Systems Engineers

• Developing with ROS 2, PX4, LIDAR, and real-time sensor fusion
• Targeting ARM SBCs (Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, RK3588, etc.)
• Needing deterministic scheduling for control loops and autonomy stacks
• Integrating RF/SDR, audio, and robotics into a unified real-time system

AI & Systems Engineers (On-Prem / Edge)

• Running local LLMs and agentic workflows without cloud dependency
• Managing GPU acceleration, memory constraints, and inference pipelines
• Integrating voice, audio, and real-time I/O with AI agents
• Valuing reproducible, declarative infrastructure over convenience

Advanced Linux / NixOS Users

• Already familiar with NixOS or declarative system management
• Comfortable editing flake.nix and rebuilding systems
• Wanting bit-for-bit reproducibility across machines and deployments
• Building custom systems rather than installing off-the-shelf distros

Embedded, Edge, and Defense-Oriented Developers

• Building secure, minimal, ITAR/EAR-safe systems
• Deploying on e-waste, SBCs, or custom hardware
• Needing auditable configurations and deterministic behavior
• Prioritizing reliability over UX polish

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This is probably not for you if you are:

• New to Linux or uncomfortable using the terminal
• Looking for a plug-and-play audio workstation
• Expecting GUI tools for all configuration tasks
• Unwilling to read documentation or debug low-level issues
• Seeking a “daily driver” desktop OS with minimal maintenance
• Unfamiliar with concepts like xruns, PREEMPT_RT, or JACK/PipeWire tuning

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Design Philosophy

ArchibaldOS follows a “minimal oligarchy” philosophy:

Only components that directly contribute to performance, determinism, or reproducibility are included.

Convenience, abstraction, and mass-market usability are intentionally deprioritized in favor of:

• Measurable real-time performance
• Declarative, auditable configuration
• Cross-architecture reproducibility
• System-level transparency

If you want an OS that gets out of your way and lets you build serious real-time systems, ArchibaldOS is for you.

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Flake URI: github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS

License

BSD-3-Clause. See LICENSE.

Quick Start

# Build Audio Workstation ISO (CachyOS RT BORE)
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#iso

# Build Robotics Workstation ISO (CachyOS RT BORE)
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics-iso

# Build HydraMesh Networking ISO
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#hydramesh-iso

# Fallback: musnix PREEMPT_RT kernel variants
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#iso-musnix
nix build github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics-iso-musnix

Kernel Options

Kernel	Scheduler	Use Case
CachyOS RT (default)	BORE	Best latency + responsiveness
musnix PREEMPT_RT (fallback)	CFS	Mainline RT, max compatibility

Both kernels use the same RT parameters:

• threadirqs - Threaded IRQ handlers
• isolcpus=1-3 - Isolated CPU cores
• nohz_full=1-3 - Full tickless
• intel_idle.max_cstate=1 - Disable deep C-states

Profiles

Profile	ISO	Description
Audio	iso	RT audio production with DAWs, synths, DSP tools
Robotics	robotics-iso	RT control systems, simulation, hardware I/O
HydraMesh	hydramesh-iso	Headless P2P networking node

Audio Profile

• Kernel: CachyOS RT with BORE scheduler
• Latency: 32 samples @ 96kHz (~0.33ms)
• DAWs: Ardour, Audacity, Zrythm, Reaper
• Synths: Surge, Helm, Carla
• DSP: Csound, Faust, SuperCollider, Pure Data
• Desktop: Plasma 6 with Wayland

Robotics Profile

Same RT kernel optimized for control systems:

• Simulation: Gazebo, Blender
• CAD/EDA: FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, KiCad
• Development: CMake, GCC, Clang, Python, VS Code
• Hardware: Arduino IDE, serial tools, CAN bus
• Vision: OpenCV
• Control: Octave, NumPy, SciPy, control library

Hardware Support

Preconfigured udev rules for:

• Arduino (all variants)
• FTDI USB-serial
• STM32 (DFU mode)
• Teensy
• Generic USB serial

HydraMesh P2P

Sub-10ms latency networking:

services.hydramesh = {
  enable = true;
  mode = "p2p";
  peers = [ "192.168.1.100:7777" ];
};

Community vs Pro

Feature	Community	Pro
CachyOS RT BORE kernel	✅	✅
musnix PREEMPT_RT fallback	✅	✅
Audio Profile	✅	✅
Robotics Profile	✅	✅
HydraMesh P2P	✅	✅
x86_64 Desktop ISOs	✅	✅
ARM Support	❌	✅ Orange Pi 5, RPi
Thunderbolt/USB4	❌	✅ 40Gbps
Auto-updates	❌	✅ With rollback
AppArmor + audit	❌	✅
DSP Coprocessor	❌	✅
Enterprise configs	❌	✅

Pro: https://github.com/ALH477/archibaldos-pro

Development

# Audio dev shell
nix develop github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS

# Robotics dev shell
nix develop github:ALH477/ArchibaldOS#robotics

Credits

• CachyOS - BORE scheduler and optimized kernels
• musnix - Real-time audio NixOS module
• chaotic-nyx - CachyOS packages for NixOS
• NixOS - The reproducible Linux distribution

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Copyright (c) 2025 DeMoD LLC. All rights reserved.