We are excited to announce stillOS Snapshot 10-26m1a, the first in our new Snapshot series, which we also consider to be the new preview following stillOS 10 Preview 1. This release represents the next step in our development journey, bridging the gap between the initial preview and a future full release. With this milestone, we are also introducing our new Snapshot system for development.
Our Snapshot system is inspired by the popular Minecraft development model. We will release new snapshots whenever we have features to showcase and gather community feedback, without immediately merging them into the mainline stillOS. These snapshots will be built on a dedicated stillOS edge branch and published whenever there is something notable to share. With this, installing a stillOS Snapshot means system updates are installed from an edge branch.
The versioning scheme mirrors Minecraft’s approach before 2026, but has some differences. A snapshot version looks like “RR-YYmMR”, where RR is the upstream AlmaLinux version, YY the last two digits of the year, 'm' for month, M the month number, and R the revision letter. For example, 10-26m7c would be based on AlmaLinux 10 and be the third snapshot of July 2026. Snapshots will be released irregularly, sometimes several in a month, sometimes none at all.
This first snapshot (Snapshot 10-26m1a) introduces several new features and improvements based on feedback from Preview 1 and our ongoing development efforts.
Quick Setup!
This is a new tool displayed on first boot. The point of this tool is to allow you to set up your system to be ready for work as quickly as possible. We do this by letting you pick your preferred web browser, as well as other web and desktop apps for common tasks. This saves time by letting you install all your preferred applications from stillCenter without having to bundle bloatware into the system. Speaking of bundling, we are having problems bundling Flatpaks into the ISO installer, so the Quick Setup app, for the time being, installs stock apps from Flathub until we can find a fix.
Explore stillOS!
An app that does exactly what the name implies. This is a welcome app that you can launch at the end of Quick Setup. This app is designed to showcase stillOS features and guide people through personalizing their system and contributing to stillHQ. However, we built “stillExplore” to make it easy for any distribution that needs a welcome screen to modify it using a config.json file, matching what they want to showcase with their own branding.
stillTerminal
A terminal designed for the modern age. stillOS is designed to eliminate the need for system maintenance, including in a terminal. You just install it, and it works. So, we made a new terminal emulator designed for getting real work done, rather than trying to fix your system. stillTerminal is a terminal app designed specifically for containers and remote sessions. stillTerminal lets you create containers (powered by Distrobox) for the most common Linux distributions (including Ubuntu, Fedora, Alma, etc). This lets you do powerful things, like install packages built for other Linux distros on stillOS and develop for Linux environments that differ from stillOS. We also have great integration with remote sessions, allowing you to open a new tab to your SSH servers with a single click. Each profile has its own color settings, with container profiles using a color scheme matching the distro the container is running by default. One use of this feature I like is using a red color profile for a production server where changes are destructive, and using blue for my personal home servers, so that the contrasting red background prevents me from accidentally running a destructive command on my production servers.
Enhancements
- There is now a tray icon that shows the status of system updates and applications being installed, such as StillCenter and Quick Setup.
- SWAI Web App ecosystems (apps that share the same account) can now share accounts ONLY with other apps in the ecosystem, and open each other (for example, clicking a Google Docs link in Google Drive opens it in the Google Docs app instead of the Drive app). This feature is currently buggy, but will be more thoroughly tested and fixed this month. Many apps still don't support this feature. We will be releasing SWAI apps on stillCenter as we develop more functional, high-quality experiences.
- SWAI Window Titlebars now adapt to match the website. This makes them feel more native.
New Icons & Wallpaper
New app icons have been made for stillControl, stillCenter, stillTerminal, and stillExplore. All of these great icons were made by Delphic Melody. Additionally, stillOS 10 (and this screenshot) has a gorgeous wallpaper inspired by the city of Seattle, made by Chandeleer. Huge round of applause for these community contributions!
We hope you enjoy this new stillOS Snapshot, expect more news soon!