Omarchy 4.5 RC1 brings Arch-based desktop to Arm laptops

Omarchy 4.5-RC1, released on October 20, 2026, adds the first Arm build of the Linux desktop. It runs on laptops with Nvidia's N1X and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips. Until now Omarchy centered on standard x86 PCs, so this is its first step onto Arm hardware.

What Omarchy is

Omarchy is a Linux distribution based on Arch Linux, according to Phoronix. Its website describes it as "beautiful, fun & agentic Linux by DHH," incubated at 37signals. The project has moved quickly through 4.0 releases since August.

This version is a test build. "This is a release candidate, not a final release," the GitHub release notes say, warning users to expect bugs and to keep a backup. The current stable version is 4.0.6, released on October 19.

Arm support

AArch64 is the 64-bit version of the Arm processor design used in phones, Apple's Macs and many Windows laptops. Omarchy now offers an AArch64 install image alongside its usual x86_64 one.

The release notes name four laptops:

Chip	Laptops	How it runs
Nvidia N1X	Dell XPS 16, ASUS ProArt P14	Omarchy's Arm kernel with Nvidia's open driver
Snapdragon X	Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, Lenovo ThinkPad T14s	A separate Arm kernel, with firmware copied from Windows

Snapdragon machines need extra steps. Setup copies GPU and signal-processor firmware from the laptop's Windows partition, then picks the right device tree at boot. A device tree is a file that tells Linux what hardware a board has. Phoronix notes this firmware step is common to other distributions on Snapdragon laptops.

Some hardware already works well there, per the release notes. Cameras work in the desktop and in Chromium, and both Chromium and the mpv video player get hardware video decoding.

Apple Silicon Macs are part of the same push. The separate Omarchy Mac project has been folded into Omarchy, leaving only its boot setup in separate packages. Phoronix cautions that upstream Linux support for newer M-series Macs "still leaves a lot to be desired."

Other changes in 4.5

The release candidate also brings desktop changes, listed in the GitHub notes:

• The desktop is available in 50 languages, switched under Setup or with omarchy language.
• Each monitor gets its own set of workspaces on Super + 1 to 0.
• Notifications can stack, snooze and be silenced with Do Not Disturb, and they keep a history.
• Floating workspaces come with a dock for minimized windows.
• The boot menu wait drops from about 6 seconds to 1.
• Japanese, Chinese and Korean input methods are included.
• BBR, a method for handling network congestion, is turned on.

The release credits DHH, tobi and 40 other contributors.

How to try it

Fresh installs use the new x86_64 or AArch64 ISO images. Existing Omarchy machines can switch from the menu: choose Update, then Channel, then RC, and then update Omarchy. No final release date is given.

What this means for developers

Arm laptops still need extra work to run Linux, as the Snapdragon firmware step shows. Omarchy 4.5 gives four of them a ready-made option, but it is early.

• Check your exact model. Only four laptops are named. Other Snapdragon X or N1X machines may need different firmware or device trees.
• Keep Windows on the disk for now. Snapdragon setup copies firmware from the Windows partition. Wiping Windows first could leave you without the GPU firmware you need.
• Test your toolchain on Arm. Containers, language runtimes and editors must have AArch64 builds. Check each one before you move your main work over.
• Use a spare machine. The project itself says to expect bugs. Do not upgrade a daily driver to the RC channel.
• Watch the Nvidia N1X path. It uses Nvidia's open driver on Arm, which makes it a useful test of how well that driver works outside x86 PCs.