Developers of the Arch Linux-based CachyOS distribution have launched a new ISO snapshot for November 2025, featuring updates to improve installation and hardware support. The release emphasizes accessibility for visually impaired users and compatibility with various desktop environments. It includes the latest kernel and desktop software for enhanced performance.
The CachyOS team announced the November 2025 ISO snapshot on November 29, 2025, bringing fresh package updates and refinements to the distribution's setup process. This Arch Linux derivative now integrates the Orca screen reader and espeak-ng speech synthesizer into both the ISO image and the installer, aiding visually impaired users in navigating the installation.
The installer has gained support for the Plasma Login Manager, positioned as a future replacement for the SDDM login screen in KDE Plasma setups, alongside the Cosmic Greeter, which serves as the default for COSMIC environments. Additional technical enhancements include enabling the mkinitcpio “systemd” hook for compatible systems, adding bcachefs-dkms for Bcachefs file system support, and incorporating intel-media-sdk and vpl-gpu-rt packages for eligible GPUs.
Proton-CachyOS receives upgrades, including dxvk-gplasync as an option via the PROTON_DXVK_GPLASYNC=1 environment variable, improvements to FSR3 and XeSS upscalers, and optimized per-game shader caches with expanded sizes, particularly benefiting NVIDIA users. At its core, the snapshot runs on the long-term support Linux 6.12.58 kernel, with KDE Plasma 6.5.3 as the live session's default desktop, supported by KDE Frameworks 6.20 and KDE Gear 25.08.3.
Other changes encompass an updated CachyOS-Hello application that launches the PackageInstaller upon clicking “Install Apps,” better Limine bootloader integration, and the btrfs-overlayfs hook to align with the mkinitcpio systemd hook. Users can download Desktop and Handheld variants from the official site, while existing installations update via sudo pacman -Syu or Plasma Discover.