Install from the ISO

The AIMS OS ISO contains a bootable live system and the Calamares installer. You can flash it to a USB key for bare metal, or boot it in a VM (UTM on Mac M-series, QEMU/KVM on Linux, VirtualBox, VMware).

Download

ISOs live on Cloudflare R2 (GitHub Releases cap assets at 2 GiB and our images are ~7.7 GB). Stable links, updated on every release:

• arm64 (Mac M-series under UTM, ARM servers): aims-os-2.1-arm64.iso · SHA-256
• amd64 (x86_64 laptops): aims-os-2.1-amd64.iso · SHA-256

Check the checksum before booting. The .sha256 is also attached to the matching GitHub Release so you can pin a version:

shasum -a 256 -c aims-os-2.1-arm64.iso.sha256

For a specific version instead of “latest”, swap latest for the tag in the URL (for example .r2.dev/v2.1.1/aims-os-2.1-arm64.iso). Tagged versions are immutable, useful for lab deployments that want to pin an image.

For pre-releases (-alpha, -beta, -rc): they deliberately don’t update latest/ (safety for stable deployments). Use the explicit versioned URL, e.g. .r2.dev/v2.2.0-alpha1/aims-os-2.1-arm64.iso.

All releases: github.com/A-I-M-S-SENEGAL/aims-os/releases

Flash to a USB stick (real laptop, physical machine)

The most common case for AIMS students. You’ll need a USB stick of 16 GB minimum (the ISO is ~7.7 GB and Calamares uses extra during install).

Caution

Flashing erases everything on the stick. Back up first.

Recommended: Ventoy (all platforms)

Why not Rufus / Etcher: these tools write the ISO byte by byte onto the stick (DD mode). That’s slow by nature, especially on mid-range USB sticks: 30-60 min for 7.7 GB on a decent USB 3.0 stick, over an hour on a cheap one that actually tops out at 5-10 MB/s sustained write. And every new AIMS OS release means a full re-flash.

Ventoy changes the model. You install Ventoy on the stick once (~30 seconds, formats into two partitions). After that, you copy the ISO onto the stick like a normal file: no more Rufus, no more wait on every update, no more “wrong disk” risk. On boot, a Ventoy menu lets you pick the image.

Bonus: multiple ISOs fit on the same stick (AIMS OS + Debian rescue

• Windows installer, all together).

Install Ventoy:

1. Download Ventoy (Windows / macOS / Linux, GUI or CLI).
2. Plug the USB stick in. Everything on it will be wiped. Back up first.
3. Launch Ventoy → pick the stick → Install. Takes ~30 s.

Add / update AIMS OS:

1. Open the stick in your file manager (macOS Finder, Windows Explorer, Linux Files).
2. Drag aims-os-2.1-<arch>.iso into the root of the stick. Time = regular file-copy speed (often 1-3 min for 7.7 GB on USB 3.0).
3. Eject the stick cleanly.
4. Boot the PC from the stick → Ventoy menu → pick AIMS OS → GRUB.

Updating to a new release: delete the old .iso, copy the new one in. No reformatting, no Rufus.

Alternatives

If Ventoy isn’t an option (IT policy, stick already flashed), here are the classic single-ISO flows.

balenaEtcher (cross-OS, GUI)

Works the same on macOS, Windows and Linux. Verifies the checksum on its own.

1. Download balenaEtcher → install.
2. Open Etcher → Flash from file → pick the AIMS OS ISO.
3. Select target → pick the USB stick (double-check the disk letter/number).
4. Flash! → wait depending on stick speed.
5. Once “Flash Complete”, unplug.

macOS, command line (dd)

# Identify the device for the stick (e.g., /dev/disk4). Plug the
# stick IN THEN run the command to see what shows up.
diskutil list

# Unmount (do not eject)
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk4

# Flash. WATCH the disk number. A wrong choice OVERWRITES your
# system disk. /dev/rdiskN (with 'r') is ~5x faster than /dev/diskN.
sudo dd if=~/Downloads/aims-os-2.1-amd64.iso of=/dev/rdisk4 bs=4m status=progress
sudo sync

# Eject properly
diskutil eject /dev/disk4

Linux, dd or GNOME Disks

CLI:

lsblk                                  # spot your stick (e.g., /dev/sdc)
sudo umount /dev/sdc?                  # unmount every partition
sudo dd if=aims-os-2.1-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Or GUI: open GNOME Disks → pick the stick → menu (⋮) → Restore Disk Image → pick the ISO.

Windows (Rufus)

Rufus remains the Windows standard for a single-ISO flash:

1. Launch Rufus → Device = USB stick.
2. Boot selection → SELECT → pick the ISO.
3. Partition scheme: GPT (modern UEFI). Target system: UEFI.
4. START → if Rufus asks “DD Image” vs “ISO Image”, pick DD Image (the AIMS ISO is isohybrid).

Tip

Rufus DD mode writes byte by byte → time = the stick’s actual sustained write speed. A “USB 3.0 latest generation” cheap stick often tops out at 10-30 MB/s = 4-13 min for 7.7 GB. A genuine Sandisk Extreme Pro / Samsung BAR Plus runs at 150 MB/s = ~1 min. Quick test: run CrystalDiskMark on Windows to measure your stick. If you’re flashing multiple times or doing regular updates, switch to Ventoy (above).

Boot from the stick

1. Plug the USB stick into the powered-off target machine.
2. Power on while holding the boot menu key:
   • HP / Dell / Lenovo ThinkPad: F12
   • Acer: F12 or Esc
   • ASUS: F8 or Esc
   • MSI: F11
   • Intel Mac: Option/⌥ (then pick EFI Boot)
   • Mac M-series (Asahi): see Asahi Linux docs, more involved
3. Pick the USB stick from the boot menu.
4. The AIMS OS GRUB menu shows → Démarrer en mode Live.

On recent laptops with Secure Boot enabled: AIMS OS ships Debian’s signed shim, so it boots without touching the BIOS. If it refuses, disable Secure Boot in the UEFI firmware (usually F2, F10 or Del at power-on).

Boot in UTM (Mac M-series)

1. Open UTM, create a new VM, Virtualize (not Emulate), pick Linux.
2. Point the Boot ISO Image field at aims-os-2.1-arm64.iso.
3. Memory: 4 GiB minimum, 8 GiB recommended for GNOME + LibreOffice.
4. Storage: 50 GiB minimum (the scientific stack + LaTeX + Cursor take ~12 GiB after install).
5. Network: Shared by default. ICMP ping is blocked by UTM’s NAT even with the firewall off, use curl https://google.com or Firefox to test connectivity. TCP works fine.

Boot in QEMU/KVM (Linux host)

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm \
  -m 4G -smp 4 \
  -drive file=aims-os-disk.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=virtio \
  -cdrom aims-os-2.1-amd64.iso \
  -boot d \
  -vga virtio -display gtk

(For arm64, swap to qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt -cpu host -bios /usr/share/AAVMF/AAVMF_CODE.fd ...)

The GRUB menu

At boot, GRUB shows the AIMS OS menu with four entries in French:

• Démarrer en mode Live: live system, no install
• Installer AIMS OS: launches Calamares in a live session
• Options d’installation avancées: custom kernel parameters
• Utilitaires: memtest, firmware tools

Pick Démarrer en mode Live.

Run Calamares

Once on the live desktop, the Installer AIMS OS icon sits on the desktop and in the app grid. Double-click to start.

The flow follows the standard Calamares pattern:

1. Welcome: checks network and disk space.
2. Location: Africa / Dakar by default.
3. Keyboard: fr (France) by default, fr (Senegal) or us available.
4. Partitions: Erase disk (VM is dedicated), or manual partitioning.
5. Users: your name, username, password.
6. Summary: final review.
7. Install: runs ~20-30 minutes on a modern VM.
8. Finish: reboot into the installed system.

If the install hangs at Finish with a “package manager” error. That’s a known bug fixed in v9.1 and later. The system is actually installed, you can reboot manually.

First boot

On reboot, GDM shows the AIMS-OS-branded login screen. Sign in with the user you created. The HTML welcome page opens automatically in Firefox on first login to orient you.

See First boot for what comes next.