A regular Debian install whose desktop is one fullscreen terminal.
Plebian-OS is stock Debian 13 (trixie) in every way except the “desktop”: where Debian + XFCE would give you a panel and a window manager, Plebian-OS logs you into Pleb — a single fullscreen kilix (a Tilix-styled kitty fork with clickable pane buttons, splits, pages, and images) as the whole session.
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checksums
release notes
$ git clone https://github.com/itsmygithubacct/plebian-os $ sudo plebian-os/bootstrap.sh # log out — the greeter now offers a session called Pleb ▶ Pleb one fullscreen kilix, the whole desktop
watch the series
Kilix, Pleb, and Plebian-OS: A Desktop Built Inside a Terminal — a ten-part tour of the whole stack: the terminal, the login session, the four desktop providers, the shared libraries, and the OS lifecycle. Ten parts, 31 minutes total, 1080p.
1The Machine Whose Desktop Is Kilix
2Kilix: Pages, Panes, and Clickable Chrome
3Pleb: Turning Kilix into a Login Session
4How Applications Stay Inside Kilix
5Desktop One: Kilix 95 and XP
6Desktop Two: Kilix Cap
7Desktop Three: Kilix TUI
8Desktop Four: Kilix Land
9Shared Libraries and the Application Ecosystem
10Plebian-OS: Installation, Updates, and the Complete System
Prefer one file? The complete 31-minute chaptered cut is a download on the plebian-os media release. Every part is also published on the repository it covers — kilix (parts 2, 4), pleb (3), kilix-95 (5), kilix-cap (6), kilix-tui (7), kilix-land (8), and plebian-os (1, 9, 10).
how it works
1Install
An ordinary Debian 13 install — just no desktop-environment
task, plus a thin graphical base (Xorg + LightDM) and
git/curl/tar.
Preseed it into an ISO, or convert an existing Debian with
bootstrap.sh.
2First boot
A one-shot systemd service provisions the machine after the
network is up: apt deps, then pleb and
kilix cloned straight from GitHub, built, and
registered as a LightDM session.
Nothing is forked or vendored — the installed system tracks upstream.
3Every boot after
LightDM → Pleb → fullscreen kilix. Log out to return to
the greeter. Ctrl+Alt+F2 is always a plain text
console.
Refresh the whole stack later with one rollback-safe command:
plebian-os-update. Moving an installed machine to a
new release is a deliberate second step: select that release's
closure first, then update. 0.2.0 upgrades in place from 0.1.9,
and its release notes
carry the exact commands.
GUI apps still work. There is no window manager, so
shells alias the common GUI commands to kilix run <app>:
the app gets a private X server and streams into a kilix tab, tiling
like any terminal program.
quick start
$ mkdir -p ~/gpu_terminal $ git clone https://github.com/itsmygithubacct/plebian-os ~/gpu_terminal/plebian-os $ sudo ~/gpu_terminal/plebian-os/bootstrap.sh # add Pleb alongside your desktop $ sudo ~/gpu_terminal/plebian-os/bootstrap.sh --kiosk # …and boot straight into it $ ~/gpu_terminal/plebian-os/bootstrap.sh --dry-run # preview, touch nothing
$ build/remaster-iso.sh # auto-download netinst, build the ISO $ build/remaster-iso.sh my-netinst.iso out.iso # …or use a local netinst
$ build/make-usb.sh --list # find your USB device $ build/build_usb_image.py --device /dev/sdX # safest physical USB flow $ build/make-usb.sh --device /dev/sdX --dry-run # preview, write nothing
Install it like normal Debian; the first boot pulls everything and
comes up as Pleb. The raw template’s offline login is
pleb / plebian — it ships no SSH
server, and the desktop persistently prompts for a one-time password
change. Flash tooling refuses non-removable devices and makes you
retype the device path before it erases anything.
get it
Download the current 0.2.0 installer ISO directly, or visit the plebian-os releases page for checksums, source archives, and older releases.