Hiyu
The Hiyu badge: a black disc in a chrome ring with a cobalt diamond through it.

A computer you own.

Hiyu is an operating system for the computer in your home. You own the system, the apps on it, and the music, books and movies you keep on it. Nothing on it is rented.

Never rent your hammer.

There is no public install image yet. What is ready today.

01

What this is

Hiyu OS is a whole operating system, written from scratch for Linux: my own compositor, my own shell, my own app framework, and every asset drawn for this project. Void Linux underneath, an OpenZFS root, runit as the only init. A desktop you use with a mouse or with your fingers, on a laptop, a handheld or a desk, and it is the same desktop in every case, not a separate mode that forgets you have a computer.

Windows games are part of the job, not an afterthought. They run through the Windows Compatibility Extension, in game mode when you want the whole screen, and your windows and folders are still there when you come back.

The pieces have names. DisplayComp is the compositor: it draws every window's frame, runs the animations and owns the displays. Hiyu Framework is what apps are built on. The Developer Gallery is where every control is designed and measured before an app may use it. Filer is the desktop and its folders. Three themes ship: Cyan, Blondie, and a new Hiyu default I am still drawing.

02

What you own

Owning a computer used to mean something plain: it is yours, it does what you tell it, and nobody can reach in and change the deal. Hiyu is built so that stays true.

  • The system

    The code that draws your desktop is published under the AGPL. Read it, change it, keep the change. The source for every image we ship is offered from this site.

  • Your apps

    An app is one folder, Name.app. Copy it, move it, back it up, delete it and it is gone. No installer, no account, no licence server. The file is the application.

  • Your media

    Stereo, Books and TV Lounge play the files you keep. They never ask anyone whether you may. What you bought stays yours when a shop closes.

  • Your data

    Every app's data is encrypted by default, and your home can be. The keys are yours. There is no recovery service that can read them, because there is no one else who holds them.

03

What we never do

  • No account to use the computer. Install it, use it, update it. An account exists only for things that genuinely need one, and it is never this.
  • No telemetry. The system sends nothing about you to anyone. The AuraFarm app fetches a signed list of files and sends nothing back, and the code that does it is published, so that is checkable rather than promised.
  • No ads. Not in the system, not in any app we ship, not ever.
  • No subscription to your own computer. An update never takes away something you had. Software we sell is sold.
  • No bundled copy-protection module. If you want a paid streaming service, Browser tells you what it would download and from where, does it only when you say so, and says plainly what you get: software-level playback, HD at most.
  • No lock on the door. Install apps from anywhere, always. Remove the store itself and the computer is whole.
04

Where it is today

Status

There is no public install image yet. I am building toward a beta for a short list of machines. When there is something to try, this page and the Download page will say so, and nothing here will pretend before then.

The apps that work today:

  • Filer
  • System Settings
  • Terminal
  • Stereo
  • Books
  • Glance
  • Dictionary
  • Passwords
  • Monitor
  • Console
  • Diagnostics
  • Font Library
  • Game Controllers
  • Force Quit
  • About This Computer
  • AuraFarm
  • Developer Gallery
  • Blondie Launcher

In progress: Browser, Write, Code Edit, Graphics, Robot, Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Memos, Calculator, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Disks, Capture, Screenshot, Screen Recording, Screen Share, Video, MovieShot, Backup, Overview, Desks, TV Lounge, Theme Engine, Software Update and the Installer.

Two things could not be filed without a site at this address: the Secure Boot shim review with Microsoft, so Hiyu can boot with Secure Boot on, and the Widevine licence application with Google, so paid streaming can work at all. This site exists so they can be.