The fantastic console-oriented distro ChimeraOS has been updated to version 42. The developers have worked very hard on this release, ensuring any last-minute crashes were fixed. This update removes old BPM, upgrades GNOME to version 44, adds experimental support for OpenGamepadUI, better support for Aya Neo devices (the Aya Neo 2 in particular), a way to manage multi-GPU systems via the CLI, Chimera app improvements, and more than half-a-dozen bug fixes.

Software updates are as follows:

Features:

  • two experimental sessions for OpenGamepadUI
  • LEDs on various Aya Neo devices can now be controlled via the AYALED service
  • exposed fan control support for Aya Neo 2/Geek
  • pikaur AUR helper added “for simpler troubleshooting and development usage”
  • CLI utility to manage multi-GPU systems has been added

Improvements:

  • “usability and aesthetics” of the disk management utility in the Chimera app
  • controller support for GPD Win 4
  • Chimera app can be launched with the LC button on the Aya Neo 2
  • Chimera app: built-in TDP controls for Aya Neo 2
  • Chimera app can be launched from the desktop
  • Chimera app shows app and game titles from Flathub, GOG, and EGS “for easy searchability”

Fixes:

  • secondary drives are automatically mounted
  • boot splash screen
  • bootloader generator “that failed to pickup additional kernel options”
  • devices suspending immediately after waking
  • duplicate key presses on Aya Neo 2/Aya Neo Geek
  • button mapping in RetroArch emulators “for devices managed by HandyGCCS”
  • MangoHUD displaying in the center of the screen for “left-rotated” displays
  • MangoHUD not displaying the overlay correctly “with systems with multiple CPU cores/threads”

Other:

  • old BPM has been removed, as well as steamos-compositor-plus
  • updated “device quirks script” for AOKZOE A1
  • brightness control switched to polkit

Please be aware that if your system is using legacy/BIOS boot or a MPR partition type, you will need to re-install your system. Upgrading ChimeraOS from an older version should still be possible, but upgrading as soon as possible is recommended “to avoid getting into an unbootable state.”

See the patch notes for more details.