Why this tool exists
The case for a one-command Arch rice
Millions of people are switching to Linux. The tools for making it beautiful have never been better — yet setting them up still requires hours of wiki-reading and copy-pasting. This script changes that.
First impressions matter — even on an OS
Windows refugees need a warm welcome
Windows 10 reached end-of-life in October 2025, pushing an estimated ~240 million machines toward either a forced hardware upgrade or a new operating system. Linux communities saw record registration numbers on Reddit, Discord, and Matrix throughout 2025.
A new Linux user's first impression is almost always disappointing compared to what they left behind: a plain TTY login, a generic GRUB menu, and a desktop that looks indistinguishable from 2005. Ricing fixes this — and this script automates it end-to-end, from first boot pixel to polished desktop.
The knowledge gap is the real blocker
Installing a GRUB theme involves editing /etc/default/grub, running grub-mkconfig, understanding UUID detection, handling btrfs subvolumes, and knowing which microcode package is correct for your CPU — before you've touched Plymouth or SDDM.
Automation condenses this into a single, idempotent, interactive command. Experienced users get reproducibility across machines. New users get a beautiful desktop without needing to be experts first.
Reproducibility is underrated
The Arch philosophy prizes understanding your system — but it doesn't require manual reinstallation every time. A script that encodes your preferred rice means you can restore a fresh machine to your exact aesthetic in minutes after a reinstall, hardware failure, or migration to new hardware.
Community-driven defaults lower the floor
Projects like Hyprland, Niri, and curated dotfile suites have made opinionated defaults socially acceptable in the Linux world. This script stands on that precedent — offering curated, well-tested defaults while remaining a script you can read, fork, and extend.
From Windows to Linux — at scale
The Linux gaming and desktop-use landscape changed dramatically between 2020 and 2026. Valve shipped the Steam Deck running SteamOS (Arch-based), normalising Linux gaming for millions of people who had never considered the platform. The Steam Hardware Survey registered a Linux share that climbed from roughly 1% to over 4.5% across that period.
The end of Windows 10 support in October 2025 — coinciding with Microsoft's hardware requirements for Windows 11 — created the largest single cohort of potential Linux adopters since the Vista backlash. Industry observers, including the openSUSE project (which launched endof10.org specifically for this audience), described it as a generational opportunity.
The r/linux, r/archlinux, and r/unixporn communities all reported significant growth in 2025, with newcomer posts frequently citing Windows 11 hardware requirements as the deciding factor. Arch Linux and Arch-based distributions — particularly those with a lower installation barrier — benefited disproportionately, driven by their reputation for cutting-edge packages and the richness of their desktop customisation ecosystem.
Source: Steam Hardware & Software Survey
The distros leading the charge
CachyOS
Arch-based, rolling-release distro that rebuilds the entire package stack with x86-64-v3/v4, Zen4 instruction sets, LTO, and PGO optimisations. Ships a custom kernel with scheduler options — BORE, sched-ext, BMQ, and RT — for maximum interactivity. Offers 17+ desktop environments including Hyprland, Niri, COSMIC, Sway, and i3 out of the box.
- ▸CPU-optimised packages: x86-64-v3/v4 + Zen4 + LTO + PGO
- ▸Custom linux-cachyos kernel with tuned EEVDF scheduler
- ▸17+ DE/WM options including Hyprland and Niri
- ▸Graphical Calamares installer or full CLI installer
- ▸Sponsored by Framework, CDN77, and Cloudflare
Source: cachyos.org
openSUSE
One of the oldest and most professionally supported Linux distributions, openSUSE serves new users and enterprise administrators alike. It offers Leap (stable) and Tumbleweed (rolling) releases, Btrfs snapshots via Snapper for safe system rollbacks, and an opt-in proprietary driver/codec repo. The openSUSE team even launched endof10.org to help Windows 10 refugees find a new home.
- ▸Leap: stable release, enterprise-grade reliability
- ▸Tumbleweed: continuously updated rolling release
- ▸Btrfs + Snapper for atomic system snapshots
- ▸YaST: one of Linux's most polished graphical configurators
- ▸Community-run endof10.org for Windows migrants
Source: opensuse.org
Hyprland & Niri — beauty as a feature
Modern Wayland compositors have proven that Linux desktops can be the most visually impressive computing environments on any platform. These two projects alone account for over 56,000 GitHub stars.
Hyprland
Dynamic tiling, every eyecandy feature imaginable.
A 100% independent Wayland compositor that never sacrifices looks for performance. Gradient borders, blur, custom Bézier animations, powerful plugin support, a built-in plugin manager, tearing support for gaming, and fully dynamic workspaces. Config reloads instantly. Over 608 contributors and 108 releases as of 2026.
- ▸Gradient borders with custom shaders
- ▸Blur, shadows, fully animated transitions
- ▸Built-in plugin manager (hyprpm)
- ▸Tearing support for gaming
- ▸Socket-based IPC for scripting
Source: github.com/hyprwm/Hyprland
Niri
Scrollable-tiling compositor built in Rust.
Windows sit in columns on an infinite horizontal strip — opening a new window never forces existing windows to resize. Every monitor gets its own independent workspace strip. Gradient borders using Oklab/Oklch, touchpad and mouse gestures, tabs, a built-in screenshot UI, and live-reloading config. Daily-driven by many users and works fine on NVIDIA and mixed-DPI setups.
- ▸Infinite scrollable strip — no resize surprises
- ▸Per-monitor independent workspaces
- ▸Gradient borders (Oklab/Oklch colour spaces)
- ▸Native Xwayland via xwayland-satellite (niri 25.08+)
- ▸Works on NVIDIA and mixed-DPI monitors
Source: github.com/niri-wm/niri
Every layer, themed — modularly
Most ricing guides treat each layer as a separate weekend project. This script chains them all together into a single, guided run — so you get a themed bootloader, boot splash, login screen, and desktop in one command instead of four separate wiki detours.
The very first pixel the user sees. A themed GRUB transforms a plain black text prompt into a styled splash with a background, custom font, and a single clean boot entry.
Bridges the gap between GRUB handing off to the kernel and the login screen appearing. An animated Plymouth theme hides the kernel log and provides a polished loading animation.
The first interactive element of the desktop session. A minimal SDDM theme removes visual clutter and establishes the colour palette and typographic identity of the whole system.
The daily-use environment — wallpaper, bar, application launcher, window compositor. Whether you run Hyprland, Niri, or a full DE, the desktop layer ties every other layer together.
How the script works today
The script currently installs all four layers in sequence — GRUB, Plymouth, SDDM, and the DMS desktop — in a single run. Before anything is touched, eight pre-flight checks verify internet connectivity, disk space, system compatibility, that either Niri or Hyprland is installed (required by DMS Linux), and that required tools are present.
It uses a gum-powered interactive TUI for prompts, installs yay automatically if missing, backs up critical configs to .bak files before modifying them, and skips any component that is already installed. Per-layer selection is a planned future improvement.
Ready to rice?
Run one command, answer a few prompts, and boot into a fully themed Arch Linux system — GRUB, Plymouth, SDDM, and desktop included.