What amadeOS adds to Debian

Debian brings the kernel, the drivers, the X server, systemd and thousands of programs. amadeOS adds the desktop on top: ten packages from the repository amadeos-system, all written in Java.

Debian underneath, amadeOS on top

amadeOS does not replace any part of Debian. Its packages are ordinary Debian packages that use Debian's services: PAM to log in, logind for the session, polkit for administrator rights, NetworkManager, CUPS and apt.

From Debian 13

Linux kernel, firmware and drivers

Xorg (X11), Mesa, fonts

systemd, logind, PAM, polkit

NetworkManager, CUPS, PipeWire

apt, dpkg, AppStream, unattended-upgrades

OpenJDK 25, GRUB, live-boot

Firefox ESR, LibreOffice and the whole Debian archive

From amadeos-system

Package	What it is
`amadeos-dm`	Display manager and login screen
`amadeos-session`	Session, screen lock, screen saver, polkit agent, clipboard manager
`amadeos-wm`	Window manager with Motif frames and four workspaces
`amadeos-panel-cde`	The Front Panel with its drawers
`amadeos-settings`	Settings, formerly the Style Manager
`amadeos-software`	Software: install, update and remove programs
`amadeos-packages`	The administrator helper behind updates and Software
`amadeos-print`	Print Manager
`amadeos-logviewer`	Session Diagnostics & Logs
`amadeos-sysinfo`	System Information

From power-on to the desktop

Display manager

A systemd service starts Xorg and the login screen. It checks the password through PAM in a separate root process, opens a logind session and starts the desktop as the user, in the language, keyboard layout and time zone chosen on the login screen.

Session

Starts the window manager and restarts it if it fails, runs the start-up scripts and your own programs, then the Front Panel. Programs started from the panel each write a log of their own.

Window manager

A floating, reparenting X11 window manager: Motif frames with the CDE window menu, move and resize, minimise to desktop icons, four workspaces, the workspace menu, and the ICCCM and EWMH standards, so programs not written in Java work as well.

Front Panel

Clock, calendar, workspace switch, lock and language buttons, network and updates cells, and drawers that fill themselves from the installed programs' desktop entries and follow every install.

Lock and screen saver

The screen saver uses the X server's idle time, shows a module (Qix, Swarm, Starfield, Floating Logo) and locks the screen. The lock grabs keyboard and mouse and asks for the password through PAM.

Clipboard manager

Keeps a history of what you copied, in memory only, and keeps a copy alive when the program that made it closes. Copies that a password manager marks as secret are left out.

All settings in one place

Settings shows every control in a sidebar with a search field, or, under View > Compact, as CDE's row of buttons with a dialog each. Changes apply at once: the window manager, the panel and every amade application follow the files in ~/.config/amadeos/.

Settings: Color — **Color**: Palettes from CDE and new ones, with the four workspace colours, and the icon theme.

Settings: Font — **Font**: CDE's sizes 1 to 7, followed by the panel, the window frames and every amade application.

Settings: Backdrop — **Backdrop**: CDE's pattern backdrops in the palette's shades, or your own pictures, per workspace.

Settings: Workspaces — **Workspaces**: Names of the four workspaces.

Settings: Front Panel — **Front Panel**: Analog or digital clock, network and updates cells.

Settings: Keyboard — **Keyboard**: Key repeat and key click.

Settings: Mouse — **Mouse**: Left- or right-handed, double-click time and acceleration.

Settings: Beep — **Beep**: Volume, pitch and length of the bell, played through the sound card.

Settings: Display — **Display**: Resolution, refresh rate, rotation and arrangement of each monitor.

Settings: Screen — **Screen**: Screen saver modules and when the screen locks.

Settings: Window — **Window**: Click or point to focus, raise when active, show contents while moving.

Settings: Clipboard — **Clipboard**: Size of the clipboard history, and whether selected text is recorded.

Settings: Startup — **Startup**: Your own programs at login, and the desktop services that start with the session.

Settings: Passwords — **Passwords**: Lock, unlock and change the password of the login keyring.

Settings: Updates — **Updates**: Automatic security updates and the updates waiting.

Settings: Language — **Language**: Desktop language and the system's time zone.

Dialogs of the system

Where the system needs you, it asks in a window of the desktop, in your language and colours.

The login screen — **Login**: user, password, language, keyboard layout, time zone, restart and shut down.

The screen lock — **Screen lock**: Super+L, the lock button or the screen saver; the password unlocks.

The administrator password dialog — **Administrator password**: amadeOS's own polkit agent, for example when Software installs a program.

Keep these display settings? — **Keep these settings?** A new resolution goes back by itself after 15 seconds unless you keep it.

The clipboard history — **Clipboard history**: Ctrl+Alt+V, then Enter or 1 to 9 to paste an earlier copy.

**Software and updates**: the updates cell of the panel shows waiting updates, security updates in red.

**Print Manager**: printers and their jobs, spoken to CUPS directly over IPP.

Session Diagnostics and Logs — **Session Diagnostics & Logs**: every program's log and the system journal, one at a time.

**System Information**: processor, memory, disks, graphics, network and battery on one page.

How Java talks to Linux: JNA

Java cannot speak to the X server or to PAM on its own. amadeOS uses JNA (Java Native Access) for that: Java interfaces that name the C functions of a system library, which JNA calls at run time. There is no C code to compile, so every amadeOS package is the same for every processor (Architecture: all), and the whole binding is readable Java in the module base of amadeos-system.

Library	Debian package	Used for
`libX11` (Xlib)	libx11-6	The window manager: about a hundred Xlib calls for events, reparenting frames, window properties (ICCCM, EWMH), focus, key and pointer grabs, selections and drawing. The lock and the panel use it too.
XKB (in libX11)	libx11-6	The bell: the window manager turns the PC-speaker bell off and plays the tone through the sound card instead.
`libXfixes`	libxfixes3	The clipboard manager: the X server reports every new owner of the clipboard.
`libXss`	libxss1	The screen saver: the X server's idle time since the last key or mouse input.
`libpam`	libpam0g	Login screen and screen lock: check the password, open and close the session, set up its environment (and with it the login keyring).
`libc`	libc6	The display manager: switch to the user (setuid, setgid, initgroups) before starting the session, and memory for PAM's conversation.

And where a program does the job better

Not everything needs a native call. amadeOS uses Debian's own tools where they exist: nmcli for the network, xrandr for monitors, xset and xmodmap for keyboard and mouse, timedatectl for the time zone, apt through a small root helper started with pkexec, and IPP spoken directly to CUPS. The handbooks explain each one: Part VII of the User's Handbook and Part VI of the Application Developer's Handbook.