Show HN: AsteroidOS 2.0 – Nobody asked, we shipped anyway

Hi HN, After roughly 8 years of silently rolling 1.1 nightlies, we finally tagged a proper stable 2.0 release. We built this because wrist-sized Linux is genuinely fun to hack on, and because a handful of us think it's worth keeping capable hardware alive long after manufacturers move on. Smartwatches don't really get old — the silicon is basically the same as it was a decade ago. We just keep making it useful for us.

No usage stats, no tracking, no illusions of mass adoption. The only real signal we get is the occasional person who appears in our Matrix chat going "hey, it booted on my watch from 2014 and now it's usable again" — and that's plenty.

Privacy is non-negotiable: zero telemetry, no cloud, full local control. Longevity is the other half: we refuse to let good hardware become e-waste just because support ended. On the learning side, it's been one of the best playgrounds: instant feedback on your wrist makes QML/Qt, JavaScript watchfaces and embedded Linux feel tangible. The community is small and kind — perfect for people who want to learn open-source dev without gatekeeping.

Technically we're still pragmatic: libhybris + older kernels on most devices since it just works, but we've already mainlined rinato (Samsung Gear 2) and sparrow (ASUS ZenWatch 2) — rinato even boots with a usable UI. That's the direction we're pushing toward.

Repo: https://github.com/AsteroidOS Install images & docs: https://asteroidos.org 2.0 demo video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6FiQz0yACc Announcement post: https://asteroidos.org/news/2-0-release/

Questions, port requests, mentoring offers, criticism, weird ideas — all welcome. We do this because shaping a tiny, open wearable UX and infrastructure is oddly satisfying, and because Linux on the wrist still feels like a playground worth playing in.

Cheers, the AsteroidOS Team

The 'nobody asked, we shipped anyway' energy is the right spirit for OSS. The wearable OS space is a duopoly with zero interoperability, and having a Linux base means you can actually write what you want without fighting proprietary SDKs.

The QML choice makes sense for the constraints. It gets a bad reputation in desktop contexts, but for small screens with limited input it is genuinely practical. The bigger win here is what happens when a manufacturer abandons your watch: instead of a dead device, you keep getting updates.

Congrats on 2.0. Sustained long-term open source projects are rare, and this one solves a real problem.

Wild to see such fragmentation in such a niche space. It's an aftermarket Linux flash for smartwatches, and there are companion apps for SailfishOS and Ubuntu Touch, which are extremely niche flavors of the already very niche mobile Linux.

These are all Linux kernel-based WearOS watches (not just smartbands running a barebones microcontroller), so could they be running a mainlined kernel and Linux OS such as pmOS? Of course the UI layer might be specific to the form factor, but everything else could just be standard.

This is an awesome project. Props to y'all for just making something you want to exist!

I have a Tizen-based Samsung watch (Gear Sport, 2017). It's served me faithfully but I'm starting to notice the battery degrading. I'd be interested in trying AsteroidOS with it, if Tizen support ever lands.

This is seriously impressive! Never knew after market os's were even a thing for watches with their proprietary drivers.

I like that peeking watch face switcher, companies like samsung even after all these years still takes way too long to apply a watch face.

Can anyone suggest where to find a watch that is supported if you live in the US? I've been scanning eBay but it feels difficult to get ahold of a supported device. Are there sites that ship to the US where a new or used device can be found?

Rust support?

Great work to everyone involved with the project!

well done!