Rebase from Fedora Atomic

Install Zirconium by rebasing from an existing Fedora Atomic system

If you already have a Fedora Atomic system installed, you can switch to Zirconium using the bootc switch command. This is an alternative to installing from ISO.

Prerequisites

Before rebasing to Zirconium, ensure you have:

• An existing Fedora Atomic installation (such as Bluefin, Fedora Silverblue, or any other bootc-compatible system)
• Root or sudo access
• A stable internet connection
• Knowledge of your GPU type (AMD/Intel or NVIDIA)

While we recommend Bluefin as a starting point, any Fedora Atomic flavor will work for rebasing to Zirconium.

Choose your variant

Zirconium offers two variants depending on your GPU:

• Standard variant: For AMD and Intel GPUs
• NVIDIA variant: For NVIDIA GTX 16xx and RTX series GPUs

See GPU variants for more details on choosing the right variant.

Rebase to Zirconium

Standard (AMD/Intel)

For systems with AMD or Intel GPUs:

1. Switch to Zirconium

   Run the bootc switch command:

   sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/zirconium-dev/zirconium:latest
   

   This will download the Zirconium container image and prepare it for the next boot.

2. Reboot your system

   sudo systemctl reboot
   

   Your system will reboot into Zirconium on the next startup.

NVIDIA

For systems with NVIDIA GPUs (GTX 16xx or RTX series):

The NVIDIA variant requires Secure Boot to be disabled. The NVIDIA kernel module is currently unsigned. See the GPU variants page for more information.

1. Disable Secure Boot

   Before switching to the NVIDIA variant:

   1. Reboot into your BIOS/UEFI settings
   2. Disable Secure Boot
   3. Save changes and boot back into your system
2. Switch to Zirconium NVIDIA

   Run the bootc switch command:

   sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/zirconium-dev/zirconium-nvidia:latest
   

   This will download the NVIDIA-enabled Zirconium image and prepare it for the next boot.

3. Reboot your system

   sudo systemctl reboot
   

   Your system will reboot into Zirconium with NVIDIA driver support.

Verify the installation

After rebooting into Zirconium:

1. Check bootc status

   Verify that you’re running Zirconium:

   sudo bootc status
   

   You should see output showing the Zirconium image reference:

   • ghcr.io/zirconium-dev/zirconium:latest (standard variant)
   • ghcr.io/zirconium-dev/zirconium-nvidia:latest (NVIDIA variant)
2. Verify GPU drivers (NVIDIA only)

   If you’re using the NVIDIA variant, verify the drivers are loaded:

   nvidia-smi
   

   This should display your GPU information and driver version.

3. Update to latest version

   Ensure you’re running the latest updates:

   sudo bootc upgrade
   

   If updates are available, reboot to apply them:

   sudo systemctl reboot
   

Rollback if needed

If you encounter issues with Zirconium, you can roll back to your previous system:

sudo bootc rollback
sudo systemctl reboot

This will revert to your previous Fedora Atomic deployment.

Zirconium uses bootc’s transactional update system, so your previous system state is preserved and can be easily restored.

Next steps

• Learn about GPU variants and how to switch between them
• Customize your Niri and DankMaterialShell configurations
• Join the Zirconium Discord for support and community discussions