A lean, fast, custom Linux distribution built on Puppy Linux and Ubuntu Jammy.
Vantum is a custom Linux distribution built from the ground up using Woof-CE — the official Puppy Linux build system — targeting Ubuntu Jammy (22.04) as its package source. It inherits everything that makes Puppy Linux great: a tiny footprint, the ability to run entirely from RAM, a lightning-fast boot, and a complete desktop environment that works on modest hardware — while layering on a custom look, feel, and toolset that makes it distinctly its own.
This is not a remaster or a respin. Vantum is compiled from source, assembled package by package, and built with deliberate decisions about what goes in and what stays out.
Puppy Linux has a well-earned reputation for doing more with less. It boots fast, runs in RAM, saves state to a single file, and gets out of your way. Most modern distros have drifted toward bloat; Puppy never did.
Ubuntu Jammy (22.04 LTS) was chosen as the package base because it hits a sweet spot: recent enough to have modern library versions and long-term security support, stable enough that the package ecosystem is well-tested and widely compatible. The result is a Puppy that can install and run most Ubuntu-compatible software without friction.
- Custom JWM configuration — the window manager is tuned with a specific panel layout, keybindings, and theme out of the box
- Custom GTK appearance — a cohesive visual identity applied from first boot, not something you configure afterward
- Custom launcher — a purpose-built application launcher compiled from source and baked directly into the ISO (Vantyl & Vantum)
- Stripped-down default app set — only what's needed, nothing that isn't
- Reproducible build — the entire OS can be rebuilt from source on a fresh machine using this repository, on ubuntu/multipass
- Lightweight, but not ugly - Vantum aims to feel and run exactly like puppy but without the old UI.
- Configure, everything - From the taskbar, top bar and applauncher, everything can be configured using their corresponding xml scripts OR, if you're feeling extra brave, you can even edit the entire python script and make it your own.
| Build system | Woof-CE |
| Package base | Ubuntu Jammy 22.04 (x86_64) |
| Build host | Ubuntu 26.04 in Multipass (Windows 11) |
| Base Puppy | FossaPup64 9.5 |
| Kernel | huge-5.4.53-fossapup64 |
| Window manager | JWM |
| Architecture | x86_64 |
woof-CE/
├── woof-code/
│ ├── rootfs-skeleton/ ← Vantum UI customisations (JWM, GTK, themes)
│ ├── rootfs-petbuilds/ ← Custom launcher and other compiled-from-source packages
│ └── support/
│ ├── petbuilds.sh ← Patched: ccache removed, non-fatal petbuild exits
│ └── huge_kernel.sh ← Patched: KERNEL_REPO_URL variable bug fixed
└── woof-distro/x86_64/ubuntu/jammy64/
└── _00build.conf ← Vantum-specific build config (SFS compression, PETBUILDS list)
See the Quick-start checklist in DEBUG.md for the full step-by-step build process.
The short version:
# On Windows 11, launch a Multipass VM
multipass launch 22.04 --disk 50G --memory 8G --cpus 4 --name beasos-build
multipass shell beasos-build
# Inside the VM
git clone https://github.com/Hammad-hab/Vantum
cd Vantum
# Download FossaPup64 base (required, not in repo — too large)
wget http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-fossa/fossapup64-9.5.iso
wget https://archive.org/download/puppy_linux_-fossapup64/devx_fossapup64_9.5_cmake_included.sfs \
-O devx_fossapup64_9.5.sfs
# Enter the build chroot
sudo ./run_woof ./fossapup64-9.5.iso ./devx_fossapup64_9.5.sfs .
cd woof-CE
BUILDCHAIN=1 RIGVANTUM=1 KERNEL_CHOICE=44 source ./merge2out The output ISO will appear in woof-output/ when the build completes.
Building a custom Linux distribution is not a smooth process. DEBUG.md in this repository documents every issue encountered during Vantum's initial build — 12 distinct failures, their root causes, and their fixes — covering everything from wrong base Puppy selection and broken ccache binaries to BusyBox checksum parser quirks and overlayfs layer visibility bugs. It's intended as a reference for anyone building on this codebase or attempting a similar Woof-CE build on a modern host.
Vantum is actively in development. The base build is working. UI customisation, the custom launcher, and theme work are ongoing.
Vantum is built on Puppy Linux and Ubuntu packages. All third-party components retain their original licenses. Custom code and configuration in this repository is released under the MIT License.