Answers to the most common questions about Linux-AI 2.0 “Nevaeh”, the Premium key, updates and the Premium apps. Can't find what you're looking for? Reach out at the bottom of the page.
There is now one Linux-AI for everyone. The free download contains every Linux-AI feature, and Linux-AI Premium is turned on with a key inside the system you already have — no separate Premium ISO, no reinstalling, and your files and settings stay where they are.
New updates and fixes arrive through the new Linux-AI Updates app. See the release notes for everything that is new.
The Premium launcher, the Premium apps and the Premium boot screen switch on right away. Nothing is reinstalled and nothing is deleted.
You do not need to reinstall. Open a Terminal and run this command once — it asks for your password and, if you have one, your Premium key:
curl -fsSL https://linux-ai-os.com/apt/install.sh | sudo sh
Your files, settings and installed programs stay exactly as they are. After that, all future updates come through Linux-AI Updates — no more commands.
No. Everyone who bought Premium before 2.0 has been emailed a free Premium key. It unlocks everything — including Music Studio, PersonaStudio and the new Performer Studio and ID Maker — on the system you already have. If you didn't receive yours, check your spam folder or contact us with the email address you used to buy.
Search your inbox (and spam folder) for the email from Linux-AI OS that contains your key. If you can't find it, contact us with the email address you used to buy, and we will send it again.
Linux-AI Premium is a one-time purchase. There is no subscription, no recurring billing, and no yearly renewal fee. You pay once and your Premium key is yours to keep — use it again if you ever reinstall.
Payments are processed securely through Stripe. You can pay with a credit or debit card, or any other payment method Stripe offers in your country. You don't need an account of any kind, and your card details go straight to Stripe — they never touch our servers.
After payment completes, Stripe takes you to a page that shows your Premium key and the three steps to turn Premium on. You also receive the key by email right away, so you can come back to it at any time. If the email hasn't arrived within a few minutes, check your spam folder or contact us.
If Linux-AI isn't installed yet, download the free ISO from the Download page first — it is the same system, and the key turns on Premium after installing.
Yes. Updates arrive through the Linux-AI Updates app at no additional cost — for free users and Premium users alike.
Your Premium key is licensed for personal use on your own devices. If you plan to deploy it across many machines in a business or organizational setting, please reach out first so we can help make sure that's set up correctly.
If Linux-AI Premium doesn't work for you, contact us and describe the issue. We want you to be satisfied with your purchase, and we handle refund requests on a case-by-case basis.
Linux-AI runs comfortably on modest hardware, but for the best experience with local AI models we recommend:
The Premium creative AI apps (Music Studio, PersonaStudio and Performer Studio) need considerably more: 32 GB RAM, a 250 GB SSD or larger with about 60 GB free for their first start, and an NVIDIA graphics card with at least 8 GB of VRAM (12 GB or more recommended). See the Requirements page for details.
Use a tool such as Rufus (Windows), Balena Etcher (Windows, Mac, Linux), or the dd command (Linux/Mac) to write the downloaded ISO file to a USB drive of 16 GB or larger. All existing data on the USB drive will be erased in the process.
Yes. Linux-AI boots and installs cleanly in VMware, VirtualBox, and QEMU/KVM. This is a great way to try it out before committing to a full installation on real hardware. (The large creative AI apps need a real NVIDIA graphics card and plenty of disk space, so they are best used on a real installation.)
The installer can install Linux-AI next to an existing operating system, but the other system may not appear in the Linux-AI boot menu. You can still start it from your computer's firmware boot menu (usually F12, F11, F8 or Esc right after switching on).
The simplest and safest options are to install Linux-AI on its own drive, or to try it in a virtual machine first. Whatever you choose, back up your important files before installing.
A checksum mismatch usually means the download was incomplete or corrupted in transit. Delete the file and download it again. If the checksum still doesn't match after a fresh download, contact us right away.
First, confirm your BIOS/UEFI boot order includes the correct drive. If the issue persists, boot the live USB again, note any error message shown, and reach out through the Contact page with the exact wording of the error — this helps us diagnose the issue quickly.
One Premium key unlocks all 10 Premium apps, opened from the Linux-AI Premium launcher:
Music Studio, PersonaStudio, Performer Studio and ID Maker download the first time you open them, so you only download the apps you use.
There are no separate Premium editions any more — every Premium owner gets all ten apps and simply uses the ones their computer can run.
ID Maker designs cards on any computer, but printing PVC ID cards only works with a Canon PIXMA TS702 printer and the Brainstorm ID inkjet PVC card tray kit with Brainstorm inkjet PVC cards. The tray, cards and, if needed, the printer are available from brainstormidsupply.com.
ID Maker sets up the TS702 for you with one click (Set up my Canon TS702), and it can open and save Brainstorm .bid template files.
Yes for the desktop, video and games — AMD and Intel graphics work out of the box. For AI, the bundled AI runtime (Ollama) accelerates NVIDIA cards and recent AMD Radeon cards that AMD supports with ROCm (roughly the RX 6800 class and newer). On older AMD cards, such as the Radeon Vega series, the AI models run on the processor instead — they still work, just slower.
Music Studio, PersonaStudio and Performer Studio are built for NVIDIA. If you're unsure about your card, send us its model and we'll tell you what to expect.
Only once. To keep the download small, the AI models are not packed into the ISO: the first time you open the Linux-AI Assistant, a one-time setup downloads the model it needs (about 1.3 GB). After that, the AI models used by the Assistant, the Mail Assistant, and other Premium apps run entirely on your own machine through Ollama, which is pre-installed and pre-configured, and work completely offline.
The models are installed the first time you use them, which keeps the ISO download much smaller. When you first open the Linux-AI Assistant, a one-time setup window downloads llama3.2:1b (about 1.3 GB), the fast model used by the Assistant and the Mail Assistant. In the same window you can also add the larger llama3 model (about 4.7 GB) for better answers and prompt help in Image Creator, and, on computers with an NVIDIA graphics card, GPU acceleration for much faster responses.
You can open this setup again at any time from the menu under AI Setup, and add or swap models through the Ollama AI Manager. If you try Linux-AI from the USB drive without installing, anything downloaded is kept in memory only and is gone after a restart.
Yes. The Ollama AI Manager in Premium makes it easy to pull, install, and switch between additional models from Ollama's model library, or your own custom models.
The Mail Assistant connects to any email account over standard IMAP and SMTP, which covers Gmail, Outlook, Zoho, and most other providers. Some providers (including Gmail) require you to generate an app-specific password rather than using your regular account password.
It lets you create, start, stop, snapshot, and manage virtual machines directly from the desktop — useful for testing other operating systems, software development, or running isolated environments without leaving Linux-AI.
Voice Studio is provided as part of your Premium license for your own projects. If you have a specific commercial use case in mind, reach out and we're happy to clarify.
No. Linux-AI's AI features are designed around local processing. Your emails, recordings, images, and prompts are processed on your own device by locally-running AI models — nothing is uploaded to an external AI service by default.
Linux-AI OS is built around a privacy-first philosophy. It does not phone home with usage analytics or telemetry by default. Your Premium key is checked on your own computer — turning on Premium does not need an account.
Yes. Linux-AI uses Ollama, an open-source local AI runtime, to run models directly on your computer's own CPU or GPU. You can confirm this yourself at any time by disconnecting from the internet and using the AI features normally.
Start with this FAQ page, since it covers the most common issues. If your question isn't answered here, use the Contact page and describe what you're seeing — including any exact error text — so we can help as quickly as possible.
Please reach out through the Contact page with a description of the issue, the steps that led to it, and, if possible, a screenshot. Detailed reports help us fix issues faster in future updates.
Absolutely — feature requests from Linux-AI users directly shape future updates. Send your idea through the Contact page.
If it's installed alongside another operating system, you can remove its partition and restore your original bootloader using standard disk management or partitioning tools from your other OS. If it's the only OS on the drive, simply reinstalling any operating system will overwrite it. If you're unsure how to safely remove it in your specific setup, contact us before proceeding.
If you couldn't find the answer you were looking for, we're happy to help directly.
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