The operating system powering the Octane open source retro gaming handheld platform.
OctaneOS is a custom Linux distribution forked from Batocera Linux, extended with hardware support for the Allwinner A733 SoC and built from the ground up for the Octane handheld platform.
Every Octane runs OctaneOS. Every OctaneOS is open source. Every update ships to every Octane in the world from GameOctane.com.
Octane is an open source retro gaming handheld you build yourself. Not just a device — a platform.
- $150 weekend build that competes with $300 commercial handhelds
- Three play modes — handheld, docked, and wireless streaming
- Universal dock — HDMI, Component, and Composite outputs simultaneously
- RetroAchievements baked in and configured out of the box
- Streetpass-style passive community interactions over WiFi
- 100% open source — hardware, software, STL files, everything
Build It. Play It. Own It.
Batocera is an incredible foundation. OctaneOS builds on top of it with features that will never exist in generic Batocera — because they only make sense on Octane hardware.
| Feature | Batocera | OctaneOS |
|---|---|---|
| Allwinner A733 support | ❌ | ✅ |
| Three mode system | ❌ | ✅ |
| Dual-radio WiFi — internet + streaming simultaneously | ❌ | ✅ |
| Cover art dock mode | ❌ | ✅ |
| Achievement overlay on device screen | ❌ | ✅ |
| Wireless streaming stack | ❌ | ✅ |
| Streetpass daemon | ❌ | ✅ |
| GameOctane companion app | ❌ | ✅ |
| OTA updates from GameOctane.com | ❌ | ✅ |
| Cart reader support (Phase 3) | ❌ | ✅ |
| RetroAchievements | ✅ | ✅ |
| EmulationStation frontend | ✅ | ✅ |
| RetroArch + cores | ✅ | ✅ |
| Controller auto-detection | ✅ | ✅ |
OctaneOS is built for the Radxa Cubie A7S with the Allwinner A733 SoC.
| Component | Spec |
|---|---|
| SoC | Allwinner A733 |
| CPU | 2× Cortex-A76 + 6× Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz |
| GPU | Imagination PowerVR BXM-4-64 MC1 |
| RAM | 6GB LPDDR5 |
| WiFi | WiFi 6 (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | 5.4 |
| Display out | USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode |
| GPIO | 30-pin + 15-pin headers |
Full hardware specification available in the Octane Platform Spec v1.3.
OctaneOS manages three distinct play modes automatically — no configuration required.
Handheld — battery powered, screen shows the game, full controls active.
Docked — single USB-C cable carries DisplayPort video to TV and charges simultaneously. Octane screen switches to cover art and achievement notification mode.
Wireless Streaming — Octane stays in your hands. Game streams over a dedicated WiFi 6 radio (wlan1) to the dock. A second independent radio (wlan0) keeps the home network connection live — RetroAchievements, OTA updates, and netplay all work during streaming. Octane screen becomes a companion display.
Phase 1 (launch):
- NES / Famicom
- SNES / Super Famicom
- Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
- Game Boy / Game Boy Color / Game Boy Advance
- PlayStation 1
- Nintendo 64
Phase 2:
- Nintendo DS
- PlayStation Portable
- Sega Saturn
- Dreamcast
🚧 OctaneOS is in active early development. We are building in public from day one — including the failures. Follow along.
| Milestone | Status |
|---|---|
| Batocera fork + A733 build target | ✅ Complete |
| GitHub Actions CI image build | ✅ Complete |
| A733 kernel + Cubie A7S device tree | ✅ Complete |
| aic8800 WiFi driver integrated into image build | ✅ Complete |
| Boot blobs (boot0 + U-Boot) | 🚧 In Progress |
| OctaneOS booting on Cubie A7S hardware | ⏳ Pending hardware |
| DPI screen bring-up via LCD0 | ⏳ Pending hardware |
| EmulationStation launching | ⏳ Pending |
| First ROM running | ⏳ Pending |
| RetroAchievements configured | ⏳ Pending |
| Three mode system | ⏳ Pending |
| OTA update system | ⏳ Pending |
| GameOctane app | ⏳ Pending |
- suckbluefrog — Pre-packaged buildroot dl cache tarballs for ecwolf and same-cdi, enabling CI builds without access to private Bitbucket repositories (Batocera-Multilib)
These resources are the foundation OctaneOS is built on:
- Batocera Linux — upstream fork base
- Radxa BSP Kernel — Allwinner A733 kernel
- Armbian A733 Community Build — A733 bring-up reference
- Radxa Cubie A7S Docs — hardware documentation
- linux-sunxi A733 — mainline kernel status
OctaneOS is community-built from day one. If you're interested in contributing — whether that's kernel work, emulator configs, UI design, documentation, or testing — open an issue and introduce yourself.
All skill levels welcome. If you're learning Linux through this project, you're in the right place.
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting a PR.
- 🌐 GameOctane.com
- 💬 Discord — (https://discord.gg/pnuamjT)
- 🐦 (https://x.com/gameoctane)
OctaneOS is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — the same license as Batocera Linux.
This means you can use, modify, and distribute OctaneOS freely — but any modified version you distribute must also be open source under GPL v3.
See LICENSE for full terms.
GameOctane.com — github.com/GameOctane — Built with Claude Code