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Custom Firmwares
The term is a bit of a misnomer, as these are really OS builds but there are a large number announced and/or becoming available for this device. Hopefully this page will help reduce any confusion and answer questions between them, since there are a lot of them and development is moving forward quite rapidly on all of them. Most of these projects are available as sources on GitHub unless otherwise noted. Base OSes include Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Buildroot, and even a systemd-free option: Void. Plus there's a version of Android under development.
This buildroot-based distribution descends from the ELEC (Embedded Linux Entertainment Center) family of Linux OSes, and was originally designed for set-top boxes and ODROID branded SBCs. It includes a fork of the advanced FCAMOD version of EmulationStation and some menu-driven CPU governor override options alongside the usual emulators. This OS exposes a huge amount of functionality via menus, and is great for people who want fine control over their systems without needing to crawl under the hood with RetroArch itself. For better or for worse, EmuELEC is the most "stolen" OS there is for the RK3326 devices because of it's combination of power and ease of use, so it exists on every clone in existence, having been hacked up and put there by the clone makers themselves. However, these are generally earlier versions and are not supported by the author, and the official 4.x 64 bit versions are only officially supported on the Odriod Go devices, though the official version is known to work on the RGB10, RGB20, and RGB10Max.
This is a fork of the EmuELEC sources with some modifications to allow it to work on the Anbernic RK3326 devices. This uses a Windows-compatible ROMs partition for faster ROM transfers, and also includes a modified kernel that allows for 1.5 GHz speeds. Development is continuing in parallel with EmuELEC, but currently access to the ROM directory via file share isn't available.
A distribution from The Retro Arena, this build is based on the stock Ubuntu components, with some modifications and additions, including apt-get system updates, and the FCAMOD version of EmulationStation. Support for an ArkOS-style NTFS partition has also been added. The dev is primarily focused on the Odroid devices and doesn't support clones.
A fork of The Retro Arena project's Ubuntu-based build with permission from the original project. Initially it was just a supported for the RK2020 and RGB10 clones with an NTFS partition. Since then the author has renamed it ArkOS (Another RK3326 OS), added a new kernel with exFAT support, and a new fork of the FCAMOD version of EmulationStation, with added statusbar reporting for volume, brightness, and WiFi status.
This is a fork of ArkOS, and a WIP without a site for now, but it essentially adds OGS/RGB10Max support to ArkOS, along with a few other modifications.
Lakka is another descendent of the ELEC family of OSes, made by the RetroArch team, and consists solely of RetroArch running on a Buildroot Linux base. As such, you'll be limited to libretro emulation cores. This has not proven to be a popular choice on the OGA given the limits involved (no standalone N64, DS< or PSP, much less ports), but they officially support the Chi and Andbernic devices as well as the Odroids.
A popular retrogaming distribution forked from RecalBox and based on Buildroot, this build is designed to be very lightweight and efficient, and includes a customized fork of the FCAMOD version of EmulationStation. Batocera is still 32 bit on the RK3326 platform but has acceptable performance on most emulators, as well as some fairly desirable features including the Bezel Project. Batocera also serves as a base for many pre-rolled distributions that include BIOS and ROMs already (naughty naughty). Unlike EmuELEC, Batocera officially supports the clone platforms as well as the Odroid Go Advance and Super.
One author is working on porting Lineage to the OGA platform and has made a lot of progress, though he still has a ways to go. It's...well, Android. :)
This build is a distillation of (and based on) the full Debian Buster build, using debootstrap to create a slim Debian install oriented towards an embedded application. Added elements include an X11 backend for graphics, and an attract-mode based frontend rather than the usual EmulationStation. However, there are also major missing items: no SMB support for transferring ROMs onto the system, and configuring WiFi requires editing a config file stored in a Linux file system on your SD card . Unfortunately the author (same author as Debian Buster for OGA) has chosen not to release his sources on GitHub. Ultimately, this build is really only meant for (and only usable by) experienced Linux users with access to a Linux machine to help with the setup, limiting the potential audience.
Another member of the ELEC OS family, this one is more of a combination gaming/multimedia build, based on LibreELEC. While it boots to EmulationStation, it also includes Kodi for multimedia, a Weston desktop (with VNC server and RDP capability), NFS and Flatpak services, and various desktop and multimedia applications. As such, emulator selection is a little more limited but most of the major players are present for use. While the author has not released his source code on GitHub, the sources ARE available on his download page.
This is the HardKernel developed "official" firmware for the device. Based on Ubuntu, Emulation Station, and libretro along with standalone emulators, but with custom functionality added to improve the user experience. However, the developer has clearly indicated that this, while usable as a standalone OS, is meant as more of a development sandbox and tool for other OS developers to use, and to source libraries from.
This is a straight port of the full Debian Buster for ARM64 platforms, and is meant for development and testing rather than local gaming. However, it's also useful for running RK3326 devices as a straight-up SBC, and can theoretically be configured as a (rather heavy) gaming station via APT packages, though the devs justifiably discourage it. In-place updating is provided by apt-get.
This is the slimmest and lightest OGA distribution around, and has become the main OS product of the former RetroRoller project. Based on Void Linux, this build replaces systemd with the much lighter runit (which uses different service commands), and uses a custom launcher module within RetroArch to launch external emulators when necessary, making RetroArch the UX instead of another frontend. Just be warned: Windows file sharing does not function (SFTP is available for file transfers and WiFi can be configured within RetroArch). Unfortunately, the author has archived his GitHub and left Discord, so development is now discontinued, though images for the Odroid Go Advance and Super remain available and it is considered feature-complete.
Based on Arch Linux for ARM, this slim OS is subject to a rolling release schedule, rather than major milestone releases (and re-flashes). In addition, the new RetroRoller includes a port of FCAMOD EmulationStation, plus an option to boot right to RetroArch as well as an optional custom NCurses-based launcher. In place updates are provided by Arch's pacman system, and a full system update is accessible via the RetroLauncher menu or EmulationStation's RetroArch menu, as well as via SSH.