pocknix-os 0.2.0

The third release of pocknix-os, and the biggest so far: Pocknix updates now come with a 'Roll Back' button.

⚠️ Due to the new root filesystem that enables this snapshot and rollback functionality (ext4 -> btrfs), Pocknix v0.2 requires a reflash. If you stay on an older version, you'll still get pacman package updates, but not the new snapshot/roll back and storage protection features. v0.1.x is now considered unsupported. v0.2 is the new base going forward. Hopefully, this should be the last time a reflash is required, and after this, updates will be delivered through pacman as normal.

Downloads

Device family	Image
SM8550 - Retroid Pocket 6, AYN Odin 2 family	pocknix-sm8550-20260731-sd.img.zst (11.4 GB)
SM8250 - Retroid Pocket 5, Retroid Pocket Flip 2	pocknix-sm8250-20260731-sd.img.zst (11.3 GB)

Verify your download (.sha256 files attached below, also served next to the images):

sha256sum -c pocknix-sm8550-20260731-sd.img.zst.sha256

• sm8550: 1916390e9bf1abdef72a5ce9bd5ecad2353da2ecf9c9491f3db90ecc58e92a7c
• sm8250: a600e77655812d6aa659774d9f562da0c34f95e221d7f513d5b285a66da04478

Flash to a microSD using Balena Etcher or a similar app, then follow
How to install for your device.

Upgrading a device with an existing internal install

SM8550 (Retroid Pocket 6, Odin 2 family): internal storage boots before the SD card, so a freshly flashed SD will not boot while your old internal install is present. Before inserting the new SD: open Pocknix Installer on your existing install and disable
internal boot (or run pocknix-uninstall-internal --disable-boot), then power off, insert the new SD and boot.

SM8250 (Retroid Pocket 5, Flip 2): skip that step - the stock bootloader tries the SD card first, so the new SD boots even with an internal install present.

Once you are up and running on the new SD (both families): open Pocknix Installer again and choose Reinstall Pocknix - it removes the old internal install and installs the system you are running, with the new snapshot/rollback layout, in one go. Prefer the terminal? The same steps are pocknix-uninstall-internal and pocknix-install-internal.

Highlights

• Update snapshots + one-tap rollback: every Pocknix update automatically snapshots the system first. If an update breaks something, roll it back from the Quick Access Menu — or the desktop Pocknix Rollback shortcut, or pocknix-rollback over ssh — and reboot into the system exactly as it was. Games, saves and settings are never touched by a rollback, kernel updates are rolled back coherently too, and no bootloader menu is involved on either device family. Details in docs/snapshots.md

• Kinder to your SD card (and internal storage): several measures now reduce flash wear and keep cards healthy long-term - system logs live in RAM instead of being written to disk, file access-time bookkeeping is off, a weekly TRIM pass tells the card which blocks are free (missing TRIM is a big contributor to worn-out, slowing cards), the package cache is pruned automatically after updates, and the new btrfs filesystem compresses everything it writes, so fewer bytes hit the flash in the first place. Because lord knows we can't afford new SD cards in this economy.

• Faster startup on SM8550 devices: earlier builds held back GPU initialization for 12 seconds at every boot for a let's say 'crude' fix for a clock-speed quirk (GPUs initialized too early got stuck at half speed for the whole session). That delay is gone thanks to a new kernel patch from ROCKNIX, so the Retroid Pocket 6 and Odin 2 family now boot straight through - roughly 12 seconds faster to Steam. Thank you @sunshineinabox

• Smoother animations in desktop mode: tweaked animation scale settings

• Install directly from stock Android (SM8550): the SD card now carries the ROCKNIX ABL install kit, so a Retroid Pocket 6 / Odin 2 on stock Android can be provisioned directly from a pocknix SD - no ROCKNIX install needed first. Nothing flashes automatically; the kit is run by hand from rooted Android (see the README on the card). Note that SM8250 users already had the ability to install directly from stock Android previously, and nothing changes here for you.

• Official ARMSX2 nightlies: PS2 emulation moves to the ARMSX2 project's own nightly arm64 builds as opposed to MaSi's fork.

• More systems playable out of the box: PSP now has a validated pre-baked config with PPSSPP at a crisp 4x resolution

• Latest Steam client baked in and assorted fixes found during release testing

• Proton is now chosen per game: proton-cachyos is no longer forced as the global default - the global setting interfered with Protons downloaded through Steam itself. The ARM version of proton-cachyos still ships with the OS, and now additionally GE-Proto too. pick one per game under Properties -> Compatibility before first launch, or download Valve's own Proton 11 ARM try use that. x86 games (most games) need a compatibility tool selected to run, so this is once again a required step for each new game.

pocknix-os 0.1.1

The second release of pocknix-os. Existing installs don't need these images - everything
below arrives when running 'pocknix updater' in desktop mode, or a normal sudo pacman -Syu (see
How to update). The images are for
fresh installs, and ship with all of it baked in.

Downloads

Device family	Image
SM8550 - Retroid Pocket 6 (AYN Odin 2 family untested)	pocknix-sm8550-20260722-sd.img.zst (9.2 GB)
SM8250 - Retroid Pocket 5, Retroid Pocket Flip 2	pocknix-sm8250-20260723-sd.img.zst (9.1 GB)

Verify your download (.sha256 files attached below, also served next to the images):

sha256sum -c pocknix-sm8550-20260722-sd.img.zst.sha256

• sm8550: 908a4d0992b7a6d66adc7b7222d3bb3065cfe1954fb4258074756e14776d1a9e
• sm8250: 15b4b6a30a1547c17bd8be3d81ad7a1023fd965310a86d0dd048e4b99ded0870

Flash to a microSD using Balena Etcher or a similar app, then follow
How to install for your device -
the two families boot differently (SM8550 needs the ROCKNIX ABL; SM8250 boots off the stock
bootloader).

Highlights

• Retroid Pocket Flip 2 officially supported: Validated on real devices. Small fix: Guide+A chord opens the Quick Access Menu (the Flip 2 has no Back button), with a kernel-side fix to make the chord reliable
• Proton via proton-cachyos: CachyOS's ARM64 Proton build ships as a system compat tool
  alongside Proton 11 ARM
• Emulation tune-up across both device families: GameCube/Wii (Dolphin) and Switch (Eden)
  now come fully preconfigured - controller, renderer, and pacing settings all baked
• Fixed ES-DE launches: RetroArch systems launched from ES-DE failed with "couldn't find
  emulator"; PS2 and GameCube now default to the right standalone emulators
• Smoother heavy emulators: big-core CPU pinning now applies on every launch path, and
  emulator display settings are tuned per panel (60Hz RP5 vs 120Hz RP6)
• Stack bumps: mesa 26.1.5, FEX-2607

Known limitations

• Suspend/resume is experimental
• AYN Odin 2 family builds are included but untested on hardware

pocknix-os 0.1.0

The first public release of pocknix-os - an Arch Linux ARM distro for Qualcomm Snapdragon
handhelds, in the spirit of CachyOS's Handheld Edition: a mutable, performance-tuned Arch
system that still boots straight into SteamOS-style Big Picture (native ARM64 Steam), with a
Plasma Mobile desktop one session-switch away and anything you like installable via pacman.

Downloads

Device family	Image
SM8550 - Retroid Pocket 6 (AYN Odin 2 family untested)	pocknix-sm8550-20260717-sd.img.zst (8.3 GB)
SM8250 - Retroid Pocket 5 (Flip 2 untested)	pocknix-sm8250-20260717-sd.img.zst (8.0 GB)

Verify your download (.sha256 files attached below, also served next to the images):

sha256sum -c pocknix-sm8550-20260717-sd.img.zst.sha256

• sm8550: bd8db7dd776352b27b4045ebd6fb28f5cddc31d30996dd99bc8459bf21900e55
• sm8250: 368ddaed3b25060849eb19ae3e6358093baa2b47ec4f6094558ff71e3e89df0c

Flash to a microSD using Balena Etcher or a similar app, then follow
How to install for your device -
the two families boot differently (SM8550 needs the ROCKNIX ABL; SM8250 boots off the stock
bootloader).

Highlights

• Native ARM64 Steam in Big Picture via gamescope; x86/Windows games through FEX + Proton ARM
• Plasma Mobile desktop session with Waydroid Android app support
• OTA updates: images ship pre-wired to the signed [pocknix] pacman repo - updating is
  sudo pacman -Syu, kernel included; no reflashing
• Tuned kernel: scx_lavd scheduler, 120Hz panel fixes (RP6), UHS-I SDR104 microSD
  (~13 -> ~85 MB/s), SteamOS-formatted microSD support
• Pocknix Control Decky plugin: fan curves, CPU scheduler, per-game FEX + audio-buffer tweaks
• ES-DE emulation with Steam-library favorites integration

Known limitations

• Suspend/resume is experimental
• AYN Odin 2 family and Retroid Pocket Flip 2 builds are included but untested on hardware
• First release - expect rough edges; issues and reports welcome