R36S Custom Firmware

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Info

Refer to the Guides section or the provided links below for help with installing / flashing these firmwares.

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Info

The recommended Firmwares are Community Maintained ArkOS and AmberELEC.

Warning

The stock microSD cards (those that get shipped with the device) cause a lot of problems and can get corrupted/defect any time. They are very cheap quality and unreliable. Change them as soon as possible. Please refer to the SD card section.

Custom Firmware for the EmuELEC Clone

There are devices that don't support the standard ArkOS or AmberELEC custom firmware. For more info and download links, please refer to the R36S Clones section.

ArkOS Community Maintained Image

Website: https://aeolusux.github.io/ArkOS-R3XS/

MyMinUI

MyMinUI running on the R36S - Download: https://github.com/Turro75/MyMinUI/

This is for people that are looking for a simple alternative to EmulationStation (frontend on ArkOS). It's installed on top of ArkOS and very easily disabled if you want to change back to EmulationStation. A negative point is that the rom folder paths are different than the standard ones. Instructions are included in the download. Only works on ArkOS devices!

Download / Instructions

https://github.com/Turro75/MyMinUI/

AmberELEC

Download

https://github.com/AmberELEC/AmberELEC-prerelease/releases/

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://amberelec.org/guides/getting-started

https://amberelec.org/faq

Hotkeys

https://amberelec.org/guides/getting-to-know-amberelec#controls-and-hot-keys

PAN4ELEC

Unofficial AmberELEC build by KEgg for the most recent Panel 4 (V5) devices. This build adds a few new features and improves general usability.

Download

https://github.com/Kegg1701/P4ELEC/releases

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://www.reddit.com/r/R36S/comments/1fruzm7/pan4elec_custom_amberelec_modification_for_panel/

ArkOS

Download

https://github.com/christianhaitian/arkos/wiki#download-links

https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/comments/18kztju/r36s_arkos_image_12152023/

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://github.com/christianhaitian/arkos/wiki

Hotkeys

https://github.com/christianhaitian/arkos/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions---RG351MP#q-what-are-the-global-event-keys-and-emulator-event-keys-in-arkos

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cHAos multi panel R3xS

Debug image, supports 3 different display panels, fork of AmberELEC.

Download

https://github.com/tech4bot/r35s/releases

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://amberelec.org/guides/getting-started

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ROCKNIX

Discussion on reddit about ROCKNIX

Download

https://github.com/ROCKNIX/distribution/releases

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://rocknix.org/devices/unbranded/game-console-r35s-r36s/

JELOS

Website: https://github.com/JustEnoughLinuxOS/distribution

The JELOS project has come to an end, however the sources will continue to be made available. Binaries are no longer provided.

ROCKNIX is a continuation of JELOS.

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UnofficialOS

Last Update February 7, 2025

Download

https://github.com/RetroGFX/UnofficialOS/releases

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://github.com/RetroGFX/UnofficialOS/wiki

Lakka

Outdated / lightweight Linux distribution with the RetroArch interface. Booting directly into RetroArch is also possible on ArkOS (link)

Download

https://www.lakka.tv/get/

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://www.lakka.tv/doc/Home/

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Xorg

XFCE, LXDE and LXQT Desktop Environment on the R36S

Download

https://github.com/OkJacket2022/R36S-Xorg/releases

Wiki / Documentation / FAQ / How-To

https://github.com/OkJacket2022/R36S-Xorg?tab=readme-ov-file#xorg-on-the-r36s

Video Guide

Gentoo

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AAjIPa1W1g

How-To

https://www.reddit.com/r/R36S/comments/1cz27iq/gentoo_for_r36s_status_update/

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Firmware and SD Card Test

A short test that compares the boot time and GBA/SNES performance of various firmwares and SD cards. I am too lazy to copy over the site, so here's a link to the old R36S Wiki on GitHub:

https://github.com/manster-zz/R36S-LINKS/wiki/Firmware-and-SD-Card-Test

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