Installation

Prerequisites

git clone https://github.com/dgateles/Arch-R.git
cd Arch-R

The build script handles everything: kernel, rootfs, Mesa, EmulationStation, RetroArch, and image creation. Requires root for chroot operations.

sudo ./build-all.sh

Output: output/images/ArchR-R36S-YYYYMMDD.img

sudo dd if=output/images/ArchR-R36S-*.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress
sync

Verify the correct device path before running dd. Writing to the wrong device will erase data.

Insert the SD card and power on. First boot runs automatic setup (partition expansion, ROM directories, SSH keys). This takes about 30 seconds.

Power off, mount the SD card on your PC, and copy ROM files to the ROMS partition:

ROMS/
  nes/
  snes/
  gb/ gbc/ gba/
  psx/
  n64/
  megadrive/
  arcade/
  bios/

Insert the card back and power on. EmulationStation scans ROMs automatically.

Arch R produces two image variants:

Variant	U-Boot	Display logo	Target
`original`	BSP Rockchip	Yes	R36S original hardware
`clone`	Mainline v2025.10	No	R36S clones (K36, G80CA, etc.)

# Build specific variant
sudo ./build-image.sh --variant clone

If you're unsure which variant you need: if your device was purchased recently and has a slightly different shell design, try clone first.