Ntemis/REG-Linux

🕹️🐧 REG Linux 🕹️🐧

REG Linux (Retro Emulation Gaming Linux) is an open-source, immutable operating system built for retro-gaming consoles, handhelds, and mini-PCs.

It is designed to be lightweight, fast, and reliable, with a modern toolchain, systemd-free init system, and optimized Buildroot base.
REG Linux runs on ARM, AArch64, RISC-V 64-bit, and x86-64 architectures.

🎮 What is REG Linux?

REG Linux is a portable retro-gaming OS that can be written to a USB stick or SD card to instantly turn any compatible board or computer into a console.

🔒 Immutable system image
⚙️ Based on Buildroot. systemd-free init system
🚀 Optimized for performance and fast boot
🧩 Modular packaging system (no overlayfs required)
💾 Read-only root filesystem with /userdata persistence
🕹️ Out-of-the-box support for dozens of emulators and cores
🧠 Designed for embedded and handheld SoCs (Allwinner, Rockchip, Amlogic, Snapdragon, SpacemiT K1, etc.)

🌍 Project Resources

🌐 Website: https://reglinux.org — latest releases and supported devices
📚 Wiki: https://wiki.reglinux.org — documentation and developer guides
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/reglinux — community, support, and discussion
🧠 GitHub Organization: https://github.com/REG-Linux

🆘 Need Help?

Join our active community:

💬 Discord Server → #help-and-support channel
📰 Reddit Community

🤝 Contributing

REG Linux is open to contributions from developers, designers, and testers:

🧩 Development: submit pull requests — makeapullrequest.com
🌍 Translations: help localize menus, docs, and UI components
🎨 Themes: create and share themes for EmulationStation-style front-ends
📢 Spread the word: talk about REG Linux on YouTube, X (Twitter), or in retro-gaming communities

Donations and hardware contributions will soon be accepted to support ongoing development.

🗂️ Repository Overview

Directory	Description
`board/`	Platform-specific configuration: patches and board support for SBCs and handhelds.
`buildroot/`	The Buildroot framework used to assemble REG Linux images.
`configs/`	Build configurations defining what packages and options are enabled per device.
`package/`	The main system and emulator packages (Makefiles, patches, configuration).
`scripts/`	Utilities and helper scripts for building, flashing, or managing devices.

A more detailed explanation of the build process and directory layout is available in the Wiki → Developer Guide.

🧑‍💻 Build Instructions

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/REG-Linux/REG-Linux.git
Install docker using your package manager, then :
cd REG-Linux
make reglinux-docker-image
make xxx-build     
Example: building for Allwinner H700 target
make h700-build
Example: building for x86_64_v3
make x86_64_v3-build

README