Supported Hardware
ApexOS Operating System currently builds images for six targets, defined by the Buildroot defconfigs in buildroot-external/configs/:
| Target | Board name | Architecture | Bootloader | Partition table | Kernel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rpi3-64 | Raspberry Pi 3 (64-bit) | aarch64 (Cortex-A53) | U-Boot | hybrid MBR/GPT | Raspberry Pi kernel fork, 6.18 series |
rpi4-64 | Raspberry Pi 4 (64-bit) | aarch64 (Cortex-A72) | U-Boot | hybrid MBR/GPT | Raspberry Pi kernel fork, 6.18 series |
rpi5-64 | Raspberry Pi 5 (64-bit) | aarch64 | tryboot (Raspberry Pi native A/B boot) | GPT | Raspberry Pi kernel fork, 6.18 series |
generic-aarch64 | Generic aarch64 | aarch64 | GRUB (UEFI) | GPT | Mainline Linux, 6.18 series |
generic-x86-64 | Generic x86-64 | x86-64 | GRUB (UEFI) | GPT | Mainline Linux, 6.18 series |
ova | Open Virtual Appliance | x86-64 | GRUB (UEFI) | GPT | Mainline Linux, 6.18 series |
All targets share the same OS core: systemd, EROFS read-only root, ZRAM, Docker, AppArmor, and RAUC A/B updates. Every image also bundles a broad set of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth firmware (MediaTek, Realtek, Atheros, Broadcom, Ralink, and more) so common USB and onboard radios work out of the box.
Raspberry Pi family
The three Raspberry Pi targets build against the Raspberry Pi Linux kernel fork with board-specific device trees (for example, the rpi4-64 image covers the Pi 4B, Pi 400, and CM4). Raspberry Pi firmware, SDIO Wi-Fi/Bluetooth firmware, and board configuration (config.txt, cmdline.txt) are included.
Notes per board:
- Raspberry Pi 3 / 4: boot via U-Boot on a hybrid MBR/GPT disk layout with a 32 MB boot partition.
- Raspberry Pi 4: the image includes the Raspberry Pi EEPROM update package built for the Pi 4, so the board's boot EEPROM can be kept current.
- Raspberry Pi 5: uses the Pi 5's native
trybootboot-slot mechanism instead of U-Boot — RAUC drives it through a custom bootloader backend. GPT partition table with a larger (64 MB) boot partition. The Pi 5 EEPROM update package is included as well.
Generic UEFI targets (x86-64 and aarch64)
The generic-x86-64 and generic-aarch64 targets boot via GRUB on UEFI firmware and run mainline LTS Linux kernels. They target ordinary 64-bit PCs and UEFI-capable ARM machines respectively, with wide PCI/USB device support compiled in (including Intel graphics/NPU firmware on x86-64).
Open Virtual Appliance (ova)
The ova target is the same x86-64 UEFI system packaged for hypervisors (CHASSIS=vm). In addition to the raw disk image, the build produces ready-to-import virtual disk formats:
.ova(OVF appliance with a stream-optimized VMDK).vmdk,.vhdx,.vdi(zipped).qcow2(xz-compressed)
The appliance kernel includes hypervisor guest tooling (for example the Hyper-V KVP and VSS daemons) for better integration with the host.