¶ Fund this campaign
¶ Mainline RK3588 Support in BredOS
Right now, BredOS images for RK3588 devices rely on the crusty Rockchip BSP kernel — a huge, duct-taped codebase that’s hard to maintain, insecure, and always lags significantly behind upstream Linux.
We want to change that.
By mainlining RK3588 support, BredOS will bring:
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Long-term maintainability (no more chasing BSP hacks)
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Latest upstream kernel security fixes
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Better performance and stability
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Support across all RK3588 devices (SBCs, dev boards, mini-PCs)
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A solid foundation for ARM64 desktop and server use
This is about making BredOS — and the wider Linux ecosystem — better for everyone using RK3588 hardware.
Our goal with this campaign is to raise atleast 2500€, so that we can port approximately 28 boards.
¶ Why Are We Doing This?
A fair question we often hear is: “Isn’t RK3588 already mainlined?”
The truth is: only part of it is.
While much of the low-level backend work (like basic kernel support) has landed upstream, day-to-day essentials are still broken or missing:
- Many Wi-Fi/Bluetooth drivers don’t work out of the box
- Device-specific optimizations aren’t covered by generic mainline patches
In BredOS, we want RK3588 devices to be practical and polished for real users. That means:
- Reliable Wi-Fi and networking
- Tuned fan profiles (quiet when idle, cooling under load)
- Stable GPU and multimedia support
- Proper installer and images
- Frequently updated images
This campaign isn’t just about “making it boot.”
It’s about making RK3588 devices actually usable as fully featured desktop computers.
¶ Benefits of Mainline
Thanks to our early mainline experiments, we’ve already seen some exciting advantages:
- 2× Vulkan performance over BSP builds and more GPU goodies
- Proper VPU implementation that doesn’t require the custom Rockchip Media Processing Platform (MPP)
- Ability to run Chromium or any video-accelerated apps out-of-the-box
- No more custom hacks or recompiles for common video workloads
Mainline unlocks these real, tangible improvements for both developers and end-users, making RK3588 devices far more capable in daily use.
¶ How You Can Help
- Donate: Every contribution brings us closer to a mainlined RK3588 experience. You can contribute here or PM @rippanda12
- Share: Spread the word in RK3588 communities, SBC forums, and social media.
- Sponsor: Companies depending on RK3588 hardware can back this milestone at higher tiers (we’ll credit sponsors in our repo and website).
- Testing and reporting: We need a lot of testing, especially on weird apps and desktop workloads.
¶ What We’ll aim to do
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Upstreaming & Kernel Work
- Rebase patches onto mainline kernel
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Boot & Install Support
- Support for standard ARM64 boot flow (UEFI where possible)
- Build proper BredOS mainline images for RK3588 boards
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Testing & CI
- Automated test builds for popular boards (e.g., Orange Pi 5, Rock 5B)
- Continuous integration with mainline updates
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User Experience
- Ensure GPU, networking, storage, and I/O are stable
- Provide prebuilt, ready-to-flash images for end users
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Security
- Keeping track of upstream security fixes, providing a stable secure kernel
- Encrypted password protected root filesystem during setup
- Password protected GRUB
¶ Where the Money Goes
- Developer time (kernel, bootloader, userspace integration)
- CI infrastructure for ongoing builds and testing
The bigger the budget at our disposal, the more time we can dedicate to BredOS.
Support the RK3588 Mainline Milestone Now
¶ Sponsors
We would like to sincerely thank our sponsors for their generous support. We are truly grateful for your partnership.
