Start here if this is your first RISC-V machine

Based onIndependent

Debian is the only independent distro here that made riscv64 an official release architecture; separately there are Debian-based riscv64 systems such as deepin and RevyOS (not verified one by one).

Based onDebian

Ubuntu has the most detailed board support: it publishes preinstalled images per board, but 26.04 raised the bar to RVA23, leaving older boards stuck on 24.04 LTS.

Based onIndependent

Fedora runs an official RISC-V SIG with continuous builds, but the project still labels riscv64 "not officially supported" and ships images through the alt channel. It works fine day to day; its support level is simply not the same as Debian or Ubuntu.

Based onFedora

FVF is a RISC-V image rebuilt from Fedora sources by a separate team, not an official Fedora release. It covers more boards than the official SIG images, so it is the practical pick when you want a Fedora userland that boots out of the box.

Based onDebian 13 (trixie) rootfs + XuanTie-customized 6.6 kernel (TH1520/SG2042 BSP); the older 20240720 build is Debian 12 + 5.10 kernel

The de facto standard on TH1520 boards: LicheePi 4A and Milk-V Meles ship with RevyOS, and the official tutorials flash it too. The best first pick for newcomers, but note that the mirror is newer than the docs — take the latest date from the mirror directory.

Based onUbuntu 24.04 LTS (Bianbu 2.x, K1) / Ubuntu 25.04 (Bianbu 3.x, K1) / Ubuntu 26.04 (Bianbu 4.x, K3; per vendor forum, not stated per release in official docs) + vendor BSP kernel 6.6 LTS / 6.18

The only system with an official desktop experience on K1/K3 boards (BPI-F3, Milk-V Jupiter, MUSE, Pico-ITX): GNOME/LXQt out of the box and complete documentation, making it the friendliest vendor distro for newcomers.

Based onopenEuler 24.03 LTS (RPM/dnf, own repos) + RVCK 6.6 kernel; RISC-V ships as two separate builds, RVA20 and RVA23

An RISC-V base for server/enterprise use, moving fastest on RVA23 + Server Platform; unless you are validating server scenarios, RevyOS/Bianbu will save you trouble on a dev board.

Based onIndependent build (deb/APT + own repos, UKUI desktop); 3.0 uses a Linux 7.0 kernel, 2.0 SP2 is the long-term stable release

The RISC-V branch of a domestic desktop OS, with board coverage split across versions (3.0 only knows K3/V100). Good for evaluating a domestic desktop stack, not as a daily driver on older TH1520/K1 boards.

Based onDebian-based + deepin's own repos (deepin 25 "crimson"); kernel 6.6/6.12/6.16 depending on board, mainline kernel on DP1000

The best-looking domestic desktop distro, but its RISC-V branch is a community preview shipped as per-board tar.xz files — fine for evaluation, not recommended as your only daily system.

None (generic QEMU virtual platform, RV32/RV64 configurable, up to 512 cores) · QEMU Project

Pure virtual platform: up to 512 RV64GC cores, CLINT/PLIC, a PCIe host bridge, 8 virtio-mmio devices, NS16550 UART, optional AIA/IOMMU; memory, disks and networking are all virtualised through command-line options, with no real GPU/VPU/NPU.

StarFive JH7110: 4×SiFive U74 @1.5GHz + S7 monitor core + E24 · StarFive

2/4/8GB LPDDR4, microSD + eMMC (some versions), M.2 M-Key NVMe, 2× GbE (v1.3 supports PoE), HDMI 2.0, 4× USB, 40-pin GPIO; there is also a cut-down VisionFive 2 Lite.

T-Head TH1520: 4×C910 @1.85GHz + C906 + E902, 4TOPS NPU · Sipeed

4/8/16GB LPDDR4X, 8/32/128GB eMMC, 2× GbE, WiFi5/BT5, HDMI 2.0 + 4-lane MIPI DSI, 2× MIPI CSI, 4× USB3, 40-pin GPIO.