openKylin · RISC-V Distros

Bottom line

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 on: Independent build (deb/APT + own repos, UKUI desktop); 3.0 uses a Linux 7.0 kernel, 2.0 SP2 is the long-term stable release
Upstream: Independent distro: the openKylin community builds its own deb repos and the UKUI desktop, positioning itself as an independent root community OS rather than a direct Ubuntu/Debian derivative; RISC-V is adapted by the openKylin RISC-V SIG.
Versions: openKylin 3.0 (released 2026-08-31; download-page images 2026-09-18, RISC-V images 2026-08-28 / 2026-10-29) · openKylin 2.0 SP2 (2026-08-13 long-term stable; RISC-V images 2025-08-26)
Doc languages: zh
Checked: 2026-11-01

Boards

BIT-BRICK K1 Community
Banana Pi BPI-F3 (SpacemiT K1) Community 2.0 SP2 has a SpacemiT K1 image (BPI-F3 is not named; verify yourself)
SpacemiT K3 (Pico-ITX / CoM260) Official 3.0 provides SpacemiT K3 Server / Embedded images
Lichee Cluster 4A Community
LicheePi 4A Official 2.0 SP2 provides a LicheePi4A image (2.5G, 2025-08-26)
Mars Community
Milk-V Pioneer (SG2042, server-oriented) Official 2.0 SP2 provides a Milk-V Pioneer image (3.0G)
QEMU virt (virtual machine) Official 2.0 SP2 provides an RVA23 QEMU image (1.8G)
SiFive HiFive Unmatched Community
VisionFive Community
StarFive VisionFive 2 Community

Download

System download centre (filter by RISC-V architecture)3.0 RISC-V: SpacemiT K3 Server (zip)3.0 RISC-V: SpacemiT V100 Server (iso)2.0 SP2 download page (LicheePi4A / Pioneer / K1 / qemu images live under "all versions")Mirror cdimage.openkylin.top

Docs and videos

Installing openKylin on RISC-V Doc zh
openKylin 3.0 release notes (RISC-V / RVA23 tuning) Doc zh

Pitfalls

3.0's RISC-V images only cover SpacemiT K3 (Server/Embedded) and V100; LicheePi 4A / Pioneer stay on 2.0 SP2
RISC-V images are board-specific rather than generic ISOs, so match them carefully; only 2.0 SP2 offers an RVA23 QEMU image
3.0's RISC-V images lean server/embedded (Server, Embedded) and are not a desktop experience
Download links are download-smp.php?id=xxx redirects; the real files are on cdimage.openkylin.top
Docs are mostly Chinese and the English doc site is largely a shell; RISC-V questions get answered mainly by the Chinese community/SIG

RuyiSDK test reports10

Hands-on records from RuyiSDK, board by board. Open a report for the full install steps and verdict.

Boards	Status	Versions	Last tested	Report
BIT-BRICK K1	◐ Basic	2.0 SP2	2025-09-18	Open report
Banana Pi BPI-F3 (SpacemiT K1)	● Good	2.0-SP1	2025-01-20	Open report
Milk-V Jupiter	✕ Fails to boot	2.0-SP1	2025-04-05	Open report
Lichee Cluster 4A	◐ Basic	2.0-alpha	2024-06-21	Open report
LicheePi 4A	● Good	v2.0-SP2	2025-09-19	Open report
Mars	● Good	2.0 SP1	2025-05-29	Open report
Milk-V Pioneer (SG2042, server-oriented)	● Good	2.0-SP1	2025-03-03	Open report
SiFive HiFive Unmatched	● Good	1.0	2025-04-05	Open report
VisionFive	● Good	0.9.5	2024-06-21	Open report
StarFive VisionFive 2	● Good	2.0-SP1	2025-01-15	Open report

Status meanings: good — fully usable (desktop boots); basic — basic system (serial console works); part — partial functionality; cft — image exists, needs verification; cfh — documented as supported but fails to boot; cfi — claimed supported, no image; wip — announced only.

Sources14

The full source list and how each claim is judged: Sources