DragonOS ARM64 Community Edition

An unofficial, generic ARM64 UEFI edition of DragonOS for SDR workstations and virtual machines. It combines a current Debian 13 ARM64 base with the complete SDR application payload from the official DragonOS Pi64 Beta42 image.

This project is not based on the DragonOS R9 training image. R9 content, scripts, safety defaults, branding, and package selection are deliberately excluded.

Status

The local release candidate boots independently, reaches a graphical Xfce desktop, and passes the bundled software verifier. A physical HackRF One receive test and the final public-image sanitation/export are still pending.

This is an unofficial community port and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the upstream DragonOS project.

What is included

• Debian 13 ARM64 with a generic arm64 kernel and removable-path UEFI boot.
• GNU Radio 3.10.12 and GNU Radio Companion.
• Gqrx, SDR++, SDRangel, Universal Radio Hacker, SigDigger, SatDump, SDRTrunk, JAERO, and the rest of the Beta42 SDR source/application payload.
• SoapySDR factories for Airspy, Airspy HF+, bladeRF, FobosSDR, HackRF, HydraSDR, LimeSDR, Mirics, RFSpace, RTL-SDR, SDRplay, and remote devices.
• A first-boot console wizard with no usable default password.
• Automatic first-boot growth of the root partition and ext filesystem when the image is written to a disk larger than 32 GiB.
• DragonOS identity and desktop branding without R9-specific content.

The image targets generic ARM64 UEFI systems. It does not include the Raspberry Pi firmware/kernel boot chain, so a Raspberry Pi requires a suitable UEFI firmware environment or a separate Pi-native image.

First boot

The graphical login is held until the console wizard creates the local account identity and password. The default account name and hostname can be accepted or changed. SSH host keys and the machine ID are generated uniquely on first boot.

There is no published default password on an armed release image.

Verification

After first boot, verify the software stack with:

dragonos-verify software

With a HackRF One connected and assigned to the machine, run the receive-only hardware test:

dragonos-verify hackrf

The HackRF lane queries firmware and SoapySDR discovery, then performs a finite one-second receive capture at 100 MHz. It does not transmit.

The current release candidate passes 44 software checks, including a real finite GNU Radio scheduler flowgraph, dynamic-linkage checks for the principal SDR applications, all expected SoapySDR factories, and desktop-launcher validation.

Builder workflow

rootfs-overlay/ contains the files added or corrected for the generic ARM64 edition. After importing the official Beta42 application payload into a clean Debian ARM64 target, validate and apply the overlay with:

sudo scripts/finalize-rootfs --check
sudo scripts/finalize-rootfs --apply

Before exporting a public disk, log out of the graphical session and run:

sudo scripts/prepare-release --check
sudo scripts/prepare-release --arm dragon

The arming step removes builder credentials, network profiles, host identity, logs, caches, and transient desktop/browser state; locks the release account; and enables the first-boot wizard. Shut down immediately afterward and export the target disk without booting it again.

With the VM stopped, export a Parallels target disk on the macOS builder host:

DRAGONOS_QEMU_IMG=/path/to/qemu-img \
  scripts/export-image /path/to/target.hdd /path/to/output \
  DragonOS_ARM64_Community_2026.08 --parts

The exporter validates the source disk, creates a sparse raw image in a temporary directory, compresses it with Zstandard, writes SHA-256 checksums, and optionally creates sub-2-GiB parts suitable for GitHub Releases. The raw intermediate is removed after a successful or interrupted run.

Upstream and redistribution

The application payload originates from DragonOS Pi64 Beta42. Individual packages and source trees retain their respective upstream licenses. The verified Beta42 source archive is 4,957,942,483 bytes with SHA-256:

25f6071775aa31432ee4680f90db25e034e3e3e354f860a5790e4ee90e0b398d

At the time of this build, the SourceForge project metadata does not declare a license for the aggregate DragonOS image or its project-specific assets. Do not publish a derivative binary image until redistribution permission is confirmed or all unlicensed project-specific material has been replaced. The builder, overlay, checksums, and documentation can be shared independently while users obtain the official source image themselves.

The original scripts and configuration in this repository are available under the MIT License. That license does not apply to DragonOS, its name or artwork, the Beta42 image, Debian packages, or third-party SDR applications; those remain subject to their respective owners and licenses.

RF safety

The distribution includes tools capable of transmitting when supported hardware is attached. Operate only on frequencies, power levels, and services for which you are authorized. The bundled verification path is receive-only.