Get gbOS86

Why there is no download button. The image contains Google's OS and Google libraries that we patch. Redistributing those is not ours to do, so gbOS86 ships as tools: you build the image yourself from Google's public recovery image. Everything we wrote is in the build tools.

Build it in one command

git clone https://github.com/linuxkid473/gbos-x86 && cd gbos-x86
./build.sh

The script asks before downloading anything, then: fetches Google's public recovery image (7.7 GB) and extracts only the six partitions gbOS86 needs, gets a small busybox, the kernel modules and the firmware, and assembles dist/gbOS86-DATE.img (about 6.7 GB). Flash it to a USB stick of 8 GB or more (balenaEtcher, Rufus or dd), boot it, and follow the install guide. ./build.sh --dry-run shows what it would download.

You need a Mac or Linux machine with Docker (running), Python 3 and about 35 GB free. The tools, the kernel patches and the full build notes are in the open-source repository on GitHub. It does not contain Google's OS images, which you download yourself; it does include the small set of patched Google libraries the build needs. Ask in the Downloads & Builds forum or on Discord if you get stuck.

What is inside

Kernel	Linux 6.18 (Android common), CPU-instruction emulation, Intel i915 with colour fixes, about 400 driver modules.
Patched	libz and libcrypto without SHA-NI, bound before the first partition mounts so boot is not slowed by trapped instructions.
Boot menu	Live, install or update, boot installed. Install needs the drive serial typed on the laptop.
Detection	Boot-time device probing and driver loading, with a per-boot `hwdetect.txt` report.