Official images
Normal distros with the PS5 kernel, built by the ps5-linux project. You set up more yourself after installing than on PS5 Bazzite Deck; the steps are on After installing.
The ps5-linux-image release has these images:
| Distro | Desktop | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.04 | GNOME | The usual first choice |
| Arch | Sway | The lightest: a few hundred MB of RAM at idle |
| CachyOS | Gamescope + Steam Big Picture, KDE Plasma (no SDDM) | Gaming-focused. Currently broken. |
| Fedora 44 | GNOME (Wayland) | |
| Debian 12 | ||
| Bazzite (KDE gaming) | KDE Plasma | Upstream's Bazzite build |
| Bazzite Deck UI | Steam Gaming Mode | Upstream's own build, not PS5 Bazzite Deck |
The release images are not rebuilt often: the current set was built on 31 July 2026 with kernel 7.1.4, which predates the PS5 Pro's GPU support and the Slim's Wi-Fi. After the first boot, update the kernel with the package repository.
The builder can also make a multi-distro image with Ubuntu, Arch and CachyOS side by side on one drive, switched with kexec.
Download
Download an image from the ps5-linux-image releases. Pick the .img.xz file for your distro and decompress it.
Verify the download
An image that won't boot is often an image that didn't download completely. Compare the checksum of your file with the one on the release page.
sha256sum ps5-ubuntu2604.img.xz
On Windows, run Get-FileHash ps5-ubuntu2604.img.xz -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell. The values must match exactly.
Next steps
Flash the image to USB, then start Linux and work through the first boot.