Omarchy runs natively on the NVIDIA Shield TV 2017, with the GPU drawing the desktop
A new community project boots mainline Linux on the Tegra X1 streaming box, installs Omarchy on top, and posts Geekbench scores ahead of stock Android.
Image: @devsec_ai (X)
The NVIDIA Shield TV is now an Omarchy box. The omarchy-shield repo, published on GitHub on October 24, 2026 by marcho78, describes “a reproducible path from a stock SHIELD to Arch Linux and Hyprland, with every step scripted and every version pinned” for the 2017 model of NVIDIA’s Tegra X1 streaming box. Android stays installed, so you can go back.
Under the hood, this is mainline Linux, not a vendor kernel. According to the README, NVIDIA’s own bootloader (cboot) starts U-Boot, U-Boot starts a mainline Linux 7.2.11 kernel with a device tree written for the board, and the kernel boots Arch Linux ARM from a USB SSD. Omarchy itself goes on top through the community omarchy-arm port.
The headline feature: the GPU draws the desktop. OpenGL ES 3.2 runs through nouveau, with three kernel fixes and seven Mesa patches for Tegra. There is no Vulkan. The README lists HDMI at 1920×1080, USB, Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5 GHz, and the CPU at its stock 2.0 GHz as working. On the Omarchy side, Hyprland, the login screen, the bar and the lock screen all work.
It comes with numbers. Measured on October 23, 2026 with the memory at 1600 MHz, the port scores 317 single-core and 854 multi-core in Geekbench 6, where the README says stock Android 11 is reported at 302 / 789. SuperTuxKart’s benchmark runs at 31.3 FPS at 1920×1080 full screen, the box boots to the login screen in 20.9 seconds, and it draws 6.7 W at idle. The repo also lists bugs found along the way, including one in nouveau’s cache handling whose fix alone raised a game’s frame rate by 80%.
It is still marked “work in progress.” Audio and video playback are not started. The Ethernet and Bluetooth drivers run, but the Ethernet link has not been tested and pairing a keyboard has not been tried yet. The memory clock reaches 1600 MHz only after a manual step; it boots at 800.
Before you grab your Shield, read the warnings. Unlocking the bootloader erases Android’s user data, and only the SHIELD TV 2017 (darcy) is supported: the scripts refuse other boards. The README also stresses that the project “isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by NVIDIA, Omarchy or omarchy-arm.”
The port made it to DHH fast. On October 24, @devsec_ai replied to him on X with “Omarchy on Nvidia Shield Tegra X1 with benchmarks” and two videos, and DHH quote-posted it: “Omarchy on Nvidia Shield! 🤘” An hour later, @devsec_ai shared the repo, calling it “a challenging but a fun one” and asking people to tag them if they install it.
Contributions are open, from testing on your own Shield to the missing pieces in the status table: audio, video playback, Bluetooth pairing and the memory clock at boot. Sending the fixes upstream is on the list too, and the repo’s install guide walks through every step from a stock Shield.
