What you need

OpenRig needs no custom board: every part is a standard one.

x86_64: the CPU needs AVX2

Since 0.10.0 the x86_64 image is built for x86-64-v3: the processor needs AVX2 and FMA. That is any Intel CPU from Haswell (2013) on, the N100 included, and AMD from Excavator and Zen on. Low-power Celerons and Pentiums without AVX2 (J4125, N4020, J3455…) cannot start it. On a running Linux, grep -o avx2 /proc/cpuinfo prints avx2 if the CPU has it: check before buying. The Raspberry Pi 5 is not concerned.

Part	What to get
Computer	A Raspberry Pi 5 (or a Pi 500), or an x86_64 mini PC with UEFI, Intel graphics and an AVX2 CPU (Intel N100, Lenovo Tiny with a Core i…)
Audio interface	A USB audio interface that works without a driver (class compliant), or a sound HAT on the Pi
Screen	A touchscreen. The UI is made for 1024 × 600 and up; a mouse works too
Storage	A micro SD card for the Pi, a USB stick or an SSD for a mini PC; 8 GB or more
Power	For a Pi 5, the official 27 W (5 V, 5 A) supply
Optional	Up to 8 footswitches and a rotary encoder on the GPIO, I2C encoder boards for the knob strip, MIDI controllers over USB or DIN

Raspberry Pi 5

The Pi 5 is the main target. The release images use its PREEMPT_RT kernel, and the neural engine is tuned for its ARM cores: a full A2 amp capture uses about 12 % of one core at 128 frames. A heavy rig is spread over all four Cortex-A76 cores, not just one: see Performance.

Power

The Pi 5 gives USB devices 1.6 A only with the official 27 W supply; with any other supply it limits them to 600 mA. A touchscreen and an audio interface both powered from the Pi need the 27 W supply, or they drop out.

Audio interface

Any interface that Linux sees without a driver works; the first one found is used. It was tested with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 at 48 kHz and 128 × 2 frames, about 5 ms of buffer each way. Sound HATs work too: add their overlay in extra.txt (see pedalboard.txt).

The guitar goes into the first input. The first two outputs are left and right. An interface with more inputs and outputs can use them all: see Inputs and outputs.

Screen

Any HDMI screen works; a touchscreen makes it a pedalboard. Small 10” panels at 1024 × 600 are a good fit. Some of them send wrong display data to the Pi: see Troubleshooting if the picture does not show.

x86_64 mini PC

Any UEFI PC with Intel graphics and an x86-64-v3 CPU (AVX2 and FMA, see above): the image has no AMD GPU driver yet, and it does not start on a CPU without AVX2. Built for these instructions, the neural amp models run about 1.8 times faster than before. It erases the whole disk it is written to. Secure Boot must be off.

Works	Does not start
Intel N100, N95, N200, N305; Core i3 / i5 / i7 from the 4th generation (Haswell, 2013) on	Celeron and Pentium J4125, J4105, N4020, N5105, J3455 and older Atoms
AMD Ryzen (Zen), and AMD from Excavator on	Older AMD (Jaguar, Bulldozer, Piledriver)

Caution

The x86_64 image is tested in QEMU only so far. Reports from real mini PCs are welcome.

Footswitches and encoder

Optional. Momentary footswitches wire between a GPIO pin and ground, with no resistor: the Pi’s internal pull-ups are used. A rotary encoder (A, B and its push button) drives the UI like the arrow keys. I2C encoder boards (Adafruit, M5Stack) turn the knobs of the rack’s strip. See Footswitches and encoder.

Any MIDI controller works too, with nothing to wire: see MIDI.