Omarchy on the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro

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Omarchy (Arch Linux ARM + Hyprland) running natively on the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro (codename shuntian, Qualcomm SM8845), booting straight into the desktop on power-up. No Android framework, no chroot inside Android, no PRoot: the tablet runs systemd, Hyprland and the Omarchy shell on the stock Android GKI kernel. Android's own vendor daemons (audio, Bluetooth, sensors, touch) run beside it in a small "service island".

Status: work in progress. Daily-usable on two test tablets. The root image builds from scratch; there are no prebuilt downloads yet (see Roadmap).

Details and caveats: docs/status.md.

The port runs on the stock kernel and firmware, which set some hard limits:

• No user namespaces. Anything that needs them (Flatpak/bubblewrap, rootless containers, systemd's PrivateUsers=) doesn't work; the overlay switches PrivateUsers= off for the affected services. Chromium's setuid sandbox works.
• No deep sleep. Deep suspend fails on resume (PMIC errors), so the tablet uses s2idle, only on battery, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off while asleep. Opening the cover doesn't wake it: press a key or the power button.
• No memory pressure info (cgroup_disable=pressure on the bootloader command line): no systemd-oomd; zram + earlyoom instead. 8 GB is tight for heavy Electron apps; 12 GB is comfortable.
• No AF_ALG crypto sockets: no iwd; NetworkManager instead.
• No SysV IPC: stock fakeroot (and so makepkg/AUR builds) fails; fakeroot-tcp from the AUR replaces it.
• No devtmpfs: /dev is populated by mdev, with udev layered on top.
• Patched Aquamarine: updating Hyprland means rebuilding Aquamarine with patches/ (see docs/maintenance.md).

What the author runs daily on it: Clash Verge Rev in TUN mode (arm64 .deb, unpacked by hand), Codex installed through Omarchy's mise agent picker, WeChat, and Lark (as a native Wayland app with --ozone-platform=wayland --enable-wayland-ime, so fcitx5 works and it isn't double-scaled). None of this is in the repo; it just shows what the port can carry.

• Prebuilt images: the root image now builds from scratch and carries no vendor files (each tablet imports its own on first boot). Next: build it on GitHub's ARM runners and publish it, a first-login password instead of SSH-key-only access, and a property snapshot that doesn't need Magisk.
• Focus Pencil Pro: motion sensors (accelerometer + gyro, for air gestures), haptic feedback, pressure/tilt, palm rejection.
• Charging: Xiaomi adapter authentication for full-power charging.
• Cameras, modem, headset jack.
• Tap-to-wake, wake on cover open, auto-rotate.

Rule #1: never lose Fastboot. Nothing here writes the bootloader. The tools only write init_boot_<slot>, ramdump and (optionally) a carved-out omarchy partition. The stage-1 init reboots to Fastboot by itself after 3 boots that never reach the desktop, and the stock init_boot restores Android.

Still: this flashes partitions on a device you own, voids what warranty unlocking hasn't already voided, and may wipe Android's data (repartitioning does). Use a tablet you can afford to lose. No warranty, see LICENSE.

Follow docs/runbook.md. In short:

tools/capture-android-props.sh          # stock Android + Magisk: your tablet's property snapshot
builder/build-image.sh                  # on an ARM64 Arch Linux ARM machine: root image from scratch
python3 boot/build-init-boot.py         # stage-1 boot image from the stock init_boot
tools/install.sh images/omarchy-scratch-*.img.zst  # new tablet in Fastboot
tools/personalize.sh                    # new identity (Wi-Fi MAC, host keys, ids)
tools/apply-overlay.sh                  # bring the system up to this repo; adds your SSH key
tools/repartition.sh 64 --apply         # optional: 64 GiB root instead of 17

You need your own SSH key in keys/ (the repo ships none) and the stock init_boot from the official ROM in images/.

("LoA" in file names is the project's original working name.)

• Xiaomi/Qualcomm binaries: the stock init_boot, the vendor libraries the NDK helpers link against, firmware. Get them from the official ROM or your tablet (images/README.md, tools/fetch-device-libs.sh).
• Device identity: the Android property snapshot (serial numbers), Wi-Fi MAC, SSH keys. Each install creates or captures its own.
• Root filesystem images: multi-GB.

• Omarchy, Hyprland and Arch Linux ARM.
• libssc for the reverse-engineered Qualcomm sensor protocol definitions.
• Built with a lot of help from AI coding agents; the engineering log is the detailed trail.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Xiaomi, Qualcomm or the Omarchy project. Third-party components: THIRD_PARTY.md.

MIT © 2026 Xiaoyu Guan