We’re kicking off something new here at Grizzly Gents — a download section. Right now this is a test run, a way for us to make sure the infrastructure holds up before we open the full THE ARCHIVE later this week. But don’t let the word “test” fool you — the files are real, they’re good, and they’re free.
⏳ Downloads Go Live in 2 Days — These files will be available very soon. Bookmark this page and check back! This is just the beginning of THE ARCHIVE.
What We’re Putting Up (For Now)
We’re starting with full image (.img) files — the kind you flash straight to a microSD card and boot. Specifically, we’re kicking things off with the builds that have been the most useful, educational, and honestly just fun to run on single-board computers:
- Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) — The starting line for most people’s Pi journey, and for good reason. It’s polished, well-documented, and just works.
- Kali Linux — The one that opens your eyes to the security world. Runs beautifully on a Pi 4 or Pi 5 and gives you a full penetration testing environment in your pocket.
- A few others — We’ll be dropping more builds as we go. Some fun, some educational, some that just surprised us with how capable they were on modest hardware. Stay tuned.
Why These Builds?
There’s something about learning Linux on a single-board computer that just clicks in a way that a VM or a spare laptop doesn’t. The stakes are low — worst case you reflash the card and start over. The cost is low. But the knowledge you gain? That stacks up fast.
Raspberry Pi OS is where most of us started, and it’s still the best first step. Beginner-friendly without being dumbed down, with one of the most active communities in the SBC world.
Kali Linux is the one that leveled us up. If you’ve ever been curious about cybersecurity, ethical hacking, or just understanding how networks actually work — Kali on a Pi is a phenomenal learning environment. It’s not just a hacker tool; it’s a curriculum in a box.
The other builds we’ve collected over time all share a common thread — they taught us something. Whether it was a lightweight distro that made us think differently about resource usage, or a specialized build that opened a whole new rabbit hole, every one of them earned its place here.
The Archive Is Coming
This week, we’re starting to build out THE ARCHIVE — a permanent home for all of these downloads and more. Anyone will be able to grab them, no account required, no strings attached. Think of it as our contribution back to the community that taught us so much.
These files aren’t going anywhere. As THE ARCHIVE grows, so will the library — more builds, more platforms, more of the stuff we’ve found worth keeping.
How to Use These Downloads
Grab the .img file. Then flash it to a microSD card using one of these tools:
- Raspberry Pi Imager — The official tool. Dead simple, handles verification automatically.
- Balena Etcher — Cross-platform, clean interface, works great for any image file.
Card size recommendations: 8GB minimum for Raspberry Pi OS, 16GB or more for Kali. Once flashed, pop it into your SBC, power on, and you’re off. Most of these images are set up for first-boot configuration, so you’ll be guided through the basics on startup.
That’s really it. No complicated setup. That’s kind of the beauty of this ecosystem.
Let’s Talk About It
Drop a comment below — what builds have shaped how you use SBCs and Linux? What would you want to see in THE ARCHIVE? We’re building this for the community, so tell us what you actually want.
More downloads incoming. THE ARCHIVE goes live this week. Stay with us.
Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy)
A port of Debian Bookworm with security updates and desktop environment. This build is particularly suited to Legacy Camera / Computer Vision Lab projects — great for older Raspberry Pi camera setups and legacy camera software stacks.
| Release date | 18 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|
| System | 32-bit |
| Kernel version | 6.12 |
| Debian version | 12 (bookworm) |
| Download size | 1,191 MB |
| Storage required | 5,216 MB |
SHA256: c5ed8eb6e46f06d638731c8cb07cef3267f6dddef27954bbce2b24c55d0f5b6
Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy) Lite
A port of Debian Bookworm with security updates and no desktop environment. Perfect for headless builds and lean server setups. Great for:
- Pi-hole Network-Wide Ad & DNS Blocking
- Headless Home Server
- VPN Gateway
- Network Monitoring Server
- Docker / Container Host
| Release date | 18 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|
| System | 32-bit |
| Kernel version | 6.12 |
| Debian version | 12 (bookworm) |
| Download size | 497 MB |
| Storage required | 2,384 MB |
SHA256: 8a044f4c55feb9b0626ab2060a2eef15c3f57327dd610a0a4cac02cdb959166e
RetroPie for Raspberry Pi 4
The gold standard for retro game emulation on a Raspberry Pi. RetroPie turns your Pi 4 into a multi-system arcade machine — from Atari to PlayStation, MAME to Game Boy Advance. Easy to set up, endlessly customizable, and a blast to use.
MD5: b5daa6e7660a99c246966f3f09b4014b
Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi
Ubuntu’s official ARM build for the Raspberry Pi. Rock-solid, well-supported, and a natural fit for two standout use cases:
- Desktop Linux Learning — Ubuntu’s familiar GNOME environment makes it the best distro for anyone transitioning from Windows or macOS to Linux. Full GUI, great docs, massive community.
- Home Server / NAS — Ubuntu Server on a Pi 4 or Pi 5 is a capable, low-power home server platform. Run Samba, Nextcloud, Plex, or a full LAMP stack without breaking a sweat or your electric bill.
Kali Linux for Raspberry Pi 4 (Full Desktop)
Kali Linux is the industry-standard penetration testing and ethical hacking distribution, and on a Raspberry Pi 4 it becomes a portable, powerful security lab you can carry in your pocket. The full desktop build ships with a complete XFCE desktop environment and hundreds of pre-installed security tools covering every phase of a penetration test.
Why It’s Helpful:
- Cybersecurity Learning & Ethical Hacking — Kali ships with tools like Nmap, Metasploit, Wireshark, Aircrack-ng, Burp Suite, and hundreds more. Whether you’re studying for a CompTIA Security+, CEH, or OSCP certification, or just want to understand how attacks and defenses actually work, Kali on a Pi is one of the best hands-on learning environments you can build for under $100.
- Network Auditing & Penetration Testing — Use your Pi as a dedicated, portable network auditing device. Plug it into any network, fire up Wireshark or Nmap, and start understanding what’s actually happening on your LAN. Kali’s toolset makes it ideal for authorized security assessments, CTF competitions, and learning the craft of offensive and defensive security in a real environment.
- Privacy & Anonymity Research — Kali includes tools for understanding how traffic analysis, packet sniffing, and network surveillance works — which is exactly what you need if you want to build better defenses.
- Digital Forensics — Kali’s forensics mode and included tools let you analyze disk images, recover files, and practice incident response workflows — skills that translate directly into real security careers.
SHA256: 795495b65b31e567613304cdfcccf67e0e1e5d018a006fdee00a5b5d2d49d72c
What’s Next: Building Our Own Server 🖥️
In 2 days, the downloads on this page go live. When they do, this stops being a dry run and becomes the first official drop in THE ARCHIVE — the permanent library we’re building for working, tested, and actually useful images.
What you see here is just the surface. THE ARCHIVE will keep expanding with new builds, new platforms, and the kinds of tools we rely on every day. If you want to track the full project as it grows, keep an eye on the main ARCHIVE page — that’s where we’ll map out everything that’s live and everything that’s coming.
Later this week, we’re starting the next phase: building a dedicated server to host the full library ourselves. It’ll be a from-the-ground-up build that we document on the site — hardware choices, storage layout, networking, hardening, the whole stack. If you want to see how we stand up a real-world, self-hosted archive from scratch, you’ll be able to follow along step by step.
Sources & Credits
All image files hosted here are sourced directly from their official repositories. Clean, unmodified, official builds. We strongly encourage you to visit these organizations, explore their documentation, and support the work they do.
- Raspberry Pi Foundation — The organization behind the Pi hardware and ecosystem
- Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) — Official OS downloads and the Raspberry Pi Imager
- Kali Linux — The leading penetration testing and security distribution
- Ubuntu — One of the most widely used Linux distributions, with strong ARM and SBC support
- Python — The language that powers more Pi and SBC projects than any other
- THE ARCHIVE — Grizzly Gents — Our permanent download library, launching this week