If you want something reliable, low-power, and well-supported, it’s hard to beat the newer x86 mini-PCs with Intel N100/N305 CPUs. They sip power, easily handle gigabit+ NAT and WireGuard, and work great with Debian/OPNsense/OpenWrt. Boxes like Protectli, Topton, or the CWWK/Kingnovy N100 units often come with 2.5G or even 10G ports and proper serial/BIOS support. Not as “fun” as ARM SBCs, but way less hassle and rock-solid for router duty.

Still waiting in January 2026. LOL What happened @ROOD I was just given an H96 PRO+ (like your photos, but with v2.1 of motherboard). I want to put it to work doing something... so I am ready to install armbian, with whatever your final instructions are. -Thanks!

Dear SteeMan, thank you for your answer. I checked Android info, and it shows 8 GB / 128 GB, Android 15, so the advertisement was not real. I investigate it forther.

@quaSimba: Thanks for your remarks and the link to the guide on Github. Hopefully I'll one day have a RPi to work with so I can support it in my script and tutorial. @fxkl47BF: The completion packages were removed because they can be horribly laggy on low-powered SoCs and I find them annoying in general. They can be easily reinstalled if desired.

I have a question about booting from sd card. While with empty emmc (erase with rkdeveloptool), the board falls back to maskrom mode even the sd card (with working os) is inserted. It can boot armbian into sd card if I flash miniloader and u-boot in to emmc. I wonder how can we get it to boot fully from sd card.