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A friendlier, faster, snap-free desktop install in armbian-configIf you've installed a desktop environment with armbian-config over the last few months, you may have noticed things feel different: there's a tier you can pick, the browser actually works on every arch, uninstall doesn't take half your system with it, and there's no snap pop-up surprising you on Ubuntu builds. That's not by accident — the desktop submodule has been quietly rebuilt from the ground up. Here's what landed, why we did it, and what it means for you. Pick the desktop you want — at install, and afterThree tiers, instead of one all-or-nothing install: minimal — DE + display manager + a terminal. About 500 MB. Perfect for headless boards with an occasional HDMI session, or anyone who'd rather curate apps themselves.mid — adds a WWW browser, file manager, image viewer, media player, calculator, archive tool, torrent client, and the SD-card flasher. About 1 GB. The "everyday desktop" sweet spot.full — adds LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape, Audacity, Thunderbird, and VS Code. About 2.5 GB. Workstation-shaped.And — because changing your mind is allowed — you can move between tiers any time without a reinstall. armbian-config --api module_desktops upgrade de=xfce tier=full computes the delta and only adds what's missing. The reverse path, downgrade, only removes packages from the original install manifest, never anything you added on your own. Snap-free Chromium, Firefox, and ThunderbirdOn Ubuntu, the apt names chromium, firefox, and thunderbird are snap-transitional packages — installing them silently pulls in snapd, runs the apps in a snap sandbox, and gives you a slow start, broken hardware acceleration, and a confusing menu of "two Chromiums" if you ever want the real thing. Armbian images don't ship snapd, so we now route those names to real, native .debs hosted on apt.armbian.com. The desktop install path writes an apt pin priority file at /etc/apt/preferences.d/armbian-desktops that forces our packages to win over the snap-shims — even on systems where the snap version is technically newer. The result: apt install chromium gives you a real, native Chromium. No snapd. No surprise pop-ups. On amd64 systems, the browser slot maps to Google Chrome (also from apt.armbian.com); on RISC-V Ubuntu builds you get real Firefox. Debian releases keep using upstream chromium / firefox-esr — those have always been real .debs and need no help. One desktop, every supported distro and archEach DE — XFCE, GNOME, KDE Plasma, KDE Neon, MATE, Cinnamon, i3-wm, xmonad, Enlightenment, Budgie, Deepin — is now a single declarative YAML file in the configng repo. The engine works out which packages exist on which release on which arch, substitutes per-platform replacements where needed, and silently drops broken ones. Same XFCE definition runs on Debian bookworm/trixie/forky and Ubuntu noble/resolute across arm64 / amd64 / armhf / riscv64. Adding a new desktop environment is a YAML edit and a smoke test — no per-distro shell scripts, no codepaths to chase. Clean uninstall, every timeEvery desktop install records a manifest of exactly which packages it added — under /etc/armbian/desktop/<de>.packages. Removal undoes only those. Packages that were already on your system before you installed the desktop stay put. No more "I uninstalled XFCE and lost half my system." The little stuff that's easy to missAuto-login that doesn't trash your config. Enable / disable autologin for gdm3, sddm, or lightdm via in-place sed edits — your WaylandEnable=false and other tweaks survive.Container-aware. Same code path works inside Docker without trying to start a display manager. CI builds and scripted installs work without special-casing.U2F security keys. Plug in your Yubikey and WebAuthn just works — the udev rules ship via libfido2-1 on resolute, libu2f-udev on older releases.Printer panel works. GNOME Settings → Printers no longer says "some settings cannot be unlocked" — cups-pk-helper ships with every desktop install now.VS Code from us, not Microsoft's repo. Installing code no longer prompts you to add Microsoft's apt source — we host the real package, the prompt is suppressed, the pin keeps Microsoft from sneaking in over the top.A weekly self-audit catches driftA scheduled Claude AI supported GitHub Actions workflow scans the YAML matrix against armbian/build's supported releases and the live Debian/Ubuntu archives — flags releases not yet covered, flags packages that no longer exist upstream — then opens a PR with proposed YAML fixes. Dead packages and missing releases stop accumulating silently. Try itOn any modern Armbian install: sudo armbian-config # or scripted: sudo armbian-config --api module_desktops install de=xfce tier=full sudo armbian-config --api module_desktops upgrade de=xfce tier=full sudo armbian-config --api module_desktops downgrade de=xfce tier=mid sudo armbian-config --api module_desktops remove de=xfce Supported desktops today: XFCE, GNOME, KDE Plasma, KDE Neon (Ubuntu noble only), MATE, Cinnamon, i3-wm and xmonad, Enlightenment, Budgie and Deepin experimental. Supported targets: Debian bookworm / trixie / forky and Ubuntu noble / resolute on every Armbian arch. View the full article

This week saw significant development activity across the Armbian ecosystem, with numerous enhancements to desktop environment support, including the addition of KDE Neon, KDE Plasma, MATE, and i3-wm, as well as improved branding and menu documentation. The desktop module was refactored for greater modularity and YAML-driven configuration, alongside fixes for theming and package removal tracking. Hardware support expanded with new device trees for NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus and Gateway DK, plus initial support for Arduino UNO Q (Qualcomm QRB2210) and additional USB Ethernet drivers. The build system received updates for kernel versions and distribution releases, notably bumping Ubuntu from plucky/noble to resolute. Automation and audit scripts were improved for reliability and scope, and documentation was updated to reflect the new tier model and branding. Overall, these changes strengthen Armbian's usability, hardware compatibility, and developer tooling. ChangesAdd board_introduced field to reusable boards and JSON output. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#272Add desktop descriptions and disable host check. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#802Add Desktops menu header documentation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#803Add Gateway DK board image and Mono vendor logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#273Add i3-wm desktop support with branding. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#811Add INTRODUCED property to all board configs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9634Add KDE Neon desktop support (Ubuntu only). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#814Add KDE Plasma desktop support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#812Add MATE desktop support with branding and menu. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#810add more special extensions. by @efectn in armbian/actions#16Add python3-yaml to package dependencies. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#816Add support for Arduino UNO Q (Qualcomm QRB2210). by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9623arduino-uno-q: fix CI build by fetching qcombin at image creation time. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9642arduino-uno-q: install USB gadget scripts unconditionally in BSP. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9649arm64: dts: rockchip: add NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus device tree. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/linux-rockchip#462audit: allow Claude to write edits + stash execution log. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#836audit: fix git-dir error and path references for claude-code-action. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#832audit: fix git-dir, output ref, and bump max-turns to 30. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#833audit: scope bot PR to YAML changes only. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#835audit: skip status:unsupported DEs + relocate audit scripts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#826audit: switch to claude-code-action with OAuth token. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#831audit_apply: handle calls larger than the per-minute budget. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#828audit_apply: throttle + retry around the per-minute rate limit. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#827bianbu: bump noble snapshot from v2.2 to v2.3. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#839Bump rockchip armhf edge kernel to 7.0.0. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9635config/distributions: plucky -> eos, resolute -> supported. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9657desktops: disable cinnamon on armhf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#823desktops: enable armhf for XFCE, MATE, i3-wm, Xmonad, Enlightenment, Cinnamon. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#820desktops: enable riscv64 for XFCE, MATE, i3-wm, Xmonad, Enlightenment, Cinnamon. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#822desktops: optional APT pin preferences in repo block. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#838desktops: ship YAML/parser/branding assets in the .deb. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#817desktops: tier system, install/remove correctness, and a pile of small fixes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#824docs: rewrite Desktops-header.md for the tier model. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#825extensions: skip git fetches during config-dump-json. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9648feat: add device tree editor module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#797feat: add QDL flash support for Qualcomm EDL devices. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#127feat: track desktop packages for clean removal. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#799Fix desktop module variable scoping and cleanup. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#796gateway-dk-ask: build kernel modules in-tree for CI compatibility. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9650Increase timeout for unit tests from 15 to 30 minutes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#800initialize: add script-wide debug_log and --debug flag. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#818json-generation: fix some app edge cases. by @efectn in armbian/armbian.github.io#276mainline: bump to 7.0-rc7. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9637Mono gateway dk. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9640nightly: bump Ubuntu release from plucky/noble to resolute. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#278Optimize Cinnamon desktop and fix theming. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#805Refactor desktop module: YAML-driven, modular architecture. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#815rockchip: add rtl8152 and dm9601 usb ethernet. by @netrunnereve in armbian/build#9638rockchip: RK3506: Increase DMA coherent pool. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9636SLO: fixing few sentences in Slo language that sounds weird. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/website#1u-boot: v2026.04 (final) fixes and bumps for some boards. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9654Update Desktops header: add Imager URL and auto-login note. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#804Update theme colors and fonts to match armbian.com. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#902View the full article

This week’s Armbian development saw significant enhancements across hardware support and system functionality. The Arduino UNO Q was officially added, along with new firmware and flash binaries for the QRB2210 and QCM2290 variants. HDMI CEC support was introduced for Rockchip RK3588/RK3576 SoCs, while panel compatibility expanded with updates for Raspberry Pi and Hardkernel ODROID-Vu8S. Key kernel improvements included a bump to version 7.0-rc6 and rewritten patches for Rockchip64-6.18. The release also featured workflow hardening, exclusion of unsupported boards, and fixes for USB-C OTG mode on Odroid-M2. These updates collectively strengthen Armbian’s platform stability and broaden its device coverage. ChangesAdd Arduino UNO Q. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#268Add firmware for Arduino UNO Q (QRB2210/QCM2290). by @SuperKali in armbian/firmware#123Add HDMI CEC support to Rockchip RK3588/RK3576 SoCs. by @chaitan3 in armbian/build#9622Agatti: add flash binaries for Arduino UNO Q (QRB2210). by @SuperKali in armbian/qcombin#1Arduino logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#269ch13726a: Added missing MIPI_DSI_MODE_VIDEO. by @kay-lambdadelta in armbian/build#9621config: rockchip64: build Motorcomm YT6801 drivers built-in for OOB Ethernet. by @c127dev in armbian/build#9625drm: add support for rpi panel v2. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#465Exclude end-of-support boards from armbian-images.json. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#271Harden data-update-partners workflow. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#270mainline: bump edge to 7.0-rc6. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9618Odroid-M2: Add support for Hardkernel ODROID-Vu8S panel. by @mlegenovic in armbian/build#9627Odroid-M2: Fix USB-C port in OTG mode. by @mlegenovic in armbian/build#9633Remove radxa-dragon-q6a from targets-release-nightly blacklist. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#267rockchip-vendor: CONFIG_BT_HCIBTUSB=m. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9628rockchip64-6.18: rewrite kernel patches against 6.18.21. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9629SpacemiT: Disable k1-usb: add disconnect function support. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9620View the full article

Welcome to the latest Armbian Newsletter: your source for the latest developments, community highlights, and behind-the-scenes updates from the world of open-source ARM and RISC-V computing. The past two months have been particularly active for the embedded ecosystem. At EMBEDDED WORLD 2026, developers, hardware vendors, and open-source communities gathered to showcase the latest innovations shaping the future of embedded computing. In parallel, the Armbian project continues to evolve with new releases, expanded board support, and ongoing improvements to the build framework driven by the contributions of its global community and the growing demand for reliable Linux on ARM and RISC-V platforms. SPONSORED Join us in making open source better! Every donation helps Armbian improve security, performance, and reliability — so everyone can enjoy a solid foundation for their devices. Github HighlightsThis week in Armbian development saw a significant expansion of hardware support, including new board images and compatibility for devices such as the Ariaboard Photonicat 2, SpacemiT MUSE Book, NanoPC T6 Plus, and Mekotronics R58S2. Kernel patches were updated across multiple platforms, notably for Rockchip and Sunxi families, enhancing stabilityArmbian blogMichael RobinsonMy First embedded world and I Already Can’t Wait for the NextI’d been putting this off for years. Every March, I’d read someone else’s embedded world recap, tell myself “next year”, and go back to my terminal. This year I actually went and I’m still processing everything I saw. First things first: the team Before I talk about any stand orArmbian blogDaniele BriguglioArmbian Q1 2026: Technical Milestones and the Road to Embedded WorldThe first quarter of 2026 has been a period of significant technical consolidation for the Armbian project. Driven by the v26.02 (Goa) release cycle, the project has focused on three core pillars: aggressive framework refactoring, the stable rollout of the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel, and the maturation ofArmbian blogMichael RobinsonView the full article

The first quarter of 2026 has been a period of significant technical consolidation for the Armbian project. Driven by the v26.02 (Goa) release cycle, the project has focused on three core pillars: aggressive framework refactoring, the stable rollout of the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel, and the maturation of the Armbian Imager utility. Core Framework RefactoringA primary objective this quarter was the reduction of technical debt within the armbian/build repository. The development team initiated a systematic cleanup to improve build reliability and maintenance. Toolchain Optimization: Through a series of pull requests, including #9218, #9252, and #9256, significant "dead code" was removed from the internal toolchain. This refactoring simplifies the logic required to support a diversifying array of ARM and RISC-V architectures.mmdebstrap Transition: The framework has officially transitioned to mmdebstrap as the exclusive engine for rootfs creation (#9512). By deprecating the legacy debootstrap method, the project ensures faster, more consistent, and reproducible builds across varied host environments.Bash Modernization: Internal build scripts have been transitioned from POSIX to Bash syntax to leverage modern shell features and enhance overall script reliability.Kernel and Hardware IntegrationQ1 marked the broad adoption of the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel series, providing improved driver support and hardware abstraction for tier-1 platforms. Linux 6.18 LTS Rollout: Stable support for the 6.18.y kernel was merged for major families, including meson64, rockchip64, and UEFI targets (#9069, #9086).Hardware Support Expansion:SpacemiT MusePi Pro: Full integration and kernel patching were completed (#9422).Orange Pi RV2: Initial support and nightly build availability were established for this RISC-V target.Radxa Rock 4D & ODROID M2: These boards were elevated to the stable support tier within the 26.02 release.Firmware Updates: U-Boot was bumped to v2026.01 for several platforms. Notably, boot delays on the Orange Pi 5 series were addressed via updated U-Boot candidates (#9450).Ecosystem Tools: Armbian ImagerThe Armbian Imager has transitioned from a utility to a cornerstone of the project’s user experience, with a focus on security and onboarding efficiency. Cross-Platform Security: Code signing was implemented for both macOS and Windows artifacts to reduce installation friction for non-Linux users (imager#87).Performance Improvements: The utility now features optimized image decompression and enhanced device disconnect detection (imager#28).Automated Reporting: A new AI Actions Report workflow (armbian.github.io#165) was implemented to automate development highlights, providing greater transparency into the commit history for the community.Strategic Industry AlignmentThe technical trajectory of Q1 was intentionally aligned with Armbian’s presence at Embedded World 2026 in Nuremberg. By showcasing the framework and Imager as guests of Seeed Studio, the project demonstrated its readiness for industrial-scale deployment. The shift toward mainline kernel and U-Boot support—specifically targeting the retirement of vendor-specific bootloaders—remains a priority for long-term security and professional-grade stability. Contributors & Credits The progress in Q1 2026 is the result of sustained contributions from the Armbian Dev team and the wider community. Detailed changelogs and commit histories are available at github.com/armbian/build. View the full article

I'd been putting this off for years. Every March, I'd read someone else's embedded world recap, tell myself "next year", and go back to my terminal. This year I actually went and I'm still processing everything I saw. First things first: the teamBefore I talk about any stand or chip, I need to tell you what made this trip different from anything I've done before. There were five of us from the Armbian team at the show: Igor, Werner, Meko, amazingfate, and me. Five people. Four countries. Some of us had worked together for years and never met in person. You know how it is in open-source, you collaborate through GitHub, you argue about patches on the mailing list, you review each other's code at odd hours. But you don't always know the face behind the username. Meeting those people for real, shaking their hand, having a coffee together, that's something no pull request can replicate. And honestly, it was worth the trip on its own. The show itself: I wasn't ready for thisArriving at the Nuremberg Messe for the first time is a genuine shock. I knew embedded world was big. I did not know it was this big. Enormous halls, thousands of exhibitors, tens of thousands of attendees. On day one I got genuinely lost between the pavilions spent a solid half hour wandering with no idea where I was. I'm told this is a rite of passage. What surprised me most about the atmosphere is how concrete everything felt. This isn't a conference where people pitch vaporware from behind polished booths. Engineers and developers everywhere, talking about real problems, showing real hardware. You can walk from a giant like Qualcomm to a small team doing something fascinating with a handful of sensors and both conversations feel equally substantive. What we saw on the floorRockchip was a mandatory stop for us, and they didn't disappoint. On their stand: the RK3572 EVB an evaluation board we hadn't seen in person before. Reading specs in a datasheet is one thing. Seeing the board running, understanding its real-world size, its connectors, how it behaves, that's a completely different kind of knowledge. The kind you can only get by showing up. Rockchip Employees (Most left and right) and Jianfeng Liu, Mecid Urganci & Igor PecovnikSeeed Studio had live demos of AI Vision and AI Sound, and the one that genuinely impressed me was their AI camera with a built-in NPU doing real-time object recognition. I'm not talking about laggy, stuttering inference, it was smooth. Fluid. The kind of performance that makes you stop walking and just stare for a minute. Seeing that level of real-time AI running on a compact edge device was one of those moments where the future stops feeling abstract. Seedstudio x Armbian (Maximilian Riedl , Igor Pecovnik, Jianfeng Liu, Daniele Briguglio)Qualcomm brought the Arduino Ventuno Q, and this is where things got interesting and a little funny. meko had already run his benchmarks on the board when amazingfate noticed something: Chromium's hardware acceleration wasn't enabled. So he enabled it. Right there. Directly on the board. In front of the stand staff. The reaction from the Qualcomm team? Complete, genuine astonishment. They didn't see it coming. That's what happens when you bring a group of Armbian developers to a trade show, we don't just look at things, we poke at them. Armbian at the Foundries.io boothCollabora was present at the show, and amazingfate got to meet some of the team. Their kernel and GPU driver work is always relevant to what we do, so that conversation mattered even if I wasn't there for it personally. The moment that hit hardest: Armbian on the BeagleBadgeDuring a meeting with the BeagleBoard.org team inside the show, they showed us their brand new project: the BeagleBadge. Launched right there at embedded world 2026, it won Best in Show in the Wearables category; a Linux-powered wearable badge with a 4.2" ePaper display, dual-core ARM Cortex-A53, Wi-Fi 6, LoRa, and more sensors than I can list here. Built around the Texas Instruments AM62L32, manufactured by Seeed Studio. Impressive hardware. But here's the part that actually stopped me in my tracks: Armbian was running on it. There's an official "Armbian BeagleBadge demo for EW2026" image — Debian Trixie, Linux 6.12 — listed right on the BeagleBoard.org site. Our OS. On a Best-in-Show winning badge. At the world's biggest embedded show. That's not a small thing. That's the community's work showing up exactly where it matters. What embedded world taught me about where this industry is goingThree days of walking, talking, and observing gives you a pretty clear picture of the currents moving through the embedded world right now. Edge AI is not a trend anymore, it's infrastructure. Every major vendor had something running inference locally, without cloud, on modest hardware. This is real, it's shipping, and it's going to reshape what we expect embedded systems to do. Open-source has earned its seat at the table. I half-expected it to be the hobbyist corner of the show. It wasn't. Companies are building on Linux, on open stacks, on ecosystems maintained by communities like ours. That's not charity, it's strategy. And it means the work we do in Armbian matters more than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. The line between prototype and product is razor thin. At most stands you'd see a mix: shipping products, reference designs, things that will exist in six months. That gap is where the interesting information lives; what's coming, which platforms are getting serious investment, which vendors are committed to mainline Linux support. You don't learn that from a datasheet. You learn it by being there. Would I go back?Without a second thought. If you're an Armbian community member who's been putting this off the same way I was stop putting it off. The technical exposure is valuable. The networking is real. And meeting the people you build things with, face to face, is something that doesn't have a substitute. The show runs every year in Nuremberg. I'll be there. See you in 2027. 🇩🇪 View the full article

This week in Armbian development saw a significant expansion of hardware support, including new board images and compatibility for devices such as the Ariaboard Photonicat 2, SpacemiT MUSE Book, NanoPC T6 Plus, and Mekotronics R58S2. Kernel patches were updated across multiple platforms, notably for Rockchip and Sunxi families, enhancing stability and performance. Several new modules were introduced in the configuration framework, including browser-based code-server, memory management, Docker log viewing, and subscription tracking. Improvements to documentation, security hardening, and code formatting were also implemented. Notable fixes addressed USB, Ethernet, and device-specific issues, while ZFS functionality and tuning interfaces received updates. The release continues Armbian’s commitment to broad hardware support and robust system features. Changesaction: fix typos, update defaults, and harden GPG signing. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9613Add Ariaboard Photonicat 2 support for rockchip64-6.18. by @HackingGate in armbian/build#9535Add container_type field to Uptime Kuma config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#776Add image and reusable slug for Qidi X-4. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/armbian.github.io#262Add Laptop SpacemiT MUSE Book. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9591Add line breaks to improve .md rendering. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#784Add NanoPC T6 plus image. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#266Add radxa-dragon-q6a to nightly release blacklist. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#260add recomputer rk3588-devkit support. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#460add rockchip patch for fusb302 to support aw3561. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#456add rockchip zbit mtd spi flash support. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#464Add rtl8710bufw_SMIC.bin for RTL8188GU WiFi USB. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/firmware#121add support for imx708 raspberry pi v3 camera. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#457Add trixie and noble to nightly manual targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#263Add xfce desktop for riscv64 legacy branch in stable builds. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#264aic8800-dkms extension. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/build#9578arm64: dts: rockchip: add Mekotronics R58S2. by @HeyMeco in armbian/linux-rockchip#461armbian-kernel: improve code documentation and formatting. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9559Board image: Add Mekotronics R58S2. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#265Board: Add Mekotronics R58S2. by @HeyMeco in armbian/build#9610Bump geekyeggo/delete-artifact from 5 to 6. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#443docs: expand GitHub Actions section with examples and inputs reference. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#900docs: reorganize ZFS documentation with proper tab formatting. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#779docs: simplify code-server documentation footer. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#792Dozzle: Proper image. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#775families: sm8550: Limit kernel version to 6.18.18. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9604feat: add code-server module for browser-based VS Code. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#790feat: add comprehensive memory management module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#781feat: add Dozzle Docker log viewer module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#773feat: add Wallos subscription tracker module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#785feat: ZFS pool import and scan functionality. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#782Fix Docker image configuration for GitHub Actions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#12fix: force destroy VMs when graceful shutdown fails. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#793fix: improve kvmtest module security, UI, and add channel selection. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#789fix: resolve mixed indentation in prometheus heredoc. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#794framework artifact-rootfs - remove the last vestige of LEGACY_DEBOOTSTRAP. by @tabrisnet in armbian/build#9599HACK: Enable PCIe switch on RK3399. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9574KDE Neon: add more packages for touchscreen devices. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9551mkspi: fix devicetree opp voltage settings. by @redrathnure in armbian/build#9603nanopi-zero2: add USB support for RK3528 (current + edge). by @rubycomm in armbian/build#9500OrangePi5Pro: Comprehensive HW Support: YT6801 PCIe-Eth, Codec ES8388 Audio, eFUSE & U-Boot v2025.10. by @c127dev in armbian/build#9600qcom/sc8280xp: sync microsoft blackrock (windows dev kit 2023) latest firmware for mainline kernel. by @rbqvq in armbian/firmware#122Qidi X-6: fix devicetree opp voltage settings. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/build#9577refactor: update KVM test images to latest releases. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#783rock-3a: bump uboot to v2026.04-rc4. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9576rockchip-rv1106: Enable (=m) Realtek 8188EU wifi. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9607rockchip64-6.18: rewrite kernel patches against 6.18.20. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9587rockchip64: rk3528: fix USB OTG and ethernet for NanoPi Zero2. by @rubycomm in armbian/build#9597sm8550-6.18: Fix TF card IO performance regression. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9546SpacemiT MUSE Book: Fixup SRC_CMDLINE var. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9612stmmac: Refactor Phytium ethernet patches into modular components. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9585style: simplify markdown formatting in Wallos footer. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#787sunxi-6.18: rewrite kernel patches against 6.18.20. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9611sunxi: drm/gem-dma: Support dedicated DMA device for allocation. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9605sunxi: edge: bump to 7.0. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9549sunxi: Enable device mapper snapshot support. by @frank-f in armbian/build#9590sunxi: fix iommu driver patch to allow compilation. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9592sunxi: fix Unhandled Exception in EL3. and/causing secondary cpus not coming online. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9586sunxi: remove BSP GMAC/EPHY patch that breaks H6 internal EMAC. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9609uefi edge: bump to 7.0. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9547uefi-arm64-6.12: fix stmmac compilation errors. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9596uefi-x86-6.18: rewrite kernel patches against 6.18.20. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9588update seeed studio rk3576 devkit camera and dp overlay. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#463Update some board csc file. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9573Update ZFS tuning recommendations and remove settings view. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#780ZFS Performance Tuning Interface. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#777[2026.5] - framework rootfs-create: remove LEGACY_DEBOOTSTRAP, use only the upstream mmdebstrap. by @tabrisnet in armbian/build#9512View the full article

Diagnosing System Issues and Getting Support with ArmbianmonitorArmbian is a lightweight operating system based on Debian/Ubuntu, highly optimized for single-board computers (SBCs) like the Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, and many others. When facing system problems on an SBC running Armbian, the built-in utility armbianmonitor is an essential diagnostic tool. It quickly gathers crucial system data, making troubleshooting faster and more accurate for both the user and the community providing support. Key Diagnostic FunctionsThe primary use of armbianmonitor is to generate real-time performance and system configuration reports. By running the command without any arguments, you get a menu of options, but the most vital functions for diagnosis are: System Status (armbianmonitor -m): This provides a live monitoring dashboard. It displays key metrics like CPU frequency, load average, temperature, memory usage, and disk I/O. By watching this output while a problem (like a system freeze or slowdown) occurs, you can often pinpoint the bottleneck—for instance, a sudden spike in CPU temperature indicating a cooling problem, or sustained high memory usage pointing to a resource leak.System Information (armbianmonitor -u or -d): This is the most crucial function for seeking online support. It gathers a comprehensive, anonymized report including details about the kernel version, device model, installed packages, boot logs, and hardware configuration. This data is essential because the performance and stability of SBCs are often highly dependent on the specific kernel and hardware drivers used for that model.Getting Support OnlineWhen seeking help on platforms like the Armbian forum or GitHub, simply describing the symptoms is rarely enough. The person helping you needs to know the exact state of your system. By running armbianmonitor -u, the utility uploads the detailed diagnostic report to a public pastebin service (like https://www.google.com/search?q=paste.armbian.com) and provides a unique, short URL. You can then include this URL directly in your support request. This allows community members to instantly access the exact configuration, eliminating back-and-forth questions about device type, OS version, and log file locations. This standardized method is the fastest way to receive targeted, effective assistance and ensures your issue is diagnosed accurately. View the full article

This week in Armbian development saw significant enhancements across multiple areas, including expanded board support and improved hardware compatibility. Notable additions include new images and configurations for Qidi X-6, X-7, and Ariaboard Photonicat2 mainboards, as well as refined kernel patch maintenance and updates for various platforms. The build system received important fixes, such as resolving compilation errors and device tree issues, alongside improvements in Docker utilities and offline mode detection. Several refactoring efforts streamlined backend processes and enhanced user interface elements. The team also introduced automatic fallback mechanisms for Hetzner server types, optimizing runner scaling. Overall, these updates reinforce Armbian's commitment to stability, broader hardware support, and a smoother user experience. ChangesAdd automatic fallback to smaller Hetzner server types with runner count scaling. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#15Add board and board vendror image for Ariaboard Photonicat2. by @HackingGate in armbian/armbian.github.io#255Add image for Qidi X-7 Mainboard. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/armbian.github.io#257Add some board image. by @retro98boy in armbian/armbian.github.io#258Add support for dialog via new wrapper functions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#762Add support for qidi x-* boards. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/build#9564Change unit tests badge link in documentation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#885Drop patches that landed upstream and fix two. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9544edge: bump 7.0 to rc5. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9580Enable BCACHE on Raspberry Pi build. by @aulanov in armbian/build#9550feat: offline mode detection with local asset cache. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#117feat: settings refactoring, DiskArbitration device detection, and filename parser improvements. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#114fix race condition and NULL ptr deref in PCIe threaded probe. by @AlomeProg in armbian/linux-rockchip#458fix(docker): add trixie support for upstream docker-ce to fix HomeAssistant installation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#765fix: correct dialog argument order causing box option errors. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#768fix: resolve Phytium stmmac compilation errors for kernel 6.19. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9545fix: settings modal reset, custom image manufacturer, and board detection setting. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#116Image for Qidi X-6 Mainboard. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/armbian.github.io#256kernel patch maintenance. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9562meson64-6.18: rewrite kernel config. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9581mksklipad50: fix devicetree opp voltage settings. by @torte71 in armbian/build#9569OrangePi-RV2/R2S: rename board config from wip to csc. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9560Qidi X-6: fix defconfig patch. by @Shadowrom2020 in armbian/build#9567refactor: add comprehensive Docker wrapper utilities with progress display. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#769refactor: deduplicate hooks, add CSS design tokens, clean up backend. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#115rockchip64-7.0: mekotronics-r58x-pro: analog sound: use SuperKali's new clock. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9554rockchip64: rk3588: add I2S MCLK output gate clocks for audio codec support. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9548rockchip64: rk3588: update I2S MCLK gate patches to match upstream v3 and add u-boot clock IDs. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9568sm8250: Fix application of Retroid Pocket 5/mini device trees. by @kay-lambdadelta in armbian/build#9572SpacemiT: Update ATFSOURCE, BOOTSOURCE and SD card support.. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9552sunxi-6.18: remove stray commit from patch. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9556sunxi: bump edge to 6.19.y, current to 6.18.y and legacy to 6.12.y. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9381Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.129. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9558Update VERSION. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9553View the full article

This week in Armbian development saw significant progress across board support and kernel updates. New boards such as the Cainiao CNIOT Core, EByte ECB41-PGE, DG SVR 865 Tiny, and NORCO EMB-3531 received initial support, expanding hardware compatibility. Kernel patches were rewritten for the meson64 and rockchip64 platforms, aligning with version 6.18.18, while edge releases were bumped to 7.0-rc3 and rc4. Improvements included enhanced SD card and audio support for SpacemiT and Youyeetoo YY3588 boards, as well as refined configuration checks and display fixes. Several upstream patches were dropped or disabled, and the Dependabot schedule was updated for daily maintenance. Additional fixes addressed USB modes, Docker host-gateway resolution, and Xorg display issues, rounding out a productive week for the Armbian project. ChangesAdd cainiao-cniot-core board and cainiao vendor image. by @retro98boy in armbian/armbian.github.io#251Add EByte Vendor // ECB41-PGE board. by @vidplace7 in armbian/armbian.github.io#250add recomputer rk3576-devkit dts. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#451Add support for the Radxa Display 10 FHD to the Rock 5B Plus. by @FlorianKohn in armbian/linux-rockchip#453add: initial support for DG SVR 865 Tiny board (SM8250/QCS8250). by @Lemon1151 in armbian/build#9423arch: arm: dts: add EByte ECB41-PGE (RK3506g2). by @vidplace7 in armbian/linux-rockchip#454armbian-zram-config: refine check for existing /tmp mount. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9514cainiao cniot core improve. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9526chore: update Dependabot schedule to daily updates. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9537csc board: Add NORCO EMB-3531 initial support. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9456Drop patches that landed upstream and fix two. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9544edge: bump 7.0 to rc4. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9543extension: ccache-remote: fix Docker host-gateway for hostnames resolving to loopback. by @iav in armbian/build#9505fix(orangepi5max): change usbdrd_dwc3_0 mode from otg to host. by @Echoflare in armbian/linux-rockchip#449fix: correct repository dispatch event type name. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#254framework run_host_x86_binary_logged - support 32-bit x86. by @tabrisnet in armbian/build#9466Gateway AM-GZ80x: Update $board and meson-axg family conf. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9533maint: meson64-current: rewrite patches against 6.18.18. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9528maint: rockchip64-current: rewrite kernel patches against 6.18.18. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9527meson64: a311d: Fix Xorg display when etnaviv enabled. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9524Odroid-M2: Support for weather board zero. by @mlegenovic in armbian/build#9523odroidn2: u-boot: bump to v2026.04-rc3; make fancy, incl LWIP. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9507OrangePi 3 LTS: Update $board.conf file. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9495OrangePi-RV2/R2S: add sdcard and emmc for Linux-7.x. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9539Reword BTF memory check. by @x13-me in armbian/build#9502RK3506: Add spidev overlays for RK3506 family. by @vidplace7 in armbian/linux-rockchip#450rockchip64: bump edge to 7.0-rc3. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9445rockchip64: cleanup old patchsets. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9498rockchip: Add CSC board EByte ECB41-PGE (RK3506G). by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9513rockchip: refresh LibreELEC patch import for edge 6.19 kernel. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9506rockchip: restore proper LE patches for rockchip armhf. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9530rpi4b: bump edge to 7.0. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9529Spacemit rv2 rename dtb. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9531SpacemiT: Add SD card support, CPU freq scaling and other fixups. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9518SpacemiT: Disable patches that made it upstream (7.0-rc4). by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9540spacemit: enable powervr drm driver for current 6.18 kernels. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9515sunxi: bump edge to 6.19.y, current to 6.18.y and legacy to 6.12.y. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9381Youyeetoo YY3588: Enable ES8388 audio support + RK3588 I2S MCLK gate fix . by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9534View the full article

This week’s Armbian development saw a wide range of improvements and fixes across the project’s build framework, kernel support, and device compatibility. Notable changes include the transition from POSIX to Bash syntax for enhanced script reliability, expanded support for new hardware such as the Norco-EMB-3531 board, and the addition of Vulkan and improved 3D package descriptions. Several device-specific updates were made, including kernel enhancements for sm8250, mainline support for SpacemiT, and fixes for wireless and HDMI functionality on various boards. The team also introduced new features like a cache manager modal in the imager and improved marking for container-based software. Multiple bug fixes addressed issues with OS image duplication, patch timestamps, and device quirks. Security was bolstered with hardened GitHub Actions, ensuring a more robust development pipeline. Changes(#9400 P1a) Replace POSIX [ ] with bash [[ ]] across build framework. by @iav in armbian/build#9462Add manual execution and daily cron schedule for MOTD generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#249Add norco-emb-3531 board and norco vendor image. by @retro98boy in armbian/armbian.github.io#244add Vulkan support and expand 3D package descriptions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9494Added config improvements and fixes to ayn odin2. by @Squishy123 in armbian/build#9316bump 7.0 to rc2. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9475dwc2: explicitly force host mode for USB_DR_MODE_HOST. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9486feat: add cache manager modal with per-image management. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#109feat: mark container-based software in menu and docs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#761fix(gitignore): ignore pycache at all depths (#7863). by @iav in armbian/build#9490fix(images): adapt module to new armbian-images.json structure. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#756fix(manage_zsh): abort shell change if zsh package install fails. by @ajorpheus in armbian/configng#759fix: resolve OS image list duplication when switching filters. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#110Fix: SakuraPi RK3308B WLAN broken. by @TheSnowfield in armbian/build#9478i915: fix Dell XPS 13 7390 device ID in quirk patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9485Improve sm8250 6.19 edge kernel. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9434meson64: bump edge to 7.0-rc1. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9459meson: freeze current kernel at 6.12.28 and fix HDMI PHY frequency limit. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9465nanopi-zero2: enable mainline kernel support and PCIe for M.2 WiFi. by @rubycomm in armbian/build#9453OrangePi 3B: Add device tree overlays for OrangePi 3B with I2C, PWM, SPI support. by @kskshaf in armbian/build#9460OrangePi-RV2: Fix wireless access point mode by using the correct FW. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9504orangepi5: rewrite uboot patches against v2026.04-rc3. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9457patching: fix #9028 timestamp when multiple patches touch same file. by @iav in armbian/build#9489pkg_install/pkg_remove: properly propagate apt-get exit codes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#760Removed un-needed patch for SM8550-6.18; patch has already been updat…. by @Squishy123 in armbian/build#9487rk3568: add 51.2MHz PLL rate for HDMI. by @skorobkov in armbian/build#9477rock-5b-plus: add current kernel to build targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9464rock-5t: add current kernel to build targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9463Rockchip64 fix patches due to upstream changes in 6.19.6 and 6.18.16. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9483rockchip: Disable specific patches in 6.19 series. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9493rockchip: Enable Wireguard/TUN module in vendor kernel. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9492Spacemit legacy loadpatch. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9496SpacemiT: Add linux-7.0.y "mainline" support. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9458spacemit: remove old and unused patch set. by @sven-ola in armbian/build#9497unset QEMU_CPU for aml_image_packer. by @QwaSeeK in armbian/build#9417Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.128. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9491[StepSecurity] ci: Harden GitHub Actions. by @step-security-bot in armbian/build#9356View the full article

Welcome to the latest Armbian Newsletter, your source for updates, community highlights, and behind-the-scenes news from the world of open-source ARM and RISC-V computing. Streamlining the ecosystem This past quarter development has taken a significant step forward for Armbian. We've been busy cleaning up and optimizing our codebase, merging over 150 improvements primarily focused on advancing kernel support for Rockchip and Allwinner platforms. A significant secondary effort was dedicated to modernizing the project's infrastructure and build tools, driven largely by a core group of dedicated contributors. Hardware support continues to expand. We're thrilled to introduce new LTS kernel v6.18 based images and support for exciting new boards like the SpacemiT MusePi Pro, Radxa Rock 4D, Orangepi RV2, Odroid M2, ... We've also brought back KDE Neon desktop builds and added RISC-V XFCE desktop support for those exploring new territory. Our user tools have received major upgrades too. Armbian Imager now features faster decompression, enhanced security with code signing for macOS and Windows, AI-powered translations, and a new settings panel with developer options. Behind the scenes, we've strengthened our build infrastructure to keep everything running reliably as we grow. Whether you're trying the new stable kernel or experimenting with our latest builds, this update reinforces our commitment to delivering a professional, accessible Linux experience for ARM and RISC-V hardware. Join Armbian at Embedded World 2026. Meet us in Hall 3, Booth 3-556 (Seeed Studio), where we’ll be showcasing the Armbian build framework and how it powers reliable, production-ready Linux for ARM devices. Download the latest release and experience Armbian today. SPONSORED Join us in making open source better! Every donation helps Armbian improve security, performance, and reliability — so everyone can enjoy a solid foundation for their devices. Release v26.2.1 · armbian/buildChanges sunxi: refactor full patchset. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9219 “get completely rid of dead code toolchain stuff”, pt2. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9218 “get completely rid of dead cod…GitHubarmbianForget third-party utilities: meet Armbian ImagerArmbian Imager eliminates the guesswork from flashing SBC images. Real-time board detection, persistent caching, and built-in safety make installation fast, simple, and risk-freeArmbian blogDaniele BriguglioArmbian 2025: by the numbersOpen hardware is growing faster than ever and breaking in new ways. 2025 has been a productive year for the Armbian project. As the Single Board Computer ecosystem continues to fragment and expand, Armbian has consolidated its position as the universal glue holding the open-source hardware world together. Our missionArmbian blogMichael RobinsonThe Evolution of SBCsThe Evolution of SBCs: From Hobby Boards to Edge Computing Over the past two decades, single-board computers (SBCs) have transformed from experimental maker tools into the backbone of modern embedded and edge systems. What started as a handful of affordable hobby boards has grown into a diverse ecosystem powering automation,Armbian blogMichael RobinsonView the full article

This week’s Armbian development saw significant progress across board support, software modules, and workflow enhancements. Notable additions include new board images for ForLinx OK3506-S12, Cix-ACPI, and expanded support for Raspberry Pi 400, 500, and RPi3 series. Improvements to build targets and kernel patches were implemented, alongside fixes for overlayfs module logic and OpenMediaVault installation. The imager received updates for macOS compatibility and enhanced handling of write-protected devices. Several workflow optimizations and cleanup tasks were completed, streamlining concurrency and retry logic. Updates also targeted Debian trixie/sid for app builds and refined base images for specific boards. Overall, the changelog reflects a strong focus on broadening hardware compatibility, improving reliability, and optimizing development processes. Add exotics board to apps blacklist. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#233Add ForLinx Vendor // OK3506-S12 Board. by @vidplace7 in armbian/armbian.github.io#235Add Rpi 400 and 500 series. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#227Add RPi3 series as reusable / virtual targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#225Add: Cix-ACPI board image & Cixtech Vendor image. by @HeyMeco in armbian/armbian.github.io#237arch: arm: dts: add ForLinx OK3506-S12 (RK3506J). by @vidplace7 in armbian/linux-rockchip#446Build targets: enable and disable build targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9377bump to next rc. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9376cleanup leftover traces of oftc and matrix. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/documentation#876create rewrite-patches workflow. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9364descrube update #9191 custom LOGLEVEL with UBOOT_LOGLEVEL. by @iav in armbian/documentation#868Exclude armhf, riscv64, and loongarch64 from apps builds. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#234extensions: radxa-aic8800: allow 6.19; skip DKMS only on >= 6.20. by @HackingGate in armbian/build#9397feat(software): add OpenMediaVault installation module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#751feat: add locked badge and disable selection for write-protected devices. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#97feat: detect macOS /Applications folder on update failure. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#101Fix OMV installation - via armbian-config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#429fix(system): correct overlayfs module status logic and conditions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#749fix(system): improve overlayfs module config handling and status check. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#750fix: align macOS ARM artifact naming to aarch64 (#99). by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#100fix: enable multi-stream XZ decompression for Khadas OOWOW images. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#98mekotronics-r58x-4g: mainline u-boot v2026.01; mainline 6.19 kernel (edge). by @rpardini in armbian/build#9398meson64-edge and rockchip64-edge: rewrite kernel patches against 6.19. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9382Normalize kernel config hash inputs. by @iav in armbian/build#9277Orange Pi 3B: Generate alternate SPI image for booting from SATA. by @dust-7 in armbian/build#9388Orangepi lite2 and one plus: change crust config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9374Race conditions: installing packages before adding a repo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9393Refactor RPi imager JSON generation to Python script. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#228Remove redundant git pull --rebase that causes failures. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#230Revert "build(deps): bump setuptools from 80.10.2 to 82.0.0". by @iav in armbian/build#9392Revert "Sunxi64 EDGE: Add missing audio related modules and other". by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9380RK3506: Pin U-Boot to known-working commit. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9390rockchip: Add CSC board ForLinx OK3506-S12 (RK3506J). by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9394rockchip: Allow dt overlays that disable nodes. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9396RV1106: Reduce kernel memory footprint (fix boot on 64MB boards). by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9399Set DESKTOP_APPGROUPS_SELECTED to empty for nightly desktop images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#231Sunxi64 EDGE: Add missing audio related modules and other. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9373Treat legacy branch same as vendor in target generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#226Update apps targets to Debian trixie/sid, headless builds. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#232Update base image for specific boards in config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#427Workflow improvements: standardize concurrency and retry logic. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#229 View the full article

This week in Armbian development saw significant advancements across kernel, firmware, and build targets. The release of 6.18.y kernel UEFI images marks a major update, alongside expanded desktop build options including Cinnamon and KDE Neon for UEFI systems. Notable board support enhancements include the addition of custom build targets for Amlogic TV Boxes, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W as a virtual board, and improved support for Orange Pi 3 LTS and Odroid M2 devices. Automation improvements streamline inventory rebuilds and board data management, while new features such as Armbian board auto-detection and browser enablement for Riscv64 boards enhance usability. Several bug fixes and configuration updates address issues across Hyper-V images, kernel configs, and u-boot versions. The changelog also highlights upgrades to wireless firmware, dependency management, and support for BTRFS on NanoPi R3S-LTS, reflecting ongoing efforts to broaden compatibility and stability. 6.18.y kernel UEFI images are out. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#221abl: feat: add extraargs from armbianEnv for mkbootimg. by @CodeChenL in armbian/build#9341Add -hyperv suffix to REDI_VARIANT for Hyper-V images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#216Add Cinnamon and KDE Neon desktop builds for UEFI. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#209Add cloud image extensions to UEFI minimal targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#211Add custom build targets for Amlogic TV Boxes. by @SteeManMI in armbian/armbian.github.io#224Add ENABLE_EXTENSIONS to UEFI desktop targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#210Add KDE Neon and RISC-V XFCE desktop targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#214Add Raspberry Pi Zero 2W board as virtual board. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#223Add remote execution method for inventory rebuild. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#222Add REMOVE_EXTENSIONS blacklist support to generate_targets.py. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#217ath12k: Upgrade to WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00302-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICON…. by @kasimling in armbian/firmware#118Automation: when board data changes on push, execute inventory rebuild at armbian.github.io. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9354BPI-M4-Zero / KickPi K2B: Update u-boot to v2026.01, ATF to lts-v2.12.9 and fixup the KickPi K2B linux DTS. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9340Enable Browsers on two Riscv64 boards. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#219Extension: Bump Nvidia propriatery driver. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9338feat: add Armbian board auto-detection and toast notification system. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#91feat: add Dependabot configuration for dependency management. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#70File was removed while it remained in series control file. . by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9339Fix errors in .editorconfig. by @iav in armbian/build#9363Fix file_extension extraction for Hyper-V cloud images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#215Fix K3 issues - APT Caching, PB2, Missing KConfig. by @Grippy98 in armbian/build#9349KDE Neon: drop conflicting packages in order to assemble KDE desktop. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9337kernel configs: disable unprivileged BPF. by @neheb in armbian/build#9082khadas-edge2: remove legacy uboot. by @efectn in armbian/build#9367Limit exposed.map to maximum 2 entries per board. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#220meson64: ressurect 6.12 as BRANCH=oldlts. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9350Odroid M2: Move main build target to CURRENT kernel branch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9357Odroid-M2: update uboot to v2025.10. by @mlegenovic in armbian/build#9359Orange Pi 3B: Update config. by @dust-7 in armbian/build#9370OrangePi 3 LTS: Add DTS and DEFCONFIG to u-boot v2026.01. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9352OrangePi 3 LTS: Add ethernet support to u-boot defconfig. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9365OrangePi 3 LTS: Fixup u-boot LED nodes. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9358OrangePi 3 LTS: Update crust and u-boot defconfig. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9372OrangePi 3 LTS: Use extlinux, remove aw859a-wifi.service, update current defconfig, etc.... by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9362Promoting Opi 3LTS and Odroid M2, demoting cubox-i and Jetson Nano. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9353Radxa E52C: add mainline U-Boot support and kernel target configuration. by @okrc in armbian/build#9366radxa-e54c: board config: remove wayland-sessions-mask extension. by @schwar3kat in armbian/build#9351Refactor mesa-vpu extension: add architecture-specific browser selection. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9347Remove Rockchip gpio patch, already applied upstream. by @tparys in armbian/build#9368Restore qemu performance fix for Ubuntu Noble. by @tparys in armbian/build#9371Restructured qcom/sm8550/ayn directory. by @Squishy123 in armbian/firmware#117Rock 5B Plus: Add GPIO names to edge dts. by @JohnTheCoolingFan in armbian/build#9348Support BTRFS on NanoPi R3S-LTS. by @clarkmcc in armbian/build#9343View the full article

This week’s Armbian development saw significant progress across multiple areas, including desktop environment enhancements, kernel updates, and expanded hardware support. Notable changes include the addition of GNOME desktop options, improvements to XFCE organization, and updates to U-Boot for several boards. The team introduced new board images and logos, refined Docker automation and documentation, and standardized numerous software modules for better maintainability. Kernel advancements featured bumps to 6.19-rc8, integration of ZFS v2.4.0, and targeted fixes for Rockchip and Odroid platforms. Community governance and build processes were also strengthened, alongside the deprecation of Matrix and OFTC chat utilities. These updates collectively improve user experience, system stability, and future development agility. Add community governance and improve documentation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#197Add DESKTOP_APPGROUPS_SELECTED to stable XFCE desktop target. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#198Add documentation for ARMBIAN_DOCKER_AUTO_PULL build switch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#865Add GNOME desktop and reorganize XFCE in stable targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#199Add Khadas Mind, Minisiforum logo and Orangepi 6 Plus. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#203Add manual append for standard UEFI images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#204Add zfs-zed to GLOB pattern in ZFS configs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#426armbian-kernel: add AMD DC support for UEFI boards. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9324armbianmonitor: fix error message at the end of every report. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9325bcm2711 Family: Remove post_family_tweaks_bsp__rpi_firmware func. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9331Board images for Orange Pi RV2 and Orange Pi R2S. by @sven-ola in armbian/armbian.github.io#201Bump BesTV R3300-L U-Boot. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9303Bump CAINIAO CNIoT-CORE U-Boot. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9304Chat utilities: remove missing package. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9334ci: run all unit tests on schedule and main branch workflow_dispatch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#727clang: enable colored diagnostic output for kernel compilation. by @iav in armbian/build#9310Deprecate Matrix. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9318Deprecate OFTC and matrix. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/documentation#872docker: add automatic image pull cronjob and cleanup system. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9265feat: add reusable board definitions to image JSON generator. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#202Fix missing Cinnamon menu by removing outdated Cinnamon menu applet blob.. by @schwar3kat in armbian/build#9300fix(software): correct stderr redirection placement in docker commands. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#746fix(software): fix netdata module issues and add test cleanup. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#747fix: motd: handle empty temperature values in printf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9296followup #9164 2ba0766 - add ubuntu resolute,questing to optional-cli. by @iav in armbian/build#9320forge1: switch to RK3506J variant and add OPTEE support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9326json: add kernel_version field to images output. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#206Kernels 6.18 needs ZFS v2.4.0. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#425mainline-kernel: bump 6.19 to 6.19-rc8. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9332mainline: bump to 6.19-rc7. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9294networking: relax networkd-wait-online to avoid multi-NIC timeouts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9311Odroid XU4: remove upstreamed patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9306odroidm1: u-boot v2026.01 + kernel fix for ethernet. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9333OrangePi 3 LTS: Update U-Boot to v2026.01 and Linux DTS "and other fixups". by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9323Re-enable build targets after fixing their assembly. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#200refactor(docker): use upstream docker-ce for bookworm, distro for others. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#726refactor(immich): standardize module and update postgres interface. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#733refactor(network): standardize modules and add hidden WiFi support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#739refactor(pihole): standardize module with docker.io and improve detection. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#734refactor(software): move docker check to install command. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#738refactor(software): standardize 33 docker modules with modern patterns. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#736refactor(system): harden armbian_firmware module with standard conventions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#744refactor(system): standardize headers and ZFS modules with improved hardening. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#742refactor(wireguard): consolidate status checks and simplify module interface. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#731refactor: standardize ghost and mysql docker modules. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#728Resolving boot issues. by @rvdr in armbian/build#9329Rockchip 6.19: drop upstreamed patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9309rockchip/64: import mainlined patch to fix gpio . by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9328rockchip64-6.18: fix helios64 pcie patch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9315rockchip64-current: rewrite patches. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9313rockchip64-current: rewrite patches due to upstream changes in 6.18.8. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9319rockchip64: fix clang build error. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9307rockchip: fix gpio-ir-recv stack dumps, other minor fixes. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9317SMART AM40: Bump U-Boot. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9302sun55i aftercare. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9321sunxi a523: Adding support for PCIe, SPI Flash and Iommu. by @rvdr in armbian/build#9280sunxi: drop unneeded patches. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9312targets: change community builds from forky to trixie. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#207Update header level for Pi-hole Explained section. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#748Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.122. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9322Update sm8250 current kernel config. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9292Use EDGE branches for Orangepi 6 and Minisforum R1S. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#205uwe5622: fix compilation with clang on Linux 6.19. by @iav in armbian/build#9314[RFC] qcs6490: fix patched dtb not compiled. by @amazingfate in [#9301](https://github....View the full article

Welcome to the latest Armbian Newsletter: your source for the latest developments, community highlights, and behind-the-scenes updates from the world of open-source ARM and RISC-V computing. Join Armbian at embedded world 2026. Meet us in Hall 3, Booth 3-556 (Seeed Studio), where we’ll be showcasing the Armbian build framework and how it powers reliable, production-ready Linux for ARM devices. FriendlyElec’s NanoPC T6 Plus: The flagship edge computing powerhouse and media stationThe NanoPC T6 Plus, powered by the performance-optimized Armbian OS, is your ticket to a truly professional, high-speed edge computing experience. This industrial-grade device is built around the flagship Octa-core Rockchip RK3588 SoC and now features a massive upgrade to LPDDR5 RAM (up to 32GB), giving it the muscle toArmbian blogMecid UrganciSponsored Github HighlightsThis week’s Armbian development saw a wide range of updates focused on automation, hardware support, and workflow improvements. Key highlights include the introduction of automatic YAML target generation, expanded support for Hetzner ARM64 runners, and enhancements to the redirector update workflow with cache mirror support. Several board-specific fixes andArmbian blogMichael RobinsonForget third-party utilities: meet Armbian ImagerArmbian Imager eliminates the guesswork from flashing SBC images. Real-time board detection, persistent caching, and built-in safety make installation fast, simple, and risk-freeArmbian blogDaniele BriguglioArmbian 2025: by the numbersOpen hardware is growing faster than ever and breaking in new ways. 2025 has been a productive year for the Armbian project. As the Single Board Computer ecosystem continues to fragment and expand, Armbian has consolidated its position as the universal glue holding the open-source hardware world together. Our missionArmbian blogMichael RobinsonView the full article

This week’s Armbian development saw a wide range of updates focused on automation, hardware support, and workflow improvements. Key highlights include the introduction of automatic YAML target generation, expanded support for Hetzner ARM64 runners, and enhancements to the redirector update workflow with cache mirror support. Several board-specific fixes and feature additions were made, including improved power cycle handling for meson-sm1 devices and new binary files for RK35 series components. The team also advanced kernel support, notably enabling RDNA2 GPU compatibility and initial kernel 6.18 support for Ayn odin2. Continuous integration and build reliability received attention through Docker-based unit tests and improved artifact management. Overall, these changes reflect ongoing efforts to streamline development processes and broaden hardware compatibility across the Armbian ecosystem. Add automatic target YAML generation from image-info.json. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#184Add board-level extension to mask Wayland desktop sessions. by @schwar3kat in armbian/build#9268Add cache mirror support to redirector update workflow. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#189Add edge branch support to community targets. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#195Add exposed.map download step to download index workflow. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#190Add Hetzner server creation with cloud-init, swap, and configurable runners. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#13Add new binary files for various RK35 series components. by @ghhccghk in armbian/rkbin#42Add regulator-boot-on to meson-sm1-odroid and -hc4 to fix power cycle during boot. by @ean365 in armbian/build#9217Add scripts/generate_targets.py to workflow push trigger. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#185Add workflow for enabling 16 Hetzner ARM64 runners. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#196arm64: enable AMD DC display controller for RDNA2 GPU support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9273atf: rk3399: fix PL330 DMA controller initialization. by @iav in armbian/build#9285Bump sm8250. by @CodeChenL in armbian/build#9180Change actions folder to actions-report. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#188Change exposed.map minimal patterns from bookworm to trixie, add forky as fallback. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#194chore: use release-signing policy for Windows artifacts. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#87ci: add PR build artifacts with public download links. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#81ci: use Docker containers for unit tests. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#720cli: kernel-dtb: check dtc for version 1.7.2 before producing normalized dts. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9270config: arch: amd64: fix building kernel amd64 target with on arm64 host. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9271deps: update dependencies and document glib vulnerability. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#88Enable debug. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#14Enable Firefox download from PPA, drop Jammy and Oracular. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#424Exclude non-community trunk builds from promotion. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#193extension: grub: deploy qemu binary when doing cross build. by @amazingfate in armbian/build#9282feat: add image status warning for nightly builds and community boards. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#83fix api change since v6.17. by @Spider84 in armbian/bcmdhd-dkms#5fix api change since v6.19. by @amazingfate in armbian/bcmdhd-dkms#6Fix uptime-kuma Docker image detection regex. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#722fix: reduce board image scale and improve CI cache strategy. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#86fix: regenerate Tauri updater signatures after SignPath code signing. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#89fix: use any_changed output for reliable changed files detection. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#725fix: use published_at for release sorting. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/community#46Framework: Add "Repeat Build Options" string at the end in case of er…. by @iav in armbian/build#9276framework: add custom_kernel_make_params extension hook. by @iav in armbian/build#9284Generate separate exposed.map patterns for stable and community boards. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#192Include community boards in exposed.map generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#191Initial support for kernel 6.18 on Ayn odin2. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9286mainline: bump to 6.19-rc6. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9278memoize: add user feedback and configurable timeout for flock. by @iav in armbian/build#9262NanoPi R5C: Update to v2026.01; enable BTRFS support. by @okrc in armbian/build#9291orangepi5-plus: u-boot: restore vendor uboot with blobs. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9287orangepi5-plus: u-boot: use mainline ATF; bump to v2026.01; drop funky CE config options. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9261Override new yaml files - drop the code here if it works.. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#423radxa-e54c: board config: replace 'hacky' Wayland fix with wayland-sessions-mask extension. by @schwar3kat in armbian/build#9281radxa-zero2/khadas-vim3l: u-boot: disable LWIP. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9272refactor: conditionally hide custom image button when manufacturer is selected. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#85refactor: standardize redis module and improve workflow reliability. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#723Reload redirector after we check all mirrors. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#178Remove browsers from RISC-V desktop app groups. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#186Rockchip 6.18.y: drop upstreamed patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9288Rockchip EDGE: drop up-streamed patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9290rockchip64: station-m3: Enable USB type-C port. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9246rootfs: enable loong64 in qemu binfmt registration. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9279scripts: use git commit date for 'edited' timestamp instead of filesystem mtime. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#177Switch Docker module to distribution maintained packages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#719Update CI documentation to reflect automated target generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#867Use armbian-apps config for app-specific images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#187work-around Ubuntu Rust coreutils bug in dirname affecting linux-headers board-side compile of scripts/mod. by @iav in armbian/build#9264View the full article

Armbian Development Report: Continued Progress and Community Momentum Over the past two weeks, the Armbian project has made steady and meaningful progress across core infrastructure, board support, and kernel development. From bootloader improvements to expanded hardware compatibility, our contributors continue to push the platform forward. This update highlights recent technical advancements, bug fixes, and community contributions that help power the Armbian ecosystem. Highlights Pcduino2/3 Gain HDMI and Display FixesHDMI output is now supported, and a regression affecting display output on Pcduino2 and Pcduino3 boards has been resolved.#8341 Key Bootloader and Memory EnhancementsUpdates include a boot fix for Inovato Quadra, u-boot bumps for Banana Pi Zero3 and 2W, and the addition of 1.5GB memory support.#8334 Enhanced Repository SecurityImprovements include a new signing key, dual signing support, and better GPG key handling via APA.#8323, #8320, #8316 Improved TI Board SupportTexas Instruments boards now benefit from a custom Debian repo, pre-installed packages, and a Real-Time (RT) kernel config option.#8305, #8280 Meson64 Security BoostKernel Address Space Layout Randomization (KASLR) is now enabled by default to improve runtime security.#8354 New Features Add rtl8723ds Bluetooth support to Gateway GZ80x Add HDMI support for Pcduino2/3 and fix sun4i-drm regression TI: Add Debian repo and default packages TI: Add Real-Time kernel config for current Bug Fixes Fix Odroid-C4 I2C overlays (6.15 kernel) Fix I2C overlays for Odroid-C4 Fix WAN interface naming on Nanopi R6/R5 (Netplan rules) Fix DP alt mode on some rk3399 boards (6.15 kernel) Improvements Enable KASLR in Meson64 config Enable USB serial on PocketBeagle2 Add GPIO names to Rock-5C DTS Update u-boot and fix Bluetooth on BPI-M4-Zero Align Rock-5B-Plus edge kernel (6.16) with upstream Allwinner: Bump current to 6.12.35 and edge to 6.15.4 Re-enable xradio wireless driver for Allwinner 64-bit Bootloader/memory improvements for multiple boards Update SpacemiT kernel to 6.6.95 Remove WiFi patches (merged upstream in 6.16) Refactor Rockchip64 patches Bump Rockchip64 edge to 6.16-rc3 Enable Ethernet & USB serial modules on Beagle boards Add new GPG signing key Support dual signing of repos APA: Handle GPG key installation Update TM16xx driver for Rockchip64 edge Community Contributions @veduco @pyavitz @Ayush1325 @EvilOlaf @Ryzer58 @HeyMeco @igorpecovnik @amazingfate @paolosabatino @jsuhaas22 @hyx0329 @leggewie Stay Connected with the Community Looking to join live chats with Armbian developers and users? The Armbian Community Calendar lists upcoming voice chats, planning sessions, and community events. Stay informed and be part of the conversation! The post Armbian Development Highlights first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

Armbian Development Highlights: June 2–9, 2025 This week’s Armbian updates focused on kernel improvements, bootloader modernization, and several core enhancements to the build infrastructure. Key work spanned platforms like Rockchip, Sunxi, and Odroid, emphasizing kernel stability and broader compatibility across boards. Kernel Upgrades Several boards received kernel updates: Rockchip 32-bit edge kernel bumped to 6.15 in PR #8262 by paolosabatino. SpacemiT platforms updated to 6.6.93 in PR #8274 by pyavitz. Odroid XU4 kernel upgraded to 6.6.93 via PR #8277 by belegdol. Patches also landed to adapt Wi-Fi drivers to 6.15-era changes, including fixes for xradio and uwe5622 on Sunxi, contributed by The-going: sunxi: xradio – Switch from del_timer_sync to timer_delete_sync uwe5622: Fix timer API changes for 6.15 Bootloader and U-Boot Work Improvements were made to bootloader support: Tinkerboard 2 now uses U-Boot v2025.04 (PR #8268 by hyx0329). RK3328 boards gained setexpr support in U-Boot v2022.04/07 (PR #8260 by djurny). Build System Changes Several build system enhancements landed this cycle: PR #8276 by Ayush1325 prevented unintentional conversion of built-in kernel drivers to modules. A new helper function chroot_sdcard_custom_with_apt_logic was introduced in PR #8245 by rpardini, streamlining SD card build logic. PR #8279 by igorpecovnik removed obsolete Trixie package references. Networking Improvements PR #8259 and commit cdf71df by djurny expanded DHCP configuration in netplan to automatically include interfaces matching lan* and wan*, simplifying initial setup across devices. Miscellaneous Signing key backward compatibility was preserved in PR #8282 and commit aa5526a by igorpecovnik. Commit 0f43036 reworked prepare-host.sh after review. Contributors This Week Ayush1325 The-going djurny igorpecovnik pyavitz belegdol hyx0329 rpardini paolosabatino The post Armbian Weekly Updates first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

As the Armbian project transitions from spring into summer, the final week of May 2025 brought a dense flurry of development activity, delivering improvements across kernel support, bootloader updates, system performance, and user experience enhancements. With over 35 pull requests merged, this week showcased the Armbian community’s continued dedication to modernizing and stabilizing its build framework and board support packages. Performance & Build System Optimizations A notable performance enhancement arrived via #8248, where build engineer @rpardini delivered a major speed-up in Docker extension handling, cutting processing time by over 50%. Complementing this, PR #8249 addressed inefficiencies in rootfs-to-image by avoiding --sparse, significantly improving I/O speeds on various filesystems. Kernel version parsing and custom kernel description functionality also landed with #8152, thanks to @Grippy98, enabling displaying kernel versioning within build branches. Board Support Enhancements & Bootloader Upgrades A slew of boards received attention this week. The NanoPC-T6 series saw a key modernization in #8219 and #8239, switching to mainline Arm Trusted Firmware and bumping U-Boot to v2025.04 final. The Quartz64A board followed suit in #8250, while the Odroid HC4, Khadas VIM3, and Mixtile Blade3 all received U-Boot updates or reverts to improve stability. Legacy and edge kernel support was also improved. Notably, Rockchip64 edge kernel configuration gained CONFIG_NETKIT=y (#8237), and fixes for display mode handling on RK3588 boards were added (#8253). Meanwhile, the Orangepi 5 Ultra switched to a mainline kernel source (#8252), reinforcing Armbian’s ongoing effort to shed legacy components and embrace upstream compatibility. Infrastructure & Usability Improvements Behind the scenes, @igorpecovnik contributed multiple usability tweaks, including a fix for HiDPI detection (#8236) and @rpardini added improved serial console fallback behavior in GRUB (#8247). The GPG key placement was standardized across distros (#8128), simplifying build reproducibility. Device Tree and Service Fixes The smart am40 received a long-needed RTC node and U-Boot bump (#8214), while the Helios4‘s wake-on-LAN service was fixed (#8235), reinforcing Armbian’s commitment to community-requested board maintenance. Wrapping Up This week’s burst of activity highlights the Armbian community’s tireless commitment to refinement and modernization. Whether through performance enhancements, kernel bumps, or quality-of-life fixes, the project continues to evolve rapidly. Users can expect a more responsive, stable, and future-proof experience across a growing roster of supported hardware. Stay tuned for further updates as June unfolds. The post Armbian Development Highlights: End of May 2025 first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

Armbian v25.5: Expanding Horizons, Honoring Community, and Powering the ARM Ecosystem The Armbian team is proud to announce the release of Armbian v25.5—a significant update that reinforces the project’s commitment to delivering a reliable, high-performance Linux experience for ARM-based devices. This release highlights continued progress across the system, including deeper hardware support, enhanced tooling, and growing application modularity through armbian-config. In addition to the technical achievements, the community has received international recognition for its leadership and innovation in open-source infrastructure: Armbian has been awarded the 2025 NetBox Hero Award by NetBox Labs, joining a prestigious list of projects that have demonstrated meaningful impact in automation and open infrastructure practices. What’s New in v25.5 This release brings dozens of contributions from across the Armbian community, targeting system performance, configuration management, and hardware enablement. Noteworthy improvements include: Extended board support: The release introduces or improves compatibility for several boards including the TI SK-AM69 (PR #7885), Banana Pi M2+ (PR #8127), BeagleBone AI-64 (PR #7918), BeaglePlay (PR #7917), and PocketBeagle2 (PR #7897). These additions reflect Armbian’s growing footprint across both legacy and cutting-edge single-board computers (SBCs). Upstream firmware integration: Rockchip devices like the Rock 5B and Youyeetoo R1 now enjoy better audio and HDMI support (PR #7925, PR #7934). U-Boot versions were bumped for key platforms to align with upstream. Kernel upgrades: Devices based on Rockchip64 now run on Linux kernel 6.14 (edge branch), bringing better performance and peripheral support. Additionally, kernel patching logic is now configurable (PR #8149), allowing developers to build plain mainline kernel. Filesystem and boot enhancements: Improvements to EFI partition alignment (PR #8053) and BTRFS subvolume support further refine system boot behavior and make image generation more flexible for custom installations. Stability and quality improvements: Updates include boot script fixes, enhanced serial console support, and a simplified logging framework, all designed to improve diagnostics and system reliability during early boot and provisioning phases. armbian-config: Simplifying Post-Install System Management One of the biggest areas of growth in Armbian v25.5 is the continued evolution of armbian-config—a system utility for configuring Armbian images after installation. Whether setting up a home automation server or managing Docker containers at the edge, armbian-config now offers an impressive set of tools in a modular and approachable interface. Application library: Users can now deploy popular self-hosted applications directly from armbian-config, including Home Assistant (PR #235), Stirling PDF (PR #295), Navidrome (PR #367), Grafana (PR #351), NetData (PR #289), and Immich (PR #575). These modules are installed in isolated environments, making them easy to deploy, manage, and remove. Network and system settings: A more robust Wi-Fi station detection system improves wireless setup reliability (PR #286). New schematics and better documentation provide helpful context during network interface configuration (PR #278, PR #280). Overlay and BSP switching: Logic for board-specific overlays is now dynamically loaded, ensuring options are shown only where supported (PR #285). The BSP switching tool has been patched to correctly detect the branch being used (PR #281), and header installation logic was refactored to reduce redundancy (PR #277). These improvements reinforce armbian-config as a trusted utility for both new users and experienced developers building production or custom systems. NetBox Hero Award: Community Excellence Recognized Armbian’s impact reaches beyond code. In this release cycle, the project was selected as one of the winners of the 2025 NetBox Hero Awards by NetBox Labs. This award celebrates the community’s dedication to infrastructure innovation, automation, and transparency. Armbian was recognized specifically for its “elegant and extensible use of NetBox in support of a broad set of infrastructure needs.” This acknowledgment affirms the project’s alignment with modern infrastructure tooling and its unique role at the intersection of embedded systems and open infrastructure platforms. Read more: https://netboxlabs.com/blog/announcing-the-netbox-hero-award-winners-for-2025/ Recognized Contributors This release wouldn’t be possible without the contributors who authored the pull requests featured in v25.5. We thank: @amazingfate • @anarsoul • @andyshrk • @ArendJan • @Ayush1325 • @belegdol • @benhoff • @chainsx • @CodeChenL • @dependabot • @djurny • @efectn • @EvilOlaf • @FantasyGmm • @glneo • @Grippy98 • @HeyMeco • @iav • @ig3 • @igorpecovnik • @JohnTheCoolingFan • @juanesf • @kageurufu • @KubaTaba1uga • @lanefu • @leggewie • @libiunc • @mickeprag • @mlegenovic • @palachzzz • @paolosabatino • @plumbeo • @pyavitz • @q4a • @qbisi • @rpardini • @schmiedelm • @SeeleVolleri • @squassina • @ssp97 • @SuperKali • @The-going • @TheSnowfield • @timsurber • @torte71 • @trappiz • @useful64 • @retro98boy We also extend our appreciation to those who helped through bug reporting, testing, translations, documentation, and community moderation. Get Involved Armbian is open to all. Whether you want to contribute code, write documentation, test releases, or just ask questions—there’s a place for you. Download images: https://www.armbian.com/download Join discussions: https://forum.armbian.com Report issues or contribute PRs: https://github.com/armbian/build Read developer guides: https://docs.armbian.com Looking Ahead Armbian v25.5 is not just a technical milestone—it’s a testament to the collaborative power of open source. With a stronger foundation, broader hardware support, and a growing ecosystem of modular tools, Armbian is well-positioned to lead the future of ARM-based Linux computing. Full change logs: build framework, armbian-config The post Armbian 25.5 first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

This week, the Armbian development team pushed several noteworthy enhancements, with improvements spanning user experience, bootloader upgrades, and broader system support. Notably, this week saw the debut of OpenMediaVault in Armbian’s software installer, a move that brings plug-and-play NAS functionality to supported boards. OpenMediaVault is a feature-rich platform that enables users to turn single-board computers into fully-fledged network storage devices. Thanks to a contribution by Igor, the integration is now available through armbian-config interface, giving users a streamlined way to install and configure OpenMediaVault without needing to manually manage services or packages. The usability of the software stack also saw a meaningful improvement. A previously persistent “Disable Wireless Hotspot?” prompt was eliminated when no hotspot had been enabled, reducing unnecessary friction during the setup process. This fix helps clarify Armbian’s default network behavior for users during first boot, particularly when configuring headless or appliance-style deployments. On the hardware front, the Orange Pi 5 Max received a key upgrade: it now boots using mainline U-Boot. This transition replaces vendor-specific boot code with upstream-supported U-Boot, easing future updates and kernel integration. A related improvement was made to the PocketBeagle2, which migrated to extlinux for boot configuration—bringing it in line with Armbian’s broader standardization efforts. Further enhancements came to the Rockchip64 platform. Previously missing Operating Performance Points (OPPs) were added to ensure proper voltage and frequency scaling across supported boards, which improves energy efficiency and stability under load. In addition, older workarounds for wireless firmware issues were removed, as upstream drivers have now resolved the compatibility concerns that necessitated them. Finally, infrastructure refinement continued with the cleanup of unused or deprecated build artifacts, keeping the codebase lean and future-proof. The team also laid the groundwork for upcoming testing initiatives to ensure that new features like OpenMediaVault are validated across a wide array of supported devices. For those interested in exploring OpenMediaVault or other curated software installations, the updated documentation is available in the Armbian Software User Guide. The post Armbian Updates: OMV support, boot improvents, Rockchip optimizations first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

Early May brought another round of steady advancements to the Armbian project, with progress in U-Boot updates, board enablement, firmware fixes, and notable improvements to Armbian’s growing catalog of self-hosted applications. Bootloader and Firmware Enhancements Several platforms saw significant U-Boot improvements. The Cherryba-M1 now benefits from an upgraded U-Boot and reorganized patch structure, thanks to Igor‘s work on upgrading Cherryba-M1 to latest u-boot and moving patch to new folder. Andy bumped U-Boot to v2025.04 for the Lubancat2, keeping the board current. The Radxa Rock 4 SE also migrated to this version, where Niklas refined its configuration and boot behavior. Meanwhile, the Khadas VIM3 received a broader bootloader overhaul led by Ricardo, introducing SD-first boot order, squashfs and fileenv support, and enhanced compatibility with Home Assistant OS in a comprehensive update to U-Boot for Khadas VIM3. Older configurations didn’t go unnoticed: Igor removed deprecated ATF tags for sun50iw9 / H61x, while Olaf pushed the sunxi64 platform to the latest LTS version of ATF. Expanding Device Support Armbian continues to grow its ecosystem. Rolf introduced official support for the Banana Pi M2+, making it easier for users to deploy on this compact board. On the RISC-V side, libiunc brought the kernel for the StarFive2 platform up to v6.6, ensuring ongoing support and compatibility. Installer Improvements and Runtime Fixes Improving install experience, Igor Velkov added Btrfs root subvolume support when installing to NVMe, paving the way for better snapshot and maintenance workflows. Igor also corrected missing Broadcom firmware for Raspberry Pi boards to fix wireless support and suppressed firmware warnings related to built-in Realtek USB network drivers, helping clean up logs and reduce confusion. Self-Hosted App Catalog Grows The list of installable apps during Armbian setup has expanded. Two powerful platforms are now just a selection away: Immich, a self-hosted photo and video backup system, was added with the introduction of Immich to configNG. NetBox, a leading infrastructure resource management solution, joined the roster in the addition of NetBox to Armbian configNG. Both are available via the configNG provisioning interface. Deprecations and Housekeeping Support for legacy distributions has now ended: Debian Bullseye and Ubuntu Focal and Jammy will no longer receive repository updates, as noted in the userspace status change to EOS. Elsewhere, dependency and CI maintenance continued. Automated tools like Dependabot bumped packages such as setuptools and GitHub actions for changed-files, while amazingfate restored support for the AIC8800 Wi-Fi driver by reverting a mistaken disable. Further Reading Explore the full range of updates in the official Armbian snapshot. The post Armbian Development Highlights – Early May 2025 first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

Armbian Weekly Highlights This summary highlights key updates to the Armbian build repository, including kernel adjustments, tooling fixes, and configuration changes. These contributions reflect ongoing efforts from the community to ensure system stability, compatibility, and enhanced performance across supported platforms. Rockchip: Fixing Broken EDGE Kernel Patch Commit by: @Igor Pecovnik View Commit › Add “Out of Date” Notice to Example Config Author: EvilOlaf View Commit › UFS Devices: Add Sector Size Variable Author: FantasyGmm View Commit › Update prepare-host.sh “This doesn’t feel right. The package exists across all main distros. Probably not needed in every case… but it’s toolchain-related, so worth revisiting if merged.” Author: Werner View Commit › Add New Host Build Dependency for Noble Author: EvilOlaf View Commit › rockchip64: Fix ATF Build & Bump to Latest Author: Werner View Commit › Allwinner: Bump to Latest Author: Igor Pecovnik View Commit › Fix ORAS Tooling Download – Add wget Moved wget to basic dependencies Cleaned up spacing Author: Werner View Commit › ZRAM Service Fix – mkfs Deprecation Author: Igor Pecovnik View Commit › Auto-Sync Board Config Status Author: Igor Pecovnik View Commit › Fix jq Filter Usage in apt-utils Author: Franklyn Tackitt View Commit › AIC Wi-Fi Driver Adjustment for Rockchip Author: Igor Pecovnik View Commit › BananaPi SM1: Fix Patch Naming “Do to my laziness these patches were submitted ugly. My bad.” Author: Patrick Yavitz View Commit › Btrfs Root on Subvolume Support Author: Igor Velkov View Commit › U-Boot v2025 for Sunxi: H616 Fixes, DTS Updates Author: The-going View Commit › Sunxi 6.13 Series Re-export Patches b10d00d Fix EMAC0/MDIO0 (rtl8211F) 61ad7ce Zero2W: Add Missing Nodes c019129 Update to v6.13.11 83d866a Add Sound Support for H616/618 c5fc8be PWM Nodes & Overlays f61dc0c Enable TV Output & Zero2W Patches 481b407 Cedrus V4L2: Add More Formats + DMA Update f2c4d41 Panfrost: Rework Power Domain Patches (v2) c129052 Switch from rkr5 to rkr5.1 Author: Mecid View Commit › Improve Example Config Handling Add BUILD_DESKTOP Automation 1469fda Fix Link & Create Proper Example c93edf5 Copy Example Config at First Start 554580a Remove Deprecated lib.config 1d9c78a Armbian is a community-driven project maintained by a group of dedicated individuals in their limited free time. We provide the platform and tools for collaboration, but fixing every bug is beyond our capacity. Even large, well-funded teams face similar limits. That’s why we rely on the community—not just for reporting issues, but for actively helping to resolve them. file:///tmp/lu1588574hd9ee8.tmp/lu1588574hd9fat_tmp_858a6d92.png View all commits and contribute at github.com/armbian/build file:///tmp/lu1588574hd9ee8.tmp/lu1588574hd9fat_tmp_7111f4e6.png Support Armbian development: Donate Today! The post Armbian Weekly Highlights first appeared on Armbian. View the full article

Welcome to this week’s Armbian Build Highlights! We’ve added support for the Qcom Robotics RB5 and delivered a stack of board-level fixes and improvements. Bootloaders are getting version upgrades, new device tree tweaks are live, and key driver updates are in. Whether you’re tuning SPI displays or tweaking governors, there’s something here for every dev. Let’s dive in! New Board Support Qcom Robotics RB5 Support Added View Commit » by FantasyGmm Board-Level Fixes & Enhancements sakurapi-rk3308b Fix UART4 Bluetooth HCI + enable I2C1 View » WS2812 SPI driver overlay for onboard LEDs View » DTS update: SPI display match fix + spidev enabled View » rk3308: Fix UART DMA View Commit » by ssp97 station-m3: Remove redundant function View Commit » by 青菜萝 卜冬瓜 bananapi-m4-berry: Marked as CSC; Ethernet & RTL8821CU verified working View » Ether/WiFi chip launch fix View » sunxi: Remove unsupported branches 6.1, 6.10, 6.11 View Commit » Bootloader & Kernel Updates sakurapi-rk3308b: U-Boot bumped to v2025.04 View » nanopi-r3s: U-Boot bumped to v2025.04 View » rock-3a: U-Boot bumped to v2025.04 View » radxa-zero3: U-Boot bumped (mainline) View » SM8250 Edge: Kernel bumped to 6.14 View » Rockchip RK3588: Adjusted patching for mainline View » Platform & Driver Fixes rtl8189fs: Commit corrected to match rtl8189fs head View Commit » SpacemiT: PPPoE kernel module enabled View Commit » sun55iw3-dev.config: Changed default CPU governor to ondemand View Commit » Got feedback or found a bug? Join the conversation on Armbian Forum View all commits and contribute at github.com/armbian/build Support Armbian development: Donate Today! The post Armbian Weekly Highlights first appeared on Armbian. View the full article