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This week's updates center on new board enablement, Rockchip platform refinements, and tooling and kernel maintenance. Board support expanded across multiple silicon families, with the addition of Seeed Studio reComputer RK3576/RK3588 DevKits and the Anbernic RG DS handheld image. The EasePi A2/R2 received substantial revisions to its board configurations and device trees, alongside a vendor logo transition to Linkease. SpacemiT K1 boot support was updated, and per-SoC LINUXCONFIG separation was introduced for the TQ family to better isolate kernel configurations. Rockchip received the bulk of low-level improvements. Notable changes include AUX recovery for USB-C DP Alt Mode in the dw-dp driver, device-tree-based LED configuration for the r8169/r8125 controllers, and an updated patch ensuring stable PCIe Ethernet MAC addresses across many boards. Additional fixes resolve slow WiFi on the NanoPi R76S via SDIO SDR104, enable Bluetooth on the Orange Pi 5 Ultra edge kernel, and restore the tm16xx driver on current kernels. On the tooling and maintenance side, Armbian Imager 2.0 was released, the mainline kernel was bumped to 7.1-rc6, and the rtl8192eu driver was re-enabled following a cleanup of compilation warnings. A previously merged USB gadget NULL pointer fix was reverted pending further evaluation. #Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #Rockchip #SBC #KernelDevelopment Changesmainline: bump to 7.1-rc6. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9922Add Anbernic RG DS board image and Anbernic vendor logo. by @crackerjacques in armbian/armbian.github.io#326Add jellyfin-ffmpeg release constraints and ip-wrapper for easepi-r2. by @ifroncy01 in armbian/build#9942arm64: dts: overlay: add radxa display 8hd for rock5t. by @Ken-Vamrs in armbian/linux-rockchip#498board-vendor-logos: update EasePi vendor logo to Linkease. by @ifroncy01 in armbian/armbian.github.io#321drm: rockchip: dw-dp: add AUX recovery for USB-C DP Alt Mode. by @mingzhangqun in armbian/linux-rockchip#494easepi-r2/a2: fix device tree. by @jjm2473 in armbian/linux-rockchip#491feat(boards): Add Seeed Studio reComputer RK3576/RK3588 DevKit support. by @baorepo in armbian/build#9719Give each TQ SoC family its own LINUXCONFIG. by @schmiedelm in armbian/build#9924Introducing Armbian Imager 2.0. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#143Milk-V Jupiter disable EEPROM node. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9944nanopi-r76s: fix slow WiFi by enabling SDIO SDR104. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9929net: r8169: add device tree based LED configuration for r8125. by @mingzhangqun in armbian/linux-rockchip#497orangepi5-ultra: enable Bluetooth on edge kernel via hci_bcm. by @pdapandapda in armbian/build#9697Revert "rockchip64: fix USB gadget NULL pointer crash in eth_get_drvinfo (6.18 + 7.0)". by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9926rockchip64: enable back tm16xx driver for current kernel. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9941rockchip64: update "describe PCIe Ethernet controllers" patch for stable MAC (many boards). by @rpardini in armbian/build#9933rtl8192eu: re-enable and fix tons of compilation warnings. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9927SpacemiT: Update K1 boot support. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9930Treat imx93 as slow hardware. by @schmiedelm in armbian/armbian.github.io#323Update EasePi A2/R2 board configs and device trees for improved hardware support. by @ifroncy01 in armbian/build#9907Update VERSION. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9938View the full article

We're releasing Armbian Imager 2.0. We rebuilt the whole thing, the interface and the flashing engine underneath it. The part you'll notice first: your board boots already set up. Username, password, Wi-Fi, timezone, language. You tell Imager once, it writes that into the image, and the board comes up configured on first boot. No monitor, no keyboard, none of that blind first login. Set it up once. It configures itself.This is the big change in 2.0. You build a profile in settings: username and password, an SSH key, your Wi-Fi network and country code, timezone, locale, shell. Imager writes it straight into the image's filesystem while it flashes. Power on the board, it reads the profile and brings itself up. Qualcomm boards over QDL get the same treatment. It's the difference between "flash, hook up a screen and keyboard, sit through the setup" and "flash, slot the card, switch on." I didn't expect to care this much about it, and now I can't flash without it. Pick everything on one screenThe old pop-up windows are gone. In their place is a single animated flow: manufacturer, board, OS, device, all on one page that moves with you. You page through the board and vendor grids, the distro logos are drawn by hand, and the app glides instead of slamming between screens. Settings got the same redesign. So did the cache manager, which now shows where your gigabytes actually went, by category, and clears them in a tap. Know what you're writing before you write itEvery image tells you what it is up front: build date, badges for the desktop and the kernel branch, a label when it ships with something preinstalled like the SDK build, openHAB, or Kali. Anything you've already downloaded carries a small check, so you don't pull it twice. If you want the trunk rolling releases, there's a filter for them, with a plain warning before you commit. And images that can't be written to a card, like the VM disk formats, simply aren't in the list. Every write, checked byte for byteThe download is verified against its SHA256. After writing, the app reads the card back and compares it to the source, byte for byte. While that runs, your board floats over a warm glow that follows the progress, with one line telling you the stage instead of a wall of numbers. When the check turns green, it's because the data on the card matches. Not because we're optimistic. Bring your own images, online or offlineHave an image of your own? Drop it in. We handle img, iso, xz, gz, bz2, and zst, and decompress before writing. Lose your connection partway through the day and Imager still works: the offline mode was reworked so your cache and your own files stay one click away. The same app on Mac, Linux, and WindowsSame look and behavior on all three. On Mac it's a single universal build for Intel and Apple Silicon. Pick a light theme, a dark one, or let it follow the system. Eighteen languages, chosen automatically from your locale. Free and open source, the way it started. Get itArmbian Imager 2.0 is available now, free, on Mac, Linux, and Windows. It does the same job it always has, writing a good image to a card. The new part is what happens after: you power the board on, and it's already yours. Download Armbian Imager 2.0 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. Armbian v26.5.1 delivers another strong round of improvements across the project, focusing on expanded hardware support, desktop and userland refinements, build framework modernization, and infrastructure enhancements. This release introduces new board images and platform updates, improves Ubuntu 26.04 "Resolute" integration, refines Bianbu desktop support, adds firmware and driver updates including AX210 wireless support, and continues ongoing work to strengthen the build system, CI pipelines, and developer tooling. Numerous kernel, bootloader, and device tree updates further improve stability, compatibility, and performance across a wide range of ARM and x86 platforms, reinforcing Armbian's commitment to providing a reliable and flexible Linux distribution for single-board computers, embedded devices, and edge computing deployments. 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 Armbian Quarterly digest · armbian/buildThis quarter’s work centers on three priorities: kernel modernization across SoC families, a redesigned desktop subsystem driven by armbian-config, and substantial expansion of board and platform c…GitHubarmbianNative UFS boot lands on the NanoPi M5Armbian’s next release boots the FriendlyElec NanoPi M5 end-to-end from UFS on a mainline U-Boot, with no proprietary recovery image in the loop. It is the first RK3576 board in the catalogue to reach this state, and the integration pattern paves the way for the others. UFS, the storage classArmbian blogDaniele BriguglioWe rewrote how Armbian installs desktops. Here’s what changedA friendlier, faster, snap-free desktop install in armbian-config If 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, andArmbian blogIgor PecovnikView the full article

Armbian's next release boots the FriendlyElec NanoPi M5 end-to-end from UFS on a mainline U-Boot, with no proprietary recovery image in the loop. It is the first RK3576 board in the catalogue to reach this state, and the integration pattern paves the way for the others. UFS, the storage class that replaced eMMC in phones, is packet-based and full-duplex with command queuing. The practical gain over an SD card shows up in random I/O, in latency under concurrent load, and in write endurance that holds up over years of deployment. FriendlyElec ships UFS on the M5 because the RK3576 has a native UFS controller, a sensible choice for any board destined for kiosks, robots, or industrial gateways. What mainline was missingThe UFS controller IP itself had a partial driver in mainline U-Boot. Everything around it was not wired: PHY init sequencing, the regulator rails the device needs before it responds, the device-tree glue that tells U-Boot "yes, this board has UFS." For the M5, none of it existed. There is also a cosmetic detail that catches every newcomer, namely that Rockchip's loader tooling labels UFS as SATA in the RKDevTool storage dropdown. Flashing goes through upgrade_tool, not the more familiar rkdeveloptool, because rkdeveloptool has never had UFS support. How it came togetherThree workstreams had to converge. Jonas Karlman's kwiboo/rk3576 branch carried the upstream RK3576 U-Boot enablement, pinctrl, clocks, storage controller bindings, and has been merging into mainline through 2026. The rockchip-linux/rkbin tree had to ship a UFS-capable MiniLoader, which the RK3576MINIALL.ini recipe assembles from the DDR init, the UFS-aware loader, and the OP-TEE/ATF blobs. The Armbian side was the integration: a board config on U-Boot v2026.04, a U-Boot DT overlay that brings the UFS regulators and PHY up at the right moment, and a flashing path that upgrade_tool accepts. None of these were individually hard. Making them line up is what took the time. On the device, the stack does its job cleanly. The BootROM reads the IDB off UFS and pulls in the TPL; the TPL initialises DDR and the UFS host controller, sequences the regulators, negotiates the link, and reads the next stage; ATF jumps to U-Boot; U-Boot enumerates ufs 0 and loads the kernel; the kernel re-probes the same controller it just booted through. The work, almost all of it, lived at the TPL stage. Controller fine, PHY fine, but the device sits silent if regulator sequencing is wrong by a handful of milliseconds. Once that is right, the upper layers see a clean SCSI-shaped block device and the rest is unsurprising. What it leaves us withFor users with a UFS-equipped M5, the next release image flashes through the FriendlyElec Rockchip workflow with upgrade_tool, BOOT switch on UFS/SD, storage dropdown labelled "SATA". The board boots without an SD card or eMMC involvement, and armbian-install writes the same image to UFS in place once the system is running from another medium. Against microSD on the same hardware the difference is felt rather than benchmarked: small reads land faster, the system stays responsive under concurrent I/O, and the write endurance is in a different ballpark. A few rough edges remain. The vendor tooling will keep calling UFS "SATA" until either Rockchip relabels the GUI or rkdeveloptool grows a cs ufs opcode, neither on the immediate horizon. The BOOT switch is a hardware gate with no software override. And upgrade_tool ships only as a Linux x86_64 ELF, so flashing from an Apple Silicon Mac means a Linux VM with USB passthrough or a Windows host running the GUI. The same plumbing now unlocks every other UFS-equipped RK3576 board in the catalogue. The M5 reached the line first because the hardware was available and the upstream pieces were the most complete. The others should be substantially less work, now that the integration pattern exists and the loader path has been proven on real silicon. View the full article

This week's work centers on board support expansion, kernel and U-Boot maintenance, and desktop and CI tooling refinements. On the platform side, the Radxa Cubie A5E received Wi-Fi enablement and a kernel refresh as part of a broader update, while the youyeetoo YY3588 was promoted from CSC to standard support and the YY3568 gained PCIe NVMe functionality. The NanoPi R76S and Rock 5 ITX were both migrated to mainline U-Boot v2026.04, dropping vendor-branch gates, and the Vanxoak HD-RK3506-EVB was added with vendor and board imagery. Kernel hygiene dominated the maintenance work: duplicate OPP labels on the Xiaoxin Pad Pro (sm8250) were corrected, broken UHS-I, xo-clock, SD, and DSI patches were removed from sm8550 trees for both 6.18 and 7.0, and a now-upstream r-spi backport was dropped from sunxi-6.18. The odroidxu4-current branch advanced to 6.6.141 across two successive bumps. Desktop and infrastructure tooling saw layered improvements through configng: alsa-ucm-conf and libcamera/v4l userspace were added to the minimal tier, PackageKit and AppStream landed at the mid tier, and DE postinst scripts now execute in the build chroot to resolve missing wallpaper. UEFI x86 and arm64 desktop spins were switched to GNOME on the edge kernel, and build infrastructure gained inline ShellCheck PR feedback, scoped token permissions, fork-aware artifact gating, and event-driven runner cleanup via systemd hooks. #Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #Rockchip #UBoot #KernelDevelopment ChangesAdd vendor and board image of Vanxoak HD-RK3506-EVB. by @SeeleVolleri in armbian/armbian.github.io#316Add wifi to Radxa Cubie A5E (kernel7.0). by @juanesf in armbian/build#9879ci: post ShellCheck findings and auto-fix suggestions inline on PRs. by @iav in armbian/build#9868ci: scope GITHUB_TOKEN writes to job-level in maintenance-lint-scripts-post. by @iav in armbian/build#9887ci: skip build-artifacts gating job on forks. by @iav in armbian/build#9865desktops: install alsa-ucm-conf at minimal tier. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#923desktops: install libcamera/v4l userspace at minimal tier. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#924desktops: run DE postinst scripts in build chroot (fix missing wallpaper). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#927enh: substring filter for the board picker. by @iav in armbian/build#9843expose: switch uefi-x86 / uefi-arm64 to GNOME desktop on edge kernel. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#315feat(ccache-remote): parse password from DNS-SD TXT for redis backend. by @iav in armbian/build#9864feat(tools/shellfmt): accept positional file args for scoped format. by @iav in armbian/build#9863fix(runners): handle missing HOME in systemd hooks for runner-clean-pages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#928fix(sm8250): drop duplicate cpu7_opp21 label on Xiaoxin Pad Pro overclock OPP. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9882fix(sm8550-6.18): drop broken sm8x50 UHS-I/xo-clock mbox patch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9884fix(sm8550-7.0): drop merged & broken SD/DSI patches. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9885fix(sunxi-6.18): drop r-spi backport now merged in linux-6.18.y stable. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9883gha: don't double-quote board/maintainer filter values. by @iav in armbian/os#462gnome: add packagekit + plugins + appstream at mid tier. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#922module_cockpit: drop qemu-kvm (no riscv64 build; qemu-system covers it). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#926nanopi-r76s: bump mainline u-boot to v2026.04 and drop vendor-branch gates. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9869release-targets: flip UEFI desktop spins from current to edge. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#314rock-5-itx: link upstream kernel commit in pcie3 refclk u-boot patch. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9861rock-5-itx: switch to mainline u-boot v2026.04. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9848Rockchip: youyeetoo yy3568: enable pci-e NVMe ssd. by @hqnicolas in armbian/build#9877runner-cleanup: event-driven _diag/pages wipe via systemd hooks. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#925Update for Radxa Cubie A5E. by @juanesf in armbian/build#9626Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.140. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9867Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.141. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9881Update radxa-cubie-a5e.csc with current kernel for build. by @juanesf in armbian/build#9874youyeetoo-yy3588: promote from CSC to standard support. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9873View the full article

New upstream BlueZ documentation helps simplify Bluetooth qualification for Linux-based products by mapping supported profiles, test requirements, software versions, and manual steps in one place. View the full article

Embedded Recipes returns to Nice for its second standalone edition, along with Linux Media Summit, PipeWire, libcamera, GStreamer Spring Hackfest, and new Display Next Hackfest & BlueZ F2F. Visit our table for Tyr, ML video analytics & Flipper One prototype! View the full article

Collabora is proud to share that we've partnered with Flipper Devices to work together on building an open Linux platform for hardware hackers. The long-awaited Flipper One will be built on the Rockchip RK3576! View the full article

This week's work advances on three fronts: kernel and bleedingedge alignment across Rockchip and Sunxi trees, board and platform enablement spanning RV1106 to SpacemiT, and CI hardening with self-hosted runner maintenance. On the kernel side, bleedingedge was bumped to 7.1-rc3, accompanied by cfg80211 API fixes and re-enablement of the rtl8189fs and rtl8852bs drivers for the new release. Both the rockchip64 and sunxi patch stacks for current and edge were rewritten, an upstream ptrace fix for CVE-2026-46333 was backported to linux-rockchip, and the odroidxu4-current kernel moved to 6.6.139. Platform enablement was broad. The Ayn Odin2 gained 7.0 kernel support, the Mekotronics R58X-Pro switched its vendor build to mainline U-Boot with a corrected LCD driver, and the H96 TV box advanced to U-Boot v2026.04. RV1106 transitioned from extlinux to a bootscript and gained DS1307, PCF85063, and RV8803 RTC drivers, while SpacemiT received OpenSBI, U-Boot, and BPI-F3 DTS fixups. Smaller but user-visible improvements include NanoPi M5 second USB3 port exposure via DRD0 host-mode pinning, NORCO EMB-3531 LPDDR4X variants, RK3528 USB2 PHY corrections for high-speed NCM, and UEFI x86 images enabling iwlwifi MLD and Intel SOF audio for MTL, LNL, and PTL. Infrastructure work centered on self-hosted runner reliability and supply-chain hygiene. A new runner-cleanup module provides hourly disk and memory maintenance, skips busy runners, and ships via .deb, while a maintenance watchdog was added to the SDK repository. Multiple StepSecurity hardening passes landed across build and SDK workflows, though an overly strict egress-policy was subsequently reverted after breaking builds. #Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #Rockchip #RISCV #KernelDevelopment ChangesActions: Cleanup "Release" workflow. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#4Actions: Create release workflow. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#3Ayn Odin2 kernel 7.0 support. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9706Build for riscv64. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#5Bump actions/download-artifact from 7 to 8. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#464Bump versions: stable 26.5.0, nightly 26.8.0-trunk.1. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#461bump bleedingedge to 7.1-rc3. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9806cfg80211: fix API changes for Linux 7.1. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#5change recomputer rk35xx fan speed. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#472ci: add maintenance watchdog + rename action.yml → build-armbian-sdk.yml. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#25ci: drop step-security/harden-runner steps (egress-policy was breaking builds). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#26desktops: ship fprintd userspace at mid tier. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#918desktops: split light/dark wallpapers in gnome + bianbu postinsts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#905Disable: SpacemiT: fix RX DMA params not set when TX is running. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9808drivers_network: bump rtl8852bs commit ref to 35d3e266 (May 17). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9841drop old lcd_vk2c21 LCD driver that never worked; backport workingvinka,vk2c21 driver; fix Mekos DTs. by @rpardini in armbian/linux-rockchip#482ebyte-ecb41-pge: Add spidev overlays (RPi-compatible). by @vidplace7 in armbian/linux-rockchip#467firmware-sof-signed: move from cli/amd64 baseline to UEFI common. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9857fix(deps): add Pygments to requirements.txt (rich.syntax dep). by @iav in armbian/build#9819luckfox-lyra-zero-w: Default to onboard wifi antenna, add ipex overlay. by @vidplace7 in armbian/linux-rockchip#468maintenance-watchdog: target the workflow that actually exists. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#915Mekotronics R58X-Pro (vendor): use mainline u-boot for vendor; use new LCD driver. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9836module_armbian_runners: skip busy runners + ship runner-cleanup assets via .deb. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#914module_qbittorrent: poll for temporary password before showing dialog. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#916nanopi-m5: pin DRD0 dwc3 to host mode to expose the second USB3 port. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9844NORCO EMB-3531: Add LPDDR4X variants support. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9823patch/sunxi-6.12: drop two Rockchip SPI patches (not applicable to sunxi). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9827postinst/gnome: enable tap-to-click + clickpad right-click out of the box. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#917Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 2: Code injection. by @iav in armbian/build#9799ptrace: backport upstream fix for CVE-2026-46333 (ssh-keysign-pwn). by @SuperKali in armbian/linux-rockchip#481restore backwards compatibility. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#6rockchip rk3566: h96-TVbox: bump to uboot v2026.04. by @hqnicolas in armbian/build#9807rockchip64-6.18: rebase rk3399 dwc3 phy-reset-quirk patch for 6.18.32. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9847rockchip64: fix RK3528 USB2 PHY regmap split for high-speed NCM. by @rubycomm in armbian/build#9785rockchip64: opt-in helios64 CPU stability overlay (current + edge). by @iav in armbian/build#9822rockchip64: rewrite patches of current and edge. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9829rtl8189fs: fix compilation for 7.1 and re-enable. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9813rtl8852bs: re-enable for bleedingedge. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9831runner-cleanup: drop redundant age-based _diag prune. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#921runner-cleanup: hourly disk + memory maintenance for self-hosted runner hosts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#913runner-cleanup: wipe _diag/pages/ alongside _work/. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#919runner-cleanup: wipe ~/_diag/ on every runner each pass. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#920RV1106: add support for additional RTC drivers (DS1307, PCF85063, RV8803). by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9812RV1106: Switch u-boot from extlinux to bootscript. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9801SpacemiT: Fixup OpenSBI, U-Boot and BPI-F3 DTS. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9838sunxi: rewrite kernel patches of current and edge. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9828uefi-x86: enable iwlwifi MLD + Intel SOF (MTL/LNL/PTL) audio. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9846Update documentation / packaging URLs. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#2Update MorseMicro suite to 1.17.8. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#1Update nanopi r5s udev rule tweak for persistent net interface names. by @ruabmbua in armbian/build#9811Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.139. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9837Workaround devcontainer/ci platform issues. by @vidplace7 in armbian/MorseMicro-DKMS#6[StepSecurity] Apply security best practices. by @step-security-bot in armbian/build#9833[StepSecurity] Apply security best practices. by @step-security-bot in armbian/build#9839[StepSecurity] Apply security best practices. by @step-security-bot in armbian/sdk#24[StepSecurity] ci: Harden GitHub Actions. by @step-security-bot in armbian/build#9803[StepSecurity] ci: Harden GitHub Actions. by @step-security-bot in armbian/build#9825View the full article

See how Tyr moves beyond MCU firmware boot to build the group, queue, VM, submission, and completion paths needed to run real Vulkan workloads on Mali CSF GPUs. View the full article

Join us next week in Utrecht for RustWeek! We'll be running a SuperTuxKart tournament to showcase Tyr, the Rust driver for Arm Mali GPUs. Come and see if you've got what it takes! View the full article

This week's work centers on release and CI infrastructure, board and U-Boot updates, and build framework hardening. On the release pipeline, asset manifest JSON is now emitted alongside uploads, third-party armbian-images.json sources are merged into the main download index, and dispatch chains were rewired so that build completion fans out cleanly to download-index regeneration and website sync. Ubuntu resolute (26.04) entered the daily build matrix, with corresponding prepare-host adjustments for its qemu-user packaging and a targeted blacklist for boards failing resolute plus GNOME. The new Armbian SDK images are now surfaced on the website and ship preloaded with the build framework, code-server, and developer tooling. On the platform side, U-Boot v2026.04 lands for Helios4, Rock-5B-Plus, Rock-5T, and NanoPi-M5 (with mainline UFS via a vendor-SPL hybrid), while new bleedingedge branches were introduced for rockchip64 and meson64. Initial support arrived for the Photonicat2 board, new RK3576 SPL and RK3588 DDR blobs were added, Panthor firmware expanded to cover additional Mali GPUs, and a PCIe LTSSM timeout fix improves cold-boot NVMe detection on Rockchip. NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus was renamed, panther-x2 moved from CSC to EOS, and odroidxu4-current advanced to 6.6.138. In the build framework, an unsafe eval was replaced with declare -g and namerefs, destructive commands were properly quoted, and Docker --privileged is now gated behind an explicit DOCKER_PRIVILEGED toggle. The desktop configuration tree migrated to the armbian-config module_desktops system, kernel build failures now propagate exit codes correctly, missing BOOT_FDT_FILE surfaces as an error alert, and SysRq-via-BREAK was restored on dw-apb-uart for mvebu-6.18 and rockchip64-7.0 kernels. #Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #UBoot #Rockchip #SBC #LinuxKernel Changes(#9400 P1b) Replace unsafe eval with declare -g and nameref. by @iav in armbian/build#9461action: emit assets manifest JSON alongside release uploads. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9772action: leave torrent URLs empty in per-image asset manifests. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9792Add expect-dev to package dependencies. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#904Add support for Photonicat2 board with USB hub watchdog. by @HackingGate in armbian/build#9765arm64: dts: rockchip: rename NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus to NanoPC-T6 Plus. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/linux-rockchip#478Build-Switches: document DOCKER_PRUNE opt-in. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#920build: misc cleanup — DEBUG-gated mmdebstrap verbosity, DOCKER_PRUNE opt-in. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9704chore(config/common): remove dead FAST_CREATE_IMAGE variable. by @iav in armbian/build#9756ci/maintenance-unit-tests: skip draft PRs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#910ci: add Maintenance: Watchdog workflow. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#23ci: add Ubuntu resolute to the build matrix. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#22ci: aggregate per-cell asset manifests into armbian-sdk-images.json. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#13ci: cancel in-flight download-index runs when a new one starts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#313ci: dispatch armbian.github.io download-index regen after green build. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#21ci: dispatch armbian/website sync after web-directory generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#310ci: fix dispatch chain — download-index fan-out + redirector ends with directory regen. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#311ci: rename build workflow to 'Docker Images For Automation'. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#24Community: blacklist xpressreal-t3 (resolute desktops failing). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#308Community: enable Ubuntu minimal CLI for all boards (not just headless). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#309desktops: migrate from config/desktop/ tree to armbian-config module_desktops. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9683Disable UDev Rule for Radxa Display 10 FHD. by @FlorianKohn in armbian/build#9503docker: gate --privileged behind DOCKER_PRIVILEGED toggle (default yes). by @iav in armbian/build#9733docs: add extensions reference list. by @iav in armbian/documentation#881feat(boards/helios4): enable watchdog extension by default. by @iav in armbian/build#9757Fix cmdline fsck argument. by @QwaSeeK in armbian/build#9779Fix rk3528 nanopi zero2 snps reset gpio property. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9770fix(config): skip host filesystem compatibility check for ROOTFS_TYPE=nfs. by @iav in armbian/build#9759fix(kernel/mvebu-6.18): restore SysRq-via-BREAK on dw-apb-uart (8250_dw). by @iav in armbian/build#9760fix(kernel/rockchip64-7.0): restore SysRq-via-BREAK on dw-apb-uart (8250_dw). by @iav in armbian/build#9750framework: add resolute (Ubuntu 26.04) image to the daily matrix. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#26helios4: bump u-boot to v2026.04. by @iav in armbian/build#9786image/compress-checksum: maximize CPU + memory use. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9758Introduce bleedingedge BRANCH for rockchip64. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9738kernel-dtb: surface missing BOOT_FDT_FILE as err alert (fixes #8083). by @iav in armbian/build#9700kernel: fix process not exit with kernel build failure. by @amazingfate in armbian/build#9771manage_zsh → module_zsh: align with current module style. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#911Merge third-party armbian-images.json sources into the main download index. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#306meson64: introduce bleedingedge BRANCH with 7.1-rc2. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9761nanopi-m5: mainline U-Boot v2026.04 + UFS (vendor-SPL hybrid). by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9788Nightly: blacklist 16 boards failing resolute+gnome_desktop. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#307panther-x2: move from CSC to EOS. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9778panthor: Add firmware for more Mali GPUs. by @nyanmisaka in armbian/firmware#124pci: pcie_dw_rockchip: increase PCIe LTSSM timeout for cold boot NVMe. by @rpahle in armbian/build#9751Pre-load SDK images with build framework, code-server, Python + Claude Code, and SSH keys. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#16prepare-host: support Ubuntu resolute's qemu-user packaging changes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9790Quote variables in destructive commands (#9400 P0). by @iav in armbian/build#9401README: cover both image families this repo publishes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#25reporting-release-summary: prepend 'Armbian' to digest titles. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#305Revert zsh integration from SDK image. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#23rk3576: Add SPL v1.08 blob. by @SuperKali in armbian/rkbin#44RK3588: Add v1.20 DDR blob. by @HeyMeco in armbian/rkbin#43Rock-5B-Plus and Rock-5T: Move to u-boot 2026.04. by @HeyMeco in armbian/build#9773SpacemiT: Update EDGE branch to linux-7.1. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9784Surface armbian-sdk images in Dedicated Applications. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/website#19Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.137. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9768Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.138. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9793Update README to clarify Armbian SDK purpose. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#18Update USB version in odroidhc4.conf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9754userpatches: install zsh via armbian-config --api, not direct apt. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#20userpatches: pre-install gh + first-boot provisioning stub. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#14userpatches: pre-install tig, nodejs and Claude Code CLI host-side. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#17userpatches: pre-install zsh in the chroot. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#19userpatches: switch pre-install from gh to git. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#15View the full article

A complete breakdown of Mesa’s NIR compiler detailing how it optimizes shader memory access with SSA promotion, deref analysis, copy propagation, and store elimination to reduce memory traffic and improve GPU performance. View the full article

Collabora brought Bluetooth Auracast broadcasting to MediaTek Genio 700 for Embedded World 2026. Here's the complete, fully Open Source setup featuring Debian, BlueZ, PipeWire, with all the code and configs from our live booth demo. View the full article

This week's work centers on release pipeline modernization, desktop and userland refinements, and board and kernel platform maintenance. On the release and CI side, the build matrix gained codename parameterisation with Ubuntu 26.04 "resolute" set as default, a dedicated Bianbu target, and exposed map overrides, while standard-support targets now include UEFI desktops and a plain cloud variant. The KDE fast-HDMI matrix was switched from kde-neon to kde-plasma, mesa-vpu was dropped from auto-attached extensions, and external CI now skips slots with a warning when upstream sources break. Supporting fixes route forky/loong64 base-files lookups to the main archive and add AI cover image generation to the blog workflow. Desktop and userland changes focus on the Bianbu environment, where PVR DRI was enabled, detection corrected, menu entries added, systemd suspend re-enabled on K1, and gnome-initial-setup purged post-install. Broader fixes pass --allow-downgrades on pinned package installs, align LAN/WAN labels across IPv4 and IPv6 rows in the MOTD, harden console-width handling against invalid COLUMNS values, and correct output to /etc/armbian-image-release. Platform support sees explicit ARCH=arm64 declarations on five inheriting boards, validate-board-config now following inheritance from ${SRC}/config/boards, and targeted fixes for imx8m binman hooks and rockchip family tweaks under forky (addgroup → groupadd). Kernel and DTS work restores 6.18.y on sm8550, syncs CAINIAO CNIoT-CORE DTS from 6.18 to 6.12, disables broken drm/xe patches under uefi-loong64-7.0, and improves the SMART AM40 and Retroid Pocket board definitions. AX210 firmware lands for mainline, and Seeed Studio reComputer images join the catalogue. #Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #ARM64 #Rockchip #Ubuntu #KDE #Mainline ChangesAdd AX210 firmware for mainline kernel. by @ginkage in armbian/firmware#126Add Seeed Studio reComputer board images and vendor logo. by @baorepo in armbian/armbian.github.io#297boards: declare ARCH=arm64 explicitly on five inheriting boards. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9747ci/external: skip slot with warning when upstream source breaks. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#301ci/maintenance-unit-tests: list docker state on the runner. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#903desktops/bianbu: enable PVR DRI, fix detection, add menu entries. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#897desktops/bianbu: purge gnome-initial-setup after install. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#902desktops/bianbu: re-enable systemd suspend on K1. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#900desktops: pass --allow-downgrades on pinned package install. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#899DTS: Sync CAINIAO CNIoT-CORE from 6.18 to 6.12. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9736Fix workflow bugs and add AI cover image generation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#298fix: rename imx8m bare hook so binman pkg_resources patch can run. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9752fix: rockchip family_tweaks fails on forky — addgroup → groupadd. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9753fix: route forky/loong64 base-files lookups to the main archive. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#299fixing output to /etc/armbian-image-release. by @dittodhole in armbian/build#9729Handle invalid data in COLUMNS env var when determining console width. by @scollinson in armbian/build#9631kernel: add linux-initramfs-tool as dep of linux-image package. by @amazingfate in armbian/build#9731motd/20-ip-info: align (LAN)/(WAN) labels across IPv4 + IPv6 rows. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9728os-info: add Ubuntu 26.04 (resolute). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/imager#134patch: disable broken drm/xe patches under uefi-loong64-7.0. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9745release-targets/standard-support.manual: add UEFI desktops + plain cloud. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#304release-targets: codename parameterisation, resolute default, Bianbu target, exposed.map overrides. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#295release-targets: drop mesa-vpu from auto-attached extensions. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#302release-targets: switch fast-HDMI KDE matrix from kde-neon to kde-plasma. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#303Retroidpocket: fix current and add edge as target. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9724sm8550: Restore kernel 6.18.y for current and edge branch. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9737SMART AM40 improve. by @retro98boy in armbian/build#9735userpatches: skip jammy in items-from-inventory. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#460validate-board-config: follow source ${SRC}/config/boards inheritance. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9748View 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. Armbian has released images based on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, codenamed Resolute Raccoon the latest long-term support base. As always, Armbian applies its own platform-optimized kernel, board-specific patches, and tested drivers on top so what you get is a clean, stable foundation across SBCs, PCs, and cloud environments, with no Snap packages, fully compatible with the Ubuntu ecosystem, and no surprises. 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. We rewrote how Armbian installs desktops. Here’s what changedA friendlier, faster, snap-free desktop install in armbian-config If 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, andArmbian blogIgor PecovnikArmbian 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 RobinsonGithub HighlightsThis week in Armbian development saw a broad range of updates spanning kernel enhancements, desktop improvements, and infrastructure refinements. Notable changes include new developer documentation for the desktop submodule, expanded GPU and multimedia support for vendor-kernel desktops, and several kernel version bumps for various platforms. The build system received fixesArmbian blogMichael RobinsonView the full article

This week in Armbian development saw a broad range of updates spanning kernel enhancements, desktop improvements, and infrastructure refinements. Notable changes include new developer documentation for the desktop submodule, expanded GPU and multimedia support for vendor-kernel desktops, and several kernel version bumps for various platforms. The build system received fixes for filesystem resizing and improved dependency handling, while CI workflows were optimized with increased timeouts and better error handling. New hardware targets were added, including Radxa Dragon Q6A and Nio 12L, alongside updates to u-boot and kernel drivers for multiple devices. Additional improvements focused on patch maintenance, logo updates, and enhanced automation for VM provisioning. These collective efforts continue to strengthen Armbian’s reliability, performance, and hardware compatibility. ChangesAdd developer guide for the desktop submodule. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#912armbian-kernel: btf: fixes + enable KPROBES. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9715armbian-resize-filesystem: fix typo $rootdev → $diskdev in do_expand_partition. by @iav in armbian/build#9702artifact-uboot: add UBOOT_GIT_CACHE_TTL (fixes #7710). by @iav in armbian/build#9699ci/unit-tests: bump job timeouts by +30 minutes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#890ci/unit-tests: cancel in-flight runs on supersede. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#891cli: kernel-dtb: pass -@ to normalized dtc invocation. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9720config.system: add Bianbu to the desktop install menu. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#893desktops: enable panthor-gpu DT overlay on rk3588 vendor-kernel desktops. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#886desktops: install libv4l-0 before rockchip-multimedia packages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#887desktops: move mesa/GPU runtime + diagnostics to common mid tier. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#885desktops: prune unused wallpaper assets (-15 MB). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#882desktops: strip libreoffice on jammy/riscv64 (no upstream build). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#883env_init: reconcile BRANCH from installed kernel on every startup. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#892external: enable code (VSCode) pull for jammy. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#457generate-armbian-images-json: detect preinstalled app past kernel rc/beta tag. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#294genio: edge: bump to collabora's 6.19.8. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9721helios64: u-boot: bump to v2026.04 + diagnostics + CMD_FILEENV; v2026.04: generic btrfs zstd fix. by @iav in armbian/build#9675hetzner: validate GitHub runner token before provisioning any VM. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#19Improve Radxa logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#293kernel: add dependency of initramfs-tools for linux-image package. by @amazingfate in armbian/build#9727libbpf: fix const correctness in resolve_full_path for gcc15. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/linux-rockchip#474meson64-6.12: oldlts: update meson-axg mmc phase configuration patch. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9712mvebu: edge → 6.18 LTS family-wide + restore 4 patches lost in #6135. by @iav in armbian/build#9709Odin2: Now we can switch back to upstream sdhci-msm driver. by @kasimling in armbian/build#9703odroidhc4: u-boot: bump 2026.01 -> 2026.04 (final) & add LWIP. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9714owncloud: fix CI install test + docker_operation_progress pull/error-handling bugs it exposed. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#888owncloud: fix CI install test + docker_operation_progress pull/error-handling bugs it exposed. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#889patch maintenance: some rewriting against recent patch versions. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9711pkg: prevent interactive dpkg prompts in automated builds. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#884qrb2210: switch edge kernel to mainline linux v7.0. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9710radxa-aic8800: Use gcc-14 for Noble release. by @HeyMeco in armbian/build#9707refactor(api): normalize application='ufs' to storage='ufs'. by @HeyMeco in armbian/website#9release-targets: add radxa-dragon-q6a and radxa-nio-12l with ufs extension. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#292Revert "Disable Sk-am64b as its not compiling on Resolute". by @jonaswood01 in armbian/armbian.github.io#289SpacemiT: Enable additional audio support in legacy and current. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#9717targets: set DESKTOP_TIER per desktop block, keyed on DESKTOP_APPGROUPS_SELECTED. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#288thinkpad-x13s: bump to steev's 7.0.y. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9716u-boot: 2026.04: drop #warnings in fdt_fixup_ethernet logging patch. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9713Update odroidxu4-current to 6.6.135. by @belegdol in armbian/build#9705Update Radxa logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#290workflows/hetzner: expose machine_count and server_type as dispatch inputs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#291View the full article

Collabora's contributions to Git 2.54 and the upcoming 2.55 add powerful config-based hooks with better visibility, opt-in parallel hook execution, and safer submodule handling via path-collision fixes. View the full article

Using our XR expertise, Collabora created a standalone XR experience for our 1% for the Planet partner, SOMAR, to showcase the direct impact of underwater noise pollution on marine life. View the full article

Collabora is headed to Stuttgart for XR Expo 2026! Visit us in Hall 2, booth 2C22, to experience the latest around Monado and ElectricMaple, and catch our 2 talks! View the full article

This week in Armbian development saw significant progress across board support, desktop environments, and infrastructure. Notably, NanoPC T6 LTS Plus was added as a reusable board, and support for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS ("Resolute") expanded to desktop package coverage and testing. Multiple improvements targeted desktop environments, including package updates, installation fixes, and branding enhancements for browsers. Kernel and bootloader updates were implemented for various boards, with mainline kernel bumped to 7.0 stable and u-boot upgrades for Rockchip devices. Infrastructure enhancements included new CI workflows, multi-arch unit tests, and migration to a REST API. Several bug fixes, optimizations, and cosmetic cleanups rounded out the release, ensuring greater stability and usability for Armbian users. ChangesAdd Beaglebadge. by @Grippy98 in armbian/armbian.github.io#284Add few images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#858Add NanoPC T6 LTS Plus as reusable board. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#275Add NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus board support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9617arduino-uno-q: bump edge kernel to 7.0.0-unoq. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9696base-files: symlink upstream distro logos to Armbian's. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9688boot: stop emitting splash=verbose to the kernel cmdline. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9653bsp: drop /etc/apt/preferences.d/armbian — desktop pin moves to armbian-config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9664bsp: ship Armbian distributor logo (svg + wordmark png variants). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9674chore(deps): patch rustls-webpki and rand advisories. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#132ci: add dependabot config (github-actions, daily). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#16ci: build repository-update images for armhf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#22ci: build repository-update images for riscv64. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#15ci: drop deprecated golint. by @SuperKali in armbian/armbian-router#41ci: multi-arch unit tests + JSON report published to armbian.github.io. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#872ci: run unit tests under qemu-user for armhf + riscv64. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#875ci: validate board config required fields on PR. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9678copyright: match website footer. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#916cosmetic: clean up build warnings (locale, setfont, GPG, oras). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9684desktops/common: strip armbian-imager on armhf/riscv64/loong64. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#867desktops/common: use epiphany-browser on Ubuntu/riscv64. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#870desktops/gnome: drop loong64 from sid. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#877desktops/gnome: fix gnome-bluetooth-sendto install failure on jammy. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#876desktops/mate: drop brisk-menu + mate-applet-trash from minimal. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#866desktops/postinst: drop stray 'fi' from five scripts that fail bash -n. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#879desktops/xfce: drop apport stack from packages_uninstall. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#869desktops: add mode=build to skip user-dependent steps at image build time. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#859desktops: availability + editorial-status filters, CSC menu. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#863desktops: brand Chromium / Chrome / Firefox(-esr) first-run + homepage. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#854desktops: disable DM in mode=build after install. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#862desktops: drop libu2f-udev from resolute (no installation candidate). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#853desktops: drop NetworkManager override from postinst scripts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#861desktops: drop plucky and questing release blocks. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#849desktops: fix forky minimal installs (drop obsoleted/moved pkgs). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#871desktops: flip netplan renderer to NetworkManager on live install. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#880desktops: install runtime apt pin so apt.armbian.com .debs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#851desktops: route apt.armbian.com browsers + add code, armbian-imager, restore thunderbird. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#848desktops: skip plymouth-theme install when mode=build. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#865desktops: suppress dpkg conffile prompt on install (non-interactive). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#856Disable Sk-am64b as its not compiling on Resolute. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#280distributions: mark questing (Ubuntu 25.10) as eos. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9693Drop anubis and aptly. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#447extension: fix importlib_resources detection for U-Boot v2024.x-v2025.04. by @iav in armbian/build#9692external: add resolute (Ubuntu 26.04 LTS) to desktop package coverage. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#444external: add resolute (Ubuntu 26.04 LTS) to desktop package coverage. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#446external: consolidate chromium configs + add armhf/amd64 coverage. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#448external: drop jammy from desktop multi-release RELEASE lists. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#445external: pull libwidevinecdm0 for noble from liujianfeng1994 rockchip-multimedia PPA. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#451feat(api): migrate to api.armbian.com REST v1. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#129Feature Proposal - armbian-firstlogin add support for web setup fallback. by @Grippy98 in armbian/build#9639Fix. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#453Fix copyright formatting in mkdocs.yml. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#917fix recomputer rk35xx dts. by @ackPeng in armbian/linux-rockchip#470Fix USB Type-C port for Orangepi 5/5B. by @chaitan3 in armbian/build#9624fix(cache): switch to sort_by_key for LRU ordering. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#131fix(download): use direct_url so filename keeps its extension. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#130fix(kernel-config): append missing newline to .config before edits. by @iav in armbian/build#9681fix: armbian-resize-filesystem diskdevname fallback for /dev/sda* devices. by @mvanhorn in armbian/build#9595gateway-dk-ask: pin ASK with libxml2 2.12+ compat fix for fmc. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9677json-generation: handle .tar.xz image archives. by @SuperKali in armbian/armbian.github.io#283kernel-headers: add version to linux-headers virtual package. by @iav in armbian/build#9686mainline: bump to 7.0 stable. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9661make-yaml-redirector: add more special extensions. by @SuperKali in armbian/actions#18map: accept .tar.xz and register boot-payload / hyperv.zip.xz specialExtensions. by @SuperKali in armbian/armbian-router#40Minor fixes and improvements. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9655module_devicetree_overlays: rewrite — atomic writes + subcommand interface + rename. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#846mvebu: helios4 edge → 6.18 LTS, restore orphaned patches. by @iav in armbian/build#9694nanopi-r3s-lts: bump uboot to v2026.04. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9671nightly: blacklist gateway-dk. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#281Optimized config. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#452Orangepi-5-max: Remove upstreamed patches and use mainline bluetooth.. by @fbernier in armbian/build#9673partitioning: fix #9201 /etc/fstab entry (double comma). by @iav in armbian/build#9488patch/misc: rtw88: fix patch rtw88 driver in 6.12.y, remove in 6.18. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9652readme: add desktops bullet to the feature list. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#857remove stray left-over patch. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9670Rockchip family tweaks: add to group only if group doesn't exists yet. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#8479rockchip-rk3588: add Rock 5 ITX PWM fan control overlay. by @ccarpinteri in armbian/build#9695rockchip64: bump some boards u-boot to v2026.04. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9662rockchip: migrate xt-q8l-v10 uboot patches. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9669rockchip: upgrade u-boot to v2026.04. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9663software/jellyfin: gate udevadm reload on udevd presence. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#873sunxi: remove old patchsets. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9687targets: align with armbian/build desktop-to-armbian-config PR. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#449tests: enable resolute on every desktop test. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#852ti: configs: family: k3: Update baseline to 12.00.00.07. by @jonaswood01 in armbian/build#9643Try with this. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#454u-boot: v2026.01: fix BTRFS zstd decompression failure (error 70). by @iav in armbian/build#9651Update board_slug and board_name for NanoPC T6. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#285Update RELEASE version in google-chrome.conf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#450workflows: chunk external-download matrix across 4 parallel invocations. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#282workflows: run external-package purge once per workflow, not per chunk. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#286xt-q8l-v10: forward-port u-boot board patches to v2026.04. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9666 View the full article

BitNet-style ternary brings LLM inference to ExecuTorch via its Vulkan backend, enabling much smaller, bandwidth-efficient models with portable GPU execution on edge devices. Presented at PyTorch Conference Europe 2026. View the full article

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, Collabora is at the YouTube Device Partner Summit in Tokyo showcasing our ongoing work with YouTube, notably on their TV app and the RDK platform, which has resulted in the RDK's integration as a core platform for Cobalt development. 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