ag123

there are a few caveats that may need a bit of attention It is documented somewhere that if you use channel 0, the driver would automatically select an appropriate channel / frequency. However, it seemed that back then initially while I tested it, that didn't seem to work. (i'm not sure if it may have changed) hence to list the channels one needs to run iw list and you would get a list of channels like such * 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm) * 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm) * 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm) * 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm) * 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm) * 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm) * 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm) * 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm) * 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm) * 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm) * 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm) * 2467 MHz [12] (20.0 dBm) * 2472 MHz [13] (20.0 dBm) * 2484 MHz [14] (20.0 dBm) * 5170 MHz [34] (disabled) * 5180 MHz [36] (20.0 dBm) * 5200 MHz [40] (20.0 dBm) * 5220 MHz [44] (20.0 dBm) * 5240 MHz [48] (20.0 dBm) * 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (radar detection) * 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (radar detection) ... * 5720 MHz [144] (20.0 dBm) (radar detection) * 5745 MHz [149] (20.0 dBm) * 5765 MHz [153] (20.0 dBm) * 5785 MHz [157] (20.0 dBm) * 5805 MHz [161] (20.0 dBm) * 5825 MHz [165] (20.0 dBm) what I normally do is to do a scan and pick an unused / least used channel : iw wlan0 scan pick an appropriate channel and specify it in hostapd.conf. 5ghz channels (hw_mode=a) delivers a max throughput of like 140 Mbps which is fast. https://docs.armbian.com/WifiPerformance/#uwe-5622 accordingly there are some country specific requirements for 5ghz channel selections and one may like review https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels iw reg set etc I did a google search and some of these resources may be useful https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager https://www.baeldung.com/linux/nmcli-wap-sharing-internet in a same way you may need to set the channel if necessary then that this repo is found in a google search which may be useful https://github.com/pi-top/Wi-Fi-Access-Point-and-Station-Mode/tree/master

accordingly H618 do not have mic in hardware https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/07/03/orange-pi-zero-3-allwinner-h618-sbc-ships-with-up-to-4gb-ram/ hence, an option is to use a usb soundcard / dongle https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-usb-sound-card.html there are also those 'arduinoish' approaches e.g. to use a ADC module board e.g. https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ads1110.pdf https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-ads1110.html https://www.instructables.com/Arduino-and-the-TI-ADS1110-16-bit-ADC/ but that you would need to hack the pin interfaces to use i2c etc. note it seemed ads1110 is a bit too slow for sound. alternatives are like stm32, which has built-in adc that can go to like 1-2.5 Msps, but you would need to hack the spi interface etc. the 'easiest / cheapest' way seemed to be generic 'usb sound cards'

@robertoj there are some 'old' stuff that may not be fully relevant but still useful this gist likely helps: https://gist.github.com/ag88/de02933ba65500376d1ff48e504b1bf3 an 'old' post: Note that currently in the minimal image netplan is set to systemd-networkd https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Networking/#minimal-images I'm less familiar with systemd-networkd, though it is possible to setup the network fully with it. What i did currently, is to update netplan config as above to use NetworkManager After that I use NetworkManger to setup a bridge adding the ethernet interface. https://gist.github.com/ag88/de02933ba65500376d1ff48e504b1bf3 . However, I actually make NetworkManager *unmanage* the Wifi interface, because i'm using hostapd. I'm using hostapd mainly because in journalctl logs, there is an entry for every host/client that connects. I'm not sure about how to do the same with Network Manager. hostapd also supports elaborate RADIUS authentication if one wants to go the distance. Then I install and configure hostapd as described in the gist, and during startup, hostapd actually patch the wifi interface into the bridge that is setup with NetworkManager.. The configuration for wifi AP is completely done in hostapd.conf as described in the gist. I'm using a bridge as DHCP is managed from my gateway router, hence I did not run a separate DHCP server instance in Orange Pi Zero 3 itself. An alternative setup is to setup NAT (network address translation) on the Orange Pi Zero 3 and to run a DHCP server on the Orange Pi Zero 3 itself. I think NAT approach is 'more common' I'm using hostapd, but I think without hostapd, it is also possible to setup an AP using NetworkManager alone. i.e. to let Network Manager manage the Wifi interface, and configure it as an AP. The benefit here is that Network manager woulld likely manage the DHCP and NAT as well all from Network Manager configurations. As I'm doing everything from the command line, I used NetworkManager cli (nmcli) for all the network manager configuration tasks. Note that while messing with networking, it is necessary to work in the serial debug console using a usb-uart dongle. i.e. bootup and login as root using a usb-uart dongle to the 3 'debug' pins for the serial console.

just like to say that I installed Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.228_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img from the boards page https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ apt update works 'out of the box', no PUBKEY errors I really liked the new MOTD on login _ _ _ _ _ /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ __ ___ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ (_) |_ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ / _/ _ \ ' \| ' \ || | ' \| | _| || | /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_|_\__\___/_|_|_|_|_|_\_,_|_||_|_|\__|\_, | |___| |__/ v25.8 rolling for Orange Pi Zero3 running Armbian Linux 6.12.30-current-sunxi64 Packages: Debian stable (bookworm) Updates: Kernel upgrade enabled and 8 packages available for upgrade Support: for advanced users (rolling release) WiFi AP: SSID: (wifi_hotspot_name), Performance: Load: 12% Up time: 0 min Memory usage: 5% of 3.83G CPU temp: 54°C Usage of /: 3% of 58G RX today: 6 MiB Commands: Configuration : armbian-config Upgrade : armbian-upgrade Monitoring : htop running Armbian on Orangepizero 3 makes a good desktop wifi hotspot (AP) it counts among the fastest Wifi with UWE5622 AP on 5 ghz on 'cheap' SBC (single board computers) https://docs.armbian.com/WifiPerformance/#uwe-5622 if you see that updates message, what is more cool is if you run apt list --upgradable it list the packages that is upgradable, and I tried apt upgrade install quite a few things, then manually reboot it becomes 25.8.0-trunk.230 ! this can be verified in /etc/armbian-release

@Igor, all just like to say that I installed Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.228_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.imgArmbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.228_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img from the boards page https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ apt update works 'out of the box', no PUBKEY errors thanks for the the updates @vtech, you may like to try the same for orange pi zero 2

it seemed that the (minimal/iot) images linked on the boards page , have been updated, I just downloaded Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.228_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img.xz for orangepi zero 3. note I only checked debian as that is what i'm using https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/

it seemed that the (minimal/iot) images linked on the boards page , have been updated, I just downloaded Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.228_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img.xz for orangepi zero 3. note I only checked debian as that is what i'm using it seemed to be similar for orangepi zero 2 https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-2/

I think using the ubuntu keyserver is good as well but that this is a 'small' issue, it is easy to miss a small thing in a project this huge consider the number of boards, kernels, and distributions (including the different releases). if this little thing breaks, we can fix in our installed os using these methods.

NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 while using apt (e.g. apt update) symptom: > apt update ... Err:8 https://github.armbian.com/configng stable InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 ... W: Failed to fetch https://github.armbian.com/configng/dists/stable/InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 observed in Armbian image for Orange pi zero 3 Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.90_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img build date May 28, 2025 fix: - run this as root > su - ^ login as root > wget -O - https://apt.armbian.com/armbian.key | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg you should find a file /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg about 2 KB in size repeat apt update etc should have resolved the error

NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 while using apt (e.g. apt update) symptom: > apt update ... Err:8 https://github.armbian.com/configng stable InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 ... W: Failed to fetch https://github.armbian.com/configng/dists/stable/InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 observed in Armbian image for Orange pi zero 3 Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.90_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img build date May 28, 2025 fix: - run this as root > su - ^ login as root > wget -O - https://apt.armbian.com/armbian.key | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg you should find a file /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg about 2 KB in size repeat apt update etc should have resolved the error

symptom: > apt update ... Err:8 https://github.armbian.com/configng stable InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 ... W: Failed to fetch https://github.armbian.com/configng/dists/stable/InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5 observed in Armbian image for Orange pi zero 3 Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.90_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.30_minimal.img build date May 28, 2025 fix: - run this as root > su - ^ login as root > wget -O - https://apt.armbian.com/armbian.key | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg you should find a file /usr/share/keyrings/armbian.gpg about 2 KB in size repeat apt update etc should have resolved the error

@Igor no worries about the delay, I'm just adding a feedback that symptoms are observed in the orangepi zero 3 miminal images as well, I've not tried other images hence can't comment about it. I'd likely try to reproduce the error and post my solution in this thread as well as in the orange pi zero 3 thread, possibly in the tutorials section of the forum as well i found the solution via some google searches then, and I'd try to reproduce that.

@Igor apparently I run into a similar/same issue while using minimal / IOT images for Orange Pi Zero 3 25.8.0 Build Date: May 28, 2025 just downloaded yesterday 12 Jun 25 https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ do update the links if the images are updated as well with the gpg keys files

DKMS is 'quite complicated' , in an attempt to understand all that 'cryptic' stuff, I went googling around https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dynamic_Kernel_Module_Support https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6896 https://github.com/dell/dkms https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/DKMS https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/blog/2021/05/05/quick-hack-patching-kernel-module-using-dkms/ https://www.baeldung.com/linux/dynamic-kernel-module-support https://nilrt-docs.ni.com/opkg/dkms_opkg.html ^ surprisingly I found this guide/tutorial from national instruments 'quite intuitive' and I dug further into how to make a kernel module, well at least a 'hello world' https://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/ https://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/lkmpg.pdf The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide Peter Jay Salzman Michael Burian Ori Pomerantz Copyright © 2001 Peter Jay Salzman --- ok I actually tried building that 'hello world' kernel module and *it works*, for practically 'ancient' 2001 instructions. so it turns out that to compile a kernel module, you do not need to build it in the kernel source tree itself and that is *without* DKMS, read that last 2 tldp guides: The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide you can try building and inserting the 'hello world' module into your kernel, no DKMS, whatever, after you build your module ! in short is it not necessary to build a kernel module within the kernel source tree itself, but that there are some procedures as spelled out in that 2 tldp docs. (but fast forward to today, this same instruction may not work if you are using secure boot, then a lot more complicated things like module signing gets involved, review that dkms link from dell) ------- now back to DKMS , where does that fit in? so it turns out that DKMS is a utility / tool / system / automation tool, to help you *rebuild the kernel module* - out of linux kernel source tree (i.e. as like the hello world module above), *without building the kernel from source itself* ! but that you need to ***rebuild the kernel module from source***(e.g. using DKMS), then all the other links above are guides that may be relevant ---- now add more complications / complexities, normally what you wanted is a *driver* , not simply a kernel module the driver often has several parts - the kernel module itself (this is the 'easy' part, you need to build it - from source), and that does not mean having to build the kernel itself from source, but you need to build the *kernel *** module *** *. after you build the kernel module successfully, say, then there are more blows and pitfall these days wifi and many network hardware requires *firmware files* , these *firmware files* can consist of 'bin' (firmware binary) and configuration (some of them text files) some of these firmware stuff lives in /lib/firmware. then that you need your kernel module, you can deem that the 'driver core' that interface the OS and interface those firmware. those firmware do not necessary run on the (host) cpu (i.e. your pc) but instead in the wifi chip itself. this is the part that is *highly opaque*, there are so many wifi chips that are *undocumented*, the firmware is *undocumented* and if you do not have any source for your kernel module which interface the firmware to the os, you are out-of-luck. ----- to summarise - normally, one cannot hope to take a binary kernel module install it in your current kernel and hope it 'just works'. if that works, a lot of things such as module versions and various constraints imposed by the kernel matches that in the kernel module itself, i.e. that module is compiled specifically for that specific kernel itself ! DKMS do not solve this, DKMS only *helps you rebuild the (kernel) module *** from source *** *, (and install it optionally). the idea is this, you have the *source* to your out of kernel source *kernel modules*, when you upgrade the kernel, e.g. such as an apt-upgrade etc, DKMS can be triggered to *rebuild the kernel module from source* (and install it) in the new kernel (binary) tree e.g. copy that into /lib/modules/{kernel version}/xxx --- if the kernel module is part of the kernel source tree itself, it actually do not need DKMS. But that if the errors occurs after building that *kernel module* (i.e. driver) , then congrats - you found a 'bug' in the *kernel module (driver)*, and that is true even if it is out of kernel source as a DKMS build. i.e. the driver sources need to be patched to work in the new kernel.

@Igor Armbian_25.5.1_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.23_mi nimal.img.xz below is transcript from the 'debug uart (serial)' console, via a usb-uart dongle, it is the only way to boot up with a console , if network etc is not available. U-Boot 2024.01-armbian-2024.01-S866c-P4a40-H8869-V3d5b-Bb703-R448a (May 28 2025 - 02:53:19 +0000) Allwinner Technology CPU: Allwinner H616 (SUN50I) Model: OrangePi Zero3 DRAM: 1.5 GiB Core: 57 devices, 25 uclasses, devicetree: separate WDT: Not starting watchdog@30090a0 MMC: mmc@4020000: 0 Loading Environment from FAT... Unable to use mmc 0:1... .... _ _ _ /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_| v25.5.1 for Orange Pi Zero3 running Armbian Linux 6.12.23-current-sunxi64 Packages: Debian stable (bookworm) Updates: Kernel upgrade enabled and 23 packages available for upgrade Support: DIY (community maintained) IPv4: (LAN) 192.168.xxx.xxx (WAN) xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx IPv6: fd00:xxxx:xxxxx, xxxxx (WAN) xxxx Performance: Load: 18% Up time: 2 min Memory usage: 9% of 1.44G CPU temp: 50°C Usage of /: 9% of 15G Commands: Configuration : armbian-config Upgrade : armbian-upgrade Monitoring : htop root@orangepizero3:~# ping google.com PING google.com (142.250.4.138) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from sm-in-f138.1e100.net (142.250.4.138): icmp_seq=1 ttl=100 time=2.77 ms 64 bytes from sm-in-f138.1e100.net (142.250.4.138): icmp_seq=2 ttl=100 time=2.79 ms ^ ethernet works root@orangepizero3:~# ip link set wlan0 up root@orangepizero3:~# iw dev wlan0 scan BSS xxxxx freq: 24xx signal: -77 dBm ^ wifi works, at least for scanning for stations, connect and AP not yet tested ^ the above is booted up on a 'rare' 1.5GB board. repeat using the same uSD card on a 4 GB board, initially the debug usb-uart console is garbled, it seemed to be a baud rate mismatch, I'm not sure why, but after a few retry it works. Perhaps it is due to bad wires. U-Boot 2024.01-armbian-2024.01-S866c-P4a40-H8869-V3d5b-Bb703-R448a (May 28 2025 - 02:53:19 +0000) Allwinner Technology CPU: Allwinner H616 (SUN50I) Model: OrangePi Zero3 DRAM: 4 GiB Core: 57 devices, 25 uclasses, devicetree: separate WDT: Not starting watchdog@30090a0 MMC: mmc@4020000: 0 Loading Environment from FAT... Unable to use mmc 0:1... ... _ _ _ /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_| v25.5.1 for Orange Pi Zero3 running Armbian Linux 6.12.23-current-sunxi64 Packages: Debian stable (bookworm) Updates: Kernel upgrade enabled and 23 packages available for upgrade Support: DIY (community maintained) IPv4: (LAN) 192.168.xxx.xxx (WAN) xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx IPv6: fd00:xxxx:xxxxx, xxxxxxxx (WAN) xxxxxxxx Performance: Load: 12% Up time: 1 min Memory usage: 3% of 3.83G CPU temp: 46°C Usage of /: 9% of 15G Commands: Configuration : armbian-config Upgrade : armbian-upgrade Monitoring : htop root@orangepizero3:~# ping google.com PING google.com (142.251.12.139) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from se-in-f139.1e100.net (142.251.12.139): icmp_seq=1 ttl=103 time=2.69 ms 64 bytes from se-in-f139.1e100.net (142.251.12.139): icmp_seq=2 ttl=103 time=2.99 ms ^ ethernet works root@orangepizero3:~# ip link set wlan0 up root@orangepizero3:~# iw dev wlan0 scan BSS xxxxxx(on wlan0) freq: 24xx signal: -78.00 dBm ^ wifi works for scan, connect and AP not tested I'm not too sure what is the difference between v25.5.1 vs that on the boards page? https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ from those links 'current' seemed to be linked to: as of current 28 May 2025 Armbian_community_25.8.0-trunk.8_Orangepizero3_bookworm_current_6.12.23_minimal.img.xz btw thanks much (to all contributors) for updating Armbian to 25.x for OrangePi Zero 3 (and likely means works for Zero 2W) as well. oh frequency scaling works as well, this is on the 4GB board root@orangepizero3:~# armbianmonitor -m Stop monitoring using [ctrl]-[c] Time CPU load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Tcpu C.St. 01:43:36 1416 MHz 0.00 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 47.2 °C 0/7 01:43:41 480 MHz 0.00 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 47.2 °C 0/7 01:43:46 480 MHz 0.00 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 47.4 °C 0/7 01:43:51 480 MHz 0.00 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 47.0 °C 0/7 'everyone' should just get the 4GB board, make it a 'standard' lol @TRay It is a good idea to try U-Boot v2025.04 I've got a python script which can patch u-boot binary into an Armbian .img or practically any other image file (though i've only tested this in *unofficial* armbian builds) https://github.com/ag88/1.5GB_Fix_for_Armbian_on_OrangePiZero3/tree/main/tools https://github.com/ag88/1.5GB_Fix_for_Armbian_on_OrangePiZero3 i created it back then while researching solutions for the '1.5GB' problem back then. Do you have the 'bin' file for u-boot that you could share say in a zip file attached here? you can extract that 'bin' file using the 'backup' procedure documented here: https://github.com/ag88/1.5GB_Fix_for_Armbian_on_OrangePiZero3?tab=readme-ov-file#how-to-use sudo dd if=/dev/sdX of=u-boot-backup.bin bs=1024 skip=8 count=1024 But that the appropriate way would be to build the full armbian image from source including u-boot etc. Nevertheless, having the 'patched' u-boot binary would enable most here to test that by patching a distributed image file e.g. from the boards page, or from the 'test images' link as Igor has provided.

apparently it needs libheif https://github.com/libvips/libvips try apt-cache search heif apt install libheif1 alternatively, there is libavif https://github.com/AOMediaCodec/libavif I'm using libavif, built that from source, but you can nevertheless try sudo apt install libavif15 libavif-bin libavif-dev

I've not used a board which use EMMC (yet). They are more convenient, sometimes faster. While I'm not always against EMMC, some of the EMMC support is occasionally not very well documented / implemented, in particular by the vendors (e.g. how their boot rom selects booting from EMMC or SD). And that occasionally led to gotchas such as a boot fail in EMMC but it seem there isn't a way to recover from that etc. EMMC add a bit more complexity to the boot process, in particular by the boot rom (on PCs used to be called BIOS) and it is necessary to see that all the different boot permutations are well supported, boot from SD, boot from EMMC, override from SD (e.g. if EMMC install fails) etc, reflash EMMC from SD etc.

I remember seeing somewhere that ALSA may be *muted*, so turn on the volume, sometimes simple things matter. I'm not sure if it helps but hope it helps.

I'm using OrangePi Zero 3 as a basic desktop WIfi AP hotspot. it isn't practically 'high performance' certainly no WiFi 6 etc. But basic single channel 5 ghz wifi is there with throughput about 130 Mbps across both ethernet and the Wifi interface. It is ok as a 'desktop Wifi AP' (satelite), but probably underpowered as a router to the internet. https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ these works if what you need is wifi 'repeaters' to alleviate wifi blindspots say due to walls etc. but that likely means ethernet cabling as well. i.e. ethernet to upstream, wifi is the hotspot. I actually liked these (OrangePi Zero 3 running Armbian as Wi-Fi hotspot) vs proprietary 'mesh' cubes as you have full control in the OS layer wifi / bridging etc, less blackboxes, less propietary limitations etc. The hellhole about WiFi and sometimes ethernet is that a lot of those drivers are propietary some without any open sourced driver interface on the linux side, let alone the chip firmware. There are a lot of good boards, cpu e.g. RK3588 and you have a Wifi chip that has *zero* (open sourced) drivers. e.g. Orange Pi 5 Ultra.

cross posting this thread, as this seemed to be a related 'bleeding edge' thread one can probably ignore the 'don't use' remarks as apparently, efforts are underway to make the recent kernel work (on zero3, zero2w)

if you want to play with the NPU, you would likely need to resort to the reversed engineered open source NPU driver https://www.hackster.io/news/tomeu-vizoso-s-open-source-npu-driver-project-does-away-with-the-rockchip-rk3588-s-binary-blob-0153cf723d44 https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/04/21/rockchip-rk3588-npu-open-source-driver-object-detection30-fps/ https://blog.tomeuvizoso.net/search/label/rk3588 this is not from rockchip nor orange pi, probably no documentation and you would need to find your way around yourself, you are on your own. but that the open source driver is absolutely bleeding edge, i.e. it is in mainline linux and the one and only one. as for wifi I didn't seem to see explicit support for the chip AP6611 in the wild, may be I didn't find it in the 'right' places. did anyone chanced upon a driver for ap6611 on github, etc?

@Dual Stack I think it has to do with DRAM timings and detection and that possibly Orange Pi used different dram chips even though the board is sold as Orange Pi Zero 3 DRAM initialization is in the embedded boot loader u-boot and the problem mainly occurs during a cold startup reboot. https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/blob/master/arch/arm/mach-sunxi/dram_helpers.c#L28-L64 There used to be a '1.5 GB' problem and other associated problem detecting memory sizes, those has been resolved to some extent. Among the solutions, without resorting to fixing codes: make sure your Wifi antenna is not lying on the board near any of the chips (cpu, dram etc), bring the antenna outside the board so that it don't lie over any electronic components. There has been reports that the Wifi interference has caused some problems with memory / cpu etc. as for myself, after booting successfully, I practically simply leave the board on, that is ok as I used it as a WiFi AP. Otherwise the 'solution' is to simply reboot taking note of the Wifi antenna issue above. That said, Armbian on Orange Pi Zero 3 should be running pretty well except for some of these hiccups https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ it is one of the distributions/images that has considerable volunteered effort to make Armbian run on Orange Pi Zero 3. you can review this long thread for the history. The difference between Armbian vs the vendors images is that the vendor's images is to some extent proprietary. While Armbian is literally / actually build from source and you can rebuilt an image if you are willing to go the distance. https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/ It is also different in this sense in that Armbian can be updated to a recent kernel and supporting codes (e.g. u-boot) (which indeed it is) and often the kernel in the vendors images tend to be 'left behind' with an old kernel version, which may not get updated. It'd be good to support the Armbian project via donations etc as this is probably about the only way to keep the project sustainable and supported. Strictly speaking, those donations are subscriptions as would be for commercial os and distributions. --- There is an old *unsupported* image that I rebuilt from source based on 6.7 kernel back then. I won't be providing any support for this image, and it may not necessarily fix this problem and may have other issues e.g. the 1.5GB issue. But if you'd like to try it it is here: ----- It is quite possible to hard code memory configuration in u-boot, but that it requires re-building an armbian image from source. It is probably not recommended currently, but that if you are curious to look at an early fix back then about the 1.5 GB issue a similar tactic can be used to hardcode say 4GB for your board, but requires re-building the at least u-boot and patching it into the image, or rebuilding armbian image from source. That can 'work around' those memory detection issues since all that configurations is hard coded.

I think rotation is managed by some LCD commands, see MADCTL in the datasheet. https://www.hpinfotech.ro/ILI9488.pdf so the driver probably needs to implement it to have rotation

well, the SOC is the same, 'in theory', that image e.g. for pi5-plus should work. The trouble is the dram and all + on board emmc, and i'm not sure what else (ethernet/wifi ?) etc may be different. I think i'd go with a Rpi 5 firsthand as I've yet to get a board and maybe add a rk3588 (perhaps much) later. and well in mainline there seemed to be a dts already there for opi 5 plus https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip/rk3588-orangepi-5-plus.dts?h=v6.13 but it'd seem there is no 'specifics' for opi 5 ultra https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip?h=v6.13 if it is true, one'd need to go on the notion of 'may work' e.g. to use the opi 5+ image for a start. and of course the other 'hidden' (and very important) thing is uboot https://www.denx.de/project/u-boot/

hdmirx aside, Would Armbian run on Orange Pi 5 ultra? a closer image I'd guess is this? https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-5-plus/ there is also some 'rumors' about rk3588 mainlining efforts, I'd guess it could be 'lost in translation' / misintepreted I've weighed between a Rpi 5 vs rk3588, rk3588 seemed to be higher performing and has a built-in NPU. But that for sure Rpi 5 have more 'popular' support, at least from Rpi itself. A thing about Armbian and/'or mainline based linux running on these boards is, they tend to be 'beyond rpi', hacks like HDMI RX is feasible. Rpi is more for 'lazy' tinkerers who wants boards that 'just works', but that sometimes that helps.