Switch kernel from legacy (rk3399) to current (rockchip64) on NanoPi M4 V2

[Matthias]

Hallo,

 

I've been using Armbian on the NanoPi M4 V2 for a while and now I'm thinking about switchen from the legacy kernel to the current kernel. Unfortunately that's not so easy to do when using armbian-config. You could think you can just select the current-kernel in the list but you won't find it there. The reason is simple: the legacy kernel belongs to the rk3399-family and the current kernel is rockchip64. Which is basically the same, but from an organisational point of view it is not (please forgive me if I do not show an adequate technical precision here, the details and the plan to clean that up are explained here).

 

What I would be interested in is now: Is there a proper way to switch the kernel manually? As I said, I have been using the system for a while now, so setting it up from scratch with the right kernel is something I would like to avoid.

 

I had a look into the source of armbian-config so I know that manipulating the LINUXFAMILY in /etc/armbian-release will display the current-kernel in the list. But I don't want to imagine what kind of side-effects will hit me when starting the installation process that way.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Matthias

[Kyra]

I advise sticking with the legacy kernel until the stability issues with the current kernels (specific to the NanoPi M4 V2) have been resolved.

[jiko]

Unfortunately I've had issues with all kernels on the NanoPi M4v2., and thanks to your post I've successfully switched between legacy, current & dev kernels after updating `LINUXFAMILY` in `/etc/armbian-release`.

 

One thing I'd warn about is that when you switch to the rockchip64 family the legacy kernels there failed to boot for me and I had to recover my `/boot` volume via a fresh SD card boot using a legacy image.  After manual recovery I was able to use my old eMMC installation, and eventually when I was ready I switched back to the rockchip64 family where I've found the _current_ (5.4.49) and dev (5.6.17 and 5.7.6) kernels all successfully boot.