Armbian Kernels with Functional I2C-2 Module

[Robert Pace]

I have built quite a few Debian12 Desktop images from github.com/armbian/build for a Debian Bookworm/XFCE/Vendor Kernel environment and noticed that recent vendor kernels do not have I2C-2.M0 as a kernel module listed within armbian-config. It appears that only two kernel modules are to be found, one being Panthos, the other involving a change in frequence of some item.

 

This image does include I2C-2.mo:

Armbian-unofficial_25.02.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.84_xfce_desktop.img

which includes kernel: Linux Atlas 6.1.99-vendor-rk35xx #1 SMP Fri Feb 21 18:11:03 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

 

But these images do not contain the I2C-2.m0 kernel modules:

Armbian-unofficial_25.02.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.84_xfce_desktop.img (same kernel build as Ambian 25.0.2.0-trunk listed above sans I2C-2-m0)

Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_current_6.12.17_xfce_desktop.img

Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.99_xfce_desktop.img

 

Is it now necessary to customize the compile options for the kernel and choose that module for compilation when building newer vendor images?

 

It would make sense (to me at least) to have each build option to have vendor kernels contain the same precompiled kernel modules for simplicity sake.

 

I'm not even sure if the I2C-2.m0 is available or an option in the later vendor kernels to build.

 

 

[Werner]

I assume you mean device tree overlays rather than kernel modules.

Sometimes due to naming scheme armbian-config does not detect available overlays for specific hardware correctly.

You can check manually by looking into /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay

 

As for me with an 5+ and vendor kernel I have these available:

 

 

test@orangepi5-plus:/boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay$ ls|grep -i i2c
rk3576-i2c0-m1.dtbo
rk3576-i2c1-m0.dtbo
rk3576-i2c2-m0.dtbo
rk3576-i2c3-m0.dtbo
rk3576-i2c4-m3.dtbo
rk3576-i2c5-m3.dtbo
rk3576-i2c6-m0.dtbo
rk3576-i2c7-m1.dtbo
rk3576-i2c8-m2.dtbo
rk3588-i2c0-m1.dtbo
rk3588-i2c1-m0.dtbo
rk3588-i2c1-m2.dtbo
rk3588-i2c1-m4.dtbo
rk3588-i2c2-m0.dtbo
rk3588-i2c2-m4.dtbo
rk3588-i2c3-m0.dtbo
rk3588-i2c3-m1.dtbo
rk3588-i2c4-m3.dtbo
rk3588-i2c5-m3.dtbo
rk3588-i2c6-m0.dtbo
rk3588-i2c6-m3.dtbo
rk3588-i2c6-m4.dtbo
rk3588-i2c7-m3.dtbo
rk3588-i2c8-m2.dtbo
rk3588-i2c8-m4.dtbo
rock-5a-i2c5-rtc-hym8563.dtbo
test@orangepi5-plus:/boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay$ uname -a
Linux orangepi5-plus 6.1.99-vendor-rk35xx #1 SMP Fri Feb 21 18:11:03 UTC 2025 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

 

To enable an overlay edit /boot/armbianEnv.txt

 

Edit: Yeah just checked, I bet if you rename (for example) rk3588-i2c2-m4.dtbo to rockchip-rk3588-i2c2-m4.dtbo it will pop up in armbian-config.

[Robert Pace]

Yes, I meant overlays. Hopefully switching filenames will make them appear. I may need to revisit the previous images for good measure.

 

Thanks Werner, you are always handy with your insight.

[Robert Pace]

After renaming it showed up in overlays in armbian-config, but takes a good minute to scan the i2c-2 bus, so not a solution for this issue.

 

I note under that a bme280 sensor should show up under address 76 via i2cdetect -y 2. The sensor works fine with same hardware (after installing overlay for I2C2-M0 in armbian-config when using Armbian-unofficial_25.02.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.84_xfce_desktop.img.

 

armbianmonitor -u report:

https://paste.next.armbian.com/zanaqiwici

 

Problematic Image: Armbian-unofficial_25.05.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.99_xfce_desktop.img

SBC: Orange Pi 5 Plus (32gb)

Kernel: Linux orangepi5-plus 6.1.99-vendor-rk35xx #1 SMP Fri Feb 21 18:11:03 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

 

List of overlays in /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlays/*i2c*.dtbo after copying rk3588-i2c2-m0.dtbo to rockchip-rk3588-i2c2-m0.dtbo

Quote

root@orangepi5-plus:/boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay# ls -al *i2c*.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  309 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c0-m1.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  309 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c1-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c2-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c3-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c4-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c5-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  309 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c6-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  309 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c7-m1.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3576-i2c8-m2.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  573 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c0-m1.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  758 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c1-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c1-m2.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c1-m4.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c2-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c2-m4.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c3-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  573 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c3-m1.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c4-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c5-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  565 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c6-m0.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  565 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c6-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c6-m4.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  505 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c7-m3.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c8-m2.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  565 Feb 26 10:10 rk3588-i2c8-m4.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1517 Feb 26 10:10 rock-5a-i2c5-rtc-hym8563.dtbo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  343 Mar  1 11:13 rockchip-rk3588-i2c2-m0.dtbo
 

 

[Werner]

Well then there are two options, either use an older kernel with the image or try latest mainline. edge got bumped to 6.14.0-rc4 recently and desktop usage becomes better and better with it. Though no idea if these overlays are already present there.

[Robert Pace]

I note that edge (6.14.0-rc4) also lacks the i2c2-m0 overlay, so I believe the only function build for i2c2-m0 is found in the older Armbian-unofficial_25.02.0-trunk_Orangepi5-plus_bookworm_vendor_6.1.84_xfce_desktop.img image.