Adding the edge kernel to Rock 2F/2A

[humanus]

Hello,

 

These boards (Radxa Rock 2F and Rock 2A) have standard support so there should probably be a forum section for them. In its absence, I created this topic in the section for the most "similar" board.

 

Currently, we only have the `vendor` kernel available for both. It seems that both of them have been mainlined in 6.18, as seen here for example: https://www.cnx-software.com/2025/12/01/linux-6-18-release-main-changes-arm-risc-v-and-mips-architectures/ 

 

The config file for the board currently looks like this:

 

# Rockchip RK3528 quad core 1-4GB SoC WIFI/BT 0-32GB eMMC
BOARD_NAME="ROCK 2F"
BOARDFAMILY="rk35xx"
BOOTCONFIG="rock-2-rk3528_defconfig"
BOARD_MAINTAINER="CodeChenL"
KERNEL_TARGET="vendor"
KERNEL_TEST_TARGET="vendor"
FULL_DESKTOP="yes"
BOOT_LOGO="desktop"
BOOT_FDT_FILE="rockchip/rk3528-rock-2f.dtb"
BOOT_SCENARIO="spl-blobs"
IMAGE_PARTITION_TABLE="gpt"
enable_extension "radxa-aic8800"
AIC8800_TYPE="usb"

 

I tried just adding "edge" in the KERNEL_TARGET line and building an image but this won't be enough to make it boot, will it? Any tutorials on how to get them to work on mainline?

[Werner]

moved to staging

[Igor]

7 hours ago, humanus said:

but this won't be enough to make it boot, will it?

You can try, worse case it won't boot. What's the problem with that ?  

 

7 hours ago, humanus said:

Any tutorials

 

Only general.

 

Switch to nightly repository and then switch to edge kernel:
https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Armbian-Config/System/#rolling

https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Armbian-Config/System/#alternative-kernels

but if it won't work, you are on your own to find out why it doesn't work. Also some features won't work. We never supported EDGE kernels due to extreme costs associated with such operation.

[humanus]

There's no problem of course, I just did not have time for testing the built image yet, and was asking if it's not pointless. Thanks for the response so far, I'll try... 

As far as I understand it, the device tree from the vendor kernel won't work on mainline and I have no clue how to point armbian to the proper one. Maybe I'll just try removing the line about fdtfile from armbianEnv.txt lol

Edited December 3 by humanus
Clarification

[Werner]

IIRC stuff for rock2a/f was sent to upstream uboot too. Try adding a condition to use mainline uboot as well. You can check various rockchip based boards which also have this in their board config file.

[humanus]

I'll try. So far, just booting the board did not work. I suppose it does need mainline uboot. Need to figure out this fdt stuff somehow too... 

[humanus]

With the help of Claude I generated a config with both. Compiling now. Hopefully it boots this time. If it does, I may then do a PR.