Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop, missing internet browsers and other problems

[EDM]

Armbianmonitor:

https://paste.armbian.com/betibuwafi

FYI, Device is Odroid N2+ 4 GB.

 

Some months ago I installed/ran:

Armbian_25.2.1_Odroidn2_bookworm_current_6.12.13_xfce_desktop.img

with no issues that I could not overcome. I re-downloaded it yesterday and re-installed/ran it on another Odroid N2+ 4GB with no issues.

 

However when I try to install/run:

Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img

"* Desktops are very simple and minimal but containing standard features such as Chromium, Firefox browser, Office tools etc."

It leads to a number of issues, but the most important one is no internet browsers are installed that are either visible from the Applications Menu, or that can be fixed/updated through either "apt" or by using "synaptic". Trying to update Firefox through "synaptic" leads to this error:

 

W: Failed to fetch http://mirror.vinehost.net/armbian/apt/pool/noble-desktop/f/firefox/firefox_133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1_arm64.deb
  Could not open file /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/firefox_9%3a133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1_arm64.deb - open (2: No such file or directory) [IP: 143.20.69.35 80]

 

OR

 

W: Failed to fetch http://armbian.lv.auroradev.org/apt/pool/noble-desktop/f/firefox/firefox_133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1_arm64.deb
  Could not open file /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/firefox_9%3a133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1_arm64.deb - open (2: No such file or directory) [IP: 23.186.113.5 80]

 

etc

 

I have installed and verified the sha256sum on at least 3 microsd cards with the same result for the Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img. version. Again the "bookworm" has no issues but "noble" seems to be broken.

 

I tried the Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_gnome_desktop.img as well. It has the same issues.

 

I realize that at this time of the year our minds are on the holidays/festive season. I hope that some clarity can be had as I have never seen this type of problem with a linux distro before this.

 

Thank you for your time, patience, and help!

 

[laibsch]

37 minutes ago, EDM said:

W: Failed to fetch http://mirror.vinehost.net/armbian/apt/pool/noble-desktop/f/firefox/firefox_133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1_arm64.deb

 

FWIW, the file in question is available from the mirror.  Are you sure you do not have network issues?

[EDM]

I wish it was that simple!

 

I am on a different computer here...on the exact same network.. and yes I can download that file from here, different machine, different distro.

 

However from the Odroid N2+ it is a different story. I have with a few experiments found that WAN pings would not work from the Odroid N2+ machine with the "noble" distro. But that problem is NOT present with the "bookworm" distro. I thought it was the initial installation, but the problem is persistent in "noble" and never an issue with "bookworm".

 

Thanks for your reply, and any other ideas?

[laibsch]

well, so it does indeed sound like you DO have network issues on the Odroid N2+.  Something related to the network is not working right in noble for you.

[eselarm]

On an ARM computer:

cat Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img.xz.sha
1f3816553377dd63a12e46a476f7ff20b8c5118f63f879f8d3d7d27073c97b35 Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img.xz
unxz Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img.xz
losetup --show -fP Armbian_25.11.1_Odroidn2_noble_current_6.12.58_xfce_desktop.img
mount /dev/loop0p2 2 
passwd -d root --root $(pwd)/2/
systemd-nspawn -bD 2

 

Only as root login.

Browsers are installed:

Creating a new user account. Press <Ctrl-C> to abort

Desktop environment will not be enabled if you abort the new user creation

Please provide a username (eg. your first name): ^C
Disabling user account creation procedure

root@odroidn2:~# apt list --installed | grep -i -e firefox -e chromium 

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

chromium-browser/noble,now 2:1snap1-0ubuntu2 arm64 [installed]
firefox/noble,now 1:1snap1-0ubuntu5 arm64 [installed,upgradable to: 9:133.0+build2-0ubuntu0.24.04.1~mt1armbian1]

 

 

Running as a container without DE is very minimal, but packages are there and also networking is up. Things might go wrong when starting DE for the first time, the the occasions I had that in the past decade are rare an due to bad storage or so or something failing with graphics HW/stack.

 

You should maybe specifically look at what is managing network and what is managing DNS. Math permutation leads to 4 possibilities already if I look at what is installed. That is excluding all sorts of options you may have with your router or LAN.

 

[EDM]

9 hours ago, laibsch said:

well, so it does indeed sound like you DO have network issues on the Odroid N2+.  Something related to the network is not working right in noble for you.

Quote

I thought it was the initial installation, but the problem is persistent in "noble" and never an issue with "bookworm".

 

The "bookworm" distro of Armbian does not have this problem. So what is different with the "noble" distro? I am using the exact SAME hardware/device, "bookworm" works, "noble" does not.

 

As mentioned I am able to ping the local LAN router without any problem with the "noble" distro, but DNS is not working for WAN, with the "noble" distro. The 'bookworm" distro can ping both LAN and WAN "right out of the box" on exactly the same hardware without issue.

 

What else can I do?

 

I sent this yesterday: https://paste.armbian.com/betibuwafi

 

Thanks!

[eselarm]

Easy is what standard Debian (12 and 13) does: NetworkManager and openresolv/resolvconf , even for complex setup of VLANs and bridges, Virtual Machines.

Canonical/Ubuntu have invented netplan.io, so they manage NM and systemd-networkd with a yaml script. Easy for them as large organization for business customers. Might not for you as image downloader, as it introduces extra yaml while .nmconnection files are easy to copy between hosts.

Also, systemd-resolved might be used, which is actually a sort of local DNS server. It should enable high performance I guess, by default caching enabled, but is that applicable for a simple ARM SBC connected to an ISP router, I don't know. I know is needs extra work for me. So you need to dig into that. Or not use Ubuntu at all. I anyway do not use images, only for testing for others, not to use them myself. It is simply using apt for (dist-)upgrades and so I use standard Debian upgrade method to get from Bookworm to Trixie and keep my KDE as I use that mostly. Also switching kernel, just via apt removals/installs and/or bootmanager.

If you get stuck, use sudo nmtui to set an extra network profile connection with fixed IP, known DNS maybe. Done that many times to get things running although not permanent good solution.