Notebook
By Igor Pečovnik / Networking • Desktop • General purpose • IOT • NAS / 0 Comments

Intel / AMD

Why Does Armbian Provide x86 Builds?

Key Benefits:

  • Delivers the embedded Linux experience and development environment to standard x86 hardware

  • Focuses on broad hardware compatibility and robust device driver support

  • Optimized for fast development cycles, automated testing, and CI/CD workflows

  • Ubuntu-based builds are free from proprietary Canonical services and telemetry

  • Offers a ready-to-use live OS image, ideal for custom Linux OS prototyping and deployment

  • Enables cross-platform development and consistency across ARM and x86 environments

Radxa Zero
By Yakov / IOT • General purpose / 0 Comments

Radxa Zero

If you have a Radxa Zero with eMMC (any model with 2GB or 4GB of RAM), you’ll need to erase the eMMC before you can boot it from a microSD card and use Armbian. 1GB version is not supported.

Full instructions are available on the Radxa wiki, but here are some quick notes.

– Connect a USB cable to the Zero’s OTG port (the USB-C plug marked USB-PWR)
– Hold down the “USB BOOT” button on the Radxa Zero while connecting the USB cable to a USB port on the Linux host
– sudo pip3 install pyamlboot on the host
– curl -O https://dl.armbian.com/radxa-zero/loader/radxa-zero-erase-emmc.bin
– sudo boot-g12.py radxa-zero-erase-emmc.bin

You may have to run the sudo boot-g12.py command a second time to fully clear the eMMC. In case you encounter boot issues, try this hint and report there.

rockpi-s
By Roman Brent / IOT • Networking / 0 Comments

Radxa Rockpi S

  • If your RockPi-S is equipped a large enough SDNAND, you may flash an OS image directly to this internal flash as follows:
    • Build Linux x86 binary rkdeveloptool (sources) on host
    • Remove any SDcard
    • Plug the USB-C port into your computer
    • Hold down MASKROM button while you…
    • Power on or press the RESET button to enter flash mode
    • Release the MASKROM button after 2 seconds
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      Next, run these host commands to flash the internal SDnand:

       

  • Holding the MASKROM button during reset prevents booting from internal the SDNAND.
  • But, the board will always boot from the SD Card, if it finds a valid image there.
  • Kernel serial console is on UART0.  [some older images have their console on UART2]
  • The serial console operates at 1.5Mbaud with 8 data, 1 stop, and no parity bits.
  • Black(left)=GND, White(center)=TxD, Green(right)=RxD

If you have a board with the -B version of the SOC, you may add the following line to your /boot/armbianEnv.txt file to allow operation at 1.3ghz:

overlays=b@1.3ghz

If you have a board with the BS version of the SOC, you should add the following line to your /boot/armbianEnv.txt file to tune for the newer “BS” silicon and run at 1.3ghz:

overlays=bs bs@1.3ghz

Note that the B version SOC is more common. I have never seen one.  The BS version supposedly will be labeled RK3308B-S.

Refer to /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay/README.rockchip-overlays for more information.