Few days ago the release of the new version of the Linux distribution, «Armbian 21.08» was presented in which a large number of updates have been made, including the inclusion of the Linux kernel 5.13, as well as the added support for more boards, compilations with Cinnamon, budgie and more.
For those unfamiliar with Armbian should know that is a Linux distribution that provides a compact system environment for a variety of single board computers based on ARM.
Debian 11 and Ubuntu 21.04 base packages are used for compilation training, but the environment is completely rebuilt using its own build system with the inclusion of optimizations to reduce size, increase performance, and apply additional protection mechanisms.
For example, the / var / log partition is mounted using zram and stored in RAM in compressed form with data downloaded to the drive once a day or at shutdown. The / tmp partition is mounted using tmpfs.
Currently the distribution is compatible with the following devices:
- Banana Pi
- Beelink X2
- clearfog base
- clearfog pro
- Cubieboard
- cubi truck
- Outer Dreamcatcher
- Cubox-i
- Lemaker Guitar
- Libre Computer Project AML-S905X-CC (Le Potato) [2]
- Free Computer Project ALL-H3-CC (Tritium) H2 + / H3 / H5
- Lamobo R1
- Olimex Lime
- Orange Pi
- MQmaker Miqi
- Friendlyarm Nano
- android
- Xunlong Orangepi
- LinkSprite Pcduino
- pine64so
- pinebook64
- Rock Pi 4
- rockpro64
- Roseapple pi
- Asus Tinkerboard
- udoo
- Udoo Neo
Table of Contents
Main novelties of Armbian 21.08
In this new version of the distribution one of the novelties that stands out are the builds with the Cinnamon and Budgie desktop environments, With which as a result, from this new version four compilation options are provided: minimal, server and compilations with Xfce, Cinnamon and Budgie desktops, in addition to an experimental compilation with the KDE desktop.
In Armbian 21.08 we can find that comes with Linux kernel version 5.13 and also has SPI boot support It is now available for Odroid HC4 boards and automated language selection was implemented on first release.
Moreover, It is noted that the ZFS file system implementation has been updated to OpenZFS 2.1, Added support for Khadas VIM1-3 and Edge and Avnet Microzed boards has been added and VPU support is enabled for Rockchip boards along with builds for QEMU.
Another novelty that we can find is that the support of 3D acceleration enabled has been added when it is compatible, the ability to use the ZSH or BASH shell was also provided.
Of the other changes that stand out from this new version:
- Added CSC skins for Tinkerboard 2 and Rockpi N10.
- Added support for older kernels for OrangepiZero2 and Nvidia Jetson boards.
- Stabilized build capacity with Ubuntu 21.04 and Debian 11 packages. Added support for Ubuntu 21.10 and Debian Sid as beta.
On the part of the problems known developers mention that l3D graphics acceleration had to be disabled in Amlogic due to instability, Odroid C4 / HC4 boot problem persists, but will be fixed in the next version, and various desktop environments (Deepin, Enlightenment, Gnome, i3, KDE plasma, Mate, Xmonad) that are not officially candidates for the moment within builds, although it is still available on the build system, due to lack of space and maintenance.
Finally, if you want to know more about it about this new version of the distribution, you can check the details in the following link.
Download Armbian
For those who are interested in being able to download the new version of this distribution for their device, they can do it directly from the page from where we can find a list of all the ARM-based computers on which the distribution runs.
Regarding the tool you can use to record the image of the system, you can make use of Etcher which is a multiplatform tool or directly in Linux from the terminal with the help of the DD command or one that you consider pertinent.
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