The release of the Linux distribution Armbian 25.8 has been published, providing a compact system environment for single-board computers with processors based on ARM, RISC-V, and x86 architectures, supporting various models of Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Helios64, pine64, Nanopi, and Cubieboard based on Allwinner, Amlogic, Actionsemi, Freescale/NXP, Marvell Armada, Rockchip, Radxa, and Samsung Exynos processors.
The assemblies are formed using the Debian and Ubuntu package bases, but all components are completely rebuilt with a custom build system that includes optimizations for reducing size, increasing performance, and applying additional security mechanisms. For example, the /var/log partition is mounted using zram and stored in RAM in compressed form with data being flushed to storage once a day or upon shutdown. The /tmp partition is mounted using tmpfs.
The project supports over 30 different Linux kernel build variants for various ARM and ARM64 platforms. An SDK is provided to simplify the creation of your own system images, packages, and distribution editions. ZSWAP is used for swapping. When logging in via SSH, there is an option for two-factor authentication. It includes the box64 emulator, which allows running programs compiled for x86 architecture processors. Ready-made packages are offered for launching user environments based on KDE, GNOME, Budgie, Cinnamon, i3wm, Mate, Xfce, and Xmonad.
Key changes in Armbian 25.8:
- Official support has been provided for Mekotronics R58 HD and NanoPi R3S LTS boards.
- Support has been added for community-supported boards: CAINIAO CNIoT-CORE, KickPi K2B, Radxa Cubie A5E, Banana Pi R4, and Orange Pi 5 Pro.
- The Linux kernel for most boards has been updated to version 6.16 in the EDGE branches. In the STABLE branches, kernel 6.12 LTS is used. The U-Boot bootloader has been updated to 2025.07 and the ATF 2.13 (Arm Trusted Firmware) toolkit.
- Support for Debian 13 has been added, and the stabilization of builds based on Debian 13 has been conducted.
- Support for the LoongArch64 architecture has been added to the build toolkit.
- Development of the armbian-config utility, used for system configuration after installation, has continued. Support has been improved. VPN WireGuard support has been enhanced, with expanded settings related to routing in local networks and client system configuration. Integration with the Pi-hole ad-blocking system has been improved.
- Support for temperature sensors for the Rock-5C board has been included.
- Support for the audio subsystem of the RockPi-S board has been added.
- Wake-on-LAN functionality has been established for Helios4 boards.
- Drivers for Realtek RTL8822CS, Innosilicon USB3 PHY, and NanoPi M6 boards have been improved.
- Issues with connecting displays via the DSI (Display Serial Interface) on Raspberry Pi 5 boards have been resolved.
Additionally, the release of DietPi 9.16 has been created, a distribution for single-board computers based on ARM and RISC-V architectures, such as Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, NanoPi, BananaPi, BeagleBone Black, Rock64, Rock Pi, Quartz64, Pine64, Asus Tinker, Odroid, and VisionFive 2. The distribution is built on the Debian package base and is available in builds for over 50 boards. DietPi can also be used to create compact environments for of virtual machines and regular PCs based on the x86_64 architecture. The builds for the boards have a small size (averaging 130 MB) compared to Raspberry Pi OS and Armbian. The tools for building and maintaining the distribution are distributed under the GPLv2 license.
The project is optimized for minimal resource consumption and develops several in-house utilities: the DietPi-Software application installation interface, DietPi-Config configurator, DietPi-Backup backup system, DietPi-Ramlog temporary logging mechanism (also supports rsyslog), a process execution priority setting interface DietPi-Services, and a DietPi-Update update delivery system. The utilities provide a user console interface with menus and dialogs based on whiptail. A complete automation installation mode is supported, allowing installation on boards without user involvement.
Among the changes in DietPi 9.16:
- Initial support for the upcoming Debian 14 release has been added, the development of which has begun in the Debian Testing branch. Builds based on Debian 14 have started to be formed.
- When performing package operations, the command to update indexes 'apt update' has been removed if /etc/apt/sources.list and architecture-specific indexes were changed less than an hour ago.
- In the G_* scripts and functions, a built-in restart using sudo has been implemented for necessary privileged operations, eliminating the need for manual command entry in the form 'sudo dietpi-software'.
- In builds for Raspberry Pi boards, the UART adapter is now activated by default on the first boot.
- For ROCK Pi S boards, settings have been added to switch the USB-C port between host and OTG modes.
- The dietpi-software utility for RISC-V architecture systems includes options to utilize Docker Compose, Snapcast, and Amiberry. For all architectures and versions of Debian, the ability to install the home automation system Domoticz has been added. The Debian 12 builds for Raspberry Pi now include a package with the media center Kodi 21. It is now possible to automatically install Nextcloud Talk, Synapse, and WireGuard upon first boot.
Source: opennet.ru
