New Armbian images released for testing

#1

Last weekend, Armbian released two sets of new RockPi 4 images.

One is based on Kernel 4.4, the other on 5.1. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page for the 5.1 version.

I tested both Armbian Stretch versions very briefly. I installed the full desktop from armbian-config. I didn’t dig deeper at all. Just wanted to see if my USB 3 disk is mounted on boot. Here are some very basic findings:

  • 2 TB disk on the lower USB 3 mounted on boot - this was not working with earlier images
  • HDMI Audio is not working
  • video playback of recorded HD TV *.ts was software-decoded (I guess, because CPU load went up over 60 %)
  • WIFI was not offered in the network settings

Please give it a try and provide feedback also in their forum.

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#2

I try 4.4 kernel but hdd didn’t boot when restart.
Must plugged it again.
What kernel did u use?

#3

Hi @W1NN, I tried the Debian Stretch images based on both kernel 4.4 and 5.1.
For both images the external disk was automatically mounted at boot time and shown as a desktop icon. You may want to follow USB 3.0 External Hard drive not mounting on boot for the USB 3 disk issue alone.

#4

Thank It support BTRFS file system but it CPU load is very high compare to radxa armbian 4.4

#5

Trying to get my USB-microphone to work on the debian image… but it does not work. Are USB-Audio devices supported “out of the box” with armbian? Does it make sense to try it?

thanks

carl

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#6

Why would 3rd party hardware be supported out of the box?

But Armbian provides a build system. Enable what you need to enable or add support. It will save you a lot of time.

#7

serious? why sould then for example usb-keyboards be supported out of the box?

anyway… a real answer to my question would be helpful… does armbian support usb audio or not? it may be the case that there is some way to enable that… but I do not have the time to make me a full blown linux specialist who is able to build his own kernel or something like that… only to get a totally mainstream feature like usb audio devices working (what works out of the box in nearly every other linux distribution).

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#8

Because that is standard feature.

Probably, perhaps just yours is not enabled or added. How should I know that? Linux project, which is the core of all Linux distributions, is a work of 1.000+ people.

You don’t need to be a Linux expert to conduct this task. You can perhaps hire someone to do that for you?

You are not an expert but you know that this is mainstream feature?

Edit: I noticed you are asking for Rockpi S. That board is not supported with Armbian build system at all.

#9

This is the perfect example for those forum conversation that make me ask myself: why do people waste their time answering questions they cannot answer… :frowning:

but anyway…

  1. USB-Audio is one of the most basic usb protocols… like HID (for keyboards etc.) so if HID is a standard feature… USB-audio is definitely too

  2. Why should only “mine” be disabled? I just flashed the image downloaded from the corresponding website… that does not make any sense… and why does it matter how many people work on something… this is just bullshit talking… wasting time because you have less a clue than me (but answering questions in forums…)

  3. I am an expert… with more than twenty years experience in professional software development… but “on the other side”… on windows. So yes if were talking about linux Im not an expert… but I know what Im talking about! Im used to invest my time in developing the solution to a specific problem… not wasting my time in getting the most basic tasks done someone can imagine… recording sound through an usb-mic…

  4. The armbian-image is linked from the official download page for the rock pi s… you know… that was the reason, why I had this stupid idea someone who really knows what he is talking about could answer me the question if it would make sense to try another image)

Thank you so much for wasting my time…

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#10

There is no philosophy here. You got a correct answer. Its on you to recompile the kernel. You want me to do that for you? You must be joking.

This explains why you have no idea what I am telling you. And I don’t blame you.

#11

@c.Bickmeier I totally understand your frustration. Try zcat /proc/config.gz | grep -i USB_AUDIO. If you don’t see CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m then I believe there is no way around recompiling the kernel (or using different image).

#12

There is no upstream support and no other images. Or magic tricks. You have to be a developer to get along at this stage. This hardware was more or less just released and chip is used only by Radxa. But since chip is not a complex one, support could be better and its probably not that hard to fix those things … there are so many cheap hardware out there and not so many competent people and time to bring them to life.

Linux can store a gzip’ed copy of the kernel configuration file used to build the kernel in the kernel itself, and make it available to users via /proc/config.gz.

To see kernel config from userspace, you need to have those two options enabled:
CONFIG_IKCONFIG=y
CONFIG_IKCONFIG_PROC=y

Those dependencies are not set. https://github.com/radxa/kernel/blob/stable-4.4-rockpis/arch/arm64/configs/rk3308_linux_defconfig

… and don’t kill the messenger yet again. I am not responsible that things are how they are.

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#13

Another Armbian update:

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#14

If you are interested, you can try Not official universal armbian images for TV boxes with kernel 5, they include the maximum number of additional modules, including for USB sound.