{"slug": "armbian", "name": "Armbian", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 4.868, "rising": 0.69, "first": "2026-03-08", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "armbian.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.armbian.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Armbian"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804354624, "item_id": 50272164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50272164", "by": "sthlmb", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste", "excerpt": "Your best option is to look into Armbian (https://armbian.com/) for these, they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste when vendors abandon them. I'd say Radxa are probably in 2nd place after Raspberry Pi when it comes to support, but Armbian still makes that a lot better.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees"}, {"id": 797279552, "item_id": 49829972, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829972", "by": "a96", "date": "2026-09-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the way to run ARM boards is e.g. https://armbian.com/", "excerpt": "Just in case anyone unfamiliar reads this, the way to run ARM boards is e.g. https://armbian.com/ (or NetBSD, Debian, whatever you prefer) and never the vendor junk.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 781710259, "item_id": 48856891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48856891", "by": "a96", "date": "2026-07-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Other odd options would be https://armbian.com/boards and https://openwrt.org/supported_devices", "excerpt": "The models that are a crappy PC can, almost like any or other crappy PC. Some have a very tiny DOM that might or might not be enough for a recent system. Of course, once the system is minimally up, it can use the big disk for software. No idea if any have special weaseling on them, but you can always search for the model and e.g. Debian (that tends to have best hits). Running with read-only root or just initrd is als", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS"}, {"id": 764353664, "item_id": 47772104, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47772104", "by": "notRobot", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Have you taken a look at armbian?", "excerpt": "Have you taken a look at armbian? If so, what was your experience? https://www.armbian.com/boards?vendor=xunlong", "context": "", "use_case": "OS for single-board computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus"}, {"id": 760312898, "item_id": 47519556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47519556", "by": "MrDrMcCoy", "date": "2026-03-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend switching the repos to Testing and, in your case, using the edge kernel from Armbian.", "excerpt": "Nice, I've standardized on Debian/KDE for most of my devices. Honestly, I recommend switching the repos to Testing and, in your case, using the edge kernel from Armbian. You'll have a much more performant and stable desktop, in my opinion. Flatpaks from there when available, and you should be golden :)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Just Lost Me"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["os for embedded board", "os for single-board computers"], "compared": [{"slug": "debian", "name": "Debian", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "netbsd", "name": "NetBSD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265594", "title": "Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49823582", "title": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967256", "title": "Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48827325", "title": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47732535", "title": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47517701", "title": "Apple Just Lost Me", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804354624, "item_id": 50272164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50272164", "by": "sthlmb", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste", "excerpt": "Your best option is to look into Armbian (https://armbian.com/) for these, they do the Lord's work when it comes to making sure these alternatives aren't destined to be ewaste when vendors abandon them. I'd say Radxa are probably in 2nd place after Raspberry Pi when it comes to support, but Armbian still makes that a lot better.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees"}, {"id": 797279552, "item_id": 49829972, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49829972", "by": "a96", "date": "2026-09-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the way to run ARM boards is e.g. https://armbian.com/", "excerpt": "Just in case anyone unfamiliar reads this, the way to run ARM boards is e.g. https://armbian.com/ (or NetBSD, Debian, whatever you prefer) and never the vendor junk.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 783495283, "item_id": 48968455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968455", "by": "madduci", "date": "2026-07-19", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a armbian powered Radxa 12L with 16 GB Ram", "excerpt": "I run the itzg Docker Image behind a Wireguard VPN, all hosted on an embedded board (a armbian powered Radxa 12L with 16 GB Ram). So far so good, we have an offline server, so even if the Microsoft Server is down, we can play (we use PolyMC on PC with offline accounts as well, for the same reason). By default, new users are in \"spectator\" mode, so they can't do anything without an activation from admin. Friends get W", "context": "", "use_case": "OS for embedded board", "switched_from": "", "story": "Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3"}, {"id": 781710259, "item_id": 48856891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48856891", "by": "a96", "date": "2026-07-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Other odd options would be https://armbian.com/boards and https://openwrt.org/supported_devices", "excerpt": "The models that are a crappy PC can, almost like any or other crappy PC. Some have a very tiny DOM that might or might not be enough for a recent system. Of course, once the system is minimally up, it can use the big disk for software. No idea if any have special weaseling on them, but you can always search for the model and e.g. Debian (that tends to have best hits). Running with read-only root or just initrd is als", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS"}, {"id": 764353664, "item_id": 47772104, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47772104", "by": "notRobot", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Have you taken a look at armbian?", "excerpt": "Have you taken a look at armbian? If so, what was your experience? https://www.armbian.com/boards?vendor=xunlong", "context": "", "use_case": "OS for single-board computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus"}, {"id": 760312898, "item_id": 47519556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47519556", "by": "MrDrMcCoy", "date": "2026-03-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend switching the repos to Testing and, in your case, using the edge kernel from Armbian.", "excerpt": "Nice, I've standardized on Debian/KDE for most of my devices. Honestly, I recommend switching the repos to Testing and, in your case, using the edge kernel from Armbian. You'll have a much more performant and stable desktop, in my opinion. Flatpaks from there when available, and you should be golden :)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Just Lost Me"}, {"id": 756836000, "item_id": 47302250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47302250", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-03-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "In addition to https://armbian.com one could also cross check with Diet-Pi", "excerpt": "In addition to https://armbian.com one could also cross check with Diet-Pi, which got resurrected from dormancy sometime in the last years. https://dietpi.com", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Every Single Board Computer I Tested in 2025"}]}