Armbian#
Description#
Armbian is a base operating system platform for single board computers (SBCs) that other projects can trust to build upon.
- Lightweight Debian or Ubuntu based Linux distribution specialized for ARM development boards
- Each system is compiled, assembled and optimized by Armbian Build Tools
- It has powerful build and software development tools to make custom builds
- A vibrant community
What is the difference between Armbian and Debian/Ubuntu?#
- Debian or Ubuntu officially do not support most of those boards/boxes. Armbian does.
- Armbian userspace has many small but vital performance or security adjustments
- Armbian fancy some kernel development and a lot of its maintaining. Debian relies on upstream sources for ARM hardware which can be years behind and/or lack of many functions
- Armbian userspace is lean, clean but 100% Debian/Ubuntu compatible
- Many stock Debian bugs are fixed on the way, “better than original :)”
- The Armbian build system is a central part of this whole ecosystem. You can DIY. Debian is much harder.
- Dedicated support forums per boards/boxes
- Plug’n’Play vs. complicated install scenarios on stock Debian
- unified development scenarios and user experience vs. mess of different setup instructions scattered all around
Installation#
Via Armbian Imager to SD Card#
Select Manufacturer#
Choose from 70+ supported SBC manufacturers or load a custom image.
Select Board#
Pick your board using real photos and metadata from armbian.com.
Select Image#
Choose desktop or server, kernel variant, and stable or nightly builds.
Flash#
Download, decompress, write, and verify automatically.
Build your custom image with armbian/build#
Supported Boards#
Further images are available on the download page