[News from Armbian] - Github Highlights

This week saw significant development activity across the Armbian ecosystem, with numerous enhancements to desktop environment support, including the addition of KDE Neon, KDE Plasma, MATE, and i3-wm, as well as improved branding and menu documentation. The desktop module was refactored for greater modularity and YAML-driven configuration, alongside fixes for theming and package removal tracking. Hardware support expanded with new device trees for NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus and Gateway DK, plus initial support for Arduino UNO Q (Qualcomm QRB2210) and additional USB Ethernet drivers. The build system received updates for kernel versions and distribution releases, notably bumping Ubuntu from plucky/noble to resolute. Automation and audit scripts were improved for reliability and scope, and documentation was updated to reflect the new tier model and branding. Overall, these changes strengthen Armbian's usability, hardware compatibility, and developer tooling.

Changes

• Add board_introduced field to reusable boards and JSON output. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#272
• Add desktop descriptions and disable host check. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#802
• Add Desktops menu header documentation. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#803
• Add Gateway DK board image and Mono vendor logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#273
• Add i3-wm desktop support with branding. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#811
• Add INTRODUCED property to all board configs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9634
• Add KDE Neon desktop support (Ubuntu only). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#814
• Add KDE Plasma desktop support. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#812
• Add MATE desktop support with branding and menu. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#810
• add more special extensions. by @efectn in armbian/actions#16
• Add python3-yaml to package dependencies. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#816
• Add support for Arduino UNO Q (Qualcomm QRB2210). by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9623
• arduino-uno-q: fix CI build by fetching qcombin at image creation time. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9642
• arduino-uno-q: install USB gadget scripts unconditionally in BSP. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9649
• arm64: dts: rockchip: add NanoPC-T6 LTS Plus device tree. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/linux-rockchip#462
• audit: allow Claude to write edits + stash execution log. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#836
• audit: fix git-dir error and path references for claude-code-action. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#832
• audit: fix git-dir, output ref, and bump max-turns to 30. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#833
• audit: scope bot PR to YAML changes only. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#835
• audit: skip status:unsupported DEs + relocate audit scripts. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#826
• audit: switch to claude-code-action with OAuth token. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#831
• audit_apply: handle calls larger than the per-minute budget. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#828
• audit_apply: throttle + retry around the per-minute rate limit. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#827
• bianbu: bump noble snapshot from v2.2 to v2.3. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#839
• Bump rockchip armhf edge kernel to 7.0.0. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9635
• config/distributions: plucky -> eos, resolute -> supported. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9657
• desktops: disable cinnamon on armhf. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#823
• desktops: enable armhf for XFCE, MATE, i3-wm, Xmonad, Enlightenment, Cinnamon. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#820
• desktops: enable riscv64 for XFCE, MATE, i3-wm, Xmonad, Enlightenment, Cinnamon. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#822
• desktops: optional APT pin preferences in repo block. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#838
• desktops: ship YAML/parser/branding assets in the .deb. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#817
• desktops: tier system, install/remove correctness, and a pile of small fixes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#824
• docs: rewrite Desktops-header.md for the tier model. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#825
• extensions: skip git fetches during config-dump-json. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9648
• feat: add device tree editor module. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#797
• feat: add QDL flash support for Qualcomm EDL devices. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#127
• feat: track desktop packages for clean removal. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#799
• Fix desktop module variable scoping and cleanup. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#796
• gateway-dk-ask: build kernel modules in-tree for CI compatibility. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9650
• Increase timeout for unit tests from 15 to 30 minutes. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#800
• initialize: add script-wide debug_log and --debug flag. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#818
• json-generation: fix some app edge cases. by @efectn in armbian/armbian.github.io#276
• mainline: bump to 7.0-rc7. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9637
• Mono gateway dk. by @tomazzaman in armbian/build#9640
• nightly: bump Ubuntu release from plucky/noble to resolute. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#278
• Optimize Cinnamon desktop and fix theming. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#805
• Refactor desktop module: YAML-driven, modular architecture. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#815
• rockchip: add rtl8152 and dm9601 usb ethernet. by @netrunnereve in armbian/build#9638
• rockchip: RK3506: Increase DMA coherent pool. by @vidplace7 in armbian/build#9636
• SLO: fixing few sentences in Slo language that sounds weird. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/website#1
• u-boot: v2026.04 (final) fixes and bumps for some boards. by @rpardini in armbian/build#9654
• Update Desktops header: add Imager URL and auto-login note. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#804
• Update theme colors and fonts to match armbian.com. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#902

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