NanoPi NEO Plus2 - upgrade image or kernel

[q-bert]

I am running my Neo Plus 2 with the official Ubuntu image, which was available in July 2017 (kernel 4.11.2), flashed to emmc.
Today I noticed there are new official images with kernel 4.14 available for downloading.
How can I upgrade to this version?
Alternatively, is it possible to backup all my applications, settings, data etc. and flash the new 4.14 image and restore afterwards? If this is possible, how can I do this?

[igorp]

I am running my Neo Plus 2 with the official Ubuntu image, which was available in July 2017 (kernel 4.11.2), flashed to emmc.
Today I noticed there are new official images with kernel 4.14 available for downloading.
How can I upgrade to this version?
Alternatively, is it possible to backup all my applications, settings, data etc. and flash the new 4.14 image and restore afterwards? If this is possible, how can I do this?

Move to Armbian and you are able to update kernel whenever you like. From stable or daily repository. Currently, there is 4.14.12 in beta.armbian.com

[q-bert]

I was thinking of Armbian too and would actually prefer it (I have an Orange Pi PC running with Armbian for over a year now without issues, great work, thanks!).
However, the last time I tried Armbian ethernet did not work and the board did not boot:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=991

Does it work now or should I wait for Kernel 4.15?
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

[igorp]

I was thinking of Armbian too and would actually prefer it (I have an Orange Pi PC running with Armbian for over a year now without issues, great work, thanks!).
However, the last time I tried Armbian ethernet did not work and the board did not boot:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=991

Does it work now or should I wait for Kernel 4.15?
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

That was a regression due to a network driver change which usually doesn't happen just like this. It was a surprise but nevertheless, it's fixed and it works now.

Ethernet drivers were ported from 4.15:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/5908-ne ... ment=46106

4.14.y is the next stable kernel and functions introduced in 4.15.y and higher will be eventually ported to it. When we will have enough testing with H5 boards and most of the bugs settled it will be labeled stable.

[q-bert]

I was thinking of Armbian too and would actually prefer it (I have an Orange Pi PC running with Armbian for over a year now without issues, great work, thanks!).
However, the last time I tried Armbian ethernet did not work and the board did not boot:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=991

Does it work now or should I wait for Kernel 4.15?
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

That was a regression due to a network driver change which usually doesn't happen just like this. It was a surprise but nevertheless, it's fixed and it works now.

Ethernet drivers were ported from 4.15:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/5908-ne ... ment=46106

4.14.y is the next stable kernel and functions introduced in 4.15.y and higher will be eventually ported to it. When we will have enough testing with H5 boards and most of the bugs settled it will be labeled stable.

How can I get an image with 4.14.12? Do I have to download "Armbian_5.34.171121_Nanopineoplus2_Debian_stretch_next_4.13.14.7z" (which is the latest image available for download) and upgrade using armbian-config? Or should I build an image using your build vm?
Is there another way to get a bootable image with beta.armbian packages and kernel?

[igorp]

I was thinking of Armbian too and would actually prefer it (I have an Orange Pi PC running with Armbian for over a year now without issues, great work, thanks!).
However, the last time I tried Armbian ethernet did not work and the board did not boot:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=991

Does it work now or should I wait for Kernel 4.15?
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

That was a regression due to a network driver change which usually doesn't happen just like this. It was a surprise but nevertheless, it's fixed and it works now.

Ethernet drivers were ported from 4.15:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/5908-ne ... ment=46106

4.14.y is the next stable kernel and functions introduced in 4.15.y and higher will be eventually ported to it. When we will have enough testing with H5 boards and most of the bugs settled it will be labeled stable.

How can I get an image with 4.14.12? Do I have to download "Armbian_5.34.171121_Nanopineoplus2_Debian_stretch_next_4.13.14.7z" (which is the latest image available for download) and upgrade using armbian-config? Or should I build an image using your build vm?
Is there another way to get a bootable image with beta.armbian packages and kernel?

No need. I made a new nightly with 4.14.13
https://dl.armbian.com/nanopineoplus2/nightly/

[q-bert]

That was a regression due to a network driver change which usually doesn't happen just like this. It was a surprise but nevertheless, it's fixed and it works now.

Ethernet drivers were ported from 4.15:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/5908-ne ... ment=46106

4.14.y is the next stable kernel and functions introduced in 4.15.y and higher will be eventually ported to it. When we will have enough testing with H5 boards and most of the bugs settled it will be labeled stable.

How can I get an image with 4.14.12? Do I have to download "Armbian_5.34.171121_Nanopineoplus2_Debian_stretch_next_4.13.14.7z" (which is the latest image available for download) and upgrade using armbian-config? Or should I build an image using your build vm?
Is there another way to get a bootable image with beta.armbian packages and kernel?

No need. I made a new nightly with 4.14.13
https://dl.armbian.com/nanopineoplus2/nightly/

Awesome! Thank you very much!

[q-bert]

I noticed higher idle consumption (approx. 1 watt more) and lower clock speeds with Armbian. Do you know why?

[igorp]

I noticed higher idle consumption (approx. 1 watt more) and lower clock speeds with Armbian.

Is this a problem for a testing kernel? No. Bleeding edge/development kernels are usually broken at some point, regressions are common and they are definitely not optimised. This happens after basic functions are works well.

[q-bert]

I noticed higher idle consumption (approx. 1 watt more) and lower clock speeds with Armbian.

Is this a problem for a testing kernel? No. Bleeding edge/development kernels are usually broken at some point, regressions are common and they are definitely not optimised. This happens after basic functions are works well.

no, no problem at all. I am rather new to SBCs and kernel "stuff", just trying to understand how things work