Armbian:

Armbian is an open-source OS based on Linux designed specifically for ARM-based single-board computers (SBCs). It provides a lightweight and customizable environment for SBCs, allowing users to run various applications and services on devices such as the Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, etc. Refer to the Armbian GitHub to see what devices are supported.

In their latest announcement, Armbian is expanding device support to include Khadas VIM1S, Khadas VIM4, TI AM26, and Lichee Pi 4A, making their platform even more versatile. 

Users of Banana Pi M5 and M2PRO can expect improved stability and performance, while ThinkPad X13s has been transformed into a highly usable device thanks to recent updates. Additionally, thermal support for Opi4 has been resolved, addressing issues during high-load operations.

Furthermore, Armbian is making significant progress in developing mainline-based images for Rockchip RK3588 boards like Rock 5 and Nano Pi T6, ensuring quality releases. 

Lastly, users can anticipate a stable package update that promises to elevate the Armbian experience, set to launch with the upcoming major update at the end of the month.

Improvements and enhancements:

• v23.08.2 (2023-09-11):
  • Recreated images for Orange Pi 5 Plus, Banana Pi M1
• v23.08.1 (2023-09-01):
  • Add Crust to Allwinner boards to enable power management functions
  • Add support for most recent memory chips on BPi M5
  • Backport Banana Pi CM4 to kernel 6.1 LTS
  • Provide official distro upgrades
  • Adding Armbian-gaming as extension
  • Introduce grub-with-dtb extension
  • Add Lenovo X13S as WIP board
  • Khadas VIM3/VIM3L u-boot 23.07-rc4 + SPI-NOR/MTD booting support
  • Odroid M1 de-infest Petitboot & use Kwiboo’s 2023.10-rc2+gmac u-boot

Armbian has also introduced an Armbian Wallpaper contest that is open to all interested participants. The contest offers prizes to the winners, with the 1st place winner receiving a Banana Pi R3, the 2nd place winner receiving a Banana Pi M2S, and the 3rd place winner obtaining a Banana Pi M2 Zero. 

The competition is set to conclude on September 30th, 2023, and the results will be determined and announced by October 15th. It’s an opportunity for creative individuals to showcase their skills and potentially earn these appealing rewards.

DietPi:

On the other hand, DietPi is a lightweight and optimized OS based on Linux, specifically designed for single-board computers and small-scale devices. It aims to provide a minimal and efficient environment for running various applications and services while consuming minimal system resources.

These are the late August updates for DietPi v8.21:

New Images:

• Orange Pi 5 Plus – Support for the Orange Pi 5 Plus SBC has been added to DietPi with hardware ID 82. Images will be provided on our download page: https://dietpi.com/#download

Enhancements:

• Orange Pi 5, ROCK 5B – An update of the kernel to Linux 5.10.160 will be applied automatically as part of the DietPi update.
• Orange Pi 5 – An update of the U-Boot package will be applied. When flashing it to SPI via dietpi-config > “Advanced Options” > “Update SPI bootloader”, it enables booting DietPi via NVMe and USB.
• RK33xx SBCs – All SBCs with RK33xx SoC and Armbian’s linux-image-current-rockchip64 kernel package will receive a major kernel upgrade to Linux 6.1.46, including lots of fixes and enhancements that have been applied upstream and by Armbian in the meantime. Since Armbian’s APT repository has not seen any update since February 2023, we started compiling and hosting our own builds. An own APT repository is being worked on to better distribute our own package builds. Until then, headers for this kernel package can be downloaded at: https://dietpi.com/downloads/binaries/linux-headers-current-rockchip64.deb
• DietPi-Tools |  DietPi-Config |  WiFi HotSpot – When applying settings, manually changed IP addresses in /etc/network/interfaces will now be preserved. Additionally, it is now assured that changing interface names, e.g. due to an additionally attached WiFi adapter, are now aligned across /etc/network/interfaces, hostapd and DHCP server configs.
• DietPi-Tools |  DietPi-Config |  WiFi HotSpot – Toggles for enabling 802.11ac/WiFi 5, 802.11ax/WiFi 6 (Bookworm only) and 5 GHz WiFi respectively have been added to the menu.
• DietPi-Software| WiFi HotSpot – We added new dietpi.txt settings SOFTWARE_WIFI_HOTSPOT_WIFI4, SOFTWARE_WIFI_HOTSPOT_WIFI5, SOFTWARE_WIFI_HOTSPOT_WIFI6 and SOFTWARE_WIFI_HOTSPOT_5G to have 802.11n/WiFi 4, 802.11ac/WiFi 5, 802.11ax/WiFi 6 (Bookworm only) and 5 GHz support respectively enabled on install.

For more information refer to the Armbian and the DietPi official websites.