Orange Pi 4 Pro — Armbian Build Overlay

Build Armbian images for the Orange Pi 4 Pro with mainline Linux 7.1.5 kernel on Allwinner A733 (sun60iw2).

Hardware

Component	Details
SoC	Allwinner A733 — 2× Cortex-A76 + 6× Cortex-A55, Mali Bifrost GPU
RAM	2/4/8/16 GB LPDDR4X
Storage	eMMC (MMC2, 8-bit), microSD (MMC0), SPI NOR flash (16MB), NVMe (PCIe x1 Gen3)
Ethernet	Gigabit (GMAC0, RGMII, RTL8211F)
WiFi/BT	AIC8800D80 (SDIO + UART HCI)
USB	1× USB3 Type-C (OTG), 2× USB2 Type-A (EHCI/OHCI)
PCIe	x1 Gen3 (RC mode, via combo PHY)
Display	MIPI DSI (800×1280, Goodix GT9271 touchscreen)
Audio	ES8388 codec (I2C @0x10 + I2S4), 3.5mm headphone jack
PMIC	AXP8191 (main DCDC/ALDO/BLDO/CLDO/DLDO/ELDO) + AXP515 (battery/charging)
Serial	UART0 debug (115200), UART1 BT HCI, UART2 expansion
LEDs	Green status LED (PI8)

Pre-built Images

Download from GitHub Releases:

Image	Size	Flavor
Bookworm Server	~370 MB	Debian 12 minimal
Noble Server	~370 MB	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS minimal
Noble GNOME Desktop	~1.7 GB	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS + GNOME
Trixie GNOME Desktop	~1.7 GB	Debian 13 + GNOME
Plucky Server	~370 MB	Ubuntu 25.04 minimal
Forky Server	~370 MB	Debian 14 minimal

All images use mainline Linux 7.1.5 kernel. Flash to SD card with dd or balenaEtcher.

Building Your Own Image

Prerequisites

x86_64 or arm64 Linux host (Debian/Ubuntu recommended)
~25 GB free disk space (more for desktop builds)
Internet connection

Install dependencies:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git gcc make bc bison flex libssl-dev \
    libc6-dev-arm64-cross gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu g++-aarch64-linux-gnu \
    qemu-user-static binfmt-support dpkg-dev
# For U-Boot x86-64 toolchain emulation:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture amd64
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libc6:amd64

Enable binfmt (allows running x86-64 U-Boot tools on arm64 hosts):

sudo systemctl restart systemd-binfmt

Step 1: Clone Armbian Build System

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/armbian/build.git armbian-build
cd armbian-build

Step 2: Clone This Overlay

git clone https://github.com/jonas5/orangepi-4pro-armbian.git orangepi4pro-overlay

Step 3: Apply the Overlay

./orangepi4pro-overlay/scripts/apply-overlay.sh ./armbian-build

This copies board config, kernel config, kernel patch, and firmware into the Armbian build tree.

Step 4: Build

Server image (Bookworm):

./compile.sh \
    BOARD=orangepi4pro \
    BRANCH=next \
    RELEASE=bookworm \
    BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
    BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
    KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no \
    NO_HOST_RELEASE_CHECK=yes \
    COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=no \
    BUILD_OPT=image

Server image (Noble):

./compile.sh \
    BOARD=orangepi4pro \
    BRANCH=next \
    RELEASE=noble \
    BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
    BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
    KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no \
    NO_HOST_RELEASE_CHECK=yes \
    COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=no \
    BUILD_OPT=image

Desktop image (Trixie, GNOME):

./compile.sh \
    BOARD=orangepi4pro \
    BRANCH=next \
    RELEASE=trixie \
    BUILD_DESKTOP=yes \
    DESKTOP_ENVIRONMENT=gnome \
    DESKTOP_ENVIRONMENT_CONFIG_NAME=config_base \
    DESKTOP_APPGROUPS_SELECTED="browsers editors multimedia" \
    KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no \
    NO_HOST_RELEASE_CHECK=yes \
    COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=no \
    BUILD_OPT=image

Images are written to output/images/.

Build Options Reference

Option	Description
`BOARD=orangepi4pro`	Board name
`BRANCH=next`	Use mainline Linux 7.1.5 (`current` = vendor 5.15 kernel)
`RELEASE=bookworm\|noble\|trixie\|plucky\|forky`	Debian/Ubuntu release
`BUILD_DESKTOP=no\|yes`	Server or desktop image
`BUILD_MINIMAL=yes`	Minimal server image (smaller, fewer packages)
`KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no`	Use pre-made defconfig (recommended)
`NO_HOST_RELEASE_CHECK=yes`	Required when building on non-matching host distro
`COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=no`	Don't xz-compress output (builds faster)
`BUILD_OPT=image`	Required for non-interactive builds

Repository Structure

orangepi-4pro-armbian/
├── config/
│   ├── boards/
│   │   └── orangepi4pro.conf          # Board definition + hooks
│   ├── kernel/
│   │   └── linux-sun60iw2-next-a733.config  # Kernel config (all drivers built-in)
│   └── sources/families/
│       └── sun60iw2.conf              # Reference copy (not used by overlay; upstream has its own)
├── patch/
│   └── kernel/sun60iw2-next/
│       └── opi4pro-7.1.5.patch        # Kernel patch (46 files, DTS, drivers)
├── firmware/
│   ├── install-firmware.sh            # Firmware installer for target system
│   ├── aic8800d80/                    # AIC8800 WiFi + BT firmware (8 files)
│   ├── npu/libVIPhal.so               # Allwinner NPU HAL library
│   └── bt-tools/
│       ├── brcm_patchram_plus         # Broadcom BT UART firmware loader
│       └── hciattach_opi              # Orange Pi BT HCI attach utility
├── .github/workflows/
│   └── release.yml                    # CI: builds 6 distro flavors on release
└── scripts/
    └── apply-overlay.sh               # Overlay installer

Hardware Features (from Device Tree)

Peripherals Enabled

Peripheral	Status	Details
UART0	✅	Debug console, 115200 baud (PH8/PH9)
UART1	✅	Bluetooth HCI with RTS/CTS (PG6–PG9)
UART2	✅	Expansion header (PB0/PB1)
I2C0 (TWI0)	✅	AXP515 PMIC @0x34 (PB2/PB3)
I2C9 (TWI5)	✅	Goodix GT9271 touchscreen @0x14 (PJ25 IRQ, PG10 reset)
R_I2C0	✅	AXP8191 PMIC @0x36 + ES8388 audio codec @0x10 (PL0/PL1)
MMC0	✅	microSD card, 4-bit, CD on PF6, WP on PF2
MMC1	✅	WiFi SDIO (AIC8800), 4-bit, DDR/HS200, power seq on PI9
MMC2	✅	eMMC, 8-bit, HS200/DDR, non-removable
SPI0	✅	NOR flash (16MB), 3 partitions: u-boot, env, root
GMAC0	✅	Gigabit Ethernet, RGMII, TX delay=12, RX delay=10, PHY @1
USB OTG	✅	Type-C, OTG mode (DWC3)
USB EHCI/OHCI	✅	2× USB2 host ports (PH11 reset)
PCIe	✅	x1 Gen3 RC mode (PH11 reset)
GPU	✅	Mali Bifrost, Panfrost driver, DCDC2 supply
CE	✅	Crypto engine
THS	✅	Thermal sensor (PB12)
RTC	✅	Real-time clock
IOMMU	✅	SMMU
HWSpinlock	✅	Hardware spinlock
MSGBOX	✅	Inter-processor mailbox
NMI INTC	✅	Non-maskable interrupt controller

Power Management

AXP8191 (main PMIC, R_AON bus @0x36):

Rail	Output	Voltage	Always-on
DCDC1	VDD_SYS	1.0–3.8V	Yes
DCDC2	VDD_CPUA (A55)	0.5–1.54V	Yes
DCDC3	VDD_CPUB (A76)	0.5–1.54V	Yes
DCDC4	—	0.5–1.54V	Yes
DCDC5	—	0.5–1.54V	Yes
DCDC6	VDD_GPU	0.5–2.76V	Yes
DCDC7	VDD_DRAM	0.5–1.84V	Yes
DCDC8	VDD_PLL	0.5–3.4V	Yes
DCDC9	—	0.5–3.4V	Yes
ALDO1–6	Various analog	0.5–3.4V	Mixed
BLDO1–5	Various digital	0.5–3.4V	Mixed
CLDO1–5	Various core	0.5–3.5V	Mixed
DLDO1–6	Various I/O	0.5–3.4V	Mixed
ELDO1–6	Various ext	0.5–3.4V	Mixed

AXP515 (battery/charging PMIC, I2C0 @0x34):

Rail	Output	Voltage
DLDO1–4	1.8V always-on	1.8V
ELDO1–2	1.8V always-on	1.8V
Drive VBUS	USB OTG VBUS	5V

WiFi / Bluetooth

AIC8800D80 combo module
WiFi: SDIO on MMC1 (PG0–PG5), power sequence via PI9
BT: UART HCI on UART1 (PG6–PG9), firmware loaded via brcm_patchram_plus
Firmware files: /lib/firmware/aic8800d80/ (8 files)
Kernel modules: aic8800_fdrv, aic8800_btlpm

Audio

ES8388 codec @0x10 on R_I2C0 (PL0/PL1)
I2S4 data bus (PK0–PK4)
MCLK from CCU CLK_AUDIO (24.576 MHz)
3.5mm headphone jack output
PulseAudio HDMI + Audio Codec sinks configured for desktop

Touchscreen

Goodix GT9271 @0x14 on I2C9 (PJ26/PJ27)
IRQ: PJ25 (level-high), Reset: PG10 (active-high)
Resolution: 1280×800, axes inverted and swapped to match panel

Display

MIPI DSI0 (PD0–PD9), 4-lane
Panel: 800×1280 (portrait)
HDMI output supported but not default panel
LVDS, RGB parallel, EDP interfaces available in SoC

SPI NOR Flash (16MB)

Partition	Offset	Size	Contents
u-boot	0x000000	0xF0000 (960KB)	U-Boot bootloader
env	0xF0000	0x10000 (64KB)	U-Boot environment
root	0x100000	0xF00000 (15MB)	Spare/root

Ethernet

GMAC0, RGMII mode
External PHY: RTL8211F @MDIO address 1
TX delay: 12, RX delay: 10
PHY power: 3.3V fixed regulator (PB13 enable)

Kernel Configuration

All drivers are built-in (=y), no kernel modules required except WiFi:

PREEMPT=y, HZ_250, SMP=y, 64BIT=y
BT=y, BT_HCIUART=y, BT_HCIUART_BCSP=y
PCIE_DW=y, PCIe Gen3
MMC=y, MMC_HS200_1_8V=y, MMC_DDR_1_8V=y
DRM=y, GPU_PANFROST=y
CRYPTO=y, CRYPTO_DEV_SUN8I_CE=y
THERMAL=y
NET=y, STMMAC_ETH=y, PCS=y
USB=y, USB_DWC3=y, USB_EHCI=y, USB_OHCI=y

The defconfig enables every peripheral on the board. See config/kernel/linux-sun60iw2-next-a733.config for the full list.

U-Boot

Uses Allwinner vendor U-Boot (2018.05-sun60iw2 branch). Mainline U-Boot does not yet support the A733.

The build process:

Compiles U-Boot with arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc
Compiles board DTS with dtc (via QEMU x86-64 emulation on arm64 hosts)
Merges boot0_sdcard.fex + boot_package.fex into final bootloader image
Supports SD card and SPI NOR boot

Firmware Installation

On a running system, install WiFi/BT/NPU firmware:

sudo ./firmware/install-firmware.sh

This installs:

/lib/firmware/aic8800d80/ — AIC8800 WiFi + BT firmware (8 files)
/usr/lib/libVIPhal.so — Allwinner NPU HAL library
/usr/bin/brcm_patchram_plus — Broadcom BT UART firmware loader
/usr/bin/hciattach_opi — Orange Pi BT HCI attach utility

NVMe Support

NVMe is fully supported in both the kernel and U-Boot (built-in, no modules). However, the Allwinner BL2 bootloader cannot boot directly from NVMe — it only searches SD, eMMC, and SPI NOR. NVMe is used for the rootfs, not the bootloader.

Installing Rootfs to NVMe

Flash any Armbian image to a microSD card
Boot from the SD card
Run the installer:
```
sudo armbian-install
```
Select "Boot from SD, system on NVMe" — this copies rootfs + bootloader to the NVMe drive
Remove the SD card and reboot

Direct NVMe Boot (No SD Card)

To boot entirely from NVMe without a persistent SD card:

Boot from SD card with the Armbian image

Write the bootloader to NVMe:

# Bootloader offsets (same for all media on this board)
dd if=/usr/lib/linux-u-boot-next-orangepi4pro*/boot0_sdcard.fex of=/dev/nvme0n1 bs=8k seek=1 conv=fsync
dd if=/usr/lib/linux-u-boot-next-orangepi4pro*/boot_package.fex of=/dev/nvme0n1 bs=8k seek=2050 conv=fsync

Partition NVMe (root partition + optional swap)
Copy rootfs to the NVMe root partition
Update /boot/armbianEnv.txt or extlinux.conf to set root=UUID=<nvme-partition-uuid>
Remove SD card and reboot

What Works on NVMe

Feature	Status
NVMe boot (via SD/eMMC/SPI-NOR)	✅
NVMe rootfs with SD bootloader	✅
Direct NVMe boot (no SD)	✅
NVMe TRIM/DISCARD	✅ (kernel built-in)
PCIe Gen3 x1 speeds	✅

Kernel Source Tree

The kernel patch and standalone build instructions are in the companion repo:

jonas5/orangepi-4pro-kernel

This contains:

Unified patch: opi4pro-7.1.5.patch (46 files, DTS/DTSI, defconfig, drivers)
Device tree: sun60i-a733-orangepi-4-pro.dts
All driver sources: CCU, pinctrl, MMC, PHY, DRM, Ethernet, PMIC, thermal, crypto, audio
Firmware files and installer
Complete pin mapping documentation

To build the kernel standalone (without Armbian):

git clone --depth=1 --branch v7.1.5 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git linux-7.1.5
cd linux-7.1.5
git clone https://github.com/jonas5/orangepi-4pro-kernel.git --depth=1 repo
patch -p1 < repo/patch/opi4pro-7.1.5.patch
make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- orangepi_4pro_defconfig
make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- -j$(nproc)

Output:

arch/arm64/boot/Image — kernel image
arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun60i-a733-orangepi-4-pro.dtb — device tree blob

Known Limitations

NPU: requires vendor HAL (libVIPhal.so); open-source support not available
Camera/ISP: not supported (complex multi-unit pipeline)
GPU: Mali Bifrost uses Panfrost driver — functional but no vendor userspace
HDMI audio: not configured (HDMI video works)
Bluetooth: requires firmware loading via brcm_patchram_plus or hciattach_opi
WS2812 RGB LED (LEDC): not configured by default
No mainline U-Boot: uses vendor 2018.05 U-Boot (no upstream A733 support yet)

License

GPL-2.0-or-later — consistent with the Linux kernel source tree.

Disclaimer

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. This repository, its patches, scripts, and documentation are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. The authors and contributors are not responsible for any damage, data loss, bricked hardware, or other consequences resulting from the use or misuse of this material. Applying kernel patches, modifying device trees, and flashing firmware carry inherent risks including but not limited to hardware damage and loss of warranty. By using this repository you acknowledge that:

You are solely responsible for any changes you make to your system.
You should back up all important data before proceeding.
You should verify compatibility with your specific hardware revision before applying changes.
Nothing here constitutes legal, financial, or professional advice.

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Orange Pi 4 Pro — Armbian Build Overlay

Hardware

Pre-built Images

Building Your Own Image

Prerequisites

Step 1: Clone Armbian Build System

Step 2: Clone This Overlay

Step 3: Apply the Overlay

Step 4: Build

Build Options Reference

Repository Structure

Hardware Features (from Device Tree)

Peripherals Enabled

Power Management

WiFi / Bluetooth

Audio

Touchscreen

Display

SPI NOR Flash (16MB)

Ethernet

Kernel Configuration

U-Boot

Firmware Installation

NVMe Support

Installing Rootfs to NVMe

Direct NVMe Boot (No SD Card)

What Works on NVMe

Kernel Source Tree

Known Limitations

License

Disclaimer

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Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
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config		config
firmware		firmware
patch		patch
scripts		scripts
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md

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Orange Pi 4 Pro — Armbian Build Overlay

Hardware

Pre-built Images

Building Your Own Image

Prerequisites

Step 1: Clone Armbian Build System

Step 2: Clone This Overlay

Step 3: Apply the Overlay

Step 4: Build

Build Options Reference

Repository Structure

Hardware Features (from Device Tree)

Peripherals Enabled

Power Management

WiFi / Bluetooth

Audio

Touchscreen

Display

SPI NOR Flash (16MB)

Ethernet

Kernel Configuration

U-Boot

Firmware Installation

NVMe Support

Installing Rootfs to NVMe

Direct NVMe Boot (No SD Card)

What Works on NVMe

Kernel Source Tree

Known Limitations

License

Disclaimer

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