<p>We also provide<strong>forums, documentation, and support</strong>—which require significant effort. Our small team of<strong>10–15 volunteers maintains this project in their free time</strong>, and while others repackage our work,<strong>the burden remains on us</strong>.</p>

<p>We also face<strong>commercial competitors</strong> who reuse our work<strong>without contributing</strong>, adding further strain. That’s why we ask for<strong>your help to sustain the project</strong>.</p>

<h2id="why-things-stop-working">Why things stop working?<aclass="headerlink"href="#why-things-stop-working"title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>

<p>Vendorstypically relyon<strong>fixed,outdated LTS kernels</strong> and<strong>custom U-Boot forks</strong>,often without upstreaming changes or maintainingsource availability.</p>

<p>Armbian,in contrast,<strong>tracks mainlinekernels</strong> to provide modern features and security.But if<strong>driversaren&rsquo;tported</strong>,features canbreak. Due tolimited resources, Armbianperforms<strong>basicfunctional testing only</strong>,notfullcoverage ofevery hardwarefeature.</p>

<p>Vendorsoften base their softwareon<strong>fixed,vendor-specific LTS kernels</strong> and<strong>custom U-Boot forks</strong>,which may lack long-term upstream maintenance or open-source availability.</p>

<p>Armbian,by contrast,<strong>tracksand contribute tomainlinekernel development</strong> to provide modern features andimprovedsecurity.However, if<strong>driversare not upstreamed orported</strong>,certain hardware functions may not work or maybreak over time. Withlimited resources, Armbianfocuses on<strong>basicfunctionality and integration testing</strong>,rather thanfullvalidation ofall hardwarecapabilities. While issues are often identified,<strong>many remain unresolved for extended periods — sometimes months or even years — due to a significant shortage of development resources</strong>.</p>

<h2id="what-do-wip-eos-csc-mean">What do WIP, EOS, CSC mean?<aclass="headerlink"href="#what-do-wip-eos-csc-mean"title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>

<p>These indicate<ahref="https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Board-Support-Rules"><strong>support status</strong></a>:</p>