There are a few reasons for compiling (recompiling) “official” linux-sunxi kernel. In my case, I needed the support of Ralink 3570 wireless adapter that I bought for my cubiboard1. I use OpenSuse and in accordance with recommendation, [1] I created a virtual machine to compile the kernel. My VM is based on Ubuntu 12.04/64 bit with 2 virtual CPU, 2 GB of RAM and 40 GB HD.
To read more click here…