diff --git a/board/common/overlay-initramfs/init b/board/common/overlay-initramfs/init
index 0346014bfe..0316595994 100755
--- a/board/common/overlay-initramfs/init
+++ b/board/common/overlay-initramfs/init
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ trap on_exit EXIT
 msg "Waiting for sdcard"
 sleep 2
 
+if [ -x /prepare_initramfs ]; then
+    msg "Preparing initramfs"
+    /prepare_initramfs
+fi
+
 msg "Mounting pseudo filesystems"
 mount -t devtmpfs devtmpfs /dev
 mount -t proc proc /proc
diff --git a/board/common/overlay/sbin/fwupdate b/board/common/overlay/sbin/fwupdate
index f9bcd4e7de..ba1ce32651 100755
--- a/board/common/overlay/sbin/fwupdate
+++ b/board/common/overlay/sbin/fwupdate
@@ -230,7 +230,13 @@ function flash_boot() {
     wait $pid
 
     mount -o rw /boot
-    restore_boot_$board $FW_DIR/old_boot 2>/dev/null || true
+    
+    # the /usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg script, if present, takes the old (backup) boot dir as argument
+    # and should restore any /boot configuration that needs to be preserved across updates
+    # from the old boot dir to the current (new) /boot dir
+    if [ -x /usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg ]; then
+        /usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg $FW_DIR/old_boot 2>/dev/null || true
+    fi
     touch $FW_DIR/$BOOT_READY_FILE
 }
 
@@ -257,19 +263,6 @@ function flash_cleanup() {
     mount /boot 2>/dev/null
 }
 
-function restore_boot_raspberrypi() {
-    old_boot=$1
-    cp $old_boot/config.txt /boot
-}
-
-function restore_boot_raspberrypi2() {
-    restore_boot_raspberrypi
-}
-
-function restore_boot_raspberrypi3() {
-    restore_boot_raspberrypi
-}
-
 
 #### flash reboot ####
 
@@ -278,8 +271,13 @@ function flash_reboot() {
 
     board=$(cat $SYS_BOARD_FILE)
     
+    # the /usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot script should be present and should
+    # make the necessary changes to the current boot configuration so that
+    # the firmware update initramfs will be used by the next boot
     mount -o remount,rw /boot
-    prepare_boot_$board
+    if [ -x /usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot ]; then
+        /usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
+    fi
 
     sync
     busybox reboot &
@@ -289,18 +287,6 @@ function flash_reboot() {
     exit 0
 }
 
-function prepare_boot_raspberrypi() {
-    echo "initramfs fwupdater.gz" >> /boot/config.txt
-}
-
-function prepare_boot_raspberrypi2() {
-    prepare_boot_raspberrypi
-}
-
-function prepare_boot_raspberrypi3() {
-    prepare_boot_raspberrypi
-}
-
 
 #### status ####
 
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/boot.ini b/board/odroidc1/boot.ini
index 857a09eb53..c886753268 100644
--- a/board/odroidc1/boot.ini
+++ b/board/odroidc1/boot.ini
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ setenv bootargs "console=ttyS0,115200n8 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait ro no_conso
 
 # Booting
 fatload mmc 0:1 0x21000000 uImage
+fatload mmc 0:1 0x22000000 uInitrd
 fatload mmc 0:1 0x21800000 meson8b_odroidc.dtb
 fdt addr 21800000
 
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/prepare_initramfs b/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/prepare_initramfs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1a0194ad6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/prepare_initramfs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# we don't have the codepage kernel modules compiled in, so we have to manually insert them
+mkdir /system
+mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /system
+/system/bin/busybox insmod /system/lib/modules/*/kernel/fs/nls/nls_cp437.ko
+
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/remove_initramfs b/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/remove_initramfs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ab6eeb2354
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/odroidc1/overlay-initramfs/remove_initramfs
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+sed -i 's/00 0x22000000 0x/00 - 0x/' /boot/boot.ini
+
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/postscript.sh b/board/odroidc1/postscript.sh
index db05fded9e..aeac335477 100755
--- a/board/odroidc1/postscript.sh
+++ b/board/odroidc1/postscript.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ cp $IMG_DIR/meson8b_odroidc.dtb $BOOT_DIR
 cp $BOARD_DIR/bl1.bin.hardkernel $IMG_DIR
 cp $BOARD_DIR/u-boot.bin $IMG_DIR
 cp $BOARD_DIR/boot.ini $BOOT_DIR
+cp $BOARD_DIR/uInitrd $BOOT_DIR
 
 # fix some lib dirs
 if ! [ -L $TARGET/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf ]; then
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/uInitrd b/board/odroidc1/uInitrd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cef48975fa
Binary files /dev/null and b/board/odroidc1/uInitrd differ
diff --git a/board/odroidc1/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot b/board/odroidc1/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..c506ae2891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/odroidc1/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+sed -i 's/00 - 0x/00 0x22000000 0x/' /boot/boot.ini
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi/fwupdater.gz b/board/raspberrypi/fwupdater.gz
index 0f516d0d13..81e7fa1990 100644
Binary files a/board/raspberrypi/fwupdater.gz and b/board/raspberrypi/fwupdater.gz differ
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot b/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e114525d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo "initramfs fwupdater.gz" >> /boot/config.txt
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg b/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..628189ebf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <old_boot>" 1>&2
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+old_boot=$1
+cp $old_boot/config.txt /boot
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi2/fwupdater.gz b/board/raspberrypi2/fwupdater.gz
index 0f516d0d13..81e7fa1990 100644
Binary files a/board/raspberrypi2/fwupdater.gz and b/board/raspberrypi2/fwupdater.gz differ
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot b/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e114525d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo "initramfs fwupdater.gz" >> /boot/config.txt
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg b/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..628189ebf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi2/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <old_boot>" 1>&2
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+old_boot=$1
+cp $old_boot/config.txt /boot
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi3/fwupdater.gz b/board/raspberrypi3/fwupdater.gz
index 0f516d0d13..81e7fa1990 100644
Binary files a/board/raspberrypi3/fwupdater.gz and b/board/raspberrypi3/fwupdater.gz differ
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot b/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e114525d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-prepare-boot
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo "initramfs fwupdater.gz" >> /boot/config.txt
+
diff --git a/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg b/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..628189ebf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/raspberrypi3/overlay/usr/libexec/fw-restore-boot-cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <old_boot>" 1>&2
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+old_boot=$1
+cp $old_boot/config.txt /boot
+
diff --git a/configs/odroidc1_initramfs_defconfig b/configs/odroidc1_initramfs_defconfig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..86f8270ccf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/odroidc1_initramfs_defconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+BR2_arm=y
+BR2_cortex_a5=y
+BR2_ARM_ENABLE_NEON=y
+BR2_ARM_ENABLE_VFP=y
+BR2_ARM_FPU_NEON_VFPV4=y
+BR2_DL_DIR="$(TOPDIR)/.download"
+BR2_CCACHE=y
+BR2_CCACHE_DIR="$(TOPDIR)/.buildroot-ccache-odroidc1-initramfs"
+BR2_OPTIMIZE_2=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CUSTOM=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_DOWNLOAD=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_URL="http://releases.linaro.org/14.09/components/toolchain/binaries/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-4.9-2014.09_linux.tar.xz"
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CUSTOM_PREFIX="$(ARCH)-linux-gnueabihf"
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_GCC_4_9=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_HEADERS_3_1=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CUSTOM_GLIBC=y
+BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CXX=y
+BR2_TARGET_OPTIMIZATION="-pipe"
+BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM=y
+BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM_PATH="board/common/skeleton-initramfs"
+BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY="board/common/overlay-initramfs board/raspberrypi/overlay-initramfs"
+BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_CONFIG="board/common/busybox_initramfs.config"
+BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO=y
+BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO_UIMAGE=y
+# BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_TAR is not set