Seasalt

Have updated to Armbian_5.67_Aml-s9xxx_Ubuntu_bionic_default_4.19.2_desktop_20181203 This works great on my Mecool KM8 s912 octacore 1gb ram. Ethernet 100mbs is working great. Zram is working great. Have run it for 20 minutes totally stable. Thanks Babe's.

Igor do you have a way of measuring the USB port voltage on NanoPC t4 when powered by 12 volts. also what is the voltage of usb port when it has one or two 2.5 inch self powering hard drives mounted. Thanks Seasalt.

If you want to do this reliably (connect two USB hard drives self powered ) you WILL have to connect a 4 amp power supply directly to the mother board of the M4 by wiring directly to the power pins. Possibly Solder directly to the pins. Then on the power supply adjust the Voltage up very slightly so that the Measured Voltage at the M4 USB ports is maybe 5.15 volts then plug on one USB self powered hard drive let it boot. See what happens to the voltage on the measured USB port. I would be happy if the voltage was still above 5volts. Then plug in the second self powered USB drive. See if it boots. Check USB voltage if still above 5 volts and the second drive boots you will be probably be ok. If it does not boot then turn everything off and disconnect both USB drives. Then restart and see what the USB voltage is booting with no drives attached. I have my voltage set a 5.3 volts "input" voltage to the M4. I am not sure what voltage at the USB is though possibly 5.15volt. Be very careful going higher. I will be interested in others opinions on this.

Please do not start voltage testing with a multi-meter on a USB port. I have blown up lots of electronics and trying to measure a voltage on a naked USB port would be a guaranteed way of damaging or bricking a M4. Either cut a old usb cable and clean off the red and black wires and then plug the usb connector into the M4 and then measure the voltage on the attached red and black wires with a multi-meter. The other option is to spend $5 and buy a USB Volt-ammeter that just plugs into the USB port and gives a digital readout.

I had the same problem my M4 would have trouble booting and mounting two usb hard drives. I think you are right on the edge power wise using the C type power connector. I run my USB power supply at 5.35 volts which helps a little bit.

I have the same problem (Ethernet stopped functioning correctly) on my mecool s912 1gb ram. I just plugged a WiFi dongle in. I am assuming it will be fixed in next update.

Why did you buy the Orange Pi rk3399? It appeared to me the Armbian team were all rallying around the Friendly Elec Rk3399. How long do you think it will be before you have a stable Orangepi RK3399 image? If my experience with the OrangePi PC2 is anything to go by, it took 18 months to get it stable.

What help testing you need. I received my M4 2 days ago but FiendishElec sent the wrong Aluminum cooling shield and until they send the right one, I only have very small Raspberry pi heat shields instead. So without a heat shield The M4 with the latest Armbian gets hot quickly 75 - 80c Observations so far. 6 Cores 4 small 2 Big is interesting. Htop shows how, they load up CPU load asymmetrically. The C type USB port is really nice and a tight fit. The M4 is really small and it feels it would break easily. The armbian image for Ubuntu is good and complete. Sound came out of my HDMI connected TV fine. The little Bluetooth and 5 GHz Wifi antennas I assumed were Identical and I just put one on the Bluetooth connector and one on the wifi connector. 5 Ghz Wifi connected straight away. File transfers to my NAS were about 8GB a second twice the speed compared to transferring over 2.4Ghz wifi. Movie playing 720p HEVC movie is about 40% CPU load. Very Very acceptable. Sometimes the OS jams up but this might be heat or not enough power coming through C connector. I guess my feeling is I am slightly underwhelmed for a $90(including shipping) Computer. I have a $35 (including shipping) 1 GB ram Octacore Mecool KM8 s912 running Armbian by Babes . My gut feel is that the early Armbian OS on the RK3399 is about 20% faster than the much more optimized S912 Armbian OS at this stage. If I was starting from scratch I would just buy the $35 Mecool s912 Octacore and run the Armbian OS for S912. And wait for the RK3399 to get cheaper and better.

I am using the latest version. Zram is a total success. Has made a big difference to my Mecool 1 GB s912. Much Much more stable OS. But I lost ethernet driver so I just plugged a wifi dongle in and all is working. Thanks heaps babes.

Hi Babes I have installed the new version Armbian_5.64_Aml-s9xxx_Ubuntu_bionic_default_4.19.0-rc7_desktop_20181112 I still have no ZRAM on my 1gb Mecool s912 showing up. Am i doing something wrong?

I only had to edit uENVv.ini and it worked.

Have you tried gxm_q201.dtb?? It works for me on my Mecool KM8 1 GB ram.

Re ZRAM? Hi Babes I am running Armbian_5.64_Aml-s9xxx_Ubuntu_bionic_default_4.19.0-rc7_desktop_20181019 on a Mecool KM8 1gb ram . Performance is outstanding and I can run my Software defined radio program GQRX at the full 3.2 MSPS. and it is HTOP load CPU 50% (in comparison the raspberry pi can only do half the MSPS rate or less before it runs out of CPU and gets sluggish.) Armbian 5.64 on a 1GB Ram machine works amazing on one task but if I use a second task like firefox it seems to run out of ram and get sluggish? Is ZRAM installed? I saw in the startup script that it says ZRAM configeration is mentioned. But when terminal cat /proc/swaps it shows nothing. Is there a script or a first run template that will turn ZRAM on? Is your Armbian version using a 128MB swap file? Thanks for all the amazing work. P.S. HTOP does not show Temp or swap Seasalt.

Ok for me this NanoPi M4 @2GB is goiing to be a Amatuer / HAM radio, low power / solar Powered Ham Shack always on computer. I will expect it to run my Linux based Software defined Radio software. My main program is GQRX. The biggest issue I usually have is getting sound to work with Linux radio programs. So if you are looking for something to do maybe set yup 5 different programs and see if they can all play sound at the same time. Also see if they can Mic in at the same tiome. If you have a RTL-SDR dongle please try and bench mark GQRX. Seasalt.

Hey Nico when are yo doing another excellent NanoPi M4 Youtube video? I just order the 2Gb version.

This is a good review of the Nano Pi M4.

Which board would you buy and why? I have a draw full of old boards and I am just really hesitant, to buy another board when maybe my s912 Mecool running armbian is all I need for now.

Based on current or expected Armbian version should I buy the Rockchip RK3399 on Friendly Elec RK3399. ie which has the most advanced Armbian OS at this moment.

Ok I see the improvement in memory speed. What is Armbians Plan for the RK3399. Will it be a generic version of Armbian like the s905/s912 or will each RK3399 board have there own version of Armbian? Like the Orange Pi PC2 etc.

Is there any benchmarks of Dual channel memory improving RK3399 performance.

Size is OK as it will be part of my HAM Radio KIT. Price I calculate at about NanoPi NEO4 $53.98 with Heatsink and $3 power cable. NanoPi M4 $74.98 with Heatsink and $3 power cable. I have a draw full of old Single board computers. BUT I need something that can Run Software defined Radio Linux programs like GQRX etc. The Rasp pi3 really does not cut it, for Software defined radio applications. The USB 3 interface lets me run "FL2000 VGA" transmit hacks. Assuming the RK3399 has the horsepower. https://www.crazydanishhacker.com/usb-to-vga-adapter-transmit-radio-signals-fl2000-fl2k/ I see 2 GB ram as important. NanoPi M4 I see Friendly Elec Support and software customization as important. Both NanoPi NEO4 and NanoPi M4 One USB 3 is enough . Plus the USB C should be high-speed. NanoPi NEO4 5ghz Wifi is a bonus. NanoPi M4 So basically for an extra $20 will get 5ghz Wifi and 1gb more ram.

Has any one any thoughts on the NanoPi Neo4 having only 1gb ram. I have a Mecool KM8 s912 TV box 1 GB running Armbian and it sort of works well. But I would like something a bit more mainstream for HAM radio applications and am hoping that Friendly Elec and Armbian has a better marriage of just working instead of having little things breaking. Is it worth paying more and getting the NanoPi M4 2 GB model?

Questions about Babes S912 Armbian . I have 3 Mecool KM8 running Babes Armbian_5.41_S9xxx_Debian_stretch_3.14.29_xfce_20180305 S912 Amlogic Armbian. At first it was a bit experimental but now I feel it is stable and I am just delighted to have such a powerful 5 volt computer to run my Solar Powered Video entertainment (Coreelec) and Ham Radio activities. I have the following questions. 1.Where do I find the latest version of Armbian s912? 2. Why has Armbian not added S912 to the MAIN download page. I find all the outside download sources very confusing. It is really hard to know what version to download etc. Can we put comments next to each version regarding performance, what works etc. 2. I originally installed Armbian_5.41_S9xxx_Debian_stretch_3.14.29_xfce_20180305 armbian and have been using sudo apt-get update / upgrade to keep updating.. Is this getting me the latest version of Babes Armbian for s912 or is it just incrementally updating a out of date version of Armbian for s912. 3. I am able to play h265 videos in software decoding at %100 CPU load and I am sort of happy with that as a compromise. But I wonder why can’t the Kodi Android S912 VPU driver be applied to Babes version of Armbian. Seasalt

I have just update my OrangePi PC2 and now I can play 720p video really well. It appears to use 80 - 90 CPU to do it . So I am wondering is it playing the HEVC 720p file in software or is it using Hardware VPU decoding. I am also totally impressed now that Armbian has fixed the screen resolution option box. Huge improvement. This is a really big set of improvements to the Armbian PC2. Well done.

I have the same problem. It is really annoying.