armar

So I got tired of my fan platform (see above) being always on even when I did not need the cooling, so I built a simple controller using a USB relay module. https://www.ebay.com/itm/LCUS-type-1-USB-relay-module-USB-intelligent-switch-control-Z7A9/263383167245 I stripped off part of the USB cable for the fan platform, cut the red wire and connected it to the relay like this. The black wire is untouched. Connections to COM, and NO of the relay module (no soldering needed). The USB->Serial adapter showed up in lsusb but not as /dev/ttyUSB0. I needed to enable CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CH341=m based on this post. I am running a version of 4.4.154 and luckily enabling this module worked. Now I can turn the fan on and off using a script as described here. I wrote a simple shell script wrapper around it which looks at the temperature from /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp in a loop and turns the fan on/off based on it. By trial and error I set the limits, I turn it on at 80C and wait for the temperature to fall below 70C to turn it off. It does use an extra USB port (a USB port splitter might work) but works fine now. Normally the fan is off. If I start the script, no fan, until I mpv the "lubimaya lubimaya video" the temperature goes up and then the fan starts and stays on until I close mpv. Would be good if I could tie it to the temperature trip points in the dtb, but I don't know how.

Hi I was trying to setup my RK3328 based A5X Max tv box running armbian ( a fairly recent version 4.4.154 based) as an access point. Yesterday I tried the armbian-config option, and it downloaded/setup things and the access point worked. Because I only need it as an access point sometimes, I went back through armbian-config and turned it off. Today I tried to go through armbian-config and start an access point again, and I see the access point option has disappeared from Networking in armbian-config. !!! Has something changed recently? I might have done a update/upgrade in between. Or does armbian-config just set it up, and to restart it I have to do something different.

That was quick Is it a 4GB version? Can you please run on the pi 4 sysbench cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run and sysbench cpu --num-threads=4 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run to do a simple cpu performance comparison with this post? https://forum.armbian.com/topic/8263-armbian-for-khadas-edge-and-edge-vim-rk3399/?do=findComment&comment=77038

I see events/sec on the A5X Max RK3328 box to be higher, about 950 (even above 1000 sometimes). Temperature goes up to 85 though if you run for a while without the fan .... sysbench cpu --num-threads=4 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run Threads started! CPU speed: events per second: 945.34 General statistics: total time: 10.0028s total number of events: 9460 Latency (ms): min: 3.88 avg: 4.23 max: 39.99 95th percentile: 4.10 sum: 39970.70 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 2365.0000/43.46 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9927/0.01 Maybe if the rk3318 gets a dtb tuned for it, both performance and temperature will go up.

@hexdump Yes I gathered that but can you generate a dts from the device tree dir structure. It is much easier to compare and merge dts tree files (after sorting). @Sico The red light does not mean much. On the A5X Max we had most things working even though the light was red. Are you trying all your experiments with both SD and USB at the same time?

It is possible that the DDR settings for 4GB RAM is different from the DDR settings for 2GB RAM. You could try to find the android dtb, on the box, decompile it to dts, and replace the ddr settings in your dtb with the ones in the android dtb. You can find the android dtb either using adb, or finding a firmware update from the vendor and splitting it up. Both ways are talked about on earlier posts on this thread. In general, comparing the android dtb with the one you are using and selectively copying sections in the dts is a worthwhile effort. Good luck

Try the dtb for boxes with GigE. I know that the a5x and mx10 don't have gigE, and the box-trn9 does. What do you mean by "no inet" vs "no eth0" in your table? Are you using nmtui to configure your network? Check your DNS servers. The last screenshot looks promising. Can you ping the router?

Thanks madmalkav. I added @madmalkav s code above to armbian to rc-a5x.c in drivers/media/rc/keymaps/rc-a5x.c , modified the makefile, and rc-map.h (added a define for RC_MAP_A5X), built installed the kernel and modules. I also changed the dts ir-receiver node to use rc-a5x instead of rc-trn9 3019c3019 < linux,rc-map-name = "rc-a5x"; --- > linux,rc-map-name = "rc-trn9"; I also systemctl disable lircd which I had installed before. Not needed if you don't have it installed. The remote seems to be working, at least some of it. The volume/mute/forward/backward buttons work in the mpv media player. The "back" and "up" "down" buttons work in the browser. The power button brings up the power menu but the OK button does not seem to work in the power menu. I am not sure what the supposed behavior of the remote is for the desktop. If anyone is running kodi, let us know if the remote is useful. Now I need to figure out how to trigger custom scripts with the remote.

% evtest /dev/input/event2 shows me the keypress codes. If you have installed lircd you have to stop it for evtest to work. Try adding a platform fan. I found the A5X MAX even at 1296Mhz can go upto 100C when playing video on a browser. A platform fan, no mods needed takes the temp down 15-20 C, if you mod the case you might have even better cooling. https://forum.armbian.com/topic/9649-proper-cooling-system-of-tv-boxes/?do=findComment&comment=73530

There seems to be 2 approaches to the remotectl in the dts. The android boxes use the ir_key entries in the pwm node, while some older dts like box-trn9 use the ir-receiver node in the dts. I put both of them in, so I could try them out, but I had better luck with the ir-receiver node, as I could cat one of the dev files and see activity when I pressed the remote buttons. I also see a module rc-trn9 loaded. So I disabled the pwm entry and focused on the ir-receiver which I think had a better chance. I did nor try the config file changes. Do you have the remotectl working for libreelec with the config changes?

It works !! thanks

Update on the A5X MAX. I made some modifications to the dts file, mostly merging sections from android and other files. These include dram and Wifi settings for the A5X MAX. The blue led also works now. Attached my latest dts. Max freq is 1296, temp limits are 90C,105C and 110C. None of the changes are very important, use at your own risk. I could get USB webcams to work by enabling some USB AUDIO and VIDEO parameters in the .config and building/installing the kernel. Got a USB fan platform , on which you can place the A5X MAX (no modifications) and get a 15-20C reduction in temps. Details in the cooling of TV Boxes thread. The only problem is that the fan stays on after shutdown. For Bluetooth, I found there were some disconnects/reconnects of BT and Wifi sometimes. Usually would reconnect on its own. Only happened when you use BT. So based on the lwfinger 8723bs github page, I tried the new firmware rtlbt_fw_new by renaming rtlbt_fw to rtlbt_fw_old and copying rtlbt_fw_new to rtlbt_fw in /lib/firmware/rtl_bt and the disconnect/reconnect problems seem to have gone away. I noticed that by default hdmi sound is not enabled, you have to go speaker icon on the panel and change it to hdmi, but if after booting you turn off/on the TV again, the sound through hdmi works, even though the panel Default Sink icon points to spdif. Might indicate some ordering problems during boot. IR remote still does not work. rk3328-a5xbt1.dts

It is definitely not silent, you can hear the fan. I tried a sound meter on my phone from 1 foot away, and it registered 38 db (whisper) If it bothers you just run armbianmonitor and look at the temperature The bigger problem is it runs even after the box is shutdown, but that is probably a problem with the A5X Max or the dtb I am using.

It looks like no one has yet got it running on the A5X Plus, which means a little more work for you. The first thing to do is trying the different rk3328 dtb s in /boot/dtb/rockchip/ by modifying /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf s FDT field. Read the first post of this thread and use the latest armbian image from the yadi link. If you are lucky one of those dtb s will take you further. For my A5X MAX it was the rk3328-evb.dtb Or you can look at this thread and get a TV Box known to work with Armbian https://forum.armbian.com/topic/8434-the-list-of-models-that-are-running-armbian-amlogic-rockchip-etc/

I just bought a USB cooling fan platform. Came to about $5 with the coupons which popped up. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Router-fan-DIY-PC-Cooler-TV-Box-Wireless-Cooling-Silent-Quiet-DC-5V-USB-power-120mm/32965335172.html It is about the size of the TV BOX. You Just put the A5X MAX on top of it. The A5X MAX has holes on the bottom of the box. The fan pushes air into the box. I have not made any other holes in the A5X MAX box. I tried, 3 tests 1. Idle. Just running armbianmonitor-m. The temps without the fan are 55-60C, with the fan about 41-45 C 2. mpv on the included Test.mkv fullscreen. The temp change is slow, so I ran the video about 3 times while running armbianmonitor -m. I do not have the media-script. Temps were about 80C without the fan, and 60-62C with the fan. 3. The youtube video Test.mkv running in firefox. 1080P stream, running fullscreen. This is the worst case for video. No media-script again. Again ran the video 3 times. Without the fan about 90C, with the fan about 71C I am running the box at 1296 Mhz max, with the temperature limits set to (90C, 105C, 110C) in the dtb.

You need a different dtb. Look at the rk3328-a5x-1500.dtb It will go to 1500 Mhz, but its temperature limits are low. (75000,80000, and 100000) You need to change the temperature limits of the nodes trip-point-0, trip-point-1 and soc-crit to 90000,105000 and 110000 respectively (like the mx10-fast) in the a5x-1500.dtb to run it with 1500 Mhz and High Limits.. I found that the A5X MAX run at 1500 Mhz and high limits, crashes mpv on the Test.mkv after running for a bit. I don't have the media-script on.

Does anyone have the IR remote that came with the TV box working? Does the default kernel have support for these, or as I read in some post a kernel with CONFIG_ROCKCHIP_REMOTECTL=y CONFIG_ROCKCHIP_REMOTECTL_PWM=y is needed? Any ideas on how to get it to work? I see 2 references in the .dts files. The android ones have a pwm node with ir_key[n] settings. There is also a ir-receiver node in a lot of dts but not in the android dts. So it looks like these are 2 different approaches. There is also a package called lirc which creates interfaces for the ir keys to be used in applications. Is that needed?

Does anyone know how to get a usb webcam working on the rk3328 based boxes? It is a uvc webcam . On connecting I see it recognized as a camera in dmesg, and it shows up in lsusb, but no /dev/video*

An experiment worth trying would be to copy the 8723cs bt fw and config files from rtlbt to rtl_bt and rename them to rtlbt_fw and rtlbt_config. Maybe then rtk_hciattach would work. I have bt working on the latest 5.74 now, with the same process as before. I am still playing around with the dts as I see some wifi reconnects once in a while.

Attaching. Looks like yours did not find the firmware. Can you do ls -ltr on /lib/fimware/rtll_bt/ Did you have to copy the fw files? Or did they already exist in /lib/firmware/rtl_bt I am running the 5.73 desktop maybe something is different in our releases. Armbian_5.73_Rk3328-tv_Ubuntu_bionic_default_4.4.154_desktop_20190201.img.xz Or I added something before inadvertently which is playing a part. Edit: Looks like yours is looking for gLmpVersion of 0x8703 (and not 0x8723), maybe that needs different bt fw? hciattach.txt

I have figured out the why BT was not connecting after reboot. It looks like it conflicts with the blueman manager applet. I found that my BT mouse worked before login and stopped working after login. Turns out that the Blueman manager powers on the adapter on start (when you login). This probably negates the rtk_hciattach effect. So I went into the Bluetooth Manager applet (next to wifi on the panel) -> Plugins -> Power Manager -> Configuration and turned off "Auto Power On". Now the BT mouse connects on reboot when the systemd service bluetooth-module is enabled. So the A5X MAX now works with Wifi and BT (at least with Mouse, not sure if all BT devices will work). !!!!

I have bluetooth working on the A5X MAX (sort of). Still flaky and turns off sometimes. Steps. 1. Some small changes to mp16 s dts file for BT. The new file is attached. From < BT,power_gpio = <0x95 0x1a 0x0>; < BT,wake_host_irq = <0x95 0x18 0x0>; --- To > BT,power_gpio = <0x95 0x18 0x0>; > BT,reset_gpio = <0x95 0x15 0x0>; > BT,wake_host_irq = <0x95 0x1a 0x0>; Found something similar at https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=1392&pid=13219#pid13219 2. From https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt Download/clone and make to create the rtk_hciattach binary. I think the firmware files are already in /lib/firmware/rtl_bt , if not copy them there. The trick is to call rtk_hciattach correctly. Below is a way of setting it up as a service. 3. Create a service with rtk_hciattach mkdir /usr/local/sbin/bluetooth cp rtk_hciattach /usr/local/sbin/bluetooth create a5x_bluetooth.sh in /usr/local/sbin/ #!/bin/bash # Shell script to install Bluetooth firmware and attach BT part of # RTL8723BS echo "Initializing Bluetooth Module." /usr/local/sbin/bluetooth/rtk_hciattach -n -s 115200 /dev/ttyS0 rtk_h5 > /usr/local/sbin/bluetooth/hciattach.txt 2>&1 & /bin/sleep 5 echo "Bluetooth Module Active" The /dev/ttyS0 might be different for different boards. Do a "dmesg | grep tty | grep MMIO" and pick the first one. Create a bluetooth-module.service file in /etc/systemd/system [Unit] Description=Start A5X Bluetooth Module After=systemd-modules-load.service local-fs.target [Service] Type=idle ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/a5x_bluetooth.sh RemainAfterExit=yes [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target 4. Enable service (first time) % systemctl enable bluetooth-module % systemctl start bluetooth-module For me it does not work on reboot. I have to % systemctl restart bluetooth-module to make it work. Use sudo where appropriate in the above commands. Maybe someone knows how to make it work on reboot. You should see an adapter show up in the bluetooth manager if all goes well. I was able to connect a BT mouse. If things stop working a systemctl restart bluetooth-module helps sometimes. All this done for my A5X MAX with a 8723bs wifi/bt chip. Use at your own risk. rk3328-a5xbt.dts

On the A5X MAX with the Armbian_5.73_Rk3328-tv_Ubuntu_bionic_default_4.4.154_desktop_20190201.img.xz The dtbs are from the img. The dd test results are dtb TV VNC ------------------------------------ a5x 622 660 a5x-1300 640 688 a5x-1500 668 718 TV is 1920x1080 display, VNC is 1700x900 display with -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565 However mpv Test.mkv never runs without crashing at 1500, and 1300. Relaxing the temperature constraints helps a little in the 1300, fewer crashes but not in 1500. I have no media-script, no fan in this setup. So at least on the A5XMAX 1500/1300 cannot be used. It is possible that a fan will help for A5X MAX as well. For now I am sticking with the a5x dtb at 1296 Mhz and increasing the temperature limits to (90,105,110).

There is such a thread for all tv boxes at

I started playing around with the temperature settings in the dtb. Using armbianmonitor -m to look at temps. There are 3 trip points in the dtb, trip-point-0 , trip-point-1 and soc-crit, for different allowed temperatures and actions. Different dtbs have different temepratures on these point, im guessing it is based on the android dtbs of the boxes they came from. The current ones are (75, 80, 100) (degrees C I guess). The android dtb I got from the A5X firmware sets them at (90, 105, 110), so I modifed mb16 s dtb to have those in, to see if I get smoke . Still running at 1296 max freq, no media-script, no fan. I see temps get as high as 95 C when playing videos on the browser, but often they are between 78-85 C. Idle temps from as low as 55C to 70C. I noticed that putting my A5X MAX box on its side with the hdmi cable up so that the air vents on the bottom of the box are exposed, gets lower temperatures than placing flat with the vents blocked. So cooling is definitely a big factor. The temperature limit is probably specific to the box, so being conservative is probably a good thing. If you are not sure what your box can tolerate, go with the (75,80,100) setup.