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SteeMan

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Posts posted by SteeMan

  1. 13 hours ago, Massive Box said:

    So I wonder if I could just erase the boot partition on my eMMC

    Do not do that as you will brick your box.  Amlogic based TV Boxes only boot from emmc (except in rare cases).

     

    20 hours ago, Massive Box said:

    I've found in my armbian-config settings an "Edit boot.ini script", which currently shows this:

    image.png.d31ee8aa6d2019967d20b75bb22ebb57.png

    Could this be the way?

    No.  boot.ini isn't even used by the balbes multiboot process.

     

    I asked earlier if you could boot from an sd card (as that should work since you originally booted that way before installing on emmc).  Again, I will repeat myself, don't expect to be able to boot from usb, that doesn't work on many amlogic based boxes.

     

     

    13 hours ago, Massive Box said:

    the Windows utility I'm running in a Virtual Box with USB passthrough

    What utility are you running?

  2. OK, now  that you have the latest build, I would recommend that you start over.  Reinstall a fresh android firmware and then try again.  Because you used an old build, that caused you to set uboot variables that are not correct for the latest build.

    Also, it looks like you are using either the wrong dtb or the wrong u-boot.ext.  Since the dtb you mentioned above is for an s905x cpu (meson-gxl-s905x-p212.dtb) but you are using the s905x2 uboot.ext (rename u-boot-s905x2-s912 to u-boot.ext)

     

  3. I'm still not understanding what instructions you are using nor what build you are using.

    I want to correct a couple of items in your previous post.  You don't seem to be looking at the correct aml_autoscript as the 20.10_xxx_5.9.0 build doesn't have a line like setenv bootfromnand 0.

    You mention modifying boot.ini, but that isn't a step that needs to be done. 

    So again, I ask, what build are you using and what instructions are you trying to follow?

    Finally, if you have a working console that you can access the u-boot command line from, then you should be able to just enter the commands one by one as they appear in the aml_autoscript file.

  4. @nobuteru  Welcome to the Armbian community.  I will first direct you to read the TVBox forums FAQ items:

    https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first

    https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17106-installation-instructions-for-tv-boxes-with-amlogic-cpus

    Note that the amlogic install FAQ item is for s9xx based cpus, not the s8xx series.  I don't own any 8xx based boxes so I have no experience with the installation specifics for them (if the do or do not differ from the s9xx instructions)

    However there is an entire thread dedicated to the s8xx that likely has the information you need burried in it:

    https://forum.armbian.com/topic/3023-armbian-for-amlogic-s805-and-s802s812

     

  5. @tt_soft Have you read the TV Box club faq post on the current status of TV Boxes in the Armbian community?  https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first

     

    The only TV Box cpu that has an active 'maintainer' is the Rockchip cpu.  While I try my best with amlogic cpu questions as I have a number of amlogic based boxes, no one currently active in the forums is helping others with allwinner questions.

     

    To answer your question on dtbs, yes that is probably the most difficult part of supporting these TV boxes.  I have been involved for about two years with armbian, and while I have learned a lot during that time, dtbs are still the area that i have no functional knowledge about.  The problem lies in the fact that to construct a proper dtb you need intimate knowledge of the hardware, but no tv box manufacturer publishes or offers the information about the boxes they build.  So it is all guess work which no one has the desire to waste their time on when there are so many needs elsewhere in the armbian community for development resources.

  6. Often there is an 'update' app in Android that will do the same thing as the reset button.  But note that not all apps named 'update' will do what is needed.  But check if you have an update app and see if you can use it to run the aml_autoscript.zip  located in the /boot directory of your armbian sdcard.  This should cause the box to reboot and have the same effect as the reset button.

  7. Are you sure your box has emmc and not cheaper nand?  A lot of boxes cut costs by using cheaper nand instead of true emmc, and nand storage is not supported in the 5.x kernel.  I would suggest you open the box and look up the specs of the chips you find on the board to confirm what you actually have.  (I own TV boxes that have identical markings on the outside, but one will have emmc and the other will have nand).

  8. You are not going to get watchable YouTube on a cheap TV box with Armbian currently.  The state of the open source video decoders (vs the generally closed source used in Android) is still a work in process.  Right now I would say the best supported CPUs are the Rockchip ones.  On the box side balbes150 is working on the Station M1/P1 and jock is working on general Rockchip TV box support.

  9. @jhg

    7 minutes ago, jhg said:

    Im fascinated by making a desktop computer out of these and want to see it work, cant really explain why.

    I understand the fascination, it is why I'm here trying to help others foster that same fascination.  But I would caution you on your expectations.  When you talk about 'desktop computer' you are likely to be disappointed.  The current state of these boxes (once you get one working) is you can get a desktop gui running, but the performance isn't going to be something useful.  They do make great servers however.  If you want a usable desktop experience you are going to need to be spending around a $100 or so for an RK3399 box which is less fascinating and a stretch on the wallet.

  10. @jhg If you really want to dig into this more, you would need to hook up to the colsole interface on your box.  To do this you would need to identify the console connector location on the board, solder a connector to it and then get a usb adapter to monitor the low level u-boot output.  The first stages of uboot output to the console only, then the chain loaded uboot (uboot.ext) will display stuff at later stages to hdmi.

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