SteeMan

balbes150's armbiantv builds do not use the install to nand/emmc support in armbian-config. Instead you need to run the corresponding script in /root for your particular cpu.

As is mentioned elsewhere, the CoreELEC boot system is incompatible with the armbiantv boot system. If you have run CoreELEC you will need to reinstall an original android firmware to restore the boot system to the expected state that armbiantv expects/needs. What you describe above is showing that you are entering into the android recovery mode, which isn't what you want/need to install armbiantv.

This is only needed for amlogic based boxes. Balbes150 dropped support for amlogic boxes on October 14, 2020. So any build after that will not have these files. If you really want to work with something that a) isn't supported by the Armbian project (TV boxes are not supported devices) and b) is no longer supported by the lone developer that was working on this fork of armbian for TV boxes, then look for the 5.9.0 kernel builds from October 14th and you will find these files. https://yadi.sk/d/_rQgn_FosYuW0g/20.10/20201014

Are we supposed to guess what errors you are having? Your question provides no information on what errors you are receiving or anything really that we could use to try to help you. Also, I am assuming you mean emmc when you say nand, as 5.x kernels don't support nand at all.

Yes it is possible. The dtb is the mapping of all the hardware to the software (not just the cpu). So a dtb that isn't a perfect fit for the cpu may work overall better for the rest of the hardware on the board. For amlogic cpus the differences between the s905x2 and s905x3 series are not major, so a dtb for an x2 board may work as good or better for your x3 based board. So I would look at the meson-g12a-*.dtb files as well.

As long as you understand the limitations that dante6913 mentioned, and as long as you are only expecting to use it for server work, and I would add one additional item that you should only be expecting to use wired ethernet (wifi/bluetooth support is very spotty). I would recommend just trying the last build that supports amlogic cpus (The 5.9.0 October 14th 2020 build) and follow the instructions in the first post of this thread: Try the various dtbs for s905x3, sm1 (or s905x2, g12a) and see if any of them work well enough for your needs. I have a TX3x3 box which contains a s905x3 and I use the meson-sm1-sei610.dtb for that box. The one thing specific to the s905x3 that might be unclear from the instructions on that post is that you will need to copy the u-boot-s905x2-s922 file to u-boot.ext as there is no x3 specific version, but the x2 version should work (at least it does on my TX3x3 box).

Just because you can read the contents of the boot and root partitions on the SDcard does not mean it is OK or that it was created correctly. The boot sectors of the card need to be correct as well and those you aren't going to see. This would look like potential progress. This is what you would expect to see if you have the wrong boot configuration parameters (i.e. your extlinux.conf). Could you attach the extlinux.conf file you are trying to use. One final comment, is that you only need to successfully enable multiboot once (i.e. press the reset button while applying power). It isn't something you need to do every time. But since you don't know if you have done it successfully, I understand why you are continuing that method, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that it wasn't something you will need to do repeatedly if you can get your box working.

There is support for RDP on linux. Don't know as I have never used that product, but generally if there is a debian/ubuntu build of a package it should work. What firmware update step are you talking about? There is no firmware update step in any of the instructions for installing armbian tv on an android tv box that I am aware of. I'm not sure what you mean by lock the kernel.

Technically no android tv boxes are supported. The work in these tv box forums is all experimental and unsupported by the official armbian project. The balbes150 fork of armbian that is often referred to as armbian tv has never claimed to work on s905x3 cpus. And after the Oct 14th build no longer will work with any amlogic cpus at all. Having said that, I have a TX3 X3 box with an s905x3 cpu that is running armbian, so it isn't a lost cause. But since each box is different, you may not be as lucky with your box. There is a thread that discusses the s905x3 boxes as various people reported their successes and problems over time. If you want to give it a try, you can get follow the instructions in the first post of the following thread, using the Oct 14th kernel 5.9.0 build.

I was just testing on my spare tx3 mini box, and the only time I see the android recovery screen is if I don't have an SD card (or not a valid sd card) installed. So my educated guess is that there is something wrong with your sd card or how you are burning the image to the sd card. I've never used balenaEtcher so I can't provide any guidance on what might be wrong there. If you have access to a Mac or Linux box where you can connect the sd card to, you might want to try creating the sd card from the command line using dd (sudo dd if=/location/of/armbian/image of=/dev/locationofsdcard ..., there are plenty of examples on google on how to burn an image from the command line) Otherwise I have run out of suggestions for you.

You were both wrong and right. The build I pointed you to is the last build that supports Amlogic cpus. As of now there is no one supporting amlogic cpus for android tv boxes going forward in the armbian tv community. So if you get your box working as you need it, there will be no future kernel updates for you as it currently stands, unless some other developers pick up from where balbes150 left off.

Since I don't have a box that is anything like what you have, I can't provide any more than generic advice. But given what you are reporting, your problem lies in there not being a compatible dtb for your hardware. The dtb file is what maps the hardware to the linux kernel. In searching the forums I ran across the following post that may be of help to you. While it was for a 5.3 kernel, that is recent enough that it may still be relevant.

Did you also copy u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext? . Also, does the box boot to android successfully without the sdcard installed? Also, have you tried other software like coreelec on this box?

Is there some place that these new builds are being announced? balbes used to announce them in the old tv box forum, but since the move to the club format, I haven't seen a post that announces new builds.

Since balbes announced he is no longer supporting Amlogic cpus, this is to be expected I would think.

I don't know if you will have any better luck, but I would suggest you try the latest build (Oct 14, 2020 with kernel 5.9.0) that supports your CPU. See the first post of the following thread for the install instructions. Note that the instructions for this latest build are different than what you have previously installed (use of extlinux.conf instead of uEnv.txt, and the need to copy u-boot-xxxx to u-boot.ext) but otherwise the procedure to install is the same. https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12162-single-armbian-image-for-rk-aml-aw-aarch64-armv8

Given that you do have general linux knowledge and rpi familiarity, here are my comments on your requests. I have 4 TX3 mini's three of which I run armbian on and one that I use the original android on. I will mention that just because a box is labeled TX3 mini, doesn't mean the internals are the same. The manufactures put identical external branding on boards that may be significantly different. For example all TX3 minis claim they have emmc storage in them. But only two of my TX3 minis have emmc storage, the other two come with nand storage (cheaper to manufacture that way). Since mainline linux doesn't support nand I can only install armbian on internal storage on two of my boxes. From the above linked post you need to download an image file from any of the download locations. The file you are looking for is the arm-64 version from October 14th 2020. These are the last versions from balbes150 to support Amlogic cpus. So be warned that when and if you get this running on your TX3 mini box, there is currently no path to get anything newer than this Oct 14 build with 5.9.0 kernel. You will get updates from your chosen distribution (debian or ubuntu) just no kernel updates, unless someone else in the community picks up the ball and begins building/maintaining amlogic kernels. In the downloads directory you will find builds for debian (buster and bullseye) and ubuntu (bionic and focal), along with both a desktop and non-desktop version of each. Once you download your chosen build (for example https://users.armbian.com/balbes150/arm-64/Armbian_20.10_Arm-64_focal_current_5.9.0.img.xz - ubuntu focal non-desktop build) You need to burn the image to an SD card. Generally balenaEtcher is recommended (however I have only ever used dd on linux to create my sd cards, so I have no familiarity with that tool) Once you have the SD card with your chosen build, then you need to edit the boot configuration file on the SD card. In the BOOT partition of the SD card there will be a file /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf, that you need to edit. (In earlier builds this was done in the /boot/uEnv.txt file, so a lot of comments in these threads talk about that file, but in the latest builds it was changed to the extlinux.conf file) Your extlinux.conf file should look like: LABEL Armbian LINUX /zImage INITRD /uInitrd # aml s9xxx #FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxbb-p200.dtb FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905w-tx3-mini.dtb #FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxm-q200.dtb #FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-g12a-x96-max.dtb #FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-odroid-n2.dtb APPEND root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=ttyAML0,115200n8 console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes net.ifnames=0 Basically you need to have the correct dtb for your box and the correct boot command for your box, along with the top three environment variables set. *Everything* else needs to either be deleted or commented out. This is a common mistake where people uncomment out what they need, but leave other lines in the file not uncommented and thus they fail to boot. The extlinux.conf file above is directly from my TX3 mini box. Note that if you were using a different box than a TX3 mini, you would attempt to use different dtb files until you found the one that works the best for you boxes hardware (there are a bunch of dtb files in /boot/dtb/... to try depending on your cpu architecture and hardward). Next you need to copy the correct uboot for your box. This is needed for amlogic cpus (other cpus have different uboot stuff to do). For your TX3mini you need to copy u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext (note I say copy not move). Once you have your SD card prepared, on an Amlogic box you need to enable multiboot. There are different ways documented to do this, but for your TX3 mini box, you should use the toothpick method. At the back of the audio/video jack connector is a hidden reset button. By pressing that button with a toothpick or other such pointed device you can enable multiboot. What you need to do is have the box unpluged, have your prepared sd card inserted, then press and hold the button while inserting the power connector. Then after a bit of time you can release the button. (I don't know exactly how long you need to hold the button after power is applied, but if it doesn't work the first time try again holding for longer or shorter times). You should now be booting into armbian/linux. If you want at this point, you can copy the installation to emmc (assuming your box has emmc). You do this by running the appropriate shell script in /root, which for your case is /root/install-aml.sh. Note that it is recommended that you make a backup of emmc first (use the ddbr tool that should be installed on your sd card). Also be prepared if anything goes horribly wrong with your emmc install to reinstall the armbian firmware using the Amlogic USB Burning Tool to unbrick your device. It is pretty easy to find TX3mini android firmwares on the internet and you can generally recover a bricked box using the Amlogic tool and an original firmware file. Finally, I have written this from memory and haven't been actually doing these steps as I am writing, so there might be something I forgot to say, so I make no promises that this is completely accurate, but I think it is. Also, don't expect that all parts of your TX3mini box will work. You should have a working boot, working wired ethernet and working hdmi. Don't expect things like wifi, bluetooth, infrared remote, box display to work. The experimental armbian for these boxes is enough to get a basic server running and a light graphical display, but don't expect full functionality.

To answer this, you need to tell us what you are planning to do with your tx3 mini box. Also if you could let us know your experience level with linux and different linux distributions that would be helpful as well.

Follow the information in the first post in the following thread. Note that the October 14, 2020 build of 5.9.0 is the last build that will have the necessary boot scripts to run on Amlogic boxes.

I would like to second JMCC's response. You posted this question in the "Armbian TV" forum. Armbian TV is an unsupported fork of Armbian for Android TV boxes developed by balbes150. As of last month balbes150 no longer supports Amlogic cpus (like your s905y2). So you are looking at a hardware device that is doubly unsupported. Also, wifi is tricky and often will not work under these builds. For example of the 6 boxes I have, wifi only works on one of them. If you want to go down this route, I would strongly recommend using a box that has wired ethernet and that you find well supported in these threads by community members. If you want something supported you should look at one of the supported SBC's on the main armbian website.

The old build you had was a legacy kernel (3.10.x) and the current builds are mainline kernels (5.9.x). There are about 6 years of differences between those two kernels. The legacy kernels which are generally no longer supported (as they are no longer maintained and thus open to security vulnerabilities) were the kernels used by the original android versions on these boxes. It was easier to port drivers for box specific hardware like wifi when the kernel version was the same. With mainline kernels, often the wifi and other board specific chips aren't supported, because the chip/board manufacturers don't intend to support anything other than the android kernels they need to. Thus you may not find support in current builds for some features. Even if the driver in in the mainline kernel, there may be an issue with the dtb file as those formats have changed significantly between the legacy kernels and mainline kernels. I'm not familiar with the s8xx builds as I don't have an s8xx box, but in the s9xx builds there are scripts located in /root that copy to emmc I would think you should be able to install libreelec on emmc and still boot armbiantv from the sdcard if you want, but I haven't tried this myself (especially not with s8xx hardware).

balbes150 not supporting Amlogic boxes going forward, but the current builds available should still work. What dtb's have you tried? What build are you using? And could you post the contents of your extlinux.conf file? Also since there dozens of different s905/s905x boxes, each being different a little more information would be helpful. You really have provided no information for anyone to be able to help you.

I don't think you are following the correct procedure. While I don't have any experience with the S812 builds, I am assuming they are similar to the s9xx builds. The current procedure there is that you need to be editing the extlinux.conf file.

Coreelec modifies the boot loader environment in incompatible ways to the Armbian TV needs. You will need to reflash a standard android image to restore the box to a clean state before trying to run armbian tv.

What dtd are you using? And have you tried all of the relevant dtb files?