SteeMan

If the software you require is included in the distribution you are installing (i.e. debian or ubuntu) under armbian, it likely will work, unless it depends on specific kernel configuration parameters, in which case you might need to build a custom kernel.

It would be more helpful for the community if you posted source instead of the binary (dts vs dtb) along with a diff/patch against current kernel soure of what you changed so that others would be able to maintain this for future kernels.

Since you have an amlogic based box, you need to locate an original android firmware for the box and use the amlogic burning tool to restore the box to a known good state running android.

The build you have installed is an "Armbian TV" build from balbes150. His builds are a fork of standard armbian. He has a github repository of his forked armbian source at: https://github.com/150balbes/Build-Armbian It has been a while since I pulled his code and did a build, but this is where you should be looking if you want to recreate/modify what you currently have installed.

There is no upgrade path from the s9xxx builds to the latest arm-64 builds (package names have changed and the booting environment has changed - uEnv.txt replaced by extlinux.conf). I would recommend making a backup to external media (usb or sdcard) and then installing a clean install of 5.9.0 and then migrating your data back from your backup. Or just stay on your current 5.5.0 environment.

More specifically, balbes uses a second stage bootloader in a file named u-boot.ext for the amlogic platform in his builds.

Technically Balbes never supported the s905x3. But it is true that he is now ending support of all amlogic cpus. I already make my own kernel builds, and since I own a few different amlogic based boxes, I have an interest in seeing support continue in some form. I have asked balbes in another thread if he would tag his public github repositories with a tag that corresponds to his last build supporting amlogic, which then can be a starting point for continued support by the community if there is enough interest.

@balbes150 If I could ask a favor of you. Would it be possible to add a tag to your public github repositories that corresponds to your last build supporting AML? With a tagged version of source code that corresponds to your final released build others can pick up where you have left off if they are capable and motivated. I appreciate your dedication to armbian and respect your decision to end your support of Amlogic cpus.

As has been said in other threads, the coreelec boot system and balbes150's are incompatible. After installing coreelec it is recommended to reinstall an android firmware to get the system back to a state that armbian will work again.

I need to correct my last statement, as the post I was referring to was not deleted: "is to lazy to help any of us with the same problem ". But I will still say that balbes150 is offended by language like this. Everyone needs to realize that Armbian on Android TV boxes (especially balbes150's builds) are not supported by the Armbian project. And particularly the s905x3 cpu isn't supported by even balbes150. Posting in these forums demands for support or calling others lazy for not providing support isn't in the spirit of the armbian community. We all wish there was better support of mainline linux on all of these boxes, but without active support by the device manufacturers that isn't a reality. The volunteers here do the best they can (and they do some amazing things when you think about it).

This has been discussed many times in different threads. @balbes150 has chosen not to support this (and likely future Amlogic) chips due to the fact that Amlogic doesn't provide support and access to source code for their chips to the community. He finds that his limited time is better spent on cpus from manufacturers that are more willing to work with the community. It is his decision on how he contributes his time as a volunteer. Anyone else is more than welcome to pick up the ball and volunteer to better support the s905x3. I will also say that balbes150 also does take offense when being called lazy when he doesn't work on some particular user's issue, as was insinuated in a recent post that was deleted. (I'm not sure that post was the one being mentioned in this thread, but it was a post in the x905x3 thread that I read earlier today that is now no longer there).

What instructions are you following? None of balbes150's images use these steps to configure in current builds.

Why would you expect the p201 dtb file to work on this specific box? Each TV box device has unique hardware, from wifi chips, ethernet, memory, etc. The dtb file is the mapping from the hardware to the software. So realistically every TV box requires a unique dtb file to work 100% correctly. Unfortunately the box manufacturers in their quest to offer cheap prices, don't put any effort into providing these dtb files for mainline kernel's. So we are left finding trying to find a dtb that is close enough for our needs on these TV boxes. Therefore you end up with an 80% fit between the dtb and the actual hardware on your box, and hopefully the 20% that doesn't work isn't something that you don't need for your use case - wifi being the usual example of something that often doesn't work.

Since I am building my own kernels, can you send a link to where I could find this patch? Also, do you know if this patch is planned for inclusion in 5.8.x and 5.9? If so when?

I can report having the same problem on my TX3 mini (s905w) box, running a 5.9.0-rc kernel. I noticed this yesterday when I built my own 5.9.0-rc2 kernel and installed it, but I didn't have time to dig into the issue.

There are scripts located in /root that will copy a sd/usb installation to internal eMMC. The scripts are named according to the respective cpu architectures, so make sure you are running the correct script for your cpu. Highly recommended that you backup the original contents of the eMMC before you attempt to install.

You don't indicate what image you are trying that has these characteristics. But if you use the balbes150 builds and instructions from the first post of this thread: then you should have two partitions (vfat for /boot and ext for /).

This is already part of the instructions for balbes150 builds. From the first post of balbes150 thread: "Fix for correct color to G12 (Amlogic S905X2 S922X) For models based on g12 (s905x2 s922), which have a problem not the correct color , If you are starting the system from an SD card, you need to copy file u-boot.sd to u-boot.ext, If you are starting the system from an USB, you need to copy file u-boot.usb to u-boot.ext When installing in eMMC, you do not need to do anything with your hands, the installation script itself will perform the necessary system configuration and when running from eMMC, the system will work with the correct color."

If you have an A95X Max box as you say in a previous post, then you should have an Amlogic s905x2 cpu. For that CPU per the instructions you should not be needing to do anything with uboot. Just write the image to the sd card, edit the uEnv.txt file and boot from the sd card (toothpick method should work).

Armbian is Debian based, and since arch isn't it isn't a supported distribution. But since this is open source, you are free to take the source code and add arch support for your needs, and contribute back to the community in that way.

This is not the current build. The s9xxx builds are no longer maintained. The current development builds are found in this thread:

You need to provide more details on what you are trying. What version are you trying to install (and from where did you download it). What are the steps you are attempting to install on your box?

blind@TX3X3:~$ free total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 3684488 859436 2103944 24008 721108 2643560 Swap: 1842240 0 1842240 blind@TX3X3:~$ This is on a TX3 with s905x3 using meson-sm1-sei610.dtb And on a H96 Max with s905x2 using meson-g12a-u200.dtb: blind@H96MaxX2:~$ free total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 3365644 216796 1203640 21244 1945208 2966404 Swap: 1682820 0 1682820 blind@H96MaxX2:~$

I don't expect that you will be able to get the remote control to work. I generally don't expect that you can get wifi or bluetooth working. The nature of these TV Boxes is such that if you get successful video and audio via hdmi and wired ethernet working you are doing good. Anything beyond that is more likely than not to not work. This is because there are probably a hundred different hardware configurations out there and none of them are supported by their manufacturers to enable the community to implement anything but the most generic features.

This is an open source project. So therefore if you want a particular feature you are welcome to implement it yourself, or you could offer to pay someone else to implement it for you. To request or expect others who are volunteering their time to an open source project to implement something specific for your needs is not in the spirit of open source.