SteeMan

I want a stripped down board that has real 802.3af POE

Please first read:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16976-status-of-armbian-on-tv-boxes-please-read-first
 
Then read the following thread which should be relevant for your needs:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/16859-allwinner-h6/
 

Sometimes disreputable manufacturers will modify the kernel in the android firmware to provide false information. (easy way to cut costs by not actually including the memory/storage advertized).

Sometimes disreputable manufacturers will modify the kernel in the android firmware to provide false information. (easy way to cut costs by not actually including the memory/storage advertized).

Sometimes disreputable manufacturers will modify the kernel in the android firmware to provide false information. (easy way to cut costs by not actually including the memory/storage advertized).

Armbian project does not officially support nor maintains tv boxes. Armbian project maintains only supported Single Board Computer (SBC) devices. SBCs have stable hardware (kind-of), and are usually well-documented.
 
Tv boxes are another thing.
In the ideal world of the naked puffy angels chanting melodious high-tone songs, the organization you proposed would be perfect.
In our world full of crap, dirt and oil it does not work at all: every chinese tv box manufacturer buy chips at the lowest price point possible on the market and put all that crap and scrap on these boards. If you read carefully the first post (and I invite you to do it) the very same rk3318 is probably a scrap chip, and eMMC chips are often failing after a while, some because are faulty, some others fail because of crappy soldering (you can ask @fabiobassa how many faulty eMMC chips desoldered from these boards).
 
That's why Armbian does not officially tv boxes: it's a community matter, because keeping the things working with a huge hardware variety is just too difficult and very time consuming.
In a world were everything can fit onto these boards, having one image for each box is unthinkable; I preferred a more elegant solution that allows the user to download a single image with a basic configuration that (hopefully) boots on every board with the same SoC. Once installed, the system can be further configured by the user herself to enable all the features of the board, like higher cpu speed, wifi, bluetooth, eMMC higher speed modes, leds, buttons, etc... etc...
 
You won't find images of mine spread here and there on the forum, usually I publish images just on the first page of this thread and sometimes I prepare some special testing images for someone who has willingness to help the development progress. When everything will be stable enough, I will ask for merging to the main Armbian project, so the images will not be built and published anymore by me, but the Armbian server will build (and certify) them and they will be available in the official download page, but still totally backed and maintained by community efforts.
 
You will find everything you need to get the thing running on the first page of the thread, so read that carefully and, if you're not satisfied, steer away from tv boxes and search for a proper SBC.

No, there is no current Armbian support for the H616 CPU variant.  Work is being done, but the general guidance is that support for this may be a year or so in the future.

I believe the brand name of this box is: MXQ 4k which is a rk322x based box.  Moving the post to the rockchip tv box forum

Use the "toothpick" method instead of trying the update app from android. 

Given the following comment posted in response to the new invalid message discussed above:
 
"Hi Werner, I didn't realise I'd posted this as a bug I'll post it elsewhere"
 
I took another look at the language in the big red warning message that is displayed for people posting new topics in the bug tracking forums.  While it would seem obvious to those of us on the inside what we are trying to communicate, to the novice user I think there is room to make it more clear.  To that end I have the following suggested wording changes:
 
Current text:
 
Wait!
To avoid common mistakes when opening issues use this form to make sure you have collected all necessary information and create your issue report at the correct place:
>> https://armbian.com/bugs <<
Issue reports that are not following these guidelines will be removed without further notice!
 
Suggested text:
 
Important Please Read Before Posting a New Topic (Bug Report)!
 
You are about to post a new topic in the Armbian Bug Tracker.  Armbian uses the sub-forums under "Bug tracker - supported boards and images only" as it's public facing bug reporting system. If you really intend to report a bug please fill out the following form to supply the necessary information for a valid bug report:
 
>> https://armbian.com/bugs <<
 
With limited resources the Armbian project is only able to spend time investigating bugs where all the requested information has been provided and for only the boards/images/software that are supported.  Your bug report will be considered invalid and receive no attention if you do not supply the requested information.
 
If you only have a question or are looking for help on something in general related to Armbian, you should be submitting your question in one of the "Community forums", such as "Common issues / peer to peer technical support" or "General chit chat", not in this bug reporting forum.

Given the following comment posted in response to the new invalid message discussed above:
 
"Hi Werner, I didn't realise I'd posted this as a bug I'll post it elsewhere"
 
I took another look at the language in the big red warning message that is displayed for people posting new topics in the bug tracking forums.  While it would seem obvious to those of us on the inside what we are trying to communicate, to the novice user I think there is room to make it more clear.  To that end I have the following suggested wording changes:
 
Current text:
 
Wait!
To avoid common mistakes when opening issues use this form to make sure you have collected all necessary information and create your issue report at the correct place:
>> https://armbian.com/bugs <<
Issue reports that are not following these guidelines will be removed without further notice!
 
Suggested text:
 
Important Please Read Before Posting a New Topic (Bug Report)!
 
You are about to post a new topic in the Armbian Bug Tracker.  Armbian uses the sub-forums under "Bug tracker - supported boards and images only" as it's public facing bug reporting system. If you really intend to report a bug please fill out the following form to supply the necessary information for a valid bug report:
 
>> https://armbian.com/bugs <<
 
With limited resources the Armbian project is only able to spend time investigating bugs where all the requested information has been provided and for only the boards/images/software that are supported.  Your bug report will be considered invalid and receive no attention if you do not supply the requested information.
 
If you only have a question or are looking for help on something in general related to Armbian, you should be submitting your question in one of the "Community forums", such as "Common issues / peer to peer technical support" or "General chit chat", not in this bug reporting forum.

I don't see a problem with using the invalid label as it is invalid according to the directions the user has read (or not read).  What I think would improve this is giving the user more direction on what to do next.  I think some working changes in the post that closes the thread as invalid would be all that is necessary.  So instead of:
 
 
Your issue report is invalid for one or multiple reasons (non-exhaustive enumeration):
 
it has been stated at the wrong place
it lacks fundamental requested data
it could have been easily solved by a quick search and/or reading documentation
unsupported userspace/image/SBC
 
Since you refused to use the bug reporting form carefully and follow the information there as you have been asked for we have no intention to further investigate.
Please add missing information if applicable.
 
https://www.armbian.com/bugs
 
 
Something like:
 
Your issue report is not a valid bug report per the Armbian bug reporting instructions (https://www.armbian.com/bugs).  With limited resources the Armbian project is only able to spend time on issues where all the requested information has been provided and for only the boards/images/software that are supported.  Your report is invalid for one or more of the following reasons (non-exhaustive list):
 
- it is for an unsupported board or image
- it is for software that isn't supported (such as userspace modules installed on top of the core operating system)
- it has been logged in the wrong forum (for example requests for help that are not actual bug reports)
- it lacks requested data (armbianmonitor output)
- it could have been easily solved by a quick search and/or reading documentation
 
Please review what you have submitted and the bug logging instructions (https://www.armbian.com/bugs) and either add the required information or open a new topic in the correct forum (such as "Common issues / peer to peer technical support" or "General chit chat")
 
 
I think this softens the tone and tries to help the user do the right thing.  Which they likely still won't 
 
 
 

One of the interesting features of extlinux.conf is the ability to present a boot menu.  I have played around with it a bit to have different kernel versions installed and switch between them at boot time.  With a boot menu and hdmi support in u-boot, it brings some nice capabilities.

Have you read the thread dedicated to TV boxes with your CPU: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12656-csc-armbian-for-rk322x-tv-boxes
 

Beware that there are different hardware versions of this same box. I myself have two X96 Max boxes, with two different hardware versions, both bought just days apart from each other. It has been a few weeks since I had the chance to play with them, but from what I recall, one of them worked OOTB with Armbian 20.10 5.9.0 and the expected dtb (x96max). The other one is instead more similar to the X96 Max+. It came with an 8822CS wifi chip (same as the Max+) instead of the AP6356SA that came on the first one. The "original" version of the X96 Max does work ethernet @ Gbit speed and WiFi OOTB with the 201014 image. The second one I do not recall now if I ended up managing to use either of the (onboard) network interfaces or if I simply plugged a USB wifi dongle at the time. I had but a couple hours at most with them. I plan to play again with them soon, I will let you know more details once I have the chance to check. Bottom line, first of all check what hardware you got inside your box!

@Mohammad Shami Please read the two posts in the TV Box Club's FAQ forum

@MX10.AC2N I think you are approaching your issue from the wrong perspective.  As balbes already mentioned he "doesn't use this software and has no idea what it requires'.  So essentially asking the same question in a different way isn't likely to get a different answer.
 
You need to understand that the armbian project is about getting the mainline linux (debian and ubuntu distributions) to run on arm SBCs (and luckily that often works on TV boes as well).  Information and support of the thousands of software programs that can then run on debian or ubuntu isn't something that armbian is about.
 
NextCloud is a software product and you want to run that program on your armbian based TV box, which is great, but you should be looking for support from the NextCloud community for support of their product.
 
You mention in your posts NextCloudPI.  I'm not sure why you are going down that particular path.  You should be able to just install NextCloud following their instructions for your chosen distribution (debian or ubuntu).  I have been running nextcloud on one of my amlogic s905w based TX3 mini boxes for over a year using the snap version for my ubuntu bionic install.  It was easy to install, it automatically updates itself and I haven't had to think about it in a long time.  That is exactly what you want from a server based software program.  Now if you ask me what i did over a year ago to get it installed, I will have no recollection, but I just followed the readily available instructions available from nextcloud to get it done - didn't need to post anything to armbian forums to install a generic software product.

I moved the above to a separate thread as the content is distinct from the thread it was originally posted in.

I am pleased to report the 20210303 images (I tested Focal) work great (copying to EMMC using standard Armbian method) on the T95 Mini box.  FYI, this is my favorite TV box as it is small, has a nice enclosure and good thermal properties (CPU usually around 50-55 degrees).  And it is available < $20 (USD) on Alibaba in small quantities.

Yes this rebuildability is something we have been thinking/working on for a while. There even is an existing Jira Ticket for it:
https://armbian.atlassian.net/browse/AR-175?atlOrigin=eyJpIjoiN2FhZTgyMTIxZWMxNDA2NmE5NjIxOTEzYTI4YWNiNDAiLCJwIjoiaiJ9
and the original post 
 
As of know this has not been implemented (probably because no one had enough time / interest / motivation to do it). Maybe you can?  
We'd also need to define how many old tags we support and for how long... 
 
 
 
 

getting started with Amlogic s905x3 Android tv box - Magicsee c500 pro  
hi everyone i am here because i want to install armbian on this tv box and i don't want to mess it up and brick it

this box it's similar to Odroid C4 or n5 max n5pro tvbox

i try to boot from an SD card but it dosn't work, and with the reset button i it's possible to access to android recovery but notting more

i don't try yet with amlogic usb burning Tool and try to flash the eprom or the bootloader
any suggestion where and how to start

Moved post into its own thread as this is not related to the thread it was originally posted in.

@robertoenr 
 
I have installed Armbian 20.10 Focal 5.9.7 in my OTT TV BOX X96 mini 1 + 8GB and it works well, only the wifi that does not work, I want to know if there is a more advanced kernel to install it on these equipment.
 
Equipment information:
- Amlogic S905W chipset
* Quad Core 1.2GHz 64bit Cortex-A53 Mali-450
* 1 GiB of DDR3 memory
- 8 GiB of eMMC flash
- 10/100Mbit Ethernet
- HDMI output up to 4K30P
- Model: X96 mini.
 
I would like to install one such as: Armbian 21.xx Focal 5.10.x, if some one knows please let me know.

Anyone else ever get just a blank screen? I’m trying to install onto a Trongle S3 box. I’ve tried a number of dtb’s but as it’s a relatively rear box nothing is definite. Tried to match them by spec but hoped it would at least register an output on my monitor. 

I get a no signal notification. 
 
I will be trying to tty the com port but this includes soldering so wanted to see if anyone else knew of a possible solution before I spent time doing this.

Let me add my limited knowledge here.  Note that the following comments only apply to amlogic CPUs.  The 'chainloading' of u-boots is designed to utilize the original u-boot that came on the device (stored in emmc) to start booting.  Then after the original u-boot has initialized everything, the secondary u-boot (the chain loaded one) is started to continue the process and load the linux kernel, ramdisk and dtb and launch the linux kernel.  This secondary chain loaded u-boot is stored in the /boot directory and named u-boot.ext.  Thus the installation step to rename the appropriate u-boot file to u-boot.ext (this file could on either SD, USB or emmc depending on where the installation is running from.
The reasons for doing things this way are to try to simplify things such that multiple different TV boxes can be supported.  Theoretically each TV box should have its own custom u-boot to fully boot correctly.  By using the existing manufacturer shipped u-boot we avoid having to build a hundred different u-boots for each device.  The problem is that these original u-boots are buggy and old so they don't support the latest u-boot functionality - like using hdmi output during the boot process.  The chain loaded u-boots are using recent u-boot source code and therefore are better.  Because the hard work of bringing the system up (memory, cpus, other devices) has already been done by the base u-boot, the chain loaded u-boot has a lot less to do and hopefully can be more generic and support multiple different boxes with one u-boot build (per CPU).