SteeMan

@mcb777 Please note that posting such resources (i.e. the ophub build "amlogic-s9xxx-armbian" above) in this forum can be insulting towards Armbian developers since the developers behind ophub do not participate in the Armbian development effort nor these forums.  In fact they use the Armbian name for their fork without permission.  The concern being that users of these other code bases will turn to these forums for support not knowing the code they are running is not Armbian and burden our already scarce resources. I would ask you not to post such links in the Armbian forums in the future.

Moved posts to proper forum (Allwinner TV Boxes from Rockchip TV Boxes)

What exactly do you mean by this?  If you are looking to run the exact image you deploy to a SBC in a virtual environment, you can't really do that.  If you are looking to run an armbian build that has the same linux kernel and user space environment as an SBC/TV Box build, that you should be able to do.  A virtualized environment is really a specific virtualized set of hardware which will be different than the hardware for any specific SBC/TV Box.  So the low level uboot and hardware environment (i.e. dtb files) will be different between the SBC build and the virtual environment build.  But from that level up (kernel and user space) everything can be the same.  Armbian has a build target for the QEMU environment (Virtual QEMU) and automated builds for that here: https://github.com/armbian/community/releases
 

You have downloaded the server version (command line interface only).  What you want is one of the downloads with *desktop* in the name, like: Armbian_20.10_Arm-64_focal_current_5.9.0_desktop.img.xz
Note: there is no buster desktop version, only bullseye and focal desktops.

The .xz file is the image.  The .sha file is the checksum.  I think you should google and learn about the purpose and use of checksums, to understand what the .sha file is for.

@MBB Are you working to get your patches submitted back to base Armbian?  The reason I'm asking is given your current instructions (pull armbian source, apply your zip of patches) you will run into problems over time as the armbian codebase changes, since you aren't tied to a specific git commit or label.  Also long term where do your end users turn for software support?  Armbian certainly isn't setup to provide end user support for projects like this.  Just wondering about how you envision long term support working as it relates to the armbian code you are building on top of.

Moved post to a new thread and edited the log files into spoiler sections

Moved post to a new thread and edited the log files into spoiler sections

See commits here: https://github.com/chewitt/amlogic-boot-fip/commits/gxbb-sd-emmc which is based on the original detective work done by @Kwiboo here https://github.com/Kwiboo/u-boot/commit/6d0a17632922077a2e64b13ae1a6bdf0024b718f .. waaaay back in 2016, so the solution has been sitting under our noses all this time
 
The one difference from his instructions is that I don't use the same 'fusing' instructions, I use the standard LE ones https://github.com/LibreELEC/LibreELEC.tv/blob/master/projects/Amlogic/bootloader/mkimage#L8-L9
 
Here's the u-boot log https://pastebin.com/raw/pVSHMueQ and dmesg https://pastebin.com/raw/n5E3Rq96 showing emmc boot on the WP2.

What are you trying to accomplish?  Saying you tried flashing different firmwares, doesn't tell us much about what you are trying to do.  What is your goal for this box?

In general I think this is a good move.
Specifically I'm assuming your proposal is to replace the TV boxes link under "Unmaintained (CSC/EOL/TVB) / Other" with the content from the TV Boxes Club.
 
 

Done.  I went back to the end of April and tried to pull out all the docker related posts into this new thread.  If you think I should go back farther, or if some of these posts should be moved back to the original thread let me know.

UPDATE!!
 
Hello, I'm pleased to announce that rk3318 CSC configuration has been accepted into mainline kernel!.
This means that next Armbian release (probably August) will provide regular kernel upgrades offered by Armbian ecosystem via normal apt upgrade command.
Until then, please stay stick to the usual manual upgrade!
 
But there is something more: new update for the rk3318/rk3328 images!
Most important changes:
Kernel upgraded to version v5.18.6 Memory clock set to 667 MHz (was 333 MHz), providing a nice boost in general, desktop and GPU performance; despite this works fine on my board I always warn you to test images first via sdcard Introduces MGLRU patches from @yuzhaogoogle (you can read about here and search google for more details), which should provide much snappier experience especially on low-memory devices You can find the images and deb packages for upgrades browsing the directory pointed on first page as usual.
 
You can visit the Armbian MGLRU topic, if you have questions about the features or kernel issues (like crash dumps which involve kswapd, for example)
 
 

Done.  I went back to the end of April and tried to pull out all the docker related posts into this new thread.  If you think I should go back farther, or if some of these posts should be moved back to the original thread let me know.

Dear friends, lately many many questions on this 3ad are about docker and it's problems.

I really would suggest to open a different discussion and leave here only kernel and hardware relate problems, because if we continue here with user space implementantions the 3ad becames abnormous and difficult to read.

Maybe @MattWestB and @primoitt could start soewhere else an apposit 3ad and guide other friends into solutions.

Lately if solution needs an intervent on kernel all of you will be welcome to ask here

Thanks a lot !!! 🤗

 

@Fra Armbian is streached thin.  Unless human or financial resources are provided (eg. A person willing to be a maintainer for this board and/or money to offset the increased costs) it is unlikely this will ever be supported. 
 
You really should be contacting the board manufacturer (i.e those who are making money from this board) and encourage them to work with / financially contribute to Armbian to provide a well supported os for their board.  Since Armbian doesn't make any money from the board, it is unfair to ask us to provide support for free while others who do make money from the board (the board manufacturer) just benefit without contributing..
 
 
 

@Fra Armbian is streached thin.  Unless human or financial resources are provided (eg. A person willing to be a maintainer for this board and/or money to offset the increased costs) it is unlikely this will ever be supported. 
 
You really should be contacting the board manufacturer (i.e those who are making money from this board) and encourage them to work with / financially contribute to Armbian to provide a well supported os for their board.  Since Armbian doesn't make any money from the board, it is unfair to ask us to provide support for free while others who do make money from the board (the board manufacturer) just benefit without contributing..
 
 
 

To prevent abusive behavior by editing older postings this is no longer possible after a certain period of time.
Exception is granted for contributors, maintainers and frequently active members of the community.

You have bought from a seller that is lying to you.  The amlogic s905l2 can at most support 4GB of ram.  So it isn't possible to have more than that.  What some disreputable sellers do is create a customized version of android that lies about how much memory the box has.  There is no way you can get a box with 8gb or ram and 128gb emmc for $24.  What you have is a box with 1GB of ram.

I'll try to respond to your questions as best as I can, but since I don't have that box, I can only guess.
First you mention that 'no matter how long you hold the reset button'.  It isn't a matter of time and the process is that you need to boot with the reset button pressed for about 5 seconds, then after a bit, remove the power and boot with out the reset button pressed.  This second boot should boot into your sd card image.  The first boot holding the reset button is installing 'multiboot' which is a set of changed variables in the uboot environment that essetially changes the boot order.  Then the second boot uses this new uboot environment to boot from the sd card.  Note that you should only need to do the reset button step once (unless or until the uboot environment gets reset to default).
 
You mention the s905x4 chip.  Do not get a box with this.  When it comes to TV boxes, older is better.  So s905x is better supported than s905x2, etc.  This is because it takes a lot of time and effort for the open source community to reverse engineer and get support into mainline linux (as the cpu manufacturers don't generally support linux openly, i.e. they don't release source code, and box manufacturers are even worse at supporting their products).  So the older something is the more likely someone has put in the time to get it somewhat working.  So for the s905x4 there isn't any support yet, and perhaps there may never be.
 
The same general rule (older is better) goes for the other cpu families as well, allwinner and rockchip.  But if you are looking for something in the armbian community I would currently recommend looking at rockchip based boxes.  That is the only cpu family that has an active tv box developer working on support.
 
Then finally, you mention gigabit networking.  I would recomend you set your sights on 100mbit networking.  Generally gigabit networking is implemented in off cpu networking chips that have no/limited support in mainstream linux.  It is very rare that you will get gigabit networking to work on a tv box with armbian.
 
 
Generally the recommendation is to open the box and inspect the chips on the board for their markings and work from there.
 

@FilSan I wanted to comment about the other image you posted/mentioned.  While that sight mentions armbian, that code really has nothing to do with armbian.  Those developers are not involved in the armbian community, nor to they participate in these forums.  They are essentially using the armbian name without permission for their work. 

"Delete My Account"
https://forum.armbian.com/terms

@Moderators

Per the box specs this box should have an alwinner h6 cpu, so moving to the correct sub forum.

I find your research interesting.  I don't have this particular box (I have a TX3 based on the s905x3 cpu).  If you provided links to the source code for the dtbs (i.e. the .dts files) I'd be willing to at least look at the source code to see if anything jumps out.  Also since you want the gigabit ethernet working, do you know what ethernet chip your box has installed (i.e. could you open the box and take a picture of the board and especially the ethernet chip)?

Welcome to the world of Armbian on TV Boxes!
 
TV Boxes are not officially supported by the Armbian project.  This "TV Box" sub forum is for users interested in experimenting with Armbian on TV Boxes.
 
Overall you will be best served if you set your expectations low as to what you might be able to accomplish with your TV Box and Armbian.  Specifically you should think of your TV Box as a potential linux server - *not* as a desktop replacement.
 
Feel free to post and ask questions in the TV Box forums if you are interested.  But realize this is a peer-to-peer forum so you may or may not get an answer.  Don't expect or demand support as there are only a handful of people that participate in these forums and they are all donating their time.
 
Search is your friend.  There is a lot of historic information stored on this site.  Your question has likely already been asked previously.  However, a lot has changed over time and therefore be prepared for a lot of the information you find by searching the forums to be outdated and in some cases just plain wrong.  Even though that may be the case, please search the forums first before posting a question.  It shows you are willing to invest the time to do your part and makes those of us who volunteer our time to answering questions more likely to want to help you.
 
 
Amlogic (S9xx) based TV Boxes
1. There is a community build for Amlogic based s9xx TV Boxes - The key being community - so please contribute to make improvements
2. A single developer (@balbes150) had worked years on getting things to the state they are.
3. As of October 14th, 2020 balbes150 removed support for Amlogic CPUs, so that is the last active build from him
4. Expectations should be set low (i.e. don't expect anything to work) but if you do get the box to boot, get HDMI and wired ethernet to work, you are doing good.
5. You really shouldn't expect things like Wi-Fi, bluetooth, remote control, etc. to work.
6. There is a very small number of people on this forum/club that are able to provide any guidance.
7. Most likely no one on this forum owns your specific box and therefore generally can only provide vague guideance.
8. If you get this working on your box, it will likely only be useful for server type tasks, maybe a little light graphical desktop usage, but do not expect video playback, etc.
 
RockChip (rk3399, rk3328, rk3288, rk3228, etc) based TV Boxes
These are probably the best supported TV boxes currently.  They have the most active developers.  Feel free to post in the Rockchip TV Box sub forums your questions.
 
Allwinner (H6, H616, H313) based TV Boxes
There is no ongoing effort to support Allwinner based boxes.  Occasionally a developer will respond to a question, but in general if this is what you have, you will be expected to do a lot of work on your own, so you better be comfortable doing development for these type of boards.  You aren't likely to find anything that you can just install and have work.
 
Other Comments
The official recommendation from the Armbian project would be to not use TV Boxes and use officially supported SBCs. Taking this approach will likely result in an easier time, less hassle, better support and likely a more fully functioning device.
 
There are reasons you may choose to want to use unsupported Armbian on TV boxes, for example here are some of my ( @SteeMan ) reasons:
 
1) It is a challenge and therefore a learning opportunity.  I would never have learnt to build my own linux kernels from source if I was still exclusively using x86 hardware.  If you want a challenge you will find it here.
 
2) Price vs specs.  The Android TV boxes are built to be cheap consumer devices.  They are produced in larger quantities which drives down the per unit price.  You will generally not be able to get the same level of hardware for the same price with a standard SBC.  But that cheapness comes with - no support by the manufacturers and potentially sub-standard components.  If the manufacturers goal is to sell the lowest price box they are likely cutting corners somewhere to make that happen.
 
3) emmc is standard.  TV boxes always come with internal storage while most SBCs do not.  Again from a price/performance standpoint having internal emmc storage vs running off an SD card is a plus.  emmc storage *should* be faster and more durable than storage on an sd card.  The caveats here being that this is one of the areas that the manufacturers may cut corners.  For example I have two TX3 mini boxes that are supposed to have 16GB of emmc memory (like the other TX3 mini boxes I have), but they were instead manufactured with cheaper nand memory for which there is no mainline kernel support.  There is no visible difference between the identically packaged boxes that had emmc vs those that came with nand, other than opening the case and looking at the physical chips on the boards.
 
4) cases come standard.  TV boxes always come with cases, whereas for SBCs that is an extra cost.  For my uses having a case is a big improvement vs not having one.  A downside if that these cases are not necessarily well designed to provide adequate cooling.  So depending on your use case, overheating might be a problem.
 
5) While I own both SBCs and TV boxes, I personally find the TV boxes work best for my needs (running server based software) and I enjoy the challenge of getting them running and keeping them running with the great underlying work that the Armbian project is doing to build on top of.
 
If you have the correct expectations (set your expectations low) are looking to learn and are up for a challenge these are fun things to work with.  And I look forward to working with you on these forums.