fabiobassa

I tested in terminal mode ,'$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user" which has really good performance. Your cutting edge armbian can achieve PSX full 60fps speed in retroarch (however, in legacy, I use wrong parameter which seriously impact performance) and snes9x framerate improved. I really surprise it is faster than legacy in my case. Really great.

@tommy
 
Thanks a lot for you images

I am interest your new cutting edge armbian image. Could you provide me your links? Thank you in advance.
 
 
 
Lakka image files for rk322x
 
rk3228a-mxq4kpro <- I tested this image
https://mega.nz/file/dJgDXIbB#7yOLyHmuptrP_8aswOCxKdk2aEffOQDUnH-9lIAg8jw
 
rk3229-a95xr1
https://mega.nz/file/hIwFHCrZ#nWeLsKnBCXcCwtsDp8_MklgYsqEF5r0N-a3iVQUeLXI
 
Any images has dtb in first fat partion. You may edit extlinux/extlinux.conf to correct device. It has samba service that can upload game roms but in my case wifi driver not work, only LAN work for my tv box.
 
 

@tommy

post scriptum.. I usually dont like or play games but i have had 29 giga of arcade games  that run on amlogin 905 . it is aarch64 and our little box is armhf 32 bit but i guess games are no-arch so if you go further on the process of emulation please share your experience
 

@tommy
Even if the main purpose of this 3ad is " general" speaking of the process to bring pure linux on 322x boxes, without going deep in user space apps, people as you, with programming skills, are always welcome to discuss and apport ideas to the project.

I am more the " hardware man", @jock is the " code man" , but what is now clear, even to me, is that doesn't matter the mali version, the bottle neck is the necessity to copy the result of gpu elaboration into x11 windows server. This is where the whole process slows up.

This is true for videos and jock ( but other people too ) is actively searching a solution , a work around but now mostly efforts are on mainline kernel

Example given : if you do init3, unload all mali libraries, insmod all gbm libraries you will have FULL gpu power and you can run even lot of frames per seconds, but the you loose the x11 features. If you control games by game pad or keyboard this could be not such a big problem , once you stop the game you unload gbm go back on mali and startx. Android uses the gbm way so good hardware acceleration and poor desktop experience. On armbian we experiment the opposite .
But this switch  isn't convenient for normal use.
@jock could explain this 1.000.000 times better than  I did, but the core of problem is exactly what i wrote

 

Thanks fabiobassa and jock for your help.
 
 
 
 
 
I use legacy kernel 4.4.194
~$ cat /proc/version Linux version 4.4.194-rk322x (root@nott-xubuntu) (gcc version 8.3.0 (GNU Toolchain for the A-profile Architecture 8.3-2019.03 (arm-rel-8.36)) ) #2 SMP Sat Oct 2 12:44:11 +07 2021  
 
I try a dirty hack by change soft link of /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libMali.so from X11 version "libmali-utgard-400-r7p0-r0p0-x11-gbm.so" to "libmali-utgard-400-r7p0-r0p0-gbm.so" for retroarch call library and set default login terminal by "$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user". I set display resolution to 720x480 for reduce processing load.  The result is acceptable to snes (use snes9x2010) level.
 
I am an amature in Linux build system and C programing. I will try to learn to compile armbian avoiding X11 version but I not sure my knowledge and skill is enough. I have seen someone edit EmuElec(LibreElect with Retroarch interface) to could be run rk322x. I try to edit Emuelect source that almost done but dependencies are very fraustrated. Full Linux system like this armbian project is the best.

Hi all,
And first THANKS @jock for all that ..
I have an MX10 TvBox first generations MXQ-RK3328-D4_A VER: 1.0 DATE: 20170713 registered on the SOC with 32G Emmc and 4G RAM DDR3
I have been running Armbian on it for a while now first from an RK3328-TVBOX image from @balbes, then I booted from an M1 station image, currently I have station-M1 running on my Emmc, and here I come across this thread ..
So I test from an SD card the image Armbian_21.11.0-trunk_Rk3318-box_bullseye_current_5.10.68_minimal.img
It starts but I don't have an HDMI signal, I was able to connect in SSH and do the update, the upgrade, install armbian-config, install full firmware, install desktop .. I use rk3328-evb.dtb
Copy the diagnostic : http://ix.io/3Bsu
 
I will continue with the installation and above all try to find the signal on my HDMI output.
Thanks again...

@dotbg Some boxes with rk3566/rk3568 are sold with 8GB (gigabytes) of RAM. That chip is capable to address such amount of ram, yet you have to trust the chinese manufacturers and vendors that they really put 8Gb of RAM in the box
 
rk322x instead is not able to go above 2GB (gigabytes). Everything beyond on a rk322x is surely fake.

more like 8 Gbit or ram =1Gbyte ram ; or they have ram and rom swap or like some box its only  fake advertise
 
please show the link to example
 

@gianlucaf

uhmmmmm     .... how can i drive my car? uhmmm what car have you ? fuel, diesel, electric , horse power ..
if you don't give more infos, actually our crystal ball is broken. Which wifi chip if ? ssv6051, spe... 8023cs ??
And last thing, if it is working under armbian-config and not in user-space programs ( docker) try to ask in docker forums ;-)

@tommy
there is a lot of interest in retro gaming and graphics use of those box but if you have read the whole 3ad (  and I'm not sure you did.. )  you should also have read that gpu hardware acceleration is in some way conflicting with x11 server and this is the reason why it runs smoothly on android or libreelec that were compiled with good performance on graphics but not so well on linux desktop. You can try to mixt up things among armbian and libreelec that uses wayland instead of xorg, but this is on yourself
And NO at the actual state of progress there is few possibilities that the things will go better on 322x

@dotbg
 

pardon I didn't understand ! What you mean ? That your box is claiming have mega mega mega tons or gigatons of ram and you see only one or two ?

 

@Willy Moto Yes, your observation is right: load average is broken on legacy kernel. For some reason, it idles with a value of 4.00, where instead mainline kernel correctly idles with a value of 0.00

@Sameer9793  The TV Box environment for amlogic and rockchip is very different.  In these forums there are two threads that cover a lot of the rockchip varients (https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12656-csc-armbian-for-rk322x-tv-boxes and https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17597-csc-armbian-for-rk3318rk3328-tv-box-boards)
@jock and @fabiobassa are the two experts in that area in the forum.

and this assemption is soooo far away from the truth that you can imagine. Imagine those big factory that assemblies boxes, one factory.. many reseller !
And in a certain moment a employee says " hey boss.. we finished ddr 3 ram and we have only ddr 2 now"
And the boss answers " doesn't matter take the ddr 2 put in washing machine, erase old name and put on chip the right ddr  3 name and assembly 1000 other fuc**ng box!!  "
This taht could sems just a lie or a joke I believe happenns very most often than we can even imagine
Do you know how many box i have ABSOLUTELY  egual in name, brand shape, even names of chips inside.. and the uart log tells me the REAL SITUATION?

Plenty !!! And me and @jock bumping head in the wall because one box working and the other NO ?!!!!

So only solution is nice uart log or short the emmc/nand pins so you are sure you booting in maskrom and program a generic android even older that puts vesry piece in the right place of internal memory so you can start form scratch again
Those box are quite unbrickable, and NO multitool and other tools offered with great generosity from jock cannot " destroy" boxes
 

and this assemption is soooo far away from the truth that you can imagine. Imagine those big factory that assemblies boxes, one factory.. many reseller !
And in a certain moment a employee says " hey boss.. we finished ddr 3 ram and we have only ddr 2 now"
And the boss answers " doesn't matter take the ddr 2 put in washing machine, erase old name and put on chip the right ddr  3 name and assembly 1000 other fuc**ng box!!  "
This taht could sems just a lie or a joke I believe happenns very most often than we can even imagine
Do you know how many box i have ABSOLUTELY  egual in name, brand shape, even names of chips inside.. and the uart log tells me the REAL SITUATION?

Plenty !!! And me and @jock bumping head in the wall because one box working and the other NO ?!!!!

So only solution is nice uart log or short the emmc/nand pins so you are sure you booting in maskrom and program a generic android even older that puts vesry piece in the right place of internal memory so you can start form scratch again
Those box are quite unbrickable, and NO multitool and other tools offered with great generosity from jock cannot " destroy" boxes
 

@fabiobassa:
Here are some photos of my TV box for your inspection.  Though @jock already said it's a NAND memory model.
 
Do you think it's a good idea if I replace the CPU heatsink with a larger one to increase the cooling effect? 

 

Hello all nice people, let me do this post since I repute it very important.
There is a lot of people actively deploying things on rk 322x and rk 3318, some  media oriented things ( libreelec, kodi ) some desktop and servers applications.
Now.......it happens that @jock and my self are actively working on those two platforms because I was so lucky in the past to buy for really few bucks ( and i say FEW )  more than 50 different boards reputed faulty, and there were not, just wrong firmware.
But in this big STOCK of boards mostly were 322x ( 3228 3228a 3229 ) and ONLY ONE was 3318,and again I repeat just ONE 3318
 
So it happens that quite EVERY  question on 322x we can answer with sufficient level of accurancy, but on 3318 our experience is limited on HK1,  that is a circle box without display.
Every single help, every single uart log, bootlog any elselog is a mine of infos for us, in particular @jock , but at the same time is really hard provide you a satisfactory answer without debug info, our crystal ball is actually broken

Help us to help you providing as much infos possible and not just saying " it doesn't boot" because in that way is a hard stuff to solve.

Thanks

 

@Tucano2000

 
This is a very aggressive way to find the exact  clock-pin of emmc and also very DANGEROUS. Luckly throught 1k resistor the current will be quite low, but the possibility to destroy some cmos part is still HIGH. The only way to be sure that you managing the righ emmc clock point is discovering it  with an OSCILLOSCOPE , as I did the very first time i managed to find on my board, but again unfortunately my board is different from yours !!!!!!!

And as @jock already said , is needed more debug informations. Without a UART log we are pretty blind and also trying to help you is at the moment hard because lack of infos ( wrong ddrbin ? wrong trust-os?? wrong u-boot??? )

A couple of days have passed since my last post, and i must say, congrats @jock on your awesome work.
The build is running smoothly without any hiccups or other noteworthy bugs. After optimizing my Kivy app a bit more, the whole interface runs at a steady 60-120 fps.
I'm currently researching hardware accelerated video encoding to make the whole show complete (but, as you may have guessed, i know nothing about).
I've read about the 'Rockchip-linux' github repositories, but it seems like it's waaay out of my league, but i will try to make the best of it as i continue to learn.
 
HDMI audio didn't work right out of the box, you'll have to switch the default ALSA output (since the card gets recognized just fine)
Edit (or create) /etc/asound.conf and insert the following:
defaults.pcm.card 2 defaults.ctl.card 2  
Reboot the box (or restart apps using audio output) and voilà. If that does not work, try searching for your 'HDMI' card using 'aplay --list-devices' and replace the number '2' with the one of your desired output.

@RetroFan90
you are welcome to test every single image jock is assemblying bit I don't think this is the right approach to this CCS case community study on rk3318 and generally on every tvbox and every soc born to do other things in their life ( TVBOX !!!!)

Just reporting " this doesn't work" or " this is lagged" or can you test cpu at 1.3 or 1,8 Ghz is overhealming problem of those @jock ( and me, but I am more the hardware man..) is already informed
Until the whole X system isn't mature , every single piece is on place, every right library is in the right directory I think that we can enjoy the steps every day we are doing together, and what Jock did is so big step that mostly of ourselves can't believe !

At the actual state of the art there is none or few chanches that every thing will work out of the box. Study first the whole picture and then go deep in particular features

But the road is signed !!!

@AlwinLub

well done !!

@RetroFan90
you are welcome to test every single image jock is assemblying bit I don't think this is the right approach to this CCS case community study on rk3318 and generally on every tvbox and every soc born to do other things in their life ( TVBOX !!!!)

Just reporting " this doesn't work" or " this is lagged" or can you test cpu at 1.3 or 1,8 Ghz is overhealming problem of those @jock ( and me, but I am more the hardware man..) is already informed
Until the whole X system isn't mature , every single piece is on place, every right library is in the right directory I think that we can enjoy the steps every day we are doing together, and what Jock did is so big step that mostly of ourselves can't believe !

At the actual state of the art there is none or few chanches that every thing will work out of the box. Study first the whole picture and then go deep in particular features

But the road is signed !!!

Hi,
thanks for your reply. Sorry but I can only reply to the topic once a day. I've installed the minimal version and it's ok. No problem so far. I sent the links in the previous message in the hope that you can find something useful. I hope so
I don't want to get the idea that I complained that it was "lagging" but it was just to be able to provide more information about my tv box and help in some way with the development.
These are the double-sided photos of the card (if it can help):


I am currently using the limited 1.1GHz version (although in reality the max speed is 1.01GHz), I have installed pi-hole and unbound and have not noticed any problems at the moment.
Thanks again!

Sorry for my late reply, but looks forum not allow me to post more once per day.
And Yes, you are right! I also found this step, and now latest armbian on this box :).
I burn multitool to both sdcard and USB Stick, so it can boot. Booting from USB stick, but then works with sdcard (resize partition and search img files in images dir)
About pictures, it is below:
ROM - 16G eMMC Samsung KLMAG2WEMB-B031
RAM - 4x4Gb DDR3 Samsung K4B4G0446B-HYK0
WiFi - SV6051P
 

First things first; i haven't experienced any panics, crashes or other similar bugs. The new image runs smoothly as far as i can tell.
Seondly; Kivy finally *bleep* works. After compiling 20+ builds with different configurations, throwing the tv off the wall, buying a new tv and starting all over again, i found out that the issue was to do with Mesa not playing nice with the anti-aliasing Kivy applied, which resulted in a black screen. It still runs at 10-15 fps, but i think that's due to this build of Kivy being built with OpenGL instead of OpenGL ES, so i'm currently in the process of building Kivy with GLES support. At least we're making progress and i can't thank you guys enough for thinking this trough with me (or actually 'for me').
 
So for anyone who happens to come across this post with the same problem, set the 'multisamples' in the 'graphics' config to '0' like this (which may or may not help for you):
 

 
EDIT: After building Kivy with OpenGL ES support, the whole ui works smoothly at around 30 - 70fps. Have a good weekend!

Then why not start, @jock has announced new versions and the links on the first page are already up?