this was exactly the same question when I approached to linux study on those devices:
well . thanks to study and many people that explained to me now I know that linux IS NOT android and the opposite is also true, and YES they violate the GPL but if you are able to go in China to yell on this, well buy a ticket for me too.
In case of wifi they don't violate any since is proprietary driver and nowhere is written that they must open the code to every one
the desktop subsystem is perfect on Android with all jingles and bells, now you take the SAME kernel they use, the same modules and libraries they have in rootfs and NO!!! it doesn't work at the same manner under linux, and since we must adapt something to linux phylosophy and we HAVEN'T documentation sometimes at all, sometimes half-half , I truly believe that is quite a miracle we have a true linux platform on those devices
Finally the mainline kernel has been pushed further and it looks very promising.
Link to the new images are in the first page.
PS: trying the Ubuntu Focal image, I'm happy Firefox is performing decently, but had to blacklist lima module to get good 2D desktop experience and (of course) disable window compositing.
I tried this on my rk232x based device and i suspect it doesn't work.
If I put "modesetting" as driver then it recognizes rockchip and vdpau-rockchip, but with the method described by you I don't get the same result, it tells me that the driver rockchip is not found and starts the same through modesetting ... I suspect that for the rk322x it does not work ... and I also suspect that it is for this reason that glamoregl even if it seems to start does not work as 2d acceleration ... this driver dri is not optimized at all (or partially brocken) for rk322x at least the 5.6 kernel, maybe the latest versions like the upcoming kernel 5.9 already contain these fixes.
edit :
in fact there seems to be no trace of rk3228 registers.
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/gpu/drm/rockchip/rockchip_vop_reg.h
(Visual Output Processor) is the Display Controller for the Rockchip series of SoCs which transfers the image data from a video memory buffer to an external LCD interface
look only other rockchip socs :
edit2: better investingating
maybe 14 june 2020 is added a basic hdmi support for rk3228 ... (is valid also for rk3229 ?)
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/53ffa1ee8de2cdfb0fcbef798486ba9c7f9316fd#diff-0f18fb301f41340ce62f8d1b44e1247e
Out of curiosity I built the armsoc driver for my rk3399. I can confirm your observation of the faster display output. Of course, there is no 3D acceleration because the driver has no way to delegate 3D requests to the 3D render node. The armada driver (you want the unstable-devel branch) I use for my imx6 has such an ability and surpasses the rk3399 with modesetting despite the lower specification for now.
IMHO armsoc is a dead end until it gets a similar ability. And using glamor with its unnecessary scanout indirection via 3d is also a bad idea. We are all in the same boot, no xorg driver to glue all IPs in an efficient manner together available.
xorg-rockchip-modesetting.logxorg-rockchip-armsoc.logxorg-imx-armada.log
@jock here I am again, I have some interesting information that I discovered doing experiments.
if you remember, some time ago I did some experiments with xorg and acceleration media files on legacy kernels
I had "found" that xorg worked with both the "modesetting" and "armsoc" driver but found that armsoc was definitely much slower than modesetting
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12656-csc-armbian-for-rk322x-tv-boxes/?do=findComment&comment=104900
so I wanted to experiment with the 5.6 kernel as well....
here's what i found:
on legacy kernel, I found that armsoc and libmali (specifically libmali-rk-utgard-400-r7p0-x11_1.7-1_armhf.deb) conflict, in fact uninstalling this library, and starting xorg with armsoc driver, x11 goes fast. obviously, however, the functionality of opengles is lost. but it does not matter. I wanted to check.
I found relevant information that could also be functional on kernel 5.6.
investigating I saw that an armsoc driver was available on the apt repositories, I tried to install it but nothing, x11 did not start.
So i tried to install xserver-xorg-video-armsoc_1.4-2_armhf.deb of the legacy kernel media pack and it works! x11 starts .. well partially, we lost the window manager, the background and the desktop icons (all black) but we see that the acceleration is active and all there !, so I tried to mix the LIMA drivers with armsoc and it seems to work, or at least glxinfo tells me that the opengl mali 400 acceleration is present.
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddGPU" "off"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "armsoc"
Driver "armsoc"
EndSection
Section "OutputClass"
Identifier "Lima"
MatchDriver "armsoc"
Driver "modesetting"
Option "PrimaryGPU" "true"
EndSection
now it is evident that the armsoc driver does not work because I assume it is compiled for the legacy kernel
I also searched the net to understand why this driver works, and the one in the repository doesn't.
and that's because this version is compatible with rockchip soc!
Now I assume that by compiling these armsoc drivers for kernel 5.6 there is a good chance it will work correctly, and can be mixed with the LIMA 3D driver.
my limitation from trying at the moment, is that I don't know how to compile these, I've never done a cross compilation, and don't know (currently) how to do it. And I don't even know how to create installable .deb files from a build (my other current limitation)
Good news, expecially for @nokirunner and @DaviMesquita
Finally we managed to make the ssv6x5x driver work on the ssv6256p chipset and it turns out the it is also working pretty well. I removed most of the logging messages it was spamming on the dmesg log, now it is much more silent and it is ok this way. Teaming with @fabiobassa we optimized performances quite a bit, so expect ~60 Mbit/s at least on optimal setups. It works on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
The driver will be included in the armbian images soon, but in the meantime anyone can test it.
Download ssv6x5x.koand put it into /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
Download ssv6x5x-wifi.cfgand put it into /lib/firmware
Download ssv6x5x-sw.bin and put it into /lib/firmware
Run depmod -a
Add blacklist ssv6051 in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rk322x-box.conf (ssv6051 and ssv6x5x kernel modules clashes, we need to blacklist ssv6051 for the other to work)
Reboot!
Any testing report is appreciated!
I believe it will be possible only if some acute wizard manages to take the source code and update and fix it. there are some sources of the drivers of these wifi chips on github, here is same example:
DISCLAIMER (PLEASE READ): everything you can find in this thread (binaries, texts, code snippets, etc...) are provided AS-IS and are not part of official Armbian project. For this reason not people from Armbian project nor myself are responsible for misuse or loss of functionality of hardware.
Please don't ask about support or assistance in other non-community forums nor in the official Armbian github repository, instead post your questions in this thread, in the TV Boxes forum section (hardware related) or in the Peer-to-peer support section (general linux/software related).
Thank you!
Following the recent thread on LibreElec forum about an unofficial image for rk3229 devices, I would like to make public the work made by me and @fabiobassa about bringing rk322x support to armbian.
The project is now in -> mainline Armbian <- and the development fork will be available on github -> here <-
Most of the love has been poured into supporting and bringing up the legacy rockchip 4.4 kernel, but in the near future the goal is to fully support the mainline kernel.
What works:
Should boot and work flawlessy on all boards with RK3228a, RK3228b and RK3229, with either DDR2 and DDR3 memories.
Mainline u-boot
OPTEE provided as Trusted Execution Environment
All 4 cores are working
Ethernet
Serial UART (configured at 115200 bps, not 1.5Mbps!)
Thermals and frequency scaling
OTG USB 2.0 port (also as boot device!)
EHCI/OHCI USB 2.0 ports
MMC subsystem (including eMMC, SD and sdio devices)
Hardware video acceleration (fully supported via RKMPP on legacy kernel, partial support via hantro kernel driver on mainline)
NAND is available only on legacy kernel. To fully boot from NAND, use the Multitool and its steP-nand installation (instructions are below)
Various WIFI over SDIO are supported (SSV6051P, SSV6256P, ESP8089, Realtek chips, etc...), but ssv6x5x drivers are available only on legacy kernel
Full GPU acceleration on legacy kernel, mainline kernel has lima driver compiled in but X11 is very slow - you are still free to compile and install mali kernel driver on mainline yourself.
U-boot boot order priority: first the sdcard, then the USB OTG port and eventually the internal eMMC; you can install u-boot (and the whole system) in the internal eMMC and u-boot will always check for images on external sdcard/USB first.
Unbrick:
Rockchip devices cannot be bricked. If the internal flash does not contain a bootable system, they will always boot from the sdcard. If, for a reason, the bootable system on the internal flash is corrupted or is unable to boot correctly, you can always force the maskrom mode shorting the eMMC clock pin on the PCB. Here there is the procedure, but you can also google around if you get stuck on a faulty bootloader, the technique is pretty simple and requires a simple screwdriver.
Multimedia:
If you need multimedia features, like OpenGL/OpenGL ES acceleration, hardware accelerated Kodi, ffmpeg and mpv you can take a look to this post
Installation:
Building:
You can build your own image follow the common steps to build armbian for other tv boxes devices: when you are in the moment to choose the target board, switch to CSC/TVB/EOL boards and select "rk322x-box" from the list.
Stable images:
Stable images are certified and signed by Armbian and you have the guarantee to get the system updates when there is a new Armbian release.
Images and installation instructions are provided in the Armbian RK322x download page: https://www.armbian.com/rk322x-tv-box/
Development images:
No development images for now, please download the stable images directly from above.
Multitool:
Multitool - A small but powerful image for RK322x TV Box maintenance
Quick installation instructions on eMMC:
Build or download your preferred Armbian image and a copy of the Multitool;
Burn the Multitool on an SD card; once done, place the Armbian image in images folder of the SD card FAT partition;
Plug the SD card in the TV box and plug in the power cord. After some seconds the blue led starts blinking and the Multitool appears;
OPTIONAL: you can do a backup of the existing firmware with "Backup flash" menu option;
Choose "Burn image to flash" from the menu, then select the destination device (usually mmcblk2) and the image to burn;
Wait for the process to complete, then choose "Shutdown" from main menu;
Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord;
Wait for 10 seconds, then the led should start blinking and HDMI will turn on. The first time the boot process will take a couple of minutes or more because the filesystem is going to be resized, so be patient and wait for the login prompt.
On first boot you will be asked for entering a password for root user of your choice and the name and password for a regular user
Run sudo rk322x-config and select your board characteristics to enable leds, wifi chips, high-speed eMMC, etc...
Run armbian-config to configure timezone, locales and other personal options
Congratulations, Armbian is now installed!
Despite the procedure above is simple and reliable, I always recommend to first test that your device boots Armbian images from SD Card.
Due to the really large hardware variety, there is the rare chance that the images proposed here may not boot. If a bad image is burned in eMMC, the box may not boot anymore forcing you to follow the unbrick section at the top of this post.
Quick installation instructions on NAND:
Build or download your preferred Armbian image and a copy of the Multitool;
Burn the Multitool on an SD card; once done, place the Armbian legacy kernel image in images folder of the SD card FAT partition;
Plug the SD card in the TV box and plug in the power cord. After some seconds the blue led starts blinking and the Multitool appears;
OPTIONAL: you can do a backup of the existing firmware with "Backup flash" menu option;
Choose "Burn Armbian image via steP-nand" from the menu, then select the destination device (usually rknand0) and the image to burn;
Wait for the process to complete, then choose "Shutdown" from main menu;
Unplug the power cord and the SD card, then replug the power cord;
Wait for 10 seconds, then the led should start blinking and HDMI will turn on. The first time the boot process will take a couple of minutes or more because the filesystem is going to be resized, so be patient and wait for the login prompt.
On first boot you will be asked for entering a password for root user of your choice and the name and password for a regular user
Run sudo rk322x-config and select your board characteristics to enable leds, wifi chips, etc...
Run armbian-config to configure timezone, locales and other personal options
Congratulations, Armbian is now installed!
Alternative: you can install the bootloader in NAND and let it boot from SD Card or USB:
Download a copy of the Multitool and burn it on an SD card;
Plug the SD card in the TV box and plug in the power cord. After some seconds the blue led starts blinking and the Multitool appears;
RECOMMENDED: make a backup of the existing firmware with "Backup flash" menu option;
Choose "Install Jump Start for Armbian" menu option: the Jump Start uses the internal NAND to boot from external SD Card or external USB Stick;
Follow the general instructions to boot from SD Card below, skip the first erase eMMC step.
Quick installation instructions to boot from SD Card:
If you are already running Armbian from eMMC, skip to the next step. Instead if you are running the original firmware you need to first erase the internal eMMC; to do so download the Multitool, burn it on an SD Card, plug the SD Card and power the TV Box. Use "Backup flash" if you want to do a backup of the existing firmware, then choose "Erase flash" menu option.
Build or download your preferred Armbian image;
Uncompress and burn the Armbian image on the SD Card;
Plug the SD Card in the TV Box and power it on;
Wait for 10 seconds, then the led should start blinking and HDMI will turn on. The first time the boot process will take a couple of minutes or more because the filesystem is going to be resized, so be patient and wait for the login prompt;
On first boot you will be asked for entering a password for root user of your choice and the name and password for a regular user
Run sudo rk322x-config and select your board characteristics to enable leds, wifi chips, high-speed eMMC or NAND, etc...
Run armbian-config to configure timezone, locales and other personal options, or also to transfer the SD Card installation to internal eMMC;
Congratulations, Armbian is running from SD Card!
A note about boot device order:
With Armbian also comes mainline U-boot. If you install Armbian or just the bootloader in the eMMC or the Jump Start on internal NAND, the bootloader will look for valid bootable images in this order:
External SD Card
External USB Stick in OTG Port
Internal eMMC
Alternative backup, restore and erase flash for EXPERTS:
These backup, restore and erase flash procedures are for experts only. They are kept here mostly for reference, since the Multitool is perfectly able to do same from a very comfy interface and is the suggested way to do maintenance.
Backup:
Obtain a copy of rkdeveloptool: a compiled binary is available in the official rockchip-linux rkbin github repository. If you prefer, you can compile it yourself from the sources available at official rockchip repository
Unplug the power cord from the tv box
Plug an end of an USB Male-to-male cable into the OTG port (normally it is the lone USB port on the same side of the Ethernet, HDMI, analog AV connectors)
Plug the other end of the USB Male-to-male cable into an USB port of your computer
If everyting went well, using lsusb you should see a device with ID 2207:320b
change directory and move into rkbin/tools directory, run ./rkdeveloptool rfi then take note of the FLASH SIZE megabytes (my eMMC is 8Gb, rkdeveloptool reports 7393 megabytes)
run ./rkdeveloptool rl 0x0 $((FLASH_SIZE * 2048)) backup.data (change FLASH_SIZE with the value you obtained the step before)
once done, the internal eMMC is backed up to backup.data file
Restore: first we have to restore the original bootloader, then restore the original firmware.
Running rkdeveloptool with these switches will accomplish both the jobs:
./rkdeveloptool db rk322x_loader.bin
Downloading bootloader succeeded.
./rkdeveloptool ul rk322x_loader.bin
Upgrading loader succeeded.
./rkdeveloptool wl 0x0 backup.data
Write LBA from file (100%)
Download here: rk322x_loader.bin
Erase the eMMC: clearing the internal eMMC memory makes the SoC look for external SD Card as boot option. If there isn't any suitable SD Card, the SoC enters maskrom mode, which can then be used for full eMMC/NAND access using rkdeveloptool.
Obtain a copy of rkdeveloptool: a compiled binary is available in the official rockchip-linux rkbin github repository. If you prefer, you can compile it yourself from the sources available at official rockchip repository
Unplug the power cord from the board
Plug an end of an USB Male-to-male cable into the OTG port (normally it is the lone USB port on the same side of the Ethernet, HDMI, analog AV connectors)
Plug the other end of the USB Male-to-male cable into an USB port of your computer
If everyting went well, using lsusb you should see a device with ID 2207:320b
run ./rkdeveloptool ef and wait a few seconds
once done, the internal eMMC is erased and the device will boot from the sdcard from now on
Critics, suggestions and contributions are welcome!
Credits:
@fabiobassa for his ideas, inspiration, great generosity in giving the boards for development and testing. The project of bringing rk322x into armbian would not have begun without his support!
Justin Swartz, for his work and research to bring mainline linux on rk3229 (repository here)
@knaerzche for his great contribution to libreelec support and mainline patches
All images have been updated to latest Armbian 20.08 with latest updates.
Mainline kernel bumped to 5.6.16, chrony package is now fixed.
Multitool also has been updated.
we hope that we will have more luck with the opensource gpu drivers in the near future ... everything will have to go through a mesa-opengl acceleration, including video ... va-api or samething
@nokirunner
could be a good starting point study this document, for your experiments
if on internal storage you have a idbloader it will search then uboot on sd card.
If you flash the wrong idbloader into internal storage , boot no more occurs and you have to short pins
I am not sure if this is what you want to know, but:
- Debian.org or Ubuntu.com officially does not support any of those boards/boxes,
- Armbian userspace has many small but vital performance or security adjustments,
- Armbian fancy some kernel development and a lot of its maintaining. Debian relies on upstream sources for ARM hardware which can be years behind and/or lack of many functions,
- Armbian userspace is lean, clean but 100% Debian (or Ubuntu) compatible
- many stock Debian bugs are fixed on the way, "better than original :)"
- a build system is a central part of this whole ecosystem. You can DIY. Debian much harder.
- dedicated support forums per boards/boxes
- plug and play vs. complicated install scenarios on Stock Debian
- unified development scenarios and user experience vs. mess of different setup instructions scattered all around
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