MBB

For background, this is part of our project to bring an Armbian-based TV Box to market.  See our home page at https://www.inovato.com.

For anyone wanting to build from mainline, we have posted an article with our patches.  These include AC200 Ethernet and XR819 wifi support in kernel 5.15.y.  For edge builds, AC200 Ethernet is supported.  To support the XR819, we'll have to create more patches for the changes in kernel 5.19.  The link is https://www.inovato.com/article/building-armbian.

For anyone wanting to build from mainline, we have posted an article with our patches.  These include AC200 Ethernet and XR819 wifi support in kernel 5.15.y.  For edge builds, AC200 Ethernet is supported.  To support the XR819, we'll have to create more patches for the changes in kernel 5.19.  The link is https://www.inovato.com/article/building-armbian.

Hi @SteeMan!  Thanks for reaching out.  We are great fans of Armbian!  This project rests on the great previous work by @balbes150 and as followed up on by @awawa.  We have simply updated those patches.  Currently, our plan was to keep updating our patches (and add other boxes such as the work being done by @jock), but if there is interest in making this a CSC build, I am more than happy to discuss how you'd like us to proceed.  It is certainly our intent to handle all support and not place any burden on Armbian folks.  Is there a good way to discuss in real time?  You can reach me here:  mike at inovato.com.  I am US West Coast.

For background, this is part of our project to bring an Armbian-based TV Box to market.  See our home page at https://www.inovato.com.

For anyone wanting to build from mainline, we have posted an article with our patches.  These include AC200 Ethernet and XR819 wifi support in kernel 5.15.y.  For edge builds, AC200 Ethernet is supported.  To support the XR819, we'll have to create more patches for the changes in kernel 5.19.  The link is https://www.inovato.com/article/building-armbian.

In case anyone is interested in building from mainline Armbian, here is a doc describing the steps I used.  The goal with this was to change as little as possible and document all changes so they could be reproduced.  Hopefully nothing missing/wrong, but I'll recheck everything tomorrow.  
 
 
 
Tanix TX6 with Armbian.odt
 

The doc I posted a few days ago in this thread on building from mainline includes a patch to fix eMMC and everything is fully documented there.  I use it and it works well.  I find these boxes are far more responsive when running from eMMC vs SD. Plus, it frees up the SD slot for use as a removable storage device.  Or, if you install something like Balana Etcher, it can even flash it's own images from a URL.  We provide our products pre-flashed to eMMC so they are ready to plug in and use.  
 
With the patch, you can boot from SD and flash eMMC using armbian-config in the usual way (basically, take the first option all the way through the menus and it will start).

@awawa Great news you are switching to mainline.  It will be fantastic to have someone maintain a Tanix H6 build again!  THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL YOUR WORK ON THIS!
 
On a somewhat related topic, I am working with a manufacturer in China to (hopefully) sell the Tanix-compatible T95 Mini under a new name to avoid confusion, with EMMC, preflashed with Armbian so ready-to-use out of the box.  If anyone is interested in such a product, please let me know.  @awawa's repo works flawlessly.
 
For anyone considering a Tanix-compatible box, I highly  recommend the T95 Mini (with EMMC - often these get shipped with NAND unless you check and they understand what you are even asking ).  The reason why we like the T95 Mini is it seems to run cooler than any other compatible model.  It is also really small and inexpensive.
 
Thanks again @awawa!

The doc I posted a few days ago in this thread on building from mainline includes a patch to fix eMMC and everything is fully documented there.  I use it and it works well.  I find these boxes are far more responsive when running from eMMC vs SD. Plus, it frees up the SD slot for use as a removable storage device.  Or, if you install something like Balana Etcher, it can even flash it's own images from a URL.  We provide our products pre-flashed to eMMC so they are ready to plug in and use.  
 
With the patch, you can boot from SD and flash eMMC using armbian-config in the usual way (basically, take the first option all the way through the menus and it will start).

In case anyone is interested in building from mainline Armbian, here is a doc describing the steps I used.  The goal with this was to change as little as possible and document all changes so they could be reproduced.  Hopefully nothing missing/wrong, but I'll recheck everything tomorrow.  
 
 
 
Tanix TX6 with Armbian.odt
 

@awawa Great news you are switching to mainline.  It will be fantastic to have someone maintain a Tanix H6 build again!  THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL YOUR WORK ON THIS!
 
On a somewhat related topic, I am working with a manufacturer in China to (hopefully) sell the Tanix-compatible T95 Mini under a new name to avoid confusion, with EMMC, preflashed with Armbian so ready-to-use out of the box.  If anyone is interested in such a product, please let me know.  @awawa's repo works flawlessly.
 
For anyone considering a Tanix-compatible box, I highly  recommend the T95 Mini (with EMMC - often these get shipped with NAND unless you check and they understand what you are even asking ).  The reason why we like the T95 Mini is it seems to run cooler than any other compatible model.  It is also really small and inexpensive.
 
Thanks again @awawa!

@awawa Great news you are switching to mainline.  It will be fantastic to have someone maintain a Tanix H6 build again!  THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL YOUR WORK ON THIS!
 
On a somewhat related topic, I am working with a manufacturer in China to (hopefully) sell the Tanix-compatible T95 Mini under a new name to avoid confusion, with EMMC, preflashed with Armbian so ready-to-use out of the box.  If anyone is interested in such a product, please let me know.  @awawa's repo works flawlessly.
 
For anyone considering a Tanix-compatible box, I highly  recommend the T95 Mini (with EMMC - often these get shipped with NAND unless you check and they understand what you are even asking ).  The reason why we like the T95 Mini is it seems to run cooler than any other compatible model.  It is also really small and inexpensive.
 
Thanks again @awawa!

@danboid If that driver works then probably can be integrated in build script. My repo will be offline for few days: I want to switch fork to mainline Armbian and apply my changes to it. I will be much easier in future to track all the changes in official Armbian releases.

In case anyone is interested in building from mainline Armbian, here is a doc describing the steps I used.  The goal with this was to change as little as possible and document all changes so they could be reproduced.  Hopefully nothing missing/wrong, but I'll recheck everything tomorrow.  
 
 
 
Tanix TX6 with Armbian.odt
 

Unfortunately, you have NAND not EMMC flash so can't flash the OS to the board.  EMMC would have a chip mounted in the empty socket above the flash you have (lower right corner of the board).  That is the biggest problem when buying these things is you don't know what they populate and it can vary from order to order unless you specify (and they understand what you are asking).  I have a couple sources that have been reliable.  I am not sure where you are, but in the US on Amazon, this source "EasyTone" seems to always  use EMMC (and they confirmed this as well).  https://www.amazon.com/Android-Quad-Core-Decoding-T95MINI-Internet/dp/B07XCPRSXR.  On Alibaba, use "Shenzhen Reeshine" (ask for Richard Cheng).  He is very helpful and honest and understands what you mean if you say "must use EMMC not NAND".

I can also report that the "Q+" model works as well ("works" as always means w/o WiFi, Bluetooth).  This is another model worth considering, although in my experience it runs hotter.  All these boxes are best used as a small server as @SteeMan suggests.  But for that purpose and for the reasons he states (price, EMMC flash, case), they are excellent.  I have tried several AMLogic (before they were dropped) and RockChip models in the past, but was never able to get them to work, at least not easily.  So, if you are looking for a small server box that just "works", I would highly recommend that you save yourself considerable grief and get/use one of these H6 models (before buying, confirm that they use EMMC and not NAND! - I had one batch I bought on Amazon that was NAND - all the ones on Alibaba have been EMMC).  The models I have tested are the TX6, T95 Mini (and Max), and Q+.  They are completely interchangeable and use the same images that @Balbes150 posts here.

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.

I have tested the TX6, T95 Mini, T95 Max, Q+.  All these work well as a small server (w/o WiFi).  Of these, I like the T95 Mini the best due to small size and good thermal w/o any modification.  Copy to EMMC works.

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.

I can also report that the "Q+" model works as well ("works" as always means w/o WiFi, Bluetooth).  This is another model worth considering, although in my experience it runs hotter.  All these boxes are best used as a small server as @SteeMan suggests.  But for that purpose and for the reasons he states (price, EMMC flash, case), they are excellent.  I have tried several AMLogic (before they were dropped) and RockChip models in the past, but was never able to get them to work, at least not easily.  So, if you are looking for a small server box that just "works", I would highly recommend that you save yourself considerable grief and get/use one of these H6 models (before buying, confirm that they use EMMC and not NAND! - I had one batch I bought on Amazon that was NAND - all the ones on Alibaba have been EMMC).  The models I have tested are the TX6, T95 Mini (and Max), and Q+.  They are completely interchangeable and use the same images that @Balbes150 posts here.

There is a T95 H6 version that works well.

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.