ljones0

Hello all! I used the following armbian image to write to an SD (I'm using an old odroid HC1 btw): https://armbian.site-meganet.com/dl/odroidxu4/archive/ I used the bullseye_current image that was there. On the main download page it says that the file for Odroid XU4 is compatible with HC1, HC2 and MC1. https://www.armbian.com/odroid-xu4/ My odroid HC1 boots ok but any attempt to use the built-in ethernet port results in an instant lock-up. Only way I can "get into" the device is with a USB ethernet adapter although even just issuing a command, eg ifconfig enx001e06366b84 192.168.1.99 locks everything up - even the USB ethernet adapter stopped working. I did check with ifconfig to find the relevent ethernet adapters'; names and two are listed. (The enx001e06366b84 name there is what the built-in ethernet adapters' name is btw). Does anyone know why trying to use the inbuilt ethernet should lock the entire device up? ljones

Hello all and I apologise for the rather long subject title there. A bit of a mouthful :-) I can understand how to create a .dts/.dtb file from an already running existing linux system on an arm based device. But what about if there is no linux image to run on it? Is it possible to take the device tree from an android device and then turn that into a .dts/.dtb file? Also am I correct in saying that pretty much the first thing that would be needed to boot any sort of linux on an arm device like this (R69 box) is a working .dts/.dtb file so it can boot? Case in point is my old R69 TV box. It always was and remains problematic in booting old thread but was picky with micro sd cards. Unfortunatly some of those micro sd cards in that old thread no longer work and I've not been able to boot using (as I tried in the old thread) the beelink x2 armbian image either. I did manage to copy off the files from /sys/firmware/devicetree under android from the R69 box. The problem is that the command to create .dts/.dtb files (dtc) uses 1 file not lots of files to work. I also could not find any .dtb/.dts files on that R69 box. I can attach the files I copied here is anyone wants them. ljones

I did give it a go, but it still refused to boot alas x.x Probably best nowadays this thing goes to the bin really especially as it is a few years old. ljones

Hello all! Not sure if anyone saw this at all or not but the latest debian (11) now includes the panfrost and lima drivers! https://wiki.debian.org/PanfrostLima If I'm reading things correctly the needed bits and pieces (as well as a recent kernel) are in the packages "libglx-mesa0" and "libgl1-mesa-dri". Thought I would give this a go on a now (somewhat old-ish) Odroid XU4 device. It uses the mali t620 graphics chipset which I believe is in those panfrost drivers. I used the image file "Armbian_21.08.1_Odroidxu4_bullseye_current_5.4.142.img.xz". I did notice that the older kernel in that image (5.4.x) did not seem to detect anything to do with panfrost. So I upgraded the kernel via "apt install linux-image-edge-odroidxu4". This gives a much newer kernel version - 5.13.12 . This then does detect the panfrost/t620 gpu: aaaaa@odroidxu4:~$ dmesg | grep panfrost [ 1.079114] panfrost 11800000.gpu: clock rate = 400000000 [ 1.081656] panfrost 11800000.gpu: [drm:panfrost_devfreq_init] Failed to register cooling device [ 1.081812] panfrost 11800000.gpu: mali-t620 id 0x620 major 0x0 minor 0x1 status 0x0 [ 1.081829] panfrost 11800000.gpu: features: 00000000,10206400, issues: 00000000,21eee400 [ 1.081844] panfrost 11800000.gpu: Features: L2:0x07110206 Shader:0x00000000 Tiler:0x00000809 Mem:0x1 MMU:0x00002830 AS:0xf JS:0x7 [ 1.081859] panfrost 11800000.gpu: shader_present=0x3f l2_present=0x11 [ 1.085234] [drm] Initialized panfrost 1.1.0 20180908 for 11800000.gpu on minor 1 aaaaa@odroidxu4:~$ Unfortunatly it dosen't seem to be quite "there" yet however as mesa dosen't want to quite work correctly; aaaaa@odroidxu4:~$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL OpenGL vendor string: Mesa/X.org OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1, 128 bits) OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.3.5 OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50 OpenGL core profile context flags: (none) OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile OpenGL core profile extensions: OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 20.3.5 OpenGL shading language version string: 1.40 OpenGL context flags: (none) OpenGL extensions: OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.3.5 OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20 OpenGL ES profile extensions: I did try even having this (and not having anything at all) in /etc/X11/xorg.conf Section "ServerFlags" Option "AutoAddGPU" "off" Option "Debug" "dmabuf_capable" EndSection Section "OutputClass" Identifier "Lima" MatchDriver "meson" Driver "modesetting" Option "PrimaryGPU" "true" EndSection Can't seem to get it to switch from llvmpipe to the panfrost driver however. A quick check by doing something with 3D (eg torcs) gives a low framerate of about 5 or 6 fps. So it seems as if it is *almost* working but not quite. Any thoughts on this one? Consider this not quite asking for help more a sort of a "brain dump". I just wondered if the drivers now that they are in debian might possibly work and if not as seems the case this all might help someone out who has more on this subject than I do. BTW I used the following websites to try to work this all out: https://wiki.debian.org/PanfrostLima https://forum.armbian.com/topic/13773-panfrost-on-s912/ https://forum.khadas.com/t/vim2-running-full-desktop-graphics-with-panfrost/7804 ljones0

Hello all! And no by an old arm box I don't mean a box full of proshetic limbs! :-) . I'm referring to this device: http://rikomagic.co.uk/linux_mini_pcs.html https://www.cnx-software.com/2014/09/25/rikomagic-announces-mk902ii-le-ubuntu-mini-pc-powered-by-rockchip-rk3288-soc/ The device was badged as a "RKM Mk902II" and claims to have a rk3288. Dug it out today (it has sat unused and untouched for quite a while). Found that its plsatic box which has that strange gunk that is applied to to the box to make it look "shiny" has started to break down so it has become sticky. Anyway since I am clearing things out I thought I'd have one last go at booting a different OS on this device. I have never head much luck ever since I bought one of these devices booting it off a microsd card. Something called linuxium could do this and I have an old 4GB microsd which will boot .... an ancient version of ubuntu. But this was all a long time ago. I did see here that there is a version of armbian for the rk3288. But it did not boot correctly (no display) but if I look at that armbian image I see there are several .dtb files in /boot/dtb . Snag is - is how can you find out which one your system uses? Is there some kind of special tool? Is it the case that not all rk3288s are exactly the same? (BTW this device is not a firefly device, nor a R69 it is ..... unknown!). Any help much appreciated! ljones

Hello all! Noticing a problem with the latest versions of armbian (I'm using the files avaliable here. In particular I was using the "bullseye_current" image however I also tried some of the files in the archive. Unfortunatly wifi dosen't seem to be quite 100% in these images -- I'm unable to connect to the internet via wifi and I'm also finding the m2 zero can barely find any wifi devices at all. I did notice these errors though; [ 8.565750] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac43430-sdio for chip BCM43430/1 [ 8.588984] brcmfmac mmc1:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43430-sdio.sinovoip,bpi-m2-zero.txt failed with error -2 [ 8.589001] brcmfmac mmc1:0001:1: Falling back to sysfs fallback for: brcm/brcmfmac43430-sdio.sinovoip,bpi-m2-zero. txt [ 9.238796] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac43430-sdio for chip BCM43430/1 [ 9.329007] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_process_clm_blob: no clm_blob available (err=-11), device may have limited channels a vailable [ 9.333307] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_preinit_dcmds: Firmware: BCM43430/1 wl0: Mar 30 2016 11:30:56 version 7.45.77.h8.4 FW ID 01-ee8a6268 Anyone know how to fix this at all? ljones

So after looking at this website am I correct in thinking that there's no xorg accel/drivers for the R69 until the 5.2 kernel? ljones

Ok I gave that image a go for the rk3288 device on several different microsd cards, but it failed to boot from any of them. However I managed to find some old bits 'n' pieces here and here it consitsts of downloading a script which writes some boot files to a micro sd card and also someone's ancient pre-rolled version of ubuntu. That worked although I am not sure quite how everything ties up -- that's the first time it has worked. If anyone wants it I could always put up an image of the micro sd I created with those old files and scripts for the rk3288/mk902ii. It worked on my old 4GB card so at least that should make it a bit smaller, more if I compress and upload. As for the dtb files was meaning is there some way I can use the device itself as I don't have any dtb files for the R69 at all. ljones

How would I go about getting the relevent files from my R69 though? Or do they have to be done manually (presumably android uses some other method for booting?). All this reminds me of a problem I had years back with a similar (in form factor) device, I believe it was an RK3288 based device, "MK902II". Closest thing to it I think was a device called a 'firefly' but my device was just too different (it did not boot, like the R69). Might eventually be worth retrying what with the situation with dtb files and microsd cards. ljones

One more thing -- I managed to even get xorg and xfce to start on mine(!). But X dosen't seem to have any acceleration however. After looking around online I see (if this is correct btw as I'm still not 100% on what the CPU is on my device without pulling the heatsink off x.x ) the H2+ CPU and H3 CPU are very similar - it's just that the H2+ is a cheapo version of the H3 with no 4K output and gigabit ethernet. At a guess they both use the same video chipset (Mali400) but there dosen't seem to be any x accel for mali 400 in armbian? I did try to install xserver-xorg-video-armsoc-sun4i but that just resulted in no X and errors in /var/log/Xorg.0.log, e.g. Cannot set the DRM interface version/Cannot open a connection with the DRM - Permission denied . Currently btw I'm waiting for delivery on another new micro sd this time an integral. WIll be intrested to try to write the image on another machine onto the new samsung microsd I got and this integral and see if there's any differences. ljones

I'll give it a go again but I did try both etcher and dd and they both gave me the same results. I've not tried it recently but even using a different PC resulted in the same thing happening. One guess - maybe not every micro sd is created equally? I'm really not sure but from memory don't some of these arm-based devices require some sort of boot code to be written at a very specific place on a microsd? Maybe that's the problem or prehaps the data "ends up in the wrong place" so to speak as (for example) one 16gb card and another might be just very slightly different capacities. That's just a guess. ljones

Intresting that one worked for me on the integral micro sd - I managed to boot to a login prompt (though I've not tried it beyond that). I did try also that image on the new samsung 16gb, but it didn't work on that one. ljones

I tried the branad new samsung 16gb btw. It failed to boot like many of the others. BTW Here is a picture of the sd cards. ljones

Well I decided to give it another go, and this time I seem to have gotten slightly further. I managed to find the one-and-only local copy of the image that I used originally (I'd remembered to copy it onto a *very* old and painfully slow kingston 1gb usb memory stick). As a precaution however I also decided to buy a new sd card writer (and a new micro sd card) just in case the one I have was playing up for some reason; I'm now using it. I've been trying it and my device (R69) seems to really *hate* some of my micro sd cards. I tried a sandisk ultra 8gb to start with and it refused point blank to boot from it. A different microsd, a 32gb integral got a little further (I can see messages and the armbian boot logo) but it dosen't get much further. Next up was an ancient 16gb sandisk (very slooow) microsd which booted, gave a green screen after the armbian logo and then stopped working. I then tried a newer sandisk 32gb (but still not very fast) which like the sandisk ultra 8gb failed to boot. I also have a brand new 16gb samsung pro to try out although I'll have to do that later. Never come across such an amazingly picky device! BTW the image I used was "Armbian_5.75_Beelinkx2_Debian_stretch_next_4.19.20.img" . ljones

If my device is a wechip one then one thing I thought about doing is trying to see if there was a copy of the original android firmware about for it, download it and then write it to a micro sd card. Since I installed a terminal program on my device in android if it boots from microsd to android then it would be clear to see as the terminal program wouldn't be there. I did find wechips' support website but they don't seem to support their own device; no mention of an R69 device on the support page, and although that sticker on my device says "MXQ-4K" and there's a MXQ-4K device on their website you might think that was it, but that link references files for an RK3229-based device.....unless my device really is an RK3229 device and the whole android image that is installed on this device is set up to lie about what it really is... Did have a look for rk3229 linux or kodi images to try but could only find a "ReSpeaker Core V2.0 rk3229" device and no the supplied images didn't boot, they were ignored by my R69 box which booted into android. Links: https://respeaker.io/rk3229_core/ https://v2.fangcloud.com/share/7395fd138a1cab496fd4792fe5?folder_id=188000207914&lang=en Not sure of the relevence but another link; https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/rockchip-based-tv-players/rk3229-devices/firmware-roms-tools-bg/672259-debian-on-rk3229-is-it-possible On trying to identify this device - I suspect like the other posters' device (above) the other side of the board that contains the CPU will also have a heatsink on it making actual identification impossible without tearing off the heatsink... For now I'm going to have to give up on this one :-( . I can't identify the CPU and neither h2+/h3 nor rk3229 images will boot. For now this device uses a "?" cpu. ljones

I managed to get the top off the device as it appears to only be clipped on. Here's one side of the board; ljones

:-( I don't know. I'm not even getting that far. Any attempt to boot from the SD just results in an empty screen - about the only thing I do see if I try to go off the microsd card is from the display itself, "No signal". I'm starting to think my box is faulty, it would not suprise me as a lot of these boxes are cheapo chinese devices. Only other thing I can think of is maybe the way this device boots gets locked down or corrupted in some way? ljones

Still no joy with booting. Here's what android has to say about the CPU btw; $ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l) BogoMIPS : 48.00 Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae CPU implementer : 0x41 CPU architecture: 7 CPU variant : 0x0 CPU part : 0xc07 CPU revision : 5 processor : 1 model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l) BogoMIPS : 48.00 Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae CPU implementer : 0x41 CPU architecture: 7 CPU variant : 0x0 CPU part : 0xc07 CPU revision : 5 processor : 2 model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l) BogoMIPS : 48.00 Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae CPU implementer : 0x41 CPU architecture: 7 CPU variant : 0x0 CPU part : 0xc07 CPU revision : 5 Hardware : sun8iw7 Revision : 0000 Serial : 14107892c71064360753

Intresting but how do I go about getting the dtb file from the device? I'm also going to try a different computer and see if it is something there which is causing a problem.

Hello all! I have one of these (possibly!) a sunvell R69 tv- box (it says R69 on top and has a green line going around it). I did try to check on its built-in android to see what CPU is in this box; I couldn't really find a 100% answer but it is either an H2+ or H3. I did download and manage to get to work one of the armbian images (but I cannot remember which one it was) but then later used the micro sd for other purposes. I then tried downloading the armbian image for the orange pi one (I can't remember if that was the one I chose earlier; I've seen others use this image for 'a' R69 and some say it works) and writing it but my R69 refuses to boot; all I get is a blank screen, nothing. I've also tried different micro SD cards, but again nothing. The built-in android still works and can read from the micro sd card. Which is the correct image? Or is my R69 broken? BTW I have attached an actual image of the device (I believe it to be the correct device; R69, H2+ or H3 based). Update: I did manage to get it to boot again but only briefly. I used an image ment for the beelink x2 (Armbian 5.75 beelink x2 stretch 4.19.20). I saw the armbian logo and some messages but it then "died" and after that blank screen. Power cycling the device using the same micro sd does nothing and the blank screen remains (internal android still running btw). ljones

Intresting answers mind you if I could use a pi zero or a pi 2 or 3 but wired I would. Did not realise that pizero was just a DNS server I was thinking pretty much maybe even for something along those lines high speed would be needed. A firewall with packet inspection sounds like an even better (I'm guessing here) idea although I have no idea on even how to try that or set one up! ljones

And no, that isn't supposed to be a rude title :-) ! Let me try to explain. What I'm trying to do is to have some sort of device run pi-hole. I have tried this in the past with success but when I last tried it I was using a raspberry pi zero and a usb wifi adapter - so it really only worked for one PC. What I'm now trying to do is to try to do the same for my entire home network. My guess is that I need some sort of small computer to put in front of the first device the internet touches (a router). So if I put a small arm based computer just before the router running pi-hole that (in theroy) should mean all the devices after the pi-hole get the black-hole ad blocking from the pi-hole. Snag is though I'm at a bit of a loss as to which device I should buy. Clearly a raspberry pi zero isn't going to be anywhere near what is needed (plus I'm hoping *not* to have wifi on such a device for security reasons). I've also read that if you try to use USB (I'd need one usb ethernet adapter) and ethernet on the bigger raspberry pis - since they are both being done from the same chip the result is that they both get slowed down badly. My guess as to what I need is something with no wifi and two gigabit ethernet ports - one port connects to the internet itself, the other to the router and that can run armbian, and thus pi-hole (it also appears that pi-hole should work from any device running debian, not just a raspberry pi!). I've seen one such device which might do the job - the clearfog base and fortunatly it appears to be supported by armbian as well. Only snag is that as I look through the forums it appears to have some nasty eMMC issues which looks like it could cause trouble. Or another idea - use an odrioid MC1 solo although it does have gigabit ethernet the second ethernet port would have to be via USB and from what I can gather usb 2.0 ethernet devices aren't particularly stable or very fast. One other option is to repurpose an old thin client and use that but then that probably will also only have single ethernet (and probably not gigabit either) plus although such a thing uses less power than a full x86 desktop, it is still uses a lot of power compared to small arm based computer. And where possible I want to save power and try not to have another "gas-guzzler" x86 device running. Has anyone tried such a thing before at all? ljones

I did read just recently that the etna_viv drivers (which seem to support the GC2000 video chip in the Cubox i4) are now officially part of the linux kernel starting with the latest 4.5 kernel. Wonder if that'd work at all? ljones

Apologies for bringing up an old thread. But I've just downloaded the latest (jessie) version for my cubox-i4, but there still seems to be no 2d acceleration. I'm using it right now to post this message up and I'm using a lighter-weight web browser (qupzilla) but the device is still struggling with video. Even resizing windows seems to be sluggish at best. I found this ( http://repo.r00t.website/BSP:/Cubox-i/Debian_Jessie/) repo here but as to how to install some of those packages I'm not sure or if they'd even fix the problem. I did try but ended up with getting dependency errors (messages stating about a dependency but it is not going to be installed). Also on the armbian/cubox page ( http://www.armbian.com/cubox-i/) there's no mention of acceleration working or not working btw. I did see this post - http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/324-cubox-jessie-video-drivers/?hl=acceleration- however it refers to wheezy, not jessie. I also note that person installed "imx6-config" though if I look at that repo.r00t I see that file and many others though that is how I get the dependency issues as well. I added this to my /etc/apt/soures.list ----> deb http://repo.jm0.eu/BSP:/Cubox-i/Debian_Jessie/./ btw so as to add that repo to the list. (I know the URL is different but it seems to point to the right address; repo.r00t.website....). ljones

Would that mean that the desktop systems (eg xfce,kde and soforth) would also need to be rebuilt? ljones