shippy

Thanks again for the explanation, especially bullet #3 re: S905X. So Linux video hw decoding for S905X is same as for Android here. Thus it seems to me the VPU should easily handle 4 h264 720p streams with some overhead with Ubuntu multi-seat capabilities with AV and HDMI outputs on an S905X Android Box; plus handle light server/OpenWrt tasks via the quadcore CPU with SMP multicore processing. Question: If balbes150 legacy Xenial v5.41 (April 6) Armbian runs on S905X, shouldn't this mean S905X has pretty good Linux support?

Thanks much for your details. I agree fully with your CPU remark. If you could comment on my 4K@60/30fps questions numbered above for RK or Amlogic, I would appreciate much Btw my Android Box Linux server would have light duty, running with OpenWrt.

Thanks for your remarks !

Good insights all. I was calling the Omega2 an SBC, not ESP32. My point is that Omega2 is a much better machine price-performance wise and does all ESP32 stuff and more, except BT. - So you are saying that Armbian multimedia support wise per JMCC, RK3288 is a better choice than S905/912? - How about the RK3229 v S905X/W? Does RK 3288/3229 have SMP multicore or big.LITTLE support under Armbian? I have been hearing online that RK is more aggressive than Amlogic with open source and kernel updates. I did notice JMCC thread(s) on RK but wasn't sure... I would like to use Armbian on an Android Box simply because it then becomes a server, IoT device, WiFi AP/mesh, USB2+ OTG master/slave port(s) plus Kodi streamer all in one at a very good price-performance point. Not to mention Alexa/GA SDKs voice activation. Even Android over Linux via alpha Anbox.io snaps. Ubuntu based distro should also support Multi-seat. And if S905X/W VPU supports multi streaming ( per above Zador comment), it is a good bet RK3288 VPU also does, competitively- maybe even RK3229 VPU as well. With Android OS all I will get is good Kodi streaming. And Android apps (no dedicated use), maybe GA in dev mode ( Android TV OS is far away.)

Thanks for this insight...quite a fine print ! Apparently then the HW support for multi-streaming exists. So the answer lies in how the v5.41 legacy Armbian distro works per my questions above.

I see. Does S905X/W have only one VPU or 5 like GPU cores? With Kodi streaming I just see need for decoding. Btw, Kodi v17+ has dropped support for proprietary APIs (e.g., Amlogic ones) and only uses Android APIs, under Android OS. So if Android OS now supports S905X/W hardware acceleration, then likely Android OS is a better choice than Linux instead.

Agreed. Well Kodi wiki should be more clear, but inserting your qualifiers would make the original statement invalid anyway ! Any insights into my above questions (not related to OPi or CVBS)?

I hear you but Kodi says you are better off installing Linux than Android on Android Boxes! See my reply to Zador above, and the useful chart/notes on Android hardware for Kodi updated Feb 18. https://kodi.wiki/view/Android_hardware RPi has always been expensive and the $5 RPi0 was just a joke. The $9 true SBC CHIP went belly up owing to mispricing. $2+ was still affordable and they could have upgraded to multicore with another $2 increase. There were high hopes for Orange Pi Zero but their WiFi chipset and other sojourns into the unknown have dissipated their brand totally. Now it will be interesting to see onion.io Omega 2 at $7.50 competing with the $5-6 ESP32, with way better SBC specs. ESP8266 is a marvel at $1.50, but ESP32 is just hyped, IMHO.

Now here is another area of major confusion. See 3.2 last bullet vs your comment: https://kodi.wiki/view/supported_hardware Kodi is officially saying that we are better off installing Linux instead of Android on an Android Box ! So who can we believe here, given all the hard volunteer work here and on other volunteer forums where very knowledgeable people reside ??? Anyways, back to my basic question another way... 1. When S905X/W Box vendors say it supports 4K@60/30 fps do they mean it for Android OS 4.4+ only, not Linux? 2. With the latest legacy Xenial distro, balbes150 April 6 v5.41 under 3.14.29, how close can we get to 4K@60/30 fps for Kodi 17.6? 3. If multiseat Ubuntu can work with v5.41 kind distro, I am more interested in 720p H264/AAC multiple streams. So trying to guestimate what is doable with some overhead as equivalent processing ability regardless of how many CPU/VPU-GPU cores actually get used. 3. Is above with single core or with full SMP multicore processing, and/or with full pentacore VPU-GPU processing under v5.41? ( Don't know the extent of VPU hardware support vs CPU software rendering.)

Compared to potential profits, such software development would be pennies to the dollar: always a matter of comparison, price vs performance. There are reasons RPi has taken off despite high prices, Orange/Banana/ other Pis have not. And they include not just good chipset to board vendor relations, but also market vision, e.g., Amlogic and Rockchip vs Allwinner in the Android Box market.

I stand by what I said. Searching hundreds of posts under various threads is not very productive, especially if only #1 of my concerns were being addressed. Wouldn't it be nice if the main contributors who already are spending time answering lots of redundant questions start a wiki that is periodically updated to address main developments ? But then read my remark about techs. Those posts can be quite confusing mixing facts with opinions even from well meaning contributors. For instance JMCC (with many admirable contributions) states that 4K@60fps cannot be done by any Amlogic SoC but then says that is what VPUs (part of the SoC) are meant for. Now he is trying to help but what he really meant was that no Amlogic CPU is that powerful. Of course CPUs need be supplemented by VPU/GPUs for graphics processing; and if these video units are not hardware supported by the OS, then the CPU takes that burden and cannot handle it well. In any case most of my questions ( after #1 question) have been answered in this thread and via further research elsewhere. Bottom line is that these chip vendors are way behind with Linux kernel updates. Not much progress over last 3 years. Why do they want to hurt their own market as Allwinner foolishly has to save a few pennies, but lose big in growth markets, is their problem.

Yes I did see many threads including: If you had read them you would have realized they don't answer my questions. Just so you know.

JMCC and Zador, Thanks for good answers. I did check the Amlogic Meson project pages and the BayLibre slides, but it all is still quite dense- I suppose techs are not exactly very communicative beyond their small circle! Not clear to me if the S905* supports "full" hardware video decoding if not encoding, under Ubuntu. They talk about video hardware "support" but then say not yet. I do understand that such video processing *should* take place in the VPU (which may or may not be part of GPU), but then if video hardware acceleration is not supported, then software rendering can take place on the CPU cores instead.

Title says all. Please see here my comment (#5) from 1 day ago...can't find a reference on this site: https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/01/24/mainline-linux-on-amlogic-s905-s905x-s912-soc-2018-status-update/ So: 1. Is there any Armbian wiki or update summary that tells us about progress on video acceleration support ( specifically for Kodi video streaming) and Mali GPU hardware support under Ubuntu desktop? 2. Does Ubuntu desktop Armbian distros support SMP multi core processing for this Amlogic series? 3. What does it mean to say, e.g., that a S905X/W Android Box (e.g., A95X, MXQ Pro) supports 4K@60/30fps? Does this refer to a single core or multiple ones being supported? 4. This leads to whether there is Armbian distros support for Amlogic S905* Ubuntu Multi-seat feature, whereby you can run multiple and concurrent instances of an app with each assigned its own set of I/O ( keyboard-mouse, remote control, HDMI, AV etc.) through Xorg/other driver. There are multiple online references to folks claiming to be running 3-4 concurrent Kodi video streaming instances on a single Linux PC, each with unique channel outputs.

I stay away from social media. And yes I tried on Ubuntu Linux on my laptop but it didn't work- could have been a driver issue since the device wasn't recognized in the first place, but worked well on my Android phone. So that is why I ask- someone might have had better luck. So far my Orange Pi experience hasn't been great, but I am willing to keep trying a bit more.

This I asked originally here, but in the wrong topic: Question: Now do these cheap but very popular BT Android/ iOS remotes-gamepads work on boards under Armbian, or Debian/Linux in general ? Quote this

Thanks for replying even though I found out that uUSB OTG can be used for power up, and thus erased the question ! I do know your caveats, just am awake middle of the night trying first boot, after which I will fix the power issue in the proper way in the morning. Right now my multimeter died (so don't want to mess with the YuRobot buck converter MB102 attached to PSU, then use leads to GND/ 5V on Lite GPIO), the 5V, 3A PSUs I have either have wrong jack or are uUSB, and I read warnings online about Lite's slow start etc. But the starting current looks like 500mA, so will try laptop usb port to power via OTG first and wait longer. Then change SD card to one that definitely works, and try again...

OK

So is Orange PI Lite good with WiFi and otherwise in mainline? Can I run media players like OMX, VLC, Kodi etc without 3D acceleration to get 720/1080p video streaming?

OK. But seems like mainline is not good with WiFi or desktop?

So looks like Docker cannot yet be run on H3 based Orange Pis (PC Plus, Lite) with default desktop Jessie builds? Any update on when might above be possible? Will support only be for Jessie and not Ubuntu defaults ?

RE: Attaching to CVBS pads on the Lite? OK, from @cbm801 on Page 1, I can see TVout and LIneOut L/R on PC front/ One back. On the Lite, I did locate, on the back, the TVout and MUTE in the same place as for One. The LineOut L/R, on the Lite front, however are not to the left of the left corner of H3 , but instead to the left of the top corner of H3, below the 2R2 label. A. So TVout is the Video output and LineOut L/R are audio outputs for the RCA cable ? B. I am assuming above pads can be directly attached to the RCA cable, no additional parts required? C. Pads are definitely really tiny, testament to Xunlong design Any non-soldering attachment trick here?

Thanks, noted

Here are cheaper BT dongles x2 for $4.96. Shipped 2 days Prime, and work well with Toshiba BT driver premium (Win7) or Ubuntu: https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Bluetooth-Wireless-Adapter-Bluetoothx2/dp/B003VX3S3Y/ref=sr_1_55?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1495276522&sr=1-55&keywords=bluetooth+dongle The $2 expansion board Zero MIC is also a speaker, so I wated to know about MICs on the mothebroard for other models- they all look the same.

Pogo with proto to do BT USB is a great idea ! For the OPi Lite: 1. Does CVBS (TVout) have pins on the 40 pin header? 2. Is the MIC also a speaker? 3. AliExpress link for working BT dongle and pogo-proto board?