Willy Moto

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.

After some experimentation with different options out there, I decided to create my own simple solution. I called it yafspiano (Yet Another FluidSynth Piano) and it is available in my github: https://github.com/fizban99/yafspiano
 
I must say I was surprised at the low latency you can get. I set jack to 2 periods of 64 frames (that's a theoretical latency of 2.6ms) and I don't seem to get xruns.
 
I included detailed instructions for installing it in Armbian, including how to install Armbian on the QPlus.

OMG that's an understatement.  Impressive article.

Hi all, it's 2021 and this famous reset problem is still a problem with the Allwinner A64. I've made a long article about everything I tried to get a A64 reset to initiate, even low-level register writes, but I'd like to get another set of eyes on this. Maybe I'm missing something obvious?

Armbian have historically been much more geared towards "server/headless" usage, for many different reasons.  It has taken a much longer time not only for upstream development of underlying graphical libraries / drivers to mature, but also for us (the Armbian project itself) to come up with a sensible implementation that would fit nicely into our existing build framework.
 
However, this work has been going on in the background for quite some time already. 
 
Announcement
 
Finally, the time is right to announce we are publishing our initial implementation of these "desktop" features!
 
Warning!

We are only announcing this here on our own forums for the time being, as this is still early days.  In fact, at this point we are still mainly looking for testers. You should consider this an alpha quality release at this time!
 
What works so far?

Features we plan to develop works, we are already hunting bugs for months, but they are certainly still present. Remember, we are not looking for bugs that are tied to specific hardware feature, but bugs that are linked to the build process, userland and basic desktop functionality. 
 
Report bugs in Armbian build framework section: https://forum.armbian.com/forum/12-armbian-build-framework/
 
Currently, the following Desktop Environments (DEs) are considered to have early "support":
 

 

 
In addition, there are more DEs which should be considered very much WIP, in other words, not really fully working (yet), but we designed a system that can have unlimited variants.
 
Help Wanted!
 
These changes are wide ranging and touch many parts of the code.  Therefore even if you don't plan on using any "desktop" features, your testing can help to find bugs, even in "server" versions (as eventually this code will be merged with master in matter of weeks).
 
If you have been looking for some opportunity to help the project by getting involved a bit more, this could be your chance!

When you notice a problem make a pull request: https://github.com/armbian/build/pulls ( currently sits on a branch "desktop" )
 
Going forward we will be looking for additional desktop maintainers.  Currently the plan is for the Armbian core team to maintain the framework and perhaps settle on 2-3 DE options.  Any which are to be considered in addition to that, will need to come with some commitment to ongoing maintenance by whoever is interested in those additional desktops.
 
Join #armbian-devel IRC channel for development level chat and strengthen the desktop team. Welcome!
 
Getting Started
 
If this is your very first time using the build scripts, start with general instructions. If you are already familiar with the basics of building, some additional detailed instructions pertaining to desktop features can be found here.  You will also need to add:
 
./compile.sh LIB_TAG=desktop EXPERT=yes  
If you don't have option or desire to build from sources, you can also check if your board has nightly images - we are compiling them from this new development branch for a few weeks now - for the desktop you want to try / see:


 
Documentation
 
For end users, if you just want to build image interactively and by choosing supported OS variants, things hasn't changed much and should just work while advanced documentation has changed significantly. Its pretty much WIP and is scattered around in those files:
 
https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/desktop/config/desktop/README.md
https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/125
https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/98
 
Additional
 
During this change we also added most recent userland(s):
 

Armbian is an established Linux for single board computers that is used in enterprise, IOT micro services and various hobby deployments. Recent desktop improvements bring the platform on-par with key players in the Linux desktop arena while keeping the key advantage – you can easily build your own Linux distribution.
 
 
 
 
Armbian provides stable releases every three months. They are driven by CURRENT LTS kernel. Adventurers which likes rolling releases, can check EDGE releases which are using latest daily kernel builds with fresh packages from sid, hirsute or impish userland.
 
Armbian has powerful build system which can build a whole Linux distribution, an OS image or a kernel. Key advantages are simplicity, speed and excellent hardware support. Provides native or cross compilation.
 
This release is hard work of exceptional individuals who have contributed their time and expertise into this release. Many thanks to – in alphabetic order:

@balbes150 @AristoChen @belegdol @Werner@Heisath @iav @Igor @Icenowy @lanefu @jock @piter75@Rich Neese@rpardini@going @tkaiser @tparys @TonyMac32 @Azq2 @henkiejan1 @juanesf @psztoch, @redchenjs @Uglymotha

Special thanks to users and vendors @orangepi, @friendlyelec, @khadas and @olimex that understand the importance of our work and supports the project with donations of cash, hardware & expertise.

Enjoy!
 
Highlights
 
minimal, server or XFCE, Cinnamon and Budgie desktop fast and effective automated language selection on first run regular stable and daily beta & EDGE updates CLI is powered with ZSH or BASH added automated kernel upgrade on EDGE 5.13.y kernels added mainline based SPI boot support for Odroid HC4 added Qemu virtual Armbian builds added CSC images for Tinkerboard 2, Rockpi N10, added ZFS upgrade to v2.1 improved Github Actions CI and CDN network added Cinnamon and Budgie desktop enabled 3D support wherever its possible and works reasonble well added Khadas VIM1-3 & Edge boards, Avnet Microzed enabled VPU support for Rockchip added legacy kernel support for OrangepiZero2, Nvidia Jetson declare Ubuntu Hirsute and Debian Bullseye packages as stable added Ubuntu Impish and Debian Sid as beta build targets added KDE plasma DE as a beta build target
Details:
 
What’s Left
 
long term armbian-config refactoring upgrading Rockchip u-boot from 2010.y to latest resolving Allwinner boot troubles on last u-boot enable 3D on Meson G12 / SM1 infrastructure improvements: mirros, runners, publishing.  
Details:
 
Tough Decisions
 
Odroid C4/HC4 boot problem has to remain unresolved in CURRENT 5.10.y kernel since fixing it would break Khadas boards. Problem was properly solved in EDGE kernel. We had to disable 3D on latest Amlogic boards due to instability Leaving behind published Deepin, Enlightenment, Gnome, i3, KDE plasma, Mate, Xmonad desktop due to space constrains and lack of maintenance. These options are still available within the build tool.  
Known problems
 
XFCE desktop is missing package gvfs-backends and xarchiver bullseye doesn’t properly detect locales Helios64 eMMC IO errors with CURRENT kernel OrangepiZero2 EDGE kernel based image doesn’t boot. Will be fixed in bug fix release.  

Hi all.
The Panfrost GPU driver is finally starting to mature for Mali G52 on the Odroid N2/N2+ and Khadas VIM3.
It doesn't perform great yet. But this will improve with time. In this video I show how to activate the panfrost driver on Armbian mainline.
 
To activate panfrost :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade sudo reboot Khadas VIM3 support is in the making. This also works on any other mainline image.
Greetings.
 
 

­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!
 
This thread is to give stable and mature long-term range support to rk3318/rk3328 found in many tv boxes in Armbian project as Community Supported Configuration (CSC).
The current work is mainlined into Armbian project, but your mileage may vary; most recent developments live on my personal fork on github -> here <-
 
Important notes: is just a personal opinion, but apparently widely supported, that rk3318 chip is not an official rockchip part. They probably are scrap rk3328 parts which have not passed conformance tests but are sold anyway to tv boxes manufacturers. They don’t reach the same operating frequency of the rk3328, have much higher leakage currents (and thus higher temperatures) and often the boards they are installed on are low quality with low quality components, in fact a very very common issue is the eMMC failure due to bad parts and bad soldering. So said, I personally suggest not to buy any rk3318 tv box, but instead find a properly supported SBC (Single Board Computer) if you need a reliable product. In the unfortunate case you already have such product, this thread may help you have some fun with them.
 
What works:
    • Works on RK3318 and RK3328 TV boxes with DDR3 memories
    • Mainline u-boot
    • Mainline ATF provided as Trusted Execution Environment
    • All 4 cores are working
    • Ethernet
    • Serial UART (configured at stock 1.5Mbps)
    • Thermals and frequency scaling
    • OTG USB 2.0 port (also as boot device!)
    • EHCI/OHCI USB 2.0 ports and XHCI USB 3.0 ports
    • MMC subsystem (including , SD and sdio devices)
    • Hardware video acceleration (fully supported via RKMPP on legacy kernel, support via hantro and rkvdec kernel driver on mainline)
    • Various WIFI over SDIO are supported
    • Full acceleration on legacy kernel and mainline kernel
    • U-boot boot order priority: first the sdcard, then the USB OTG port and eventually the internal ; you can install u-boot (and the whole system) in the internal and u-boot will always check for images on external sdcard/USB first.
 
Unbrick:
Technically, 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 clock pin on the PCB. The procedure is explained here for rk322x, but for rk3318/28 is the same.

In most of the rk3318/28 boards, shorting the clock pin is difficult or impossible because eMMC are BGA chips with no exposed pins. Pay double attention when burning something on the internal flash memory and always test first the image booting from the sdcard to be sure it works before burning anything in internal flash.
 
This is a list of posts where forum users have been able to spot the eMMC clock pin to trigger the maskrom mode:
H96 Max+ (board signature: RK3318_V1.4) by @Gausus X88 PRO 10 (board signature: X88_PRO_B) by @mathgaming Ninkbox N1 Max RK3318 by @enigmasphinx  
 
Partecipation and debugging:
If you want to partecipate or need help debugging issues, do not hesitate to share your experience with the installation procedure of the boxes.
In case of issues and missed support, provide as many as possible of these things is very useful to try and bring support for an unsupported board:
 
some photos of both sides of the board. Details of the eMMC, DDR and Wifi chips are very useful! upload the device tree binary (dtb) of your device. We can understand a lot of things of the hardware from that small piece of data; and alternative is a link to the original firmware (you can do a full backup with the Multitool); dmesg and other logs (use armbianmonitor -u that automatically collects and uploads the logs online) attach a serial converter to the device and provide the output of the serial port;  
Multimedia:
Mainline kernel: 3D acceleration is provided by Lima driver and is already enabled. Hardware video decoding: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/19258-testing-hardware-video-decoding-rockchip-allwinner/ Legacy kernel: 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 (via SD card):
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 /TVB/ boards and select "rk3318-box" from the list.
   
Prebuilt images:
Archived images - built by Armbian servers and GPG-signed: https://imola.armbian.com/dl/rk3318-box/archive/ Nightly stables - built from trunk by Armbian servers and GPG-signed: https://github.com/armbian/community Stables provided by me (unsigned): https://users.armbian.com/jock/rk3318/  
Multitool:
Multitool - A small but powerful image for RK3318/RK3328 TV Box maintenance. Download it from here  
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 NTFS 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 rk3318-config to configure the board specific options 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 , the box may not boot anymore forcing you to follow the unbrick section at the top of this post.
 
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 flash; 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 rk3318-config to configure the board specific options Run armbian-config to configure timezone, locales and other personal options, or also to transfer the SD Card installation to internal ; Congratulations, Armbian is running from SD Card!  
Tutorial - How to install Armbian on your TV Box (by @awawa) :
https://www.hyperhdr.eu/2022/01/tv-box-mania-i-part-x88-pro-10.html
A note about boot device order:
With Armbian also comes mainline U-boot. If you install Armbian, the bootloader will look for valid bootable images in this order:
External SD Card External USB Stick in OTG Port Internal  
The Multitool does not boot / How to burn image directly on eMMC:
 
Some boards have the sdcard attached to an auxiliary (called also sdmmc_ext or external) controller which is not the common one.
Forum findings declare that those boards are not able to boot from sdcard with stock firmware and they neither do in maskrom mode: the stock firmware always boots even if you put the multitool on sdcard.
 
In such case, burning images directly on eMMC is the only way to have a working Armbian installation.
You can follow these instructions by @fabiobassa to burn images directly on eMMC:
 
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/17597-csc-armbian-for-rk3318rk3328-tv-box-boards/?do=findComment&comment=130453
 
Notes and special hardware:
Script to change DDR memory frequency here Wireless chip AP2734, SP2734, HY2734C and similars: they are clones of AmPAK AP6334 which is combo wifi + bluetooth of broadcom BCM4334/B0 chips. You may need a special nvram file, instructions by @paradigman are here  
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 rk3318 into armbian would not have begun without his support! @hexdump for his precious support in early testing, ideas and suggestions
@MX10.AC2Nfor his patience in testing mxq-rk3328-d4 board support
All the rockhip64 maintainers at Armbian project who have done and do most of the work to support the platform
 
 

Hi,
 
I'm quite new to all this Linux Arm thing and I don't have any setup to create the build myself.
I do all the setup from a Windows machine and that's mostly why I haven't got a proper setup to try my own build.
I'm learning a ton about the A20 and linux, this is quite a change from my daily "coding on windows machine" job!
 
I've been trying to run some of Igor images on that Chinese Android TV box : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Hot-Smart-TV-box-A20-Dual-Core-Google-Android-Allwinner-Cortex-A7-1GB-4GB-Flash/1714972998.html
 
From what I can tell with the PCB out of the shell, it has the "basics" of most of the supported board, but the included wifi adapter is USB and it's the same RTL8118ETV as the Orange Pi A20.
I can provide high resolution picture of the PCB if needed. 
 
I can run the Cubieboard 2 built without any issue, apart from the missing Wifi. 
lsusb doesn't list the onboard wifi, but I can use a random d-link usb module and it work flawlessly.
 
As I'd like to use the internet wifi module, I've dug some more into it and tried the Orange Pi built
This one doesn't load fully and the kernel stop at "Waiting for root device /dev/mmcblk0p1"
 
I'm using the same SD card for both build, went back and fort 2-3 time between Cubieboard2 build and Orange Pi and I always get the same result.
I've also tried the Banana R1 built at it use the same wifi module (from what I can tell).
 
Looking at the source, I'm quite sure it shouldn't be to hard to figure out how to enable the "onboard" wifi on the Cubieboard2 build or "fix" my loading error on the Orange Pi one.
 
Having spent 2 nights on this, I came here to request any help you can provide.
 
Thanks a lot for all the effort that was put into making those script/builds.
 
Edit :
 
I found some more info about the Tv box here : http://linux-sunxi.org/TXCZ_A20     I have V3.0, but it look exactly the same.
How hard would it be to load the provided fex ? I've played a bit with Fecx on windows, but didn't get anywhere.
 
Edit 2:
 
This is "exactly" the same board http://linux-sunxi.org/YBKJ_A20minus the optical out connect (replaced by a flimsy wired on/off switch on my device)

Hello @Werner,
you have been right. The patch was not included even if I updated the repo which was strange. So started over, deleted everything, cloned it and compiled it with with:
sudo ./compile.sh BOARD=espressobin BRANCH=current RELEASE=focal BUILD_MINIMAL=no BUILD_DESKTOP=no KERNEL_ONLY=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE=sha,gpg,img  
This time I could find the patch in "cache/sources/linux-mainline/linux-5.10.y/drivers/pci/quirks.c" and guess what. I could use the SATA-Controller card with all HDDs connected and no kernel panic appeared!
So everything is working. Thank you a lot!
 
But I guess this bug is now only patched for espressobin, right? Basically it's a kernel bug which affects nearly all SBCs offering mPCI-E slots, when using SATA-Controller cards. Since AS-Media is the only vendor I could find offering such chips it might be good to have this patch in all board patch-sets until the latest linux kernel where the bug has been fixed lands in Armbian base.