NicoD

Here my review video of the Tanix TX6 TV-Box. I show Android and how to install Armbian onto it.
Greetings,
NicoD

Hi all. I've done a lot of tests with different desktop environments on Armbian.
I wanted an as light as possible desktop environment so I'd have enough ram left to do video rendering with the NanoPi M4(2GB)
I had to try a lot of things to get things working fine. So I wanted to save others that hassle.
 
Setting up Display Manager

First we need a Display Manager. NODM is installed by default. I tried lightdm but couldn't get it to work. So I went for LXDM. With NODM installed I had problems, so I also removed NODM.
To be sure lxdm is configured right, I also manually configure it.
sudo apt install lxdm sudo apt remove nodm sudo dpkg-reconfigure lxdm Install LXDE Desktop
 
Next step is to install the desktop environment you want. There is a problem with some Desktop Environments and LXDM what makes you can't login to some DE's out of the box. That we will resolve later. Easiest is to install lxdm first to be able to configure the others well. And reboot.
sudo apt install lxde sudo reboot Once booted you should be greeted by the Login screen. Here you can choose your different Desktop Environment. Choose LXDE and login.
If you'd try xfce4, then you'd see it doesn't work. To fix this we need to change the file /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop. Use your favorite text editor. I use geany.
 
sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop Somewhere at the top of the file you'll see "Name=Xfce Session". Replace that space with a hyphen to "Name=Xfce-Session" and save the file.
Now you can also login to the default XFCE4 Desktop.
With other desktops this can be the same. Go the the same directory and open the file with the desktop name that doesn't work. Again replace the space with a hyphen
 
Installing different Desktop Environments.
For the Mate desktop I also needed to install the applets, else I got errors at login because of these missing applets
sudo apt install mate-desktop-environment mate-applets For KDE-Plasma
sudo apt install kde-full For Gnome. Modify the file sudo geany /usr/share/xsessions/gnome...
sudo apt install gnome-session sudo update-alternatives --config gdm3.css
I also tried LXQT. But this one didn't work. You can try others too.

Remove Desktop Environment
To remove a desktop environment you don't want anymore you do the remove instead of install.
sudo apt remove kde-full sudo apt remove mate-desktop-environment . . .
Please let me know if there's mistakes made, or if you've got advice.
Source for changing the name to make them work @IgorS :

Greetings, NicoD

@Lotus09 I just made a video about gaming on RK3588.
Here my Mekotronics review video :
More video's on my channel about gaming on RK3588. It doesn't play every game, but enough to have a good time.

Hi all. 
Since I wanted a 3D intro for my Youtube Channel I started working with Blender again. Now the intro is finished I've got time to try to make a 3D Armbian Logo.
 

I'll show some of the progress here for those who are interested. And if anybody else wants to do the same, go  ahead. We can then compare the results.
I've only just begun. But I needed a break so I started writing this.
Here's how it begins... create a side view ... 


Then put those pictures in Blender, add a cube, position it right on both pictures, and start modeling....

All done with the NanoPi M4 on Armbian Bionic.

I'll slowly keep working on it. I can't promise it will look great, but nothing is lost if it doesn't... Someone once asked me to do this, I can't remember who it was. I think Chwe or jmcc or tido. Could also have been a ghost in my sleep.
Cheers, NicoD

ps: @Igor It would be nice if we could easily resize images in our posts. Maybe with a dropdown box and % would be easiest to do. I know this isn't a priority, just a suggestion. 
 

No. What he says is there is nobody maintaining this board for Armbian support and so it is in community maintained and not supported.
I've not tried the Jetson Nano in a long time. So not aware of the state of the software.

Armbian has more recent packages if you use a recent release like Noble (Ubuntu 24.04).
You can build your own Armbian images for the Nano with the flavor you want.

Hi. I'm not sure if anyone has this 5B+. 
Might be there's a dtb file for it. You need to adjust /boot/armbianEnv.txt
To point to a dtb that's for your device. I just don't know/think there's one yet for that.
They make way too many versions of the same what makes supporting it all a hell. 

Hi there,

I wanted to share with everyone here the final product - a gaming handheld we've designed from scratch in Solidworks. I've been working on this with a fellow Armbian contributor @GinKage for quite some time (probably over a year now... time really does fly) who has helped me learn a lot on the software side, which I wasn't really familiar with before I reached out to him. Despite it's shortcomings, I'm really happy with the v1 build. I hope you guys like it! 

Open source files can be found here, including CAD files, Armbian build files and more.  
https://github.com/StonedEdge/Retro-Lite-CM5
 
Retro Lite CM5: Radxa CM5 Gaming Handheld
 

 
Specifications
Hardware specifications
3D printable housing in PLA. Comfort grips for added ergonomics
Radxa CM5 Compute Module (8GB RAM/64GB eMMC)
SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex‑A76 cores @ up to 2.4GHz, 4x Cortex‑A55 core @ 1.8GHz Arm Mali-G610 MP4 “Odin” GPU Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, 1080p60 MPEG-2/-1, VC-1, VP8 Video encoder – 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 video encoder
WiFi 6/Bluetooth 5.2 via PCIe E-key slot (Intel AX210) - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204836/intel-wifi-6e-ax210-gig/specifications.html
6 layer carrier board with 3 B2B mezzanine connectors to interface with any Radxa CM5 module
5v boost rated at 3.5A continuous current
RP2040 gamepad HID controller - complete with SDL mappings and evdev gyro support/mouse control via MPU6050
1280 x 720 (5.5" DSI IPS LCD): DSI video output on internal display
Up to 4k HDMI video output via HDMI output
Up to 4k DisplayPort Alternate Mode via Type-C
USB 2.0/3.1 capable USB-C data transfer
USB-C dual role port functionality (sink/source)
Brightness and volume HUD adjustment. Brightness is adjusted by holding plus hotkey + down/up. Volume controlled either by volume buttons or plus hotkey + left right DPAD
USB-C PD charging support via sink profiles supporting 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/2A & 15V/2.6A (switch charger) via TPS65987D PD controller (see binary in TPS65987D folder). Recommended to use <12V for best charge and play performance
Stereo Audio Output via i2s. Dual stereo speakers with ported chambers
Headphone jack, with automatic switching
5000mAh lipo, providing around 1.5-5 hours of gameplay depending on load (to be upgraded to a larger size)
Dual stacked shoulder buttons (L, R, LZ, RZ) with dual tact buttons for GameCube functionality (LR analog/LR digital)
2x hall effect analog sticks running at 3v3
Resin casted ABXY, DPAD, start+select, shoulder buttons
Silicone membranes for nice button feel

Software specifications
Armbian GNOME desktop (Kernel 6.1.57 as of this post)
Full upstream Rocknix support
Hardware graphics support via Panfrost/OpenGLES (no Vulkan support… for now)
Safe software/hardware shutdown (either from software or via button)
Low power sleep mode
 
Internal Components/Hardware/Random Pictures
All of the components laid out - ready for assembly time!


Internal PCBs - 6 layer boards designed myself, fitted with the compute module (v2.2 pictured)

 
Handmaking all of the buttons with silicone and resin from a machined polished mould. 3D printed buttons really dont feel good so I wanted to make these special



 
Final internal pictures before closing it up 

 
Front shot of Armbian desktop 😁 Flashed to the internal eMMC (non-socketable) with an SD card for added storage for running games via RetroPie

 
Docking. DisplayPort functionality works over Type-C with my TPS65987D/TUSB546 PD extcon config. I have set it up to work with 2 lanes of DisplayPort and 2 lanes of USB 3.0 over Type-C

 
Grips for added comfort. Because why not?

 
Purple build! (GinKage)


 

Here my review video of the Tanix TX6 TV-Box. I show Android and how to install Armbian onto it.
Greetings,
NicoD

Hi all. For a new video I've made a list with my most used/useful terminal commands.
Please let me know what I've missed, or which commands you use most.
 
Useful Linux commands for Ubuntu/Debian --------------------------------------- Update/Install -------------- sudo apt update Update repolists sudo apt upgrade Upgrade system/programs sudo apt autoremove Remove obsolete programs sudo apt install programName Install program sudo apt remove programName Remove program sudo aptitude install When having issue's with apt, aptitude can help to solve this sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade Update and upgrade together/You can run multiple commands with && sudo dpkg -i packageName.deb Install .deb file Root user --------- sudo passwd Change root password su Super User/Enter root user Debug/Monitor ------------- dmesg Shows debug messages uname -a Shows basic system information env Shows the environment information htop Hardware monitor Switch terminal --------------- ctrl + ALT + F4 (F1 - F6) Open new terminal 4 ctrl + ALT + F1 Go back to terminal 1 ctrl + ALT + F7 Go back to desktop Reboot/Shutdown --------------- sudo reboot Reboot sudo shutdown now Shutdown CPU Tools --------- cpufreq-set -g performance Set governor to performance cpufreq-set -u 2Ghz Set max frequency for all cores cpufreq-set -c 0-1 -u 1.8Ghz Set max frequency for specific cores lscpu | grep MHz Show cpu frequency taskset -c 3 programName Use a specific core for an application Files/Directories ----------------- nano /home/fileToRemove.txt Create a txt file with Nano. You could use any other texteditor. touch filename Create an empty file, no matter what kind cat /home/fileToRemove.txt Shows the content of a file cp /home/fileToRemove.txt /home/copy.txt Copy file find /home/ -iname "*.txt" Search files that end with .txt comm /home/fileToRemove.txt /home/copy.txt Compare files rm /home/fileToRemove.txt Remove file mv /home/copy.txt ~/Documents/ Move file mkdir /home/directoryToGoTo/ Create directory cd /home/directoryToGoTo/ Go to directory ls List directory ls -l Gives more information about every file/directory ls -l filename.txt Gives file information pwd Show current working directory cd .. Go to the above directory rmdir /home/directoryToGoTo/ Remove directory wget http://www.website.com/file.txt Download file Zip/Tar/GunZip -------------- zip myzip file1 file2 file3 Create zip file unzip myzip.zip Unzip file tar xvf filename.tar gunzip filename_tar.gz Mount drives/USB Devices ------------ lsusb List USB devices lsblb List attached drives mount /mount/mountedDisk /dev/sda2 Mount drive sudo chmod -R 777 /mount/mountedDisk Give user read/write permissions df -a List all filesystems Swap file/ZRam -------------- sudo apt install zram-config Install zram script sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile Allocate 8GB for swapfile sudo chmod 600 /swapfile Give the correct rights for the swapfile sudo mkswap /swapfile Make it a swapfile sudo swapon /swapfile Turn on the swapfile sudo nano /etc/fstab Open fstab and add the line ... |_ /swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0 Wifi ---- sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces and write: auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-ssid {ssid} wpa-psk {password} OR nmcli device wifi rescan Scan for available wifi networks nmcli device wifi list Show available wifi networks nmcli device wifi connect SSID-Name password wireless-password Connect wifi ip a Show ip ifconfig iwconfig Change Keyboard Layout ---------------------- sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration Set keyboard layout Add display resolution ---------------------- cvt 2560 1440 60 Select the display resolution you want # 2560x1440 59.96 Hz (CVT 3.69M9) hsync: 89.52 kHz; pclk: 312.25 MHz Modeline "2560x1440_60.00" 312.25 2560 2752 3024 3488 1440 1443 1448 1493 -hsync +vsync xrandr --newmode "2560x1440_60.00" 312.25 2560 2752 3024 3488 1440 1443 1448 1493 -hsync +vsync Add resolution, everything after Modeline from cvt is copied after newmode xrandr --addmode HDMI-1 2560x1440_60.00 Add the new resolution to your display xrandr --newmode "2560x1440_60.00" 312.25 2560 2752 3024 3488 1440 1443 1448 1493 -hsync +vsync && xrandr --addmode HDMI-1 2560x1440_60.00 Others ------ reset Clear terminal shift + page up Scroll up shift + page down Scroll down tab Autocomplete ctrl + c Quit for many programs date Show date/time cal Show calender Funny commands -------------- sl First need to install "sudo apt install sl", then try it out. It's great :) sl -alF cmatrix fortune/fortune-mod cowsay figlet toilet ponysay inxi cat /dev/urandom :(){ :|:& };: Endless loop (useful to test CPU maximized temperatures) Armbian ------- sudo armbianmonitor -m sudo armbian-config change cpu settings sudo nano /etc/default/cpufrequtils Made by NicoD  

Thank you so much for taking the time to help (and NicoD's SBCs I love your videos, they are what got me into playing with SBC's). 
 
So to expand on this, is emulation an option, or is the CB1 module just too lacking did some Googling and seems like RetroPie is not an option. 

If it runs armbian for sure it's possible. Just install dosbox. Mount the folder to c
mount c /folder/path/to/doom
play the game.
You can run it native too, there are tons of possibilities. I think freedoom is one.
https://freedoom.github.io/
Chocolatedoom has deb packages for arm64
https://debian.pkgs.org/11/debian-main-arm64/chocolate-doom_3.0.1-1_arm64.deb.html
GZdoom 
https://zdoom.org/downloads

And tons more. Only question is, does it run Armbian? 

Hi all.
Here my review of the Orange Pi 5 Plus with Armbian Jammy.
I show tips for better desktop experience, show how to build your own images, how to run games, and tons of info about the board.
Here's the video :

For those who rather read, here's my gathered data : 
https://docs.lane-fu.com/s/5IxGlf4gn

Greetings, NicoD

Hi again @NicoD,
 
I tested this with a Full HD monitor and that works just fine!!!
Mistery solved, kind off ...
 
When booting Armbian with my Full HD monitor attached, the Simple DRM / "None-1" output is not present.
The `simpledrm.ko` kernel module is not detected or loaded, so only the /dev/card0 and /dev/card1 devices exists.
Both X.org and Wayland are working as expected.
 
When booting Armbian with my QHD monitor attached, the `simpledrm.ko` kernel module is (automatically) loaded.
(And therefore the None-1 output exists and that is selected as output instead of the HDMI-1-1 output.)
For some reason, the attached monitor causes the Simple DRM feature to be activated in the Linux kernel (or not).
 
I also installed sway / Wayland, while having the QHD monitor attached. Same issue there.
The monitor appears frozen, but when pressing CTRL-ALT-F2, another tty appears and I can kill sway and the first tty becomes responsive again.
Executing the `modprobe -r simpledrm` module fixes the issue and sway can be started normally.
 
@Walter Zambotti blacklisting the simpledrm kernel module (as described in my original post) might be a solution for you as well.
 
Well, issue closed, I guess. It would be nice if Armbian could somehow detect this situation and adapt to it.
But I have no clue where to start, to be honest.

Hi,
 
I just wanted to report how I got Armbian 23.8.1 working on my Khadas VIM3 Pro board.
It was not an out-of-the-box success story, but after a few nights of debugging, I found the cause and fix of the issue.
Hopefully this post will save debugging time of somebody else and maybe this can be fixed in future Armbian releases.
 
The issue is as follows: After flashing the Armbian 23.8.1 image to the VIM3's internal EMMC storage, the SBC boots fine initially.
I walk through the setup-process of users/passwords/network/locale, etc...
After the set-up completes, I reboot the SBC. It starts booting as usual, but when X.org starts, my monitor stops receiving any signal and goes to sleep.
 
I tried these images:
1. Armbian_23.8.1_Khadas-vim3_bookworm_current_6.1.50_cinnamon_desktop.oowow.img.xz
2. Armbian_23.8.1_Khadas-vim3_bookworm_current_6.1.50.oowow.img.xz (installed X.org and XFCE manually afterwards)
3. Pretty sure I had the same problem with Jammy based images, however I saw @NicoD using them without issues on Youtube.
 
Eventually, I found out from the X.org logs that it was displaying to another output device:
[ 37.633] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card1) [ 37.633] (II) Platform probe for /sys/devices/platform/f4e5b000.framebuffer/drm/card1 [ 37.634] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0) [ 37.634] (II) Platform probe for /sys/devices/platform/soc/ff900000.vpu/drm/card0 [ 37.643] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card2) [ 37.643] (II) Platform probe for /sys/devices/platform/soc/ffe40000.gpu/drm/card2 [ 37.647] (II) no primary bus or device found [ 37.647] falling back to /sys/devices/platform/f4e5b000.framebuffer/drm/card1 ... [ 37.665] (II) modeset(0): using drv /dev/dri/card1 [ 37.676] (II) modeset(G0): using drv /dev/dri/card0 [ 37.676] (==) modeset(0): Depth 24, (==) framebuffer bpp 32 [ 37.676] (**) modeset(0): Option "AccelMethod" "glamor"  
It defaulted to /dev/dri/card1 which is the simpledrm framebuffer output introduced in recent kernel versions.
By updating the X.org config file, I was able to force it selecting /dev/dri/card0 instead, however, according to the modeset man page this should be the default.
Section "Device" Identifier "DRM Graphics Acclerated" ## Use modesetting and glamor Driver "modesetting" Option "AccelMethod" "glamor" ### "glamor" to enable 3D acceleration, "none" to disable. Option "DRI" "2" Option "Dri2Vsync" "true" Option "TripleBuffer" "True" ## End glamor configuration Option "kmsdev" "/dev/dri/card0" EndSection ...  
I still found the performance of the desktop a bit sluggish. Maybe this is because the second Glamor/DRM enabled output still exists.
I was able to completely get rid of the SimpleDRM output using the following commands and reboot:
 
echo "blacklist simpledrm" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/simpledrm.conf sudo update-initramfs -u  
Now, X.org works as expected.
 
I also disabled the XFCE Compositor, which made de desktop perform much better.
Firefox (with GPU enabled) shows some graphics artifacts which are gone after disabling hardware acceleration.
 
Hope that this will help somebody.
 

After dealing with this for about 18 hours, I decided to go for another image.
I downloaded and burned Armbian_23.8.3_Orangepi3-lts_bookworm_current_6.1.53_xfce_desktop.img image to my SSD and went on following the instructions from NicoD from here: 
Now everything is running smoothly and I'm able to interact with the desktop from my Windows PC using MobaXterm.
Thank you all!
 

Hi,
 
I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I used the contact form twice back in august and september and haven't received any reply  The mirror list on the github page is not updated either
 
Anyway, as a raspberry pi lover, I've set up a mirror to support the development of armbian:
 
http://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-apt
https://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-apt
rsync://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-apt
 
http://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-dl
https://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-dl
rsync://repo.jing.rocks/armbian-dl
 
sync frequency: every 4 hrs
upstream: rsync://rsync.armbian.com/{apt,dl}
armbian-archive coming soon(TM)
 
Bandwidth: 10Gbit/s, not metered. Currently serving about 10TB per day.
Admin contact: Jing Luo <szmun.luoj a.t. gmail.com> or <jing a.t. jing.rocks>
Geolocation: Tokyo, Japan
IPv6: yes
 
Thank you for your trust and support.
 

Why not buy an Armbian supported SBC? Most TV-Boxes are crap. Overheating and low-quality. For better quality you also pay a lot more. So then why not buy a good SBC?

RK3399 ain't that expensive and has great IO. RK3588 is high end so cost more, but it's future proof.
OrangePi5+ should be best value. I don't have it, so can't say much about it. 
NanoPi R6S/R6C isn't that expensive. The C has NVMe and USB3, and very fast CPU.
 
If you want to use full sized HDD's then look at the Odroid HC4. It has the S905X3. As powerful as RPi4(when not OC) and 2 SATA for full sized HDDs. But no USB3 or other IO. It does have HDMI.
 
RK3568 is also a SoC that has great IO and not too expensive. Not sure if there are Armbian supported boards with it.
RK3566 less IO but still better than any RPi.

I only had one ok TV-Box from a bunch. The Mecool KM6 with S905X4, but that doesn't have Armbian support. S905X3 should have better support. But you are never certain all hardware will work.
TV-box manufactures ofter use different components for the same model TV box. So some people might have wifi working, but others don't.

Why not buy an Armbian supported SBC? Most TV-Boxes are crap. Overheating and low-quality. For better quality you also pay a lot more. So then why not buy a good SBC?

RK3399 ain't that expensive and has great IO. RK3588 is high end so cost more, but it's future proof.
OrangePi5+ should be best value. I don't have it, so can't say much about it. 
NanoPi R6S/R6C isn't that expensive. The C has NVMe and USB3, and very fast CPU.
 
If you want to use full sized HDD's then look at the Odroid HC4. It has the S905X3. As powerful as RPi4(when not OC) and 2 SATA for full sized HDDs. But no USB3 or other IO. It does have HDMI.
 
RK3568 is also a SoC that has great IO and not too expensive. Not sure if there are Armbian supported boards with it.
RK3566 less IO but still better than any RPi.

I only had one ok TV-Box from a bunch. The Mecool KM6 with S905X4, but that doesn't have Armbian support. S905X3 should have better support. But you are never certain all hardware will work.
TV-box manufactures ofter use different components for the same model TV box. So some people might have wifi working, but others don't.

update, upgrade, reboot, install headers.

New "How to build your own Armbian images" video :
 

Hi all.
I made a new video on how to build Armbian images.
These days you can use your ARM64 SBC to do this.

For Windows users there's WSL2 you can use. Here my video about that.

Greetings, NicoD

Armbian Wallpaper Contest Submission
I am submitting my **original artwork** for the Armbian Wallpaper Contest.
 
**Artwork Details:** - **Title:** Polygonal Penguin / Essence - **Description:**  A wallpaper with a geometric rendition of the Armbian Penguin against a cool white background / An abstract wallpaper with 3 glass balls representing the colours of the Armbian Penguin
 
I hereby confirm and certify that this artwork is an original piece created solely by me. By submitting this artwork to the Armbian Wallpaper Contest, I agree to release it under the [Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode) (CC0 1.0).

Hi all.
I made a new video on how to build Armbian images.
These days you can use your ARM64 SBC to do this.

For Windows users there's WSL2 you can use. Here my video about that.

Greetings, NicoD

Hey Guys,
nice 2 meet U here. My ODROIDXU4 said this morning that I have to Post my Wallpaper but i didn´t had one because I´m running my Device on Version 23.05.1 without GUI. So i decided to create one Quick and Dirty and here are the two Wallpapers.
 
Created one in FHD. And another one. And another one...... 🤪🤣
 
Good Luck for everybody. Think we´ll read us in the Future, seems 2b good Here. CU