NicoD

Great job, @piter75!
 
"current" buster desktop works well for me. The debug ttl console too.
Performance are much better than default friendlyelec 4.4.y kernel's ones, although not overall better than those of the ddr3 version 1 nanopi m4 (see https://www.cnx-software.com/2019/10/28/nanopi-m4v2-kit-review-part-2-friendlycore-desktop/):
Memory performance (big.LITTLE cores measured individually):
memcpy: 1880.5 MB/s (0.6%)
memset: 8430.7 MB/s (0.6%)
memcpy: 3729.4 MB/s
memset: 8492.3 MB/s (1.0%)
Complete sbc-bech results here: http://ix.io/23eC
 
Both sd card read and write speeds are good: 70MB/s with a sandisk 32GB extreme pro card
 
Stability also looks good, but requires more time to be tested.
As soon I'll be able to run some panfrost benchmarks, I'll update. By the way, desktop experience is smooth and stable and sound works too, but lack of acceleration is limiting when watching videos, although the 5.4 kernel improved speed over the 4.4.y is evident.
 
The only "small" issue I have found so far, is that boot is a bit slow. And for about 30 seconds I do not see any activity, neither on the serial console, nor on hdmi. Perhaps because of  "printk: bootconsole [uart8250] disabled" ?
 
I'm going to do some usb storage tests, before considering this board ready for replacing the raspberry pi4 I use at the moment as my home nextcloud server.

add new image 20191130 kernel 5.4 (Buster and Bionic)

If necessary, I can share links to source and working images where HW runs on RK33xx (LIMA and Panfrost) with kernel 5.

Let's see if I get a chance to look at it. Thanks!

Maybe it's time to try creating a set with HW acceleration of full screen video playback based on the new kernel 5 ?
All necessary components are already working (tested using LE images with kernel 5 for rk33xx and HW).

I rebased my branch onto latest master changes.
Took me some time to make the sound working in kernel 5.4.
 
Branch is now named nanopi-m4v2-bring-up and supports "legacy", "current" and "dev" targets.
Did not test "legacy" much yet but "current" 5.4 works quite well.
In dev wi-fi is broken, but anyway "current" is much more compelling as it is 5.4 vs. 5.4-rc1 in dev.
 
Command line for "current":
./compile.sh BOARD=nanopim4v2 BRANCH=current RELEASE=buster BUILD_MINIMAL=yes BUILD_DESKTOP=no KERNEL_ONLY=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no  

Thank you once again!

Armbian uses only 1 partition. So that's not a problem. When the led blinks it should mean it's is booting. 
 
 
I think for all RK3399 devices the baud rate is : 1500000
Could be only for the M4 tho. Be sure to connect the correct wires. you've got to revers the data wires.  RX -> TX and TX -> RX. 
Not all serial programs seems to be able to use 1500000 baud rate. I've used putty in the past and that worked I think? There's other posts on the forum about what program is bes for serial use. 

The 5.3 is a mainline. Not an updated version. There is less support for this as it's not the default rk3399 kernel.

I'll try some images an mine and see what happens.

 

I liquid cool my XU4 if I had the HCx it would probably be better off, but nowhere near as cool. ;-)

The N2 has some patches to fix the USB3 to my understanding. I haven't tried them just yet, or perhaps Igor has integrated it already...

The Renegade Elite has an add-on board for nvme and a wifi, and a nice case with giant heatsink that should dissipate far better than the M4 (but is generally larger).

All that said, the XU4 and relatives are still king for all-around performance and software support. I have the big heatsink one set up for retro gaming, if(once) the RK3399 or s922 are finally properly supported (looking at you Rockchip, shame on you for your RAM bullshit, and Amlogic, one word, "blobs").

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I'm using "picocom" from that branch https://github.com/npat-efault/picocom

Oh boy, like we hadn't RK3399's enough by now  
My thought, it's rather sh*t. Too late, nothing new. And having no full USB3 port with the NPU model isn't a good trade off. Then just use a USB NPU instead. 

Would love to see someone putting an RK3399K into a board. Small difference, but enough to make my eyes sparkle up. I want more new, not more of the same. 

Ok, the causes of the crashes could be different for us as I use it solely in the terminal
 
Anyway, I did something which I cannot imagine could help but... it seems that it helped.
I remember reading somewhere lately about instability of PX30 at 408MHz that was avoided by changing min frequency to 600MHz.
Our images for RK3399 have default min of 600MHz so I did the opposite and changed the min to 408MHz.
 
I will definitely observe it for a longer time but last 40-50 reboots were clean of errors while before it happened every 3-5 reboot.

https://www.cnx-software.com/2019/11/19/orange-pi-4-4b-sbc-rockchip-rk3399-soc-gyrfalcon-2801s-npu/
 

I was just filming a video about (your) @JMCC's RK3399 Media Script. 
I`m using the RockPi4B for it, but chromium GPU acc doesn't seem to be working. The Rockchip video player does work.
Here's the gpu info of chromium
 
Using Armbian Bionic 5.98 default. 
I should have tested it first before filming the video.   
I'll wait to do it in the M4V2 review video then. I wanted to make the video for RK3399 in general... 

It works great on the M4. I woulnd't want to live without it anymore. 
Any news on an update for it?

Cheers.

Edit. : Install Log
 
 

The start system in Coreelec is not compatible with LibreELECE  Armbian  etc. If you run coreelec on your TV box, you will no longer be able to run LE and Armbian normally until the full recovery of the standard firmware via the USB Burn Tool and the new activation of the universal multi-boot, which is used in all new systems.
 
Questions that do not specify exact details (the exact image version, TV box model, detailed steps that were performed for DTB settings, and so on) will be ignored and deleted.
 
For all. I don't support s905x3. I don't have this equipment. All messages about this platform deleted. What works or doesn't work from this equipment - I don't know. I do not give any answers or comments on the s905x3 chip.
 
The build and publication of unified test images with a common core for the Rockchip Amlogic Allwinner platform begins.
 
Y-disk
https://yadi.sk/d/_rQgn_FosYuW0g
 
MEGA
https://mega.nz/#F!j9QSDQSQ!6WpasOlbZYIInfw6yo4phQ
 
Now you can download the latest versions of images and DEB packages from the official Armbian resource via the link. 
https://users.armbian.com/balbes150/
 
 
*********************************************************************************************************************************
Pay attention. Starting from version 20.08 (20200814), the configuration order for the used DTB changes.
 
Please note that the algorithm for initial configuration of the system for startup has changed. Instead of a file "uEnv.txt", the file "/extlinux/extlinux.conf " is now used. The rules for editing a file remain the same.
All Amlogic models now need the "u-boot.ext" file.
Before launching on Amlogic, you must copy or rename one of the existing files "u-boot-*" to "u-boot.ext".
 
For s905 (not X) - used u-boot-s905
For s905x and s912 - used u-boot-s905x-s912
For s905x2 and s922 - used u-boot-s905x2-s922
 
For g12a\g12b models, a single file is now used (files u-boot.sd and u-boot.usb now replaces one u-boot-s922 file).
For the Allwinner platform, you no longer need to rename the scripts "boot.scr".
All "boot.scr" scripts have been canceled and are not used.
 
*************************************************************************************************************************************
 
How to run these images on the Amlogic platform .
Now all images Armbian and LE has all the files for activate the multi-boot. Anything addition to download and copy to media is not required.
 
1. Download the image for your device
2. Unpack
3. Burn the image on the medium
4. Configure in the file (uEnv.txt) launch parameters for the desired platform and model (uncomment the desired lines and comment out or delete unused ones)
 
If universal multi-upload has not yet been activated on this device, you need to activate it once. There are several options for activating multi-loading.
 
option A
- Connect the prepared media to the device and turn on the power, boot into Android
- Open the app "Update&Backup"
- Click on "Select" local update and chose the file on the removable media aml_autoscript.zip
- Start "Update"
- System will reboot twice and start running the system from external media.
 
option B
-  try using the "toothpick method"
 
 
How to run these images on the Rockchip and Allwinner platform .
1. Download the image for your device
2. Unpack
3. Burn the image on the medium
4. Configure in the file (uEnv.txt) launch parameters for the desired platform and model (uncomment the desired lines and comment out or delete unused ones)
5. If your device does not support USB startup , you can only use SD cards and you need to add the correct u-boot to the SD card (for details on how to add it, see the text of this message)
6. Connect the prepared media to the device and turn on the power
 
Please note that the DTB configuration order has changed.
Now a single configuration method is used for all Rockchip Allwinner Amlogic platforms. The file (uEnv.txt) is used for configuration DTB all platforms. 
Now a single configuration method is used for all platforms, using the file (uEnv.txt). You need to edit this file to configure it. You need to uncomment the two lines that are responsible for your platform and specify the correct DTB for your model. If you use this image to run on the one platform, you can delete it from the settings file (uEnv.txt) strings from other platforms.
 
Need to pick up the option for the file system will run. Pay attention, after you add\change the dtb file, you need to try to run the system and waiting to run 7-10 minutes. If not happened, repeat with a different dtb file.
 
Pay attention.
The installation algorithm in eMMC has changed. My recommend that you perform a clean installation in eMMC. Be sure to make a full backup of eMMC before installing it in eMMC.
The system installation scripts in eMMC have changed accordingly. If you have a system with eMMC core 5 installed on RK33xx, it is advisable to perform a clean installation in eMMC to upgrade to the new version. 
 
For the aw H6 platform, all scripts are already in the image (which have the ending aw). You need to rename the files with the replacement (remove the ".aw" ending).
 
Fix for correct color to G12 (Amlogic S905X2 S922X)
For models based on g12 (s905x2 s922), which have a problem not the correct color , 
If you are starting the system from an SD card, you need to copy file  u-boot.sd to u-boot.ext,
If you are starting the system from an USB, you need to copy file  u-boot.usb to u-boot.ext
When installing in eMMC, you do not need to do anything with your hands, the installation script itself will perform the necessary system configuration and when running from eMMC, the system will work with the correct color.
 
Please note, this version for the transition to the release of a single image for the platform Rockchip + Amlogic + Allwinner. The new image after writing to external media and after configuring the used dtb (and if necessary adding the desired u-boot option to run from the SD card on the Rockchip and Allwinner) can be used simultaneously on AML (s9xxx), RK (rk3399 and rk3328) and AW (H6). If the TV boxes RK (rk3328 and rk3399) and AW (H6) in eMMC installed a new version of u-boot  with support for starting the system with USB, adding u-boot to SD card is not required, the system will automatically start on with USB.
 
Important change. With this version (>= 20200218), you can easily add the desired u-boot on any PC (including Windows) .
 
To do this, new versions of u-boot are downloaded on the site.
 
https://yadi.sk/d/lTbXkrmZN5Hf6g
 
Rules for using the new u-boot option. Download, Armbian image, unpack. Write image Armbian to the SD card. Download and write the desired version of the u-boot file to SD card. Configure the DTB and the launch string (APPEND) in (uEnv.txt) for the desired model\platform.
 
Pay attention. Now you don't need to write u-boot with complex commands, you write the u-boot image with the same program as you usually write an Armbian image. This allows you to configure the system to run (including writing a u-boot image) on any PC (including Windows).
 
Pay attention. The new version changed the size of the partitions that are obtained when writing an image (all images have a fixed size of 5GB).  This u-boot entry option only applies to the new version 20200218 and subsequent versions. Don't try this for old images. This will not work on older images.
 
OLD add u-boot
 
 
 
For RK33xx
if you have windows and can't use the add u-boot commands to the SD card, use the SD+USB combination , write only the new u-boot to the SD card, and write the Armbian image to a USB storage device. And connect them together to the TV box.
 
To turn on the sound on models AML
where it is not present after the initial start. To enable audio , run the script (sound.sh).  You need to run the script
 
sudo sound.sh
 
 
 
Odroid N2
When starting from an SD card on Odroid N2, you must, after recording the image, write uboot to the SD card, configure uEnv.txt, additionally rename the script (boot.scr.aw) in (boot.scr). To be able to start any system from any media (USB SD eMMC), i'm recommend using the updated version of u-boot-SPI. Details about u-boot-SPI for Odroid N2 can be found here.
 
 
 
 

I`ve found NVMe speed for VIM3 in Khadas official "Performance & Benchmark":
https://dl.khadas.com/Hardware/VIM3/Performance/VIM3_V11_Performance_190624.pdf

Hi all.
I've finished my review video of the NanoPi M4V2. Here is it.

Special thanks to @JMCC @balbes150 @pask and @martinayotte.
Cheers all.

Hi all.
I've finished my review video of the NanoPi M4V2. Here is it.

Special thanks to @JMCC @balbes150 @pask and @martinayotte.
Cheers all.

Hello Nico,
your reviews go so deep and are so well made that I learn something from you everytime I watch one of them.
 
Thanks

Hi all.
I've finished my review video of the NanoPi M4V2. Here is it.

Special thanks to @JMCC @balbes150 @pask and @martinayotte.
Cheers all.

Hi all.
I've finished my review video of the NanoPi M4V2. Here is it.

Special thanks to @JMCC @balbes150 @pask and @martinayotte.
Cheers all.

The results of the first tests on Ugoos x2pro. First impressions are very positive. This model has support for all hardware (including WiFi) on the new core 5. Heating under load (full-screen video via browser) does not exceed 53 degrees. Given that the Android firmware for Ugoos models is considered one of the best, it is a good option for use at home both for working with media content and as a mini PC. And for those who need maximum performance - AM6 with s922x.
 
 
https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s905x2/776917-x2-cube-amlogic-s905x2-android-9-0-2-16gb-emmc-dual-wifi-gig-lan-usb3-0-samba-server?p=789162#post789162

Depends on the vendor - some do a better job than others...
 
And there, depends on the SoC's being used.
 
Not naming names there to avoid slanting the poll...

Personally as I'm using SoC for industrial purposes I'm glad that there is not coming anything new all the time, because we need stable, good software support and
I have to test everything and support everything. I'm using RockPI 4A and I really hope, that I'll get longterm access to this product as it's fits perfect my needs.