Single Armbian image for RK + AML + AW (aarch64 ARMv8)

[gongkong168]

I bought a TX6 Box, Allwinner H6 Quad Core ARM Cortex A53, RAM / ROM: 4GB / 64GB,
I use WINDOWS system and use Win32DiskImager to download the image to SD card.

When using Armbian_20.02.0-rc1.036_Aw-h6-tv_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200204.img image, the box can run Armbian system normally

I used Win32DiskImager to download the general image Armbian_20.05.0_Arm-64_buster_current_5.6.0-rc4_20200306.img to the SD card, and then used Win32DiskImager to download u-boot-allwinner-h6-tanix-tx6.img to the SD card, and then edited the uEnv.txt file , Using AW parameters:
# aw h6
FDT = / dtb / allwinner / sun50i-h6-tanix-tx6.dtb

APPEND = root = LABEL = ROOTFS rootflags = data = writeback rw console = ttyS0,115200 console = tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank = 0 fsck.fix = yes fsck.repair = yes net.ifnames = 0

 

But the box cannot boot Armbian system. No display was observed on the HDMI display.

Which step did I do wrong?

[gounthar]

Has anyone tested any AllWinner H616 based box?
I have one, and will give it a try.

[lgranie]

Hi,

 

/var/log is full. /var/log/journal contains one big file.

I executed journalctr --vacuum-time=1h but after a reboot the journal is restored and /var/log full again.

 

How to get rid of it?

I'm not familiar with zram and journalctrl but I imagine I can configure something somewhere to avoid getting /var/log full again.

 

Thx.

[t23]

1 minute ago, lgranie said:

/var/log is full. /var/log/journal contains one big file.

Edit /etc/systemd/journald.conf

 

I set mine to:

 

SystemMaxUse=32M
SystemKeepFree=8M
SystemMaxFileSize=2M

 

Probably not optimal values, but gives you a starting point to tweak from.

[chpasha]

On 3/5/2020 at 5:28 PM, balbes150 said:

Remove the 19.11.5 kernel package ( for example, via Synaptic) and then run the 20.05 kernel installation

thank you, balbes150 . I was able to solve the problem by creating the image file (/boot/vmlinuz-5.5.0-rc6-arm-64) that installation was missing and renaming dtb folder which installation wanted to backup but could not. After that the kernel installed just fine and the box rebooted successfully with a new one

[balbes150]

On 3/6/2020 at 6:59 PM, noname said:

Maybe something can be done installing the system on eMMC with a new kernel? I unbricked my Tronsmart s95 Pro. I can test (now I know how to restore a brick).

The new u-boot-2020 works well from eMMC and allows you to run systems from an SD card, but the problem is that when you try to create a partition table on eMMC, u-boot stops working from eMMC. I haven 't found a reason why this is happening yet.

 

On 3/6/2020 at 11:23 PM, Diogo Silva said:

Hi. I've recently bricked an amlogic s905x Box and I can't boot from android. I was able to use Armbian by burning to a sd card and then using a file named "1.img" with amlogic burn card maker, but I try to install to eMMC and I get the error Unable to find your EMMC, does this mean my eMMC is dead ? 

Restore the regular firmware via USB Burn Tool, if this works, it means that are not using eMMC, you  NAND or not the correct DTB.

 

On 3/7/2020 at 10:00 PM, blondu said:

I mention that I booted from Emmc the Linux version turbo 4.9.210-meson64.

eMMC takes precedence over the SD card, you must either disable the eMMC module, or delete the u-boot from eMMC, or use the correct u-boot in SPI ( the official version from Hardkernel has errors and does not work correctly with external media).

 

 

[balbes150]

On 3/8/2020 at 9:21 AM, gongkong168 said:

Using AW parameters:

Use the second APPEND line with additional parameters for H6

 

 

[balbes150]

Added a u-boot file for Nanopi M4V2 to the site

[hexdump]

8 hours ago, balbes150 said:

The new u-boot-2020 works well from eMMC and allows you to run systems from an SD card, but the problem is that when you try to create a partition table on eMMC, u-boot stops working from eMMC. I haven 't found a reason why this is happening yet.

i guess this is on s905 - right? this is due to bad design of the s905 - if booting from emmc it expects its boot sectors at the beginning of the disk (compared to if booting from sd card where it expects them to start later) - you can find more information about this from here on in that thread:

i think there is no really easy way around it on s905

 

best wishes - hexdump

[Seb_Lz]

On 2/28/2020 at 4:30 PM, Seb_Lz said:

Hello guys,  I'm trying to get armbian 20.05 buster on a Beelink GT1 2GB, but unfortunately I cannot get ethernet to work. I had success with an older version (4.20.5-aml-s912 ubuntu armbian) with khadas-vim2 dtb, but the same dtb from 20.05 does not work (no eth0 interface). Using q201 dtb seems to make the eth0 interface available but it won't actually connect (dhcp failing, manual configuration also not working). Has anyone managed to get ethernet working on recent kernel with Beelink GT1 ?

Might also be worth mentionning that wifi is also not working (less of a problem in my case though). It seems so strange that it was working with an older kernel with vim2 dtb and not anymore with the new one. I'm wondering if I missed something, especially since this is quite a popular device and that I doubt being the only one trying to get the new armbian image working on it.
(And I take this opportunity to thanks everyone, especially balbes150 ofc, involved in this project for the amaizing work done ).

[amirul]

20200306 img fonts look thinner and colors are too saturated. Anyone have a clue?

[Peyton]

Don't know maybe because kernel related

0227 is on 5.5.1 final and 0306 is on 5.6-RC4.

[Povl H. Pedersen]

I am running this distro on my H96 Max (S905X3), 4/128GB for about a month now.
I am running into problems with exec format error on 32-bit ARM (v7l), and have had a few github projects fix their code so their arm64 aka aarch64 is actually 64-bit.

But some things I can not recompile, most important libwidevinecdm needed for streaming video.

Is the missing support for 32-bit binaries a kernel configuration ? Or is it a real hardware limitation ?
This page seems to indicate it can run 32-bit stuff. https://androidpctv.com/comparative-amlogic-s905x3/ - there it is running 32-bit only.

This page indicates it should be possible in general

 

[dgm78]

4 minutes ago, Povl H. Pedersen said:

I am running this distro on my H96 Max (S905X3), 4/128GB for about a month now.
I am running into problems with exec format error on 32-bit ARM (v7l), and have had a few github projects fix their code so their arm64 aka aarch64 is actually 64-bit.

But some things I can not recompile, most important libwidevinecdm needed for streaming video.

Is the missing support for 32-bit binaries a kernel configuration ? Or is it a real hardware limitation ?
This page seems to indicate it can run 32-bit stuff. https://androidpctv.com/comparative-amlogic-s905x3/ - there it is running 32-bit only.

This page indicates it should be possible in general

I think is CONFIG_COMPAT not enable in kernel, I enabled and compiled the kernel yesterday, but I will test only today.

 

[balbes150]

Updated the specialized version for Allwinner 20.05 (20200311).

[amirul]

23 hours ago, Peyton said:

Don't know maybe because kernel related

0227 is on 5.5.1 final and 0306 is on 5.6-RC4.

Ok lets see what 5.6-rc5 does

[lgranie]

Hi,

 

I'm used to compile my kernel on x86 with make bindeb-dpkg and then edit /etc/lilo.conf or create symlink to images and initrd files installed with dpkg.

I have no clue how to do it with u-boot on a fat32 /boot partition.

 

I tried with the following procedure (on debian bullseye) :

  - download sources from kernel.org

  - cp /boot/config-5.5.0 linux-source-5.5.7/.config

  - make menuconfig && make bindeb-pkg -j 4 (took 2 hours)

  - dpkg -i linux-image-5.5.7-xxx.deb (look like debian is able to manage uboot initramfs)

  - edit the 2 first lines of /boot/uEnv.txt and set image and initramfs

  - reboot (3 times) => black screen

 

Few questions :

- Is there any additional configuration to pass to make bindeb-pkg on arm compare to x86?

- What about dtb files?

 

Thx, for your help,

Laurent.

 

ps : on my x96max, I've already got some difficulties to boot on emmc : a simple reboot work 1/3 times. I have to boot on sdcard and then reboot (removing the sdcard) to boot on emmc.

[psxsnake]

Hello I'm new in Armbian and I would use my H96Pro+ but all image i try i got this error in TWRP

(and I checked dtb folder, there is'nt H96pro+ file)

[jeanrhum]

3 minutes ago, psxsnake said:

Hello I'm new in Armbian and I would use my H96Pro+ but all image i try i got this error in TWRP

I think that the problem is twrp. You should come back to the factory configuration for the boot process.

[amirul]

Armbian_20.05.0_Arm-64_bionic_dev_5.6.0-rc5-next-20200311_desktop

Colors back to normal 

 

option glamor still with clicks and pop in chromium video

Edited March 14, 2020 by amirul
update

[zanfi]

On 3/8/2020 at 12:26 PM, gounthar said:

Has anyone tested any AllWinner H616 based box?
I have one, and will give it a try.

Hi, I have a allwinner 616 too. Nothing found yet which I can boot with. Did you find something useful?

[Zoom]

On 3/10/2020 at 8:33 AM, balbes150 said:

Use the second APPEND line with additional parameters for H6

It doesn't help, no display if booting from SD-card. However, it boots from USB.

[hamza_iraki]

hi team

.please i need to know if my box run armbian  my box is Transpeed T98 6k

 

[NicoD]

2 hours ago, hamza_iraki said:

.please i need to know if my box run armbian  my box is Transpeed T98 6k

 

Might work. You'll need this image 

Change the uEnv.txt file to point to one of the allwinner h6 dtb files. If your device isn't there then try some others and see how well it works. 

[hamza_iraki]

thank you nicod i like ur video in youtube  how to install and how to build image. The problem is : whats the best image for my device and whats the dufference betwen there images.in the link are 2 folders RK_AML_AW and ALLWINER.

From any folder i need to download the image and what is the best image stable and fast

 

[jeanrhum]

Images without the desktop suffix are just built without xserver (but it can be added after) and they intended for headless server use.

The different names correspond to debian or ubuntu variants. Prefer bionic (ubuntu) or buster (debian) images and you'll have to test which image is the more stable for you. Start first with those in the allwinner directory and test with the available dtb.

[balbes150]

On 3/12/2020 at 12:35 PM, lgranie said:

download sources from kernel.org

for this core to work on aml, additional patches or processing with the mkimage utility are required (information is available on the forum in several topics).

 

On 3/12/2020 at 12:35 PM, lgranie said:

make bindeb-pkg -j 4

 

make Image dtbs -j 4

[balbes150]

Test version of the image (20200314) for installation in eMMC on s905 chips with a 5.6 core . Please note that this is only a test version, which has a number of disadvantages. The amount of RAM available after installation will be 1 GB (including for systems launched from external media). After installation, you need to manually expand the ROOT_EMMC partition, after installation it will be approximately 8GB. There may be other bugs. I checked the installation mode on the Vega S95 Telos S905. My system starts normally from eMMC. To install it you need to run the script from the root user (install-aml-s905-emmc.sh).

[gounthar]

On 3/13/2020 at 1:18 PM, zanfi said:

Hi, I have a allwinner 616 too. Nothing found yet which I can boot with. Did you find something useful?

Not yet, sorry!

[Zahari Zahariev]

magicsee n5 plus s905x3 4GB RAM 64GB eMMC.

works almost fine with meson-sm1-sei610.dtb and boots from eMMC.

but there missing some RAM memory.

reported total is: 3.2GB

in android reported memory is 3.9GB.

any suggestions where lost about 800MB of memory?

 

br

Zahari