bubbadestroy Posted February 5, 2020 Posted February 5, 2020 SMART AM40 iQ Appliance P/N: 1031572 Model: UGK-AM40-EDU | EWY1-AM40-EDU | EWY2-AM40-EDU Processor RK3399, Dual-core A72+Quad-core A53, 64 bits, 2GHz Memory 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM Storage 32 GB eMMC 5.1 Wireless technology Bluetooth 4.1 802.11A/B/G/N/Ac Capture options Establish a Bluetooth wireless connection with a supported mobile device Connectors HDMI 1.4 (1920 × 1080) output for external monitor USB 3.0 Type-A (×2) RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet Quote These mini computer features powerful hexa-core RockChip RK3399 CPU. With SMART's new iQ 3.0 OS, it can provide unique experience and interaction in your classrooms or meeting rooms. Designed for SMART Board 6000 and 7000 series interactive displays. This AM40 appliance does have a OPS plug(Open Pluggable Specification), which may work with other display or hardware. It also have a power plug in the back(unknown size), and MicroSD card slot for "service" use. There is a "service" switch on the unit to switch OS or operation made. --Update-- For device tear-down and technical sheets included in package - SEE SECOND POST Reference links posted at bottom are sourced as I dig up more details that may be useful . It looks like the power will have to be supplied via gpio as far as I can tell.. The official documentation and fccid technical orders refer to the Headless SBC / Module what have you; as an "IQ Appliance". Tagged 'grep' for control/command function searching through fccid or other official documentation) Otherwise found simply as AM40 rk3399 or AM40 iq on google/other engines --AM40 iQ - Anyone seen or attempted armbian on something similar?-- Figured this forum may be one of the few places that might appreciate and see what I first saw. So if anyone might have an idea where to proceed with a possible hidden gem like this.. I picked it up for reasonable price a quite a bit LESS than current nanopi m4 cost the other night. Can't say quite yet if it will be a useless paperweight, or a diamond in the rockchip. heh. As soon as it arrives I intend on seeing what kind of hac.. err educational research can be done to place Armbian on it eventually over its intended OS. There seems to be a service switch that is used on other models to allow intel modules and windows OS. The form factor seems to be carrier board size, so here's hoping for that switch to be more open to source than intended for this particular model. It's just something about the specs on it raised an eyebrow, yea? And the case it comes with is pretty solid compared to the shit, err, other case and fan combos you normally see.. That alone.. I didn't see any tear-down from the ffcid schematics available to the public, possibly because it sold as an education exclusive device to school system. If anyone here shows interest, I'd be glad to do a tear-down (bubba do like destroy) and share it with the RK3399 community. -Follow up- Regarding cost. I paid somewhere under $50. If anyone else considers it, I suggest you be firm with the seller, and make an offer that is well under what they're going to be asking. Reason to be a cheapskate on these things? Well.. 1. Likely these were paid for by government tax funds for schools. Or written off as a privately owned business cost anyhow, which means someone like us already helped pay for them.. In the form of tax or tax return budget allotted to business owners. 2. Considering I'm not even sure if its possible to power on so simply without gpio testing or a breakout wizard beard 3. Cause we can build this things ourselves already for under $100 easily. So yea don't pay something more than that, even brand new for sure! Open Power Specification and 2 pins in the back is all I see so far. Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SMART-Model-AM40-Part-Number-1029788-Rev-07-No-Antennae-Very-Good-Condition/174156468137?hash=item288c88cfa9:g:DvwAAOSwCRVdcQyW https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SMART-iQ-Appliance-AM40-Education-Digital-Signage-Player-Rockchip-RK3399/173853101572?hash=item287a73ce04:g:AccAAOSwaAlccc2l Manufacturer Reference: https://support.smarttech.com/docs/software/iq/en/about/specifications/am40.cshtml https://support.smarttech.com/docs/software/iq/en/about/iq-appliance-connectors.cshtml FCCID Technical Orders: doesn't seem to have its own nomenclature listing however, it is referenced in great detail its carrier device (an over priced touch screen) sourced for IMPORTANT notes before any reversing or mod attempt at introducing hardware compatible touch screen, PSU, OPS (serial) etc user manual control/command function search 'grep AM40' FCC ID QCIIDS665P1 QCI-IDS665P1, QCI IDS665P1, QCIIDS665P1, QCIIDS665PI, QCI1DS665P1, QCIID5665P1, QCIIDS66SP1, QC11DS665P1, OCIIDS665P1, 0CIIDS665P1 SMART Technologies Inc. SMART Board 6000S and 6000S Pro Series Interactive Displays IDS665P1 SMART LCD Monitor SBID-6065S, IDS665-1 Smartboard Interactive Display 6000S / Pro SBID-6265S, SBID-6275S, SBID-6265S-PW, SBID-6275S-PW https://fccid.io/QCIIDS675P1 https://fccid.io/QCIIDS675P1/Users-Manual/User-Manual-4554712 FCC ID QCI7086 QCI-7086, QCI 7086, QCI7086, QCI7O86, QC17086, OCI7086, 0CI7086 SMART Technologies Inc. Interactive Display 7086 https://fccid.io/QCI7086 https://fccid.io/QCI7086/User-Manual/Users-Manual-3626573 https://fccid.io/QCI7086/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-3626563 user manual control/command function search 'grep iQ appliance' FCC ID QCI7000 QCI-7000, QCI 7000, QCI7000, QCI7OOO, QC17000, OCI7000, 0CI7000 SMART Technologies Inc. Interactive Display 7000 https://fccid.io/QCI7000 https://fccid.io/QCI7000/Users-Manual/user-manual-3417295 https://fccid.io/QCI7086/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-3417295 OPS: Open Plug-gable Specification Serial (40 pin) Seria(40 pin) = OPS (80 pin *note, not sure exactly if this is the way to go, but closest I could find for now to adapt the OPS interface manufacturers "support" forum search regarding ops https://community.smarttech.com/s/global-search/OPS?language=en_US A Challenger Appears https://hackaday.io/project/20193-open-pluggable-specification-breakout-board https://www.digikey.com.au/products/en/connectors-interconnects/rectangular-board-to-board-connectors-arrays-edge-type-mezzanine/308?k=tx24&k=&pkeyword=tx24&s=54162&pv1989=0&FV=ffe00134&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25 OPS: Open Plug-gable Specification potentially an inconvenient convenience. (hdmi,usb,rj45 and etc..) to make the platform a module. imagine your favorite usb to serial, or whatever favorite debugging i/o. Now, chop off the USB part, and replace it with this. heres hoping those 2 pins are simple logic level voltage and ground Service Switch: Possibly switches between EMMC and SD Boot? May be interesting TLDR; possibly epic fail or epic win used condition: metal case / fan / rk3399 / 4GBDDR3 / 32GB EMMC vs NanoPi M4 Metal Case w/ Cooling Fan $30 to $45 Metal Case with Cooling Fan andRK3399/4GBDDR3/32GB eMMC $35 to $100 2 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 9, 2020 Author Posted February 9, 2020 It arrived! This is going to be a non-professional tear-down and quite a WIP! The intent of posting this up was not just to show off a cheaply found / obscurely deployed rk3399 board, but to possibly open development using Armbian. If possible, boards like this and other hidden gems that might pop out of the woodwork as we may find them may come with amazing things only found at usually outrageous prices for the business market. As I found this, it was intended to be a $400-600 DIGITAL SIGNAGE MODULE sold to education private and public I suppose. For one reason or another the modules themselves are being sold near mint, at anywhere from $40-100. A fair price for something that is just parts at worst. Still, the hope and GOAL here is to attempt as much hillbilly hackery as possible to see what else can be done, and armbian seems to be the most hopeful solution for an OS. Any suggestions are welcome, technical, critical, or otherwise that might improve interest as such; BUBBA proudly present and DESTROY smart technologies am40 rk3399 module - now with more pie and banna! Technical Stuff guideam40installv31aug17.pdf - The manual that comes with the module product new in box. It also requires a smart tv with touch capability to insert it into. I would rather install a 3rd party touch screen such as raspberry pi 7-10 inch touch screens like any normal rk3399 sbc.. For now however, I've attached the "module" to something more familiar, pictured here: comparisoniqappliances.pdf Comparison of the different modules you may find for various prices with a similar chip-set. The am50 do look cool, but Bubba can't find one priced to destroy. Photos: sorry for the terrible camera filter I had on. posted anyhow to show general size of board. surprised it 1 pound! Front - with added 1 antenna (can have 2) Rear - Serial Port (including power) aka: Open Plug-gable Specification Side - Service Switch (used for booting operating system of SD I believe, hope for armbian) Inside: "disclosure fitting for rockchip" Bubba am not certified to do anything except destroy. To give you an idea, Bubba had to carry a rock to tech school during basic electronic week for dumb as rock answer. A week how long it took to realize there's rocks everywhere and Bub didn't have to carry a rock for a week in the first place! Anyone who already didn't know, (me had to research) the Rockchip that's not under the heat-sink is : RK808 is a complete power supply solution for Portable systems. The highly integrated device includes four buck DC-DC converters, eight high performance ldos, two low Rds switches, I2C interface, programmable power sequencing and an RTC. Have yet to remove the heat sink, its a beast now that I think about it.. I'll put my m4 on top of it for a comparison photo later. Nomenclature Heatsink HEATSINK! RK808-D UART Debug and logic levels RTL8822BE removable "service switch" labled ADB Power I/O seemed hidden by chasis housing, Bubba destroy a hole into it later for easy access From these photos, does anyone know if this is a carrier or dev board native to any Armbian already supports? Thoughts, corrections, and feedback are welcome. Destroy with caution! This was tricky. The board was free of all mounting, except the adhesive around the front pannel jacks. Bubba destroy carefully here 3 Quote
soerenderfor Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 Look forward to read more about your findings. Am i the only one is curios what is inside the box? 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 9, 2020 Author Posted February 9, 2020 Regarding OPS Open_Pluggable_Specification - this board, and so far possible solutions. 1. Buy a damn dock. (too expensive, anymore than $10 to $20 is unreasonable for consumer use for just one or two products it will ever be needed by) https://www.amazon.com/NEC-Extended-Docking-Standalone-OPS-Dock/dp/B00IFE91TO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=NEC+OPS&qid=1581316055&sr=8-1 2. Adapt- err.. Having a bit of trouble with safely powering the unit on yet. I think I'm making it more complicated than it should be though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Pluggable_Specification seems im missing some adapter tips. is either too small or too big haha! 3. Hack - breadboard And unfortunately this is gonna be the go to answer I imagine, but I haven't much experience yet on implementing it. In fact most of this is rather new to me. I should thank NicoD for getting me excited about rk3399 boards loaded with armbian 4. Any advice? My friend was either joking or serious when he said solder on a different barrel jack .... 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 9, 2020 Author Posted February 9, 2020 7 hours ago, soerenderfor said: Look forward to read more about your findings. Am i the only one is curios what is inside the box? Okay goin to bed. new photos are up! more to come. I think I found a regular power supply I/O port hidden inside case, just covered so normal users woudnt see it. tomorrow if a regular old 12v power supply works on it ill see how plug and play ready it is as is! then possibly balbes150? oh, and the heatsink lol... that freakin heatsink is awesome. since the whole unit was meant to go INSIDE tv, it has to stay pretty cool while outside of one. 0 Quote
soerenderfor Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 My best bet will be @balbes150 it could be some of his universal image would do the job? 0 Quote
TRS-80 Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 17 hours ago, bubbadestroy said: "disclosure fitting for rockchip" Bubba am not certified to do anything except destroy. To give you an idea, Bubba had to carry a rock to tech school during basic electronic week for dumb as rock answer. A week how long it took to realize there's rocks everywhere and Bub didn't have to carry a rock for a week in the first place! I like you. 16 hours ago, bubbadestroy said: it was intended to be a $400-600 DIGITAL SIGNAGE MODULE sold to education private and public I suppose Typical "our tax dollars at work!" Looking forward to updates on this adventure. 0 Quote
balbes150 Posted February 10, 2020 Posted February 10, 2020 22 hours ago, bubbadestroy said: then possibly balbes150? Sorry, I didn't understand what your question was about. 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 10, 2020 Author Posted February 10, 2020 10 hours ago, balbes150 said: Sorry, I didn't understand what your question was about. Oh, sorry for the confusion. Here is a full snippit from the conversation.soerenderfor suggest your armbian images as a solution to flashing to a possibly adaptable digital signage rk3399 heres the converastion: bubbadestroy 1 Started conversation: Wednesday at 04:13 PM I recently added and cleaned up with several edits an inquiry about a rk3399 board called AM40 iQ. Do you have any suggestions on how I might approach the forum to get support on working with this strange device? The goal would be to put armbian on it and get a bad ass M4 equivalent device that comes loaded with a very nice case fan and hardware for under $50. Quote Edit soerenderfor 3 Replied: Wednesday at 04:31 PM I will look at the board, it seems interresting. Do you have a link to buy the device from, shipping to EU? Best Regards. Quote bubbadestroy 1 Replied: Wednesday at 05:23 PM i did see one , ill update ya in a sec. Quote Edit bubbadestroy 1 Replied: Wednesday at 05:37 PM ok this guy has one, and I know for a FACT he will entertain offers for less cause I'm considering his offer of $58 right now at the moment. If you decide to, he will likely entertain $50 US if you let him know you are going to be paying likely $20 in shipping cost for that to europe. (you don't wanna pay more than 70.00 or 80.00 Euro for total i imagine.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/SMART-iQ-AM40-Appliance-UGK-AM40-EDU-EWY1-RK3399-Signage-OPS-plug-board-mini-PC/114055870278?hash=item1a8e427746:g:pqIAAOSwX-ZdoLJj#shpCntId I picked one up used for $35 without the antennas ... as soon as it arrives I'll know for sure how cool this thing really is. Quote Edit soerenderfor 3 Replied: Wednesday at 06:35 PM Have you done some progress with it? Can balbes150 universal images fit the machine? I have just seen your pictures from your topic, i'm curious. How well is the machine cooled down, have looked inside the case? Best Regards. 0 Quote
chwe Posted February 10, 2020 Posted February 10, 2020 On 2/9/2020 at 2:58 AM, bubbadestroy said: As I found this, it was intended to be a $400-600 DIGITAL SIGNAGE MODULE sold to education private and public I suppose. For one reason or another the modules themselves are being sold near mint, at anywhere from $40-100. On 2/9/2020 at 2:58 AM, bubbadestroy said: Any suggestions are welcome, technical, critical, or otherwise that might improve interest as such; BUBBA proudly present and DESTROY smart technologies am40 rk3399 module - now with more pie and banna! it was highly overpriced with 400-600$ (IMO still 100$ are too much for it) it is mostly undocumented what you got is a 4GB ddr3 rk3399 'TV box' with 2x2 wifi over mPCIe and 32GB eMMC with a 'connector' I've not seen any specification what's populated on it . which may or may not work with a 'generic DT' (generic means here any rk3399 dt file we have most of them are quite similar cause they follow more or less the reference design) for rk3399 boards. You can also (try to) 'extract' the dtb file from 'whatever is preloaded' on this box.. decompile it and follow all the phadles to see how nodes are connected to each other.. to adjust a working DT to match the box better or write one from plain.. (you can also use this blob directly on any sort 'armbian' and see if it is compatible). at least it has a debug UART populated (likely 3v3 but who knows, you should check that first) On 2/9/2020 at 2:58 AM, bubbadestroy said: Is it worth it.. well that's up to you.. if you're interested in going down the rabbit hole and learn new things.. maybe it is (you can spend a lot of time with bootloaders, device tree etc. on it.. IIRC ddr3 should be supported with mainline u-boot, and what they have labeled 'service only' looks like a SD-card holder, so you can likely do your 'try and error attempts' to get something 'armbian a like' booting on this board without corrupting the OS which is currently preflashed on the eMMC. On 2/9/2020 at 2:58 AM, bubbadestroy said: "service switch" labled ADB likely similar to that stuff here:http://wiki.t-firefly.com/en/Firefly-RK3399/adb_use.html So to summarize you currently got a paperweight and it's up to you to transform it in something useful. Even then I don't see much of a reason to provide support on such a board. It has a 'unknown' availability (you got it cheap from ebay, but as soon as this sellers run out of stock, it's likely never appearing again). For 100$ you get the nanopi m4v2 with a case which offers known schematics, support from the boardvendor, known connectors (including eMMC, PCIe, hdmi, camera and display interfaces) and the vendor known in SBC marked for years (they may not do everything perfect but you mostly know what you get, and in general those boards work as they should). This box might be nice if you plan to learn and dig into what can make it a pain to support random boxes with 'somehow' proper working images. But you may have to build your images on your own for a long time in case non of the images we provide for rk3399 will work out of the box (I would focus on images built for ddr3 ram type boards). 2 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 11, 2020 Author Posted February 11, 2020 thank yoy 10 hours ago, chwe said: it was highly overpriced with 400-600$ (IMO still 100$ are too much for it) it is mostly undocumented what you got is a 4GB ddr3 rk3399 'TV box' with 2x2 wifi over mPCIe and 32GB eMMC with a 'connector' I've not seen any specification what's populated on it . which may or may not work with a 'generic DT' (generic means here any rk3399 dt file we have most of them are quite similar cause they follow more or less the reference design) for rk3399 boards. You can also (try to) 'extract' the dtb file from 'whatever is preloaded' on this box.. decompile it and follow all the phadles to see how nodes are connected to each other.. to adjust a working DT to match the box better or write one from plain.. (you can also use this blob directly on any sort 'armbian' and see if it is compatible). at least it has a debug UART populated (likely 3v3 but who knows, you should check that first) Is it worth it.. well that's up to you.. if you're interested in going down the rabbit hole and learn new things.. maybe it is (you can spend a lot of time with bootloaders, device tree etc. on it.. IIRC ddr3 should be supported with mainline u-boot, and what they have labeled 'service only' looks like a SD-card holder, so you can likely do your 'try and error attempts' to get something 'armbian a like' booting on this board without corrupting the OS which is currently preflashed on the eMMC. likely similar to that stuff here:http://wiki.t-firefly.com/en/Firefly-RK3399/adb_use.html So to summarize you currently got a paperweight and it's up to you to transform it in something useful. Even then I don't see much of a reason to provide support on such a board. It has a 'unknown' availability (you got it cheap from ebay, but as soon as this sellers run out of stock, it's likely never appearing again). For 100$ you get the nanopi m4v2 with a case which offers known schematics, support from the boardvendor, known connectors (including eMMC, PCIe, hdmi, camera and display interfaces) and the vendor known in SBC marked for years (they may not do everything perfect but you mostly know what you get, and in general those boards work as they should). This box might be nice if you plan to learn and dig into what can make it a pain to support random boxes with 'somehow' proper working images. But you may have to build your images on your own for a long time in case non of the images we provide for rk3399 will work out of the box (I would focus on images built for ddr3 ram type boards). Thank you for the through reply. It was suspected it was like an android box in the likes of such as i saw the manufacturer also sells plug n play rack mounts, or thin clients chrome boxes and not so cleverly renamed "appliances and modules" like the chrome boxes as well. Id almost paid $50 to a counter-offer for another that was listed open box but new. Came with both antenna and machine..After reading up on the open power integration on many of these, i didnt raise up to the counter offer. Now reading what details you've laid out your voice here on what these actually are and compared to are reassured me that i didnt miss out on anything. dont feel like i paid too much yet cause i haggled this one down to $35(used, but built very solid). so ill continue the endeavor cause for now the hardware inside is looking really nice... worthwhile only if it can be narrowed down to a quick process to plug n play with armbian at sucha price. like you said. i just learned ao much bout barrel jacks, wire gauge resistance, diodes, voltage and current today in order to beat thinking of ways to beat its "service only barrel jack port hidden inside" ill keep the thread alive with updates till either the board melts, or i have a meltdown attempting an armbian build. if anyone wants to join in on the chaos... theres a seller selling a few now on ebay. make a lowball offer or $20 or $30 and see if they meet u half way.. if nothing else the case is nice, and it does have a populated uart gpio yet to dive into. 0 Quote
soerenderfor Posted February 12, 2020 Posted February 12, 2020 Did you try booting with some images or so? 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted February 18, 2020 Author Posted February 18, 2020 (edited) On 2/12/2020 at 5:18 PM, soerenderfor said: Did you try booting with some images or so? -update 20FEB2020 OPS interface board seems to be simple keywords to find what is needed. Phew! Ok much less confusing now. ... and I feel dumb yet almost vindicated in not wasting all this time now. Pictures and links: https://www.google.com/search?q=OPS+interface+board&source=lnms&tbm=isch OPS interface board $11 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32965114732.html overpriced example of all pieces needed on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEC-OPS-SLIDE-IN-Intel-i3-4th-Gen-with-Interface-board-and-Power-Adaptor/382184739088 Woot! .. please be this simple Spoiler OUTDATED INFO -update 18feb2020 TLDR; going to see how it goes putting down $10 - $20 on a developer breakout board found below this board should work with smart technologies official am-enc-70 fan and power enclosure - hard to find it will likely work with nec ops standalone dock - too exensive Otherwise BREAKOUT BOARDS There are more than I list, a some to get started on what to look for posted below for now. They have different features, It is good to use photo to text a translator or some kind like microsoft translate app to read the specs and description tabs because DO NOT WANT ITX to OPS / sister-wife_card / or other incompatible variants DO WANT JAE 80 pin / OPS daughterboard / riser card / daughtercard / etc Some features looked very cool for ALL kinds of OPS development, even though, whats the point.. but still cheap breakout boards! LISTED CHEAPEST FIRST. *included shipping in price total calc* https://www.yoycart.com/Product/568727381518/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/610736833116/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/592022969225/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/572163620658/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/565658323101/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/570749894886/ https://www.yoycart.com/Product/528346624181/ https://www.chinahao.com/product/40588731896/ops_daughter_card_ops_computer_adapter_board_ops_interface_board_ops_adapter_card_touch_all-in-one_dedicated_card https://www.chinahao.com/product/542355287652/ --edited below -- this wont make sense anymore but im keeping it for later reading when drinking because my brain hurts now. ##fuck. Fuck. With one click of a GO BACK ONE PAGE side mouse bind, bubba destroyed an hours worth of very clean edits with possibly great lead on this whole thing. ok too lazy to explain again, but to anyone still interested, theres alot of possibility found here as an all in one solution to any OPS device. cheaper than the standalone ops nec docks, cheaper than smart tech AM-ENC-70 powered fan enclosures for OPS (just found many variants from other manufacturers, all OPS ports universal regardless) more potential for development as it possibly allows regular touch screens and lcds access to OPS on a development level via ##bubba destroy english language more than ever with summary/data dump summary: problem: get an OPS device, likely doesn't just plug and play without CAVEATS. solution: dont get an OPS device or buy/build a solution via; Brand name docks 1. Get translate. microsoft realtime photo to text app is good, google translate is enough. Chinese traditional langage to native (yes i am leaving language misspelled, !fuck with machine learning?<#@ss) 2. scrape/grep/crawl/poop_and_cried my way through endless dead ends to find the proper meta to use however,:_like_share_thumbsup_ ## productive metatags OPS computer adapter board, tail board, standard OPS industrial control host interface daughter card, OPS sub-card connection display device, plug-in computer host adapter board electronic whiteboard HDMI output,all-in-one dedicated card ##I move away from the mic to breathe in dock enclosure,AM-ENC-70, OPS-DOCK, External OPS Docking Station ##grumble/rant bubbadestroy hours of informative edits... keybind on mouse,hammer,electrictape... ##almost done with meta OPS-C interface board OPS riser card OPS408 daughter card, JAE Tx25 connector FUN STUFF BUBBA DID/Almost destroy Can't find the right size of dc adapter? BY DESIGN brand name "smart techs" who like to have their own very unique barrel jack measurements, so you must buy every stupid gimmick from them, instead of using, i dunno, just a fucking normal diameter for DC input causing bubba to almost do something insane: I began to plan a hack to defeat their dc input size problem. As a professional instead of just letting me die, he calmly and simply explains as one would t a child. And apparently electricity is like water, and if you have a gigantic flow of water in a large pipe ,suddenly bottle necked into a small tiny pipe, well.. i guess doing that with electric is more dangerous than a crack pipe So with that knowledge I: pos (hot) inner pin. neg to outter barrel in picks up an old 12v3a dc adapter plug with barrel jack compares it with a 19v ??A lenovo laptop power supply yeah that should be fine, either one. just make sure dc symbol, between 12-19 volt, A, = proper 30w, electricity is easy as a youtube video and google! #I send photo of my AMAZING jumper wire to jack hack (ardunio breaker board jumper wire gage size) plan to my friend whose a journeyman electrician. He texts back: "Looks Right" So: I glance at the pinout of the barrel jack on this thing, google how barrel jacks work, jumper a wire (hot) to the inner barrel jack pin, jumper a ground wire to... hell why not ill just shows picture of how crazy it is to do what I was thinking to a buddy who might know a better idea.. and 20 mins later texts "TRY TO FILM IT WHEN YOU TURN IT ON SO IF YOU GOT ANY SMOKE OUT YOU CAN CAPTURE IT" well, im still alive to write this and as you can see above, I decided i'd either learn how to build a breakout board to properly and safely test a prototype dc output adapter. or keep looking through datasheets cause someone had to prototype it already and put it on a easy to modify breakout board for production! https://www.chinahao.com/product/40588731896/ OPS-C interface board OPS riser card OPS408 daughter card support HMDI1 4 MINI DP TV interface https://www.chinahao.com/product/542355287652/ -original post 17feb2020- So for now I'm waiting on a few power adapters, and still doing careful research on how to best go about this regarding powering the device on. Without a standalone dock, or expensive TV.. , I just want to be sure. I have learned quite a bit though in preparation for the attempt I will eventually make. So far. Just bunch of references on research https://www.winmate.com/timing_bios_re-programming.asp https://www.winmate.com/DigitalSignage/open_pluggable_specification.asp?showblock=Support https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/solutions/open-pluggable-specification/technical-library.html?grouping=rdc Content Types&sort=title:asc 33 +12 V ~ +24 V 73 PS_ON# 34 +12 V ~ +24 V 74 PWR_STATUS 35 +12 V ~ +24 V 75 GND 36 +12 V ~ +24 V 76 GND 37 +12 V ~ +24 V 77 GND 38 +12 V ~ +24 V 78 GND 39 +12 V ~ +24 V 79 GND 40 +12 V ~ +24 V 80 GND Edited February 20, 2020 by bubbadestroy Simplified. 0 Quote
soerenderfor Posted February 20, 2020 Posted February 20, 2020 Determination and Stubborn, i like it. You do not quit without fight ;-) 0 Quote
chwe Posted February 21, 2020 Posted February 21, 2020 moved to p2p tech support.. I doubt this board will get any armbian support at all (except you make it happen on your own), there's no reliable reseller to buy them in quantities and therefore it doesn't really fit into rk3399 development.. I wish you the best to get something out of it. 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted March 9, 2020 Author Posted March 9, 2020 On 2/21/2020 at 2:39 PM, chwe said: moved to p2p tech support.. I doubt this board will get any armbian support at all (except you make it happen on your own), there's no reliable reseller to buy them in quantities and therefore it doesn't really fit into rk3399 development.. I wish you the best to get something out of it. Thank you! Seems this is on hold on my end as well. I'm still learning so, this actual project will be on hold.. While I am making good progress on another individuals unrelated project that was posted on hackaday Adding a CC1101 module to SRXE Shifting focus here is giving me a great hands-on experience to work with some core fundamentals I was sorely lacking. Before I return to the Smart Tech AM40 I will need the right tools it seems. I'll likely get a low cost DIY oscilloscope kit or something like the Espotek Labrador The focus shift has necessary because basically, many of the OPS slot type Single Board Computer ( Appliance / Module / Slot-in Computer / TV Box ) circuit boards are so tightly integrated only to the digital signage platform each company intended its design for.. Spoiler Oh well, that airforce budget has to get spent somehow! If I were to say anything positive here it is this: Get into trouble first. Troubleshooting forums that is. Foe this product I can say many of the solutions offered up freely to the community for technical support are, call the seller, aka radioahack . Real advice is common sense. Be proactive in reading up on how mich support is actually given, and what kind of genuine solutions are available for simple customers tech support request.. Go to the tech support page Find the troubleshooting and community question forums. Look up the model numbers/software /platform and you are about to bury yourself in.. Look at issues regarding resolved and unresolved client to tech communicate and judge for yourself if it is going to be worthwhile to invest resources in order to get out of the box functionality or direct solutions from the manufacturer . . . . Anyone who might be curious about reverse engineering or tinkering more on something like these "OPS Digital Signage" variants for use in Armbian or what have you projects.. I ended up budgeting myself to $120 on the whole project. I was able to find a few ways to power on a standalone boar normal display.. Here's what I got for $20 or less. Things like this SHOULD likely safely power up anything with an open plug-gable specification. I have tested and confirmed safe logic levels and got it running on a normal monitor through the native hdmi output. So for now this thread is on hold for updates from myself for a while, but for anyone who wants to pick it up until then.. you should know. Whatever gimmick "OPS slot-in" display / smart tv / or "interactive smart board." they might have you buy, you likely don't need. If you find good deal on an OPS computer, they can be very nifty. I found a on best offer of $30 with some neat stuff on the board. It can be worth the price just to upgrade a laptop with parts found within. It's a crap-shoot though, gotta do your research. Here some of the best of what I could find on a budget ops single board computers AM70-L https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=AM70-L+smart&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=AM70-L riser cards https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32965114732.html https://www.ebay.com/itm/Westinghouse-WB65F1D1-Board-E13A-OPS80B-00R/323773785988?epid=844692227&hash=item4b626be784:g:vHwAAOSwlndZDiOd&autorefresh=true more expensive.. but very good alternative to just a riser card. have found those who accept deals for under $30 Nec OPS dock https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=nec+ops+dock&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=nec+ops+ ELO Touch Ops Adapter Kit (somehow i got mine for much much less than I believe they are sold for. the ebay users store must have been liquidating or mistook it for just the DC power supply part of it... wow, and it works great!) https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=ELO+Touch+Ops+Adapter+Kit&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=ELO+Touch+Ops+Adapter+Ki 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted March 21, 2020 Author Posted March 21, 2020 Progress Report! Stubborn resolve because, well we got that kind of time these days ! termux adb and permissions to play around with android 7 so far. good news so far, it doesn't feel (or smell) like it runs hot at all, i'll get some logs up later and try to share the specs or bench. . Just wanted to rush some pics in. I had just given up tonight too. and now goodnight . just waiting for the stupid piece barrel jack adapter kit to show up. real solution was the troubleshooter (self) lack of experience and method and order used to take on such a task. jumper wire power switch came in handy also. there was already populated pin header waiting for it next to the debug pins... ended up supplying power with a 19v 3+ amp asus laptop barrel jack supply and the above uncommon (in my toolbox) barrel jack adapter size. no smoke or electrical fire to mention so far either, but bubba do destroy eventually 0 Quote
stut Posted March 21, 2020 Posted March 21, 2020 What a cool funky device. Seems the price has come up quite a bit. For $35 you didn't waste any money I would've also bought this for that price. Hope you manage to get Armbian on it! 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted March 23, 2020 Author Posted March 23, 2020 On 3/21/2020 at 4:00 AM, stut said: What a cool funky device. Seems the price has come up quite a bit. For $35 you didn't waste any money I would've also bought this for that price. Hope you manage to get Armbian on it! you'd be supprised at how the asking price and market value can find a reasonable middle ground with a reasonablely low offer on technology. because the supported hardware/software revision has expired anyhow (EOL); i believe any open pluggable specification device pre 2017 are about (less) as useful as my virtualboy or sega saturn was at its EOL as far as market value is concerned. i imagine if they ask more than $50-70 the seller better verify from buyer and seller should confirm its not EOL, is model 2017+ new or used with all parts in working order.. and boots to an OS... otherwise it needs to be relisted as for parts only and gfl. -phew. my 2-or-more-bits oppionion anyhow on topic; thank you, and I will give a legitimate attempt to bub my way through flashing armbian to this board! till then I had better mention a few important things; some of which have may already been said multiple times by myself or others, on forum or otherwise # disclaimer and acknowledgement # I claim no rights to inventing, development, safe practices or translation iterization utilization or any other legal shit that hoes on, on this device, reference, or any other planet. #this disclaimer is possibly the only thing i take responsiblilty for, so if any system, ANY system breaks down, welcome to the club, bubba destroy alot of stuff for hobby and educational purposes only. #if it armbian made, old new borrowed or dissassembled, I will share the knowledge and credit source to those who are due credit as best as possible. #any the unlikely event of any new software or hardware developed unless otherwise mentioned specifically as my own creation is purely by a miracle circumstance and sheer brute force plug it in till it works or breaks method. # peer sharing is awesome, bright red blood makes the green grass grow, and always remember to spay and tutor your pests. supporting original content creators and future makers is probably a really good thing. money is a tool for helping many people create something together, so use it intelligently once in a while. Which reminds me, all shit costs electricity. i gotta go invest in a hamster wheel and hamster army to power this experiment. thats what i would say anyway, if i was the boss of anything. 1 Quote
stut Posted March 23, 2020 Posted March 23, 2020 You make a good point! I will contact some of these sellers and offer them a low amount. It will be a nice device to learn and tinker with and it shouldn't be too difficult to hunt down a SDK for this somehow somewhere. Which might make it easier to get Armbian on this. This box could make a nice little router or access point or something. I'm mostly sold on the form factor to be honest. I got a weak spot for these kind of boxes. I hope I can get my hands on one or two at a nice price. As for your power bill, I charge powerbanks using one of those 'camping' solar panels and use those powerbansk to run sbc's on. During day time the pass trough charging makes sure all the banks are filling up and at night there's enough juice left to last all night. And to be honest my main sbc doesn't take much at all. I have a bunch of NanoPi NEO2 boards and as Pihole or little webserver they're usually under 100ma at 5v. Very very little. You could also get one of those chargers they had for the OLPC laptops. They have this foot pedal or crank to generate power. Charge powerbanks with it that are powering your sbc, or build your own desk 2 Quote
stut Posted March 23, 2020 Posted March 23, 2020 It looks like they do still provide updates: https://support.smarttech.com/en/downloads/iq-appliance/3_5-system-software-am40 Not really EOL then, I assumed it was EOL I'm downloading the update and gonna see what's in there. Apparently there is also an Intel compute board for this thing. Spoiler Archive: am40-update-3.5.9042.zip signed by SignApk warning [am40-update-3.5.9042.zip]: 40 extra bytes at beginning or within zipfile (attempting to process anyway) extracting: system.patch.dat inflating: LICENSE/eula.html.gz inflating: LICENSE/ip.html.gz inflating: LICENSE/notice.html.gz inflating: META-INF/com/android/metadata inflating: META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary inflating: META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script inflating: boot.img inflating: file_contexts.bin inflating: parameter inflating: system.new.dat inflating: system.transfer.list inflating: trust.img inflating: uboot.img inflating: META-INF/com/android/otacert inflating: META-INF/MANIFEST.MF inflating: META-INF/CERT.SF inflating: META-INF/CERT.RSA Seems it runs u-boot. With a uart connected it might be possible to pause u-boot and try booting from usb/sd card. Using dtb from the Android image and I think if you use an Armbian image with the same kernel generation you can just recompile the Android dtb without having to create one from scratch. I'll update this post if I find anything interesting on the partitions in the update zip. The boot.img had a dtb in there called 01_dtbdump_rockchip-box-rev1.dtb. I converted it into dts and attached them here. I dunno what kernel version it is but I think its 4.x. I don't think you can use the Android dtb directly in Armbian but it should be possible to compile the dts again for usage with 4.x kernels and maybe 5.x but I think the device tree changes between kernel versions. 01_dtbdump_rockchip-box-rev1.dtb 01_dtbdump_rockchip-box-rev1.dts 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted March 23, 2020 Author Posted March 23, 2020 Thank you, I was looking for just these sort of things. What you suggested will be my next step forward. first however, I will boot it up once more in a moment and see if I can get some better screenshots with some of those unknowns answered.. I will try to make the usb-uart debug logs the next report asap. Was just about to work out how to go about something like this as well; ... also wont hurt if I read some of the documentation on boards like this, just as a similar reference since the am40 lacks OEM documentation that we need for revers- errr open source licensed application development. http://en.t-firefly.com/doc/download/page/id/57.html 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted March 23, 2020 Author Posted March 23, 2020 Just to give you a realistic idea of total you may spend. at least $35 to 50 if you shop around and be patient, possibly up to $70 or more if you just don't want to wait and haggle so much. So aside from the board you buy, you may want/need any one of these or similiar.. daughter board for the ops slot. and that oddly hard to find barrel jack adapter pin *top row, last tip on the right).. or if somehow you get lucky and find something like this ops adapter kit, it has ops powered cooling fans, proper voltage/amp for ops device power adapter, and ops daughtercard all contained inside it and each functioned separately when disassembled. Here is the usb uart I have at the moment. Haven't gotten to use either of them yet so this could take a bit for me to update on the debug logs. Would be nice if anyone else wanted to see what else can be done armbian or otherwise with these boards. Am70 and am40 or am50 i can confirm boot to the operating systems all without an expensive smart board. but yes you will need one or two of the things I have listed above to get the hdmi and or power going on them correctly on a normal or touch hdmi display. and a power switch more than likely. i used one off an old dekstop 1 Quote
stut Posted March 23, 2020 Posted March 23, 2020 From what I gathered from the sparse documentation is that the sd card is some kind of break out for debugging and that it has an old school rs232 port for serial/terminal access as well. Apparently these are meant to be used with their smart screens. But as stand alone box they are pretty cool on paper. Just too bad this company isn't really targeting the sbc audience. I see you got a serial interface ready, wish you all the best! Did yours come with those Intel compute modules? 0 Quote
bubbadestroy Posted September 3, 2020 Author Posted September 3, 2020 TLDR; Official source from OEM says bootloader is locked and likely will remain so. Go play with open source friendly boards. Also new photos. an ACER power adapter for simplifying a solution to ops port workarounds (AM40 hardware confirmed) QIMG_20200903_162556.webp No new or productive info like anything not already known to rockchip community forums such as Armbian.. I thought it might be nice to share a final update on this topic with some confirmation.. I should have just called them first. Randomly today I found the AM40 in the to_do, uh, repurpose later graveyard. Really it was as simple as others stated above. How does one usually flash an open source rockchip bootloader. Spoiler Official support hinted something like this. The sd(tf) slot labeled as service port and adb switch I believe was from when the bootloader used to be unlocked .. or.. people were unlocking it, via software, I imagine and breaking the operating system. Customers would have to send it back to the shop where the service port is used for cases that required a reflash of the boot image because of a call from broken OS(like chromeos?). It now ships locked and a bit more friendly to develop with software is shared mostly open source from teachers or government in-house from their partners to suit the needs of that target market . Which means understandably for privacy and safety I imagine is why stock source for AM40 is propiertary android tv OS debloated completely of google. So much so their remote cloud is not through gGoogle, which makes Bubba respect that about the SMART people. How it really went down.. in my mind at least. Spoiler So the idea dawned on me. Just call and see how much their I.T. department will help if I wanted to repurpose their hardware. SMART turns out are very patient and informative. They entertained and answered ALL of my questions as best they legally could. Oh, and they do have a legal department, which probably could keep my hopes up for armbian but bubba decide to be content with SMART tech supports perspective. Bubba already start to forget conversation.. but being a professional bubba may have asked them this.. Can I please haven the source code? Also will you guys please unlock the bootloader or get the white papers and some coffee? What? Warranty? Bubba DESTROY that first! So what's these pins do and tht port for? They understood and said those are actually common questions they used to get. Here's why it's tough and reiterate that it voids warranty/support. When it was in initial production the bootloader had been unlocked on the AM40/50 etc... for a while but they found it not worth the cost to deploy full time tech support walking customers (and their own dev team!) who brick their stock OEM OS. Imagine if armbian was closed source and had a contact number.. "Hello? Yes tech support? bubba destroy a clean armbian install and demand tier 3 support to walk he through it.." "What happens? bubba just follow torrent readmw of mikrosoff armbian8 hannah montana too hot edition. . and now it overheat" 0 Quote
8jie Posted February 28, 2023 Posted February 28, 2023 Hi all, it is a pity to forget this topic forever. As a newbie who own AM40 board, I still want to run armbian on it.. I accoccasionally got an this board, it is quite able to serve as an android tvbox board, but can't do more due to the stock rom. I find maskrom pin on the back of the board. I think it is possible to run Armbian on it. Here are some of my research result: if on stock android rom. connect the board's upper usb port to computer with male to male usb cable, flip the adb/nomal switch to adb mode, press the white switch and power on the board, the board can enter loader mode. then I can use rkdevtools to switch the board to maskrom mode. if on other boot loader, can shot maskrom tp for about 20 seconds and enter maskrom mode. 1 Quote
xiayang Posted June 20, 2023 Posted June 20, 2023 Hello everyone， You can run linux(armbian...) on am40 now！ https://gitee.com/xiayang0521/rk3399 镜像下载：http://files.kos.org.cn/rockchip/am40/ ophub Armbian下载：https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian/releases ophub openwrt下载：https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-openwrt/releases 本人移植或者收集群友的镜像分享: https://lajilao.top/thread-63-1-1.html 1 Quote
Isham Padron Posted September 18, 2023 Posted September 18, 2023 I work for schools and have two AM40s that are bricked and give the Android no command error. SmartTech is charging 500 dollars for replacements but I am wondering if anyone has an easy way to fix these. I see that the images might be available but I'm not sure how to go about fixing them and getting Android 7 back on them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Ish 0 Quote
dragon788 Posted August 19 Posted August 19 Thanks xiayang for the pointers. I had to hunt around a bit to actually get all the pieces because git.ee and Google Translate and the fact that some of the branch links weren't working (even though they were there when cloned), lead to some fun detours. I ended up having to boot in service mode from a TF (microSD) card that had Armbian flashed on it and then nuking the internal mmcblk0 to force MaskROM mode, but once I did that I had pretty good luck with both the Windows and Linux versions of the tools to flash the rk3399 loader and the latest Armbian images. I had one device that was acting a little funky but I finally realized that it was a powered USB hub causing backpower into the SBC that kept it "up" when trying to reboot but the trickle of power wasn't enough to let it really boot, so it got into a pretty bad state. Switching to a smarter programmable hub that doesn't backpower made the next couple devices I converted behave much better, though the first one I did still acts dumb at times. What finally helped was finding these two links (still require Google Translate), but the first references a link that points to a cached version of the README that actually has all the images that had trouble loading on git.ee, and it also has some handy shortcuts depending on what you want to do with the devices. https://mozi1924.com/2024/06/08/am40_armbian_hassio/ https://am40.cache.cloudns.org/#smart-technologies-am40 0 Quote
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