Armbian for Amlogic S905X3

[TheMojoMan]

20 hours ago, Martin Hyška said:

i wanted to try some img with archlinux distro, but there is no in download

You should have a look at Manjaro ARM here:   https://manjaro.org/download/

 

Click on Editions → ARM → your SBC. If your SBC is not listed you can download an image of a board that has the same CPU as yours. Than you have to find the correct DTB to make your board boot.

 

It's been a while ago that I ran Manjaro that way on my X96 Max+. I think I used the 'Khadas Vim 3' image and the same .dtb-file I used for Armbian. It worked quite well but no sound on Manjaro while sound is working on Armbian.

[rna]

6 hours ago, TheMojoMan said:

You should have a look at Manjaro ARM here:   https://manjaro.org/download/

 

Click on Editions → ARM → your SBC. If your SBC is not listed you can download an image of a board that has the same CPU as yours. Than you have to find the correct DTB to make your board boot.

 

It's been a while ago that I ran Manjaro that way on my X96 Max+. I think I used the 'Khadas Vim 3' image and the same .dtb-file I used for Armbian. It worked quite well but no sound on Manjaro while sound is working on Armbian.

I agree with @TheMojoMan, Here's my complete report in Manjaro Arm Forum: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/wifi-on-x96-max/150193

FYI, after the fresh update now wifi is working via wifi dongle. The built-in wifi is not working yet.

 

If you want to install i.e. WPS Office, you can build it via AUR package. But you have to use "wps-office-cn" and you have to modify the Build Package Link, because the current link is broken. Where as in Armbian you can just download the Arm64 version from here: https://linux.wps.cn/

Then download the Arm Version: https://wdl1.cache.wps.cn/wps/download/ep/Linux2019/9615/wps-office_11.1.0.9615_arm64.deb

The Website is in Chinese, but the Package is in English.

 

Hope that helps

Edited July 26, 2020 by rna

[rna]

On 6/28/2020 at 8:50 PM, rna said:

I also want to add my report.

I just figured it out, that my Armbian is randomly freeze, like every in 2-3 hours. Something that is strange is that, I can move my cursor but somehow I cannot click anything. Even I am able to enter TTY 1-6, but whenever I want to login I could not login to type "reboot". When I press ctrl+alt+f7 I will go back to the main window, but I could not click anything. Strange isn't it? Therefore I have to unplug my adaptor during this time. Is there any clever way to reboot without having to unplug my power? because I am afraid that this will break the hardware easily. FYI: reset button does not work in Linux.

I want to answer this issue:

It seems the problem is my SD Card is damaged. I use F3 Probe and found out that my SD Card is "Damaged" Therefore when reading a specific sector it froze my Armbian. 

Solution: Change to a new SD Card

[rforcen]

On 2/17/2020 at 5:32 AM, 5p0ng3b0b said:

For those that have not found a working dtb yet, you might want to give this method of extracting dtb and dts files a shot (hardware keyboard recommended or setup sshd via termux). Install termux. Open it and type:

termux-setup-storage
apt update
apt install dtc
dtc -q -I fs -O dts /sys/firmware/devicetree/base -o /sdcard/mytvbox.dts
dtc -q -I fs -O dtb /sys/firmware/devicetree/base -o /sdcard/mytvbox.dtb

I am unable to test this method presently due to other issues but I am dying to know if it works. The files generated are larger than the dtb files in the armbian images but they are similar size to the dtb files from coreelec. If the dtb file doesn't work, at least the dts file might give some clues as to why alternative dtb files have wifi or ethernet issues etc. You can also convert other dtb to dts and vice versa so you can open the dts files in a text editor and compare.

To convert dtb to dts.

dtc -O dts -o tvbox.dts tvbox.dtb

To convert dts to dtb.

dtc -O dtb -o mytvbox.dtb mybox.dts

 

i've tested this and it doesn't work, using included /dtb/amlogic/meson-g12a-x96-max.dtb renaming u_boot.sd to u_boot.ext, i'm now doing some reseach on android firmware folder to activate wifi/BT

[Martin Hyška]

can be changed memory timing and cpu voltage like in bios by editing dtb file on 905x3?

[rna]

On 6/30/2020 at 7:37 PM, TheMojoMan said:

• sudo sh -c "echo 'PAN_MESA_DEBUG=bifrost' >> /etc/environment"
• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
• sudo apt update
• sudo apt upgrade
• sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop -y
• sudo reboot

I can confirm that panfrost is not working for X96 Max+. I used the latest image build from Focal kernel 5.7 with no success.

 

I followed the tutorial from @TheMojoMan @m][sko @NicoD but still cannot manage to get the panfrost working in this board. It keeps using LLVM as renderer.

 

However, I found a better graphic performance after upgrading to Oibaf PPA drivers. Now I can orbit and move object in Blender 2.8x, I can orbit and draw a BIM Object in FreeCAD and also I can open 3D file analysis from Paraview. Whereas before this procedure, those attempts were almost impossible to do.

 

In conclusion, Rightnow upgrading the driver to oibaf PPA gives you a boost in performance although Panfrost is not working yet.

Edited August 4, 2020 by rna

[TheMojoMan]

1 hour ago, rna said:

I can confirm that panfrost is not working for X96 Max+. I used the latest image build from Focal kernel 5.7 with no success.

 

I followed the tutorial from @TheMojoMan @m][sko @NicoD but still cannot manage to get the panfrost working in this board. It keeps using LLVM as renderer.

 

However, I found a better graphic performance after upgrading to Oibaf PPA drivers. Now I can orbit and move object in Blender 2.8x, I can orbit and draw a BIM Object in FreeCAD and also I can open 3D file analysis from Paraview. Whereas before this procedure, those attempts were almost impossible to do.

 

In conclusion, Rightnow upgrading the driver to oibaf PPA gives you a boost in performance although Panfrost is not working yet.

Hi,

• Panfrost is working on my X96 Max+ when I use the latest 5.7 kernel
• It was not working when I tried the 5.8 rc6 kernel.
• You have to change your session to "Ubuntu on Wayland" and then login. Currently, X windows system is not supported when you have a bifrost GPU.
• Currently, after login you will notice that the screen gets blurry after a short time. If you move the mouse the regions around the mouse pointer is updated and not blurry anymore.
• I noticed (using the latest 5.7 kernel) that "glxinfo -B" now shows that "llvmpipe" is used. However, if you run "glmark2-es2-wayland" it correctly shows that panfrost driver is used.
• While SuperTuxKart still does not work, they have improved the driver so that Neverball and Neverputt are working very well.
• You can use Firefox when you add "MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 firefox" to /etc/environment  as described here .

[TheMojoMan]

Quote

termux-setup-storage

apt update

apt install dtc

dtc -q -I fs -O dts /sys/firmware/devicetree/base -o /sdcard/mytvbox.dts

dtc -q -I fs -O dtb /sys/firmware/devicetree/base -o /sdcard/mytvbox.dtb

 

It has been mentioned several times on this forum that .dtb files of different kernel versions are not compatible. Since Android 9 still uses a 4.xx kernel you cannot use these .dtb's to get your boxes booting the current Armbian images which use the mainline kernel (5.7 and soon 5.8).

Even when you convert your Android .dtb file to the corresponding .dts file it is converted to a 4.xx kernel description. You would have to translate the information you can gather from this .dts file to the 5.7 kernel description style.

It seems there are few or no people around here who are experts in converting 4.xx description style to 5.xx description style and that is the main problem we have to use a bunch of hacks to get things working on our machines.

 

Or if you want to learn more about device trees   https://www.devicetree.org   seems to be the right place to go.

 

[rna]

19 hours ago, TheMojoMan said:

• Panfrost is working on my X96 Max+ when I use the latest 5.7 kernel
• It was not working when I tried the 5.8 rc6 kernel.
• You have to change your session to "Ubuntu on Wayland" and then login. Currently, X windows system is not supported when you have a bifrost GPU.
• Currently, after login you will notice that the screen gets blurry after a short time. If you move the mouse the regions around the mouse pointer is updated and not blurry anymore.
• I noticed (using the latest 5.7 kernel) that "glxinfo -B" now shows that "llvmpipe" is used. However, if you run "glmark2-es2-wayland" it correctly shows that panfrost driver is used.
• While SuperTuxKart still does not work, they have improved the driver so that Neverball and Neverputt are working very well.
• You can use Firefox when you add "MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 firefox" to /etc/environment  as described here .

Here's the result of glmark2-es2-wayland that uses Panfrost:

$ glmark2-es2-wayland
=======================================================
    glmark2 2014.03+git20150611.fa71af2d
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:     Panfrost
    GL_RENDERER:   Mali G31 (Panfrost)
    GL_VERSION:    OpenGL ES 2.0 Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-65d23e7 2020-08-04 focal-oibaf-ppa)
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 203 FrameTime: 4.926 ms
[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 216 FrameTime: 4.630 ms
[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 430 FrameTime: 2.326 ms
[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 436 FrameTime: 2.294 ms
[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 431 FrameTime: 2.320 ms
[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 139 FrameTime: 7.194 ms
[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 139 FrameTime: 7.194 ms
[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 128 FrameTime: 7.812 ms
[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 128 FrameTime: 7.812 ms
[bump] bump-render=high-poly: FPS: 52 FrameTime: 19.231 ms
[bump] bump-render=normals: FPS: 333 FrameTime: 3.003 ms
[bump] bump-render=height: FPS: 312 FrameTime: 3.205 ms
[effect2d] kernel=0,1,0;1,-4,1;0,1,0;: FPS: 179 FrameTime: 5.587 ms
[effect2d] kernel=1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;: FPS: 85 FrameTime: 11.765 ms
[pulsar] light=false:quads=5:texture=false: FPS: 469 FrameTime: 2.132 ms
[desktop] blur-radius=5:effect=blur:passes=1:separable=true:windows=4: FPS: 58 FrameTime: 17.241 ms
[desktop] effect=shadow:windows=4: FPS: 292 FrameTime: 3.425 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 47 FrameTime: 21.277 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=subdata: FPS: 47 FrameTime: 21.277 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=true:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 56 FrameTime: 17.857 ms
[ideas] speed=duration: FPS: 149 FrameTime: 6.711 ms
[jellyfish] <default>: FPS: 124 FrameTime: 8.065 ms
[terrain] <default>: FPS: 7 FrameTime: 142.857 ms
[shadow] <default>: FPS: 100 FrameTime: 10.000 ms
[refract] <default>: FPS: 15 FrameTime: 66.667 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 390 FrameTime: 2.564 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 203 FrameTime: 4.926 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 369 FrameTime: 2.710 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=low:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 299 FrameTime: 3.344 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=medium:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 217 FrameTime: 4.608 ms
[loop] fragment-loop=false:fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 298 FrameTime: 3.356 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=false:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 299 FrameTime: 3.344 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=true:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 178 FrameTime: 5.618 ms
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 206
=======================================================

 

However, glxinfo -B indicates that the renderer is LLVM:

$ glxinfo -B
name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: Mesa/X.org (0xffffffff)
    Device: llvmpipe (LLVM 10.0.1, 128 bits) (0xffffffff)
    Version: 20.2.0
    Accelerated: no
    Video memory: 3598MB
    Unified memory: no
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 4.3
    Max compat profile version: 3.1
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa/X.org
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 10.0.1, 128 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-65d23e7 2020-08-04 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-65d23e7 2020-08-04 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.40
OpenGL context flags: (none)

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-65d23e7 2020-08-04 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

[rna]

On 7/1/2020 at 1:41 AM, TheMojoMan said:

I tried to get Panfrost running on XFCE4 but failed. The window manager (xfwm4) seems to be the problem. I read that somewhere else where they suggested to use 'kwin_x11' instead. But I was not able to start xfce4 with kwin. Even after changing 'xfwm4' to 'kwin' in the respective .xml-file Xorg tried to start 'xfwm' and failed to do so when I activated 'glamor' and 'Panfrost' in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/01-armbian-default.conf. When it is set to 'none' and 'Lima' it starts the desktop.

When I tried to remove 'xfwm4' by typing 'sudo apt remove xfwm4' it was output that 'xfce4' would be removed as well ...

After installing ubuntu-desktop environment I was stuck in the Gnome session and could not go back to XFCE4.

Quote

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop -y

 

Then, I installed cinnamon desktop and mate desktop environment:

Quote

sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop

 

sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment

Now I can login to XFCE4, Ubuntu Wayland, Cinnamon and Mate Desktop Environment.

 

PS: If you have conflict during installing the cinnamon, use Aptitude instead:

Quote

sudo aptitude install cinnamon-desktop-environment

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by rna

[rna]

41 minutes ago, rna said:

Now I can login to XFCE4, Ubuntu Wayland, Cinnamon and Mate Desktop Environment.

I have tested that currently for x96 Max+ Panfrost is only working in: "Ubuntu Wayland" in "glmark2-es2-wayland"

Other than that, it still uses LLVMpipe.

 

That's my update.

Many thanks

[rforcen]

On 7/11/2020 at 3:25 AM, VF5 said:

I'm using this dtb  for my X96Max+ and I got both HDMI sound and ethernet working, but no wifi and bt (kernel 5.7.6)

not working on mine (x96max+2), kernel version: 

Linux arm-64 5.7.9-arm-64 #20.07 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 23 10:41:47 MSK 2020 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

Edited August 5, 2020 by rforcen

[rna]

On 8/4/2020 at 1:57 PM, TheMojoMan said:

While SuperTuxKart still does not work, they have improved the driver so that Neverball and Neverputt are working very well.

I can confirm that Neverball and Neverputt are working very well in XFCE4. While supertuxkart is very laggy.

 

I just realized that upgrading to kernel 5.7 broke the Audio in X96 Max+, using the previous dtb in this forum: "meson-sm1-sei610-2.dtb"

 

@TheMojoMan: Did you also get the problem with the audio after upgrade to 5.7?

@rforcen: use the dtb I mentioned above: "meson-sm1-sei610-2.dtb" or the "meson-sm1-sei610-ethfix.dtb" from thiis forum. Just read the previous post. I also posted a step by step to install Armbian in X96 Max+

here:

Read those step by step and the revision that I made based on everyone suggestion

Edited August 5, 2020 by rna

[zeyavkm]

On 5/19/2020 at 3:16 PM, Armin said:

Thanks @SteeMan and @root-stas for your great support (without forgotten @balbes150 for his great job on Armbian)

 

Today's news:

1. I have burnt the version Armbian_20.05.4_Arm-64_bionic_current_5.7.0-rc6_20200518.img on the SD card with Etcher

2.  Copy u-boot.sd to u-boot.ext (impossible to boot on the SD card without this)

3. Modify uEnv.txt to choose meson-g12a-x96-max-no-cvbs DTB file in amlogic section:

  Hide contents

LINUX=/zImage
INITRD=/uInitrd

 

# rk-3399
#FDT=/dtb/rockchip/rk3399-rock-pi-4.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/rockchip/rk3399-nanopc-t4.dtb
#APPEND=root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=uart8250,mmio32,0xff1a0000 console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes net.ifnames=0

 

# rk-3328
#FDT=/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-box-trn9.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/rockchip/rk3328-box.dtb
#APPEND=root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=uart8250,mmio32,0xff130000 console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes net.ifnames=0

 

# 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
#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 mem=2048M video=HDMI-A-1:e

 

# aml s9xxx
FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12a-x96-max-no-cvbs.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-ugoos-am6-no-cvbs.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-odroid-n2.dtb
APPEND=root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=ttyAML0,115200n8 console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes net.ifnames=0

4.  Boot on the SD card (with toothpick method because impossible with android update method due to error like this)

5.  Define root password and create user session

6. Force the Ethernet speed to 100Mb

sudo ethtool –s [device_name] speed 100 duplex full autoneg on

7. Now, I can use putty from another device to be connected on the TV Box !!!! 

 

 

Next step is to copy this configuration on the eMMC. So, I'm waiting your instructions to be sure that I can use this method:

cd /boot
sudo cp u-boot.ext u-boot.sd
cd
sudo /root/install-aml.sh

 

Dear Armin,

Can you please help me to solve my Tanix TX6 H6 tv box coming with Allwinner H6 chipset loaded with RTL8822CS module. Actually the stock firmware was flashed with another one and after that wifi and bluetooth not working. Then i couldn't find the stock firmware. Thinking that i have flashed with an older firmware and it doesn't support the RTL8822CS. Is there any solution to make the module detected with the chipset or kernel? Actually i am don't have that much exposure to the linux programming, but i can understand the things. I have already read the quoted text by you and I could find a comment related to 'aw h6'. Is that line to integrate the module with allwinner h6? Hope that i will get a solution to solve my issue.  Kindly advice me what steps i have to follow...... For your information, my email ID is zeyavkm@gmail.com.

[TheMojoMan]

On 8/5/2020 at 11:16 AM, rna said:

@TheMojoMan: Did you also get the problem with the audio after upgrade to 5.7?

Sound works on my X96 Max+ when I use the desktop image as a starting point and meson-sm1-sei610-2.dtb (new install; no update of kernel).

 

BTW, Panfrost is even more buggy in the latest 5.7.14 kernel. Now the screen turns black after a second or two and is only updated when the mouse or a window is moved. And Panfrost does not run at all with the 5.8.0 kernel   😢

[dante6913]

Does anyone was able to install Balbes Version 20200816. 'm stuck at boot

[dante6913]

Just now, dante6913 said:

Does anyone was able to install Balbes Version 20200816. 'm stuck at boot

X96 air P3

[rna]

16 hours ago, dante6913 said:

Does anyone was able to install Balbes Version 20200816. 'm stuck at boot

There's a change for boot algorithm starting from version 20.08:
Here's the quote from @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.

[dante6913]

4 hours ago, rna said:

There's a change for boot algorithm starting from version 20.08:
Here's the quote from @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.

For my S905X3 (X96 air) I did  copy and renamed u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext edited the /extlinux/extlinux.conf pointingg to meson-sm1-sei610.dtb

But I wasn't able to boot (using usb). should I have a u-boot.usb from a copy of u-boot.ext like I had before?

[rna]

On 8/17/2020 at 10:24 PM, dante6913 said:

For my S905X3 (X96 air) I did  copy and renamed u-boot-s905x-s912 to u-boot.ext edited the /extlinux/extlinux.conf pointingg to meson-sm1-sei610.dtb

But I wasn't able to boot (using usb). should I have a u-boot.usb from a copy of u-boot.ext like I had before?

Try to use this:

" u-boot-s905x2-s922"

then copy rename it to u-boot.ext.

then edit the "extlinux.conf" according to your dtb location.

 

I tested it works in my X96 Max+ which is an s905x3 board.

 

Hope that helps

Edited August 20, 2020 by rna

[dante6913]

5 hours ago, rna said:

Try to use this:

" u-boot-s905x2-s922"

then copy rename it to u-boot.ext.

then edit the "extlinux.conf" according to your dtb location.

 

I tested it works in my X96 Max+ which is an s905x3 board.

 

Hope that helps

Thanks I will try with u-boot-s905x2-s922

[dante6913]

21 hours ago, dante6913 said:

Thanks I will try with u-boot-s905x2-s922

It worked, thank you

[Uwu]

I have two X96 Air but i can't get it to work with u-boot-s905x2-s922 renamed to u-boot.ext and meson-sm1-sei610.dtb on microSD but it did work from USB thumb drive in USB 2.0 port (not USB 3.0 port)

[Uwu]

Confirmed working 20.08 on both T95 Max+ and X96 Air. Thanks to all and especially @balbe

 

I thought T95 Max+ would never work, even with toothpick method, but I used the same USB i installed with X96 Air, so the exact same setup should work,

 

I don't have wlan0 working on X96 Air, but eth0 works. On T95 Max+ everything seems to work relating to ethernet until I installed the desktop packages, suddenly eth0 is no longer picking up a connection or IP address with DHCP. Still figuring it out. IT did work fine before I installed the desktop package through armbian-config

 

I used meson-sm1-sei610-ethfix.dtb on the X96 Air, and the non -ethfix version on the T95 Max+ and u-boot-s905x2-s922 on both.

 

It is important on the T95 Max+ to use the USB port closer to the rear of the device, as the one closer to the microSD slot did not work for me!

[vanngocan]

Also worked on Tanix TX3 (4GB RAM, S905x3). I used meson-sm1-sei610-ethfix.dtb and u-boot-s905x2-s922.
However, it only worked on USB, I could not make it work with SD Card or eMMC.

Anyone tried with Ugoos X3 Pro and Eachlink X3 Mini, both are S905x3 with 4GB RAM?

Edited August 24, 2020 by vanngocan

[Bozza]

Which exact files do I need to boot armbian on a s905x3 box?

 

Is there an archive with the .img files and the corresponding DTB files?

 

EDIT: for example people are saying they downloaded "Armbian_20.06.0_Arm-64_focal_current....img".  Where exactly would that file be located?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Bozza

[TheMojoMan]

14 minutes ago, Bozza said:

Which exact files do I need to boot armbian on a s905x3 box?

 

Is there an archive with the .img files and the corresponding DTB files?

 

EDIT: for example people are saying they downloaded "Armbian_20.06.0_Arm-64_focal_current....img".  Where exactly would that file be located?

Have a look at the first post of this thread https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12162-single-armbian-image-for-rk-aml-aw-aarch64-armv8/

 

[Bozza]

Do I need to comment out the # at the begging of the relevant lines in extlinux.conf?

 

Answer: Yes of course the # need to be deleted. I was confused because someone said to leave them in. 

[rforcen]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:53 PM, SteeMan said:

I have a new TX3 box with the s905x3 chip and that box boots with the meson-sm1-sei610.dtb file.  It works fine as a server (i.e. boots, wired ethernet, usb working).  No wifi or bluetooth.  I did also try to install a desktop build and the hdmi output isn't correct, colors are messed up, and sound isn't working. 

rename u-boot.sd to u-boot.ext

[Bozza]

I managed to boot into armbian on my box. I used the dtb applicable to my box and the S905X2 u-boot.ext that Balbes' image contains.

 

I wasn't able to use the u-boot.ext that someone posted here for s905x3. 

 

The box boots into armbian with the S905X2 uboot but the image is flickering and tearing. 

 

https://imgur.com/a/96sAz81

 

UPDATE

It turned out that armbian was selecting the wrong HDMI output mode. It was selecting 1080p@30hz which by the looks of it doesn't work with this TV. When I manually set it to 1080p@60hz or anything else it works just fine. 

 

When switched to 1080p or 720p there is some overscan. The outermost edges are cut. Is that normal on a TV screen? 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Bozza
Update