TwisterOS Armbian OS edition is here.

[jtremblant]

 

This is an improvement over the previous OS called Armbian-Reforged V1.0

 

- XFCE4 is now the main DE

- File Size has been reduced to 2.9Gb

 

This build of TwisterOS Armbian target RK3399 devices supported by Armbian. the only required step after flashing the sd card it's to rename the DTB label inside /boot/armbianEnv.txt to your device DTB (you can find the DTB files on /boot/dtb/rockchip/ folder). after first boot, you should change the default password for user and root with passwd and sudo passwd respectively. Also, remember to resize your sd card/emmc manually from gnome disks to fill your entire disk space.

 

This is a beta and we understand it's not as stable as we would like due current problems Armbian have with xfce4 Desktop Environment. We rely on Armbian and what those devs can do to make it more stable. We expect some feedback and contributions from other devs to help as to improve this build that target newcomers on ARM Linux

 

Enjoy it Gentleman!

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u67HPOCiYjlqzt-JJGfshOKjYFdd7D15/view?usp=sharing

 

 

[TRS-80]

This is not meant to impugn your efforts or anything, however I am personally not a big fan of random compiled images which are not verifiable in any way (I don't even see any hashes, much less reproducible source code).  Also due to the latter, I am not sure how...

 

17 minutes ago, jtremblant said:

feedback and contributions from other devs

 

...is supposed to take place?

 

Therefore the standard disclaimer applies: Individuals need to be very well aware of what they are installing on their systems, and ask yourself how much you trust the source of any executable code which might run.

[Salvador Liébana]

and we don't care if you don't like it. it's for noobs. not for pro user's like you. the feedback take place on our discord for TwisterOS Armbian. the problems it have (xfce4 working like shit) are present on vanilla Armbian. if you wanna help, just do it from vanilla.

 

[TRS-80]

18 minutes ago, Salvador Liébana said:

we don't care if you don't like it

 

I made no judgement whatsoever about your distribution.  Only warned people (most especially, "noobs") to be aware of what they are downloading, and from whom.  Which always applies, to everyone (including Armbian itself, upstream Debian, or anyone else who distribute executable, compiled binaries).

 

Now, I only even heard of you what seems to me like a few days ago, after NicoD introduced you here.  Because I don't follow "desktop / gaming" circles (but I know he does).  Therefore forgive me if I do not recognize your apparent partner (OP) who made the announcement.  Because in my mind, the only place I heard "Twister OS" mentioned was with your name attached to it.

 

18 minutes ago, Salvador Liébana said:

pro user's like you

 

I am, at best, a solid low to mid level wizard.

Edited December 5, 2020 by TRS-80

[Salvador Liébana]

we have a very solid reputation. we are  the team behind one of the most popular RPI4 builds and we are tired of RPI4 fanatism while the hardware clearly sucks. so, if that isn't enough for you or fpr anyone else, they can avoid this custom armbian build. we do care on newcomers to ARM Linux. we don't like to be a marginal platform for pro user's. We want ARM Linux to be friendly for any newcomers as RPI community offer to the rubbish Broadcom SBC'S. 

we don't need that pro user's use it or like it at all. but we present it for the newcomer's that know what we do and know our reputation. if everyone want to help with the intrinsic armbian problems not related to our changes whatsoever, please, do it.

[Werner]

Raising awareness about software across the web is not necessary criticism . You do a great job providing these images. Providing some behind the scenes, to say scripts and sources would make it even better. last but not least because  maybe one of 1000 noobs could learn something from it and get involved/contribute somehow.

 

Btw. I moved this topic to chit chat since the bug tracker is meant to be used for boards supported by Armbian running images provided by Armbian

 

 

Maybe we need an extra section about 3rd party images?

[TRS-80]

First off, my apologies for not recognizing your friend / partner, the OP, @jtremblant.

 

32 minutes ago, Salvador Liébana said:

we are tired of RPI4 fanatism while the hardware clearly sucks

 

Well that's great to hear!  Welcome to the club!

 

32 minutes ago, Salvador Liébana said:

if that isn't enough for you or fpr anyone else

 

It was never about that.  Please take a step back and try to see it from my point of view as a Moderator on a forum where someone (who I never heard of before, apologies again to @jtremblant) post some binary for download without sources.  This is even why I stated:

 

1 hour ago, TRS-80 said:

This is not meant to impugn your efforts

 

1 hour ago, TRS-80 said:

standard disclaimer

 

(emphasis mine)  This is not the first time I point such things out, and it will not be the last I am sure.

 

I think we just got off on wrong foot, maybe could have been avoided if you made the announcement post yourself @Salvador Liébana, and/or @jtremblant would have been introduced to us in @NicoD post some days ago (and apologies again (third time now, lol) if that was actually the case and I just missed that part of it).

Edited December 5, 2020 by TRS-80
clarity

[jtremblant]

35 minutes ago, TRS-80 said:

 

I made no judgement whatsoever about your distribution.  Only warned people (most especially, "noobs") to be aware of what they are downloading, and from whom.  Which always applies, to everyone (including Armbian itself, or anyone else who distribute executable, compiled binaries).

 

Now, I only even heard of you what seems to me like a few days ago, after NicoD introduced you here.  Because I don't follow "desktop / gaming" circles (but I know he does).  Therefore forgive me if I do not recognize your apparent partner (OP) who made the announcement.  Because in my mind, the only place I heard "Twister OS" mentioned was with your name attached to it.

 

 

I am, at best, a solid low to mid level wizard.

Respectfully, you have been obviously misinformed. TwisterOS Armbian edition aka Armbian-Reforged is not for gaming only. It's the first out-of-the-box OS solution I've seen for RK3399 SBC's which doesn't required to build/compile/patch code to make it work as intended, that doesn't require to be stuck in legacy 4.4 kernel to have some HW and VPU drivers for it, that doesn't require to be a linux guru with 20 years of experience in the field to be able to use it either. It does come with great goodies too: Panfrost HW acceleration for Linux Desktop, Firefox browser heavily optimized to fully support T-864 Mali GPU, VPU drivers for MPV and Kodi which were built from scratch so can be used on a Linux Desktop to play smooth 1080p h.264 MP4 video files and it works also with mainline kernel. I can keep on, it also boots from uSD, eMMC and NVMe drives, it's visually appealing and behaves like an regular Linux Desktop OS for the general audience, enthusiast user base and specially beginners. It has themes built-in to resemble Mac OS, Windows XP, Windows 7, Ubuntu-desktop, Windows 10. It also comes with several OpenGL games included for (Panfrost OpenGL 2.1 only). It also comes with built-in some useful utilities such as Wine desktop, BOX86, etcher, remmina, Kodi and midnight commander, Kazam, etc, etc

This distribution has been made with the efforts of many so Armbian can reach broader audiences in a clearly attempt to counter the Raspberry Pi syndrome that has taken the ARM SBC world by storm. Peace Out.

Last but not least, moving this topic to a general chit chat section, I'd consider it like a total insult. No offence intended. Maybe we are barking at the wrong tree here. Just my 2 cents.

Edited December 5, 2020 by jtremblant
forgot to add something relevant

[soerenderfor]

@jtremblant @Salvador Liébana @Werner @TRS-80 - From my point of view, i did not think @Werner wanted to insult you on purpose. 

@Werner did propose

1 hour ago, Werner said:

Maybe we need an extra section about 3rd party images?

I think you all in some point misunderstand each other.. Lets all take a deep breath  Again from my point of view, it seems you all are on the "same page"

[balbes150]

1 час назад, jtremblant сказал:

Last but not least, moving this topic to a general chit chat section, I'd consider it like a total insult.

Hmmm, what's wrong with the General section ?

[Igor]

4 hours ago, jtremblant said:

It's the first out-of-the-box OS solution I've seen for RK3399 SBC's which doesn't required to build/compile/patch code to make it work as intended,

 

Armbian works perfectly out-of-the-box. Current Armbian desktop is (still) truly just a basic - it was meant to be just a clean base - but we have plans in motion to provide high end desktop experience. 

 

4 hours ago, jtremblant said:

to have some HW and VPU drivers for it

 

Why you didn't come out with those features a year ago? Now its not fun since its simple. For us, those features are not stable enough, which is why they are not default. Legacy kernels are here to die off one day.

 

4 hours ago, jtremblant said:

This distribution has been made with the efforts of many

We know-how at least as good as those.

 

FOSS software is about sharing - we fix bugs for the base. All the time. Which is not something simple or glorious.

https://docs.armbian.com/Process_Contribute/

 

4 hours ago, jtremblant said:

I can keep on, it also boots from uSD, eMMC and NVMe drives

 

It's almost like coming to Debian forums advertising Ubuntu / PopOS / Elementary / Mint ... features  Think about whom you are selling this product. Tools and OS are our product. Not hardware.

It might look odd.

 

 

[Werner]

9 hours ago, jtremblant said:

Last but not least, moving this topic to a general chit chat section, I'd consider it like a total insult.

 

 It was not my intention to insult you. To hypothesize this is ridiculous. Others and I try my best to keep the bug tracker forums clean and lift pressure from those who are actually willing to read those forums and take on issues that pop up. Their time is saved if they, by clicking a random topic, that the users is actually

• using a board that is supported,
• using an image that is supported and
• providing necessary logs if beneficial.

To get this straight once again if it is not clear enough yet. The topic was misplaced and this is no offense against your work. Putting it into general is certainly not ideal, I get that (see my suggestion above), but in the bug tracker it is definitively at the wrong place.

 

In theory it would be my duty to split this topic since it drifts off the actual topic but I leave it to avoid further weird accusations.

[NicoD]

Too bad I only now see this. @jtremblant. 
It was put in the wrong place. That was for bug-tracker. I also had made a topic about it, in General Chit chat

 

For such things that is the place. 
Now, for the problem from @Salvador Liébana the bugtracker is the correct place if : it happens on a downloadable Official Armbian image.
Otherwise I and @Werner looked into making a place for this goal. Armbian gaming club

Everything can be talked about there. From games, problems with gaming software, problems with the TwisterOS Armbian images, ...
Since TwisterOS Armbian isn't an official Armbian image, I thought it needs to get an official place on the website. Now for it to be used is up to you guys.

Do know that Armbian is a community project. Armbian isn't a company with people who work for it. We are all just a bunch of people wanting to support his project.

Your project has even more developers than Armbian has. 

Most of ours are devs who works on other projects, and what they've learned there. They help Armbian with that knowledge. There are many other SBC/Linux projects.

Now to that bug. For this only there could be filed a bug report. If it also excist on default images. That was why I asked @Salvador Liébana if it still does it with governor set to performance. Since that is a bug we know about. If it is another problem, then we must find that out, and find what the cause is.
That can only be done by testing things, and reporting the findings.
Don't forget there are many things that can cause bugs. Some are Armbian related, many are not. Some are software related, bad sd-cards, bad PSU's, some software that doesn't work correct, software wrongly installed, a user mistake,... 

Most of these problems are not just easy to fix. If we don't know what or where it is. That is why most bugs do get fixed by users, doing their research. Finding the problem and a fix for it. And then file the fix for us. 

We don't have a dev team that can continuously be searching for these fixes. 

I've had issue's with my M4V2 with the Armbian Reforged OS V1 image. It constantly crashed to a black screen. I then set the governor to performance and didn't see any issue anymore. If this is the same issue, then we'll have to check the voltages and frequencies set in the dt to see if there's something wrong there. Might also be a kernel issue. Might be a desktop isue, ...

So finding fixes is a process that can take long even for simple things if not many people help looking for it. Or it can be fixed quickly even if it's a hard fix. But someone came up with a solution. 

So great you want to use Armbian. I'm willing to put my time and energy into testing things for you. But I've not the time nor knowledge to be able to fix these things. 
Everyone here has his own specialty. Some are kernel masters, some know best how to make new hardware work, some do media stuff,... But to my knowledge we don't have desktop guru's. I'm one of the few who uses desktop on SBCs.
We are improving in this but desktop used to be the least important thing of this project. Most people never use a display on their SBC. Only a small percentage plays games on SBCs. And even less use SBCs as daily driver.

I do use SBCs daily with desktop and play games. So I couldn't be more happy with this.
Armbian now is working on an improved desktops, so I see things only going the right way. 

But for it to be perfect there is still a long way ahead.  Now if we work together and share our knowledge, only then it can become perfect. 

That is why writing scripts for all the installations you do on vanilla armbian could be very good. If you want to change something, it's just a few lines you've got to change instead of a whole install.
And if the script is great it could even be included in the Armbian script to give people the choice of a server image, light desktop image, or all bells ringing gaming image with VPU and everything a man could want....

I think that's all I've got to say about that. All have a nice day.

[balbes150]

18 часов назад, jtremblant сказал:

after first boot, you should change the default password for user and root with passwd and sudo passwd respectively

1. I tried to do this, but no well-known option is suitable (the system requires a password). These options do not work 1234 123456 pi.

2. After unpacking the image, its size is more than 9 GB, which means that  need a medium of 16 GB or more to write.

3. as Far as I understand, there are no ( freely available) sources\scripts that allow you to build this version of the image (this is the result of "live" filling the working system with the subsequent creation of a cast\image of this working and manually configured system)?

 

 

[soerenderfor]

6 hours ago, balbes150 said:

1. I tried to do this, but no well-known option is suitable (the system requires a password). These options do not work 1234 123456 pi.

@balbes150I think i read some where that default passwd is: asdasd 

[balbes150]

10 часов назад, soerenderfor сказал:

I think i read some where that default passwd is: asdasd 

Strange, the authors position their build for noobs, but do not report the basic data (changing the password is the primary basis for safe use).

[jtremblant]

Based on some beta testing we've been doing on TwisterOS Armbian beta 2, seems like the occasional freezing that has been happening on firefox and the OS, it's mesa development related and it's being fixed. Recommended to update/upgrade thru CLI frequently.

In the meantime, we've experimenting also with vivaldi arm64 and widevine H/W for it.

[jtremblant]

Dedicated website for TwisterOS Armbian is now On;

https://twisteros.com/twisterarmbian.html

 

default password is: asdasd

 

[NicoD]

8 hours ago, jtremblant said:

Recommended to update/upgrade thru CLI frequently.

No packages yet to update. Still the same issue. I've done a stability test last night at low frequency of 1.42Ghz all cores. And it failed. Way too high CPU consumption also happening. Many panfrost errors given. I hope the fix will be live soon. Cheers

[LNoodle]

tried? both armbian reforged and twister os

 

Armbian rd

pro:

booted out of the box

pre installed gui program pack/showing arm64 architecture can serve as desktop

con:

unable to adjust screen resolution to 1360x768......even after installing diffrend desktop enviremend so sadly not usable

 

twister os

failure to boot out of the box (default config)nanopim4v2 

 

some pointers if you wanne make it friendly for ex windows users.

 

the whole admin situation in linux is a pain in the ...... the right clk shell option execute as admin is a must.....

I assume pp that read this thread have a default armbian installed witouth the r clic option.....

so asking to preconfig with edditing filles ?Read only? noodels have no knowledge on how to switch to su in gui mode.since fille format is not reconised bye windows changing using a known os is no option either....mayby its better to make the os reconise the board on hardware used on the sbc or do as armbian ea sbc preconfiged/unique dl url.

 

the download of depository is somewhat --_--  while handy to download install in one command witouth browsing the web.....it evolved to a inflexible system if you wanne download it as stand alone packages since a downloadit .deb fille it rarely incluudes dependency s....so on any install forced connection?

plz incluude r clic option with gui installer bye default /after trying to install a package that cant run on the architecture mark it bye icon or coler makes cleaning up after easyer

 

Linux is the future....the only way forward after win 7 for those concerned about data collecting....if only linux based distros would offer both full cmd/gui in (desktop mode)win would already be history,(.in win u can use cmd if you want to but u wil rarely be forced to)

 

whats silver is subjective/my current opinon /view will propbly change as i continue exploring/learn about linux based distributions

[TRS-80]

2 hours ago, LNoodle said:

if only linux based distros would offer both full cmd/gui in (desktop mode)

 

I think most of modern GNU/Linux desktops do offer this already?  For vast majority of common tasks (installing packages, etc.)?

 

I am someone who prefer CLI, but that's just because I prefer raw power (and to me, simplicity) of doing most things that way, instead of (sometimes) limited, but more often inconsistent (across implementations) GUI.  CLI commands are always the same (within Debian based distro, anyway).

 

My point of view, the problem is more irrational fear of CLI and learning something new.  In other words, if more people grew up on and was used to GNU/Linux, then Windows would be the one to appear "strange."  But it's only because that is what they are used to.  I was the same, only a few short years ago.  But I remedy the situation (in our home at least) by making sure our child have only GNU/Linux desktop to play with. 

[NicoD]

I grew up with DOS. So I also prefer to use terminal. Gives a lot more control, and makes things clearer to understand.
It is not hard to learn the basics. I even made a tutorial for that. (my most useful Linux commands)

Just as people had to learn how to work with Windows, it is the same with Linux. But difference is that people have used Windows for years and Linux is new to them.
Then it seems as if Linux is complicated. 
For the noobs it has become very accessible. Many Linux users even don't know about the terminal and its power. 

It also took me years to get used, and I'm still learning every day. But I think this way of working is way more efficient than how Windows does it. 
I went from advanced Windows programmer to Linux noob. And loved every second of it. Windows and x86 are to go the way of the Dojo. But it will take time for everyone to switch. I do doubt people will go to true GNU/Linux. ChromeOS and Android might be better for people not willing to learn.

[rna]

Hi @jtremblant, @Salvador Liébana, @NicoD

Thank You for bringing this huge update for Armbian.

I just wonder, is this Twister OS able to boot in other board? I have an X96 Max+ which is an s905x3 box.

I read in the website that this OS is intended for only "Raspberry Pi" and "RK3399" board.

I want to run the x86 apps in Armbian, and found out that "box86" is currently the best option. However when I tried to compile it, it gives me error. It is said that I have to chroot to 32 bit system to compile it. But I don't know how to do that in Armbian?

Your Twister OS has come pre-installed with this "Box86" apps, but I doubt if it will boot on my board.

Many Thanks,

rna


*In Manjaro, I was able to run x86_64 apps via chroot "qemu-user-static", but the performance is quite slow. While in Armbian you cannot use "qemu-user-static" because the binfmt_misc is not compiled in the kernel. Here's my report for Manjaro Arm running x86_64 apps:
https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/x86-64-chroot-on-manjaro-arm-install-x86-64-deb-install-wine-windows-apps/150420/103

[TRS-80]

18 hours ago, rna said:

I just wonder, is this Twister OS able to boot in other board? I have an X96 Max+ which is an s905x3 box.

 

I cannot speak for TwisterOS devs, however in general I can state there have been a lot of problems around supporting "TV Boxes."  In fact, so many problems that balbes150 stopped supporting Amlogic based boxes, and ultimately we had to write up a sticky to point people at because of never ending stream of questions / problems.

[rna]

On 12/19/2020 at 5:35 AM, rna said:

I want to run the x86 apps in Armbian, and found out that "box86" is currently the best option. However when I tried to compile it, it gives me error. It is said that I have to chroot to 32 bit system to compile it. But I don't know how to do that in Armbian?

Finally I successfully installed Box86 in Armbian by using this chroot armhf method:

 

[rna]

Is there anybody that successfully boot to TwisterOs or Armbian using H96 Max RK3399? I tried the dtb but cannot boot. Many thanks

[rna]

I'll answer my question myself. For those of you that cannot boot to TwisterOS but could boot on ArmbianReforge, you can try this fix. I inspired this procedure from @balbes150post on LibreElec.  https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/20823-unofficial-le-version-for-rk3328-rk3399-3288-3188/

My box is H96Max RK3399. ArmbianReforge Image works Out Of The Box, but TwisterOS cannot boot (Blank Screen). So after reading those procedure on LibreElec, with the help from @sickOS on Manjaro Forum. I got the idea to extract the ArmbianReforge u-boot which is working on my box, then transfer those u-boot into my TwisterOS SD Card. Here's how I did it:

 

1. I download and burn the ArmbianReforge to my SD Card
2. I extract the u-boot from the ArmbianReforge SD Card which is currently working in my box using dd

sudo dd if=/dev/<SD_card> of=/location/of/your/extracted/u-boot-RK3399-ArmbianReforge.img bs=1M count=16

3. Then I download and burn the TwisterOS on the SD Card
4. Then I burn the ArmbianReforge extracted u-boot to my TwisterOS SD Card using dd
 

sudo dd if=/location/of/your/extracted/u-boot-RK3399-ArmbianReforge.img of=/dev/<SD_card> conv=fsync bs=1 count=442

sudo dd if=/location/of/your/extracted/u-boot-RK3399-ArmbianReforge.img of=/dev/<SD_card> conv=fsync bs=512 skip=1 seek=1

5. I change the DTB to "rk3399-rockpro64.dtb"
6. Now Twister OS is working on my H96Max RK3399

Don't forget to change the <SD_card> with your SD Card partition location. You can use terminal to see your SD Card partition using this command:

lsblk

 

This method should also work for TwisterOS Manjaro Arm Edition

 

Here's my extracted u-boot from Armbian Reforge for Armbian TwisterOS

 

u-boot-RK3399-ArmbianReforge.img.xz