gounthar Posted July 5, 2018 Posted July 5, 2018 Has anyone ever tried the Bqeel MXQ Pro Amlogic S905X with Armbian? I could have one to test for a few weeks...
Reddwarf Posted July 6, 2018 Posted July 6, 2018 15 hours ago, gounthar said: Has anyone ever tried the Bqeel MXQ Pro Amlogic S905X with Armbian? I could have one to test for a few weeks... I see no reason why it should not work 1
glambert Posted July 6, 2018 Posted July 6, 2018 Hello, I bought a tvbox mxq pro+ (s905x 2g/16g) and would like to use it a small server for iot with a small linux distro. I install armbian_5.44_S9xxx_Debian_stretch_3.14.29_server_20180601.img on a sdcard I copy gxl_p212_2g.dtb on /boot/dtb.img I set dualboot on android And i boot linux on sdcard Network is ok and i see linux booting on hdmi display. As sdcard is not the in term of reliability, i tried to install linux on emmc. And there i need your knowhow. On linux from sdcard i log on root and lunch install.sh No error display , but the box don't start on linux just the logo I read install.sh and view that it load a different linux image than /boot on sdcard I modify install.sh with the /boot image But nothing work. I try to connect the serial port to my PC but i just collect garbage character (seems to be a speed issue but impossible to find the right on) i read hundred of post to get there so if you could give me some valuable tricks to finish my projet Thanks
Reddwarf Posted July 6, 2018 Posted July 6, 2018 Just now, glambert said: Hello, I bought a tvbox mxq pro+ (s905x 2g/16g) and would like to use it a small server for iot with a small linux distro. I install armbian_5.44_S9xxx_Debian_stretch_3.14.29_server_20180601.img on a sdcard I copy gxl_p212_2g.dtb on /boot/dtb.img I set dualboot on android And i boot linux on sdcard Network is ok and i see linux booting on hdmi display. As sdcard is not the in term of reliability, i tried to install linux on emmc. And there i need your knowhow. On linux from sdcard i log on root and lunch install.sh No error display , but the box don't start on linux just the logo I read install.sh and view that it load a different linux image than /boot on sdcard I modify install.sh with the /boot image But nothing work. I try to connect the serial port to my PC but i just collect garbage character (seems to be a speed issue but impossible to find the right on) i read hundred of post to get there so if you could give me some valuable tricks to finish my projet Thanks The thing is that the install.sh doesn't work. It bricks the box so for all practical purposes it is impossible to install armbian to emmc. You need to download a complete image of the box's original firmware and flash it using a pc. Google "flashing china tv box" and you'll find download link and instructions.
shippy Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 On 7/4/2018 at 4:52 PM, Reddwarf said: I looked into Anbox a little while ago, it turns it does not support ARM processors (yet). Strange if you ask me since the majority of Android apps (and Android itself) was originally build for ARM... Well the FAQ on the https://anbox.io says it does support ARM- it was originally built using a phone: "Android image for every device? No. Anbox does not need a specific Android image for every device as it is specifically built in a device independent way. Anbox will ship with a single Android image per architecture (amd64, armhf, arm64) and no device specifc modifications are required." So what do you think now? Does this Anbox- Armbian combo make sense now???
hanguofu Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 On 7/5/2018 at 1:51 PM, Reddwarf said: If you cross compile, why bother with an interpreter, why not compile for arm64 and run it natively? Yes . You are right . I did not notice s905x is a 64-bit SOC. Cheer ~~~
damienq Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 Greetings. I have two issues, and I would be equally grateful if either could be solved: 1) I have a T95Z Plus with an s912. I'm running Balbes150's Ubuntu Server 16.04 kernel 4.9. After boot, the system is able to recognize the emmc, and /dev/data exists, but when I run the install.sh script, when it gets to "copy USR", it starts to hit a bunch of segmentation faults and a few bus errors, and eventually the system freezes up and I have to reboot. I'm using the gml_q200_2g.dtb from the dtb folder. 2) I have an X96 Mini with an s905W, running the same image as above. The system cannot at all recognize the emmc, and /dev/data does not exist. The output of "fdisk -l", "lsblk", and "ls -al /dev/block" all only recognize the boot device (my usb drive). I'm using gmx_231_1g.dtb from the dtb folder. I'm aware that it isn't the correct dtb file, but strangely it is the only one that will boot. I have extracted the dtb from firmware but it didn't work. Bonus Issue) On the T95Z Plus (the first one), right from boot, the video output stops, and does not come back. I used an hdmi to dvi adapter on my monitor. It isn't a big issue because I'm able to ssh to it, but if anyone has a solution it would be appreciated.
Reddwarf Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 13 hours ago, shippy said: Well the FAQ on the https://anbox.io says it does support ARM- it was originally built using a phone: "Android image for every device? No. Anbox does not need a specific Android image for every device as it is specifically built in a device independent way. Anbox will ship with a single Android image per architecture (amd64, armhf, arm64) and no device specifc modifications are required." So what do you think now? Does this Anbox- Armbian combo make sense now??? I think you misread, it is the Android image that is for ARM (among others), if you try to download Anbox for arm linux you'll find that it does not exist.
Reddwarf Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 Just now, damienq said: Greetings. I have two issues, and I would be equally grateful if either could be solved: 1) I have a T95Z Plus with an s912. I'm running Balbes150's Ubuntu Server 16.04 kernel 4.9. After boot, the system is able to recognize the emmc, and /dev/data exists, but when I run the install.sh script, when it gets to "copy USR", it starts to hit a bunch of segmentation faults and a few bus errors, and eventually the system freezes up and I have to reboot. I'm using the gml_q200_2g.dtb from the dtb folder. 2) I have an X96 Mini with an s905W, running the same image as above. The system cannot at all recognize the emmc, and /dev/data does not exist. The output of "fdisk -l", "lsblk", and "ls -al /dev/block" all only recognize the boot device (my usb drive). I'm using gmx_231_1g.dtb from the dtb folder. I'm aware that it isn't the correct dtb file, but strangely it is the only one that will boot. I have extracted the dtb from firmware but it didn't work. Bonus Issue) On the T95Z Plus (the first one), right from boot, the video output stops, and does not come back. I used an hdmi to dvi adapter on my monitor. It isn't a big issue because I'm able to ssh to it, but if anyone has a solution it would be appreciated. To address your last issue first, I have also experienced some images where video output never comes back after screen is turned off due to timeout. It seems to be a general issue with newer kernels. Now on 905x boxes the install.sh script does not work and there is no way to install to mmc. Period. On S912 it should work, are you able to access the internal partitions? Does Gparted see them without reporting errors? Extracting dtb from Android firmware does not work either.
damienq Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 21 minutes ago, Reddwarf said: To address your last issue first, I have also experienced some images where video output never comes back after screen is turned off due to timeout. It seems to be a general issue with newer kernels. Now on 905x boxes the install.sh script does not work and there is no way to install to mmc. Period. On S912 it should work, are you able to access the internal partitions? Does Gparted see them without reporting errors? Extracting dtb from Android firmware does not work either. If by internal partition you mean the the emmc blocks, then yes. This is the output of "fdisk -l" Disk /dev/sda: 116.9 GiB, 125460021248 bytes, 245039104 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x2bba5da7 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 8192 270335 262144 128M e W95 FAT16 (LBA) //// This is the usb stick used to boot /dev/sda2 270336 242588703 242318368 115.6G 83 Linux Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 14.6 GiB, 15634268160 bytes, 30535680 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot1: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 8192 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot0: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 8192 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Reddwarf Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 Just now, damienq said: If by internal partition you mean the the emmc blocks, then yes. This is the output of "fdisk -l" Disk /dev/sda: 116.9 GiB, 125460021248 bytes, 245039104 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x2bba5da7 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 8192 270335 262144 128M e W95 FAT16 (LBA) //// This is the usb stick used to boot /dev/sda2 270336 242588703 242318368 115.6G 83 Linux Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 14.6 GiB, 15634268160 bytes, 30535680 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot1: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 8192 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot0: 4 MiB, 4194304 bytes, 8192 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Yes I get the same from fdisk on my box, but GPARTED does not see the partitions and therfore Linux does not either. SO, does gparted see the partitions on emmc?
damienq Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 7 minutes ago, Reddwarf said: Yes I get the same from fdisk on my box, but GPARTED does not see the partitions and therfore Linux does not either. SO, does gparted see the partitions on emmc? Sorry about that. Here is the output of "parted print list,all" (It's ubuntu server so there is no gui) Model: SanDisk Cruzer (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 125GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Disk Flags: Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 4194kB 138MB 134MB primary fat16 lba 2 138MB 124GB 124GB primary ext4 Error: /dev/mmcblk0rpmb: unrecognised disk label Warning: Error fsyncing/closing /dev/mmcblk0rpmb: Input/output error Retry/Ignore? ignore Model: Generic SD/MMC Storage Card (sd/mmc) Disk /dev/mmcblk0rpmb: 4194kB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: unknown Disk Flags: Error: /dev/mmcblk0boot0: unrecognised disk label Model: Generic SD/MMC Storage Card (sd/mmc) Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot0: 4194kB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: unknown Disk Flags: Error: /dev/mmcblk0boot1: unrecognised disk label Model: Generic SD/MMC Storage Card (sd/mmc) Disk /dev/mmcblk0boot1: 4194kB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: unknown Disk Flags: Error: /dev/mmcblk0: unrecognised disk label Model: MMC AWPD3R (sd/mmc) Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 15.6GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: unknown Disk Flags:
Reddwarf Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 Obviously there is a problem with I/O on the mmc, perhaps not fully supported by the current kernel. Have you tried other images?
damienq Posted July 7, 2018 Posted July 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, Reddwarf said: Obviously there is a problem with I/O on the mmc, perhaps not fully supported by the current kernel. Have you tried other images? Only different versions of Ubuntu Server. On kernel 4.16, it can't see the emmc at all, but from a Balbes150 post I read, I think emmc install doesn't work on 4.16. On kernel 3.x, it all works fine, including emmc install.
shippy Posted July 8, 2018 Posted July 8, 2018 19 hours ago, Reddwarf said: I think you misread, it is the Android image that is for ARM (among others), if you try to download Anbox for arm linux you'll find that it does not exist. Quite confusing ! I thought that you should be able to run Android ARM image via snaps on top of Armbian per what Anbox.io apparently says. Didn't realize you need both OS images compliant as Anbox images !
Reddwarf Posted July 8, 2018 Posted July 8, 2018 6 hours ago, shippy said: Quite confusing ! I thought that you should be able to run Android ARM image via snaps on top of Armbian per what Anbox.io apparently says. Didn't realize you need both OS images compliant as Anbox images ! No that is not the case, Anbox emulates ARM inside but Anbox itself does not run om ARM processors, only x86/64. If you could get your hands on the source code (which I strongly doubt) you could compile it for ARM thou......
Reddwarf Posted July 8, 2018 Posted July 8, 2018 @balbes150 I have build kernel 4.18 using your script and installed the packages on my Armbian system but uname -sr still reports 3.14, why oh why???
shippy Posted July 10, 2018 Posted July 10, 2018 On 7/8/2018 at 5:27 PM, Reddwarf said: No that is not the case, Anbox emulates ARM inside but Anbox itself does not run om ARM processors, only x86/64. If you could get your hands on the source code (which I strongly doubt) you could compile it for ARM thou...... 1. As the uber philosopher Chuck D said: Don't believe the hype ! 2. On another topic, what is the difference between Armbian and OSMC for S905* Android Box devices? Isn't OSMC built for Pi types not Android Box type boards? Does it run lighter than Armbian? Here is an OSMC distro hack for all S905/X/D (W uncertain) Android Boxes: https://www.kodinerds.net/index.php/Thread/61448-OSMC-run-all-S905-S905D-S905X-Android-TV-Box/?postID=457505&highlight=osmc#post457505 If you want to install server/ OpenWrt packages along with Kodi, which will have better performance (assuming OSMC can run on S905* boxes)?
shippy Posted July 11, 2018 Posted July 11, 2018 Re: desktop vs server based Armbian distros, can you run Kodi (with its own GUI and add-ons) on the server version? The desktop version provides the Linux distro GUI (eg LXDE) but we don't need that to run Kodi? Apart, would the desktop Armbian version have any special features over the server version beyond the distro GUI? The server version uses 4.* kernel as opposed to 3.14 for the desktop version, so does this mean better video HW acceleration and other better features?
Reddwarf Posted July 11, 2018 Posted July 11, 2018 11 hours ago, shippy said: 1. As the uber philosopher Chuck D said: Don't believe the hype ! 2. On another topic, what is the difference between Armbian and OSMC for S905* Android Box devices? Isn't OSMC built for Pi types not Android Box type boards? Does it run lighter than Armbian? Here is an OSMC distro hack for all S905/X/D (W uncertain) Android Boxes: https://www.kodinerds.net/index.php/Thread/61448-OSMC-run-all-S905-S905D-S905X-Android-TV-Box/?postID=457505&highlight=osmc#post457505 If you want to install server/ OpenWrt packages along with Kodi, which will have better performance (assuming OSMC can run on S905* boxes)? I have never heard of OSMC, I tried your links but can't read the language. I also tried the download links (rc4 and 1.0) and get only "not found". However from the forum titles is seems to me to be Android based images which is not of interest.
chessplayer Posted July 11, 2018 Posted July 11, 2018 Hi guys, I am excited to see Armbian (which I run on a cubietruck) has come to the Amlogic devices as well - thanks for that. Now, I already have my boxes running LibreELEC (kszaq) from NAND and I can boot CoreELEC from SD card. So I thought I will flash a card with Armbian and then put the dtb from my CoreELEC card to the boot partition of the new card and see what happens. Unfortunately, not a lot is happening. My Nexbox A95X, e.g., is stuck at its boot screen, while my THL box just gives me a black screen. So, this does not work. What should I do instead to be able to boot Armbian after LibreELEC is already installed on the box? Sorry if this has been asked before, but reading through 58 pages seems a bit cumbersome ... Any help would be appreciated! Cheers, chessplayer
Reddwarf Posted July 11, 2018 Posted July 11, 2018 19 minutes ago, chessplayer said: Hi guys, I am excited to see Armbian (which I run on a cubietruck) has come to the Amlogic devices as well - thanks for that. Now, I already have my boxes running LibreELEC (kszaq) from NAND and I can boot CoreELEC from SD card. So I thought I will flash a card with Armbian and then put the dtb from my CoreELEC card to the boot partition of the new card and see what happens. Unfortunately, not a lot is happening. My Nexbox A95X, e.g., is stuck at its boot screen, while my THL box just gives me a black screen. So, this does not work. What should I do instead to be able to boot Armbian after LibreELEC is already installed on the box? Sorry if this has been asked before, but reading through 58 pages seems a bit cumbersome ... Any help would be appreciated! Cheers, chessplayer You need to find the correct dtb (which is not always easy), I don't know that box, do you know the model number of the box's board? Otherwise it is cut and try with all the dtb's in the BOOT partition of the Armbian sdcard.
chessplayer Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 12 hours ago, Reddwarf said: You need to find the correct dtb (which is not always easy), I don't know that box, do you know the model number of the box's board? Otherwise it is cut and try with all the dtb's in the BOOT partition of the Armbian sdcard. Hi, thanks for your answer. So I was wrong in assuming that the dtb which worked for CoreELEC would also work for Armbian. But, as I mentioned, I have (among others) an A95X box and since there ia a DTB for this box, mine is now running Armbian with the 4.16.1 kernel (so, I believe it should even recognize the XBOX ONE tuner ...). Great stuff! Thanks for all your work on this!
chessplayer Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 48 minutes ago, chessplayer said: ... running Armbian with the 4.16.1 kernel (so, I believe it should even recognize the XBOX ONE tuner ...). Ok, so there seems to be a problem reagrding DVB. Unfortunately, neither the XBOX ONE tuner nor my Pinnacle PCTV Stick seems to be recognized (no /dev/dvb/adapter0 is being created). Using my Sundtek-Stick, this device is being created (in userspace), but TVHeadend does not see the adapter. Does Armbian 5.44 for Amlogic not support DVB? Armbian 5.38 on my cubietruck certaily does. Or am I being stupid?
Reddwarf Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 Sorry I can't be of any help with that, I run all my tv and tuner related stuff on a windows pc. Balbes150 is the developer and probably knows but he has not been active here for a while...
chessplayer Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 I apologize. I installed the wrong package (armhf) and that seems to have messed things up. Working now, at least with Sundtek.
chessplayer Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 Ok, next question after Armbian is doing just fine on my Nexbox A95, I am now trying to run Armbian 5.44 on my Mecool M8S Pro W and, as the name suggests, this is an S905W box (of type 2+16). As expected, the dtb for the Nexbox did not work, so I tried some others as well. However, based on what was written in this post on the (mostly German) kodinerds forum, what I would need is a dtb with p281 in the name (in the post, the 1 and 8 seem to be transposed). None of those seem to be available, however, in the dtb folders that come with Armbian. Does anyone know where I could find those? Cheers, chessplayer
Reddwarf Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 Just now, chessplayer said: Ok, next question after Armbian is doing just fine on my Nexbox A95, I am now trying to run Armbian 5.44 on my Mecool M8S Pro W and, as the name suggests, this is an S905W box (of type 2+16). As expected, the dtb for the Nexbox did not work, so I tried some others as well. However, based on what was written in this post on the (mostly German) kodinerds forum, what I would need is a dtb with p281 in the name (in the post, the 1 and 8 seem to be transposed). None of those seem to be available, however, in the dtb folders that come with Armbian. Does anyone know where I could find those? Cheers, chessplayer Based on the fact that it is a 905W cpu I think you could try the dtb's with 212 in the name, you might be in luck
chessplayer Posted July 12, 2018 Posted July 12, 2018 1 minute ago, Reddwarf said: Based on the fact that it is a 905W cpu I think you could try the dtb's with 212 in the name, you might be in luck Thanks for your always quick replies, but unfortunately, that was not the case, I already tried. Meanwhile, I have flashed Armbian 5.44 with the 3.14 kernel and used a device tree available from CoreELEC (gxl_p281_2g.dtb - see the attachment) with that - and it booted! I would rather use the 4.16 kernel, but I will try this now anyway and see what goes. Again, great work you are doing here, thanks! On the other hand, if there is someone who converts dtbs from one kernel version to another, that would be great ... Cheers, chessplayer gxl_p281_2g.dtb
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