Armbian for Amlogic S805 and S802/S812

[K200_Noob]

4 hours ago, Red2 said:

I have an old tv box with S802 

MXIII 4k 1g8g netxeon m82

Just wondering what the latest Linux image I can get it to run and where would I find an image file. Most I find seem to only be for 2g boxes or I'm misinterpreting the info, which isn't that unlikely. Everything I have tried has failed so it would be nice to know if someone else got Linux install on one and which version

Thank in advance

what have you tried so far?

[K200_Noob]

7 hours ago, Junoxe said:

I thought it will be a bit simple. It will work or not.
Well, im so lame and n00b that i can't ask a proper question propably. So may be ill try to describe sitiation.

I have S812H (Wetek Core) box. LE is working smooth in its last supported version. Onboard system is kind of linux which is unable to log to google anymore. So i thought about exchange stock linux with i.e. armbian.

Dualboot is enabled becuase i can boot LE or system with a remote button during start of box. Thats why i told is enabled. Propably i was wrong.

 

Whatever You wrote about such files like uboot env, kernels or scripts its too much for me. May be You can simple tell if its possible to run armbian on my old box in a more or less simple way. For sure i can log via ssh or something like this. For sure i've never compiled anything.

 

from one noob to the other, i dont see why not. its similar to the 812 with an addition of Dolby DTS from what i read. is it rooted? when you say kind of linux do you mean android 5.1? also it is true LE or are you referring to Kodi?

[Junoxe]

@K200_Noob

Thank You for answer.

As i found linux of Wetek Core is Android 5.1.1 with kernel 3.10.33.

As i said about linux i meant this Android.

 

Which of build from this link below (its from @balbes150 post: 

https://yadi.sk/d/wc2jqGsHuKy48

Any images of 3.10.108 kernel?

 

In this link i found also files like this:
firmware-aml-s812_5.73_armhf.deb

What is for?

 

[Red2]

On 1/15/2020 at 10:28 PM, K200_Noob said:

what have you tried so far?

S8xxx_ArchLinux_20180331_4.16-rc6.img.xz
S812_ArchLinux_20170924_3_10_99.img.xz
Armbian_19.11.5_Aml-s812_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200113.img.xz
Armbian_19.11.5_Aml-s812_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200113.img.xz

and a couple from Armbian 5.44_S812......   both debian and Ubuntu

plus LibreELEC-S802.MXIII-1G.arm-7.0.2-2-devel.img.gz,
since it seemed to be proper box

most go to the google.tv screen go black for a bit then get stuck in pixelated screen (for lack of a better term), some just seem to go to the google.tv splash screen then wait longer than usual before booting back to MBox and android

 

Libreelec actually gets to a text screen

... press anykey or wait 120 sec to abort ... 

wait the 2 mins and then get something about READ ONLY file system  blah blah blah this box is permanently ... something in the order of bricked, can't recall exact verbage, but if I reboot boots back into mbox with no issue

[K200_Noob]

5 hours ago, Junoxe said:

@K200_Noob

Thank You for answer.

As i found linux of Wetek Core is Android 5.1.1 with kernel 3.10.33.

As i said about linux i meant this Android.

 

Which of build from this link below (its from @balbes150 post: 

https://yadi.sk/d/wc2jqGsHuKy48

Any images of 3.10.108 kernel?

 

In this link i found also files like this:
firmware-aml-s812_5.73_armhf.deb

What is for?

 

 

 

The Kernel version is at the end right before the date compiled. 3.10.108 - 2019 March 26th.

 

All the images are compiled by @balbes150

 

not familiar with your device, but do you have a terminal and can you "cat" the uboot environment and paste  here? if LE was started from SD card then using the aml_autoscript should get you going. if you fail with 5.44 give 5.77 a try due to the output mode. 

 

i believe "firmware-aml-s812_5.73_armhf.deb" was a deb package was for the image 5.73 to be installed for missing binaries if not mistaken.

 

image 5.77 should have it all in the image file. I personally started with 5.44 to get things kick started...

 

before you get started, do you have a backup of the ROM or the factory firmware and aware of recovery if things go wrong. I had an SD image of the stock firmware which i could recover my box with? - my recovery image allowed me to recover the bootloader too.

[K200_Noob]

26 minutes ago, Red2 said:

S8xxx_ArchLinux_20180331_4.16-rc6.img.xz
S812_ArchLinux_20170924_3_10_99.img.xz
Armbian_19.11.5_Aml-s812_buster_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200113.img.xz
Armbian_19.11.5_Aml-s812_bionic_current_5.5.0-rc6_20200113.img.xz

and a couple from Armbian 5.44_S812......   both debian and Ubuntu

plus LibreELEC-S802.MXIII-1G.arm-7.0.2-2-devel.img.gz,
since it seemed to be proper box

most go to the google.tv screen go black for a bit then get stuck in pixelated screen (for lack of a better term), some just seem to go to the google.tv splash screen then wait longer than usual before booting back to MBox and android

 

Libreelec actually gets to a text screen

... press anykey or wait 120 sec to abort ... 

wait the 2 mins and then get something about READ ONLY file system  blah blah blah this box is permanently ... something in the order of bricked, can't recall exact verbage, but if I reboot boots back into mbox with no issue

 

sounds like a .dtb issue. What dtb file are you using?

 

what android version is it running? if you have your stock boot.img use this script 

 

command from same folder as your boot.img - ./extract-dtb.py boot.img it will create a folder with all your dtb files. 

extract-dtb.py

[balbes150]

To activate the multiload on Wetek , you need to use additional steps, they are indicated at the beginning of this topic and in the topic about LE.  I remind you that multi-boot activation is only possible from the SD card, and subsequent work is already possible from any SD or USB media. It is important to distinguish between images with the old DTB configuration system and the new one, since they have different configuration principles.

 

 

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/1506-s812-miii-plus-2gb-16gb-emmc/

[Junoxe]

4 hours ago, balbes150 said:

To activate the multiload on Wetek , you need to use additional steps, they are indicated at the beginning of this topic and in the topic about LE.  I remind you that multi-boot activation is only possible from the SD card, and subsequent work is already possible from any SD or USB media. It is important to distinguish between images with the old DTB configuration system and the new one, since they have different configuration principles.

 

 

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/1506-s812-miii-plus-2gb-16gb-emmc/

Thank You for Your answer. I read this thread and others on freaktab (nowadays NONE of specific links to freaktab are not working. I mean these links lead us to home page of forum), LE forum etc for few days. I see some solutions for different parts of process. But im unable to link these parts in one story how to run armbian on S812x.

What is clear for me is to take one of Your images, flash on SD card, take one of dtb files from dtb folder copy to root folder of same partition and put into slot. Wetek Core can run with OE/LE images with SD card but cant with Armbian images. So i need to do something before. Your advice is to do something before. Activate multi-boot.

Now multi-boot.

So now i have to download image from Your post:

https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s812-aa/tronsmart-aa/594917-libreelec-for-tronsmart-miii-plus#post594917

but link is corrupted. There is no possibility to download whatever it was.

So i stuck whith activationg multi-boot. There is no clear intruction how to do that. And there is no image to do that. Can You share with working link?

 

There is Your shor instruction how to do that:

"To use you need to activate new universal multiboot. For use - download the image, burn to SD card to insert into a TV console, enable using the toothpicks. After a single activation of multi-boot using SD card, you can use a USB flash drive with the recorded image."

In Wetek Core using toothpick is working only without SD card and result in running in recovery mode. WIth SD card plugged and with toothpick Wetek Core stuck in initial half boot screen and half with noise. May be with multi-boot file it can run. But there is no file to test.

 

Thank You for Your work and patience. In advance as well.

 

[Junoxe]

@balbes150

I also found Your discussion from past in this thread and user 4timepi had exactly same problem.

During installation ANY od dtb files i received same info:

"E: footer is wrong
E: signature verification failed
Installation aborted"

So it seems i have no multi-boot activated as i not get black screen just half screen with noise and half with booting image of wetek.

 

Then You wrote in other post:
"Try to activate multi-boot, using the standard Android app "Update&Backup". Although, judging by the description, multiupload had to be activated. It is possible for the system startup LE is not missing the correct dtb file."

But thats the main problem. On Wetek Core their stock Android is not certified with google anymore. So i cannot log into store and download "Update&Backup" app.

 

Then i found Your next post with proper file, i suppose for activation multi-boot:

https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s812-aa/tronsmart-aa/594917-libreelec-for-tronsmart-miii-plus?p=600144#post600144

"For S812, you can use the scripts only from this link.
https://yadi.sk/d/c9kY4tuLuPF3Y"

There are 2 versions v04 and v05 with scripts. Now i should copy two files from i.e. v05:

aml_autoscript and aml_autoscript.zip to SD card and run box with JUST and ONLY these files on SD card? Or should i copy-replace with on flashed SD card with whatever Armbian version. Should i add replace file s805_autoscript or ignore it?

 

As You see there is no a single post describing process, we just need to gather puzzles and we are not sure if we do things correct. Expecially while not every link is ok. So very sorry for mess and thank You for patience.

 

Now, if my collected puzzles is true story i should ensure myself with succesfull installation. But i cannot be sure as i dont know which dtb file is proper for Wetek Core. Thats all story.

 

[Junoxe]

12 hours ago, K200_Noob said:

not familiar with your device, but do you have a terminal and can you "cat" the uboot environment and paste  here?

Hi, as i can log via aah to LE im not sure if weteks stock firmware allows me. Ill check.

 

I can use cat cmd but what does it mean: uboot environment?

[K200_Noob]

5 minutes ago, Junoxe said:

Hi, as i can log via aah to LE im not sure if weteks stock firmware allows me. Ill check.

 

I can use cat cmd but what does it mean: uboot environment?

Hey, you seem to be on the right track and @balbes150 has the information for the wetek. and yes it would seem you have the multiboot. since i was not familiar with it i wanted to see how the kernel was being loaded to help you.

 

if you have ssh then do "lsblk" from the commandline and you will see which mtd partition has the uenv or uboot env. mine is /dev/mtdblock1.

 

i like to know what is going on behind the scenes and thats how i learn and helps me fix issues. Oh but wait since you have LE, you should be able to run this command which is more Human Readable "fw_printenv"

 

If you want to learn truely friend...this is where the fun begins!!!!

 

The real satisfaction in getting something working is knowing how you did it

[K200_Noob]

I keep hearing which DTB would work with which image when it should be 1 DTB for you box for all images;

 

A device tree is a tree data structure with nodes that describe the physical devices in a system.

 

Helpful Info:

 

https://elinux.org/images/f/f9/Petazzoni-device-tree-dummies_0.pdf

 

[Junoxe]

11 minutes ago, K200_Noob said:

Oh but wait since you have LE, you should be able to run this command which is more Human Readable "fw_printenv"

Wait, i thought i should cat uboot enviroment as im booted in Android. It doesnt matter im booted in LE or Android?

 

Thx for Your support.

 

[K200_Noob]

Just now, Junoxe said:

Wait, i thought i should cat uboot enviroment as im booted in Android. It doesnt matter im booted in LE or Android?

 

Thx for Your support.

android does not allow fw_print env. you can do both (cat and fw_printenv from LE). it wont change anithing to the uboot env. we just explore

[Junoxe]

 

I read from other sources that S812H is meson8m2. It has 2 GB and 1 Gbit. But none of meson8m2 files working.

And ill try to cat/fw_printenv.

Thx.

[K200_Noob]

1 hour ago, Junoxe said:

 

I read from other sources that S812H is meson8m2. It has 2 GB and 1 Gbit. But none of meson8m2 files working.

And ill try to cat/fw_printenv.

Thx.

 

we can always extract it from your android firmware, the one for your device.

 

attached is an example.

 

is it meson8m2_n200 or n200c?

libreelec-fw_printenv.txt

[menthorul]

Can antone tell me the last desktop linux available for s8132 is? And the link for it?....
Thanks

Sent from my SM-A530F using Tapatalk

[Junoxe]

@K200_Noob

Sorry for late answer as i couldnt install back LE on my box. Now i can log in ssh to check if its meson8m2_n200 or n200c or else.

 

21 hours ago, K200_Noob said:

if you have ssh then do "lsblk" from the commandline and you will see which mtd partition has the uenv or uboot env. mine is /dev/mtdblock1.

So lsblk is not working so i used df - cmd.

I got this:

LibreELEC:~ # df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs                744.0M    112.6M    631.4M  15% /dev
/dev/mmcblk0p1          511.7M    121.9M    389.9M  24% /flash
/dev/mmcblk0p2            1.3G     11.2M      1.3G   1% /storage
/dev/loop0              113.0M    113.0M         0 100% /
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                   746.0M      8.3M    737.6M   1% /run
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs                   746.0M      2.6M    743.4M   0% /var
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /tmp
LibreELEC:~ #

fw_printenv doesnt work as well.

LibreELEC:~ # fw_printenv
-sh: fw_printenv: not found
LibreELEC:~ #

 

So, what is next step?

[K200_Noob]

5 hours ago, Junoxe said:

@K200_Noob

Sorry for late answer as i couldnt install back LE on my box. Now i can log in ssh to check if its meson8m2_n200 or n200c or else.

 

So lsblk is not working so i used df - cmd.

I got this:

LibreELEC:~ # df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs                744.0M    112.6M    631.4M  15% /dev
/dev/mmcblk0p1          511.7M    121.9M    389.9M  24% /flash
/dev/mmcblk0p2            1.3G     11.2M      1.3G   1% /storage
/dev/loop0              113.0M    113.0M         0 100% /
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                   746.0M      8.3M    737.6M   1% /run
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs                   746.0M      2.6M    743.4M   0% /var
tmpfs                   746.0M         0    746.0M   0% /tmp
LibreELEC:~ #

fw_printenv doesnt work as well.

LibreELEC:~ # fw_printenv
-sh: fw_printenv: not found
LibreELEC:~ #

 

So, what is next step?

 

Ok since that is the case, we will need to follow @balbes150 instructions to get it activated. 

 

Let me share with you want i was referring to first;

 

Below are the ones from my device;

 

 

notice that the mtdblock0 is the bootloader and the mtdblock1 is uboot env. I am reading this while booted from internal memory so it does not have a label but did when i booted from the sd card, 

 

using;

/dev/system as my boot partition

/dev/data as my root

/dev/cache as my cache

 

I was looking at post which i wanted to adopt for my box to switch the partitions around and boot into LE or linux using below...its a work in progress;

 

 

Looking at the link @balbes150 posted, you will need to activate using sd card, I may have look some more into it. I would however suggest reading through that forum. I could not find the aml_autoscript. I will try to  ping @balbes150 for help.

 

edit: tried to ping him but says he does not receive msgs. perhaps inbox is full.

 

Check out this post #317;

 

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/12330-test-libreelec-images-with-kodi-19-for-s9xxx/?postID=106454#post106454

 

 

 

[Junoxe]

3 hours ago, K200_Noob said:

you will need to activate using sd card

Im not sure if understand well.

At last i run dual boot on Wetek Core and now i can use WeOS (Android 5.1.1) on NAND and LE on SDcard. So looks like dual boot working. Or You mean something different.

 

Still i dont know how to get know which meson8m2 i should use.

I tried some of them and stuck on "noisy: half screen during boot. Will test rest of them.

I have suspisions:

or WeOS is blocked by vendor in some way

or Wetek Core should has own dtb file to run.

 

Thank You once again for Your support. :)

[Junoxe]

From that conversation (posts 100-103) below can be concluded that s812H can be on n200c board:

https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s812-aa/others-aa/529553-i-unbrick-m8s-how-to-included-now-i-need-firmware-rom-m8s-model-kca-003?p=548810#post548810

 

So i try and copy meson8m2_n200C_2G.dtb to root folder and change to dtb.img, copy v05 aml_autoscript and aml_autoscript.zip files and will see.

[K200_Noob]

53 minutes ago, Junoxe said:

Im not sure if understand well.

At last i run dual boot on Wetek Core and now i can use WeOS (Android 5.1.1) on NAND and LE on SDcard. So looks like dual boot working. Or You mean something different.

 

Still i dont know how to get know which meson8m2 i should use.

I tried some of them and stuck on "noisy: half screen during boot. Will test rest of them.

I have suspisions:

or WeOS is blocked by vendor in some way

or Wetek Core should has own dtb file to run.

 

Thank You once again for Your support.

 

attached are the files i extracted from the boot img of your device.

dtb.zip m8m2_n200C_2G.dts m8m2_n200C_2G.dtb

[Junoxe]

2 minutes ago, K200_Noob said:

attached are the files i extracted

There are 4 files. All should be copied to root folder after flashing SD card?

 

Thx a lot!

[K200_Noob]

44 minutes ago, Junoxe said:

From that conversation (posts 100-103) below can be concluded that s812H can be on n200c board:

https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s812-aa/others-aa/529553-i-unbrick-m8s-how-to-included-now-i-need-firmware-rom-m8s-model-kca-003?p=548810#post548810

 

So i try and copy meson8m2_n200C_2G.dtb to root folder and change to dtb.img, copy v05 aml_autoscript and aml_autoscript.zip files and will see.

if you are going to change it to dtb.img use the 5.44 img to start with.

[K200_Noob]

 

3 minutes ago, Junoxe said:

There are 4 files. All should be copied to root folder after flashing SD card?

 

Thx a lot!

 

just use the dtb that was not in the zip folder as your dtb. it has be converted. the zip is the original extract that contains the kernel file. as a backup you can keep.

[Junoxe]

23 hours ago, K200_Noob said:

just use the dtb that was not in the zip folder as your dtb

So i copied file You kindly prepared m8m2_n200C_2G.dtb to root folder. Flashed SD card with Armbian_5.44_S812_Debian_stretch_3.10.108_xfce_20180521.img and it didnt worked. Or during booting i got in half noisy screen and i got

"E: footer is wrong
E: signature verification failed
Installation aborted"

in recovery mode.

I tried with standard aml_autoscript and aml_autoscript.zip and with v05.

Or there is something more i should do which i missed?

 

Ill try with 5.77 also.

Not working. Also after trying to run 5.77 Wetek lost his dual boot. It means if SD card is inserted there is no info like "Press power button to boot from SD card." So after restore to factory settings now there is info about "Press power button..." but it again doesnt work. So I need to do prepare install CD card with LE. Ill hope it will work.

[K200_Noob]

7 hours ago, Junoxe said:

So i copied file You kindly prepared m8m2_n200C_2G.dtb to root folder. Flashed SD card with Armbian_5.44_S812_Debian_stretch_3.10.108_xfce_20180521.img and it didnt worked. Or during booting i got in half noisy screen and i got

"E: footer is wrong
E: signature verification failed
Installation aborted"

in recovery mode.

I tried with standard aml_autoscript and aml_autoscript.zip and with v05.

Or there is something more i should do which i missed?

 

Ill try with 5.77 also.

Not working. Also after trying to run 5.77 Wetek lost his dual boot. It means if SD card is inserted there is no info like "Press power button to boot from SD card." So after restore to factory settings now there is info about "Press power button..." but it again doesnt work. So I need to do prepare install CD card with LE. Ill hope it will work.

 

I am sorry for your troubles.. when you have it restored, take a look at page 11 of this post and do a search for the word wetek...

 

 

chataigne73

April 5, 2018

Hello balbes150

 

I'm trying to use your armbian s812 builds on my device : it's a Wetek Core, with Libreelec installed on nand.

 

From what I understand, I'm in a particular case since my box already supports booting from sdcard, but it doesn't work for your builds (sdcard not seen as bootable by my box).

So, I applied your autoscript to activate universal multiboot.

Now my box detect your builds on sdcard (not on usb), boot on it but is stuck (with screen no signal) with every dtbs I tried.

I think the wetek proprietary multiboot script is in conflict with your.

 

Here is my fw_printenv ...  thank you if you can help me :

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Edit : I manage to boot by using dtb and uimage of libreelec for my device (3.10.99)

Balbes : can you repost old 3.10.99 debian or ubuntu links ? they are no more on your yandex

[Red2]

On 1/17/2020 at 10:18 PM, K200_Noob said:

sounds like a .dtb issue. What dtb file are you using?

 

what android version is it running? if you have your stock boot.img use this script 

 

command from same folder as your boot.img - ./extract-dtb.py boot.img it will create a folder with all your dtb files. 

 

 

Running last update for the box, Kitkat 4.4.2 tried all the .dtb s that come with the images I’ve tried. 

 

Do not have a stock boot image. 

[K200_Noob]

4 hours ago, Red2 said:

 

 

Running last update for the box, Kitkat 4.4.2 tried all the .dtb s that come with the images I’ve tried. 

 

Do not have a stock boot image. 

Try this. Rename it it to dtb.img and put it in the boot partition of 5.4.4 

m8_k200_sdio.dtb

[Junoxe]

Thank You for a tip. It seems i missed this post. So I have same situation:

 

On 4/5/2018 at 3:30 PM, chataigne73 said:

sdcard not seen as bootable by my box

 

So step i missed was:

On 1/21/2020 at 4:37 AM, K200_Noob said:

So, I applied your autoscript to activate universal multiboot.

 

Now, i still dont know how to activating universal multiboot. Can You write step by step?

 

And then i can wait till @balbes150 kindly repost old 3.10.99 build.