CSC Armbian for RK322x TV box boards

[jock]

@paradigman

I agree with @fabiobassa: there is an attitude problem here, and your frustration is clear.

I'm not happy about your work being late, but that's not my fault, nor a fault of the Armbian project.
If you were in the nearby I would you offer a beer and try to find a solution about your problem, but I guess you're not in the neighborhood.

The only thing I can suggest you right now, is to find an officially supported board from Armbian here and pursue your business project forgetting tv boxes.

[paradigman]

@fabiobassa, @jock: you are right guys, I apologize to you.
I realize I’m really frustrated by the helplessness. I just want to work, but I can’t, I feel like I’m exposed to the playful entertainment of others.

[fabiobassa]

Well apologies accepted.

 

Let's start another way : what is the problem you are experiencing ?

If you can say it !!

we don't want your work, we want understand what is going on and if there is a workaround

[paradigman]

Thank you fabiobassa. The situation is as follows:
I need a linux server (only CLI) that works well on cheap tv boxes. It has to be cheap because otherwise it can’t be bought by poor, elderly people who (presumably) will use this product. Over the past year, I’ve bought four types of TV boxes (1 amlogic, 2 allwinner, 1rockchip) and tried to put a thousand kinds of armbian pictures on them, and I’ve even tried libreelec.
The tests have shown that libreelec makes excellent use of the (rockchip) box hardware, while armbian is unable to use the analog audio output and even some wi-fi.
The armbian's design is better suited to the success of the project, and libreelec meets the hardware requirements. I have already tried to combine the two at the file level, but without success. I want to understand how I can most effectively move on, I think I’m stuck.

[fabiobassa]

Ok @paradigman here where I live is deep night and better approach tomorrow , but I can tell you will achieve your goal, server on rk322x run very well.

Re-read my long post on the link I gave and try with relaxed mind to obtain the mix you need between good hardware recognitio and functionality.

you have all needed pieces in place already.

where are you from so we can adjust time shift eventually 

 

 

 

 

[paradigman]

I'm from Hungary, Budapest (UTC+1). It's late here too, it would be worth sleeping.

[RaptorSDS]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb paradigman:

from Hungary, Budapest

 

 

topic box

i running a Amlogic S812 box as a Print and Scan server for about 5 Years now ( wlan little bit unstable because of Kernel 5.11 and driver for rt8723bs, with out old kernel very smooth)

today also one rk3229 box for my smart electricity meter , and a RPi Zero as Pihole , all are stable enough for private use . But for professional use all are beta , without a full time company in backround i think its a very good state that we have.

 

 

to aliexpress

please can you send a link as PM ( i am looking for new box to play but european prices are to high at the moment )

 

@fabiobassa@jock@paradigman

 

i am very glad that you have found the way back to normal , i am also from hardware side and not software but with arduino , and raspberry and this box every day i learn new items

 

[fabiobassa]

@paradigman
 

Quote

I'm from Hungary, Budapest

Lovely city, have been there many times , loved the chain bridge, the pastry shop at the ending of tunnel, the casino in the castle of Buda

Well the problem with some new boards is the we don't have any sample with new storage EMCP so what is knew is made with test from other people. All the rest ( kernel and root fs ) should be working
If you have original firmware try to upload some where so @jock can have a look into

[paradigman]

Unfortunately, I couldn't back up the box's own firmware, but I found another firmware that also works well. I attached the first 32 MB of this.
 

R29_MXQ_LP3_V2.3_firmware_part 

 

@jock: thank you if you look into.

[jock]

On 11/2/2021 at 12:16 PM, paradigman said:

Unfortunately, I couldn't back up the box's own firmware, but I found another firmware that also works well. I attached the first 32 MB of this.
 

R29_MXQ_LP3_V2.3_firmware_part 

 

@jock: thank you if you look into.

Yes, I'm looking into.

I read your previous messages and as far as I remember you have two three problems:

- HDMI is not working

- eMCP flash is not working

- only one led is working

 

The first two are unexpected problems. If I remember correctly @marshall also had an eMCP board. He had a problem with SDIO, but eMCP flash is working fine.

You instead have a problem with eMCP flash, which is pretty unusual, strange and worse.

 

Could you please try this libreelec image and tell me if you see anything on HDMI? Armbian uses the same libreelec HDMI timing patches, thus we could discover if the problem may be related to those patches. You can just burn the image and sdcard, plug it in and ti should boot. If possible, please post dmesg output you get over serial too (don't remember if baud rate is 1.5Mbps or 115Kbps)

 

About the development process on testing armbian images, there are some things that I want to make clear:

• we need to do several tests, it may be a slow process and results are not guaranteed
• you should already be able to put Android back on the board with rockchip tools in case you want to go back
• accept the very remote risk to brick the board

The plan is to first erase completely the internal eMCP flash, either using rkdeveloptool for linux of the rkdevtool for windows. For the former tool, instructions are in the paragraph Erase the flash memory in the first page of the thread.

Once flash is erased, the board always boots from sdcard. sdcard is far easier to use for testing.

 

First of all, try both the legacy 4.4 and current 5.10 kernels and see if results are the same. dmesg log is always appreciated, even better is to paste the link produced by armbianmonitor -u

Images can be downloaded from armbian download page, just use a suitable burner tool like balena.etcher or whatever you prefer to burn the image on the sdcard.

 

This are two overlays to use for your board. They should provide at least working leds, hopefully the eMCP flash should work too.

This overlay rk322x-led-conf7.dtbo is for legacy 4.4 kernel.

This other overlay rk322x-led-conf7.dtbo is for mainline 5.10 kernel.

 

Use one or the other In dependency of which kernel are you testing.

The overlay must be put in /boot/dtb/overlay directory of armbian installation and must be activated adding a line overlays=led-conf7 in /boot/armbianEnv.txt file.

You should be able to do that with no hassle directly on the sdcard.

 

I hope this fixes led and eMCP flash problems. It is improbable that anything changes with HDMI. For that problem I need to know if the libreelec image is working right for you or it isn't.

[paradigman]

3 hours ago, jock said:

Could you please try this libreelec image and tell me if you see anything on HDMI? Armbian uses the same libreelec HDMI timing patches, thus we could discover if the problem may be related to those patches. You can just burn the image and sdcard, plug it in and ti should boot. If possible, please post dmesg output you get over serial too (don't remember if baud rate is 1.5Mbps or 115Kbps) ...

 

 

I tried that libreelec picture and i don't see any change, still no picture on HDMI. 
Now I can't to attach a UART log either because my interface is not capable of 1.5 Mbps.
Don’t worry, I have the patience to tests, I’ve been dealing with this for almost a year.
Now the main problem is the non-functioning HDMI, followed by eMCP and finally Ethernet, Wi-Fi and analog audio. LEDs can be lit from me in any way. That will be a bonus if the IR will work.

[jock]

1 hour ago, paradigman said:

I tried that libreelec picture and i don't see any change, still no picture on HDMI. 
Now I can't to attach a UART log either because my interface is not capable of 1.5 Mbps.
Don’t worry, I have the patience to tests, I’ve been dealing with this for almost a year.
Now the main problem is the non-functioning HDMI, followed by eMCP and finally Ethernet, Wi-Fi and analog audio. LEDs can be lit from me in any way. That will be a bonus if the IR will work.

Ok, so apparently there is something wrong with libreelec HDMI patches for legacy kernel.

Now you can proceed with the instructions I gave and try an image with the mainline kernel.

In the meantime I will remove the HDMI patches from the legacy kernel image and make an experimental image so you can test it.

 

edit: here there is a debian bullseye minimal image with legacy 4.4 kernel and HDMI patches removed. I only kept the fixes for HDMI audio. Take a chance to try it and let me know if something changes for you.

Edited November 3, 2021 by jock
added debian image

[Maker39]

Hello Jock !

I need to connect i2c-tiny-usb. As far as I understand, this requires an appropriate kernel module.

modprobe i2c-tiny-usb responds :

modprobe: FATAL: Module i2c-tiny-usb not found in directory /lib/modules/4.4.194

 

Do I need to rebuild the firmware myself with the necessary modules or is there some one already compiled?

[jock]

4 hours ago, Maker39 said:

Hello Jock !

I need to connect i2c-tiny-usb. As far as I understand, this requires an appropriate kernel module.

modprobe i2c-tiny-usb responds :

modprobe: FATAL: Module i2c-tiny-usb not found in directory /lib/modules/4.4.194

 

Do I need to rebuild the firmware myself with the necessary modules or is there some one already compiled?

Hello @Maker39

since the module is not shipped with the image, you need to compile the module yourself.

There is no need to rebuild the whole kernel and all the modules, but you may want to install the kernel headers to compile the module alone.

[Maker39]

thanks, jock

From armbian-config i did it :

source_install 

headers_install

Now i have in /usr/src

linux-headers-5.10.60-rk322x

linux-source-5.10.60-rk322x

 

But how to proceed further to get the required kernel module I did not find in GOOGLE

 

my skill in linux is <=1

[Luis]

Hello everyone, sorry if you bother some but I wanted to share with this Lakka-RK322x.arm-3.0 I think someone from here has already spoken and shared his img ps today I share this one that I found I think it works very well and even the wifi, I clarify that my box is nand flash, this img works from the micro sd it is not necessary to touch the box https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DD_-mVLInTn8rW4c_7JMmJ5fZ6goYcQ9/view

[paradigman]

On 11/3/2021 at 10:03 PM, jock said:

edit: here there is a debian bullseye minimal image with legacy 4.4 kernel and HDMI patches removed. I only kept the fixes for HDMI audio. Take a chance to try it and let me know if something changes for you.

Unfortunately, I have no luck with too this image, no picture, no UART log :-(

[LukeSky007]

Am 3.11.2021 um 22:03 schrieb jock:

Ok, so apparently there is something wrong with libreelec HDMI patches for legacy kernel.

Now you can proceed with the instructions I gave and try an image with the mainline kernel.

In the meantime I will remove the HDMI patches from the legacy kernel image and make an experimental image so you can test it.

 

edit: here there is a debian bullseye minimal image with legacy 4.4 kernel and HDMI patches removed. I only kept the fixes for HDMI audio. Take a chance to try it and let me know if something changes for you.

Hi @jock  I managed to run the image on my respeaker coreV2 board  added the rk3229-respeaker-v2-armbian-rev2.dtb to /boot/dtb  and  changed the fdtfile=rk3229-respeaker-v2-armbian-rev2.dtb in /boot - great work

[Luis Leite]

Hi, I'm sorry but could someone help me?
I tried to install Ambian, following step by step but I ended up formatting the memory card that contains the backup of my TV BOX MX9 4K (not the pro), now I can't get back to my TVBOX Android, I would like to ask if anyone could provide me backup of Android TV Box MX9 4K?

Edited November 10, 2021 by Luis Leite

[mkultra]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:35 PM, paradigman said:

I need a linux server (only CLI) that works well on cheap tv boxes. It has to be cheap because otherwise it can’t be bought by poor, elderly people who (presumably) will use this product

i'm intrigued, why do poor, elderly people need a linux server? 

[paradigman]

10 hours ago, mkultra said:

i'm intrigued, why do poor, elderly people need a linux server? 

Ehh.. because every elderly person - in my country - wants to be a linux administrator.

So seriously ... I want to make a special internet radio for them out of these cheap boxes.
To understand why they need this tool, you would need to know the local conditions. It’s a little tricky to explain, so I’m not even going to start with that.

[tv4you2016]

 

Hello friends. i have an mxq 4k i installed the Armbian Buster (https://www.armbian.com/rk322x-tv-box/) I did everything right, I tried to install hassio, it installed the docker, I waited 1 hour +- and I can't access ipdabox:8123 can someone help me solve my problem?

[Kost]

Hello all! My first message, and of course about problems. Thanks @jock, @fabiobassa and others for this work!

I have a board with rk3229, 2gb ram ddr3, 8gb nand, esp8089 with 26MHz crystal. Just solder microsd slot to existing pads on pcb and install Armbian_21.08.1_Rk322x-box_buster_legacy_4.4.194_xfce_desktop via Multitool. Everything works except wifi. Module esp8089 is loaded and wifi0 exists, but can't see any network. I carefuly read a conversation with @victronikoat page 13 of this topic, try a different overlays and modules, no luck. Any change make wifi init impossible. My opinion is module esp8089 don't accept config=crystal_26M_en=1 at loading, but i can't uderstand why. 

Some bits from dmesg and other:

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      _    _________  ____            _               
 _ __| | _|___ /___ \|___ \__  __    | |__   _____  __
| '__| |/ / |_ \ __) | __) \ \/ /____| '_ \ / _ \ \/ /
| |  |   < ___) / __/ / __/ >  <_____| |_) | (_) >  < 
|_|  |_|\_\____/_____|_____/_/\_\    |_.__/ \___/_/\_\
                                                      
Welcome to Armbian 21.08.1 Buster with Linux 4.4.194-rk322x

No end-user support: built from trunk

System load:   25%               Up time:       6 min    
Memory usage:  5% of 1.93G      IP:           10.0.10.66
CPU temp:      59°C               Usage of /:    31% of 7.0G       

[ 0 security updates available, 3 updates total: apt upgrade ]
Last check: 2021-08-26 19:29

Last login: Thu Aug 26 19:24:20 2021 from 10.0.3.207
kost@rk322x-box:~$ dmesg | egrep 'mmc1|30010000|8089'
[    3.923313] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: num-slots property not found, assuming 1 slot is available
[    3.923435] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: IDMAC supports 32-bit address mode.
[    3.923649] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: Using internal DMA controller.
[    3.923680] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: Version ID is 270a
[    3.923818] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: DW MMC controller at irq 46,32 bit host data width,256 deep fifo
[    3.923907] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: No vmmc regulator found
[    3.923921] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: No vqmmc regulator found
[    3.923944] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: GPIO lookup for consumer wp
[    3.923956] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: using device tree for GPIO lookup
[    3.923971] of_get_named_gpiod_flags: can't parse 'wp-gpios' property of node '/dwmmc@30010000[0]'
[    3.923982] of_get_named_gpiod_flags: can't parse 'wp-gpio' property of node '/dwmmc@30010000[0]'
[    3.923993] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: using lookup tables for GPIO lookup
[    3.924004] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: lookup for GPIO wp failed
[    3.924140] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: allocated mmc-pwrseq
[    3.937209] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 2343750Hz (slot req 400000Hz, actual 390625HZ div = 3)
[    3.949968] dwmmc_rockchip 30010000.dwmmc: 1 slots initialized
[    4.157269] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 2343750Hz (slot req 300000Hz, actual 292968HZ div = 4)
[    4.164484] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: wifi_chip_type = esp8089
[    4.209544] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 2343750Hz (slot req 200000Hz, actual 195312HZ div = 6)
[    4.254892] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x01 (3 bytes)
[    4.270258] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x1a (5 bytes)
[    4.276664] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x1b (8 bytes)
[    4.278766] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 50000000Hz (slot req 50000000Hz, actual 50000000HZ div = 0)
[    4.280273] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (1 bytes)
[    4.280446] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x81 (1 bytes)
[    4.280621] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x82 (1 bytes)
[    4.280671] mmc1: new high speed SDIO card at address 0001
[    8.770724] esp8089: unknown parameter 'crystal_26M_en' ignored
[    9.430203] mmc1: card 0001 removed
[    9.453617] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 2343750Hz (slot req 400000Hz, actual 390625HZ div = 3)
[    9.490575] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x01 (3 bytes)
[    9.499004] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x1a (5 bytes)
[    9.502556] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x1b (8 bytes)
[    9.503662] mmc_host mmc1: Bus speed (slot 0) = 50000000Hz (slot req 50000000Hz, actual 50000000HZ div = 0)
[    9.505078] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (1 bytes)
[    9.505194] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x81 (1 bytes)
[    9.505293] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x82 (1 bytes)
[    9.505338] mmc1: new high speed SDIO card at address 0001
kost@rk322x-box:~$ ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: dummy0: <BROADCAST,NOARP> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 92:c2:2a:35:3a:a9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether e6:78:9f:b5:a7:47 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.0.10.66/16 brd 10.0.255.255 scope global noprefixroute eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::e478:9fff:feb5:a747/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: sit0@NONE: <NOARP> mtu 1480 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1
    link/sit 0.0.0.0 brd 0.0.0.0
5: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether ac:d0:74:27:22:4b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
kost@rk322x-box:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
[sudo] password for kost: 
wlan0     No scan results

kost@rk322x-box:~$ 
 

Also i extract a device tree from genuine firmware, part about wifi:

Скрытый текст

    wireless-wlan {
        compatible = "wlan-platdata";
        wifi_chip_type = "esp8089";
        sdio_vref = <0x708>;
        WIFI,poweren_gpio = <0x7b 0x1a 0x00>;
        WIFI,host_wake_irq = <0x74 0x1c 0x00>;
        status = "okay";
    };

Also i try Armbian_21.05.1_Rk322x-box_focal_legacy_4.4.194_xfce_desktop with same result. Any suggestions?

[jock]

Thanks @Kost for reporting, I guess you're the same Kost of the github issue https://github.com/armbian/build/issues/3290

 

For all esp8089 users there, it happens there is a missing config= string in the module options file that prevents the wifi to work.

Check the github issue above to manually fix and finally get it working!

 

[calipzone]

Is RTL8723AS supported on H96 Mini (RK3228A)? I see it in rk322x-config (Device ID: 024c:8723), but have no wifi. Tried modprobe r8723bs but no effect.

[fabiobassa]

@calipzone

try to set 8723CS with CS and blacklist or rename both AS and BS.
modprobe when the kernel has already started could result useless unless you have blaclisted or renamed the other two

Just a try, my 8723 is working with cs !!!

[jock]

On 11/24/2021 at 10:11 PM, calipzone said:

Is RTL8723AS supported on H96 Mini (RK3228A)? I see it in rk322x-config (Device ID: 024c:8723), but have no wifi. Tried modprobe r8723bs but no effect.

Well never encountered 8723AS chip.

I have a board with 8703BS which wants 8723CS driver.

Your 8723AS should go with 8723BS driver.

Confused?

Well, I am... realtek drivers, expecially the 8723 family, are a real mess. And I'm puzzled due to plenty of 8723 variants that don't share a single driver.

 

Which kernel are you using?

[calipzone]

25.11.2021 в 12:05, fabiobassa сказал:

Just a try

No effect.

 

56 минут назад, jock сказал:

Which kernel are you using?

5.10.60-rk322x

Tried all *8723* but no effect.

Here is my wifi chip:

Скрытый текст

 

[RaptorSDS]

vor einer Stunde schrieb jock:

Confused?

Well, I am... realtek drivers, expecially the 8723 family, are a real mess.

í can confirm that , on Amlogic there are also many 8723xx chips

 

there we struggle also with 8723bs of diffrent box's ( both are same chip(8723bs) but 2 diffirent box , and both have diffirent firmware files on android )

[jock]

On 11/26/2021 at 7:58 PM, calipzone said:

Tried all *8723* but no effect.

Hmm I see no references to 024c:8723 in 8723bs mainline kernel driver and actually there are no references to 8723AS anywhere.

It should be nice to tweak the 8723bs driver to accept 8723as chip and see what happens

If you agree, I can do a minimal test image just to try and see what happens. Do you wish to conduct such test?