TX95 Max - Allwinner H618 Quadcore Cortex - A53

[Mark Waples]

Hi there,

 

Forgive me but I am a novice in Armbian.

 

What I would like to do is install armbian on the T95Max box I have purchased.

 

I have attached a pic of the Box and it's specs.

 

I have tried to "upgrade" using the SD method but couldn't make that recognise the SD card even with the original firmware "T95max-H618-A9.img" that I sourced using Google.

 

I have also tried to get the T95 Max recognised via the USB method but the box wasn't even recognised using that method either.

 

I used the "Universal_ADB_Driver_v6.0" drivers but that made no difference.

 

If I could get the correct method sorted and an upgradeable firmware for Ambian that would be a great help.

 

I can compile the firmware if needed but I am unsure of what Ambian image would be the best starting point.

 

Any help would be gratefully received.

 

TIA

 

[Nick A]

Hi Mark,

Try this image. First extract the image. Then use balenaEtcher software to write the image onto your SD card.

 

A toothpick can be used to trigger FEL mode on an TX95 Max by pressing the FEL button on the PCB with the non-conductive tool. The FEL button is located inside the 3.5 mm headphone socket. To trigger FEL mode, press the button while the device is booting.

 

https://etcher.balena.io/#download-etcher

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build/releases/download/20241125/Armbian-20241125-unofficial_24.11.0-trunk_Transpeed-8k618-t_bookworm_edge_6.10.10_xfce_desktop.tar.gz

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:51 PM by Nick A

[Mark Waples]

Hi Nick,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I have tried the image and have successfully loaded ARMBIAN from the SD so thank you for that! A lifesaver!

 

It hasn't overwritten the EMMC and currently only runs just from the SD which at the moment is not a bad thing while testing.

 

I guess at some point I would want the box to boot armbian from the EMCC - I am not sure If that's possible.

 

I was wondering if the Armbian image could support the boxes inbuilt WIFI?

 

It works on ethernet and a USB Wifi Dongle but not the inbuilt wifi.

 

Lastly I only want to run one software package when the box boots, is it a case of just adding the package by the normal means (Curl)?

 

And then If I wish to repeat the exercise for another box I can just image the SD and use that to create a new box?

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:12 PM by Mark Waples
updated info

[Nick A]

To get wifi working we need to figure out which wifi chip your box has. The kernel might have already detected your wifi chip but you need to install the proper firmware. Can you post a copy of your dmesg. 

 

[Mark Waples]

1 hour ago, Nick A said:

To get wifi working we need to figure out which wifi chip your box has. The kernel might have already detected your wifi chip but you need to install the proper firmware. Can you post a copy of your dmesg. 

 

Hi Nick,

 

I have attached the dsmeg file as requested:

 

dmesg.txt

 

I guess its all the following that are not working

 

Wifi

HDMI Audio & SPDIF

IR Remote

 

Not sure about the following: (Untested)

 

Ethernet

Bluetooth

OpenGL & Hardware Video Decoding

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

 

ps: I forgot to say:

 

is it safe to 

 

sudo apt update ; sudo apt upgrade -y

 

As I am not sure if this will break the custom image??

 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:12 PM by Mark Waples

[Nick A]

Wifi:

 

I don't see anything in your dmesg that helps. You need to open your box and take a picture of the wifi chip.

 

HDMI audio:

 

I think you need to switch the pulseaudio output device. It's probably set to your AV port right now. 

 

IR remote:

 

sudo apt update ; sudo apt upgrade -y

 

Yes it will break the custom kernel. You need to block kernel updates with the armbian config tool.

 

 

 

You should read this thread. You'll find a lot of infomation here.

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/29794-how-to-install-armbian-in-h618/page/18/

 

Edited yesterday at 02:33 PM by Nick A

[Mark Waples]

Hi Nick,

 

the wifi Chip is as follows:

 

SV6256P

Single-Chip Dual Band 802.11 a/b/g/n MAC/BB/Radio with USB/SDIO Interface
Supports calibration algorithm to handle no-idealities effects from CMOS RF block
WFA features: WEP/TKIP/WPA/WPA2; WMM/WMM PS
STBC in RX mode
A-MPDU Tx & Rx
Support immediate Block-Ack
AP/STA mode: Soft-AP
Single power supply,type 3.3V

 

and the Bluetooth Chip is as follows:

BR8052A01

 

And the LED driver chip is a 

AIP650E0

 

If it helps others I will post some images of both sides of the PCB

 

Mark

Edited yesterday at 04:32 PM by Mark Waples

[Mark Waples]

Hi Nick,

 

Images of PCB

 

Mark

[Nick A]

I haven't seen any mainline linux drivers for SV6256P chip. 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:39 PM by Nick A

[Mark Waples]

Nick,

 

appreciated - seems this box is not well supported in linux  well the wi-fi anyway.

 

Until linux drivers come along in the future, there must be a better box that has full linux/Armbian support?

 

Any recomendations please?

 

Mark

[Nick A]

This is the box I'm using.. Everything works. Bluetooth still has some bugs. (Works only after I enable it in android).

https://linux-sunxi.org/Transpeed_8K618-T

[Mark Waples]

Thanks Nick,

 

grateful for the recommendation.

 

Can you please tell me if your image supports Realtek 8821CU - if not is it possible to add it?

 

I have one of these dual bluetooth and wifi.

 

Interesting that windows reports it as Realtek 8821CU but Armbian reports it as a Realtek 8188GU

 

UPDATE: I noticed that the device was in CDmode using the command lsusb so I installed modeswitch

 

sudo apt install usb-modeswitch usb-modeswitch-data

 

And that's it fully working wifi and bluetooth. No other configuration required.

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Mark Waples

[Mark Waples]

Hi Nick,

 

I am making progress so thank you for your assistance.

 

Just one more thing and I promise I will leave you alone

 

I can't seem to get a user to automtically login.

 

I edited the lightdmf.config with the following line:

 

autologin-user=username-here

 

But that didn't work

 

I only have one user apart from root.

 

My single user does not have a password and I am not sure that is an issue.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Mark Waples]

Hi Nick,

 

Ignore the Auto-login Issue.

 

I followed these instructions and it worked perfectly

 

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/37238-skip-login-automatically/#findComment-187066