S905 based TX3 (The rare model U never hear of!)

[DBNAM]

Greetings! I have an S905 based TX3. I have not really heard much at all about this box.

I hear about the S905W based TX3 and another S905D based one if I recall but this is NOT THOSE.

This is a black box with Ethernet, WI-FI, Remote Control, A/V headphone jack plug, SPDIF Fiber Optic out,
2 USB ports, a micro SD slot and HDMI. It's just a TX3, not a TX3 PRO or a TX3 MINI. And just a plain S905.
 

Here are the components on the board:
WHITE STICKER: TX3 95*18
BOARD ID (I ASSUME): 94V-0 XZG-P2 E246887
MODEL ID (I ASSUME): CS_905TX_V1.0 20160517
CPU: AMLogic S905 CPU J-TNC015.00 C0FQPN00412
Rectangular chip says: S16037 G 1636
ROM (I ASSUME): SK Hynix H5TQ4G63AFR PBC 503V DW3BE727HC
(2 OF THESE CHIPS ARE ON IT)
RAM (I ASSUME): SAMSUNG 640 KLM8G1WEPD-B031 S4THAGHXN
WI-FI: REALTEK 8189FTV G5D19G5 GG20B
USB (I ASSUME): IC+ IP101GR

 

I have been trying to get ARMBIAN running on it. I can get it to come up, but I always either get a
variation that has no Ethernet, or no access to the internal EMMC.
Basically, I have tried every DTB that comes with the distro!
These DTBs show /dev/mmcblk0boot0 and boot1 but they never have /dev/data mapped.
VEGA_95 pro, mMXV, MINI_MX. They also have no wi-fi and no ethernet.
These DTBs do not show anything but the microsd I boot from (/dev/mmcblk1p1 and p2) but
they have working ETHERNET - KI PLUS, MXQ PRO 4K. They have no WI-FI though.

I have spent the entire day going through all of them and researching and I am at a loss.

 

Obviously, if I do /root/install.sh on any of these, I get a mountpoint not found, /dev/data doesn't exist.
I really want to be able to install it to the internal storage. I have installed LIBRELEC to internal as well as
the COOLIO ANDROID thing and I can also burn the initial OS back but I really want Linux. 8)
I had OSMC working on my S805 based MX95 and loved it, I couldn't get anywhere with OSMC on this
device but I'm pretty sure ARMBIAN can work, I just need some help getting the internal storage mounted
and the Ethernet that already works on some DTBs. If I can do that, I figured I would play around in Linux
and be able to get the wi-fi going as I know what it is, it's an 8189FTV based Realtek.
But of course, if anyone has the magical solution to get Ethernet, WI-FI and the internal storage mounted
so that I can install it there, that would be wonderful!  8)

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!!!

 

EDIT: Update here. I've been playing around with the different builds of ARMBIAN and decided to try the

Armbian_5.41_S9xxx_Debian_stretch_3.14.29_xfce_20180302.img.xz build which is Debian Stretch.

I used the MXQ PRO 4K dtb and lo and behold, it just came up and has /dev/data ! ? I don't understand.

So I did a simple mkdir /media/data and then mount /dev/data /media/data and it mounted!

I don't see what the difference between this MXQ PRO 4K dtb and the other one that didn't work is.

I have Ethernet and I'm able to mount at least the internal DATA partition now, I'm gonna see if I can get

SYSTEM and others mounted and install to internal here in a bit but I'd love some clarification as to what

all is going on here and why some things don't work in one version but do in another.
Is it simply because this newer version was able to detect the onboard storage and create the proper
device in devs whereas the older version was not? I don't know how linux devices work really, I know a
decent amount about Linux and can program but how devices work is an area I've never learned.

I know how to mount things and mount all different kinds of devices and loops, image files, etc. but I
don't know how the files in /dev that are mounted are created in the first place. Cheers! 8)

 

EDIT2: Was able to mount SYSTEM as well and install but it ran so slow it failed on first boot.
I don't think this is a fault of my hardware though. I'm back booted from MicroSD again and trying some
different things, will be playing with this all day. 8)

 

EDIT3: Wow! It's SCREAMING now on the internal! I was correct, it was not a fault of my hardware.
It's now running off internal much faster than it ever was running from MicroSD. So... I have Ethernet working.
I have installed to INTERNAL properly and it's blazing fast! But I still have no WI-FI. 8) That's it though, even
my audio (which I didn't mention above never worked) is working now. 8)

[Ramg77]

Hello, apparently we have the same device, you could tell me with which dtb file you could run the system LibreELEC since I have tried with all and none seems to work. Thank you.

[Raj]

Have the same type TX3. Using meson 201 dtb. Seems to work fine except wifi. But never had /dev/boot. Never able to install to the internal emmc. Can you post your success story? Which dtb and tricks to get it installed to internal emmc? Thanks in advance

[kiwirob]

Did anybody else manage to get internal wifi running on either the 8189FTV or 8189ETV Realtek chips?  I have an S905 with the 8189FTV and another S905X with the 8189ETV chips what will not bring up wlan0.

 

I found some information from http://linux-sunxi.org/Wifi. suggesting for that kernel the related wifi drivers are held outside the main repos.  But also notice that many versions of the Orange Pi board also has the 8189ETV wifi chip and support with notes in Armbian change logs that support has been added.

As cheap alternative is there any known USB wifi cards that work out of the box on the s905(x) platforms that can save some time?  There are examples like the RTL8188 module for a couple dollars on aliexpress...  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/new-arrive-perfect-product-RTL8188-chips-Mini-150Mbps-USB-Wireless-Network-Card-WiFi-LAN-Adapter-Antenna/32568427608.html

[sfx2000]

On 3/9/2018 at 10:12 PM, DBNAM said:

figured I would play around in Linux
and be able to get the wi-fi going as I know what it is, it's an 8189FTV based Realtek.

 

That's an SDIO based interface, similar to what OPi has...

 

So take a look at your DTS, and ensure that you have things sorted there..