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Armbian for tv box Z28


Da Alchemist

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Hi,

 

I have received my SCISHION V88 Piano and I can confirm that it boots to a Ubuntu Mate desktop from a micro SD-card with the image in the first post of this topic.

Like rob0809 I did nothing except insert the micro SD-card and power on :)

Unfortunately after running for a few minutes there were some I/O errors which I must investigate but this is perhaps due to my cheap (Ansonchina) SD-card.

 

I shall try other images and report back later.

 

Updates:

I tried this image:

https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-build/releases/download/0.5.15/xenial-mate-rock64-0.5.15-136-arm64.img.xz

and it also booted directly but still with I/O errors.

I replaced the Ansonchina 8GB SD-card with a Kingston 8GB one and there were no more I/O errors :)

 

I tried the following images which also booted directly from the Kingston SD-card with no intervention:
http://dietpi.com/downloads/images/DietPi_Rock64-ARMv8-Stretch.7z

https://github.com/Raybuntu/LibreELEC.tv/releases/download/rb-leia23/LibreELEC-rock64.arm-rb-leia23.img.gz

https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-build/releases/download/0.5.15/xenial-i3-rock64-0.5.15-136-arm64.img.xz

 

Most of these images require an external USB Ethernet adapter (internal Ethernet and WiFi don't seem to be supported).

They also run much more slowly than I had expected. Unfortunately I don't think that this is just due to a lack of hardware graphics acceleration :( 

But this is just a start and at least they do run :)

 

Later update:

I found an easy hack to greatly speed up simple operations not involving heavy video or graphics.

(Due to the lack of hardware acceleration, YouTube videos, for example, still play frame by frame.)

I copied exactly the same disk image to both a micro SD-card and to a USB 3.0 storage device.

I modified the label on the root partition of the SD-card so that it would use the USB disk as the rootfs instead.

On most of these images the rootfs is labelled linux-root on partition 7.

I used gparted to change the SD-card's partition 7 label to linux-rootX so that it would pick up the partition on the USB drive instead.

 

I also used parted to correct for the size of both the devices and to increase the size of the root partition on the USB drive. However this is not strictly necessary.

As a stability test and a realistic benchmark, I compiled natively the recent mainline v4.15 Linux kernel: "make defconfig && make -j 4 Image" finished successfully in slightly under 100 minutes.

This is not too bad for a box costing about $40.

 

Even later update:

The best Ubuntu image that I have found is this one:

https://dl.armbian.com/rock64/Ubuntu_xenial_default_nightly.7z

This currently redirects to:

https://dl.armbian.com/rock64/nightly/Armbian_5.34.171121_Rock64_Ubuntu_xenial_default_4.4.77.7z

There is only one single partition so I had to:

'- copy the image to a USB storage device

- resize the partition

- add the label linux-root

- copy the appropriate files from the boot directory of this partition to replace the dtb, Image and initrd.img files on the boot partition of the SD-card I used previously

- ensure that there is no partition labeled linux-root on the SD-card

- after booting I installed ubuntu-mate-desktop but this is obviously not mandatory

The advantages of this image are:

- it will find the linux-root partition even if the USB storage device is on a hub (otherwise the USB drive monopolizes the USB 3.0 port)

- YouTube video (nearly) works so there must be some hardware acceleration

Unfortunately the video freezes from time to time. This doesn't seem to be due to a slow Internet connection.

With this image the compilation time for the same kernel dropped to 72 minutes.

 

I also tried this image but it did not seem to boot (at least there was only a blank screen on HDMI).

https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-build/releases/download/0.6.19/bionic-minimal-rock64-0.6.19-181-arm64.img.xz

Maybe it is headless so I shall try again to ssh into it.

(Or to login via a serial console but I have not yet needed to open the case.)

 

Cheers,

Chris

Edited by segv
Updates and minor corrections
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In several places, including this topic, it is claimed that the Scishion V88 Piano has Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps).

I am pretty sure that mine only has Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps).

Does anyone have one with confirmed GbE?

(Maybe there are two versions.)

 

I have not opened the box but several things indicate that it doesn't have GbE:

- it connects to my GbE switch at only 100 Mbps

- photos of the PCB on FreakTab show a TRC1102NL which is a 10/100 Mbps transformer

- AIUI GbE requires an external chip (e.g. RTL8211F) and I can see no sign of one in the boot logs

- internal Ethernet doesn't work with DTB's for boards with GbE.

 

Sorry, strictly this post is again OT as it also concerns the Scishion V88 Piano (another RK3328 TV box).

However there are already many posts concerning this box and others not included in the topic's title.

While this post is specific to this box, I think much of my previous post is relevant to the Z28 as well.

Should I start a new topic dedicated to this box?

Alternatively can the title of this topic be enlarged to cover all RK3328 TV boxes?

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On 2/7/2018 at 10:56 PM, segv said:

Very good observation. I bought 4 of these and i can confirm all of them having only 100Mb/s link (booted in Android) when connected to a 1GbE switch.

So Gearbest & co have LIED to us about the spec. I've now claimed full refund from Paypal.

 

 

 

On 2/7/2018 at 10:56 PM, segv said:

In several places, including this topic, it is claimed that the Scishion V88 Piano has Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps).

I am pretty sure that mine only has Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps).

Does anyone have one with confirmed GbE?

(Maybe there are two versions.)

 

I have not opened the box but several things indicate that it doesn't have GbE:

- it connects to my GbE switch at only 100 Mbps

- photos of the PCB on FreakTab show a TRC1102NL which is a 10/100 Mbps transformer

- AIUI GbE requires an external chip (e.g. RTL8211F) and I can see no sign of one in the boot logs

- internal Ethernet doesn't work with DTB's for boards with GbE.

 

Sorry, strictly this post is again OT as it also concerns the Scishion V88 Piano (another RK3328 TV box).

However there are already many posts concerning this box and others not included in the topic's title.

While this post is specific to this box, I think much of my previous post is relevant to the Z28 as well.

Should I start a new topic dedicated to this box?

Alternatively can the title of this topic be enlarged to cover all RK3328 TV boxes?

 

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Hi,

 

some progress.

After installing the latest ayufan-build (0.6.22 xenial) I could update via Wifi-Dongle to kernel 4.15 (from ayufan) and now I have working ethernet. Beside that my box "feels" more stable, at least in the last 10 minutes. But I did not do anything to really stress the system.

I have a Z28Pro (2/16, V11).

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I did some random and unstructered tests to put some load on the box. So I installed Node-Red which worked flawlessly and after that downloaded and compiled OpenCV 3.4 (again on the box) which worked out without any problem (inkl. a short python test).

I tested only headless via SSH and had only one disconnection to the system while typing in the python console (and doing virtually nothing). Beside that I had not a single crash and the system feels very responsive.

 

After the cumbersome installation (Android -> Kernel 4.4.112 (via flashing) -> Kernel 4.15.0 (via unstable wifi-USB on the box ) the installation works de facto out-of-the-box and meanwhile the mainline support seems to be pretty well now.

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On 22.02.2018 at 9:33 PM, Ceba said:

Hi,

 

some progress.

After installing the latest ayufan-build (0.6.22 xenial) I could update via Wifi-Dongle to kernel 4.15 (from ayufan) and now I have working ethernet. Beside that my box "feels" more stable, at least in the last 10 minutes. But I did not do anything to really stress the system.

I have a Z28Pro (2/16, V11).

 

Yep, but no HDMI

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On 07/02/2018 at 10:56 PM, segv said:

Sorry, strictly this post is again OT as it also concerns the Scishion V88 Piano (another RK3328 TV box).

However there are already many posts concerning this box and others not included in the topic's title.

While this post is specific to this box, I think much of my previous post is relevant to the Z28 as well.

Should I start a new topic dedicated to this box?

Alternatively can the title of this topic be enlarged to cover all RK3328 TV boxes?

 

Nobody answered these questions :(

However I felt that I should not continue to hijack this topic so I have started a new one:

 

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On 4/2/2018 at 3:36 PM, Igor said:

 

At least we have a working eth, USB ports, SD card: https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/914 (merged into development branch)

 

a quick feedback on my test of a recent armbian image on my z28 pro device (2GB/16GB/Gbe) : Armbian_5.51_Z28pro_Debian_stretch_default_4.4.138 (headless)

 

- boot shows nothing on hdmi until login prompt.

- usb 2.0 and the usb 3.0 ports are working fine

- wlan is working fine out of the box, dmesg shows a rtl8822bs wireless device and we get wlan0 and wlan1

i was able to connect both to my 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks on either of the wlans using armbian-config.

iperf3 tests gave me around 55Mbps on 2.4GHz and around 65Mbps on 5Ghz.

- Gbe works perfectly, iperf3 shows around 930Mbps bidirectionally.

- usb 3.0 throughput gives around 230-350 MB/s read/write speeds (dd / sequential) with uas SSD external drive

- bluetooth is not working as printed on dmesg :

Spoiler

[    1.454058] rockchip-pinctrl pinctrl: pin gpio1-10 already requested by ff540000.ethernet; cannot claim for wireless-bluetooth
[    1.454074] rockchip-pinctrl pinctrl: pin-42 (wireless-bluetooth) status -22
[    1.454091] rockchip-pinctrl pinctrl: could not request pin 42 (gpio1-10) from group uart0-rts  on device rockchip-pinctrl
[    1.454105] rfkill_bt wireless-bluetooth: Error applying setting, reverse things back

 

- armbianmonitor doesn't seem to read the temperature correctly and shows 70-75C idle which is quite far from the 40-45C measured with an ir thermometer on the chip heatsink. Maybe that flimsy taped/glued on heatsink is playing tricks, i'll try to remove it and put something larger with proper paste.

 

i can't really comment on stability as the device has been up for only a week and mostly idle, i will do some real world tests (vpn / torrent / usb 3 storage) this week.

 

i'm using a basic (crappy) tv box 5v/2A power adapter and the usb 3.0 SSD is a quite power hungry one, so the 5v power rail seems to be okay on that pcb.

I'll have to do some cpu stress tests to check that but the faulty temperature reported scared me off at first.

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1 hour ago, Staars said:

BT should work now on the z28pro.

Everything is in the repo now and you can make a test build.

 

nice, i'll see if i can test that.

 

from your github thread, what kind of Gbe Lan problems are you referring to ?
i'm testing a recent armbian image as stated above  and haven't noticed anything wrong with the gbe lan link, neither on speed or stability.
 

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Regarding the Gb-Lan-problems I recognized a declining speed, which occurred quite frequently after some time. And because there were some similar reports for the Rock64 on other sites, I assumed it was a general problem of the RK3328.

But this might be wrong, because another aspect is, that the LAN-Port on this box is as strong as the grip of the hand of Mr. Burns ;) . This thing is the most sloppiest Port I've ever seen. You don't feel a click, when you plug the cable in. In the end it is possible, that I only face a mechanical problem here.

 

Beside that, I think it is a nice little box and if the onboard devices are useable for your needs, it is relatively cheap.

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19 hours ago, Staars said:

Regarding the Gb-Lan-problems I recognized a declining speed, which occurred quite frequently after some time. And because there were some similar reports for the Rock64 on other sites, I assumed it was a general problem of the RK3328.

 

yes i've heard about the rock64 gbe problem, don't know if it was finally solved (pcb tracks timings), but i don't know about a global rk3328 GMAC interface problem.

So far i can't fault my z28pro Gbe, it has been running a torrent through vpn with continuous upload of 30-50Mbps and i haven't noticed any problem, nor any dubious log output..

 

i've done a short 6 min iperf test :

Quote

[  5] 359.00-360.00 sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec                 
[  5] 360.00-360.03 sec  3.50 MBytes   938 Mbits/sec                 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  5]   0.00-360.03 sec  39.2 GBytes   936 Mbits/sec  9213             sender
[  5]   0.00-360.03 sec  39.2 GBytes   936 Mbits/sec                  receiver

 

i also transfered approx 750GB of real data to an attached USB drive and about 80MB/s and it didn't fail.

If it's not a physical hardware issue, and yes the ethernet pcb design on that device is quite insane ( massive gap under the transformer, although strictly following the datasheet recommendation), i must say that all my traffic is going through quality shielded cat6 cables with proper earth.

 

Quote

 

Beside that, I think it is a nice little box and if the onboard devices are useable for your needs, it is relatively cheap.

 

 

well the z28pro 2G/16G (Gbe, Wifi AC+BT) being often available at or below 40e, i don't think you'll find a Usb3/Gbe device at a lower price.

I'll leave the dev boards aside although i don't think they are much cheaper and you should at least add the cost of a case and power adapter.

 

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On 10/19/2018 at 5:05 PM, Alex83 said:

Hi,

 

is it possible to boot Armbian on Alfawise Z28 Pro 2GB/16GB from SD-Card without destroying Android on EMMC?

If yes, could anyone provide the image for SD?

 

 

AFAIK it is impossible to boot a RK3328-box with GBit-Lan from SD-card. So You can not boot the Alfawise Z28 Pro 2/16 to Armbian without destroying your Android installation. 

 

The only theoritical chance would be, to develop a Multiboot-U-Boot for this very special purpose, but this is not really a serious suggestion. 

BTW, I had the opposite version in mind (boot Android on SD-card from our Armbian Installation), but even writing an Android-image to an SD-card is quite cumbersome.  

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On 11/4/2018 at 11:25 PM, Staars said:

AFAIK it is impossible to boot a RK3328-box with GBit-Lan from SD-card. So You can not boot the Alfawise Z28 Pro 2/16 to Armbian without destroying your Android installation. 

 

The only theoritical chance would be, to develop a Multiboot-U-Boot for this very special purpose, but this is not really a serious suggestion. 

BTW, I had the opposite version in mind (boot Android on SD-card from our Armbian Installation), but even writing an Android-image to an SD-card is quite cumbersome.  

I do not know what is the cause of the problems on the Z28 (I do not have this model, you need to watch the UART logs), but on MVR9 (rk3328) with a Gigabit network everything works fine. The system automatically starts from the SD card and runs all equipment (including wired Gigabit network).

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Okay, I did not know this.

I thought, that every RK3328 will not boot from sdmmc0ext, because the z28pro2/16 behaves that way. There must be another reason for the inability of the z28pro to NOT boot from SD.

 

So I made an incorrect assumption. Thanks for the info.

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On 12/6/2018 at 2:46 PM, Liam Dolman said:

Ethernet not working although it is showing on "ifconfig -a" with a mac after switching to nightly. anyone have any ideas?

 

I think you get these symptoms if the Ethernet interface declared in the device tree doesn't match that used on your device (100Mbps vs 1Gbps).

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