Difference between revisions of "Amlogic TV boxes/en"

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 It is possible to install and run Manjaro on several affordable Android TV boxes using Amlogic chipsets such as the S905, S922 and A311 series of processors. These TV boxes can be purchased for a fraction of the price of a similar spec single board computer whilst coming complete with a case, remote and cables but there are a few catches to be aware of.
-The Android TV box market is awash with fakes and clones. It has been known for manufacturers to re-use the exact same model name yet use an entirely different chipset. For example, there are at least eight versions of the X96 Air but they all have exactly the same case. The TV box manufacturers rarely if ever provide updates for their Android-based OS's and they provide zero support for users wanting to run alternate operating systems so achieving full support for every box is almost impossible.
+The Android TV box market is awash with fakes and clones. It has been known for manufacturers to re-use the exact same model name yet use a different WiFi/Bluetooth chipset or use an entirely different SoC. For example, there are at least eight versions of the X96 Air but they all have exactly the same case. The TV box manufacturers rarely if ever provide updates for their Android-based OS's and they provide zero support for users wanting to run alternate operating systems so achieving full support for every box is almost impossible.
-Physical build quality is another frequent issue with TV boxes, in particular poor thermal designs are quite common. You may have to cut a hole or two in the case and place a USB powered fan over the SoC to perform CPU intensive tasks without throttling or overheating.
+Physical build quality is another frequent issue with TV boxes, in particular poor thermal designs are quite common. You may have to cut a hole or two in the case and place a USB powered fan over the SoC to get the best performance out of your TV box but this shouldn't be required for normal use. Most Amlogic-based TV boxes have proven to be quite reliable.
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 == Installation ==
-Manjaro can be installed from and to micro SD card or USB disk. It is not currently possible to install Manjaro to eMMC on Amlogic TV boxes.
+Manjaro can be installed from and to micro uSD card or USB disk. After installation it is possible to use /boot/install-aml-emmc.sh to copy your installation onto eMMC on some Amlogic TV boxes. Beelink S922x based boxes are known not to currently work with this script and there are likely other models that also won't work booting from eMMC so use the script at your own risk.
-=== Configure extlinux.conf ===
+=== Configure uEnv.ini ===
-After using a disk imaging tool such as [https://www.balena.io balenaEthcher] or '''gnome-disks''' to write one of the vim3 Manjaro ARM images to an SD card or USB disk, mount the disk and edit '''BOOT_MNJRO/extlinux/extlinux.conf'''. You must edit the line that begins with '''FDT /dtbs/amlogic/''' to point to the dtb file that you wish to use to configure your device tree.
+After using a disk imaging tool such as [https://www.balena.io balenaEthcher] or '''gnome-disks''' to write one of the [https://github.com/manjaro-arm/am6-plus-images AM6 Plus] or [https://github.com/manjaro-arm/gtking-pro-images GT King Pro] Manjaro ARM images to an SD card or USB disk, mount the disk and edit '''BOOT_MNJRO/uEnv.ini'''. You must edit the line that begins with '''dtb_name=''' to point to the dtb file that you wish to use to configure your device tree.
-If there isn't a matching dtb file for your box within the dtbs folder and you can't find a suitable dtb on this wiki or in the Manjaro forums then you should try '''meson-sm1-sei610.dtb''' first:
+If there isn't an exact match dtb for your box within the dtbs folder and you can't find a suitable dtb on this wiki or in the Manjaro forums then you should try '''meson-g12a-x96-max.dtb''', '''meson-g12a-sei510.dtb''' or '''meson-sm1-sei610.dtb''' first:
-<code>FDT /dtbs/amlogic/meson-sm1-sei610.dtb</code>
+<code>dtb_name=/dtbs/amlogic/meson-g12a-x96-max.dtb</code>
 === Booting from USB ===
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 === Installing aml-flash-tool ===
+'''aml-flash-tool''' requires that you install the old (0.1.x) libusb libraries. Debian and Ubuntu users have to install '''libusb-dev''' whilst Arch and Manjaro Linux users have to install '''libusb-compat'''.
 Clone the '''aml-flash-tool''' repo:
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 When you can see your TV box is connected, you can flash it using a command such as:
-{{UserCmd|command=./flash-tool.sh --img=X96AIR_Q1000_20210127-2121.img --parts=all --wipe --soc=g12a}}
+{{UserCmd|command=./flash-tool.sh --img=X96AIR_Q1000_20210127-2121.img --parts=all --wipe --soc=sm1}}
 Replacing '''X96AIR_Q1000_20210127-2121.img''' with the path to the image you wish to flash. You do not need to run '''flash-tool.sh''' as root.
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 A DTB file is a Linux Device Tree Blob. Device Tree Compiler (dtc) converts between the human editable device tree source "dts" format and the compact device tree blob "dtb" representation usable by the Linux kernel. A DTB file is required on ARM Linux devices to configure and enable certain types of hardware supported by the Linux kernel.
-If you [https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Switching_Branches switch to the Manjaro unstable branch], you have a choice between the '''linux-aml''' and '''linux-vim''' kernel packages but only one can be installed at a time. Some users report better results with '''linux-aml''' whilst others can only boot using '''linux-vim'''. It is worth trying both to see which works best for you.
+The Ugoo AM6 images use the linux-khadas kernel by default. You are more likely to get your TV box's onboard wifi working by installing the linux-odroid kernel instead.
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 '''Beelink GT King Pro''' - meson-g12b-gtkingpro-pro.dtb or meson-g12b-ugoos-am6.dtb - works with the older '''linux-vim''' 5.9.y or 5.10.y series and current mainline linux 5.12.y kernels.
-'''X96 Air Q1000''' - [https://github.com/danboid/meson-sm1-sei610-qca9377-bt meson-sm1-sei610-qca9377-bt] - Tested with linux-aml kernel 5.12. Working gigabit ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth and HDMI audio. No support for onboard audio or LED display.
+'''X92 v2''' - meson-gxm-q201.dtb
+'''X96 Air Q1000''' - [https://github.com/danboid/meson-sm1-sei610-qca9377-bt meson-sm1-sei610-qca9377-bt] - Tested with linux-aml kernel 5.12. Working gigabit ethernet, WiFi and HDMI audio. No support for onboard audio or LED display. Onboard bluetooth was working but it has stopped working under recent Manjaro releases.
 '''X96 Max Plus''' - [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yHJFJl2CdAwLfR-3tJKHU4I-B9iB2Iqm/view?usp=sharing meson-sm1-x96maxplus-vim100m.dtb] - There are [https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=1002233&st=9500#entry102780026 several versions of the X96 Max Plus]. This dtb is configured for those with the rtl8822cs WiFi chipset in which case you should get HDMI audio, WiFi, Bluetooth and 100Mb ethernet if you install the rtl8822cs DKMS kernel module package.
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 The '''meson-vdec''' kernel module offers support for decoding MPEG 1/2/4, h264, h265/HEVC and VP9 in hardware but it currently only seems to work with '''mpv''' for some codecs up to Full HD / 1080p resolution @ 30 fps, despite the hardware supporting 4K.
-{{UserCmd|command=mpv --vo=gpu --hwdec=v4l2m2m-copy --hwdec=auto <videofile>}}
+{{UserCmd|command=mpv --vo=gpu --hwdec=v4l2m2m-copy --hwdec=auto videofile}}
 You can add these options to '''~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf''' to avoid typing them every time you run '''mpv'''.
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 === Unbricking ===
-Some TV box users have successfully unbricked their boxes by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsyS3p5asZs shorting a couple of pins on the eMMC chip]. This requires opening your TV box which will likely invalidate your warranty, if you have one.
+If you've bricked your AMlogic TV box but suspect the hardware is still OK you could try [https://www.cnx-software.com/2016/11/19/how-to-create-a-bootable-recovery-sd-card-for-amlogic-tv-boxes/ creating a bootable recovery uSD card] to or you could try using the Amlogic burn card maker tool under Windows to re-flash your firmware from a uSD card but I've not had any success with these methods.
+The best bet for unbricking your TV box is to search for the location of the maskrom contact pads or pins as you can usually revive your box by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyZJVD5SbSY shorting a couple of contact pads or chip legs on the motherboard]. This requires opening your TV box which will likely invalidate your warranty, if you have one.
 [[Category:Contents Page{{#translation:}}]]
 [[Category:TV{{#translation:}}]]