Устанавливаем Linux (Armbian) на ТВ бокс
Если вести речь о энергоэффективных устройствах, то ARM64 архитектура себя отлично зарекомендовала. На рынке существует огромное предложение устройств на данной архитектуре. Но ценник при запросе определенных параметром стремительно растет вверх. Озвучим наши требования: ARM64, 1Gb ОЗУ и 8GB SSD или NAND. Естественно увеличение параметров в большую сторону приветствуется. Обратившись к рынку ТВ приставок — я вижу предложения от 1000р, что в 2-4 раза дешевле плат для разработчиков. Выбор пал на Х96 приставку
За 1000р я получил ужасный ТВ бокс, но отличный конструктор. Блок питания и клавиатура, а также HDMI кабель шли в комплекте. Прикладываю подтверждение, так как никто не поверит иначе.
Получив включил, посмотрел на тупящий андроид, выключил. Разобрал.
В профильной теме Armbian на ТВ бокс находим нужны йобраз и скачиваем. Я скачал Armbian_20.11_Arm-64_buster_current_5.9.9.img.xz
Заглянув по адресу https://www.debian.org/releases/ я вначале купился на bullseye релиз, не прочитав фразу:
This release started as a copy of buster, and is currently in a state called testing . This means that things should not break as badly as in unstable or experimental distributions, because packages are allowed to enter this distribution only after a certain period of time has passed, and when they don’t have any release-critical bugs filed against them. Please note that security updates for testing distribution are not yet managed by the security team. Hence, testing does not get security updates in a timely manner. You are encouraged to switch your sources.list entries from testing to buster for the time being if you need security support. See also the entry in the Security Team’s FAQ for the testing distribution.
Позже я поплотился за это и позже решил выделять отдельное время для игр с тестовыми образами. Для более менее стабильных систем я выбрал стабильный образ от debian. Позже мы устанавливаем образ на диск и читаем инструкцию:
How to run these images on the Amlogic platform .
Now all images Armbian and LE has all the files for activate the multi-boot. Anything addition to download and copy to media is not required.
1. Download the image for your device
2. Unpack
3. Burn the image on the medium
4. Configure in the file (uEnv.txt) launch parameters for the desired platform and model (uncomment the desired lines and comment out or delete unused ones)
If universal multi-upload has not yet been activated on this device, you need to activate it once. There are several options for activating multi-loading.
— Connect the prepared media to the device and turn on the power, boot into Android
— Open the app «Update&Backup»
— Click on «Select» local update and chose the file on the removable media aml_autoscript.zip
— Start «Update»
— System will reboot twice and start running the system from external media.
На последних образах изменились правила:
Pay attention. Starting from version 20.08 (20200814), the configuration order for the used DTB changes.
Please note that the algorithm for initial configuration of the system for startup has changed. Instead of a file «uEnv.txt», the file «/extlinux/extlinux.conf » is now used. The rules for editing a file remain the same.
All Amlogic models now need the «u-boot.ext» file.
Before launching on Amlogic, you must copy or rename one of the existing files «u-boot-*» to «u-boot.ext».
For s905 (not X) — used u-boot-s905
For s905x and s912 — used u-boot-s905x-s912
For s905x2 and s922 — used u-boot-s905x2-s922
— Теперь устанавливаем образ на SD карту.
— Открываем BOOT раздел на SD карте и переименовываем файл u-boot-s905x-s912 в файл u-boot.ext(на старых версиях этого делать не требовалось), затем в папке extlinux редактируем файл extlinux.conf (убираем ненужное и раскомментируем нужное). Для своей приставки я использововал meson-gxl-s905x-nexbox-a95x.dtb
— Вставляем SD карту в приставку.
-У меня загрузка начинается сразу, но я использую старый образ. Если загрузчик на приставке не обновлен, то заходим в обновление и выбираем обновление на флешке. После его установки первичная загрузка становится с флешки. Но в новых инструкциях рекомендуют зажать кнопку сброса, которая находится внутри разъема AV и включить питание приставки. После того, как на HDMI пойдет сигнал, отпустить кнопку сброса.
При желании можно установить Linux в приставку и затереть Android, что я успешно и сделал. Если что-то пошло не так, то:
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Install Linux on H96 Max X3 / Amlogic S905X3 TV Box. Cheap alternative to Raspberry Pi’s for making a headless home server.
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README.md
Installing Ubuntu based Armbian Linux on H96 Max X3 TV Box
Ok the main question is how did I end up with a TV Box instead of going with the popular miniature computers like Raspberry Pis. The thing is, Raspberry Pis here in my country are frikin expensive compared to these TV Boxes. A base model Raspberry Pi 3 with 1 GB RAM cost around Rs 8000 while I can get a TV Box with same performance CPU and RAM of 4 GB with just Rs 5800, not to forget about all the plus points like built in heat sink, pre built plastic box for the board , built in EMMC memory of 32 GB or more, and so on. Read here for more info
So, getting a TV Box is definitely a smart choice. But the problem is getting Linux to run on it. Since these TV Boxes come with Android OS pre installed and have a different way of booting, getting it to work with Linux is a very tedious job.
| Basic | Spec Sheet |
|---|---|
| SoC | Amlogic S905X3 64 bit |
| GPU | G31™ MP2 GPU Processor |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM |
| Storage | 32/64/128 GB EMMC |
| WiFi | IEEE 802.11 A/B/G/N ; 2.4G / 5G |
| Ethernet | Support 100M/1000M Gigabit |
| USB | 1 x USB 3.0 ; 1 x USB 2.0 |
| Bluetooth | BT 4.0 (Support Voice Remote) |
| HDMI | HDMI 2.1 ,Support HDMI CEC, Dynamic HDR And And 8Kx4K@24 Max Resolution Output |
Things you will be needing
- H96 Max X3 ( Ofcourse )
- A toothpick ( Yes , I am being serious )
- USB Flash Drive/Pendrive
- PC with any OS
- Balena Etcher
Download the image file based on your SoC i.e : S905x3 from this link : https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian/releases
- Burn it on to your USB Flash Drive using Balena Etcher
- Mount newly created BOOT volume, and:
cp u-boot-x96maxplus.bin u-boot.ext vi uEnv.txt # change FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-sm1-h96-max-x3.dtb 
You are done !! If everything was done properly you should see the Armbian Linux screen. Follow the basic guide there and you should see a homescreen like this
Dual boot with Android or Permanent Linux Box ?
Since you have booted the Linux you can also permanently install it in to the box’s built in eMMC Memory, this will remove the existing Android OS and Linux will boot instead. If you don’t want to do that and use your USB drive as a portable bootable Armbian Linux then you should leave as it is, and skip the steps below.
Installing Armbian Permanently into the TV Box ( You can reinstall Android OS by flashing original Box’s firmware if you want but it will remove the Linux )
- Just directly execute this command armbian-install . Follow the procedure and Linux will be installed into your TV Box’s eMMC Memory. You can remove the USB Flash Drive and restart the TV Box. For more information you can check out his awesome github repo https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian
How to revert back to the original Android TV Box Firmware or incase if you bricked your box how to unbrick it?
There are possibilities that things might go wrong and you might end up bricking your device. Or maybe you just wan to get your device back to the what it used to be. Well , the unbricking process is very easy. You need a PC running Windows OS and a USB Male to Male Type A cable. Go to this site https://www.h96tvbox.com/firmware-download/ and select download which you can find near the H96 Max X3 option.
Download all the files listed there. Watch the video which shows you how to install the USB Burning Tool properly. This is very important ! . After you are done installing it and doing other stuffs like copying the license folder to the main installation folder. Get your TV Box, open USB Burning Tool and import the image file that you downloaded. And wait few sec and click on start. Then get the toothpick and and the USB Male to Male Type A cable. Press and hold the AV hole button with the toothpick, and connect the the USB Male to Male Type A to the black port of the TV BOX and with PC. Then it should start downloading the firmware on the USB Burning Tool. Please remember this, you don’t need your TV Box to be connected to a power source. Only connecting your PC with TV Box using USB Male to Male Type A cable is enough.
It is basically Linux server running Ubuntu, you can host or do whatever you want. For me, I am currently using this TV Box as a headless server and using to do cool stuffs like :
- Connected a 1 TB External HDD to the TV Box on USB 3.0 and enabled SAMBA , currently using it for NAS alternative.
- Docker
- Dicord Bots Hosting
- Heck you can even host a paper minecraft server on it. And it performs well. Don’t belive me ? Check here https://youtu.be/2WHLUiJtN4E
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Install Linux on H96 Max X3 / Amlogic S905X3 TV Box. Cheap alternative to Raspberry Pi’s for making a headless home server.