MK808B PLUS Android&Ubuntu hybrid ROM

[loboris]

I've created hybrid ROM that can run Android and Ubuntu on MK808B PLUS.
On power on it boots to Android, than you can start full Ubuntu desktop or Ubuntu Server.

Android part

• based on stock 110K4 ROM, optimized and cleaned
• boot (initramfs) changed to enable running Ubuntu
• added special form of init.d support
• some useful applications added (Total Commander, MX Player, Opera browser, SSH server, Adaway, Xposed framework...)
• google apps removed, but there is GApps Installer included, so you can install Google Apps later
• added btrfs support

Ubuntu part

• full Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid) with Mate Desktop
• installation integrated in Android (fs root is in /data/data/linux/Ubuntu), can be moved to External SD Card partition
• when running Ubuntu Desktop, Android Zygote and SurfaceFlinger are stopped to free maximum of memory
• available memory is even greater then in normal Ubuntu installation
• swap enabled (via 500MB swap file in cache partition)
• audio (via HDMI) is enabled, music playing via SMPlayer works great
• hardware video acceleration is not enabled, so you can't watch videos (for that you have Android part), videos up to 480p plays well
• Android partitions are accessible
• installed basics Mate Desktop system with many useful applications (LibreOffice, Chromium browser, SMPlayer, Transmission, Gimp, Synaptic, Apache2, ssh ....)
• installed x2go server (much better then vnc or xrdp) so you can access your MK808b+ Ubuntu desktop from any Linux or Windows PC
• Caja file manager is replaced with SpaceFM because of some selinux limitations (even better than Caja)
• after logout, Android is soft restarted (zygote is started)
• switching Android <-> Ubuntu takes 20 - 30 seconds
• you can configure Ubuntu session editing ubuntu.conf file in linux directory on internal sdcard
• to start Ubuntu Desktop, click on UBUNTU DESKTOP icon (it takes about 20 sec to start)
• to start Ubuntu Server, click on UBUNTU SERVER icon (Android will not be stopped)
• before turning the stick off always run STOP UBUNTU to stop Ubuntu services and umount partitions
• default user name is boris, password is mk808bplus, root password is mk808bplus

Installation

• download installation package MK808Bplus-Android-Ubuntu.zip from https://mega.co.nz/#F!181RFJCK!n6NgvLRTfkSCMkLZOeZGSA
• optionally download MK808Bplus-Android-Ubuntu.zip.md5sum to check downloaded zip
• unpack to empty SD Card
• SD card now contains recovery.img (TWRP 2.8.6 recovery) and TWRP directory with Android-Ubuntu instalation
• insert SD Card in powered off MK808B+
• enter recovery with common toothpick method
• after booting into TWRP recovery:
  • (backup your current ROM if you want to be able to revert to it and you don't already have the backup)
  • select wipe -> format data, confirm with "yes"
  • go back to start menu
  • select restore
  • select external storage and backup MK808Bplus-Android-Ubuntu
  • select all partitions, deselect MD5 verification if selected
  • do restore
  • reboot system
• after reboot you can set up wifi connection, language, display resolution etc.
• Install Google apps (Google Play) with GApps Installer and setup your google account
• try Ubuntu Desktop

Tips

• there is a bug in mate menu, icons for LibreOffice and some other programs takes very long time to load. You can solve this by installing mate-icon-theme-fanza. You'll get better looking icons, and menu will load fast.
• if you want to make new user, instead of default one (boris), download makeuser.sh script, set it as executable (sudo chmode +x makeuser.sh), edit to select new user name, and execute. To login as new user, change the user name in ubuntu.conf.

Screenshot (1920x1080)


Android home


Android apps

[bajann]

I will try ,ty Boris

[jasiujasiu]

does it work with mk808b plus with RTL8723bs ?

[loboris]

I don't know. If stock 110K4 works with it, this one will to. If not you can try to find RTL8723bs kernel driver (8723bs.ko), I don't think there is one. Kernel sources I have don't have it.

[jasiujasiu]

I found driver,

https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs

Can you tell me what I must do to run it on my device ?

Stock roms from mk808b plus works on ec-mk808b but without wifi.

[loboris]

This is the sources for RTL8723BD which must be included into kernel sources and built. Unfortunately, this driver only works with kernel 3.19 and later, you must have the driver (or the sources) for kernel 3.10.33
If you have the working ROM (with working wifi) for your device, you can try to extract boot.img from it (backup boot with TWRP, you'll get boot.emmc.win) and replace with it the one in my backup.

[seahorse]

Hi Boris, although I think it's a great effort but as you seem to be able to have Ubuntu running on the Mk808B+ I was wondering if you have just an Ubuntu install to put on a SD card and boot into Ubuntu from SD?
Cheers

[pepelillo]

Hi loboris.

Can I ask you if this is a real linux installed or a chroot environment under android and only accesible via vnc remote desktop?
Thanks

[loboris]

@seahorse
Ubuntu installation can be copied to sd card and run from it, and the one on internal sd card deleted. Ubuntu can be started early in android boot process, so that android GUI does not show up. But Ubuntu uses Android kernel, so Android (or at least part of it) must be present and there is no much point in disabling Android GUI completely.

@pepelillo
Ubuntu part runs on the same framebuffer as Android (on the same screen, and uses the same keyboard&mouse), that's why Android GUI must be stopped before starting Ubuntu desktop.
It uses Android kernel and drivers.
It can be run without chroot, I've tested it and it runs good. But in that case Ubuntu file system (root directories) must be integrated into Android rootfs, which makes it a little bit messy.
It is much cleaner to run it using chroot from dedicated directory (which in that case can be on external sd card). There is nothing very complicated about chroot, it just moves the root of the file system to some other directory (at least in this case). Ant the performance is in no way affected.
Maybe it is best to try it yourself, and decide if it is a "real" linux.
The Ubuntu desktop can be accessed remotely via installed x2go server which is far better then vnc or rdp.

[ultimatexbmc]

Only just seen this - very cool - thank you.

[seahorse]

Thanks Boris for clarifying.
Cheers

[pepelillo]

Thanks for the clarification loboris.

Is it possible to use this approach in beelink MQX, also with amlogic 805?

Thanks

[loboris]

Thanks for the clarification loboris.

Is it possible to use this approach in beelink MQX, also with amlogic 805?

Thanks

I believe there should be no problem.

[roulis]

otg not working

[seahorse]

un-installed