Lubuntu possible on S905?

[SkOrPn]

Is it possible to install something like Lubuntu on the Beelink M18? It seems to have enough specs.

Amlogic S905
2GB DDR3
16GB eMMC

[DoItYourself]

Amlogic released source code for S905, here is some instructions and links.

[balbes150]

Is it possible to install something like Lubuntu on the Beelink M18? It seems to have enough specs.

Amlogic S905
2GB DDR3
16GB eMMC

You have the console UART-to-USB is connected ?

[freezer2k]

You have the console UART-to-USB is connected ?

Hi Balbes, I'm assuming this post/work is by you?

http://forum.russ2.com/index.php?s=55f336ad735425c0021f318e17193ef2&showtopic=4273&st=0&p=46287&#entry46287

I played a few hours and kind of got it booting on my beelink M18 with Ethernet working. Wifi seems unavailable, probably need a kernel compiled with the M18 dtb file?!

Booting worked only from SDCard + holding the reset button during powerup. Had rename the correct s905_autoscript to aml_autoscript.
Looks like the u-boot modifications for USB/SDcard detection did not work with my current M18 u-boot, think I require a new u-boot version for it. USB is not working for boot at all (or ignored).


Other than that, it seems to work quite fast, got an Samsung EVO U1/Class10 microSD card and ran 'apt-get upgrade' once, which went through nicely.

Could probably get UART working for further debugging. Maybe need to compile a boot with e.g. USB-boot support?

Would really like to compile my own kernel with the correct Device Tree file for the M18, do you have some sort of howto for this?

http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/11/19/amlogic-s905-source-code-published-linux-u-boot-mali-450-gpu-and-other-drivers/

http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/12/06/how-to-run-headless-linux-on-amlogic-s905-devices-such-as-mini-mx-or-k1-plus/

Are the instructions under these two links more or less how to do it?
Love this little box and how versatile it can be


Thank you for your great work!


freezer

[balbes150]

Hi. Yes. this is my theme ARMv8 Linux forum. I found the output from the command "printenv" to M18. Soon there will be test script aml_autoscript to check the possibility to include automatic loading SD card and USB. For WiFi you need a kernel that supports it.


ps/ If you enable boot from external SD card and USB, with no risk to load different OS (Openelec, Debian etc)

[freezer2k]

Hi. Yes. this is my theme ARMv8 Linux forum. I found the output from the command "printenv" to M18. Soon there will be test script aml_autoscript to check the possibility to include automatic loading SD card and USB. For WiFi you need a kernel that supports it.


ps/ If you enable boot from external SD card and USB, with no risk to load different OS (Openelec, Debian etc)

Sounds great,

Let me know if I can help in any way, I'm quite experienced in Linux in general and would be happy to compile some stuff etc.

[balbes150]

Compared the env settings for u-boot S95 and M18, they are very similar. You can try to use the script aml_autoscript from S95 Telos to make the necessary changes in u-boot. Make sure You can connect UART-console, if something goes wrong. We must be prepared that will need repair via UART-console !!!

[freezer2k]

Compared the env settings for u-boot S95 and M18, they are very similar. You can try to use the script aml_autoscript from S95 Telos to make the necessary changes in u-boot. Make sure You can connect UART-console, if something goes wrong. We must be prepared that will need repair via UART-console !!!

I already tried to run the Telos aml_autoscript (without UART), not sure what it actually did, but still can only boot using the toothpick method and microSD. Before this I flashed the OpenELEC version from amlinux.ru, this might have also altered the stock u-boot settings/version.


Will look into getting UART attached and working.


// Edit

The unpopulated 3.3V Serial headers can be seen on those pictures: https://yadi.sk/i/pi83XCO-qPBRW

Will populate them and wire them to a Raspberry for Console access.

[balbes150]

What firmware version You currently have in your device ? Maybe she changed ENV u-boot settings , so the script aml_autoscript from Telos doesn't work.

[freezer2k]

What firmware version You currently have in your device ? Maybe she changed ENV u-boot settings , so the script aml_autoscript from Telos doesn't work.

The one from here http://amlinuxmedia.com/forum/index.php?topic=33.0 (RC1 without the update ; this is OpenELEC installed on the eMMC and Android wiped)

[balbes150]

See this message, maybe You got wrong version of the script in the archive telos_uboot_update.zip

http://forum.tronsmart.com/forum/vega-s95-custom-roms-kernels-discussion/2138-openelec-for-vega-s95?start=24#11706

[Koxx]

Hi,
I am using a MiniMx, and it's working great !
thanks for all those awesome informations.
The only problem is : I still have to use the toothpick method to boot on Ubuntu sdcard.
On the MMC memory, I am still with Android 105 release.
What should I do to change the uboot ?
Is it safe for this box ?

[Koxx]

forget it !
I missed the aml_autoscript part. It's working now.

[balbes150]

forget it !
I missed the aml_autoscript part. It's working now.

It work ?

[Koxx]

yes it does !

current status:
- hdmi 720p only (boot.ini seems to be ignored)
- MAC address is changing after each reboot (I forced it in networking config)
- ethernet is working.
- no wifi, bt or sound.
- kodi is installing but no video or sound.

I am currently rebuild the kernel to see if I can improve the situation.