MiniMX S905 - Ubuntu 16.04 64bits (with kodi and X) on sdcard

[balbes150]

To successfully boot, you need to use a dtb file from your model. It is dtb possible to get of firmware.

[smarteswarm]

Use caution with images from Odroid C2, which had not received special training. It's easy to turn into a brick. The device will not boot. Rebuild is not difficult, but you need to know the features of recovery.

Hi balbes150,
what do you mean by 'special training' (in a few words)?

[balbes150]

Hi balbes150,
what do you mean by 'special training' (in a few words)?

In a nutshell - you need to carefully study all the scripts and procedures that are performed. To find potentially dangerous, capable of destroying a full-time load.

[smarteswarm]

In a nutshell - you need to carefully study all the scripts and procedures that are performed. To find potentially dangerous, capable of destroying a full-time load.

I found /aafirstboot which uses fdisk on /dev/mmcblk0.
Anything else is dangerous on their rootfs?

[int0x13]

To me it seems that there is a memory leak somehwere. My swap is filling slowly but surely. Since some days, now i got this:
root@odroid64:~# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 778M 585M 67M 17M 125M 143M
Swap: 2,0G 1,6G 409M

How to know what is causing the memory leak?

[windino]

To successfully boot, you need to use a dtb file from your model. It is dtb possible to get of firmware.

Thanks for the tips... now Ubuntu is working on my Beelink miniMxiii 2/16GB with firmware 107L.

[balbes150]

To me it seems that there is a memory leak somehwere. My swap is filling slowly but surely. Since some days, now i got this:
root@odroid64:~# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 778M 585M 67M 17M 125M 143M
Swap: 2,0G 1,6G 409M

How to know what is causing the memory leak?

Which programs start ? I have not seen this.

[smarteswarm]

balbes150 : any idea why the second usb port isn't usable (on the side of the box) ?

try:
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/dwc2_a/buspower
works on minimxiii and odroid c2 image.
if not check dwc2_b or something similar.

anyone has mali x11 accellerated opengl-es/egl working?

[kodorevi8ulis]

i'm waiting for my box , for you who tried ubuntu , is reliable ? i want to see if its better to have an box like this instead of the new rpi or odroid c2
(for lamp server and few other things)

[ronbaby]

Koxx,

Just a few simple questions, if you don't mind...

Do you have any plans to make a slimed-down release _without_ all of the kernel and other sources? (Your current 6+ GB release files seem a bit excessive, and anyway, if things are working OK, then who needs the kernel sources? Besides which, most users are just going to be downloading your images only for testing at this point anyway, so small binary-only images would be more convenient for that.)

Will we be seeing a v2 of your dist with the Odroid x11 acceleration anytime soon? (If you would like any help to create that, I'll volunteer to help if I can be of any assistance.)

I'm really very curious about USB device support. I already have the followiing things that work just fine with my old x86-based HTPC (running an older version of OpenELEC):

Wireless keyboard (Logitech k400)
Wireless mouse (Logitech M305)
Ortek VRC-1100 remote control

I'm guessing that if these all work OK on an older (5.x) version of OpenELEC (and also on Ubuntu amd64), then they should also be 100% Ok on your Ubuntu dists for MiniMX, correct?

Oh! I'm also wondering if anybody has ever benchmarked the _actual_ throughput of the "gigabit" ethernet port on the MiniMX, *either* under Ubuntu *or* under Android. Actual test results on that would be *really* interesting. If you look about 1/3rd of the way own on the following page:

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_349815.html

You will see the following VERY strange text:

120 Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet

Huh?????

Where I come from, "gigabit" means 1000 Mbps... not 120.

(If you scroll down a little further, you will also see similar strangeness in the description of the "N" Wifi. The very _lowest_ rate I have ever seen advertised for any kind of "N" WiFi equipment is 150 Mbps (max theoretical). But at the link above, it says "29 Mbps". Huh??? Bottom line: It would be good to get an actual benchmark result on the WiFi also.)

Last but not least, if anybody who has one of these MiniMX boxes would be so kind, maybe you can test and see if locally-connected 2.5" external USB drives work, directly, or if a powered hub is needed, due to power constraints on the MiniMX USB ports. (I'm also just a little bit curious to know if NTFS and/or ext{3,4} is supported under Android on local USB storage.)

[Nofan Tasi]

Oh! I'm also wondering if anybody has ever benchmarked the _actual_ throughput of the "gigabit" ethernet port on the MiniMX, *either* under Ubuntu *or* under Android. Actual test results on that would be *really* interesting.

MiniMX-G ~ # iperf3 -s
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1::5, port 60102
[  5] local aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1::6 port 5201 connected to aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1::5 port 60104
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   109 MBytes   912 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   111 MBytes   928 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]  10.00-10.01  sec  1.60 MBytes   916 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  1.08 GBytes   926 Mbits/sec                  receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
^Ciperf3: interrupt - the server has terminated

This is in a gentoo chroot while booted in OE (I edited addresses) and both are connected to same Gbps switch (other device is not an MiniMX-G)

[Koxx]

Koxx,

Just a few simple questions, if you don't mind...

Do you have any plans to make a slimed-down release _without_ all of the kernel and other sources? (Your current 6+ GB release files seem a bit excessive, and anyway, if things are working OK, then who needs the kernel sources? Besides which, most users are just going to be downloading your images only for testing at this point anyway, so small binary-only images would be more convenient for that.)

Will we be seeing a v2 of your dist with the Odroid x11 acceleration anytime soon? (If you would like any help to create that, I'll volunteer to help if I can be of any assistance.)

I'm really very curious about USB device support. I already have the followiing things that work just fine with my old x86-based HTPC (running an older version of OpenELEC):

Wireless keyboard (Logitech k400)
Wireless mouse (Logitech M305)
Ortek VRC-1100 remote control

I'm guessing that if these all work OK on an older (5.x) version of OpenELEC (and also on Ubuntu amd64), then they should also be 100% Ok on your Ubuntu dists for MiniMX, correct?

Oh! I'm also wondering if anybody has ever benchmarked the _actual_ throughput of the "gigabit" ethernet port on the MiniMX, *either* under Ubuntu *or* under Android. Actual test results on that would be *really* interesting. If you look about 1/3rd of the way own on the following page:

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_349815.html

You will see the following VERY strange text:

120 Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet

Huh?????

Where I come from, "gigabit" means 1000 Mbps... not 120.

(If you scroll down a little further, you will also see similar strangeness in the description of the "N" Wifi. The very _lowest_ rate I have ever seen advertised for any kind of "N" WiFi equipment is 150 Mbps (max theoretical). But at the link above, it says "29 Mbps". Huh??? Bottom line: It would be good to get an actual benchmark result on the WiFi also.)

Last but not least, if anybody who has one of these MiniMX boxes would be so kind, maybe you can test and see if locally-connected 2.5" external USB drives work, directly, or if a powered hub is needed, due to power constraints on the MiniMX USB ports. (I'm also just a little bit curious to know if NTFS and/or ext{3,4} is supported under Android on local USB storage.)

Hi,

I'll try to answer all your questions

For shrinking, no, I have no such plan. I do not have a lot of available time for this, so, what I give is my direct image of my working project.

For v2, yes, I would really like too. Any help would be appreciated
A full process starting from v1 would be great to help users to migrate.
It shouldn't be too hard consering many other users already did it on Odroid forums.

For ethernet, you have your answer

For USB devices, I think it shouldn't be an issue.

I tested a harddrive (don't remember which one, I have many), no issue.

[ronbaby]

Nofan Tasi,

Thanks a lot for running that iperf benchmark. Obviously, those are really good results, and about what you would expect if these boxees really do have a properly implemented "gigabit" ethernet.

And I think that I just figured out why the advertisment (on Gearbest) for these boxes says:

120 Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet

Ha! It's obvious now.... Whoever wrote that ad copy obviously doesn't get the big difference between "Mbps" and "MBps". That 120 figure must actually be talking about MBps... not Mbps.

So, um, assuming that the same goofball made the exact same mistake also in the case of the WiFi, where the ad has "29Mbps" they probably really meant "29MBps" aka 232Mbps.

But it would be interesting to see iperf results for the WiFi too... if anybody has the time.

[ronbaby]

Koxx,

I will try to help if I can. (I *am* a software engineer, so, you know, I might actually be useful, but don't get your hopes up TOO high. :-))

The bad news: I just ordered my MiniMX last night, after seeing your post. The info on the Gearbest web site is ambiguous about shipping. First it said "will ship on June 14th", but then when I got down to the area to actually PAY for the thing, the story changed and I saw shipping estimated in "10 to 25 business days". So I don't know how soon I will be able to do anything. At this time next month I might still be waiting for delivery. :-( I will let you know as soon as I have mine in hand.

Thanks a lot for answering all of my questions. Really appreciated.

At the very least, I hope to be able to create a shrunk-down version of your release, and then put that up someplace for the benefit of anybody who may want it. But if I can, I will also try to help to create a v2 based on the latest Odroid stuff.

The other bad news is that before I can be useful on that second thing, you may have to answer a LOT more triva questions from me. (You've been warned. :-)

To start with, I am REALLY confused about what you said here:

if you have issues with the boot on sdcard, you may need to flash the L105 android firmware (it will erase the whole box content).
http://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=565.0

Who exactly is that guy providing the (somehow different) firmware? It appears like maybe he just works for a company that's just retailing this kind of box. So it really does make one wonder how he managed to get hold of the complete Android sources for this box, enough so that he could fiddle it a little and then rebuild it from scratch. And I wonder what he did, exactly, to the firmware to cause it to be better at dealing with SD cards. (How did you even find this guy and his firmware anyway? You must have REALLY googled for a long time! :-)

Also, the modified firmware he's supplying is (based on) Beelink's L105. But doesn't Beelink have a newer (L107) firmware available for this box? If so, and if someone (e.g. me) "upgraded" by flashing this guy's modified firmware, wouldn't that actually be going BACKWARDS in some sense?

[Nofan Tasi]

Nofan Tasi,
But it would be interesting to see iperf results for the WiFi too...

in my case it gives 40 Mbits/sec

# iperf3 -s --bind 192.168.168.169
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 192.168.168.243, port 47524
[  5] local 192.168.168.169 port 5201 connected to 192.168.168.243 port 47526
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  4.30 MBytes  36.1 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  4.57 MBytes  38.3 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  4.11 MBytes  34.5 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  4.68 MBytes  39.2 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  4.58 MBytes  38.4 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  4.63 MBytes  38.8 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  4.52 MBytes  37.9 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  4.71 MBytes  39.5 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  4.71 MBytes  39.5 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  4.47 MBytes  37.5 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]  10.00-10.12  sec   591 KBytes  40.0 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.12  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.12  sec  45.9 MBytes  38.0 Mbits/sec                  receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------

but it seems I connect to 2.4G 802.11b/g/n
It could be specific to my Access Point (which is dual 2.4G 802.11b/g/n + 5G 802.11a/n)