Inphic Spot i7 - Running Linux From An SD Card, USB Card Reader Or Flash Drive, Using Balbes150's Method And Files.

[RISCy Dude]

All work is credited to Balbes150 @balbes150.

Running Debian(other distros may come available) from SD card, USB card reader or flash drive requires two steps. A Windows PC is required.
NOTE This Debian is without a desktop environment(GUI), adding a DE is easy. Info to do so is at the bottom of this post.

Step 1.) Modifying u-boot.
Needed for Step 1, a.)balbes150's update_uboot.7z. file. NOTE: This file is for the Vega S95 box, don't worry it works fine for the Inphic i7. b.) a FAT32 formatted SD card(Class 10 or better) or USB flash drive.

1a.) Extract update_uboot.7z to an SD card or flash drive. This results in two files on the card or flash drive, aml-autocscript and aml_autoscript.zip.
1b.) Insert the card or flash drive in to the i7 running Android.
1c.) Open the Update and Backup app, under the "Local" update section, click select. A list will appear, select the file named aml_autoscript.zip. Click update.

The i7 will reboot, you will notice little other than a few screen flashes(be patient) and then the i7 will reboot to Android. Remove the SD card or flash drive.
End Step 1.

Step 2.) Preparing the SD card or flash drive with the Debian image.
Files needed for Step 2, a.) the Debian image, b.)the i7's dtb file, c.) the s905_autoscript file. NOTE:The Debian image is for the Vega S95 Telos. No worries, we are easily going to adapt it to the Inphic i7.

Tool you will need to make the card. (Win32Diskimager may also work.)
HDD Raw Copy Tool from HDDGURU.com
-If you want to install the tool, use the installed version.
-If you don't want to install the tool, use the Portable version.

2a.) From PC, extract telos_debian_console.img.7z. the result will be telos_debian_console.img.
2b.) Run HDD Raw Copy Tool as administrator. Using the tool, double-click "FILE", locate, select and load the image, "telos_debian_console.img". Click continue.


-Pay very close attention in choosing the target, this will be the SD card or Flash drive that will be written to.

Warning: Make certain the "Target" you choose is the SD card or Flash drive you intend to write to. If you choose the wrong drive(hard drives included), the tool will overwrite it, data loss will occur. SO MAKE VERY CERTAIN YOU CHOOSE THE DRIVE(SD Card or Flash drive) YOU INTEND TO WRITE TO!



-If satisfied you have chosen the correct Target, click continue.

LAST CHANCE TO BACK OUT.



-Click "Start" and wait for completion.
Once done, close the tool.

2c.) Take the downloaded files "s905_autoscript" and the "dtb.img" file for the i7 and copy it to the SD Card or Flash Drive.
Safely remove the SD Card or Flash Drive.


With the i7 powered down, insert the SD card or flash drive. Power on the i7. Be patient, it can take 3-7 minutes before you see the login screen.
If after 10 minutes you don't get to the login screen, power down, wait 5 seconds and reboot. If it fails to get to the login screen again, power down, wait 5 seconds and reboot. This has taken me as many as 3 repeats to get to the login screen.
Different cards seem to be more, or less, tolerant of the first boot. Once you get to the login screen, the user login is odroid / root. For root login use root / odroid
Subsequent boots are fast.
There will be "unallocated" space on the card, to make use of the unallocated space, see documents here.

Tips and tricks for the Debian Image, including adding a desktop environment and passwords, can be found here.

Many thanks to balbes150 for making Linux available to the Inphic i7. Thanks to Inphic for getting the i7 into balbes' hands.

[balbes150]

Uploaded to the website the image ARMBIAN with Linux. Works with SD card and USB flash drive. The minimum size of the recording media - 8 GB. The root password is 1234. The Internet is working. WiFi, audio, BT is not working yet.

https://yadi.sk/d/vtN39q6FreiaW

Details can be found here.

http://www.armbian.com/odroid-c2/

Questions on ARMBIAN can ask in this thread or on the forum.

http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/1143-armbian-for-amlogic-s905/

[balbes150]

Uploaded to the site a new image with the latest version of Ubuntu. For use with 1080 resolution, try to replace the file s905_autoscrip from the appropriate directory (there is in the first FAT partition).

https://yadi.sk/d/b4wrz9RNrosQP

First run on the i7, I recommend to comply with the current files, no change. If everything is loaded, you can try to replace the script on one that for 1080. I have at 1080 on the monitor split images. Maybe it depends on the type of TV.

[RISCy Dude]

Excellent. Been looking forward to Ubuntu on the i7. I assume user/password is still odroid/odroid.
Appreciate your efforts.

[balbes150]

Excellent. Been looking forward to Ubuntu on the i7. I assume user/password is still odroid/odroid.
Appreciate your efforts.

Uploaded. Yes, the password and the user odroid\odroid user root password odroid

[trebor]

Looking Good, doing as it should so far
Excellent.

[scooter2014]

Now iam seriously pissed at myself for not taking a trade for this device. Ill have to see if i can talk them into that again lol. Any video hardware excel in this build yet?

[trebor]

Need to ask the more enlightened lot them type of technical questions, I am a mug when it come to this stuff, it's on screen, does stuff it's ok by me.
Cheers

[balbes150]

Need to ask the more enlightened lot them type of technical questions, I am a mug when it come to this stuff, it's on screen, does stuff it's ok by me.
Cheers

Congratulations, you now have your own Linux. You can learn LINUX.
Added to the website another Ubuntu image. It included the SWAP partition. A new image designed for SD cards. I do NOT recommend to use it on a USB flash drive.

[balbes150]

Now iam seriously pissed at myself for not taking a trade for this device. Ill have to see if i can talk them into that again lol. Any video hardware excel in this build yet?

While the video and audio do not work. I'm working on a universal image that can be run on different devices without having to manually replace dtb file.

[fossxplorer]

Could this work on other S905 devices than Inphic i7? I just received my Beelink mini MXIII with S905.

[fossxplorer]

Does this work on other devices than Inphic i7 such as Beelink mini MXiii, just received that. What about Inphic i5 with s805? I got one that too.
Thanks for your awesome work!

[balbes150]

Could this work on other S905 devices than Inphic i7? I just received my Beelink mini MXIII with S905.

Yes, this image can run on any device with Amlogic S905. For this you need to replace the dtb file.

[balbes150]

Does this work on other devices than Inphic i7 such as Beelink mini MXiii, just received that. What about Inphic i5 with s805? I got one that too.
Thanks for your awesome work!

S805 is a 32 bit chip. You can also use images adapted from Odroid C1. You can't run the image from the Odroid C1 without any changes.

If you attempt to run the NOT MODIFIED image on the device will be erased the bootloader. The device will become a brick.

[balbes150]

Universal Ubuntu image.

https://yadi.sk/d/b4wrz9RNrosQP

To use it you need to update the multiboot. Download two file from the link, burn to fat the media and perform as before the update.

https://yadi.sk/d/YLiW1pCms66aP

Updated files don't have to unpack as before.