This is based on the September 7 firmware, which had some regressions from the original August build that was installed on my box.
It is a debloated version, removing anything that I consider to be illegal, dodgy, not child friendly or of no great use for a machine with these specs.
This includes a clean install of Kodi.
Root is in place.
Apps added:
Nova Launcher (So you have a choice of the stock or this, with a more pleasing to the eye background)
Youtube (Regular Play Store version)
Airdroid (Useful for file transfer over WiFi)
All In One Toolbox (General crap cleaner and app bootup manager)
App Backup & Restore
BBC iPlayer
Chrome Browser
ES File Explorer
MiXplorer file manager
MX Player (and neon codecs)
Petrus Reboot (for those that use other remotes to enable reboot and shutdown options)
RKMC (Rockchips own Kodi version with hardware acceleration for RK SOC's)
Terminal Emulator (May be of use later to to feed small updates over the air)
What is not working:
Adjust display refresh rate is not working but was not working in the original firmware and is next on my list to resolve.
When playing videos, there may be a couple of seconds of audio corruption at the start,
Installation:
Android tools v 2.33 is included with the firmware download, so just do the usual erase flash and then flash the firmware.
Once flashing is complete and the box reboots (new boot logo), once the boot animation process is complete the process of app installation/population will continue in the background for about 10 minutes and there will be a Google settings popup that will appear asking if you want it to check for the presence of harmful apps. You can select either decline or accept. If you choose decline then the popup will appear every time one of the apps is installed in the background, so I recommend selecting accept and if, like me, it is a feature that you usually prefer to turn off, then you can do so later in settings.
Once installed you will be presented with the stock launcher. Note that the KodiCenter icon will do nothing as I have removed the addon install wizard feature.
Because this box only has 1Gb RAM, it will suffer from resource hogging, so I would recommend that you initially boost the system performance by preventing some apps and services from starting at boot and also keep clearing closed background tasks out as you use the machine.
This is where the All In One Toolbox app will be of use. Start it up and select the Boot Speedup option. Disable all User Apps from starting and then, in System Apps, I have also disabled Bluetooth share, eHomeMediaCenter, FileExplorer, Gallery, Wireless Update and Youtube. Be careful about what you do select in System Apps though as some are required to boot at startup. Then reboot the box to have a smoother experience. Note that when you install other apps and some are updated through the Play Store then they may autostart, so worth running the toolbox on a regular basis (and clearing out the crap regularly too).
Will it work on other RK3229 boxes?:
Quite possibly, although where there are different WiFi or Ethernet chipsets used then results may be variable.
Post if you do (or do not) have success with other boxes (it will work with TVBox-R9)
As usual, it is always a USE AT YOUR OWN RISK exercise.
I hope that you enjoy.
It is a debloated version, removing anything that I consider to be illegal, dodgy, not child friendly or of no great use for a machine with these specs.
This includes a clean install of Kodi.
Root is in place.
Apps added:
Nova Launcher (So you have a choice of the stock or this, with a more pleasing to the eye background)
Youtube (Regular Play Store version)
Airdroid (Useful for file transfer over WiFi)
All In One Toolbox (General crap cleaner and app bootup manager)
App Backup & Restore
BBC iPlayer
Chrome Browser
ES File Explorer
MiXplorer file manager
MX Player (and neon codecs)
Petrus Reboot (for those that use other remotes to enable reboot and shutdown options)
RKMC (Rockchips own Kodi version with hardware acceleration for RK SOC's)
Terminal Emulator (May be of use later to to feed small updates over the air)
What is not working:
Adjust display refresh rate is not working but was not working in the original firmware and is next on my list to resolve.
When playing videos, there may be a couple of seconds of audio corruption at the start,
Installation:
Android tools v 2.33 is included with the firmware download, so just do the usual erase flash and then flash the firmware.
Once flashing is complete and the box reboots (new boot logo), once the boot animation process is complete the process of app installation/population will continue in the background for about 10 minutes and there will be a Google settings popup that will appear asking if you want it to check for the presence of harmful apps. You can select either decline or accept. If you choose decline then the popup will appear every time one of the apps is installed in the background, so I recommend selecting accept and if, like me, it is a feature that you usually prefer to turn off, then you can do so later in settings.
Once installed you will be presented with the stock launcher. Note that the KodiCenter icon will do nothing as I have removed the addon install wizard feature.
Because this box only has 1Gb RAM, it will suffer from resource hogging, so I would recommend that you initially boost the system performance by preventing some apps and services from starting at boot and also keep clearing closed background tasks out as you use the machine.
This is where the All In One Toolbox app will be of use. Start it up and select the Boot Speedup option. Disable all User Apps from starting and then, in System Apps, I have also disabled Bluetooth share, eHomeMediaCenter, FileExplorer, Gallery, Wireless Update and Youtube. Be careful about what you do select in System Apps though as some are required to boot at startup. Then reboot the box to have a smoother experience. Note that when you install other apps and some are updated through the Play Store then they may autostart, so worth running the toolbox on a regular basis (and clearing out the crap regularly too).
Will it work on other RK3229 boxes?:
Quite possibly, although where there are different WiFi or Ethernet chipsets used then results may be variable.
Post if you do (or do not) have success with other boxes (it will work with TVBox-R9)
As usual, it is always a USE AT YOUR OWN RISK exercise.
I hope that you enjoy.
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