[ROM] Unofficial OpenELEC for MK808B+ and MXQ

[kashmoney]

Thank you for the files. I have bad news: there is currently no support for the AP6212 in source code from Amlogic. I have reached out to Nexteon with a request to share the source code, maybe they will be able to help.

mike808 can you share a link to MXQ HD18Q for $35?

kszaq that's the worst news I could get from you
the board is a netxeon board, and its actually the same pcb model as the AP6210 version. its MK808Q_V10_20140822

I bought the 3 units from Gearbest, would it be best if I ask them for the 111k4 firmware image, would that help?

[kszaq]

Here it is, but you have to get 20, still a good deal though, and they work perfect with your firmware after you put in the remote.conf file. Free DHL shipping too.

Whoa, that's a lot of boxes. I wanted to buy only 1 piece for testing purposes - I don't sell them, OpenELEC is for my personal use. Nonetheless thanks for the info!

kszaq that's the worst news I could get from you
the board is a netxeon board, and its actually the same pcb model as the AP6210 version. its MK808Q_V10_20140822

I bought the 3 units from Gearbest, would it be best if I ask them for the 111k4 firmware image, would that help?

Firmware image won't help as the driver needs to be compiled with different parameters than for Android (hardfp vs softfp). I asked Nexteon for the driver source code, they were very responsive earlier and I hope I'll be able to compile something for you soon.

[mike808]

I just got my first shipment from these guys today, all 20. I just sell a little on the side maybe like 5-7 a month or so. Well, I can tell you now that I have them in my hand now that they are clones. LOL. I flashed one of the droidbox firmware I had which flashed fine on the ones that I had bought before but it made this clone a dud. Anyways, I was able to recover using the Acemax latest firmware. Which surprisingly has ethernet disconnection issues with the Original one that I had but doesn't have them with the clone ones I just got. LOL! Anyways, one issue with these are that the led turns red when it's ON. Also, you can tell it's a clone because the ethernet port is upside down. Otherwise It's working ok with Android firmware, I'm going to next try and flash the OpenElec firmware and will report back. The price was just too good to pass.

The one that I got earlier didn't have the red light issue and now I just noticed that the light stays blue, the minute I start up SPMC then it turns red and stays red after that, weird.

Here's one selling as single piece: This is the Vsmart one, same ones I bought before, it still might be clone, but doesn't have the red light issue and works fine with your remote, a couple of dollars more than 35, but still good. I would still prefer these over the mk808b plus as they come with a remote, plus 4 full usb ports, av out port etc.,

[mike808]

Alright just flashed OpenELEC-Amlogic.HD18Q.arm-5.0.8 on one of the boxes and it works great. Only problem is the red light, but it doesn't bother me really.

[mike808]

Here are some of the pics of the internals of this clone mxq hd18q. Which surprisingly works good except for the red light instead of blue and which works with latest acemax firmware without getting the infamous ethernet/wifi disconnect issue. As you can see the heatsink is a little tiny one hard glued to the cpu instead of the bigger spring mounted one on the original, also the ethernet port is upside down.

[Haba]

It's good value, however, why not go with the HD18Q? It's only a couple of dollars more, comes with a remote and more usb ports plus the option to use av output on older televisions. I got a few of these from aliexpress.com for 35 bucks U.S. These are the OTT MxQ. The cheapest I could find a MK808B Plus for was around 32-33 bucks U.S.D. OpenElec works wonderful and fast with these and the remote works fine as well, after you place the remote.cofig file in the config folder.

Cnx had a slow, error prone experience with the unit they reviewed. Perhaps he got a bad one. Anyone else care to chime in on the ott mxq vs mk808b plus quality and performance with openelec ?

[ididmytime]

kszaq that's the worst news I could get from you
the board is a netxeon board, and its actually the same pcb model as the AP6210 version. its MK808Q_V10_20140822

I bought the 3 units from Gearbest, would it be best if I ask them for the 111k4 firmware image, would that help?

Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the information.

I thought Gearbest is supposed to be a genuine seller? If so and it simply is a new revision then surely it would be part of the source code?

Here's one selling as single piece: This is the Vsmart one, same ones I bought before, it still might be clone, but doesn't have the red light issue and works fine with your remote, a couple of dollars more than 35, but still good. I would still prefer these over the mk808b plus as they come with a remote, plus 4 full usb ports, av out port etc.,

The problem is the remote is pretty poor and you will be restricted with the USB ports, as the PSU is 2amps you could only really use 4 ports consecutively for very low powered devices (plug in a hard drive and you'd probably only have enough for power for another port), I'm not sure adding a better PSU will allow more amps to the ports as this would likely be kernel based. AV out and the most enticing feature, the RJ45 port seems good if you need it however. Due to the fact you mass bought them and plan to sell them you could probably sell them at a higher markup than an mk808b, although whether it's worth the time and effort is all down to you.

The MX3 remote is pretty cheap and the best remote i've used, it's a quality piece of kit with very good 'clicking' buttons. Does need a couple of buttons configured using the keymap editor plugin.

[kszaq]

Here are some of the pics of the internals of this clone mxq hd18q. Which surprisingly works good except for the red light instead of blue and which works with latest acemax firmware without getting the infamous ethernet/wifi disconnect issue. As you can see the heatsink is a little tiny one hard glued to the cpu instead of the bigger spring mounted one on the original, also the ethernet port is upside down.

Beelink's (or Nexteon's) MXQ also have that tiny heatsink glued on the CPU in v3.0 as opposed to a piece of foil in v2.0. The S805 seems to produce relatively low amounts of heat - the MK808B+ works well without a heatsink.

Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the information.

I thought Gearbest is supposed to be a genuine seller? If so and it simply is a new revision then surely it would be part of the source code?

In the latest source code release from Amlogic (20150115) there is no support for AP6212. But as I said before, Nexteon staff are very responsive when it comes to providing kernel source code and I hope to receive an updated WiFi driver from them soon.

[mike808]

When I ordered the lot of 20 pcs, I specifically asked the seller if they were original and he said yes. So, yesterday I talk to the seller, showed him pics of the original and clone product and told him how initially I bricked the device trying to flash the droidtv firmware with it which I usually flash first and then restore my custom twrp backup. However, told him that I was able to bring it back to life, which I was using the latest Acemax firmware, I'm guessing because that firmware has some uboot.bin type files included with it. And after that I was able to flash my twrp backup of the customized droidtv firmware. Long story short I ended getting a partial refund of 75 bucks u.s. which made the total cost of the boxes including duties and shipping to 40 dollars Canadian. Which is great, that's about 30 bucks U.S.D.

Now, on the device performance, other than the red led, which isn't really a big issue for me. The device runs perfect, good wifi, good ethernet speeds, very stable, i have yet to get any lockups or random reboots, which i did get with one of the beelink type mxqs with the red stripe and power button on top. Streams 1080p content perfectly, and when I touch the device, it's actually cool to the touch.

Remote isn't bad at all, that's all I've been using, It's perfect for navigating through XBMC, which is what's this is used for 99% of the time. Not really using the usb ports but they are there if you ever need them, and I would most likely get a externally powered usb hdd if I ever needed to use one, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Flashed one box to OpenElec and played around with it for a few hours, kids watched their stuff and it also ran very stable, no issues whatsoever. So, for this price point, I would say these boxes are the best bang for the buck ATM.

[jellywobbles]

When I ordered the lot of 20 pcs, I specifically asked the seller if they were original and he said yes. So, yesterday I talk to the seller, showed him pics of the original and clone product and told him how initially I bricked the device trying to flash the droidtv firmware with it which I usually flash first and then restore my custom twrp backup. However, told him that I was able to bring it back to life, which I was using the latest Acemax firmware, I'm guessing because that firmware has some uboot.bin type files included with it. And after that I was able to flash my twrp backup of the customized droidtv firmware. Long story short I ended getting a partial refund of 75 bucks u.s. which made the total cost of the boxes including duties and shipping to 40 dollars Canadian. Which is great, that's about 30 bucks U.S.D.

Now, on the device performance, other than the red led, which isn't really a big issue for me. The device runs perfect, good wifi, good ethernet speeds, very stable, i have yet to get any lockups or random reboots, which i did get with one of the beelink type mxqs with the red stripe and power button on top. Streams 1080p content perfectly, and when I touch the device, it's actually cool to the touch.

Remote isn't bad at all, that's all I've been using, It's perfect for navigating through XBMC, which is what's this is used for 99% of the time. Not really using the usb ports but they are there if you ever need them, and I would most likely get a externally powered usb hdd if I ever needed to use one, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Flashed one box to OpenElec and played around with it for a few hours, kids watched their stuff and it also ran very stable, no issues whatsoever. So, for this price point, I would say these boxes are the best bang for the buck ATM.

Excellent and very informative post; particularly about flashing OpenElec - thanks

[ididmytime]

Recieved another mk808b plus from Gearbest and can confirm its the ap6212 chipset.

Probably best not to buy from them currently until sources are made open, as it's not just openelec but every custom rom.

[mike808]

I thought I just update everyone on this clone MxQ boxes I just bought. Seems like they are working pretty good, no lockups or random reboots. It's been plugged in 24/7 and used most of the day. One thing I've noticed is that the first ones that I got which I think are probably clones as well, but the orientation of the ethernet port on those is the same as the original, also, they have put a piece of thermal tape on top of the cpu heatsink which brings it in contact with the metal plate that's on top, probably helps in heat transfer and dissipation from the heatsink to the metal plate on top. Because those ones were reporting a temperature of 52 degrees Celsius under system info/hardware, this other copy that doesn't have the thermal tape on top of the cpu is reporting a temperatures of 72 degrees Celsius, this is on the OpenElec firmware, the android firmware doesn't report any temperature, just stays at a value of 0. So, the latter ones I got (20 pcs lot) are definitely running hotter, but it doesn't seem to be affecting their operation, so it's really a non issue at this time. Maybe later on I can get some thermal tape and do this modification on them to keep the temps cool.

[kszaq]

Recieved another mk808b plus from Gearbest and can confirm its the ap6212 chipset.

Probably best not to buy from them currently until sources are made open, as it's not just openelec but every custom rom.

Can you try this test version which I prepared for kashmoney (I suspect he did not have time to test it yet): http://s805.eu/releases/test/newwifidriver/

It includes new WiFi driver that I got from Netxeon some time ago. I modified it to support multiple APs at the same time. I tested it to work properly with AP6210 and it has support for AP6212 in the source. If it works, I'll post the source code to Github so that everyone can use it.

[Michael BB]

I test it, it doesn't work properly. But shows all wifi networks and tries to connect but doesn't. Maybe DHCP problem?

[ididmytime]

Can you try this test version which I prepared for kashmoney (I suspect he did not have time to test it yet): http://s805.eu/releases/test/newwifidriver/

It includes new WiFi driver that I got from Netxeon some time ago. I modified it to support multiple APs at the same time. I tested it to work properly with AP6210 and it has support for AP6212 in the source. If it works, I'll post the source code to Github so that everyone can use it.

Confirmed working, also will detect AP's on first boot so no need to switch wireless on.

Will donate and let Cristian know who's ported Cyanogenmod about the new wifi chip.