[ROM] Unofficial OpenELEC for MK808B+ and MXQ

[Habs69m]

Guest
I'm still testing your OE6 build on my Beelink S85, it seems there's no openvpn config on that OE, i installed the unofficial openvpn addon but it only adds a binary and still nothing on the interface.
Am i missing something or do you know if it's missing from your build ?

I'm also still fighting with the keymap files to disable shutdown but no luck, kodi logs show it loads my profile kemaps but doesn't seem to use them as overrides, advancedsettings.xml override works though, so maybe it's something different with OE6 i don't know about..

Finally i've noticed something else, when kodi is stopped (killed or through systemctl), there's still a display signal sent through the hdmi, keeping the TV alive, is there a way to fix that ? I haven't noticed any X running but OE is so different from my usual distro that i'm a bit lost.
thx

Kinda the same here but noticed my tv remote works on my MXQ so powering off the tv resets the box and power off from tv also resets the box, seems i have a wake up or shutdown signal from the hdmi cable

[eldonT]

Kinda the same here but noticed my tv remote works on my MXQ so powering off the tv resets the box and power off from tv also resets the box, seems i have a wake up or shutdown signal from the hdmi cable

you probably have CEC running on your TV and active in openelec, so your TV takes "control" of your box..

I'll have to remember switching that off as well, as i want the box to be always on..

TheRealJohnGalt
I see vpn settings has been removed from openelec kodi addon some while ago so it'll have to be setup entirely outside kodi.
Anyways the unofficial openvpn addon seems to work fine, and using crond i can monitor that.

So i have to understand how to disable shutdown from the remote, replace it with Exit instead, and find a way to grab scancodes (works with evtest addon, but can't get the scancodes with irw or other system tools) when kodi is shut down to launch kodi again.

Being able to kill that hdmi signal when kodi is not running would be nice.

I'm wondering if the IR remote input is intercepted by kodi or if some codes (like power) bypass kodi and are sent to the system directly ?
I'm not quite sure what the <power>ShutDown()</power> entry in keymaps/remote.xml does exactly.

[Habs69m]

you probably have CEC running on your TV and active in openelec, so your TV takes "control" of your box..

I'll have to remember switching that off as well, as i want the box to be always on..

TheRealJohnGalt
I see vpn settings has been removed from openelec kodi addon some while ago so it'll have to be setup entirely outside kodi.
Anyways the unofficial openvpn addon seems to work fine, and using crond i can monitor that.

So i have to understand how to disable shutdown from the remote, replace it with Exit instead, and find a way to grab scancodes (works with evtest addon, but can't get the scancodes with irw or other system tools) when kodi is shut down to launch kodi again.

Being able to kill that hdmi signal when kodi is not running would be nice.

I'm wondering if the IR remote input is intercepted by kodi or if some codes (like power) bypass kodi and are sent to the system directly ?
I'm not quite sure what the <power>ShutDown()</power> entry in keymaps/remote.xml does exactly.

cool thks just need to find this CEC and im all set

edit: i found it for me it was a viera link that i needed to disable

[eldonT]

okay for some reason on my beelink s85, the IR remote is seen as a keyboard by kodi so keyboard.xml has to be edited to change key bindings..
And so far only "<key id=" is interpreted, no idea why.

so for example a file "/storage/.kodi/userdata/keymaps/keyboard.xml" with :

<keymap><global><keyboard><key id="61662">noop</key></keyboard></global></keymap>

Will disable the power off button.

You can replace "noop" by "Quit", to quit Kodi but you will need to modify /usr/lib/systemd/system/kodi.service, if you don't want kodi to be restarted.

i'll try using irexec to restart kodi using the remote but reading IR codes from system tools like irw doesn't seem to work as expected, so far only evtest works.


-- edit --
apparently all input devices are converted to keyboard keys because of eventlircd, so if it's running on your openelec distro then stick to keyboard.xml keymap.

[PrinceMS]

TheRealJohnGalt and kszaq I've got your Openelec FINALY working on my All Black MXQ (Board markings S805_MXQ_V03) after lots of reading and learning

It appears the bootloader.img in the HD18Q update.zip is not compatible with the S805_MXQ_V03 board (results in Brick with no access to recovery...only recovered using USB Burn tool).

If I change the bootloader.img with a known working one for this board and resign the zip with ainol zip signer it works perfect (Wifi Also). If I then copy over the remote.conf to/storage/.config/ , once openelec has been installed, the remote works (apart from the OK button which im looking into)

I have attached the bootloader.img for the S805_MXQ_V03 board and its remote.conf

Im not sure if you guys want to link to this post from post 1 to let other V3 owners know of this problem.

I have the same board - is it possible you can post your ROM somewhere?

FYI (for myself for future reference or others):
- HD18Q Files and instructions: https://github.com/kszaq/OpenELEC.tv...s/tag/5.0.8.20

Edit - FYI 2 : TV110 is suppose to be perfectly compatible for bootloader and recovery:
OpenELEC-Amlogic.TV110.arm-5.0.8.20-bootloader.zip

[PrinceMS]

I have the same board - is it possible you can post your ROM somewhere?

FYI (for myself for future reference or others):
- HD18Q Files and instructions: https://github.com/kszaq/OpenELEC.tv...s/tag/5.0.8.20

Edit - FYI 2 : TV110 is suppose to be perfectly compatible for bootloader and recovery:
OpenELEC-Amlogic.TV110.arm-5.0.8.20-bootloader.zip

Nevermind - I used openelec for TV110 and it is booting just fine. Now if someone can point me how to fix / where to copy remote.conf that will be awesome

(Edit: Updating fixed: mouse second buttonas back/ and middle scroll works)

I wonder if I can update to 15.2 isangard from official update? (Need PVR Stalker add-on)

[PrinceMS]

Nevermind - I used openelec for TV110 and it is booting just fine. Now if someone can point me how to fix / where to copy remote.conf that will be awesome

(Edit: Updating fixed: mouse second buttonas back/ and middle scroll works)

I wonder if I can update to 15.2 isangard from official update? (Need PVR Stalker add-on)

Sorry - last post (just in case anyone is looking for this info):

- I am not 100% sure if I have the v3 (as mentioned above) I suppose it is because the stock firmware installed is the one that is mentioned above.
- I couldn't make remote to work, (I remotely logged in and copied to config folder > Rebooted. That didn't work). Not sure if its different than .config folder?
- Beta available is much better / more refined ver. Very easy to update (follow instruction from official kodi site) - https://github.com/kszaq/OpenELEC.tv...s/tag/5.95.5.2
- I couldn't make it work from SD card - have to write it to main OS (NAND version install)
- Wifi / Ethernet works.
- Hardware decoding works (more on this below)

My main goal:
------------------
My main goal was to test the performance in KODI in android vs in openELEC. OpenELEC certainly boots faster, uses less CPU, GPU seems to work better BUT maybe 10-20%.
e.g., running LiveTV in HD uses about 60% in OpenELEC and 70% in Android (720p HD, I couldn't find any 1080p channels to test. KODI was tested in 1080p and 720p)
LiveTV with hardware acceleration on - does make it stutter in both! you have to turn hardware acceleration off to make CERTAIN LiveTV work smooth.

1080p streaming move in openELEC used about 70% kodi-CPU. Turning hardware acceleration off make it jump to 140-150%
(it has 4 cpus so it technically can go upto 400% but I have never seen it touch 200% in any of my test - OpenELEC or Android video playing in KODI)

-------------------------------------------

MISSING INSTRUCTIONS:
I had to read a lot and had some experience from Android, but some newbie will hopefully find this helpful:

1. First thing you want to do before you do ANYTHING is make a backup of your Android box!
2. Second thing you want to do is backup a Second full NAND backup of your Android box! (yes you be surprised how often it fails)
3. Make sure this is NOT on the box (but on SDcard). Better copy it on a computer manually as well.

(How do you do that? You copy TWRP recovery img files from here and then google how to make backup from TWRP - http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...and-acemax-mxq )

4. Make sure you have USB Male-to-Male cable handy (worse case scenerio) of recovering your box. See post: http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...001#post507001
(PS: This firmware is available on many sites now)

5. Now you can visit this page and put openELEC on your MXV S805 box: http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...mk808b-and-mxq

[RISCy Dude]

Thanks for a helpful and informative post, PrinceMS.

[eldonT]

PrinceMS
Have you tested your TWRP backups ?
Reading that thread, it looks like those twrp backups can not always be restored for some reasons..
but from what i understand having a working bootloader is the only thing you need to get back on your feet, or a recovery bin and you already have that with twrp.

Anyways i'll take a close look at TheRealJohnGalt usb burn tool recovery, i'm getting 2 black mxq and i'm going to mess up with those (trying to run arch arm)..

[jjbull]

TheRealJohnGalt on your MXQ build, wifi gets an IP but once connected it will not get internet access, let me know what logs you need. Also can you build with PVR addons, they are not included..

thanks for these builds, cant wait to see what the future hold

This is exactly the same problem I'm having, anyone else having this issue its a brand new box so wondering if they've changed wifi chips or something
It's an ott box but with the hdq rom no wifi or remote at all

[eldonT]

i have a few questions concerning the firmware binaries distributed by everyone.

what is exactly the included booloarder.bin, is it the whole uboot including "BL1" (1st stage) ?
Is it build with your kernel or are you using the same binary (from a stock firmware) for every firmware for a specific board or set of compatible boards ?

When booting from SD card, does it update the nand bootloader or flashes anything on the nand ?

Finaly where does the recovery bin sit on the nand ?
Is it considered to be an alternate "uboot" (can boot the device on its own) or is it more like a kernel launched after the initial uboot init ?

I'm mainly reading from hardkernel documentation for their c1 board.
I somehow managed to boot an arch kernel on my s85 but i really have (almost) no clue what i'm doing
thx

[Dc0de]

PrinceMS The TV110 bootloader and openelec version is Not compatible with the board I stated (S805_MXQ_v03). I've just tested and it results in Bricking the device. I can therefore only assume you do not have this board in your box. I therefore kindly request removing that statement from your post above as people reading it with this board may brick their device under your instruction. Thanks.

jjbull You and bigbait do not appear to have the same problem. As Pigbait stated he gets an IP address via Wifi (thus his wifi partially works). You then state you have no wifi or remote at all... No Wifi = No Ip address. You may want to open the box (at your own risk) and get the board marking and version and post over on the All Black MXQ Directory thread on this forum (see my link some posts back). Hopefully if someone has the same board as you, then you may get a solution quicker.

eldonT The one problem I have had with TWRP is backing up the default android that came with the device. After bricking the device and then bringing back to life with a compatible .img i then tried to restore from said backup. It failed with a tar error even though the md5 matched. It appears that the .img i restored changed the size of the system partititon. I was getting the error because the system partition i was trying to restore was bigger than the partition itself. In regards to bootloader, I dont really know. I assume its the whole bootloader.bin (uboot.bin). I extracted a known working one from the .img using the Amlogic Customisation Tool. When you open an .img in that, check the tmp folder of the Amlogic Customisation Tool installation folder....you will find a bootloader.partition file if I rememeber correctly. Simple rename to bootloader.bin as I did...As always Do at your own risk

Can everyone who has an All Black MXQ please fill in a post (if they can with mainboard pics) over at the All Black MXQ directory on this forum. By doing that you will be helping yourself and other owners of the same mainboard as you find working roms and openelec solutions.

[jjbull]

Dc0de thanks for responding but it is exactly the same problem it connects I get an IP address even the RSS feed works but that's it can't add sources in file manager
When I used the hdq18 version (which I always use on ott boxes) I got no wifi or remote working And so then used the mxq one which then gave me the issue I've mentioned in using Ethernet so not a problem but it just seems a very strange problem

[Dc0de]

jjbull Sorry. I misread your message. What sources are you trying to add? What happens when you add the source (i.e do you get an error. What is it?). Do local sources (i.e LAN network shares) work?

Very strange. If it gets the RSS feeds that shows internet access is there, and dns is working. Have you tried setting a static ip and dns and retrying adding the source after a restart of the box?

May be best to write a step by step on what source you add, how you add it, and what error message comes up when you have the problem. Gives us all a better idea on how to try to replicate the problem. I wonder if you and pigbait have the same mainboard.

[jjbull]

@Dc0de
Tried adding fusion and community portal ,it said something like couldn't connect to network or network unavailable can't quite remember but can dig the box out to find out.
When it happened it sounded like it was a problem on there end but it happened on everything I tried to add