Ubuntu 14.04 and 15.04 on MK808b Plus

[prahjister]

Try a different SD card it is a little picky

[pelangi]

Hi there, I know this thread is a bit old but I hope someone can help me out. I want to flash my MK808B plus with Linux but I can't get my stick to boot from SD card. I tried the pin method (reset hole) so many times but it always boots normally. Just to prove that I could actually flash on this machine I flash it with finless rom v1.1. I can't get my PC recognize it either (with Armlogic burn tool). I finally managed to flash it by installing "Reboot Recovery" app from Play Store and managed to get the stick booted from recovery. I successfully flashed finless rom but that's not what I need. I need to flash it with Ubuntu.

Anyone got any idea how to make this booting from SDCard or if anything else I can try? Thank you guys.

[bednarpe]

Has anybody tried odroid kernel builds or images? Linuxminipc does not even respond to emails about disclosing used source codes.

[bednarpe]

You can do it even without gigabites of additional space. Just use xzcat to directly stream uncompressed image to dd.

[u2nFT]

Just tried this on a second 808-b Plus that's been sitting in a drawer and, it works perfectly. Thanks, all!

Have to say I'm shocked at having a *buntu flavor running this zippy on such a device. Wow.

This is now clearly the best option, but the only one that doesn't have a sticky!

Checking, that appears to be due to the Q-and-A nature of the thread. Many FT visitors may not even find out about this! So to fix, wouldn't someone like sammaz, or other contributor here, post this as a How-To? Suggested title:

[ROM] [Ubuntu MATE] 15.04 (+updates) Best option for MK808-b Plus

As a help to those already running Linux, here's an enhanced how-to:

(Note: Google Drive downloads much faster so it's set as the default. The LinuxMiniPC file is (of course) identical.)

# For Those Running Linux

# Set archive name
aname=ubuntu-mate-15-04-s805-standard-0_95_Beta.img.xz

# Set download source
dlsrc=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxdG04mQGssLZkozdll0SDR2Q00/view?usp=sharing

# Set known md5 hash (for checking)
md5h=0b1c679e0f1ca396945d0f7f878776cb

# Change to downloads directory as desired
cd ~/Downloads

# Be sure at least 8 GB space is available on disk (for extraction)

# First determine and set which drive is the SD card.
#  WARNING: The following assumes SD card is sdc. Check, BE SURE and use what it actually is on your system!
# Insert SD card and let it auto-mount, verify which it is (use file browser if needed) and BE SURE.
dmesg | tail -n20
mount
df -h
target=/dev/sdc
# Do not proceed unless sure 'target' is correct.

# Download xz archive of disk image
wget -O $aname $dlsrc

# Check download
md5=$(md5sum $aname)
[[ "$(echo $md5 | grep -o "^\w*\b")" == $md5h ]] || {
  echo 'Bad download. Try again...'; exit 1
}

# Extract image to downloads folder
unxz $aname

# Prepare SD card by wiping
sudo umount $target
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=$target bs=4M

# Write image to SD card
[[ -f ${aname::-3} ]] && sudo dd if=${aname::-3} of=$target bs=4M
sync

# Check flash, if desired, by click-mounting the SD card in file browser. Then, power down card/reader, remove and continue at wiki to boot into recovery, flash the zip file, restart, and edit system file to enable higher screen resolution.

# Note: Connect a USB keyboard to continue using the device. Bluetooth keyboards can not be paired initially.

Any errors, pls let me know.

[DanielSB]

Guys, how would you go about installing this on the NAND? I'm thinking it might fix the Wi-Fi disconnect issue and occasional system freezes.

[yushir]

I have made a uboot/kernel source request to the owner of the code, should that succeed we might be able to fix many of the issues already present (e.g. HDMI output is hardcoded in the kernel). I may try what astateofmind said and use plain 3.10.70 headers (trying my luck) - in any case I believe that having the headers and using them along dkms should allow us to virtually build any module - including an updated Mali one (that doesn't have this weird transparency issues).
Regarding the AMLAUDIO component, I am for analyzing what the SettingsMbox.apk program is doing and try to emulate the same system calls (selection between PCM/SPDIF/HDMI).

[sammaz]

http://www.filedropper.com/showdownload.php/8723bs the module for ubuntu.

I got this 8723bs module working...Thanks so much! I couldnt believe it when I rebooted and it appeared and connected!

[DanielSB]

I've been doing some speed testing on three different SD cards, trying to pick one to use for a small web server, and I've noticed a couple of things:

1) The Wi-Fi dying and needing a reset issue seems to be tied to disk I/O — perhaps triggered by the kernel locking up due to the slow SD. I also noticed some fs-related oopses in dmesg sometimes preceding a WiFi "hiccup"

2) I've experienced several complete system freezes (as in needing to power cycle the stick) when doing heavy I/O, with either of the three cards, once again signifying a (more severe) problem tied to I/O congestion.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? Any ideas what's happening here? Is this installation using AUFS or UnionFS or something?

[astateofmind]

That was a while back, i remember doing some extensive search for headers and copying some code from another headers. Didn't keep the procedure and tried a lot of things, lol

[yushir]

Wihtout the proper kernel headers it's a try-and-fail scenario when trying to add a module. astateofmind Could you at least point where did you grab the headers?
We could install dkms as to easily compile the kernel modules and add support for other items (see: wifi, xpad...).

Has anyone managed to replace the kernel? As far as I can see from the boot.img, we have the following hardcoded:
setenv linuxargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rw console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 no_console_suspend vdaccfg=0xa000 hdmimode=720p m_bpp=32
setenv bootargs ${linuxargs}
bootm 0x12019000

(This is in case you're using the image marked as 32 bpp). This is not present in the uImage from ODroid (yet again, this image doesn't have any initramfs tools!).

From what I can understand, the following happens:
- The bootloader that's flashed in the bootloader.img partition (the zip file) 'loads' a file called 'boot.img' from the first partition of the SSD on the address 0x1201000 or 0x1200000.
- Then the 'kernel' sets his own booting parameters and boots.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I wonder this is done so that the kernel 'can't be replaced'.

[DanielSB]

One question for whomever knows: I am currently on finless rom. If I install openelec on nand and Ubuntu on sd card, will I be able to install back finless? I would like to try Ubuntu on the stick but if it doesn't meet my needs, can I install back Android? Not stock but this custom rom? It was pretty easy install from sd to nand over stock Android

Sent from my x600 using Tapatalk

Don't know why the instructions tell you to install OpenELEC to NAND first. I have Wetek Android on NAND, and running Ubuntu from SD works just fine without doing anything to the NAND. Just remember to flash the zip from the SD card in TWRP using the pinhole boot and you're all set

[DanielSB]

I have been wondering if this will work :

http://oph.mdrjr.net/odrobian/doc/or...roduction.html

Can someone take a fresh install of this Linux distro and try this -

[COLOR=#000000] odroid:$ sudo -s[/COLOR]
odroid:# apt-get update && apt-get install odrobian-platform-* This will basically upgrade Odrobian Platform to pull latest "insta-ORGA" utility. odroid:# insta-ORGA --defaults This will convert your system to RetroGaming Arcade with default recommended settings for your particular ODROID platform. odroid:# reboot

The question isn't whether this command would work, it's whether Odrobian could be installed on an MK808B Plus. I'd like to know, too, but you're probably not gonna get a lot of answers in this thread since it's about the Linux MiniPC Ubuntu image

[sammaz]

I have been wondering if this will work :

http://oph.mdrjr.net/odrobian/doc/or...roduction.html

Can someone take a fresh install of this Linux distro and try this -

[COLOR=#000000] odroid:$ sudo -s[/COLOR]  
 odroid:# apt-get update && apt-get install odrobian-platform-*  	This will basically upgrade Odrobian Platform to pull latest "insta-ORGA" utility.  odroid:# insta-ORGA --defaults 	This will convert your system to RetroGaming Arcade with default recommended settings for your particular ODROID platform. 	 odroid:# reboot

[yushir]

Ok, part by part. At least 1080p is working now:
You need to replace the last line 'echo 0x10001 > /sys/class/graphics/fb0/free_scale'
for 'echo 0 > /sys/class/graphics/fb0/free_scale', and you'll be getting a full 1080p output .