Dual boot possible on UGOOS x3 plus?

[Red_Eye80]

So, apart from ''stock Android mode'' I've been using my Ugoos X3 plus with Emuelec running off SD card and roms stored on an external hard drive with relatively good results and happy with it.

Trouble is I keep having to insert and eject the micro sd card (in order to use Android TV as well) which is not the most convenient, especially because I now want to mount the box on the wall behind the TV and tidy up all the cables power supplies etc. Although still accessible, I will not be able to keep messing with the SD card, and I have the impression that inserting/ejecting every day wears the slot down?

So, Is there a way to have a boot menu/dialogue when I turn on the device so that I can choose whether to boot from SD or Internal storage? A google search came with relative results regarding dual boot with core elec and android but having both OS in the internal storage which I'm not interested in doing.

So is there a way to choose between internal and sd boot upon launch?

By the way don't know if this is the right section, but could not find a forum dedicated to Emuelec. Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

...So, Is there a way to have a boot menu/dialogue when I turn on the device so that I can choose whether to boot from SD or Internal storage?...

Use this app Reboot to LibreELEC...

[Red_Eye80]

Use this app Reboot to LibreELEC...

Thank you for your reply. It looks like it could work if I make the box boot into android which is in the internal storage first, and not the SD card, which is where CoreElec lives.
Because the way it runs at the moment (stock), it ignores Android (internal) if an SD card (in my case CoreElec) is present in the slot. Any ideas?

Also, I don't have root (active) which seems to be required for this app to work, but Ugoos Android gives the option to turn Root on or off if needed.

[mo123]

Thank you for your reply. It looks like it could work if I make the box boot into android which is in the internal storage first, and not the SD card, which is where CoreElec lives.
Because the way it runs at the moment (stock), it ignores Android (internal) if an SD card (in my case CoreElec) is present in the slot. Any ideas?

Also, I don't have root (active) which seems to be required for this app to work, but Ugoos Android gives the option to turn Root on or off if needed.

With the dual-boot Android firmware, it remembers the last OS which you used.
Eg. used Android before powering off, it boots to Android when powered on.
Used CoreELEC last, it boots to CoreELEC if powered on.

For Android you can also set a reboot app to auto start(with help from another app) to show you the reboot option.
Micro-sd cards have first boot priority, works like that on all Android media players from Amlogic, Rockchip.

Root can be enabled in Ugoos settings.

The only way to have a menu on startup to choose the operating system from different storage mediums like emmc, micro-sd card, USB is to buy a development board with SPI flash storage that can control the booting process. Radxa RockPi 4B, Firefly Station P1, both Rockhip devices are 2 such devices but the mainline LibreELEC support is currently in a worse state than CoreELEC(based on older vendor kernel) only usable for Amlogic devices.

[Red_Eye80]

Thanks Mo123 for clarifying:

The only way to have a menu on startup to choose the operating system from different storage mediums like emmc, micro-sd card, USB is to buy a development board with SPI flash storage that can control the booting process. Radxa RockPi 4B, Firefly Station P1, both Rockhip devices are 2 such devices but the mainline LibreELEC support is currently in a worse state than CoreELEC(based on older vendor kernel) only usable for Amlogic devices.

Basically scrap the idea of a boot menu for the moment.

With the dual-boot Android firmware, it remembers the last OS which you used.
Eg. used Android before powering off, it boots to Android when powered on.
Used CoreELEC last, it boots to CoreELEC if powered on.

For Android you can also set a reboot app to auto start(with help from another app) to show you the reboot option.
Micro-sd cards have first boot priority, works like that on all Android media players from Amlogic, Rockchip.

Root can be enabled in Ugoos settings.

I just had a try with ''Reboot to LibreElec''. The app works but the trick doesn't. If the SD is in, the box boots into CoreElec everytime like you said.

So Emuelec cannot be in the SD card, but coexist in the internal storage with Android. Am I right? Could you please post a link or some instructions on how to do this?

OR maybe have Android in the SD card and then using something like ''Reboot to LibreElec'' to access CoreElec in the internal drive without removing the SD card? Would that work? (sounds complicated and risky?)

Lastly, WHAT IF, I had EmuElec in a usb stick? Would the app ''Reboot to LibreElec'' work?

[mo123]

Thanks Mo123 for clarifying:



Basically scrap the idea of a boot menu for the moment.




I just had a try with ''Reboot to LibreElec''. The app works but the trick doesn't. If the SD is in, the box boots into CoreElec everytime like you said.

So Emuelec cannot be in the SD card, but coexist in the internal storage with Android. Am I right? Could you please post a link or some instructions on how to do this?

OR maybe have Android in the SD card and then using something like ''Reboot to LibreElec'' to access CoreElec in the internal drive without removing the SD card? Would that work? (sounds complicated and risky?)

Lastly, WHAT IF, I had EmuElec in a usb stick? Would the app ''Reboot to LibreElec'' work?

The dual-boot Android/CoreELEC firmware works very well.
CoreELEC doesn't need more than 4GB storage to run, works on devices with only 1GB storage, but I think Ugoos increased it so you can download the Netflix addon's ChromeOS DRM files.
There is a menu inside CoreELEC to boot to Android and in the Android OS there is a reboot app(littlevictor - https://apkpure.com/power-menu-root/...ctor.powermenu) with a menu to boot to CoreELEC.
This one doesn't have the menu but the one in the firmware does. You can also add your own menus.
You can also install emulation addons in CoreELEC.

You can download ATV dual-boot here

https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/amlogic-based-tv-players/s922x/others-s922x/firmware-roms-tools-dq/779098-rom-ugoos-am6-atv_by_sasvlad-androidtv-9-0

or the AOSP dual-boot here

https://mega.nz/folder/Ow0gXbpY#J-leds4MmeLtP4XqFlXFTw/folder/H9UEABoD

the non ota ones.

Flashing firmware

https://www.getdroidtips.com/stock-firmware-ugoos-am6-tv-box/

Reboot to CoreELEC I think only works for the same storage, specially created partitions by CoreELEC.
But I think I read in the past CoreELEC can also boot from USB.

I'll try to contact Ugoos support and suggest if they can add something like this:
If a certain file is copied onto your micro-sd card then the booting process ignores the micro-sd card first booting.
And in Android add another menu to also boot an OS from a micro-sd card but only once if you want to use single boot on emmc and have CoreELEC on micro-sd card instead.

[Red_Eye80]

Thanks everyone for your good tips. I really appreciate your time and will definitely give it ago in the near future. Especially if Ugoos implements that good idea which Mo123 sugested with the files. Since windows pcs have done the boot menu thing since ages, I thought it would be relatively easy with android boxes too. lol

However, I don't want to go ahead and reflash the box as I've spent quite some time recently with tweaking the stock UGOOS launcher and all my streaming and gaming apps and I must admit I really like the way it works at the moment in ''Android mode''. I'm happy with the UGOOS launcher also. So I did not want to mess with the internal ram and having to do it all over again. I have done it in the past with my minix neo x7 and then the t95q and although successful, it took me a while to get things running how I wanted to again. Also a lot of the buttons on the stock remotes stopped working and had to remap them again with 3rd party apps. (Admittingly though, the stock T95Q Rom was atrocious compared to say different ROMs that I tried. I eventually stuck with Xannytech's.)

Nevertheless, after a bit of testing today I found out that the UGOOS X3 plus will boot to CoreElec whether it's present on SD card or USB stick (both USB ports work), every time and ignore internal Ram. So reboot to LibreElec is not required any longer. But it also means that I can have LibreElec in the USB drive, even together with the games, and just use the SD card for Android internal Ram.

So a simple usb male to female extension cable which I already own does the trick. I can still hide the box and most of its cables, and plug in the usb drive in the extension when I want to do some Retro gaming, then shut down, pull the drive out and once I turn back on I can use the box in Android mode. The box turns on from a cold boot using the stock remote anyway, and it has a wired IR receiver just for that remote too which I can stick next to that USB extension cable.

In other words, consider my problem solved guys! Thank you!!