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GitHub Actions
is a service launched by Microsoft
. It provides a virtual server environment with very good performance configuration. Based on it, projects can be built, tested, packaged, and deployed. The public repository can be used for free without time limit, and the single compilation time is up to 6 hours
, which is enough for compiling Armbian
(we can usually complete a compilation in about 3 hours
). Sharing is only for the exchange of experience. Please understand the deficiencies. Please do not initiate various bad attacks on the Internet, and do not maliciously use it.
- How to build and use Armbian
- Tutorial directory
- 1. Register your own GitHub account
- 2. Set the privacy variable GitHub_TOKEN
- 3. Fork repository and set GH_TOKEN
- 4. Personalized Armbian firmware customization file description
- 5. Compile the firmware
- 6. Save the firmware
- 7. Download the firmware
- 8. Install Armbian to EMMC
- 8.1 Amlogic Series Installation Method
- 8.2 Rockchip Series Installation Method
- 8.3 Allwinner Series Installation Method
- 9. Compile the Armbian kernel
- 10. Update Armbian Kernel
- 11. Install common software
- 12. common problem
- 12.1 dtb and u-boot correspondence table for each box
- 12.2 LED screen display control instructions
- 12.3 How to restore the original Android TV system
- 12.4 Set the box to boot from USB/TF/SD
- 12.5 Disable infrared receiver
- 12.6 Selection of bootstrap file
- 12.7 Network settings
- 12.8 How to add startup tasks
- 12.9 How to update service scripts in the system
- 12.10 How to obtain Android partition info on eMMC
- 12.11 How to make u-boot file
- 12.12 Memory size recognition error
- 12.13 How to decompile a dtb file
- 12.14 How to modify cmdline settings
- 12.15 How to add new supported devices
- 12.16 12.16 How to fix I/O errors when writing to eMMC
- 12.17 How to fix the Bullseye version with no sound
Register your own account, so that you can continue to customize the firmware. Click the Sign up
button in the upper right corner of the github.com
website and follow the prompts to register your account
.
Set the GitHub privacy variable GitHub_TOKEN
. After the firmware is compiled, we need to upload the firmware to GitHub Releases
. We set this variable according to the official requirements of GitHub. The method is as follows:
Personal center
: Settings
> Developer settings
> Personal access tokens
> Generate new token
( Name: GitHub_TOKEN
, Select: public_repo
). Other options
can be selected according to your needs. Submit and save, copy the Encrypted KEY Value
generated by the system, and save it
to your computer's notepad first. This value will be used in the next step. The icons are as follows:
Now you can Fork
the repository
, open the repository https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian, click the Fork
button on the upper right
, Will copy a copy of the repository code to your account, wait a few seconds
, and prompt the Fork to complete Later, go to your account to access amlogic-s9xxx-armbian
in your repository
. In the upper right corner of Settings
> Secrets
> Actions
> New repostiory secret
(Name: GH_TOKEN
, Value: Fill in the value of GitHub_TOKEN
just now), save it
. And select Read and write permissions
under Actions
> General
> Workflow permissions
in the left nav and save. The icons are as follows:
The firmware compilation process is controlled in the .github/workflows/build-armbian.yml file. There are other yml files
in the workflows
directory to achieve other different functions. When compiling the firmware, the Armbian official current code is used for real-time compilation, and the relevant parameters can be found in the official documentation.
- name: Compile Armbian [ ${{ env.ARMBIAN_BOARD }} ]
id: compile
run: |
cd build/
./compile.sh RELEASE=${{ env.ARMBIAN_RELEASE }} BOARD=odroidn2 BRANCH=current BUILD_ONLY=default HOST=armbian EXPERT=yes \
BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=no KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no CLEAN_LEVEL="make,cache,alldebs,sources" COMPRESS_OUTPUTIMAGE="sha"
echo "build_tag=Armbian_${{ env.ARMBIAN_RELEASE }}_$(date +"%m.%d.%H%M")" >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
echo "status=success" >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
There are many ways to compile firmware, you can set timed compilation, manual compilation, or set some specific events to trigger compilation. Let's start with simple operations.
In the navigation bar of your repository
, click the Actions
button, and then click Build armbian
> Run workflow
> Run workflow
to start the compilation, wait about 3 hours
, and complete the compilation after all the processes are over. The icons are as follows:
In the .github/workflows/build-armbian.yml file, use cron
to set the timing compilation. The 5 different positions represent min (0 - 59) / hour (0 - 23) / day of month (1 - 31) / month (1 - 12) / day of week (0 - 6)(Sunday - Saturday). Set the time by modifying the values of different positions. The system uses UTC standard time
by default, please convert it according to the time zone of your country.
schedule:
- cron: '0 17 * * *'
The configuration information of the default firmware is recorded in the model_database.conf file, the BUILD
value of the firmware to be compiled is set to yes
, and the BOARD
name must be unique.
It is specified by the -b
parameter when compiling locally
, and specified by the armbian_board
parameter when compiling in Actions
of github.com.
In general, you only need to compile the general firmware. Other boxes in the same family can refer to the configuration file information table and use it by modifying the dtb
value in /boot/uEnv.txt
.
The settings saved by the firmware are also controlled in the .github/workflows/build-armbian.yml file. We will automatically upload the compiled firmware to the Releases
officially provided by GitHub
through scripts.
- name: Upload Armbian image to Release
uses: ncipollo/release-action@main
if: ${{ env.PACKAGED_STATUS }} == 'success' && !cancelled()
with:
tag: Armbian_${{ env.ARMBIAN_RELEASE }}_${{ env.PACKAGED_OUTPUTDATE }}
artifacts: ${{ env.PACKAGED_OUTPUTPATH }}/*
allowUpdates: true
token: ${{ secrets.GH_TOKEN }}
body: |
These are the Armbian OS image
* OS information
Default username: root
Default password: 1234
Install command: armbian-install
Update command: armbian-update
Enter from the GitHub Releases
section at the bottom right corner of the Repository homepage
, and select the firmware corresponding to the model of your Amlogic s9xxx TV Boxes
. The icons are as follows:
Amlogic, Rockchip and Allwinner have different installation methods. Different devices have different storage. Some devices use external TF cards, some have eMMC, and some support the use of NVMe and other storage media. According to different devices, their installation methods are introduced respectively. Use the different installation methods in the following summary according to your own devices.
When the installation is complete, Connect the Armbian device to the router
. After the device is powered on for 2 minutes
, check the IP
address of the device named Armbian
in the router, and use the SSH
tool to connect for management settings. The default user name is root
, the default password is 1234
, and the default port is 22
Login in to armbian (default user: root, default password: 1234) → input command:
armbian-install
Optional | Default | Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
-m | no | yes/no | Use Mainline u-boot |
-a | yes | yes/no | Use ampart tool |
-l | no | yes/no | List show all |
Example: armbian-install -m yes -a no
The installation method of each device is different, which are introduced as follows.
Radxa-Rock5B has a variety of storage media to choose from, including microSD/eMMC/NVMe, and the corresponding installation methods are different. Download rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin and spi_image.img files for backup. Download RKDevTool tool and drive backup. Download Rufus Or balenaEtcher disk writing tools for backup.
Using Rufus or balenaEtcher and other tools to write the Armbian system image into the microSD, and then insert the microSD with the firmware into the device for use.
- Install using USB to eMMC card reader: connect the eMMC module to the computer, and use Rufus Or balenaEtcher and other tools to write the image of the Armbian system into the eMMC, and then insert the eMMC with the firmware into the device for use.
- Install using Maskrom mode: Power off the board. Press the golden button and hold it. Plug the USB-A to Type-C cable to ROCK 5B Type-C port, the other side to PC. Release the golded button. Check usb device is in Found One MASKROM Device. Right-click in the blank area of the list and select Load configuration file(The configuration file and RKDevTool are in the same directory). Select
rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin
andArmbian.img
as shown in the figure below and write them in.
ROCK-5B has one SPI Flash on the board, it's useful to install the bootloader to the SPI flash for a back up booting and support other booting media that the SoC maskrom mode doesn't direct support, such as SATA, USB 3 or NVMe. Using NVMe requires writing SPI files first. The method is as follows:
Power off the board. Remove bootable device like MicroSD card, eMMC module, etc. Press the golden (or silver on some board revisions) button and hold it. Plug the USB-A to Type-C cable to ROCK-5B Type-C port, the other side to PC. Release the golded button. Check usb device is Found One MASKROM Device. Right-click in the list box and select Load Config,Then select the configuration file in the resource management folder(The configuration file and RKDevTool are in the same directory), click the right last columns in the Loader
row to select rk3588_spl_loader_v1.08.111.bin
, click the right last columns in the spi
row to select spi_image.img
. Finally, click the Run
button, and you will see the content in the red box on the right. When the progress reaches 100%, the download is completed. As shown in the figure below:
- Install with a card reader: insert the M.2 NVMe SSD into the M.2 NVMe SSD to the USB3.0 card reader to connect to the host. Use tools such as Rufus or balenaEtcher to write the Armbian system image to NVMe, and then insert the NVMe with the firmware into the device for use.
- Installation with microSD card: write the image of the Armbian system into the microSD card, insert the microSD card into the device, start it, and upload the Armbian image file is to the microSD card, and then use the
dd
command to write theArmbian.img
to NVMe. The command is as follows:
dd if=armbian.img of=/dev/nvme0n1 bs=1M status=progress
Use tools such as Rufus or balenaEtcher to write the Armbian system image into the microSD, and then insert the microSD with the firmware into the device for use.
- Download the RKDevTool tool and driver, decompress and install the DriverAssistant driver, and open the RKDevTool tool for standby.
- When the R68s is powered off, first insert the USB dual male cable, then press and hold the Recovery key and plug in the 12V power supply. After two seconds, release the Recovery key, and the brushing tool will
find a LOADER device
. - Right click the blank space of the RKDevTool tool operation interface to add an item.
- The address is
0x00000000
and the name isarmbian
. Click the path on the right to selectarmbian.img
system files. - Select an additional armbian line,
deselect other lines
, and clickRun
Write. - Note: If other systems are written to eMMC, please first erase them in the advanced functions, and then write them to the Armian system. If it cannot be erased, first rewrite the
MiniLoaderAll.bin
boot file, and then enterMASKROM
again to write to the Armbian system. MiniLoaderAll.bin boot file settings: address0xCCCCCCCC
, nameLoader
, path selectionMiniLoaderAll.bin
file under the Image directory of RKDevTool tool.
Method reproduced from milton's tutorial. Flashing needs to enter Maskrom mode. Disconnect all connections first, short the two contacts of CLK and GND (use the GND of TTL, or the GND of the small button next to it), and then connect the USB to the PC to detect the MASKROM device. The position of the short-circuit point is as follows:
Open the RKDevTool flashing tool, right-click to add an item.
- Address
0xCCCCCCCC
, nameBoot
, path selectrk3328_loader_v1.14.249.bin
. - Address
0x00000000
, namesystem
, path selectArmbian.img
firmware.
Click to execute the write.
Method reproduced from cc747's tutorial. Flashing needs to enter Maskrom mode. Make l1pro power off and unplug all cables. Use a USB double-male cable, plug one end into the USB2.0 port of l1pro, and plug the other end into the computer. Insert a paper clip into the Reset hole and press it down firmly. Plug in the power cord. Wait for a few seconds until Found a LOADER device
appears at the bottom of the RKDevTool box before releasing the paperclip. Switch RKDevTool to Advanced Functions
and click the Enter Maskrom
button, prompting Found a MASKROM device
.
Right click to add item.
- Address
0xCCCCCCCC
, nameBoot
, path selectrk3328_loader.bin
. - Address
0x00000000
, namesystem
, path to select theArmbian.img
firmware to flash.
Click to execute the write.
Login in to armbian (default user: root, default password: 1234) → input command:
armbian-install
Supports compiling the kernel in Ubuntu20.04/22.04 or Armbian system. It supports local compilation and cloud compilation using GitHub Actions. For details, see Kernel Compilation Instructions.
Login in to armbian → input command:
# Run as root user (sudo -i)
# If no other parameters are specified, the following update command will update to the latest version of the current kernel of the same series.
armbian-update
Optional | Default | Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
-k | latest | kernel name | Set the kernel name |
-v | stable | stable/rk3588/dev | Set the kernel version branch |
-m | no | yes/no | Use Mainline u-boot |
-b | yes | yes/no | Automatically backup the current system kernel |
-r | "" | "" | [Rescue] Update eMMC with system kernel from USB |
Example: armbian-update -k 5.15.50 -v dev
When updating the kernel, the kernel used by the current system will be automatically backed up. The storage path is in the /ddbr/backup
directory, and the three recently used versions of the kernel will be preserved. If the newly installed kernel is unstable, the backed up kernel can be restored at any time:
# Enter the backup kernel directory, such as 5.10.125
cd /ddbr/backup/5.10.125
# Executing the update kernel command will automatically install the kernel in the current directory
armbian-update
When the system cannot be started from eMMC due to incomplete updates and other problems caused by special reasons, you can start any kernel version of the Armian system from USB, and run the armbian-update -r
command to update the system kernel in USB to eMMC to achieve the purpose of rescue.
If the network where you access github.com is blocked and you cannot download updates online, you can manually download the kernel, upload it to any directory on the Armbian system, enter the kernel directory, and execute armbian-update
for local installation. If there is a set of kernel files in the current directory, it will be updated with the kernel in the current directory (The 4 kernel files required for the update are header-xxx.tar.gz
, boot-xxx.tar.gz
, dtb-xxx.tar.gz
, modules-xxx.tar.gz
. Other kernel files are not required. If they exist at the same time, it will not affect the update. The system can accurately identify the required kernel files). The optional kernel supported by the device can be freely updated, such as from 5.10.125 kernel to 5.15.50 kernel.
Login in to armbian → input command:
armbian-software
Use the armbian-software -u
command to update the local software center list. According to the user's demand feedback in the Issue, gradually integrate commonly used software to achieve one-click install/update/uninstall and other shortcut operations. Including docker images
, desktop software
, application services
, etc. See more Description.
In the use of Armbian, some common problems that may be encountered are summarized below.
Please refer to Description
Please refer to Description
Usually use armbian-ddbr backup to restore, or use Amlogic usb burning tool to restore the original Android TV system.
It is recommended that you make a backup of the original Android TV system that comes with the current box before installing the Armbian system in a new box, so that you can use it when you need to restore the system. Please boot the Armbian system from TF/SD/USB
, enter the armbian-ddbr
command, and then enter b
according to the prompts to backup the system. The backup file is stored in the path /ddbr/BACKUP-arm-64-emmc. img.gz
, please download and save. When you need to restore the Android TV system, upload the previously backed up files to the same path of the TF/SD/USB
device, enter the armbian-ddbr
command, and then enter r
according to the prompt to restore the system.
-
Under normal circumstances, re-insert the USB hard disk and install it again.
-
If you cannot start the Armbian system from the USB hard disk again, connect the Amlogic s9xxx TV Boxes to the computer monitor. If the screen is completely black and there is nothing, you need to restore the Amlogic s9xxx TV Boxes to factory settings first, and then reinstall it. First download the amlogic_usb_burning_tool system recovery tool and install it. Prepare a USB dual male data cable, Prepare a paper clip.
-
Take x96max+ as an example. Find the two short-circuit points on the motherboard, Download the Android TV firmware. The Android TV system firmware of other common devices and the corresponding short circuit diagrams can also be downloaded and viewed here.
Operation method:
1. Open the USB Burning Tool:
[ File → Import image ]: X96Max_Plus2_20191213-1457_ATV9_davietPDA_v1.5.img
[ Check ]:Erase flash
[ Check ]:Erase bootloader
Click the [ Start ] button
2. Use a [ paper clip ] to connect the [ two shorting points ] on the main board of the box,
and use a [ USB dual male data cable ] to connect the [ box ] to the [ computer ] at the same time.
3. Loosen the short contact after seeing the [ progress bar moving ].
4. After the [ progress bar is 100% ], the restoration of the original Android TV system is completed.
Click [ stop ], unplug the [ USB male-to-male data cable ] and [ power ].
5. If the progress bar is interrupted, repeat the above steps until it succeeds.
If the progress bar does not respond after the short-circuit, plug in the [ power ] supply after the short-circuit.
Generally, there is no need to plug in the power supply.
When the factory reset is completed, the box has been restored to the Android TV system, and other operations to install the Armbian system are the same as the requirements when you installed the system for the first time before, just do it again.
- Write the firmware to USB/TF/SD, insert it into the box after writing.
- Open the developer mode: Settings → About this machine → Version number (for example: X96max plus...), click on the version number for 5 times in quick succession, See the prompt of
Enable Developer Mode
displayed by the system. - Turn on USB debugging: System → Advanced options → Developer options again (after entering, confirm that the status is on, and the
USB debugging
status in the list is also on). EnableADB
debugging. - Install ADB tools: Download adb and unzip it, copy the three files
adb.exe
,AdbWinApi.dll
, andAdbWinUsbApi.dll
to the two filessystem32
andsyswow64
under the directory ofc://windows/
Folder, then open thecmd
command panel, useadb --version
command, if it is displayed, it is ready to use. - Enter the
cmd
command mode. Enter theadb connect 192.168.1.137
command (the ip is modified according to your box, and you can check it in the router device connected to the box), If the link is successful, it will displayconnected to 192.168.1.137:5555
- Enter the
adb shell reboot update
command, the box will restart and boot from the USB/TF/SD you inserted, access the firmware IP address from a browser, or SSH to enter the firmware.
Support for the infrared receiver is enabled by default but if you are using your TV box as a server then you may wish to disable the IR kernel module to prevent switching your TV box off by mistake. To completely disable IR, add the line:
blacklist meson_ir
to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and reboot.
-
Of the currently known devices, only a few devices such as
T95(s905x)
/T95Z-Plus(s912)
/BesTV-R3300L(s905l-b)
need to use the/bootfs/extlinux/extlinux.conf
file, it has been added by default in the firmware. For other devices, if necessary, you can write the Armbian firmware to the USB, double-click to open theboot
partition, and delete the.bak
in the/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf.bak
file name that comes with the firmware to use it.armbian-install
automatically checks when writing to eMMC and creates anextlinux.conf
file if it exists. -
Other devices only need
/boot/uEnv.txt
to boot, do not modify theextlinux.conf.bak
file.
The default content of the network configuration file /etc/network/interfaces
is as follows:
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
# Network is managed by Network manager
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
The IP, gateway and DNS are modified according to your own network conditions.
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
auto eth0
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1
The MAC address in it can be modified according to your needs.
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
allow-hotplug eth0
no-auto-down eth0
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet manual
auto macvlan
iface macvlan inet dhcp
pre-up ip link add macvlan link eth0 type macvlan mode bridge
post-down ip link del macvlan link eth0 type macvlan mode bridge
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
A custom startup task script file has been added to the system, and the path in the Armbian system is /etc/custom_service/start_service.sh file, you can customize and add related tasks in this script according to your personal needs.
Use the armbian-sync
command to update all service scripts on the local system to the latest version.
When writing the Armbian system onto eMMC where Android system resides, you need to confirm the Android system partition table of the device beforehand, to ensure that the data is written to a safe area, and try not to damage the Android system partition table, so as to avoid problems such as the system not being able to boot. If you write to an unsafe area, you will either not be able to start, or get an error similar to the following:
If you're using Armbian released in this repo after Nov.2022, you can copy&paste the following command to get a URL that records the whole partition info (the device itself does not need to be online)
ampart /dev/mmcblk2 --mode webreport 2>/dev/null
The webreport mode of ampart was added in the v1.2 version released on Feb 3rd 2022, if the above command outputs nothing, then the built-in ampart in your installation is probably older than this. You could use the following command instead:
echo "https://7ji.github.io/ampart-web-reporter/?dsnapshot=$(ampart /dev/mmcblk2 --mode dsnapshot 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)&esnapshot=$(ampart /dev/mmcblk2 --mode esnapshot 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)"
The URL should look like this:
https://7ji.github.io/ampart-web-reporter/?esnapshot=bootloader:0:4194304:0%20reserved:37748736:67108864:0%20cache:113246208:754974720:2%20env:876609536:8388608:0%20logo:893386752:33554432:1%20recovery:935329792:33554432:1%20rsv:977272832:8388608:1%20tee:994050048:8388608:1%20crypt:1010827264:33554432:1%20misc:1052770304:33554432:1%20instaboot:1094713344:536870912:1%20boot:1639972864:33554432:1%20system:1681915904:1073741824:1%20params:2764046336:67108864:2%20bootfiles:2839543808:754974720:2%20data:3602907136:4131389440:4&dsnapshot=logo::33554432:1%20recovery::33554432:1%20rsv::8388608:1%20tee::8388608:1%20crypt::33554432:1%20misc::33554432:1%20instaboot::536870912:1%20boot::33554432:1%20system::1073741824:1%20cache::536870912:2%20params::67108864:2%20data::-1:4
Copy the URL to your browser to open it, and you will see well-formatted DTB partition info and eMMC partition info:
When sharing the partition info to others (e.g. to post it to this repo to get a new device supported, or to get help from others), always prefer the URL itself than a screenshot of the opened webpage. If a long URL annoys you, you could always use some free URL shortener
- On one hand, the partition infos on the webpage are actually generated on each access, so notes about whether some partitions could be written to and the format of the table could change
- On the other hand, it's very inconvenient to get the number from a screenshot to do some calculations
Addtionally, you do not need to prepare/post a spreadsheet file, either. The layout on the webpage is designed speciially so any one could just copy&paste to Excel or LibreOffice Calc if they really need a spreadsheet.
The DTB table represents the partition layout the firmware on the box wants, recorded in the Android DTB, usually ends with a auto-fill data
partition, so the layout here could be same across all of the boxes that share the same firmware (therefore certainly the same model). The actual partition layout, though, will be different depending on the capacity of the eMMC, but it's always decided by the DTB partition layout (so you could always deduct the eMMC partition layout from a certain DTB partition layout and the capacity. The above DTB partition info and eMMC partition info did not come from the same box, could you notice why?)
The eMMC table represents the actual eMMC partition layout, in which in row represents an area, each of the area could be either a partition, or a gap between partitions (Amlogic's quirks again, they decided to leave at least a 8M gap between partitions for possible usage in the future, yet never use it, even on their newest S905X4). The lines that represent partitions have black text color and have values in their offset and masks columns; the lines that represent gaps have grey text color and have no values in their offset and masks columns.
The last column in each row of the eMMC table marks the writable status of the area. A green yes
means you can safely write to it; a red no
means you should never write to it; a yellow note means writable on some conditions, or only partially writable.
Take the above table for example, the bootloader
partition's 0+4M (0M~4M
) is not writable; the 32M gap (4M~36M
) after it is writable; the reserved
partition's 36M+64M
(36M~100M
) is not writable; then all until the env
partition is writable (100M~836M
); the env
partition's 1M afterwards is writable (837M~end
). Then all possible writable areas on eMMC are:
- 4M~36M
- 100M~836M
- 837M~end
If Android logo is still needed, then logo
partition's 852M+32M (852M~884M) is not writable. Then all possible writable areas on eMMC are:
- 4M~36M
- 100M~836M
- 837M~852M
- 884M~end
If eMMC installation on the device using armbian-install
with -a yes
fails (which will use ampart to adjust the eMMC partition layout automatically), then the optimal eMMC partition layout could not be applied on your box (i.e. the DTB partitions will be reduced to auto-filling data
only, then eMMC partition layout will be generated from this, then still existing partitions will be moved as to the beginning of eMMC as possible, so all area after 117M became writable), you will need to modify the partition info in armbian-install.
There are 3 key arguments about the partition layout in the file: BLANK1
, BOOT
, BLANK2
. In which, BLANK1
stands for the area that can't be used from the beginning of the eMMC; BOOT
stands for the area that could be used to store the kernel, dtbs, etc after BLANK1
, better not smaller than 256M; BLANK2
stands for the area that can't be used after BOOT
; All areas after BOOT
will be used to create a ROOT
partition to store all of the data outside of /boot
. All of the three arguments should be integer, and the unit isMiB (1 MiB = 1024 KiB = 1024^2 Byte)
Consider the above situation where we don't need a logo
partition. We surely want to utilize all of the space, yet 4M~36M
is too small to be used for BOOT
so we have to include it in the unusable BLANK1
. The 100M~836M
then is well enough for BOOT
so it could take all of it. The unusable 836M~837M
then goes to BLANK2
. The arguments then should be like the following (an example for s905x3
, adapt it to other SoCs when editting):
# Set partition size (Unit: MiB)
elif [[ "${AMLOGIC_SOC}" == "s905x3" ]]; then
BLANK1="100"
BOOT="736"
BLANK2="1"
The u-boot file is an important file to guide the system to start normally.
Extraction requires the use of HxD software. You can download it from Official website download link or Backup download link to get the installation.
Execute the following commands in sequence in the cmd
panel to extract the relevant files and download them to the local computer.
# use the adb tool to enter the box
adb connect 192.168.1.111
adb shell
# export bootloader command
dd if=/dev/block/bootloader of=/data/local/bootloader.bin
# export dtb command
cat /dev/dtb >/data/local/mybox.dtb
# export gpio command
cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio >/data/local/mybox_gpio.txt
# Download the bootloader, dtb and gpio files to your local computer
adb pull /data/local/bootloader.bin C:\mybox
adb pull /data/local/mybox.dtb C:\mybox
adb pull /data/local/mybox_gpio.txt C:\mybox
The most important part of the mainline u-boot is acs.bin, which is used to initialize the memory. The original u-boot is located in the first 4MB of the firmware. Extract the acs.bin
file using the bootloader.bin
file you just obtained.
Open HxD software, open the bootloader.bin
file exported above, right click - select range
, start position F200
, length 1000
, select hexadecimal
.
Copy the selected result, then create a new file, paste insert, ignore warnings, save as acs.bin file.
If the bootloader is locked, the code in this area is garbled and useless. Normally, there should be a lot of 0
as shown in the above picture, and cfg
will appear several times in a row, and the words related to ddr
will appear in the middle. This kind of normal code can be used.
To make u-boot, you need https://github.com/unifreq/amlogic-boot-fip and https://github.com/unifreq/u-boot two source libraries, and compile the two u-boot files of your own box .
In the amlogic-boot-fip source code, only the acs.bin file is different for each model, and other files can be used in common.
For the method of making u-boot, please refer to the specific instructions in https://github.com/unifreq/u-boot/tree/master/doc/board/amlogic, and select the model of your own device to compile and test.
To make u-boot according to the method of unifreq, you need to use the acs.bin, dts and config files of the box. The dts exported from the Android system cannot be directly converted into the Armbian format, and you need to write a corresponding dts file yourself. According to the different parts of the specific hardware of your own equipment, such as switches, LEDs, power control, tf cards, sdio wifi modules, etc., use the similar dts file in the kernel source library for modification and production.
Take the u-boot for X96Max Plus as an example:
~/make-uboot
├── amlogic-boot-fip
│ ├── x96max-plus # Create your own directory
│ │ ├── asc.bin # Make your own source files
│ │ └── other-copy-files... # Copy files from other directories
│ │
│ ├── other-source-directories...
│ └── other-source-files...
│
└── u-boot
├── configs
│ └── x96max-plus_defconfig # Make your own source files
├── arch
│ └── arm
│ └── dts
│ ├── meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-u-boot.dtsi # Make your own source files
│ ├── meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dts # Make your own source files
│ └── Makefile # Edit
├── fip
│ ├── u-boot.bin # Generated file
│ └── u-boot.bin.sd.bin # Generated file
├── u-boot.bin # Generated file
│
├── other-source-directories...
└── other-source-files...
- Download the amlogic-boot-fip source code. Create the x96max-plus directory in the root directory. Except for the
asc.bin
file made by yourself, other files can be copied from other directories. - Download u-boot source code. Make the corresponding x96max-plus_defconfig file and put it in the configs directory. Make the corresponding meson-sm1-x96-max-plus-u-boot.dtsi and meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dts file and put it in the arch/arm/dts directory, and edit the Makefile file in this directory to add the index of the
meson-sm1-x96-max-plus.dtb
file. - Go to the root directory of the u-boot source code directory and follow the steps in the document https://github.com/unifreq/u-boot/blob/master/doc/board/amlogic/x96max-plus.rst
There are two types of final generated files: the u-boot.bin
file in the u-boot root directory is the incomplete version of u-boot used in the /boot
directory (corresponding to overload directory); u-boot.bin
and u-boot.bin.sd.bin
in the fip
directory are the full version u-boot files used in the /usr/lib/u-boot/
directory (corresponding to bootloader directory), the difference between the two files of the full version is 512 bytes, and the larger one is filled with 512 bytes of 0 in front.
💡Tip: Before writing to eMMC for testing, please check the Brick Rescue Method in 12.3. Be sure to master the position of the short contact, have the original Android system file in .img format, and perform a short-circuit flash test to ensure that the brick-rescue method has been mastered before writing the test.
If the memory size is incorrectly recognized (1-2G is not normal for 4G memory, and 3.7G is normal), you can try to manually copy a /boot/UBOOT_OVERLOAD
file (note that it is a copy
, not renaming
, after renaming It will not boot after install and update operations), save as /boot/u-boot.ext
when using in USB
, and save as /boot/u-boot.emmc
when using in eMMC
.
Don't copy the u-boot file manually, except to try to solve the memory problem, adding it incorrectly will result in failure to boot and various problems.
Some new devices are not in the current support list (or have variants), you can try by decompiling and adjusting related parameters.
# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y device-tree-compiler
# 1. Decompile command (use dtb file to generate dts source code)
dtc -I dtb -O dts -o xxx.dts xxx.dtb
# 2. Compile command (use dts to compile to generate dtb file)
dtc -I dts -O dtb -o xxx.dtb xxx.dts
In Amlogic devices, settings such as adding/modifying/deleting can be done in the /boot/uEnv.txt
file. On Rockchip devices this is set in the /boot/armbianEnv.txt
file. A reboot is required after each change to take effect.
For example, the Home Assistant Supervisor
application only supports the docker cgroup v1
version, and currently docker installs the latest v2 version by default. If you need to switch to v1 version, you can add systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0
parameter setting in cmdline, and you can switch to docker cgroup v1
version after restarting.
To build an Armbian system for a device, you need to use four parts: device configuration file
, system files
, u-boot files
, and process control files
. The specific adding methods are as follows:
In the configuration file /etc/model_database.conf, add the corresponding configuration information according to the test support of the device. Where the value of BUILD
is yes
, it is part of the devices built by default, and the corresponding BOARD
value must be unique
, these boxes can directly use the Armbian system built by default.
The default value is no
and there is no packaging. When using these devices, you need to download the same FAMILY
Armbian system. After writing to USB
, you can open the boot partition in USB
on the computer and modify FDT dtb name
in /boot/uEnv.txt
file, other devices in the adaptation list.
The common files are placed in the directory build-armbian/armbian-files/common-files
, common to all platforms.
The platform files are placed in the build-armbian/armbian-files/platform-files/<platform>
directory, Amlogic, [Rockchip](../ armbian-files/platform-files/rockchip) and Allwinner respectively share the files of their respective platforms, where the bootfs
directory is the file of the /boot partition, The rootfs
directory contains the Armbian system files.
If individual devices have special differential setting requirements, add an independent directory named BOARD
under the build-armbian/armbian-files/different-files
directory, and create the bootfs
directory to add the relevant files under the system /boot
partition as needed, Create a rootfs
directory to add system files as needed. The name of each folder is based on the actual path in the Armian
system. It is used to add new files or overwrite files with the same name added from the general files and platform files.
Amlogic
series devices share the bootloader files and u-boot files. If there is a new file, respectively into the corresponding directory. The bootloader
files will be automatically added to the /usr/lib/u-boot
directory of the Armbian system when the system is built, and the u-boot
files will be automatically added to the /boot
directory.
For Rockchip
and Allwinner
series devices, add an independent u-boot file directory named after BOARD
for each device. The corresponding series of files are placed in this directory.
When building an Armenian image, these u-boot files will be written into the corresponding Armbian image file by the rebuild script according to the configuration in /etc/model_database.conf.
Add the corresponding BOARD
option to armbian_board
in yml workflow control file, which supports the use in Actions
of github.com.
Some devices can start Armbian normally from USB/SD/TF, but will report I/O error when writing to eMMC, such as Issues, the error content is as follows:
[ 284.338449] I/O error, dev mmcblk2, sector 0 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x800 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 284.341544] Buffer I/O error on dev mmcblk2, logical block 0, lost async page write
[ 284.446972] I/O error, dev mmcblk2, sector 0 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x800 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 284.450074] Buffer I/O error on dev mmcblk2, logical block 0, lost async page write
[ 284.497746] I/O error, dev mmcblk2, sector 0 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x800 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 284.500871] Buffer I/O error on dev mmcblk2, logical block 0, lost async page write
In this case, you can adjust the working mode speed and frequency of the dtb used to stabilize the read and write support for storage. When using sdr mode, the frequency is 2 times the speed, and when using ddr mode, the frequency is equal to the speed. as follows:
sd-uhs-sdr12
sd-uhs-sdr25
sd-uhs-sdr50
sd-uhs-ddr50
sd-uhs-sdr104
max-frequency = <208000000>;
Take the code snippet in the dts file of the kernel source code as an example:
/* SD card */
&sd_emmc_b {
status = "okay";
bus-width = <4>;
cap-sd-highspeed;
sd-uhs-sdr12;
sd-uhs-sdr25;
sd-uhs-sdr50;
max-frequency = <100000000>;
};
/* eMMC */
&sd_emmc_c {
status = "okay";
bus-width = <8>;
cap-mmc-highspeed;
max-frequency = <100000000>;
};
Generally, the problem can be solved by reducing the frequency of &sd_emmc_c
from max-frequency = <200000000>;
to max-frequency = <100000000>;
. If it doesn’t work, you can continue to lower it to 50000000
for testing, and adjust &sd_emmc_b
to set USB/SD/TF
, or use sd-uhs-sdr
to limit the speed. You can get the test file by modifying the dts file and compiling it, or you can decompile and modify the existing dtb file to generate the test file by the method introduced in Chapter 12.13
. The decompiled dtb file is modified using hexadecimal values, where the hexadecimal value of 200000000
in decimal is 0xbebc200
, the hexadecimal value of 100000000
in decimal is 0x5f5e100
, the hexadecimal value of 50000000
in decimal is 0x2faf080
, and the hexadecimal value of 25000000
in decimal is 0x17d7840
.
In addition to solving problems through the system software layer, you can also use money ability and hands-on ability to solve.
Please refer to the method in Bullseye NO Sound to set.