S912 support, what is needed ?

1st Official Post
    Quote from kszaq

    I have no plans to build for S912.

    Could you be more specific?
    Not now or never?
    What's wrong with the S912?
    Not even if somebody send you an S912 player?

    I'm happy with my MINI MX-G but I have to use two LE version on two SD card (one for view pictures and one for watch movies) because the S905 has not enough power to render 4k GUI.
    I hoped the S912 will solve this problem but without you and your LE version the S912 is just another cheap chinese junk.

    Quote from Pelican


    Could you be more specific?
    Not now or never?
    What's wrong with the S912?
    Not even if somebody send you an S912 player?

    It means that I hardly have enough time to support S805 and S905. You have to remember that I have a family and a day job. ;)

    Quote from Pelican


    I'm happy with my MINI MX-G but I have to use two LE version on two SD card (one for view pictures and one for watch movies) because the S905 has not enough power to render 4k GUI.
    I hoped the S912 will solve this problem but without you and your LE version the S912 is just another cheap chinese junk.

    The S912 is basically a rip off in my mind. The only reason box makers are putting it in their boxes is to make a buck off people who don't read the specs. There is no real advantage over the S905X for watching videos or viewing pictures, yet it costs much more because of the increased core count and "gaming" GPU.. Bottom line is if you want a premium TV box you are better off spending your money on a well-supported S905 box like the Wetek Hub rather than a generic S912 box. The problem you are facing is more likely related to software limitation/bugs than hardware. The hardware of the S905 is capable of 4k.

    Another factor is that all of this development is tied to what is going on with the Wetek boxes and the Odroid. Neither of those players are jumping at the S912 (because it is a stupid chip to put in a TV box) so there is no development happening whatsoever for that chip and I wouldn't expect any in the future. If Odroid or Wetek build anything with the S912 I will be very surprised.

    Quote from oksmb


    The S912 is basically a rip off in my mind. The only reason box makers are putting it in their boxes is to make a buck off people who don't read the specs. There is no real advantage over the S905X for watching videos or viewing pictures, yet it costs much more because of the increased core count and "gaming" GPU.. Bottom line is if you want a premium TV box you are better off spending your money on a well-supported S905 box like the Wetek Hub rather than a generic S912 box. The problem you are facing is more likely related to software limitation/bugs than hardware. The hardware of the S905 is capable of 4k.

    Another factor is that all of this development is tied to what is going on with the Wetek boxes and the Odroid. Neither of those players are jumping at the S912 (because it is a stupid chip to put in a TV box) so there is no development happening whatsoever for that chip and I wouldn't expect any in the future. If Odroid or Wetek build anything with the S912 I will be very surprised.

    While I agree that there is no reason to buy S912 over S905 for LibreELEC I have to disagree on development tied to WeTek and Odroid devices: these vendors do drive development for Amlogic - Codesnake working for WeTek on improving Kodi support, WeTek and Odroid donating devices and providing great support, working on kernel improvements - but as long as Amlogic provides source code and binaries for the newer chips it should be relatively easy to build LE for them. All you need is someone who takes his free time and devotes to making it work. Example: my builds for S805.

    Please kszaq build something for S912. I believe you can easily do that. There is a lot of TV box with Amlogic S912, you have to help these one (like me :s ) who bought it.

    Sorry for my english.

    HELP, HELP US :cry: HELP, HELP US:cry:

    Edited once, last by Bambonik (October 7, 2016 at 10:12 AM).

    Quote from Bambonik


    Please kszaq build something for S912. I believe you can easily do that.

    No, he can't. The needed mali userspace hasn't been published yet. The s905 and s905x are similar enough to support in a single build, the s912 is too different to do that.
    Which also means that anyone can copy the S905 subdir in LE to S912 and start hacking without having to coordinate with anyone. Provided the mali blob shows up soon.

    Quote from Bambonik


    Please kszaq build something for S912. I believe you can easily do that. There is a lot of TV box with Amlogic S912, you have to help these one (like me :s ) who bought it.

    Sorry for my english.

    HELP, HELP US :cry: HELP, HELP US:cry:

    You bought a S912 box without doing the proper research to check that there is LibreElec support or developers working on builds for these devices this is your own fault... If you had bothered to do some reading and research first you would now that current advice is not to buy S912 if you want a good Kodi experience.

    We are lucky that developers like Kszaq , Alex/kerber etc spend time and effort building LibreElec devices for the budget china devices we have. They dont have to do any of this . If you took a "gamble" and bought a S912 box, keep hold of it , who knows maybe at some stage in the future there will be some progress on it, for know the SOC is too new to market for any major devleopment on it.

    Never buy the latest/newest devices on the market in the budget range unless you are willing to ancknowledge there will be lots of broken, buggy software and support will be poor from the manufacturers. If you want a good kodi experience froma cheap device do your research and readind first and choose a box that you know is already working well with LibreElec builds or there is development in progress...

    I know that buying a new device was a mistake but what can I say. Originally, everyone loved Amlogic S912, only the received device noticed mistakes. Then I started to read deeper and a little bit more, and so I got to LibreElec. Personally, I do not see anything wrong with that asked for help but of course I realize that you will have to wait until S912 becomes popular enough to be worth something for him.

    Quote from koenkooi

    No, he can't. The needed mali userspace hasn't been published yet. The s905 and s905x are similar enough to support in a single build, the s912 is too different to do that.
    Which also means that anyone can copy the S905 subdir in LE to S912 and start hacking without having to coordinate with anyone. Provided the mali blob shows up soon.

    Hmm.. What level of support is missing?

    Are you saying that ARM haven't published MALI-T820 interfaces, or that Amlogic haven't released any devkit for the S912?