Legacy v9.2 (LTS) builds for Amlogic S805/S8X2, S905/S912 and all WeTek boxes

    Quote from Honiks

    Don't be angry) did you know that because of this the console goes into reboot? let it lose connection, but rebooting is not a logical behavior for a TV set-top box when there is no connection

    I'm not angry, I just sometimes feel that the time I spent on description is a waste of time.

    Unfortunately, I can't/wouldn't like to touch the kernel driver for these reasons:

    • Your device is in the 3rdParty category, which means I don't have such a device, so I can't test the functionality of the modifications,
    • Minix X8* devices come with a kernel modified by datrh. There was an attempt to switch back to the kszaq's kernel, but several things did not work under the images, so it was discarded.

    The reason for the restarts may even indicate a hardware error. Unfortunately, even the logs do not help to find this out.
    My general recommendation is to use an Ethernet connection, but if that is not possible, I recommend the 2.4 GHz range if it works properly.

    Thank you so much for these builds!

    Detailed instructions for Minix Neo U1.

    i had a lot of trouble installing it originally, and quickly broke even the pre-installed Android / Minix OS. here's my tips.

    install notes:

    make sure your power supply has enough juice. they recommend 5V DC / 3A. people online say you might be able to get by with 2A or MAYBE 1A.

    i'm not sure the reset button on the underside of the device is needed for ANYTHING. i think keeping this held down caused the base firmware to be deleted?

    I don't recommend connecting this to the wide internet. if you want plex over internet, or netflix or anything, you should probably get a newer device that still has security updates. I haven't tried any plugins so i don't know what is or is not compatible.

    I think it's an acceptable risk to block this device to and from the outside internet on your router. (You may need an openwrt or high endrouter to do this). you could stream from local network (samba or plex[?] over local network) and in theory, the only security risk would be a compromised device already on your network sending malware to your machine.

    install instructions:

    1. write generic S905 image to microSD card or USB (install medium)

    2. download gxbb_p200_2G_wetek_play_2.dtb. rename to dtb.img. delete old dtb.img on root of medium. put the dtb.img that you renamed on root of medium.

    "This image will only boot with the appropriate DTB, which must be copied from the 'device_trees' folder to the root directory and overwritten the existing dtb.img file. (For details, open the list below."

    2.25 power off and unplug from power

    2.5 put the install device into your minix. I was successful with a really old 2008 era 1GB microSD card. i figure the simpler and smaller file size the better. I couldn't get my usb drives to work.

    4. plug in to as "normal" an HDMI display as you can. the android OS was working with my 1920x1200p monitor but i couldn't get it working once i broke the install. on a 1920x1080p monitor i got display out even when the install was broken. (I would get an android and minix logo but it wouldn't boot into anything else. i could also get windows to make a USB-plug noise in windows 10 with the minix burning tool. i could not see it in the tool, which may be because it only works on windows 7)

    4.5 plug in the power. do not hold the power button before plugging in, because it's a software switch (?) and the device won't recognize that you're holding it down.

    5. press and hold the power button on the side of the device. people say "6" seconds for the install but i do about 6-10.

    5.5 the pinhole reset switch on the bottom is NOT needed and should NOT be pressed.

    6. release the power button.

    7. it should boot into KODI now.

    7.5. note: this is a 'live' boot of kodi and no changes to kodi config will persist when you power off (at least as far as i can tell).

    8. test playback with various test files you provide

    9. if satisfied with performance, enable SSH (settings->libreelec->services iirc)

    10. connect to a network (hardwired or wifi)

    11. be sure you're okay with fully erasing the existing firmware, data, etc. on the minix

    12. find the IP of the minix (can use your router or probably kodi itself)

    13. use PuTTY or similar to SSH into the device

    14. type installtointernal at the command line of the minix and press enter to run it.

    15. follow the instructions of the script.

    16. reboot and you should be running on internal memory now. power off the device and remove your boot medium and reboot and it should boot into kodi.

    in the future, i wonder if wetek-play2 official kodi image will work on minix u1. i didn't try because it's a beta build.

    How can I install your s905 image on an mxq pro 4k that already has the latest development version of le 12 and boots ONLY from its sd slot and with a specific sd card?

    Preface: ~9 months ago I installed le 11 on an sd card, completely unaware that after that the tvbox will boot ONLY from it and never from its internal storage. If you want more info, there is a thread I started for that.

    And since chewitt no longer creates images for le 11, I updated it to the development ones of le 12, which are available from the same testing folder of his.

    Last but not least, the tvbox now has a reset button, but it does not seem to do much.

    So, I downloaded the s905 image for it, flashed it to a 16gb sd card with rufus, deleted dtb.img and replaced it with the proper one from the device trees folder (there is actually a file named mxq_pro_4k), inserted the sd card, pressed the reset button, powered it on and... nothing showed up except the amlogic logo with the tiger. What else can I do?

    Quote from jim_p

    What else can I do?

    The aml_autoscript of LE 9.2 and the new LE11+ image are not compatible with each other. If that button really works, it should be able to load the current autoscript from the sdcard when it is pressed.

    So, if this is not the case, then even though the button was eventually soldered in, maybe also missing a single bias resistor that needs to be connected in series with the button. (But this is just a guess.)

    Statements like this make me regret trying le 11 even more :(

    There are 3 holes under the reset button. 2 of them connect to each other via that copper "line", so I soldered the button between the remaining one and one of those 2. I don't know anything else. And the reset button was supposed to solve all that compatibility mess.

    Quote from jim_p

    Statements like this make me regret trying le 11 even more :(

    How did you manage to install LE11+ without this button?

    Quote from jim_p

    And the reset button was supposed to solve all that compatibility mess.

    If you press the button for a long time (10+ seconds), does Android recovery load? (This can take up to half a minute afterwards.)

    Here is the short story of how I got it with le 11, i.e. omitting the failed parts and the obvious ones like "I copied the dtb file".

    Prepare sd card with ce 9.2.x because your images did not support s905 at that time > boot to android (4.4 I think) > sideload terminal app > launch terminal app > su to get root > reboot update > insert sd > boot to ce from the sd > ssh to it > installtointernal > android gone > (fast forward to 2023) > prepare sd with le 11 > ssh to ce > reboot update > insert sd > boot to le 11 on the sd > bootloader altered so as to boot only from the sd > lose any access to internal mmc since then :P

    Tldr version: there is nothing related to android in it since 2021 and the only workaround to boot from the sd without the reset button was to run reboot update in a terminal.

    The sequence you're describing proves the box is booting from eMMC. CE (and LE) are both dependent upon the vendor u-boot install which resides on and boots from eMMC storage. However, when you run recovery boot, either via the "reboot update" command or from using the reset button, vendor u-boot looks for u-boot script files, finds them, reads them, and this modifies the early boot environment to look for non-Android boot files. CE and LE use the same process to subvert Android and boot Linux, but configure u-boot to look for slightly different boot files. Hence after converting the box to CE and then triggering recovery mode (reboot update) with the LE card inserted it searches for and finds LE files and no longer finds CE files. To switch back to CE (either on SD or eMMC) you need to invoke recovery-boot mode again. This is normally done using the reset button: press the button (and keep it pressed) then power the box on and release the button at the right point (typically 6-7 seconds into boot) and u-boot searches for boot files again and will find CE scripts on a CE creted SD card. It's not a simple button press after power-on and LE has no ability to run "reboot update" commands that need Amlogic drivers that don't exist for newer Linux kernels. Now, it's unlikely but not impossible that your box vendor hacked Amlogic u-boot code to remove support for recovery boot and the button does not work. It's also possible that due to age or abuse the reset button has mecahnically failed. In that case you can still recover the device back to Android using the Windows based Amlogic flashing tool and a factory recovery image for the box, which are often found on vendor websites or forums like 4pda.

    See what happens if you place LE boot files (on the LE SD card) with CE boot files (SYSTEM, kernel.img and the correct dtb.img). Rename kernel.img to KERNEL and configure uEnv.ini to look for a dtb file called dtb.img). Not guraranteed to work, but simple to try.

    Since the conversation is now focusing on my hw and not on dtech's images, can we please continue at my thread here? I do not know how to quote between threads, so if you do know, please do it and I will reply there. Thank you in advance.

    Thread

    Installing on old S905 TV box

    How can I boot a s905 tvbox that already runs coreelec 9.2.x from its internal storage? I downloaded the image of le 11 b1, flashed it on the sd card, edited the uEnv.ini file, but all I get is a blue-tinted image of the amlogic boot picture, then complete darkness, followed by a non-tinted image, followed by the regular boot to coreelec. All that happens in like 5 seconds.

    Normally, the amlogic boot picture is not tinted, shows up only once and right after that it boots to coreelec.

    Its device…
    jim_p
    February 3, 2023 at 1:18 PM

    Of course, the built-in tuner works perfectly with my LTS version. I have an exact same box.

    Quote from someoneelse

    Can I use LibreELEC-Generic_S805.arm-9.2.8.12.tar for update, or better use LibreELEC-HD18Q.arm-9.2.8.12.tar?

    Yes, it can be used as an update from HD18Q, although you won't notice any added extras.

    This image is especially beneficial for a new installation because it is created by merging the separate HQ18Q and m201d images.

    I originally planned to replace these two images above with the Genecic_S805 image, but it turns out that some bootloaders don't handle multi-dtbs. But, in the case of your box, there is no such problem.

    Quote from dtech

    for v1.3.0 a lot of things would have to be modified. Since Leia's ffmpeg is an old version, even if I wouldn't call it an impossible task, it's not worth spending so much time, because I don't think the situation would improve much.

    However, dav1d v1.3.0 is already present in the LE12 AMLGX image, so if you want to give it a try, I recommend you try that.

    I have an S912 box, and found out it isn't usable with AV1 files :(
    I've tried the suggested AMLGX image and surprisingly the CPU is (barely) capable enough to play it: CPU usage on a few 1080p files I've tried is ~400% on average, roughly the same as H264 10bit software decode. (Although some files are more taxing on the CPU and will lose frames)
    Is there really no hope for the newer dav1d on this legacy build?

    Quote from Zameero

    Is there really no hope for the newer dav1d on this legacy build?

    I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just extremely time-consuming, and unfortunately I don't have enough of it right now.
    In addition, there is also the pitfall that it turns out in the process that it is not feasible. (Just like the HDR with VP9 under 3.14 kernel.)

    Thanks for the explanation.

    I have another question: I have a S912 box (Generic H96Pro 2GB/16GB) that has a problem with the shutdown process: Basically it doesn't work as the machine simply restarts instead of powering off. In Android there's no such problem.

    I've read the "Fix the "power-on bug" in uboot for Meson8* boxes" on the first page, and while testing the AMLGX image I noticed that "suspend" is enabled... And working on my machine: By using suspend (instead of poweroff) the machine powers-off.

    So, I'd like to know if there is any way to invoke a suspend in the legacy build... Maybe there's some hidden setting?