Amlogic S905 S912 Armbian Ubuntu Mate, Debian Linux Desktop Dual Boot Install Guide

All credit goes to balbes150 over on freaktab for this epic port of Armbian Ubuntu/Debian desktop for S905,S905X,S912 Amlogic TV box's.

The system runs significantly faster than the S805 port we did a install guide for, a few days ago.

This guides a little long, it cover the installation guide as well as a intro into how the system performs, including running the system from internal storage.

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[MXQPROJECT]

Awesome TV Boxes Check Them All Out Here


Check out the Beelink GT-King


Budget Friendly TV box


True Force of Nature TV box: Beelink GT-King Pro


Gearbest Deals Page


Gearbest Mobile Phone Deals

[Abolition-kysd]

Confirmed working on Tanix Tx3 Max used tanix mini dtb running debian stretch

[lucagessi-creatives]

I have old Beelink Mini MXIII s905. In order to make it work I had to change the env.txt inside boot partition. I have noticed that changing the dtb.img doesn't work, it seems that it does not find the dtb and always use the one linked in the env.txt file. So you need to edit env.txt with the dtb you want to try. In this way my device boot into Armbian and everything works fine (WiFi ecc).

[curtismostert]

Good day, the Yandisk folder is not avail? please advise alternative download place. Thank youi

[mce]

Thanks for this tutorial, I was able to boot from both USB and SD card by following your instruction. I have the box that looks exactly like yours and meson-gxbb-p201.dtb works, however, it doesn't allow to copy the system to internal storage. I can't even mount /dev/mmcblk0 when in Armbian. I do see it worked for you, but you used different images though.
Again thanks for the video!

[Roland_Volpahart]

Greetings ! Is there any way to run Linux or Windows games on coreelec ?

[zipeee]

I got it working on the H96 Pro+ (S912). Had to leave dtb.img out altogether. There is a default configuration it uses if dtb.img is not present. Seems to work, but there is no wifi and no video acceleration. It did work with a generic 2.4ghz N USB wifi dongle that had the chipset support baked into the kernel. I think the rom maker said video acceleration isn't out for S912 (yet?).

I also flashed the zip file inside the rom maker provided from the android update tool so it tries booting linux off the MicroSD before trying the android image on the EMMC

[the-papaw]

Great video. Do you know of a image to install Open Media Vault or Xpenonolgy for these boxes? Or a way it could be accomplished? Possibly make a video for it?

[blinddog]

Looks cool! Does the port work with the Beelink GT1 (standard/regular) box?

[VicSteele]

Thank you very much for the tutorial. I did it on my Leelbox MXQ Pro 4K and it works like a charm.
I have just a question to ask: currently, Armbian is installed in and booted from the external SD card, and of course in the future I have the possibility to upgrade the OS or to install another one. What if I flash the OS in place of Android in the internal memory instead? How could I boot from the SD in that case?

[duyaivo]

Please post a new link of those images, the download links are no longer work anymore :((

[blackestknights]

I did an A95x and its making a handy little NAs box it even can run off a usb battery pack even with a 2.5" 4TB hard drive connected to the Port It's also handy with its own adhoc network which lets me connect iPad to it in the field. really would be better if It could be dedicated Linux but the way the chinese produce these boxes...

[derekprice]

After picking up a model:Z69 tv box which was supposed to be a retropie emulator i find out it's got a mix of and after trying to get the info from the seller on ebay for the username, password for the install on the box so i can edit files i gave up and decided to try another route because he was very vague on info and was holding back the info i needed for the password, username etc..

So i initially thought send it back then thought reflash libreelec and get emulationstation back on and set it up myself but then after seeing you can install Linux on the device that's even better.

Once the sd card has finished writing ill be booting up Linux, reflashing the internal memory, installing Linux then ill just install retropie, get it all configured with emulators, roms, using ps3 pad, set hotkey etc, change linux to autoboot into retropie on start up and that's my emulation box set up and ready to go.

Thanks for the quick and simple guide as i was using Linux on my desktop already (Mint) so will be a flash in setting up i just used the USB imagine writer and away i go. :)

[GyulaSzegedi]

The resource is gone, the folder is empty. Any known mirror sites?

[Toddlersmind]

can u help me to get the file :

i cant find the link for thies file

[a-ew]

I have the mini m8s II which has the s905x chipset. Could someone tell me which firmware I could use since they aren't labeled anymore in the yandex site? thanks

[MeLImpressõesD]

Olá Poderia fazer um video instalando no Amlogic S805c

[TheCautionwetpaint]

Can you try this if it works, i only want to use my huion 420 in an mxq pro 4k.
I researched a little and found that there is a wrapper for windows device drivers so it can work on linux.
Would it so happen that an
huion 420 work on a : mxq pro 4k + armbian + windows device driver wrapper for linux

[_dinesh]

The linux image url is no longer working. :(

[chnobel]

Hello, when we talk about 'not working' usually due to incorrect DTB file, do we mean it loads the stock OS / Android and not from the SD card? This is what mine is doing. I'm not sure if its supposed to (fault loading and just stall) or load Android on DTB error. Please can anyone advise what happens on fault, I need to make sure its the correct fault. I don't know the boot order which is concerning.