Installing Armbian on Amlogic S912 Android TV Box (Tanix TX9s)

#Linux #RaspberryPiAlternative #AmlogicS912 #Armbian

*** Updated 09/11/2023

I love the idea of the Raspberry Pi, but there are some cheaper alternative single board computers that offer a similar experience for a fraction of the cost. While the community support isn't quite what it is for the Pi, there are a ton of projects you can accomplish on the cheap with these little hidden gems. Keep an eye on AliExpress and Amazon and you can find SBC's sporting quad core ARM process with 2-4 GB of RAM for under $30, including a power supply and IR remote control.
 
The box used in this video is a Tanix TX9s I picked up on GearBest for $24.99 shipped. It sports an Octa Core Amlogic S912 @ 2GHz and 2 GB of DDR3 RAM.
 
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Things You Will Need
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Downloads and Flashing to MicroSD
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   03. Run Balena Etcher
   04. Burn Armbian image to microSD card
   05. Safely remove microSD and re-insert
   06. Ignore/close the Windows dialogs to format the inserted microSD card
 
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Configure MicroSD Card for Armbian
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   01. Open the readable partition of the microSD card in Explorer
      a. Comment out rk-3399 lines by adding #
      b. Uncomment aml s9xx FDT and APPEND lines by removing #
      c. Update the FDT line to point to a working .dtb file for your device
         # aml s9xxx
      d. Save
      e. Close
   08. Safely remove microSD
   09. Insert microSD card to Android TV box
 
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Booting to Armbian for the First Time
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   01. Plug the power adapter into the Android TV box
   02. If the device has never booted from external storage before the stock Android OS will load
   03. In Android, navigate to the application drawer ≫ Run Update & Backup
   05. Select Update
   06. The system will reboot twice and should then begin booting Armbian from the microSD card
   07. You should see the Armbian terminal running startup scripts
   08. When prompted, login with username: root password: 1234
   09. Input a new root password
   10. Confirm the new root password
   11. When prompted, input a username
   12. Input a password for the new user
   13. Confirm the password for the new user
   14. Follow any additional the prompts
   15. Armbian will boot into the desktop environment
 
 

### Connect with me and others ###

[leucnguyen]

Please get the lastest Armbian version, thaks u so muck

[ASwds]

thank you!! it's working!! You are the best!!

[lukaspinoti]

You are awesome! Btw there is a script in the root's home dir to install it to the drive.

[renderfarmd]

Unfortunately, the 20.05 images you used in the video to download from your links no longer exist, I could upload it again, which I tried with more recent images 20.10, or higher and none are working.

[moment]

hello I get this error in "console" to update /etc/sudo.config is owned by uid 1023, should be 0

[edwinpiscoya]

Hello, enjoyed your video, would you make a video installing armbian on AMLOGIC S905W Android TV Box (Tanix 3 Max)? There are some other videos not as clear as yours and also the image they used is no longer available to download.

[itcsnamibia]

Hi i12bretro, Been trying to get this to work, with a TX9 Pro 2GB model, but the problem im facing is in the Update and Backup section, where I select Update locale, the tool scans for the storage, but an SD card or USB is not recognized after the scan. It only gives me the local storage to select the script from. Any ideas on why the Update tool will not recognize the SD/USB stick storage ? I can access the SD, and USB from file manager.

[lansiteoh]

hi, on latest release of armbian, there isn't any aml_autoscripy.zip, is there anyway to build that?

[MrSyeryoha]

Hi i12n. First of all big thank you for the video, it's very helpful. Could you please share the link to the image with working wifi for the tx9s ? I tried to use newer ones but they didn't work, and I can't find older builds. Tried to build from sources but it's not obvious which commit/branch to use for that.

[blinddog]

Thanks for the tutorial. I flashed to microsd card, but I don't see uEnv.txt on the readable partition.

[blinddog]

I tried to get this to work on my Beelink GT1 (Amlogic S912) but I get a "failed to mount /dev/mmcblk1p2 as root file system" error. Any suggestions?

[evelynguadalupe]

What to do if my Android TV Box can't be updated? I mean, when I try to look for updates, the system only connects to their own server and doesn't give any other option

[ЕвгенийПоляков-ти]

How to install in nand?
Wifi doesn't work, how to fix it ?
My devicr tx9s, aml 912, wifi module realtec 8189.

[richmondsimao]

Friend, is this procedure compatible with the TX9 Pro (Amlogic s912? And will the installation stay on MicroSD or eMMC?

[twfsys]

i12n, his method records the armbiam system in the nand memory? or is the memory card always needed?

[hughyello]

Hi, thank you for your video. What is the link speed of lan(eth0) ? 1000Mb/s or 120Mb/s? Thank you.

[franciscochacon]

I tried this but I keep getting an error message that says signature verification failed. Is there anything that I could do to make it work?

[juniormemel]

my great friend, how can i install on the Beelink GT1 Ultimate (S912, 3gb ram, 64gb rom)? I'm struggling to get it. help me please!

[kewemina]

can i use this method on my mxq pro 4k s905?
it will work ?

[rihtr]

I installed this OS on my TX9S. But how can I log in as sudo? (I had tried to enter as su, but "su: Authentication failure")