Amlogic

LibreELEC images for Amlogic with modern Linux kernels use boot processes and device-tree files that are not compatible with older LibreELEC images (LE 9.x and earlier) that use Amlogic Linux 3.14 or 4.9 kernels. The change to boot processes means you cannot update from older releases and must make a new/clean installation.

There are two images supporting Amlogic Gen10+ (64-bit) SoCs and older Gen8 (32-bit) SoCs used in a range of Linux SBC and Android STB devices:

AMLGX supports the following 64-bit SoCs:

  • GXBB (S905)

  • GXL (S805X/S905X/D/W/L)

  • GXM (S912)

  • G12A (S905X2/D2/Y2)

  • G12B (S922X/A311D)

  • SM1 (S905X3/D3)

AMLMX supports the following 32-bit SoCs:

  • Meson 8 (S805)

  • Meson 8b (S802)

  • Meson 8m2 (S812)

WeTek Play(1) aka WeTek OpenELEC uses Meson 6 (8726MX) hardware. There is little support for Meson 6 hardware in the upstream kernel and low probability of support evolving to the point where modern-kernel LibreELEC images are viable. Support ends with LibreELEC 9.0.

AMLGX and AMLMX provide a "box" image for use with devices that run Amlogic (aka Vendor or Legacy) boot firmware (U-Boot 2015.01 with Amlogic and manufacturer customisations) and "board" images using modern boot firmware (mainline U-Boot) specific to a single SBC board or STB device. The image type can be identified by the filename -suffix:

  • LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-11.0.0-box.img.gz is the AMLGX "box" image

  • LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-11.0.0-khadas-vim3.img.gz is a "board" image for VIM3

  • LibreELEC-AMLMX.arm-11.0.0-box.img.gz is a "box" image for Meson 8 devices

Box Images

Box images support SBC and STB devices with Android or "vendor" boot firmware running on the internal eMMC storage. LibreELEC is installed by triggering "recovery" mode boot in the Amlogic U-Boot firmware. Recovery mode searches for some standard files on SD and USB media. LibreELEC provides files tweaked to boot and run LibreELEC instead of recovering the device. Once recovery mode is activated the device will search and find LibreELEC on each boot; until Android recovery completes (which never happens).

As box images can be used on many devices you must configure the device-tree file to use first. This is done by editing uEnv.ini in the root folder of the SD card. Change @@DTB_NAME@@ to the name of the .dtb file to use. Current supported device-tree files are in the dtb folder.

For example, here is the default uEnv.ini file:

dtb_name=/amlogic/@@DTB_NAME@@
bootargs=boot=UUID=2306-0801 disk=UUID=8268da37-3a8d-4f6d-aba0-08918faded56 quiet systemd.debug_shell=ttyAML0 console=ttyAML0,115200n8 console=tty0

To boot a Beelink GT-King box change @@DTB_NAME@@ to meson-g12b-gtking.dtb

dtb_name=/amlogic/meson-g12b-gtking.dtb
bootargs=boot=UUID=2306-0801 disk=UUID=8268da37-3a8d-4f6d-aba0-08918faded56 quiet systemd.debug_shell=ttyAML0 console=ttyAML0,115200n8 console=tty0

Once the device-tree name is set you can insert the SD card in the box and power on. Some box devices detect the presence of the SD card automatically. Others may need recovery mode to be triggered using a reset button on the device. Common locations for the button are:

  • Visible button marked "reset" or "recovery" or "power" button

  • Visible pin-hole on the underside of the case

  • Hidden button visible through ventilation holes in the case

  • Hidden at the end of the 3.5mm audio jack

In most cases you will need a small pin, unfolded paper-clip, or toothpick to press the reset button with - hence the install process is often referred to as the "toothpick method" in forum posts. Press and hold the button, then power-on the box. After 5-7 seconds release the button to interrupt boot and start the recovery process. Due to differences in box speeds and vendor U-Boot the exact timing for button release varies and you will need to experiment to find the timing that works for your box. It is possible to see U-Boot output and remove the guesswork by attaching a UART serial cable to the board, although most set-top box devices will need connector pins soldering to the board as manufacturers omit them to save manufacturing costs.

Board Images

These images are built for Single Board Computer (SBC) devices which boot modern U-Boot via an SD card or removable eMMC module. Installation is normally simple requiring you to write the image to the SD card or eMMC module and boot the device. If the board has eMMC storage soldered (not on a removable module) it may be necessary to boot from the "box" image first. Once booted to a box image on SD card (so eMMC is not in use) you can write the correct board image to eMMC (overwriting Android or other factory-installed images) using dd to write the image. You can use the emmctool command to help that process (see below).

Android Images

If you are searching for an Android firmware image to recover/restore a set-top box please be advised that the project cannot help you. We have no interest in Android and Android images and do not have a secret stash of vendor firmware files. Please contact the original manufacturer of your box, or use their support forum, or (often best) search Android focussed community forums like 4pda.

The sole exceptions are the WeTek Hub and Play2 devices: we have the original Android firmware update files and raw 'dd' images of the internal storage of the boxes.

installtointernal

Community images using Amlogic Linux 3.14/4.9 kernels often include the installtointernal script to reconfigure the factory boot process and run LibreELEC from internal eMMC storage. We do not provide or support this script. There are two main reasons:

  1. Amlogic uses a proprietary partitioning scheme that relocates partition data structures to non-standard locations. This is supported in Amlogic Linux kernels and Amlogic-modified versions of tools like parted, fdisk and fsck used to create and manage filesystems. It is not supported in modern upstream Linux kernels or modern versions of filesystem tools. This means the Linux kernel used in AMLGX images cannot read the offset partition data to mount (and repurpose) Android partitions as a persistent /storage area.

  2. The script causes a high volume of support issues. When the script fails to modify the boot process or create partitions correctly the user ends up with a "bricked" box. Amlogic builds several factory-restore mechanisms into their software that mean it is always possible to recover the box, but this normally requires the user to find the correct Android image for the device and reflash it with a Windows OS tool that often has issues. Our forum staff are all volunteers who give time to the project for fun. Helping a never-ending stream of pissed-off inexperienced users recover bricked boxes is not fun, nor do we have a collection of Android images to use, so we actively discourage the existence and use of this script.

In short: It was technically possible (but heavily discouraged) to use installtointernal with older LibreELEC images. It is NOT POSSIBLE to use installtointernal with AMLGX and running the script will either fail, or fail and break boot. To run LibreELEC from eMMC storage please purchase a supported "board" device.

emmctool

In the AMLGX image there is an eMMC helper script called emmctool that supports a range of useful functions for backup/write/erase (and more) for eMMC storage. See:

LibreELEC:~ # emmctool 

info: boot device is /dev/mmcblk0, U-Boot version is 2021.04
info: emmc device is /dev/mmcblk1

Model: MMC 8WPD3R (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/mmcblk1: 7818MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name          Flags
 1      17.4kB  7818MB  7818MB  ext4         EMMC_STORAGE

usage: emmctool (w)rite <filename>   : write <filename>.img/.img.gz to the eMMC module
                (b)backup <filename> : dump the emmc partition to an .img.gz file
                (d)etect             : detect an eMMC module attached after boot
                (i)nfo               : show info about the eMMC module
                (l)abels             : change eMMC disk labels to /
                (r)esize             : resize the storage partition to 100%
                (s)storage           : convert emmc for use as /storage (boot from sdcard)
                (z)ero               : zero (erase/wipe) the eMMC module
                (h)elp               : displays this help message

The emmctool helper supports a limited range of SBC boards with eMMC modules. On a generic Android device it will output the (i) info only.

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