GT King Pro - Debian10 Buster & Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa Firmware

darkstar

Beelink GT King Pro - Debian 10 Buster & Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa Firmware

I prepared two Linux Firmwares for Beelink GT-King Pro, GT-King users can use them too.

I used Linux Kernel 4.9 because mainline kernel drivers for Amlogic s922x is not yet fully funtional.
Whenever I tried to build firmware with Mainline Linux Kernel I got lots of errors.


Debian 10 Buster

The Debian project has announced the release of Debian 10 (code-named "buster"), the latest stable version from the popular community project and the world's largest Linux distribution whose beginnings date back to 1993: "After 25 months of development the Debian project is proud to present its new stable version 10, which will be supported for the next 5 years. This new release of Debian comes with a lot more software than its predecessor; the distribution includes over 13,370 new packages, for a total of over 57,703 packages. Most of the software in the distribution has been updated. Debian again ships with several desktop applications and environments. Among others it now includes GNOME 3.30, KDE Plasma 5.14, LXDE 10, LXQt 0.14, MATE 1.20 and Xfce 4.12. With buster, Debian brings a mandatory access control framework enabled by default. New installations of Debian buster will have AppArmor installed and enabled."


Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Iain Lane has announced the release of Ubuntu 20.04, a new long-term support (LTS) version of the popular distribution. Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS features the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment, 3.36. Notable changes from 18.04 LTS include performance improvements, a new lock screen design, and support for fractional scaling under X11. 20.04 LTS also features a new look-and-feel: the Yaru theme, available in both light and dark variants. 20.04 LTS also brings support for installing an Ubuntu desktop system on top of ZFS. The latest version brings performance enhancements and optional encryption support. Zsys, Ubuntu’s ZFS system tool, provides automated system and user state saving. Tight integration with GRUB allows a user to revert to any system state on boot and go back in time to pave the way to a bulletproof Ubuntu Desktop."


System Properties:

Firmware Type : SD/USB
Architecture: aarch64
Kernel : Linux 4.9
Desktop Environment : XFCE
GPU Hardware Acceleration : No ( but 1080p videos are smooth enough)
User/Password : root/beelink , beelink/beelink


Setup Instructions :

1- Download preferred firmware image from links below.

2- Download the device tree file from link below.

3- Flash image with balenaEtcher to an appropriate SD/USB drive ( faster drives gives better performance )

4- Copy dtb file to root of boot partition and rename it as dtb.img like CoreELEC installation.
Firstly you must delete the old dtb.img.

5- Plug your USB/SD drive and reboot. If it boot to Android reboot again with "Switch os" option from power menu.

6- After first boot system will resize root partition automatically, it will take some time.

7- Default password for both users "root" and "beelink" is beelink don't forget to change it.

8- After first boot please run the following commands from console as root user, this will update your system.

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

9- Default Desktop Environment is XFCE, you can install KDE/Mate/Gnome/Cinnamon easily with command "tasksel" run as root.

tasksel

10-If tasksel command is not found you can install it with the command below, please run it as root.

apt-get install tasksel

11-Choose your preferred Desktop from the list to install and it will take some time to download and install.

12-If you install KDE Plasma desktop tasksel will ask you to choose Desktop Manager lightdm / sddm if you select sddm root will no longer be able to login, it is better to select lightdm.



My KDE Plasma Desktop :




Download Links :

Debian 10 Buster
https://disk.yandex.com.tr/d/EOlUTgs95fJDQg


Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa
https://disk.yandex.com.tr/d/36bvrYsPRGHypw


GTKing Pro Device Tree :
attached



Enjoy,

Regards,

darkstar

F8R replied at 2020-06-10 22:15
@darkstar thank you for your Linux firmware.
I have played  with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa few d ...

Dear @F8R,

I'm sorry for the inconvenient log messages about Camera Service.
You can rid of them by removing the file below.
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/camera_isp_3a_server.service

running the command below in console will solve it.

1. rm /etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/camera_isp_3a_server.service

Copy the Code

Regards,

F8R

@darkstar thank you for your Linux firmware.

I have played  with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa few days ago, it's good unfortunately no Linux software that I need can be run on aarch64.

And in my GT King Pro with SN start with C922H, when booting I got bunch of strange log text, IIRC, something like Starting Camera service and Stopping Camera service multiple times.

But I see this device has potential, hope we can get GPU driver for Linux soon.

darkstar

spikerguy replied at 2020-11-13 22:22
We cannot define Android Version from uboot source sorry.

Maybe you can ask them directly ;)

Sorry my fault, I thought you are in contact with them in general not just u-boot.

darkstar

spikerguy replied at 2020-11-12 19:48
No it does not brick the device as all these SOC have an onboard flash rom which will start directl ...

In theory it seems safe to update u-boot but in practice nobody can guarantee that it is %100 safe.

I can not erase my emmc because of game data, can you test youtube video performance for 1080p 60hz cpu usage (htop) and video drops.

I'm not in contact with Beelink, can ask to Beelink Team to update uboot to mainline branch?
If they update U-Boot we all will be safe with mainline linux kernel.

Thanks for your hard work.

darkstar

JFL replied at 2020-09-14 00:30
Hi Darkstar,

When I tried "sudo dpkg -i firefox_80.0.1-1_arm64.deb" reported error so not successfu ...

Hi JFL,

The package that you want to install is from sid branch.
If you want to install firefox 80, you should do it in normal way as below.
This will allow you to use sid ( development-testing) branch packages.
System will warn you there are updates available and if you update your whole system with sid packages yo can face some problems due to unstable packages, it is better not to update. Just install firefox and remove sid branch from /etc/apt/sources.list.

By the way it is normal to get 1-2 frame drops with 1080p/60fps because it runs on cpu usage limit %100.
1080p/30fps uses half cpu that is why I did not get any frame drops.


Edit file  " /etc/apt/sources.list " with nano and add " deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian sid main " without quotes and save the file.

# nano /etc/apt/sources.list
# apt update
# apt install firefox

darkstar

JFL replied at 2020-09-01 01:38
Hi Darkstar,

I read with interest on your new Debian 10 image with Kernel 4.9.232 and being able  ...

Of course I will release new firmware but not this one,  It needs some work to do.
There are good news about bifrost drivers, it is actively in development stage.

spikerguy's and manjaro's aproach is best solution for S9XX as next step.
Mainline kernel support guarantees future developments for this device.

darkstar

JFL replied at 2020-08-31 01:27
Hi Spikerguy & Darkstar,

Just read the old Odroid N2 Announce in CNX Software (Feb 2019).

Actually both of my firmwares have hardware acceleration for framebuffer interface.
I used same kernel with Coreelec...

Yesterday I build a new Debian 10 image  with Kernel 4.9.232 and tested it with 4k 30 FPS V9 file.
I used MPV as media player and  CPU usage was about % 40 - %50, it is way better than previous builds.
When I tried a second 4k 60 FPS V9 file CPU usage reised to %100 and some frame drops occured but there was no glitch.

I think bifrost driver is a better option, if we can run bifrost driver + wayland we can get better acceleration.

@spikerguy linux kernel 4.9.232 is an old version but it is absolutely open source.
As you know corelec builds their kernel from source code too and old kernels get updates as usual.
Your decision about using mainline kernel is % 100 corect but it is not stable enough yet for Amlogic S9XX.
When I decide it is stable enough I will use mainline kernel in my builds too.

Regards,

root@Lenovo:~# mediainfo /media/root/ROOTFS/root/Iceland\ HDR\ 4k\ Dolby\ Vision-Y8v23Cg4EBw.webm
Complete name                            : /media/root/ROOTFS/root/Iceland HDR 4k Dolby Vision-Y8v23Cg4EBw.webm
Format                                   : WebM
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 639 MiB
Duration                                 : 5 min 16 s
Overall bit rate                         : 16.9 Mb/s
Writing application                      : Lavf58.20.100
Writing library                          : Lavf58.20.100
Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : VP9
Codec ID                                 : V_VP9
Duration                                 : 5 min 16 s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : Opus
Codec ID                                 : A_OPUS
Duration                                 : 5 min 16 s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 32 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

darkstar

Hansell replied at 2020-05-17 13:18
Thanks for your work pal.
You havent answered me in the other thread.

This disrtibutions are turning your tvbox to a desktop.
You can do what you do with a desktop computer.

Since Amlogic did not released source code for gpu drivers there is no 3d hardware acceleration yet.
There is no hardware acceleration so you cannot play 3d games.

But Linux has many 2d games if you are interested.

If you want to try there is no risc about your device thats why I decided to release USB/SD firmware.
Just flash the firmware to a USB/SD and reboot, if you don't like it format the usb/sd drive.

JFL

darkstar replied at 2020-09-26 16:53
Dear @spikerguy,

For legacy kernel I'm using Corelecs dtb which was prepared very well.

Hi Darkstar,

You might have already known, just in case fyi,  according to Spikerguy in communication with the Beelink Development Team, the kernel panic in the GT King/Pro on Linux Mainline Kernel is due to Android BSP UBOOt having conflict with the Linux Mainline Kernel.

Look forward and hope Beelink Development Team will come out with a solution to rectify the Kernel Panic on Linux Mainline Kernel.

Hansell

Thanks for your work pal.
You havent answered me in the other thread.

If I am a gamer, what can I do with these OSs?
I can only play like, retro emulators; right?

spikerguy

Great work @darkstar.

I will be coming up with Manjaro Linux for GT1-Ultimate which will have HW Acc with Panfrost support :D
For S922X we will have to wait for it to get GPU drivers.

Very nice work. I will try to flash it this weekend and share my feedbacks.

@Hansell Yes you can play retro games and you make also be able to play other gaming console games which can be handled by the cpu and the gpu. In some cases like PS2 and PSP games. With Desktop environment you can use the device like a complete computer which includes Watching Movies, Netflix, Amazon, Spotify and also Play games like I said above.

Enjoy.

Hansell

Ok well... I will keep waiting. Hopefully Beelink will release someday  a 64 bit Android OS...Or I buy a gaming console. Whatever happens first.

spikerguy

F8R replied at 2020-06-10 22:15
@darkstar thank you for your Linux firmware.

I have played  with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa few d ...

Which Linux software do you want to use on aarch64 ?

F8R

spikerguy replied at 2020-06-11 17:15
Which Linux software do you want to use on aarch64 ?

I'm app dev, my wish is Android Studio can installed on this box,
But realistically, Visual Studio Code working on this device is more than enough for me.

darkstar

F8R replied at 2020-06-11 19:52
I'm app dev, my wish is Android Studio can installed on this box,
But realistically, Visu ...

Device Architecture is ARM64 if your apps support ARM64 you can run them.