In order to get a clearer history for my ongoing testing I have now built a new image (with manjaro-arm-tools) to use for testing on my Ugoos (s922x-j). The files can be found here image, pkg-list and build-log.
With the new image I had to follow my previous instructions earlier in the thread to get everything working, but now also with two additions: In the latest image two important system services are not enabled by default (sound and Network Manager). These can be enabled with;
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager.service --now
sudo systemctl enable sound.service --now
(possibly a reboot is needed for the sound to work, I don’t remember). (One might also want to do the same for the sshd.service since it is not running by default.)
Thanks. sudo pacman -Syyu kvim2-firmware linux-firmware works after renaming all the 4356 file from /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/ that I had copied there before.
Ethernet and Wifi works with the kvim2-firmware. Just no sound (as I am on linux kernel 5.9.6-1 instead of linux-vim kernel 5.9.0-2). Thanks.
But according to dmesg output there are more “warning” red text compare to my earlier “brcmfmac4356-sdio.bin”.
Yes even I had the same issue when I created the new image and I have found the issue and fixed it.
For those making their own images please install the latest Manjaro-Arm-Tools package and update arm-profiles.
On linux-vim 5.9.8 now. Panfrost up and running without freezing, with mesa-git 21.0 .Video plays much better now.
Problem is that I’ve made changes with a composite TV and now XCFE refuses to lunch and display goes off (or is just panfrost?)Thanks that have kodi installed and can run it instead.
Looks good, BRAVO !!!
PD I need help to recover XCFE
Editing: it’s not that XCFE refuses to lunch, OS is running but display can not manage composite resolution. How can I change hdmi in composite mode? Display settings only allows to change active display.
Update after 24h on my little experiment starting with a freshly made image:
With the new image (using vim kernel 5.9.0-2), the system is much more stable. I have only had one freeze during the last 24h (listening to a podcast on youtube in Firefox, sound entering into short loop and frozen screen with unresponsive box). During this time I have watched a number of movies and played music and youtube videos.
I have tried to keep the install as vanilla as possible (using only packages/files from Manjaro and as little editing of configutation files (like for mpv) as possible).
With the old image (20.06 upgraded to 20.10) I had frequent freezes, but always during sound playback (several times with youtube videos on Chrome, several times with videos played with mpv and once only playing music with Audacious).
The glitches on the screen are still there, but only when the desktop (xfce) is visible, never during full screen video playback. (The glitches are a only minor issue, I think.)
@spikerguy This looks very promising, perhaps my particular freezes on Ugoos are not due to the kernel, per se, but are somehow sound related (or the interaction btw sound and kernel)? We’ll see, I guess…
I asked myself why linux-vim kernel is unstable when using panfrost while linux kernel is stable. So I thought what is fundamentally different and obviously sound is working with linux-vim while it is not working with linux.
To see if system hanging when doing graphically demanding stuff might be related to sound card/kernel interactions I have prepared a .dtb where I deleted everything that was related to audio/sound.
My box booted and ran completely normal with that .dtb but when I started Supertuxkart and loaded ‘Ravenscroft Manor’ it became unresponsive in the starting sequence. Same behavior as using my normal .dtb file with sound working.
@spikerguy I think we might be able to conclude from that result that instabilities when using panfrost on linux-vim are not caused by interactions of kernel with sound system.
@tripole you might do a similar test to see if your problems on your box are really related to sound.
With the new image the freezes are rare and the only useful/interesting things I can do with the (TV box Ugoos) is really, well, to listen to music or view movies (with sound, using speakers or Bluethooth). I have never experienced a freeze when just surfing the web (which I also do on the box, but not so much) or downloading files, etc. (in particular never during upgrades). Still, I’ll think about it…
Update after 48h of my experiment with freshly minted Manjaro ARM image (for my Ugoos).
Ths system had been stable for over 20h (watching lots of videos, movies, listening to music etc) when this morning I got one freeze, and shortly after rebooting another one. A while after the second reboot I was watching some youtube video when I started getting into one of those short, stuttering sound loops that normally would render the system unresponsive. This time however, I could open a terminal and salvage dmesg. Indeed, there is a kernel Ops there:
To better isolate the problem I have now created (carefully) a Franken-image with boot partition and kernel (5.9.0-rc2) from Khadas, and everything else (i.e. the root partion) from my recent Manjaro image (except, of course, I had to copy the module tree from 5.9.0-rc2 into the Manjaro root partition file hierarchy).
So now I’m running a Manjaro system but with Khadas kernel. So far, so good. To be continued…
Edit: One immediate observation is that the graphics glitches (when the desktop is visible) are still here and therefore they are not due to the kernel, in particular not due to the Manjaro linux-vim kernel. (Perhaps this was already known.)
I have tried Debian/VIM3_Debian-server-buster_Linux-5.9-rc2_arm64_SD-USB_V0.9.3-200907.img.xz on GTKPro before and it was not that stable on GTKPro but it could be different on Ugoos AM6.
@JFL This is a very interesting piece of information. It is consistent with what @spikerguy has said about some incompatibility of Beelink’s version of the bootloader (the ROM part of it, I guess) with the mainline boot process. I have previously used a slightly newer (homebuilt) version of the Khadas image with very good result (completely stable) on my Ugoos. So, even though the differences between the boxes seem small in terms of specs, they are important.
Edit: Clarification about the type of the incompatibility.
Update on my experiment with kernel/system on my Ugoos. (Recall that in order to isolate problems, I have made an image where everything from sector 0 to the end of the boot partition is from a Khadas image, and everything on the root partition (except the module tree) is from Manjaro.)
Today I had the first freeze on my “Franken-system” while watching a youtube video (sound entering into a short loop and system becoming unresponsive). This shows that my problems are not specifically related to the kernel (the original Khadas image is stable). Therefore, neither the graphics glitches (still present) nor the freezes (still present) can be due to the kernel, specifially not the the linux-vim kernel.
I still suspect (but have no proof for) that this is related to the sound system (somehow).
@spikerguy Thanks, but we are all (edit: I think I’m speaking for the others too here) very happy to be able to take part of all that Manjaro offers which is made possible by you and the team. I think Manjaro ARM will take SBC-Linux to the next level in terms of user experience.
Edit2: There is of course also the possibility that the freezes are due to a “hidden” kernel bug which is present in both the two difference (recent) kernels that are involved here but that the bug is somehow only triggered when run together with Manjaro (and not e.g. the Khadas image with Debian).
Hi guys.
I have x96 air that I used with armbian, since Balbes dropped is support to S905x3 (I completely understand is reasons) I have been looking to community support with this android boxes.
Manjaro is new to me, I’m a debian user since 2005. I always been looking for trying but never had the real incentive because my lack of time. I understand that manjaro can be booted with vim image that is on the top link, that brings my first question since yesterday I wasn’t able to download because due to maintenance, is this normal? My second question is, I understood that there is some plan to support this android boxes from the manjaro community? If that is true my sincerer thanks, it is really bad that amlogic doesn’t support properly linux, but this box is really interesting used with dual boot linux and android. Thanks, still trying to learn how manjaro works