Run ArchLinux on Amlogic S905x S912 S905w Android TV Box
86#Arch #Linux #AmlogicS905x
Full steps can be found at https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0527.html
This might be a roundabout way of getting ArchLinux up and running on Amlogic based TV boxes, but it worked for me. It builds upon the great work done by the Armbian development team. Arch provides a generic ARMv8 root filesystem download on their site. In this tutorial, we will be flashing Armbian to a SD card and then replacing the Debian filesystem with the downloaded ArchLinux root FS. The tutorial uses the dd command, which does not hold your hand or offer any warnings or confirmations. TAKE YOUR TIME AND PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK
Things You Will Need
- A microSD card at least 8 GB https://amzn.to/36CpShC | https://amzn.to/3CXJngt | https://amzn.to/3JqyxSP
Downloads and Flashing to MicroSD
01. Download Armbian https://users.armbian.com/balbes150/arm-64/Armbian_20.10_Arm-64_bullseye_current_5.9.0.img.xz
02. Download ArchLinux for ARM http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
03. Insert the microSD card to write Armbian/Arch Linux to
04. Run the following commands in a terminal window:
# install prerequisites
sudo apt install xz-utils -y
# extract downloaded armbian image
unxz ~/Downloads/Armbian_20.10_Arm-64_bullseye_current_5.9.0.img.xz
# list out disks
sudo fdisk -l
# run the following to restore the Armbian .img to the target device
# replace sdx with the correct source disk
# MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THE OUTPUT TARGET IS CORRECT
# OR YOU COULD POTENTIALLY DAMAGE YOUR OS
# OR OTHER STORAGE DEVICES ATTACHED TO THE PC
# restore img
sudo dd if=~/Downloads/Armbian_20.10_Arm-64_bullseye_current_5.9.0.img of=/dev/sdx bs=4M status=progress
# after the dd completes, run the following to list mounted drives and partitions
df -h
# locate the ROOTFS partition on the SD card, using sdx from above
# delete the armbian OS filesystem, replace the path with the SD card ROOTFS partition
sudo rm /media/i12bretro/ROOTFS/* -r
# extract the archlinux rootfs to the SD card ROOTFS partition, replace the path with the SD card ROOTFS partition
sudo tar -xf ~/Downloads/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /media/i12bretro/ROOTFS
Configure MicroSD Card for ArchLinux
01. Open the BOOT partition of the microSD card in a file browser
02. Rename the appropriate file from below to u-boot.ext on the root of the SD card
u-boot-s905 (for s905)
u-boot-s905x-s912 (for s905x and s912)
u-boot-s905x2-s922 (for s905x2 and s922)
03. Edit /extlinux/extlinux.conf in a text editor
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
FDT /dtb/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905w-tx3-mini.dtb
APPEND root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=ttyAML0,115200n8 console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes net.ifnames=0
d. Save
e. Close
09. Safely eject the microSD
10. Insert microSD card to Android TV box
Booting to ArchLinux for the First Time
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
04. Select Local ≫ Navigate to the microSD card ≫ aml_autoscript.zip
05. Select Update
06. The system will reboot twice and should then begin booting ArchLinux from the microSD card
07. You should see the ArchLinux terminal running startup scripts
08. When prompted, login with username: root password: root
NOTE: the default user level account is username: alarm password: alarm
09. Run the following commands to install sudo and create a new sudo user
# change the root password
passwd
# delete the default alarm user
userdel -r alarm
# initialize pacman keyring
pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm
# update software repositories
pacman -Syu
# install sudo
pacman -S sudo
# create a new user account
# change i12bretro in all the commands below to the new username
useradd --create-home i12bretro
# set the new user's password
passwd i12bretro
# add the user to the wheel group
usermod -aG wheel i12bretro
# add the user to the sudoers file
nano /etc/sudoers
....Full steps can be found on GitHub [link at the top]
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