[PORT][ROM][12.8.] Remix OS 2.0 (Android 5.1.1) for Nexbox A95X

[Guest KonstaT]

This is my port of Remix OS 2.0 for Nexbox A95X (Amlogic S905 with Android 5.1) TV box. This ROM is based on Vensmile U1 official Remix OS release build B2016062801.

Do not mirror my builds! Please post a link to this page instead.

RemixOS-20160812-nexbox_a95x.zip
http://konstakang.com/devices/nexbox_a95x/RemixOS
md5:30f5f0de965e75cac148b701d9cdc406

Working:

• Wifi
• Audio
• Ethernet
• Hardware video decoding & encoding
• Hardware acceleration and OpenGL rendering
• HDMI
• Remote control
• SD cards
• USB OTG (storage, mouse, keyboard)

Not working:

• ???

Issues:

• There's bluetooth options in few places even though this device doesn't have bluetooth
• SELinux is in permissive mode (same as stock - bootloader passes this on cmdline and there's nothing I can do about it)
• It's still an early release - expect minor problems

Thanks:

• Jide for Remix OS

Like my work?

Edited November 10, 2018 by KonstaT

[Guest KonstaT]

12.8. changelog:

• Remix OS 2.0.300 B2016062801 (Vensmile U1)
• Remote control improvements
• ---Pressing CloudTV button alternates between Remix OS desktop and MboxLauncher
• ---Pressing Kodi button launches Kodi app if installed
• Change display density to something more suitable for TV box

3.8. changelog:

• Remix OS 2.0.200 B2016041201 (Sen5 S905)
• initial release

 

Previous releases:

RemixOS-20160803-nexbox_a95x.zip
http://konstakang.com/devices/nexbox_a95x/RemixOS
md5:b1cbdb302dae6e5cf9c9d9cc7c7becbb

RemixOS-20160803-nexbox_a95x-keylayout.zip
http://konstakang.com/devices/nexbox_a95x/RemixOS
md5:8484d4753234b2b14bf5b59241cbbbc7

Edited January 8, 2017 by KonstaT

[Guest KonstaT]

How to install:

1. boot into TWRP recovery
2. backup -> backup (create a nandroid backup of your current ROM)
3. wipe -> advanced wipe -> wipe /system
4. wipe -> factory reset
5. install RemixOS-2016xxxx-nexbox_a95x.zip
6. reboot system

FAQ:

Q: I don't have root. What should I do?
A: Download SuperSU flashable zip and install it in TWRP

Q: I can't find developer options, why?
A: Settings -> About phone -> Click 'Build number' several times

Edited August 3, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Stainlessdk]

NIce work KonstaT

 

i have 2 ?

 

can i install kodi 17 on this release ? ( it says i need android 5.0.x )

and does HD audio work ??

 

thanks for your work

[Guest KonstaT]

13 minutes ago, Stainlessdk said:

NIce work KonstaT

i have 2 ?

can i install kodi 17 on this release ? ( it says i need android 5.0.x )

and does HD audio work ??

thanks for your work

I installed latest Kodi from the Play Store (16.1) and it works fine. I haven't tried 17 (where can I get it? Edit. Found it, will test later. I'd assume it requires Android 5.0 or above. This is Android 5.1.).

What is HD audio? Does it work with stock firmware?

Edited August 4, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Stainlessdk]

DTS HD, True HD etc etc, yes it work with stock firmware just not kodi 16.x, so i was hoping that it works on 17.x (krypton)

[Guest Stainlessdk]

HI again :)

 

atm i have libreelec running from a SD card using the tooth pick method when booting up, does TWRP also support that method ?

 

 

[Guest KonstaT]

53 minutes ago, Stainlessdk said:

DTS HD, True HD etc etc, yes it work with stock firmware just not kodi 16.x, so i was hoping that it works on 17.x (krypton)

Might be best if you test that yourself and report back.

28 minutes ago, Stainlessdk said:

atm i have libreelec running from a SD card using the tooth pick method when booting up, does TWRP also support that method ?

I'd say it doesn't matter what you have installed on your device's recovery partition (TWRP or stock recovery). Booting up by pressing 'reset button' (or whatever it is) boots directly with recovery.img that's in the root of the external sdcard. I've used it to test my TWRP builds and also booted to Android with a custom kernel I built (recovery.img was actually boot.img ;)). This is my first Amlogic device so I really don't have any idea about those bootable sdcard etc. I've just treated this as any other Android device. Created a custom recovery (TWRP) to backup/restore and flash custom ROMs (e.g. Remix OS) and so on...

Does it really run from sdcard so you essentially have a dual-boot device?

Edited August 4, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Stainlessdk]

No it doesn't, but libreelec is "only" kodi with true hd support etc etc, but i would prefer the whole package that's why im running it from a sd card, but gonna try out our build now :)

[Guest Stainlessdk]

Hi ive just tested it, and sadly there is no option on kodi to select true hd :(

 

but its very very snappy :), so gonna try to play around with it

 

thanks again

Edited August 4, 2016 by Stainlessdk

[Guest KonstaT]

Here's a small fix to get home/back/menu/volume buttons working on the remote control. Mouse and keyboard still recommended but the remote might be handy with kodi and such. Flash this in TWRP after flashing the ROM.

RemixOS-nexbox_a95x-keylayout.zip
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24659325368664655
md5:8484d4753234b2b14bf5b59241cbbbc7

Edited August 10, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Stainlessdk]

Thanks :)

[Guest Methanoid]

Great work!!

Does this work on S905X version of the A95X or just the S905 version?

[Guest mirukar]

автору респект ! ждем обновлений порта Respect the author! forward port upgrades

[Guest KonstaT]

15 hours ago, Methanoid said:

Great work!!

Does this work on S905X version of the A95X or just the S905 version?

This is for the original Nexbox A95X with Amlogic S905 chipset like it says in the OP.

13 hours ago, mirukar said:

автору респект ! ждем обновлений порта Respect the author! forward port upgrades

B2016041201 is the newest build that is available for S905 device on Remix OS website. I'm aware of a newer build for another S905 device but there no 'official' download source for it.

[Guest Methanoid]

8 hours ago, KonstaT said:

This is for the original Nexbox A95X with Amlogic S905 chipset like it says in the OP.

B2016041201 is the newest build that is available for S905 device on Remix OS website. I'm aware of a newer build for another S905 device but there no 'official' download source for it.

Will you be adding S905X support or maybe TWRP for that A95X ??

[Guest Luca-91]

Ok, first of all thank you very much for your FANTASTIC work!

So, here is my story: I've a box called M9+ that was unusable due to the fact that the stock rom was VERY unstable. I've installed TWRP in the attempt to flash an updated, but it failed saying that my box wasn't an m9+ but instead was a NEXBOX_A95X. So I've flashed this rom and guess what... IT WORKED! Yeah, it is working flawlessly with Kodi and every other apps I use!

The only problem is that WIFI isn't recognized (Eth is working perfectly)... so my question is, is there anything we can do to fix the wifi? If yes, we can consider the M9+ fully supported!

I've run an ifconfig but I can see only Eth and LO, no WIFI at all... maybe we can try some modprobe? what do you think about?

 

Thank you VERY much!

[Guest KonstaT]

On 8/7/2016 at 6:48 PM, Methanoid said:

Will you be adding S905X support or maybe TWRP for that A95X ??

I don't even know what the differences are between S905 and S905X chipsets. Is there some actual hardware changes or does it just run with higher clocks? S905X boxes come with Marshmallow (Android 6.0) and this Remix OS 2.0 is based on Lollipop (Android 5.1). Most likely it's not even possible until official Remix OS 3.0 (Android 6.0) appears for some S905X device.

TWRP should be easy enough to build but it's just no worth it for me to do any work for devices that I don't have.

19 hours ago, Luca-91 said:

Ok, first of all thank you very much for your FANTASTIC work!

So, here is my story: I've a box called M9+ that was unusable due to the fact that the stock rom was VERY unstable. I've installed TWRP in the attempt to flash an updated, but it failed saying that my box wasn't an m9+ but instead was a NEXBOX_A95X. So I've flashed this rom and guess what... IT WORKED! Yeah, it is working flawlessly with Kodi and every other apps I use!

The only problem is that WIFI isn't recognized (Eth is working perfectly)... so my question is, is there anything we can do to fix the wifi? If yes, we can consider the M9+ fully supported!

I've run an ifconfig but I can see only Eth and LO, no WIFI at all... maybe we can try some modprobe? what do you think about?

Thank you VERY much!

You should use stock recovery to install stock firmware. If you've installed my TWRP build for Nexbox A95X, your device will of course appear as one in recovery (ro.product.device=nexbox_a95x, ro.product.model=NEXBOX-A95X). You really shouldn't install things that are not meant for your device!

I've ported this ROM from a device that has Broadcom brc6121 wifi chip. Nexbox A95X has Realtek rtk8189es wifi. So, it is possible to 'fix' wifi with pretty much any wifi hardware if you know how it works on Android. I have no plans on supporting devices that I don't have.

Edited August 8, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Luca-91]

12 minutes ago, KonstaT said:

I've ported this ROM for a device that has Broadcom brc6121 wifi chip. Nexbox A95X has Realtek rtk8189es wifi. So, it is possible to 'fix' wifi with pretty much any wifi hardware if you know how it works on Android. I have no plans on supporting devices that I don't have.

Thank you for pointing this out! Well, I was hopping to find the WIFI hardware by doing some lspci, but that doesn't seem to work in android. Can you tell me the corresponding command? 

 

Quote

You really shouldn't install things that are not meant for your device!

I know, but I've a full backup, so since the hardware of these two boxes are similar, I gave it a try (and it worked, expect for the wifi).

Edited August 8, 2016 by Luca-91

[Guest KonstaT]

1 hour ago, Luca-91 said:

Thank you for pointing this out! Well, I was hopping to find the WIFI hardware by doing some lspci, but that doesn't seem to work in android. Can you tell me the corresponding command? 

Check the kernel logs (dmesg).

1 hour ago, Luca-91 said:

I know, but I've a full backup, so since the hardware of these two boxes are similar, I gave it a try (and it worked, expect for the wifi).

TWRP is not meant for your device either. Hypothetical scenario: your device has different eMMC than mine. You flash TWRP with kernel from my device on to your device. Kernel doesn't support eMMC hardware on your device and you end up with a hard brick.

Luckily all/most of these Amlogic boxes seem to base on the reference design. Only wifi/bt hardware is different between devices. E.g. if you tried to boot a kernel from a different device on a Qualcomm phone/tablet, it would most likely never even boot even if they had the same chipset. Qualcomm offers great reference design and BSP but vendors still make massive changes to the hardware (and kernel supporting that hw).

Edited August 8, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest Luca-91]

50 minutes ago, KonstaT said:

TWRP is not meant for your device either. Hypothetical scenario: your device has different eMMC than mine. You flash TWRP with kernel from my device on to your device. Kernel doesn't support eMMC hardware on your device and you end up with a hard brick.

In my case I first tried TWRP in "live" using recovery.img from microsd card, and after that I flashed it. In case of full brick, isn't still possible to use a microsd with recovery.img onboard to re-flash the box??

EDIT: AFAIK even with full brick, the bootloader should be safe. So in theory is still possible to press RESET for 5 seconds and boot "live" from recovery.img stored on sdcard. Is this right?

Edited August 8, 2016 by Luca-91

[Guest KonstaT]

1 hour ago, Luca-91 said:

In my case I first tried TWRP in "live" using recovery.img from microsd card, and after that I flashed it. In case of full brick, isn't still possible to use a microsd with recovery.img onboard to re-flash the box??

EDIT: AFAIK even with full brick, the bootloader should be safe. So in theory is still possible to press RESET for 5 seconds and boot "live" from recovery.img stored on sdcard. Is this right?

Absolute worst case scenario would be corrupting to whole eMMC and losing everything in it (including bootloader). I doubt device like that would boot from sdcard or in any other way after that.

Like said, it's a hypothetical scenario but it's not that far fetched as I'm aware of couple of phones where this kind of this has happened. Always best to flash things that are meant specifically for your device.

Edited August 8, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest mega-samu]

I have a question, it is possible to do a kernel for android with the source kernel of libreelec? I say it because this one updated enough.
 

Source Kernel Libreelec s905: https://github.com/kszaq/linux/tree/1bf2a10

[Guest KonstaT]

2 hours ago, mega-samu said:

I have a question, it is possible to do a kernel for android with the source kernel of libreelec? I say it because this one updated enough.
 

Source Kernel Libreelec s905: https://github.com/kszaq/linux/tree/1bf2a10

Yes, it is possible to build kernel for this device. Already built one and everything was working as far I tested it. I've pushed the source I used to my github (https://github.com/KonstaT/android_kernel_amlogic_s905). Source still doesn't quite match the kernel that was shipped on the device. I can tell that by defconfig options alone. I guess it's too much to request Nexbox to release the source code. Chinese companies don't seem to care about GPLv2 and legal requirements. :/

Edited August 9, 2016 by KonstaT

[Guest mega-samu]

6 hours ago, KonstaT said:

Yes, it is possible to build kernel for this device. Already built one and everything was working as far I tested it. I've pushed the source I used to my github (https://github.com/KonstaT/android_kernel_amlogic_s905). Source still doesn't quite match the kernel that was shipped on the device. I can tell that by defconfig options alone. I guess it's too much to request Nexbox to release the source code. Chinese companies don't seem to care about GPLv2 and legal requirements. :/

Then, if it was compiled by this source kernel, would one give support to several devices simultaneously? I say it for LibreElec it gives support to several devices with s905 in the same "rom".