Videostrong KII Pro (videostrong-kii-pro): Difference between revisions
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== How to enter flash mode == | == How to enter flash mode == | ||
Still have to figure that out. Not needed unless you bricked your TV Box | |||
== How to enter recovery mode == | |||
Also not needed. Press the reset button once while booting. | |||
== Installation == | == Installation == |
Revision as of 16:04, 4 February 2023
The KII Pro as seen on Alibaba The KII Pro as seen on Alibaba | |
Manufacturer | VideoStrong |
---|---|
Name | KII Pro |
Codename | videostrong-kii-pro |
Released | 2016 |
Hardware | |
Chipset | Amlogic S905 |
CPU | 2.0 GHz Quad core |
GPU | ? |
Display | - |
Storage | 16GB eMMC |
Memory | 2 GB |
Architecture | aarch64 |
Software | |
Original software | Android |
Original version | 5.1.1 (+ preinstalled KII Pro software and a different launcher) |
postmarketOS | |
Category | testing |
Pre-built images | no |
Mainline | yes |
USB Networking |
No data |
---|---|
Internal storage |
No data |
SD card |
No data |
Screen |
Works |
Multimedia | |
3D Acceleration |
Works |
Audio |
No data |
Camera Flash |
No data |
IR TX |
No data |
Connectivity | |
WiFi |
Broken |
Bluetooth |
No data |
Miscellaneous | |
FDE |
No data |
USB-A |
Works |
HDMI/DP |
Works |
Haptics |
No data |
A nice TV Box that uses the Amlogic S905 SoC.
This TV Box runs a modified Android 5.1.1 OS that didn't seem to be updated at all by the manufacturer, it also includes many proprietary (and PUP) software.
Luckily, the KII Pro uses an Amlogic S905, which has some support in the mainline kernel. Even better, a DTB made specifically for the TV Box is also in the mainline kernel. As such, some GNU+Linux distributions support this TV Box with many other Amlogic-based TV Boxes.
Armbian and Manjaro ARM have been tested on this TV Box and are known to mostly work.
This TV Box could make a nice mostly freedom-respecting media center, powered by postmarketOS.
Beaware of clones and different versions
There were multiple clones of this TV Box, as well as different versions.
The 2 known versions of the KII Pro are the VideoStrong KII Pro (the version this port is made for), which uses the Amlogic S905 SoC, and the newer Mecool KII Pro, which uses the Amlogic S905D SoC instead. If you own the Mecool KII Pro then this port won't work there without some changes. It may work by using the right DTB file though.
There's no guarantee that the TV Box used for porting postmarketOS will be the same as the one you have.
Contributors
Users owning this device
- FerassElHafidi (Notes: Wiped eMMC. Amlogic secureboot not enabled. Now only boots Amlogic firmware from an SD card. pmOS installed on SD.)
How to enter flash mode
Still have to figure that out. Not needed unless you bricked your TV Box
How to enter recovery mode
Also not needed. Press the reset button once while booting.
Installation
Only installing to an SD card works currently.
$ pmbootstrap init # manufacturer: 'videostrong' codename: 'kii-pro'
$ pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/mmcblkX # change 'mmcblkX' with the path of your SD card
How to boot other OSes from an SD card
Unplug your TV Box's power supply. Press and hold the reset button while plugging in the power supply. Keep holding the reset button until a picture shows up on your screen.
postmarketOS should boot up.
What works
See the device status at the top (mobile) or at the right (desktop).
LEDs
LEDs are functionnal. Use /sys/class/leds/red:status
to control the LEDs.
When setting the brightness to 1, the red LED will turn on and the blue LED will turn off and vice-versa.
DVB Tuner
The DVB tuner is untested.
TV remote
The TV remote works only for powering on the device sometimes. It doesn't seem to work in postmarketOS It doesn't seem to work on the vendor firmware anyway. Needs more testing.
Wi-Fi and Ethernet
Wi-Fi's broken.
The TV Box has an Ethernet port that works in Manjaro ARM and Armbian, but it doesn't currently work in postmarketOS either. Again, it needs more testing.
FOSS bootloader
The KII Pro uses U-Boot as its primary bootloader. It would be nice if we could load a mainline U-Boot.
TODO: Figure out how to compile U-Boot for this device.
Audio
Needs testing.
Hardware acceleration
Seems to work! Weston runs fine on the device and the postmarketOS demos work fine too.
See also
- pmaports!3833 Initial merge request
- linux-meson.com Porting mainline Linux and U-Boot to Amlogic SoCs
- Armbian has a working port
- Manjaro ARM is also known to work