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Videostrong KII Pro (videostrong-kii-pro)

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Revision as of 16:55, 7 February 2023 by FerassElHafidi (talk | contribs)
VideoStrong KII Pro
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 Mali 450
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)
FOSS bootloader yes
postmarketOS
Category testing
Pre-built images no
Mainline yes
Features
USB Networking
No data
Internal storage
No data
SD card
No data
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Works
Audio
No data
Camera Flash
No data
IR TX
No data
Connectivity
WiFi
Broken
Bluetooth
Broken
Miscellaneous
FDE
No data
USB-A
Works
HDMI/DP
Works
Haptics
No data
U-Boot
Primary Bootloader
No data
Secondary Bootloader
Works
Mainline
Partial
Internal Storage
No data
SD card
Works
USB Host
No data
USB Peripheral
No data
Display
Works
Keyboard
No data


Overall a nice TV Box using the Amlogic S905 SoC. Could make a nice media center, powered by postmarketOS.

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.

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.

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.

Use pmbootstrap to build your own image, like so:

$ pmbootstrap init # manufacturer: 'videostrong' codename: 'kii-pro'
$ pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/mmcblkX # change 'mmcblkX' with the path of your SD card

Then:

1. Put the SD card you installed postmarketOS on in the SD card slot -- The steps 2->5 need to be done only once (unless you format the internal eMMC) 2. Unplug the power supply 3. Press and hold the reset button below your TV Box 4. While holding the reset button, plug in your power supply back 5. Keep holding the reset button until your screen gets a signal

A mainline U-Boot should load, and postmarketOS should boot up.

What works

See the device status at the top (mobile) or at the right (desktop).

LEDs

The 2 LEDs the device has are functionnal.

Use /sys/class/leds/red:status to control the LEDs, like this for example:

# echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/red:status/brightness # turn the blue LED off and the red LED on
# echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/red:status/brightness # turn the red LED off and the blue LED on

DVB Tuner

The DVB tuner is untested. According to linux-meson.com it doesn't work.

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 which works fine on postmarketOS as long as you boot it using a mainline U-Boot chainloaded from the vendor U-Boot.

FOSS bootloader

The KII Pro uses U-Boot as its primary bootloader. U-Boot v2020.07 (with some minor modifications) works on the TV Box. Newer versions also work, although HDMI output (until postmarketOS boots) and ethernet are broken.

Audio

Doesn't work. Probably just needs a UCM configuration.

Hardware acceleration

Seems to work! Weston and Plasma, as well as Plasma Bigscreen run fine on the device and the postmarketOS demos work fine too. Video encoding/decoding doesn't work however.

X11

Works fine. A custom configuration file is needed else it crashes (included).

Pictures

Boot process

(Useful for porting other OSes to it)

                                                   +---------+     +-------------------+     +-----------------+
                                             +---->| sd card |---->| 's905_autoscript' |---->| v2020.07 u-boot |
 +---------------+  if sd and multiboot mode |     +---------+     +-------------------+     +-----------------+
 | vendor u-boot |---------------------------+                                                        |
 +---------------+              else if emmc |     +------+     +-----------------------------+       v 
                                             +---->| emmc |---->| vendor's android 5.1.1 fork |   +----------+
                                                   +------+     +-----------------------------+   | extlinux |
                                                                                                  +----------+
                                                                                                       |
                                                                                                       v
                                                                                                +--------------+
                                                                                                | postmarketOS |
                                                                                                +--------------+

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.)


See also