Videostrong KII Pro (videostrong-kii-pro)

U-Boot
Primary Bootloader	Works
Secondary Bootloader	Works
Mainline	Partial
Internal Storage
SD card	Works
USB Host
Display	Works
Keyboard	Broken

Features
Flashing	Broken
Internal storage
SD card
Multimedia
3D Acceleration	Works
Built-in DVB	Broken
Audio	Works
IR RX	Works
Connectivity
WiFi	Works
Bluetooth	Works
Ethernet	Works
Miscellaneous
FDE
USB-A	Works
HDMI/DP	Works

Videostrong KII Pro
	; Videostrong KII Pro
Manufacturer	Videostrong
Name	KII Pro
Codename	videostrong-kii-pro
Released	2016
Type	set-top box
Hardware
Chipset	Amlogic S905
CPU	2.0 GHz Quad core
GPU	Mali 450
Storage	16 GB 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
postmarketOS kernel	6.3.3
Generic port	Amlogic Generic TV Box (amlogic-tvbox)

This device is supported as part of a generic port. Refer to Amlogic Generic TV Box (amlogic-tvbox) for installation instructions and more information.

This device is based on the Amlogic S905. See the SoC page for common tips, guides and troubleshooting steps

The KII Pro is a set-top box made by Videostrong, using an Amlogic S905 SoC, and running a custom (proprietary) fork of AOSP based on Amlogic's reference build. It also comes with DVB inputs and an infrared TV remote.

This page only documents info specific to this box. For installation instructions, look at the generic port's wiki page instead.

Beaware of different versions

There were different versions of this TV box, all made by the same manufacturer.

Videostrong just happens to (re)sell some of their products under the Mecool brand, with different hardware.

The 2 known versions of the KII Pro are the "original" 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. They both look the same except the newer one most likely has a Mecool logo on the front, and the Mecool KII Pro seems to use Android 7.1.1 instead of Android 5.1.1. 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 but that's untested since F doesn't own a Mecool KII Pro.

How to enter USB mode

This isn't needed to boot up postmarketOS. It's only really used if you bricked your set-top box.

You need a USB Type-A to USB Type-A cable.

Unplug everything from your set-top box
Plug your USB cable to the USB port at the top left (other USB ports won't work)

     this one
_______ \/ ____________
        __   __     || \
       |__| |__|    ||  \
   __  |__| |__|    ||   \
__________________________\

Press and hold the reset button

 _||_||____________
|                  |
| O              O |
|   ------------   |
|   ------------. < here
|   ------------   |
|   ------------   |
| O              O |
|__________________|

While holding the reset button, plug the USB cable to your computer
After 5 seconds or so, release the reset button
Run lsusb, you should see something like this:

$ lsusb
[...]
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 1b8e:c003 Amlogic, Inc. 
[...]

You'd also need a computer running Microsoft Windows with the Amlogic USB Burner or Amlogic Update if you wish to use GNU+Linux. Both software are proprietary.

If the eMMC and SD card are not bootable or you inserted an Amlogic HDMI dongle (see Amlogic), the set-top box will boot into flash mode.

How to enter recovery mode

Also not needed. Press the reset button once while booting. You'll be booted to an Android recovery, where it may be possible to flash postmarketOS, but this is untested.

Booting up (stock U-Boot)

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

UART

Pinout

UART works, but is disabled by default when booting postmarketOS. You can enable UART in postmarketOS by editing the extlinux/extlinux.conf file located in the boot partition.

Find this line:

  append console=null

And change it to:

  append console=ttyAML0,115200

Then connect RX, TX, and Ground to your USB-to-TTL, according to the pinout shown above. DO NOT CONNECT THE 3V3 PAD

Afterwards, you can now run:

# microcom -s 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 # replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with the path of your USB-to-TTL device

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 # red: on, blue: off
# echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/red:status/brightness # red: off, blue: on

DVB hardware

See Videostrong KII Pro (videostrong-kii-pro)/DVB.

Wi-Fi and Ethernet

Wi-Fi works, but requires a nonfree firmware. It also doesn't seem to work properly sometimes. This issue also happens on the Xiaomi POCO F1 (xiaomi-beryllium). Doesn't happen on LibreELEC, which doesn't use NetworkManager, so it may be a problem with NetworkManager after all.

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. This weird quirk has to do with the device tree.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth works, but requires nonfree firmware. It also requires a DTS patch which has been sent upstream.

Pictures

Running KDE Plasma!
Running MATE.
On a TTY. Running neofetch to look cool.

Replace the vendor U-Boot

See Running mainline U-Boot as the primary bootloader

Community info

Maintainers

FerassElHafidi (f_ on IRC)

Contributors

Users owning this device

FerassElHafidi (Notes: Wiped eMMC. Porting postmarketOS and Arm Trusted Firmware-A to it.)