Low Cost Android TV Box - Alternative to RPi for ADSB Hobby

[abcd567]

Android TV Box:
H96Max v11, Rock 3318 arm64 Quad Core CPU, 4 GB ram, 32 GB emmc flash.

Price:
Was US $30 + free shipping when I purchased it last month (April 2023). Price may vary with time of purchase and with different Sellers.


Transformed TV Box into an arm64 Computer with Armbian OS (Bullseye Headless) OR (Jammy with Xfce GUI Desktop)


Hardware Specifications:
Chipset : RK3318 Quad-Core 64bit Cortex-A53
GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450 Up to 750Mhz+
FLASH: EMMC 16G/32G/64G
SDRAM: 2GB/4GB DDR3

I Purchased it for US $30 from following Seller on Aliexpress:
(If you search on Ali Express, or Ebay, or Amazon, you may find a better deal from another Seller)

https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005005033564891.html

OPTIONS
(1) 2 GB RAM 16 GB emmc
(2) 4 GB RAM 32 GB emmc
(3) 4 GB RAM 64 GB emmc

I chose option (2), a compromise between price and ram + emmc size


HDMI Monitor and Keyboard are required for installing and configuring Armbian OS.

Followed instructions/guide for replacing Andriod OS by Armbian OS from here:

CSC Armbian for RK3318/RK3328 TV box boards


This is the Armbian OS image I used first (Headless, i.e. No GUI / Desktop)
Armbian_23.02.2_Rk3318-box_bullseye_current_5.15.93.img.xz


Later replaced above image by this image (GUI/Desktop, Ubuntu Jammy XFCE):
Armbian_23.02.2_Rk3318-box_jammy_current_5.15.93_xfce_desktop.img.xz


Image storage:
https://imola.armbian.com/dl/rk3318-box/archive/


Step-1:
Downloaded tool "multitool"

https://users.armbian.com/jock/rk3318/multitool.img.xz

Step-2
Burned "multitool" image to 16GB microSD card

Step-3
Clicked microSD card's drive letter to open it. In opened drive, opened folder named "images". Copied downloaded image "Armbian_23.02.2_Rk3318-box_jammy_current_5.15.93_xfce_desktop.img.xz" to the "images" folder of microSD card. Ejected card from Laptop/Desktop.

Step-4:
Powered off H96Max TV Box. Slipped microSD card into its card slot. Connected Monitor to HDMI port of TV Box, and Keyboard to USB port of TV Box.

Powered up TV Box, clicked OK to disclaimer, then using keyboard arrow keys, moved selection to “Burn image”, selected the emmc and image, press Enter Key and waited till installation finished.

Step-5:
Using arrows keys, moved selection to shutdown and pressed Enter Key.

Step-6:
After shutdown, pulled power plug out of wall socket. Removed microSD card from TV Box, and after removing microSD card, inserted power plug into wall socket. The TV Box booted and started initial setup dialogues for Armbian (root password setup, username and password setup, locale and language setup etc).

Step-7:
After initial setup, gave reboot command, and TV Box booted with Armbian XCFE Desktop GUI.


Android-TV-Box-3.jpeg



HEADLESS OPERATION:
No Monitor, No Keyboard, No Mouse

TV-Box-H96Max-Headless.jpg




Feeder & Decoder Installation:

Installed piaware, dump1090-fa, dump978-fa, and piaware-web from here:
On Bullseye: abcd567a/rpi/blob/master/README.md
On Jammy: abcd567a/ubuntu22/blob/master/README.md

Installed pfclient and fr24feed using exactly same method as for RPi

Planefinder:

wget http://client.planefinder.net/pfclient_5.0.161_armhf.deb

sudo dpkg -i pfclient_5.0.161_armhf.deb

Flightradar24:

sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/install_fr24_rpi.sh)"

Fix for on-board WiFi of H96Max TV Box Rockchip 3318, with Armbian OS:

Went to following post in Armbian CSC forum, and followed instructions:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/26978-csc-armbian-for-rk3318rk3328-tv-box-boards/?do=findComment&comment=143890 1

DETAILS OF STEPS I PERFORMED:

(1) Downloaded file nvram_2734c.txt from above noted post
NOTE: Had to log-in to Armbian CSC forum to download above noted file.

(2) Issued following command to preserve original wifi config file by adding .ORIG at it's name's end

sudo mv /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt.ORIG

(3) Created new blank wifi config file by command below:

sudo nano /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4334-sdio.rockchip,rk3318-box.txt

(4) Pasted into the new blank file, the text copied from file nvram_2734c.txt (see step 1 above). Saved and closed file.

(5) Rebooted

(6) Ran Command sudo nmtui (or sudo armbian-config) and configured & activated on-board WiFi


.

[abcd567]

File nvram_2734c.txt for fixing the failure of on-board WiFi on Armbian OS is attached