armbian

https://www.armbian.com/amlogic-s9xx-tv-box/

boot from sd card doesn't work, button is hidden inside phone connector, and is very stiff.

scdard

dpavlin@nuc:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 14.88 GiB, 15978201088 bytes, 31207424 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2a327079

Device         Boot   Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1         8192 1056767 1048576  512M ea Linux extended boot
/dev/mmcblk0p2      1056768 4218879 3162112  1.5G 83 Linux


dpavlin@nuc:~$ sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /tmp/a95x-boot/
[Tue Sep  2 19:53:40 2025] mmc0: cannot verify signal voltage switch
dpavlin@nuc:~$ cd /tmp/a95x-boot/
dpavlin@nuc:/tmp/a95x-boot$ [Tue Sep  2 19:53:50 2025] mmc0: cannot verify signal voltage switch

dpavlin@nuc:/tmp/a95x-boot$ ls
[Tue Sep  2 19:53:54 2025] mmc0: cannot verify signal voltage switch
aml_autoscript                  dtb              initrd.img-6.12.43-current-meson64  u-boot-s905x2-s922     uInitrd
boot.bmp                        emmc_autoscript  s905_autoscript                     u-boot-s905x3
build-u-boot                    extlinux         System.map-6.12.43-current-meson64  u-boot-s905x3-ugoosx3
config-6.12.43-current-meson64  Image            u-boot-s905                         u-boot-s905x-s912

root@nuc:/tmp/a95x-boot/extlinux# ls -al ../dtb/amlogic/*x3*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 40278 Aug 22 05:10 ../dtb/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905w-tx3-mini.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 77285 Aug 22 05:10 ../dtb/amlogic/meson-sm1-ugoos-x3.dtb

root@nuc:/tmp/a95x-boot/extlinux# vi extlinux.conf

root@nuc:/tmp/a95x-boot# cp  u-boot-s905x3-ugoosx3 u-boot.ext

dead

device draws only 70mA from 5.2V 2A power supply (verified using DPS5005).

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMGlbI49ukEsx0OgqaPwIROT3cjvUe-7qfEOt3-

LED display

this device has interesting DVD-like LED display with HT1628 DVD driver chip and some transistors (maybe level shifters since chip is 5V ?)

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOfJtafYiOvS0QW2uX-rFwruJ3wCz7pZtsZ6qNq

LED strip

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMqXN8R4eBN2uQCzwUvn2ZtoBKnsJgQAE1ctr9J

it has three wire led strip of 15 leds (ws2812 meybe?) with three wires and SOIC8 chip on it.

serial

4 pins on bottom of board

1. GND (pin marked with square on board)
2. TX
3. RX
4. 3V3 (?)

serial output:

SM1:BL:511f6b:81ca2f;FEAT:B2F839B2:202B2060;POC:F;RCY:0;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:1;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:2;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:3;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:4;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:5;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;
LOOP:6;EMMC:0;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;READ:0;CHK:1F;SD?:20000;USB:8;

u-boot

https://github.com/hexdump0815/u-boot-misc/blob/master/readme.gxy