Hqnicolas

@Hqnicolas Thanks for your inputs and guidance. Ethernet port issue got sorted out and it is working fine with 1Gbps connectivity. Also there was some issue with USB 2.0 port that got sorted now as well. I am enclosing the .dts and .dtb files for anyone having similar board. 
Note: I haven't tested the desktop version, Analog Audio port, SPIDF, WiFi Connection etc.
As of now the display is working fine, Ethernet is 1 Gbps, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 is working fine. I will try to get the Front Side VFD working but as other experts have already mentioned it may or may not work. 
t95plus-rk3566-working.dtb t95plus-rk3566-working.dts

Hi.
 
If those changes are compatible with other hw (for example you are adding a new driver) these changes can be sent to https://github.com/armbian/linux-rockchip
 
If your changes are likely to break other boards, then the better way is to create your own family, hence having independent kernel packages with different name.
Example: https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/boards/recomputer-rk3588-devkit.conf
Which refers to https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/sources/families/seeed-rk3588.conf
This will also allow custom kernel config: https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/kernel/linux-seeed-rk3588-vendor.config
 
It is not ideal to have a individual family for a single board but sometimes the hw is very customized, breaking other implementations, making this necessary.
 

95% of companies work only with and for their customers. Their customers are other companies which use their chips to manufacture the finished device.
The customers receive code and support from the chip manufacturer.
The end users, as well as community/hobby projects like Armbian, are not the customers for chip companies. It is a very tiny market compared to the embedded/retail use.
 
Rockchip does not make consumer chips, they make specialized chips: for Android smartphones, for cameras, for vehicles, etc.
The customers of Rockchip use Android, RTOSes, custom Linux-based OSes.
 
Consumer chip companies, such as Intel and AMD, contribute to Linux because their customers use mainline Linux.
 
PC operating systems are supplied by third parties that are not part of the computer manufacturer, motherboard or processor vendor. All component manufacturers must write drivers for Windows, certify them with Microsoft, and make sure that their device works properly ideally on any computer. You, the user, buy (or obtain) a copy of the operating system from the operating system company.
 
The operating system for an appliance (smartphone) comes with the appliance itself (as a bundle), and is supplied by the appliance manufacturer, not by operating system manufacturer. The manufacturer of electronic components does not need to contact the creators of the operating systems, they write a driver for Android kernel (yes, for Android kernel, with all its wakelock subsystems and such in mind) and gives it to the manufacturer of the appliance directly (and sometimes only supplies hardware, and the driver must be made by the manufacturer of the appliance).

Done

@sr4armbian, this DTS is from android, so you should use it as a base to create the linux DTS.
create a codex account, claude, antigravity, and setup an environment to convert it,
grab this repo, https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp
drop your android DTS file inside of it and ask your agent to create the linux version based on the repo.
if you don't like big tech sh!t just use https://opencode.ai
this repo is an overlay for armbian compiler to enable box devices to compile

Hello, I have a couple X96  RK3518 sitting there  doing nothing , I'll be glad to help . 

@sr4armbian don't ask for images, you can take the dts files from other users and compile an updated image.

https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/

It looks like it's possible to run the vendor RKLLM/RKNN NPU stack, which normally only works on Rockchip's older 6.1 BSP kernel. Kiln manages to run the same stack on a clean mainline Linux 7.1.3 kernel instead:
 
https://github.com/gahingwoo/kiln
 
There's also another effort to get it running on a fully open-source stack, although with only partial success. Single-task INT8 Conv2D operations are now byte-for-byte identical to the CPU implementation, but multi-task execution remains the main challenge:
 
https://github.com/flipperdevices/flipperone-linux-build-scripts/issues/55

It has been offically supported. Thanks! https://armbian.com/boards/norco-emb-3531

You can try to short the EMMC that wasn't connected, to short the CLK and GND of the soldered EMMC
 
 
 
 
also check this points to:

 
 

The one from MR / my previous message

Update on 0.7:
 
Led Display works perfectly Wifi works perfectly after reboot (i would suggest it on screen after the driver is built) Unable to test USB3 at the moment Installed Kodi, unable to get video acceleration (it says llvmpipe with CPU at almost 100%, clearly is running software rendering)  
@serovan did you reboot after first boot? But yes, probably your revision has different pinout for the peripherals (wifi and PHY)

@Ovaday First of all, thank you for the initiative.

This repository contains the files that will be used as example to enable your board in Armbian:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp

The example file you're referring to is this one:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/blob/main/config/boards/h96-tvbox-3566.tvb

The boot settings you should use may vary considerably from this reference, but your device will need a configured bootloader.
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/tree/main/patch/u-boot/v2026.04/board_h96-tvbox-3566

You will need to focus on the new kernels like:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/tree/main/patch/kernel/archive/rockchip64-7.1/dt

The repository you need to interact with to include these files is this one:
https://github.com/armbian/build

You need to validate everything before publishing, so do some hard work using this compiler:
https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Overview/

 

@Ovaday First of all, thank you for the initiative.

This repository contains the files that will be used as example to enable your board in Armbian:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp

The example file you're referring to is this one:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/blob/main/config/boards/h96-tvbox-3566.tvb

The boot settings you should use may vary considerably from this reference, but your device will need a configured bootloader.
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/tree/main/patch/u-boot/v2026.04/board_h96-tvbox-3566

You will need to focus on the new kernels like:
https://github.com/hqnicolas/ArmBoardBringUp/tree/main/patch/kernel/archive/rockchip64-7.1/dt

The repository you need to interact with to include these files is this one:
https://github.com/armbian/build

You need to validate everything before publishing, so do some hard work using this compiler:
https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Overview/

 

Created a Pull Request:
https://github.com/armbian/linux-rockchip/pull/500

Final DTB: rk3566-box-X88PRO20-npu.dtb

@Hqnicolas do you know how I can add the board as selectable from the Armbian website? Do I have to also add DTS that will work for latest kernel?
 

Author: @WINEDS 

How to Build Armbian with Maxio Ethernet Support for H96 V56 (2025 Model)
 
If you own the H96 V56 (2025 model) TV box and want to run Armbian with full Gigabit Ethernet support, you might have noticed that the stock kernel doesn't always support the Maxio Ethernet chip out of the box.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the most accessible method to build a custom Armbian image with the necessary kernel modules using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
 
Refer to https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/ and note hardware requirements then in a Windows Powershell console select Ubuntu (using down arrow in title bar) and type to update the system:
 
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade  
Prerequisites
A Windows PC with WSL (Ubuntu) installed. The specific patch file (my_v2_patch.patch) and DTB file (my_board_df.dtb) mentioned in the documentation. Patience (the build process can take a few hours). Step 1: Prepare Your Environment
First, ensure your WSL instance has enough resources. Go to your WSL settings (typically via a .wslconfig file or the settings menu) and allocate about 75% of your CPU cores and RAM to ensure the build doesn't crash.
Open your Ubuntu terminal in Windows PowerShell and update your system:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
 
Step 2: Get the Armbian Build System
Clone the official Armbian build repository and enter the directory:
 
git clone [https://github.com/armbian/build](https://github.com/armbian/build) cd build
 
Step 3: Apply the Kernel Patch
You need to patch the kernel to support the specific hardware. Create the directory tree for the patch:
 
mkdir -p ./userpatches/kernel/archive/rockchip64-6.12
 
Using Windows File Explorer, copy your my_v2_patch.patch file into this newly created directory (rockchip64-6.12).
 
Step 4: Run the Build Command
Now, kick off the compilation process. We will build a Gnome desktop image based on the Noble release. Run the following command (copy and paste this as one line):
 
./compile.sh build BOARD=h96-tvbox-3566 BRANCH=current BUILD_DESKTOP=yes BUILD_MINIMAL=no DESKTOP_APPGROUPS_SELECTED=browsers DESKTOP_ENVIRONMENT=gnome DESKTOP_ENVIRONMENT_CONFIG_NAME=config_base KERNEL_CONFIGURE=yes RELEASE=noble
 
Step 5: Configure the Kernel (Crucial Step)
After the build runs for a while, the blue Kernel Configuration menu will appear. This is where you enable the Ethernet driver.
Use the arrow keys to navigate to Device Drivers.
 

Select Network device support. Select PHY Device support and Infrastructure. Scroll down to find MAXIO PHYs. Press the Space bar until you see an <M> next to it (this modularizes the feature). Once selected, use the Tab key to select Exit and keep selecting Exit until you leave the configuration menu. Select "Yes" when asked to save the kernel configuration. Step 6: Retrieve Your Image
The build will continue (potentially for a few hours). Once finished, your new image file will be located in:
output/images
 

 
 
Step 7: Post-Installation Setup
Flash the image to your SD card/eMMC and boot the device. To get the Ethernet working, you need to update the Device Tree Blob (DTB).
Copy the file my_board_df.dtb to /boot/dtb/rockchip/ on the device. Edit the boot environment file: sudo nano /boot/armbianEnv.txt Change the fdtfile line to point to your new DTB: fdtfile=rockchip/my_board_df.dtb
 
Press Ctrl+X, then Y to save.
Reboot your H96 V56, and you should now enjoy full Gigabit Ethernet speeds!
my_board_df.dtb

Patched the .dtb for v6.1, currently not yet in final format. I will probably create a commit to Armbian with a .dts for our board.
I am attaching the dtb/dts just to keep track of the progress.

Here are results of the RKNN test launch:
 
rknn_api/rknnrt version: 2.3.2 (429f97ae6b@2025-04-09T09:09:27), driver version: 0.9.8 model input num: 1, output num: 1 input tensors:   index=0, name=input, n_dims=4, dims=[1, 224, 224, 3], n_elems=150528, size=150528, fmt=NHWC, type=INT8, qnt_type=AFFINE, zp=0, scale=0.007812 output tensors:   index=0, name=MobilenetV1/Predictions/Reshape_1, n_dims=2, dims=[1, 1001, 0, 0], n_elems=1001, size=2002, fmt=UNDEFINED, type=FP16, qnt_type=AFFINE, zp=0, scale=1.000000 custom string: Begin perf ...    0: Elapse Time = 8.06ms, FPS = 124.12 ---- Top5 ---- 0.935059 - 156 0.057037 - 155 0.003881 - 205 0.003119 - 284 0.000172 - 285

So:
CPU: OK
GPU: OK via Panfrost
NPU: OK, RKNN inference works on RKNPU
rk3566-box-X88PRO20-npu.dtb rk3566-box-X88PRO20-npu.dts

The first iteration of mainline kernel driver support has just been posted.
So a kernel build with this patch set applied should give a playground for initial experiments.

I extracted DTB/DTS from the Android FW (files attached).
 
For whatever reason they are signed in the image as rk3568. No ideas why.
02_dtbdump_rockchip,rk3568-evb.dtb 02_dtbdump_rockchip,rk3568-evb.dtb.dts
 
 
Attention: They are for Android! Linux might not boot with them!

I know it was already written here in some of the messages that these devices are not secure. But now I got a message from Telekom that they detected a Chineese spyware connection:



The timeframe is exactly when I have switched the device on with an Android on board.

@guenter
I have resolved the NVMe SSD detection issue. The updated device tree access path is listed below.
https://github.com/Arthur97172/Armbian-Community-Build/blob/main/patch/kernel/archive/rockchip64-6.18/dt/rk3568-yy3568.dts

somehow I'm in troble to run the armbian build into 24.04 localhost.
 
cd build ./compile.sh BOARD=h96-tvbox-3566 BRANCH=edge BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=yes KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no RELEASE=resolute  
[💥] Problem detected [ Docker installed but not usable ] [💥] Exiting in 10 seconds [ Press <Ctrl-C> to abort, <Enter> to ignore and continue ] [🔨] E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages. [💥] error! [ Failed to install host packages; make sure you have a sane sources.list. ] [💥] Exiting with error 43 [ at /home/nicolas/Downloads/build/lib/functions/logging/traps.sh:1
so let's try docker,
cd build ./compile.sh docker BOARD=h96-tvbox-3566 BRANCH=edge BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=yes KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no RELEASE=resolute
then also docker:
 
Failed to update binfmts [ update-binfmts --enable qemu-aarch64 ] ... arm64: not supported on this machine/kernel
how to fix:
sudo apt update sudo apt install -y qemu-user-static binfmt-support sudo systemctl restart systemd-binfmt update-binfmts --display qemu-aarch64 docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install all docker run --rm --platform linux/arm64 arm64v8/ubuntu uname -m
now, run the build inside the docker shell:
 
cd build newgrp docker ./compile.sh docker-shell ./compile.sh BOARD=h96-tvbox-3566 BRANCH=edge BUILD_DESKTOP=no BUILD_MINIMAL=yes KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no RELEASE=resolute

Now let's prepare this board for kernel 7

Bump to uboot 2026.04
tested with kernel 7.0.5
no mods, just pure mainline
 
Boot Logs:
https://paste.armbian.com/ujumalanuc

Github Pull request:
https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/9807
 
Tested with kernel 7.0.6
Boot Logs:
https://paste.armbian.com/jabokoqusa 
 
 

 

With the help of AI, dts writing (kernel 5.10) has been achieved. It's basically error-free. Only applicable to shutuo v8 version
Results:
Wired network is normal
Wireless network is normal
USB interface is normal
rk3288-shutuo-v8.dtb rk3288-shutuo-v8.dts

when using your fork, it worked
https://github.com/fensoft/rk3528-tvbox