I tried to install Armbian_19.11.3_Aml-g12_buster_legacy_5.3.0_20191126.img.xz to my T95Z Plus box (S912 with 3GB RAM) but got only wifi running. Any ethernet connection was not possible. I used meson-gxm-khadas-vim2.dtb in uEnv.ini and was able to boot the box into debian buster. The following steps are needed to get the ethernet running (it is may be valuable for other problems too):

 

- go to the directory where all the dtb files are located

sudo apt-get install device-tree-compiler
sudo dtc -I dtb -O dts -f meson-gxm-khadas-vim2.dtb -o meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dts
sudo nano meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dts

Now search for "ethernet-phy@0" and insert the following 2 lines:

compatible = "ethernet-phy-id0381.5c11\0ethernet-phy-ieee802.3-c22";
max-speed = < 0x3e8 >;

And replace:

reg = < 0x00 >;
with
reg = < 0x01 >;

Now save the file and compile it:

dtc -I dts -O dtb -o meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dtb meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dts

and insert the new file in uEnv.ini and restart the system.

 

The same procedure can be used for other things too. If you have a working dtb file for an old distribution, just generate the dts from the old dtb and compare the relevant parts with a new dts file (see above how to generate it).

 

PS: This Armbian release has some strange issues related to DNS if you are using pi-hole! Any url can not be resolved a few seconds after reboot. Can partly be resolved by comment out the name server in "/etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head" and restart the system. And sometimes it was needed to start armbian-config and reset the interfaces and configure dhcp again (sometimes needed after each reboot).

 

Attachments:

*.modified: the modified working dts file

*.original: the dts file generated from meson-gxm-khadas-vim2.dtb (ethernet not working)

meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dts.modified meson-gxm-T95Z-Plus.dts.original

My T95Z Plus works with meson-gxm-q200.dtb. I guess they come with different ethernet chips