Can the S805 boot from usb? I would like to connect a SSD to a usb port, and boot from it.

I have a great working system, and a SSD is much more durable than a SD card.

i think amlogic socs do not support booting from usb ... there is some usb boot mode which is something quite different: sending over a kernel or u-boot via usb from another system using some very special protocol and i guess this is not what you are looking for - no idea if its even supported on the s805 - see https://github.com/superna9999/pyamlboot

 

best wishes - hexdump

Thanks for the reply!, it does not look promising, based in the info on github.

Good news! As professor Farnsworth would say, it boots fine from a USB SSD with an adapter. The only thing is the power is limited, I can boot as long as it's the only device plugged in.

@s-petersen - what kind of u-boot are you using on this device? i guess you use the u-boot on the device to load and boot the kernel from usb? - this might actually work as you seem to have proven

I am not sure how it is working, I just formatted the SSD with Balena Etcher as though it was a SD card, and it boots, as long as I don't start it with the keyboard and mouse connected.

It may be that the SSD draws too much current, but if I plug the keyboard and mouse in after boot, it works fine

So, there is a strange problem, if I have any other usb devices other than a hub plugged in, it will not boot via usb. If just the hub and the SSD plugged in, it will boot just fine, If I plug anything into the hub, it will not boot either, so it's not a power problem, it seems to be something about discovering other devices during the pre boot that is causing the issue.

If I only have SSD during startup the SSD will blink a few times, then blink continuously for the entire boot, with other devices connected the drive blinks a few times, and stops, then boots the original android software.

Edited August 14, 20224 yr by s-petersen
added grammar

How can I find out the boot sequence, and also I never picked a dtb file to use, is there a way to find which one it is using? last question, is the Mali 450 driver included in stretch 3.10.108? Everything works, except video acceleration