2/22/25, 11:53 AM Installing Armbian 20.
10 on Amlogic S905x Android TV Box (Sunvell T95x)
▲A A▼
Installing Armbian 20.10 on Amlogic S905x Android TV Box
(Sunvell T95x)
I love the idea of the Raspberry Pi, but there are some cheaper alternative single board computers that offer a similar experience for a fraction
of the cost. While the community support isn't quite what it is for the Pi, there are a ton of projects you can accomplish on the cheap with these
little hidden gems. Keep an eye on AliExpress and Amazon and you can find SBC's sporting quad core ARM process with 2-4 GB of RAM for
under $30, including a power supply and IR remote control.
The box used in this video is a Sunvell T95x I picked up refurbished on Amazon for $21 shipped. It sports a Quad Core Amlogic S905x @ 2GHz
and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM.
Things You Will Need
A microSD card at least 8 GB https://amzn.to/36CpShC | https://amzn.to/3CXJngt | https://amzn.to/3JqyxSP
Downloads and Flashing to MicroSD
1. Download Armbian Download | Alternate
2. Download Balena Etcher Download
3. Run Balena Etcher
4. Burn Armbian image to microSD card
5. Safely remove microSD and re-insert
6. Ignore/close the Windows dialogs to format the inserted microSD card
Configure MicroSD Card for Armbian
1. Open the readable partition of the microSD card in Explorer
2. Rename the appropriate file from below to u-boot.ext on the root of the SD card
u-boot-s905 (for s905)
u-boot-s905x-s912 (for s905x and s912)
u-boot-s905x2-s922 (for s905x2 and s922)
3. Edit /extlinux/extlinux.conf in a text editor
a. Comment out rk-3399 lines by adding #
b. Uncomment aml s9xx FDT and APPEND lines by removing #
c. Update the FDT line to point to a working .dtb file for your device
# aml s9xxx
#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12a-x96-max-no-cvbs.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-ugoos-am6-no-cvbs.dtb
#FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-g12b-odroid-n2.dtb
FDT=/dtb/amlogic/meson-gxl-s905x-p212.dtb
APPEND=root=LABEL=ROOTFS rootflags=data=writeback rw console=ttyAML0,115200n8
console=tty0 no_console_suspend consoleblank=0 fsck.fix=yes fsck.repair=yes
net.ifnames=0
d. Save
e. Close
4. Safely remove microSD
5. Insert microSD card to Android TV box
Booting to Armbian for the First Time
1. Plug the power adapter into the Android TV box
2. If the device has never booted from external storage before the stock Android OS will
load
3. In Android, navigate to the application drawer > Run Update & Backup
4. Select Local > Navigate to the microSD card > aml_autoscript.zip
5. Select Update
https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0269.html 1/2
2/22/25, 11:53 AM Installing Armbian 20.10 on Amlogic S905x Android TV Box (Sunvell T95x)
6.The system will reboot twice and should then begin booting Armbian from the
microSD card
7. You should see the Armbian terminal running startup scripts
8. When prompted, login with username: root password: 1234
9. Input a new root password
10. Confirm the new root password
11. When prompted, input a username
12. Input a password for the new user
13. Confirm the password for the new user
14. Follow any additional the prompts
15. Armbian will boot into the desktop environment
Special thanks to the developers and forum members over at Armbian.com for making this possible
https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0269.html 2/2
