yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
NP Wotzit. But have to say this is definitely not thread drift at all as it is about which boxes will support the latest EmbER firmware. And yes have to agree to differ as having both plastic and metal cased boxes here the metal cased more expensive one is IMHO much better made with a few more features (BT and Toslink audio output).

EmbER did indeed intend to, and may still, release firmware for the plastic MXQ S805 boxes as you can see on their greyed out version on the downloads page. However you really have to appreciate the problem is with several nasty clones that look pretty much the same, but are very different inside, are out there in the market. So that would likely lead to folk unlucky enough to innocently buy the "wrong" clone ending up with a bricked box which I know of course Josh and Cory do not want happening to their loyal supporters, and indeed neither do I nor anyone else here.

Amyway Happy Birthday Wotzit and hope you had really great celebrations mate.

---------- Post added at 08:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 AM ----------

Nope but maybe with the full release of EmbER 4. Mind you any differences AFAIK will most likely be very minor and probably not noticeable but someone here may indeed know better on that point.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
Agreed.

The flip-side being that, if/when there is an EmBER FW released for these boxes, that it's highly likely many would find it suitable for their MXQ, regardless of what the case is made of, which is why those with them needn't replace them with more expensive hardware just yet ( I'm more of a glass half full than half empty kind of guy) ;)

In the interim, I've not had any problem finding builds of the latest Kodi that run without issue which, after all, is what we're all looking to achieve. :good:

I am pro-EmBER and suggest to anyone out there, that hasn't actually purchased a box yet, to consider Ray's sound advice.

I only present this other point of view, for the benefit of those that have purchased the equipment they can afford, only to read here that there is nothing available without replacing that hardware :)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
I fully understand what you are saying Wotzit of course so no need to even have to agree to differ my friend.

HOWEVER one thing I have to make clear is that we must all understand that it is far more than just a better case with these slightly more expensive metal cased M12 boxes. They are also clearly different internally too and have some additional features (i.e. BT and Toslink connection), and those differences are underlined by the fact that the EmbER S805 so far released firmware is not compatible with the plastic cased boxes ( nor apparently any of their various clones either !) That point is very important and very relevant here and IMHO it is important that folk understand it clearly to save tears later. Of course hopefully things may change later with compatible EmbER builds for various MXQ clones eventually released.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
Totally agree, for anyone that thought otherwise
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
List of discovered bugs with EmbER 4 s805 nightly build.

Thought I would start a list of the minor bugs I have so far found with EmbER 4 nightly build for the M12 S805 box. Please make sure you are fully aware that this S805 build is ONLY for the metal cased MXQ M12 box so please only add any discovered bugs to this list if you are using that particular box for which the build is exclusively intended.

Here is my list of bugs to date of which I am sure Josh already knows about.

1. Small size flash EmbER logo screens both the passive and active ones at boot up.

2. When updating to new EmbER firmware the existing user settings are retained EXCEPT the time zone which reverts to USA New York time and thus needs manually resetting.

3. Over sensitive repeat function with remote. This may be a hardware problem with the remote though rather than in the firmware. Not a deal breaker as you soon get used to it.

4. When box is in Suspend mode the system clock loses a lot of time which can be over an hour a day!! It stays correct if you leave the box fully on even though idle. A full reboot of course resets the clock correctly.

5. With any laggy internet connection to the USA the date/time initial setting at boot up can fail to access the US ntp servers, thus leaving you with a 1970 default Linux date. There is a simple fix for this already (see back in this thread) for those few of us who are affected by it, as we are currently in SE Asia due to a long standing subterranean cable outage.

6. Often with the EmbER excellent backup utility you cannot get a list of existing backups to restore from if using the SD card for saving backups to. A system reboot fixes this. Never a problem backing up to the SD card though.

As I mentioned these are all very minor bugs, many with easy work arounds, but please feel free to add to this list if you have any more. Other that that the latest EmbER 4 nightly build for S805 is very stable indeed and runs very well with good snappy operations and navigation too :)

For those running M6 dual core boxes then please c.an someone start another list for any bugs they discover with the new EmbER 4 nightly builds for the various M6 boxes. Currently I have not got a working M6 box to test with and now using my available time to work with the new S805 M12 quad core box as i believe this is the way forward right now though the M6 boxes are still perfectly serviceable of course
[Miscellaneous Android Development] DancesWithChickens:
It happened to me a few times now, that i booted up EmbER and was greeted with this:

All settings (including skin settings) are gone, resolution is set to 720x480, skin is set to default EmbER mod.

I don't know how to reproduce this.

Most of the time, i power down my box normally, cut power completely (to avoid stand-by power consumption).

Boot it up the next day - it either boots normally or like pictured above.

Happened with 3.0.1 and 4.0.0 nightly.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
Yes I have occasionally come across that but NOT with the S805 build for the M12 box as yet. Had it with the ATV1220 box with a couple of customers of mine but very rarely I have to say. Can you clarify which box you are using DancesWithChickens ??

Easiest way to cope with that for now is of course to ensure you have a recent EmbER backup and simply restore your settings. Thanks for the input.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] DancesWithChickens:
See signature - i'm using a more "exotic" box - TLBBv2.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
Didn't look there - duh Never had or used a TLBB box so no experience with it at all. Sure see lots of folk have this "exotic" dual core box and heard it is indeed a good one like the ATV1200/1220 boxes are too.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] DancesWithChickens:
It is only good on paper.

I had plenty of hardware issues with v1, v1.1 and v2, so much that i'll never buy from Venztech again.

Josh & Corey don't have a TLBB either, which makes it even more impressive that their firmware is by far the best available for it.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
Tip before flashing MXQ M12 boxes to EmbER

Many would have seen the reports of a minor bug when booting an MXQ M12 S805 box to EmbER where the boot up two logo screens appear very small rather than full screen, in fact a 720 res frame on a full 1080 display. Well this is easily avoided by firstly changing the display setting in Android to a 720 res mode before first flashing to EmbER.

It is anyway always best to first check your new box is working properly with it's default Android firmware, so let your new box boot fully into the Android opening screen. Then from the menus options select Settings and then Display. Turn off the auto HD detect option and set the resolution to 720p mode and ensure all is working well when you return to your Android home screen. Now you can power off and flash the latest EmbER firmware in the normal way. Once complete you will enjoy the full screen opening two EmbER logo screens and for the latest Nightly you will also see the very nice new animated logo screen too :)

I discovered this little trick thanks to Cory mentioning this small boot logo display problem was not an EmbER bug but due to the default screen res inherited from the default Android firmware. So tried the above method with one of my new stock of MXQ M12 metal cased boxes with EMbER V3.0.1 and then updated it to the latest Ember 4 Nightly build for these S805 M12 boxes, and voila problem solved.

With the full public release of EmbER 4 due any moment now, the above tip will be very useful for many of you who have been waiting for this latest S805 EmbER release to flash to your new MXQ M12 boxes. But this MUST be carried out prior to flashing of course as so far there is no way I have yet found to go back to default Android just yet, though I am looking for a default Android build for these boxes to supply to Josh who will then compile, check and release a suitable revert image for EmbER back to Android on the S805 boxes. So does anyone here have a link for such a default Android S805 build for these M12 boxes ??
[Miscellaneous Android Development] DancesWithChickens:
This could be a remnant of the "clear cache" button, which used to be there.

Also:

After extensively testing the two nightly builds released for TLBBv2: the first build (20160521) is more stable and seems to use less resorces.

I get soft crashes with the 0527 build when the box does some heavy lifting (e.g. open very large song list while party mode is playing).

So for now i'll keep using that first nightly build.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
Well I do not use party mode at all so cannot comment on that problem as I use Apple Music BT linked to my sound system for that purpose. However, on my M12 S805 box the latest nightly build is very stable indeed so far. Anyway EmbER 4 full release is imminent.

As to the "Clear Cache" option missing, well firstly it was actually "Clear All" not "Clear Cache" on the previous nightly build. Josh has decided to remove the Clear All option, as he rightly said it took more button presses than instigating the top two options independently. The colon left there is I am sure a little left over remnant that will likely be removed with the next release.

I also have "Run Speed Test" as an additional option on my Maintenance list, but that is on the M12 S805 build of course. I am currently unable to check that on the dual core boxes as I do not have a working M6 box here right now ( a few bricked ones waiting for a hopeful fix soon), as I have moved fully over to the metal cased MXQ M12 S805 boxes, so will no longer be buying and stocking any more M6 boxes.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
New ember v4.0.0 update with jarvis 16.1 is now available

The new full release of EmbER 4 is now available for the dual core M6 boxes G02Ref and G18Ref as well as the S805 M12 quad core boxes too. Please note that there are no free public versions for the time being and may be some time before there is . EmbER V4.0.0 has the latest KODI Jarvis V16.1 and so far runs very nicely and seems to be very stable too.

So for those who do not already have EmbER installed on their boxes, to get the latest EmbER 4.0.0 installed with KODI Jarvis 16.1, then you need to first download and install the appropriate version for your box of the public EmbER V3.0.1 build, and then on the EmbER Downloads page donate at least the required amount to register your version ( >US$10 for M6 boxes and >US$25 for the S805 quad core M12 box) and then activate your EmbER firmware to upgrade to the full Donor Edition. Your box will be able to auto update OTA to V4,0.0, provided you enable the Auto Update feature in EmbER Settings first of course. You can also in EmbER settings easily manually update the firmware too..

IMPORTANT for those with MyGica ATV1200 and 1220 G02Ref boxes, then before installing EmbER over the default Android firmware, you MUST first install an earlier MX Linux KODI 14 build, available from the front page of this thread. Only then can you safely install EmbER firmware without bricking your box. This as I understand it is a problem with the factory configuration of these MyGica boxes and not an EmbER bug, though this may have a work around eventually with a public V4 release sometime in the future.

Note also that if you have been running one of the V4 nightly builds then you will have to manually install the new full release V4.0.0 update as the system will see your V4 nightly build as already running EmbER V4 and then report that there are no updates available. So to get around that simply go to the Manually upgrade/downgrade option and there you will see the full V4.0.0 available for OTA download and installation.

I have now tested this V4.0.0 full firmware update on a G02Ref ATV1220T box and on my S805 based MXQ M12 metal cased box, and both so far are running very well indeed with no problems with the OTA update either, well other than the manual update install needed for those currently running a V4 nightly build as mentioned above.

Well done to Josh and Cory at EmbER for yet another milestone EmbER Linux KODI build, great job and much appreciated by all here I am sure.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Tumypka2019:
After update my m6 box cant play many bruray iso , also no bd3diso playback. Only sbs and top and bottom mode

---------- Post added at 08:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 AM ----------

I can play this iso files via file manager only
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
MX2 Really struggling here. No settings are retained and more often than not gets stuck with a black screen immediately after the animation. The times it has booted 50/50 if the date is correct.

I'll do some homework on it later - probably something silly fouling things up ;)

---------- Post added at 06:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:08 PM ----------

Well it seems that. if coming from another OS to Ember, it is best to resist the check for updates now option offered by the 3.01 First Run Setup.

Clicking next, allowing setup to finish, then waiting a while for any addons to update seems to avoid the settings not saving / perpetual First Run Setup and kodi doesn't seem to be having any startup issues. :highfive:

On the downside, the 1970 date bug is still very apparent. :eek:

Guess we're just gonna have to continue to rely on scripts to remedy this one, in the absence of a 'wait for network before starting kodi' option - disappointing :(

Investigations continue . . .
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
Yup, seems like everything is working fine but no advance regarding the time sync (1970 date) problem :confused:
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
Thanks for the feedback Wotzit

The fix for the 1970 default Linux date problem if needed (most parts of the world it works fine with it using the default US ntp time servers) is to install the modded ntp.conf file I pointed to back earlier in this thread a few weeks ago. This needs adding to the /root/Configs folder and never fails to work for me, and all other dozens of boxes I have recently installed here, on both G02Ref and S805 boxes. Remember also that I live in SE Asia where we have this problem acutely with a still ongoing laggy internet connection from many areas here to the USA, which I understand is due to a long standing subterranean cable outage.

If anyone tries this fixed config file in their /root/Config folder and it does not work and you are not in Asia then let me know and I can easily modify it for you for your region as I know Wotzit can too. Such a fix will likely come with V4.0.1 update sometime in the future. I know Josh wanted to get V4 out ASAP without further delays as it had no major bugs to prevent its much awaited release. This 1970 date/time bug for a small minority of us, and the small boot logo screens are both two easily fixed minor bugs with a simple work around, and which I know Josh is working on for the next minor update.

Also on my M12 S805 box I have no problem playing 3D content or any other video files including large mkv files too. I also have not come across this problem yet with contacts here who now have updated to V4 on their G02Ref boxes either. So it seems there may be some other problem there .

Finally I never run the First Run Setup as I have a well established and popular EmbER backup I use which sets up everything perfectly and gives the most popular set of usually needed add-ons though biased more towards UK Expats. Wotzits advise to let the Setup finish seems a good one but there should be no problem with folk updating from EmbER 3.0.1 and retaining all their settings as registered users (which they need to be to get the V4 update) and indeed they should not get that First Run option anyway as their settings should have been retained fully.

All my OTA updates to V4 so far have gone very smoothly and never lost my previous settings and add-ons, even now the timezone stays as you had previously set it as the problem going to USA/New York timezone on update has been fixed.

---------- Post added at 08:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 AM ----------

I have to admit I do not play .iso files on my EmbER KODI box. I mainly have large mkv files. If i have an iso copy I convert it to .mkv using one of many good converter programs, some of which I believe are free too, if you take a look around torrents search engines.

When I get a moment I will try to play an iso 3D file on my EmbER V4 M12 box but I think KODI surely only supports the sbs and top/bottom modes , though not 100% sure on that one.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
You're getting confused with a different issue Ray, as identified back here.

Same symptoms - different problem ;)

The issue I refer to is not remedied by configuring time servers correctly.

As a matter of fact, I always configure time server settings, just out of completeness.

This particular issue, concerning local influences, results in the time being requested before the LAN is properly established, quite different to the externally influenced "sluggish broadband connection and timeservers" problem that you describe and now discovered that proper ntp configuration will correct.

OE /LE have successfully dealt with this issue by simply including an option to wait for the local network to be established before starting kodi but, since this option is still unavailable in EmBER, then the ONLY fix I have is to use a script in the /root/Run/ folder that effectively does much the same thing
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Tumypka2019:
On 3.0.1 firmware all iso files played. On 4.0 some iso files played only via file manager
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
M12 S805 Android Revert Now Available on EmbER Downloads page

Yes as the title says Josh has now made available a good working revert to Android file set on the EmbER downloads page for the MXQ M12 metal cased box. Before some of you may have noticed it was the old M6 box Android revert files at this download location.

So for those with the small EmbER boot logo display problem then you can now back up your EmbER settings first on your M12 box, use this newly uploaded revert to Android set of files as per the readme.txt file, and once their box is back in the original Android firmware they can then set the display mode to 720p as per my earlier posting above, and reinstall EmbER with the proper full screen boot logo displays. Finally restore their new EmbER backup to have their box back as it was.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] RayWalton:
So what you are saying is that I obviously do not have the same LAN problem you have, rather the regional laggy external WAN internet connection to the USA ??

I wonder why you have the delay in establishing your local LAN connection ? Never had that except years ago with a very old router which I replaced with a newer faster one and that instantly cured it. Does it happen with both WiFi and Ethernet connections to your box ?? Maybe a new router would solve that as I know this problem did exist way back with XBMC Gotham and Frodo and was cured by replacing old routers for more modern efficient ones. Have you tried a different newer router by any chance?

Appreciate the LE fix of waiting would work of course for anyone with a slow LAN connection, but I think Josh is working on a different fix that will also correct the time loss when the M12 boxes are in standby mode. I think his plan it to re-interrogating the ntp server repeatedly every pre set time interval by recalling the s49ntp daemon in the /etc/init.d folder and this should cause no perceivable stutter, at least not on the quad core S805 boxes. That should also then correct your date time problem soon after boot up has completed.

For me the script file in the Run folder does not work but as you say all the boxes here in SE Asia are suffering not from a slow initial LAN connection but by laggy external internet links to the USA.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
You got it, and why ntp.conf will not fix this problem whereas a wait for LAN script does not fix your issue, but does fix this one

An alternative (cost free) instant cure is to enable the software to wait a second or two longer for the Network to establish, before trying to access the internet. The trouble with dashing out and buying new hardware is that we don't know, for fact, that it will cure the problem.

I do not use WiFi, I've found a wired LAN to be far more reliable. I certainly would not consider throwing away a $300 router because of a software issue which, incidentally, is not present in the older builds of XBMC running on the exact same hardware.

Well there you go, different issue, different fix, different box. Hopefully good news for some.

The MX2 is not a quad core and, since I poweroff the box between use, the only issue with time / date is when it first boots (completely cured by waiting for the network handshaking to complete)

But hey, who knows - maybe the two issues will be tackled with an AIO fix

That's not my diagnosis, just info taken from here :)
[Miscellaneous Android Development] bmehalo:
Confluence skin...

I'd like to install a Schism build on my jynxbox running the latest 4.0 firmware. However it requires the default confluence skin...of course the default in my case is the Ember skin. I do not see confluence in the kodi repo anymore so I cannot install. Any help getting the skin installed would be greatly appreciated. I did find it on the kodi git, but downloading the zip and then trying to install via usb and 'install from zip" just nets me an error message.
[Miscellaneous Android Development] Wotzit:
Nice, clear instructions there, Ray.

For any that would feel more comfortable running the Amlogic BootcardMaker in English, you can get the English version here :good: