[Android Stick & Console AMLogic based Computers] Downunder35m:
While trying to create my first ever Android firmware I had solve several problems, especially if you consider that I prefer under Windows instead of Linux.

I won't go into too many details as I have to assume everyone attempting this did at least some reading on the general how to of firmware installations and modifications.

Things you need:

Original firmware for your device as a IMG file

Amlogic's Customisation tool

A Rom Kitchen of your choice (I use Carliv)

System_Extractor-WIN-master

Some time...

Step1: Load the firmware into the AML tool and tick all boxes except the last one.

In the tmp folder you will find the unpacked files.

Under Level one are the files we want.

You will see a bunch of "PARTITION" files, we copy the following ones into a seperate folder for further use to create the ZIP.

I suggest to name the folder "Install" so we are all on the same page here.

boot.partition

bootloader.partition

logo.partition

recovery.partition

If you checked a flashable ZIP update before you will notice some files are missing, let's try to fix that.

Rename all partition files you copied to img, so instead of boot.partition you get boot.img.

Unpack the boot.img with your kitchen.

You will find a file "boot.img-second" - copy that into your install folder and rename it to dtb.img.

Inside the unpacked ramdisk (In your kitchen) of the boot.img you will fing the "file_contexts" file - copy that into your install folder as well.

Most AML firmware I had so far used a system.new.dat and a system.transfer.list to create the system partition.

We can create them from the system.partition file after renaming to system.img in System_Extractor-WIN-master .

To do this the system.img needs to be unpacked and we need again a copy of the file_contexts.

After the image is unpacked we can pack it again as system.new.dat and system.transfer.list.

The last missing bits can be tricky though as now we need a META-INF folder that works for our device in question.

There are two way to fix that.

Method one:

Search the usually chinese websites using Google to find original firmware for your device.

Chance are that you will find something like an OTA update - in there you will find what you need.

Method two (I never tested that):

Take the META-INF folder from an OTA update of a box with identical hardware specs.

Most important part here is the memory configuration so for a 2/16GB box you need a 2/16GB OTA update.

Next of same importance is the WiFi/Bluetooth config.

If you only have Wifi than an update for a box With daul wifi and BT4.0 won't help you.

If the actual Wifi chip is a different one but CPU, GPU, Memory and connections are the same it should still work.

Once you have the META-INF folder included into your Install folder the firmware is ready to be zipped - in theory!

The X96 for example uses a hash check for the update and created system partition.

To be able to flash your image you need to know what the original recovery would expect - has check or not.

The updater script within the META-INF folder needs to be updated to match your build.prop details as well hash check/no hash check.

Again, with an original OTA update you will find these infos.

Only if you don't have the OTA and no clue what your updater script and recovery needs you are a bit lost.

I know I has not all the steps in detail and if you are without and OTA update you need to search but otherwise feel free to ask and I will try to assist to make it complete if I can.