: For those who want to turn their TV box into a mini-server or desktop, Armbian (Debian/Ubuntu-based) has unofficial ports for the
The ultimate expression of a "free ROM" is booting a stock, unmodified Linux kernel from kernel.org on the S805. Thanks to work by the Linux-sunxi (Allwinner) and Amlogic communities, mainline Linux supports many S805 features: SMP (multi-core), USB, Ethernet, SDIO, and even the Lima driver. However, the boot process remains a challenge. Most S805 devices require a proprietary first-stage bootloader (the vendor’s u-boot binary) because the SoC’s boot ROM expects a specific signature. While U-Boot itself is open-source, the specific configuration for each S805 clone board must be extracted from the vendor’s binary. amlogic s805 custom rom free
: Provides slightly better app compatibility than the stock KitKat ROM. : For those who want to turn their
However, stock Android 4.4 (KitKat) or Android 5.1 (Lollipop) that ships with these boxes is bloated, spyware-ridden, and often forced to communicate with dead Chinese update servers. The result? Overheating, crashing, and a broken Google Play Store. However, stock Android 4
Several tools are available to help with the installation process: