CoreELEC 21.1-Omega Amlogic-ng Discussion

[vpeter]

@MegaXor

Why is CoreELEC NG is effected when a device gets and Android update?

Affected in what way?

@MegaXor

Are there any design documents or “it’s all in the code”?

Maybe in the wiki.

[Sholander]

@vpeter

Affected in what way?

Like, Android 14 broke -ng installation, as some wrote it does:

C/P
So the version of CoreElec NG that worked well on the box with Android TV 12 no longer works on Android TV 14!

[vpeter]

There are some files used from Android. We are aware of the problem.

[MegaXor]

Thanks @vpeter

There are some files used from Android.

Isn’t it possible to create a standalone blob with the Android dependencies?
Thus decoupling CoreELEC from the device OS…

We are aware of the problem.

Can you elaborate what options are being considered?
I understand that upgrading the kernel will most probably break FEL.

[vpeter]

CE 21 will stay on current kernel. But CE running environment needs adjustments for Android 14. Just like it was done for 12 but this one was easier.
CE 22 has new kernel where FEL is no go I think.

[Portisch]

@MegaXor

Isn’t it possible to create a standalone blob with the Android dependencies?
Thus decoupling CoreELEC from the device OS…

No, since a long time TEE protection is used so firmware and TA singed files must match what we, as open source, can’t provide.

[MegaXor]

@Portisch,
Is the firmware flashed onto the HW during an Android OS upgrade or is it loaded during OS boot (Android / CoreELEC)?

If it’s loaded upon boot then I don’t understand the problem.

Can you elaborate please?

[Portisch]

CoreELEC/CoreELEC/blob/coreelec-22/projects/Amlogic-ce/packages/linux-drivers/amlogic/opentee_linuxdriver/scripts/tee-loader.sh

[Sholander]

@MegaXor

Thanks @vpeter

There are some files used from Android.

Isn’t it possible to create a standalone blob with the Android dependencies?
Thus decoupling CoreELEC from the device OS…

It is possible on SBC, like Odroid N2(+), CE-ng runs completely un-depended of any other OS.

[vpeter]

@Sholander

CE-ng runs completely un-depended of any other OS.

Because kernel used there is old. But world moved on

[Sholander]

Apparently, again from good to worse

[vpeter]

New SoC’s can’t use this old kernel. And no time to cover all of them.

[mugmealer]

So does that mean the Android can’t be wiped off the emmc of these devices? And it should always be a dual boot?

[vpeter]

I would though this should be clear from now on but seems I’m wrong.
No Android: how could CE use files from it then?

[MegaXor]

Thanks @portisch.

You didn’t answer my question: Is the FW or TEE components just stored on the emmc and loaded during boot or are there updates flashed to the HW during the OS update?

Went over the supplied tee-loader.sh.

1. Why not extract /vendor/bin/tee-supplicant and /vendor/bin/tee_preload_fw in advance into the suggested blob?
2. If they are unique per device, then why not have tee-loader.sh back them up during the first boot?
3. Are there any ARM / Android design documents on these components?

The endgame is having DV layer 7 FEL capable CoreELEC on an Android 14 Homatics.

[MegaXor]

Did some more digging after my previous post and have a better grasp of the system.

If I were Dolby, I would update my cryptographic keys in the secure storage during the Android 14 update.

Previous trusted applications (.ta) would become obsolete thus blocking layer 7 FEL playback.

There are multiple ways of achieving this sort of protection, however, from my experience, never assume anything.

There may always be a bug in the design or implementation.

@portisch
Have you or anyone from the Coreelec team tried components from 12 on a 14 device?

[Vasco]

FEL works in our ng kernel only so you just need to adjust ng to the ATV14 structure. It’s been said multiple times that our work in ng is done. We’ve made a conscious decision to drop it because we need an unified kernel.
It’s kind of funny that people were pretending that we would continue to support it forever and didn’t move a finger to help (those who could). Instead knowledgeable people only lost time in creating a player process info that would tell you what you’re watching because otherwise you couldn’t tell the difference.
All help is welcomed. We don’t need people telling the team what to do, we need people doing it and PR’ing it.

[MegaXor]

@Vasco & @Portisch
I understand that Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL will not work on newer CoreELEC versions. It only works on the nightly NG versions.
Is this correct?

I am trying to understand if there is an option to update to Android 14 and still have Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL.
If there is, even if it’s on the NG version, then I’ll do it

I would appreciate some help instead of a cold sholder.

[mugmealer]

At the moment, the current ng nightly versions will not work with boxes updated to ATV14. The CE team hasn’t said that it’s impossible to make it work as far as I can see.

However, they are spread too thin to work on this particular compatibility fix and they’re focusing on the newer kernel.

So, don’t update your device to ATV14 at any cost if you want to retain FEL, it is as simple as that. Maybe things might change in the future, but this is the current status.

Has anyone received any of these boxes with ATV14 pre-installed from the factory?

[atirage21]

I agree. Amazon fire cube 2nd have last updates from 30. november 2024. Maybe would be good check to changes from fire os 7.6.8.5 (if is it useful, but is based on android 9):

GitHub - Pro-me3us/gazelle_firmware: Amazon FireTV 3rd gen Cube Firmware & Stock Apps. Official Cloud Front direct links only