For my very olds M12N (S912) and X96Air (S905x3) devices which coincide in the lack of a suitable Android I am using ‘slimboxtv’ firmwares with Android 9 and Kodi Matrix, which work quite well. CoreELEC I have it installed in USB 3.0 flash drives. Everything works great, with CE 9.2.8 on S912 and CE 19.3 on S905x3. I do not agree with your opinion about X96Air, I think they are cheap, with 4/64GB 1000Mbps, and good.
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I looked at the Odroid but it does not have optical audio… Mind you, it does not even have WiFi 
For me = Useless. The S905x3 does the job. I would like to improve the FW though…
Keep in mind, after 1 years or so I throw this boxes away and get me a new one (to keep up with development…) FFS What is $60-70 nowadays? Half a days work 
Elderly people (above 35 or so) tend to live in the past and keep this boxes for 2-3 years (or more). But if you are born in this century, you see life a bit different! I wonder how powerful this boxes will be by the time I am 35 
Each one asks the technology different things, I do not need any optical audio output, I ask a TV Box that functions well WiFi, ethernet and bluetooth communications, and that can decode video using hardware 4K, and connect for TV channels and multimedia without problems to my server, even from another country. My oldest TV Boxes are from 2016 (S912) and still work well even with 15 year old TVs that are unable to tune HDTV or 4K. I also have no problem with X96 Air.
Sorry, I don’t throw away anything that works well.
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You are in the wrong place, little man! Go ahead and make this planet a junk deposit with your philosophy.
Banane PI M5 Quality components with CE support better option than any X96 box. X96 cannot be considered good a label of good hardware with bad manufacturing components, it gets hot a lot, Android bugs, CoreELEC bugs, then people always complaining about a lot of defects and errors in CE, in Android also the same , they do not realize that the main fault is the box garbage they are using.
Of course Odroid N2 + better for CE. For android Nvidia Shield TV Pro and other quality boxes better than Chinese X96 trinkets.
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Seeing things different doesn’t mean seeing things better.
Even my granny used to say “I’m too poor to buy cheap things” 
And she was right!
Besides sustainability aspect, you would work half a day to buy cheap crap, and spend the other half day finding support for fixing bugs. Better to work full day, buy proper stuff, and enjoy…
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Well forgive my manners but fuck off! If you gonna get shitty about the elderly and put everyone above 35 in the elderly category than all discussion ends here.
You need to learn to respect the elders then we can have a grownup discussion? This is nothing but trolling.
I remember spending horrible weeks trying to get my M8S (the old S812 version) working with LE which ultimately made me decide my time was more important than a few saved pounds.
Some of the errors that happened to me with the X96 box with CE 19 Matrix both in microSD and in the internal memory: PVR Net client at certain times of the day no television channel was connected, add-on to watch movies strange behavior when Searching for them came out empty as if the film did not exist, Tvheadend many times did not connect to the server having to restart, installed CE in the internal memory from a microSD did not give the option to restart the internal memory, the hdmi CEE control mysteriously stopped and when changing it to different Android firmwares, the same does not work. Asin a lot more anomalies of these X96 boxes and what they heat up without exaggeration if the lid is not removed after several hours of operation an egg could be fried on top of the lid if you add a little oil. It does not matter any of this, it is worth 20 or 30 euros cheaper than the OdroidN2 +, Banane PI M5, etc.jjjjjjjj
Later buy the X96 Max2 same hardware S905X3 4GB / 64GB. Same garbage, the same faults as the X96Air, this X96 Max 2 even had no screws to remove the top cover, with a screwdriver it came out without problem, it was working for 2 or 3 weeks and one day without knowing why it stopped working it did not turn on, I have Tried to recover it by usb burning tool and nothing does not detect usb or anything. Money thrown away.
By the way, in the garbage for those who are going to use the Wi-Fi connection, wouldn’t this Mecool K5 be better than the X96 boxes? I have it and at least it heats up less, the other is also understood to be garbage. ( similar price, logically same boxes full of faults )
QUOTE: “Well forgive my manners but fuck off! If you gonna get shitty about the elderly and put everyone above 35 in the elderly category than all discussion ends here.”
Don’t blow a fuse please just because you are over 35. My parents are now 45 I never said I don’t respect the elderly (or any people for that matter) Sorry to have triggered you… It was not my intention. I apologize.
It is not only about the money… You learn a lot along the way…
I have the same variant, called A-100, 4Gb RAM, 64 Gb ROM, it all works on emmc and using the dtb “sm1_s905x3_4g.dtb”.
A-100 is 100 Mbit, A-1000 is 1000.
I’m still looking for the original firmware but can’t find it.
And I’m just noticing now that USB Burning Tool doesn’t see it plugging it into USB3, no peripherals recognized by Windows.
I guess I’ll keep it with CoreElec! 
EDIT - I found a great link with all stock firmware for the X96Air: https://tinhte.vn/thread/tong-hop-cac-ban-firmware-cua-android-tv-box-x96-air.3050996/
Unfortunately I didn’t understand how to recover my A100.
Hi.
What´s the last version of kodi/coreelec for our device?
Mine has 18.9 / 9.2.8 , but I have no pop up offering me to update
Hi
Has anyone managed to get a VFD conf that looks right when the box is upside down
VFD is working perfectly the right way round but when I try to modify the conf files, VFD dissapears completely,.
I have turned it upside down, punch a hole in it. put a heatsink on and put a usb powered fan on top. Keeps temps 45-55
Thanks heaps guys for the how to config page, have been very helpful
Try the following lines in your vfd.conf
vfd_chars='4,0,1,2,3'
# vfd_chars='4,3,2,1,0'
and
vfd_display_type='0x02,0x00,0x01,0x00'
# vfd_display_type='0x01,0x00,0x01,0x00'
IIRC the first one should be the original config, the second one should be the upside down config.
Awesome. Thanks it’s working upside down.
Oddly open VFD is not working. The box is only showing the time. Any ideas?
Is there any way to disable / enable a usb? I want the fan only to be active when a certain temperature is reached
Should it work also usb-c cable for flashing (male part into box and usb-c part into laptop)?