AllWinner A10 based devices all have board configuration files in binary format, sometimes refereed to as script.bin, evb.bin, sys_config.{product_nane}.bin store in the FAT partition with the kernel. You may want to decode those binary files to configure your hardware and/or disable/enable peripherals. For the Ubuntu image provided for the Mele A1000 set-top box, the file is called evb.bin and the two other files (mele.bin and sys_config1.mele_mod.bin) are not used.
The filename can change since it is configurable in u-boot e.g.:
load1=fatload mmc 0 43000000 evb.bin
bootcmd=run load1 boot_mmc
If you want to decrypt the binary files into text format (fex), you can retrieve bin2fex tool:
git clone https://github.com/amery/sunxi-tools
Build it:
cd sunxi-tools
make
This will compile both bin2fex (binary to fex text files) and fex2bin (fex files to bin), but the later does not seem to work right now. fex2bin also works now. If you want to decrypt a configuration files type this command line:
./bin2fex evb.bin > evb.fex
The resulting evb.fex will shows the keys and values in text format:
; bin2fex: version: 0.1.2
; bin2fex: size: 42052 (74 sections)
[product]
version = “1.0”
machine = “A10-EVB-V1.2”[target]
boot_clock = 1008
dcdc2_vol = 1400
dcdc3_vol = 1250
ldo2_vol = 3000
ldo3_vol = 2800
ldo4_vol = 2800
The text above is just an extract, to see what a full fex file looks like, check out Mele A1000 sys_config1.fex.
There a file called crane_fex_guide.doc which will explain (in Chinese) the meaning of each keys. If you would like to get this documentation, you can download A10 SDK Document (password: ainol).
Once you’ve modified the fex file, it would be good to convert it back to binary to use it in your hardware. At some point, I assume it will be possible to use fex2bin tool above [Update: it works now]. You can also use script.exe in Windows. To get this tools (and some others), download tools.tar.bz2 download tools.tar (password: ainol), extract it and you can find the tools in tools/crane-win-v2/pctools/mod_update directory. Start a command prompt in Windows , and run the command:
script.exe evb.fex evb.bin
Now simply copy it back to your SD card or flash to try it out. [Update: there also appears to be a fex to bin utilitily for Linux)
The directory tools\crane-win-v2\eFex\configs has quite a few configs for several A10 devices and boards such as the Aino tablet, AllWinner EVBs and Onda tablets. It may be worth having a look, since there are some good comments in English for each section.
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hi,
can you completely switch off the bluetooth/wifi on the a1000 to get as low a power as possible ?
can i ask a general question as rejected/damaged a10 tablets are so cheap to get hold off in the EU – has anyone any idea if these cheap a10 tablets have SATA and more importantly ethernet pins on the board to solder to an ethernet connector .. may make a very cheap a10 linux board (the mele by the time postage and duty is added is expensive if purchased direct from china) 😉
@ mac me
There are flags to disable Bluetooth / Wifi in the fex file, but I don’t know if this would affect the power consumption much. I depends what they do with the flags and the hardware design.
I don’t know about the A10 tablets having SATA and/or Ethernet pins.
For duties it depends on your country customs and possibly where you buy. I bought the Mele A1000 from an online shop in Hong Kong, got it shipped here and I did not have to pay duties (Total: 100 USD).
thanks for forcing me to finish
fex2bin😉 https://github.com/amery/sunxi-tools just got it’s first release so no windows or closed source tools are required to edit the script.bin files.@ Alejandro M.
My pleasure 🙂 and thanks for the tools, no need to switch back and forth between Linux and Windows anymore!
fex2bin and bin2fex for Mac OS X http://dl.dropbox.com/u/441189/fex2bin.zip
@ frantisheq
Thanks for that. You might also want to share the link with the members of the arm netbook mailing list (http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook).
I’ve just seen the Crane fex guide is also available in English (in case you have trouble with Chinese).
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65312725/Crane_Fex_Guide%20v0.4%20%EF%BC%88EN%29.pdf
Just posting here to make sure you know how much interest these posts have generated over at the XBMC forums. I check the thread regularly on Tapatalk, so may have missed you posting there if you’re already aware. See:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=126995
There is a lot of hope to eventually get XBMC running on an Android port for this device once hardware acceleration is enabled. Personally I think XBMC running on the Mele would be a killer app, especially if all the plugins for emulators and streaming video sites worked too. Could be epic and I really don’t know why none of the China settop makers have tried to go that route already…
@ bornagainpenguin
Thanks for the kind comment. Most of the work is done by other people in arm-netbook mailing, but I suppose you are already aware of that.
Yes, I have seen the thread in xbmc forums as I get some traffic from there.
AllWinner A10 devices such as the Mele A1000 or MK802 would just be perfect for XBMC.
I just wonder why XBMC would not be doing a XMBC distro like for the Raspberry Pi. Are some of the proprietary libraries not working on Linux ?
Password for “Tools.rar” is: ainol
@ ZercosZ
Thanks I should have mentioned that little details… Post updated.
The file for the windows tools (http://www.mediafire.com/?5wpm4ae3o4cwsyh) is missing. PLEASE reupload!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worked great for me.
My Linaro’s evb.bin wouldn’t recognize the UHost wifi, my UHost script.bin would not boot Linaro. So I merged them (manually). This was extremely helpful since ALIP with armhf works amazingly on the old A10, 10s boot time and very responsive, compared with the rather sluggish Lubuntu. Great job.
BTW, Git repository has been moved:
git clone https://github.com/linux-sunxi/sunxi-tools
And you might need to update:
libusb-1.0-0-dev
@Daniel Klein
Hi Daniel,
Could you let me know what changes to linaro evb.bin (fex) you did to enable wifi. I do struggle with enabling it on Measy U1A and hoped your solution may work for it as well. Also why did you mention libusb-1.0.0-dev? Is there something missing from Linaro distribution that does not let to enable wifi (register rtl8192cu properly)?
Appreciate your help in enabling wifi on measy 😉