U8K-ULTRA: FW003 BETA build

Let me refhrase: (sleep mode)
-if i use the remote control power button (manual) the power led becomes red but if i let the u8k with no activity (for example 15 minutes, home metro launcher) the led colour remained the same (blue)
Surely that is just screensaver blanking the screen?!
 
Surely that is just screensaver blanking the screen?!
My experience with Previous firrmwares: (to enter sleep mode)
1-If i use the remote control power button- the device goes to sleep (if it set like this)
2-if the device is with no activity (for example 15 minutes) the device goes to sleep

If we wake the device from sleep it is also the same behaviour (and the led colour is the same)

So i think one method is manual and the other method is scheduled.

Note:

I think the following settings are for:

Settings/Energy saver - sleep mode on/off
Settings/screen saver - to protect the screen - enter for example the clock screen saver

It always worked fine for me (with my settings) , only this beta firmware i had problems with the colour.
 
OK, well yesterday evening my U8K decided to act very strangely.

I was watching a movie, and all of a sudden the screen started to blank in and out and then went completely black.

Powering on and off resulted with the minix logos coming up and then completely going black again. Pressing remote dpad keys /setting keys appeared to do nothing and then i discovered if I long pressed the power button then the power menu came up. I was able to select the options but whatever I did once "rebooted" a completely black screen again.

This morning I tried recovery menus and was going to try to reflash the 003 beta firmware using the burning tool but I couldn't get a connection.

By chance I pressed the "All Apps" button and the screen lit up !!

I tried kodi and it worked fine so I navigated to the settings button , and found the " Default home app" by searching in settings and reset to Metro ( which I have used all along) and the screen returned back to normal .

All seems OK again now but never had this happen before and very disconcerting.

I know this is a beta firmware and there may be issues, and hence I conclude something is amiss with the launchers !!
 
OK, well yesterday evening my U8K decided to act very strangely.

I was watching a movie, and all of a sudden the screen started to blank in and out and then went completely black.

Powering on and off resulted with the minix logos coming up and then completely going black again. Pressing remote dpad keys /setting keys appeared to do nothing and then i discovered if I long pressed the power button then the power menu came up. I was able to select the options but whatever I did once "rebooted" a completely black screen again.

This morning I tried recovery menus and was going to try to reflash the 003 beta firmware using the burning tool but I couldn't get a connection.

By chance I pressed the "All Apps" button and the screen lit up !!

I tried kodi and it worked fine so I navigated to the settings button , and found the " Default home app" by searching in settings and reset to Metro ( which I have used all along) and the screen returned back to normal .

All seems OK again now but never had this happen before and very disconcerting.

I know this is a beta firmware and there may be issues, and hence I conclude something is amiss with the launchers !!
Yes the blanking of the screen happens to me occasionally I think it must be a glitch. I mentioned about it briefly when I first installed FW003.
 
Yes the blanking of the screen happens to me occasionally I think it must be a glitch. I mentioned about it briefly when I first installed FW003.
Yes, I'd seen you had mentioned it, but this was an all out attack !!

I also note that you installed the update via the burning tool.

Did you have to do anything different to get it to connect because I couldn't and I used the same PC and USB port that I have previously used on other minix devices.
 
No my install was flawless, I only installed it the once. If this helps I have found the more I rebooted the box all the strange problems started to disappear. I know that sounds weird. So now from time to time i just reboot the box. I know their are flaws in the firmware for sure but hopefully end of Feb I think we should have a fully working FW003. Sorry my reply sounds a bit vague but that has been my experience
 
Sorry forgot to mention for the first couple of days the screen would keep blinking like the picture would disappear for a second then back and then again and back until i rebooted the box. Also the box occasionally has just rebooted its self whilst watching a movie..crazy right!
 
I know this is a beta firmware and there may be issues, and hence I conclude something is amiss with the launchers !!
I noticed in the Default home app setting you can select Settings.
If this is selected you get the same outcome as you've described, blank screen.
I don't see why the option should be there?!

Screenshot_20250202-225132.png
 
I noticed in the Default home app setting you can select Settings.
If this is selected you get the same outcome as you've described, blank screen.
I don't see why the option should be there?!

Yes, mine had somehow gone to the settings selection in the default home app, no idea why or how :oops:

So far so good, hasn't happened since, but if it does I know what to do !
 
dear people, i have tested the box for 5 days now without any problems, even kodi i can continue watching after a long break. we are very happy here. thank you for the hard work on the firmware mvg henk/anita
 
Yes, mine had somehow gone to the settings selection in the default home app, no idea why or how :oops:

So far so good, hasn't happened since, but if it does I know what to do !
Although the install went well that happened to me also
 
@MINIX - Ken

Ken,

I think the instructions for updating via the OTA upgrade package should mention that you need to first extract the files in the downloaded zip and it is the " tyson-ota-eng.root-20250121-1305.zip" that needs to be copied onto the usb drive.

I think someone else also mentioned that it would be be nice that whilst the installation is taking place that there was some sort of progress bar moving along to give users a bit of confidence that something is indeed happening !

I've installed OK and initially all seems fine. :)

I don't follow your changelog points 8 and 9, can you expand, perhaps a screenshot ?
1738736167117.png
1738736187217.png
 
OK So installed FW003 via the windows computer method, as im so use to doing it that way with my Minix u22. Everything installed flawlessly, but here comes the problems I found myself with using setup booting into Launcher3

I only use a K400+ keyboard to operate my setup and a bluetooth standard remote (No Gyroscope) I have been playing with it for about 3-4 hours now.

1. I had to setup for the first time the supplied remote just to get to the main menu, to setup internet connections etc.

2. Once I had setup my Google play account it wouldn't let me access my history of downloaded apps, or update the apps already there so I had to search for them and download them manually. That problem continued for about 2 hours until after many reboots of the U8K Ultra it just started to work...kinda strange right.

3.I noticed all apps pre-installed like Disney, Plex etc and many i dont want or will ever use can not be uninstalled only disabled, I mean no apps only the ones I downloaded myself.

4.. when you boot into Launcher3 it actually leave a blank window open behind the home screen that cant be removed by "clear all" you have to slide it up to remove it which is a little annoying.

5. The biggest annoyance to me is the search box on the home screen. it cannot be removed, I tried disabling Google and rebooting but it just remains there, their is no option to remove it.

6. just recently i have noticed the screen going blank a few times but only for a second or two but that might just be a bad connection on the HDMI cable.


Please don't think I doing this to have a moan, these are just the problems i was faced with. I understand this is only a beta firmware and i am delighted with all the efforts of the Minix team that have gone into making all the other improvements PIP works good now. Just hoping that on the finished firmware the wrinkles will be ironed out by then.

Thanks everyone for a great forum and will keep you posted on any other problems or improvements I find.

for all the above feedback, the only valid point is that we may consider removing the search bar, other are not issues.
and when this build becomes official, the Settings icons will be directly accessible via the quickstep interface.
 
Thank you Ken, that's great news, but also their are pre installed app like Kodi. Plex, Disney, Netflix and many more that for me personally will never use as I use Emby and at the moment they cannot be unistalled and at best, can only be disable. It would be nice to have less pre installed apps
 
for all the above feedback, the only valid point is that we may consider removing the search bar, other are not issues.
and when this build becomes official, the Settings icons will be directly accessible via the quickstep interface.
Incidentally Ken, the search bar on the home page is not just about aesthetics. When i'm not using my keyboard and just using a standard remote, when you select an app along the bottom (AOSP) the default selection is always the search bar, its not the end of the world but for some I think it could become annoying
 
My box hasn’t been working really well since I updated my firmware.. can I update with the latest on OTA? Seems like the remote doesn’t work to work totally correctly. Apps I can’t even do presses with the middle button etc
 
OK So installed FW003 via the windows computer method, as im so use to doing it that way with my Minix u22. Everything installed flawlessly, but here comes the problems I found myself with using setup booting into Launcher3

I only use a K400+ keyboard to operate my setup and a bluetooth standard remote (No Gyroscope) I have been playing with it for about 3-4 hours now.

1. I had to setup for the first time the supplied remote just to get to the main menu, to setup internet connections etc.

2. Once I had setup my Google play account it wouldn't let me access my history of downloaded apps, or update the apps already there so I had to search for them and download them manually. That problem continued for about 2 hours until after many reboots of the U8K Ultra it just started to work...kinda strange right.

3.I noticed all apps pre-installed like Disney, Plex etc and many i dont want or will ever use can not be uninstalled only disabled, I mean no apps only the ones I downloaded myself.

4.. when you boot into Launcher3 it actually leave a blank window open behind the home screen that cant be removed by "clear all" you have to slide it up to remove it which is a little annoying.

5. The biggest annoyance to me is the search box on the home screen. it cannot be removed, I tried disabling Google and rebooting but it just remains there, their is no option to remove it.

6. just recently i have noticed the screen going blank a few times but only for a second or two but that might just be a bad connection on the HDMI cable.


Please don't think I doing this to have a moan, these are just the problems i was faced with. I understand this is only a beta firmware and i am delighted with all the efforts of the Minix team that have gone into making all the other improvements PIP works good now. Just hoping that on the finished firmware the wrinkles will be ironed out by then.

Thanks everyone for a great forum and will keep you posted on any other problems or improvements I find.
Regarding #1, we've been using a Dell wireless set that works flawlessly for days, could it be a defective receiver?
#2, the Play Store app needs to be updated as well (silently in the background if you don't trigger it manually)
#3, this is normal for any Android pre-installed apps., we can't get rid of those apps, many ppl need them, you may delete them when we implement Magisk root in future
 
Hi guys.

Here are my first impressions of the firmware.

I tested the firmware via OTA (offline package):

Steps:
-installation failed, incorrect upgrade package parameter (i noticed that @pusb87 extracted the file so i did the same)
-i extracted the zip file and it worked, the update process began and finished
-when the installation process finished the OS rebooted, after that i have a black screen (i can see and acess some things such as all apps, settings, mouse cursor, etc (through the minix a3 pro remote ) but i am unable to boot the u8k properly (selection of minix metro or another launcher), the normal GUI is not working.
I rebooted and turned off the machine but it is the same.
-i was able to acess minix settings and i did a factory reset, after that i was able to configure and choose the minix home launcher , i choose metro launcher.
My manual ota update did not work as i expected.
Now i need to configure everything.

So far:
Apps that i miss: x-plore file manager (i will try to install via playstore, i will also test playstore).
I will test this firmware more and i will give my feedback and i will see if need to downgrade to a previous version.

So far my ota experience was not good at all :(

Attached files:
some screenshots for better understanding
we should just release the image file, the local OTA package was not in my plan, it's just convenient but not "clean".
surely flashing with image file is better.
well, beta is beta.
 
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