Download the image for the Amiko Viper 4K V10

Installing the alpha image (testers only) on the first Amiko Viper 4K (V10), step by step

The image for the first Amiko Viper 4K (V10) is an alpha image (testers only): it is made for the receiver, but it has not been tried yet on any V10. The complete 0.6.25 image replaces the r1, r2, r3 and r4 archives (the table also keeps 0.6.19, the second image with no known start-up problems): it has their fixes (the remote control buttons, the picture decoder, the SATA disk, the report of a failed start, the FTP server) and the same 0.6.25 interface as the other HD Satelit receivers. It is written from the image running on the receiver now, with its function for writing an image from a USB stick, without opening the receiver. Below are the risks, the steps, a short list of tests, the restore and how to send us the logs.

Alpha, testers only: read this first

The image has NOT been tried on any Amiko Viper 4K V10. The V10 is the first Viper 4K (images and menus call it viper4k or 4K UHD Combo). It has the same processor (HiSilicon Hi3798MV200) as the Amiko Viper 4K V20, but another driver package from the manufacturer, another kernel and another layout of the internal memory. The image is built from comparisons: we unpacked the manufacturer's drivers for the V10 and compared them with those for the V20, command by command, and we compared the public images for the V10 with those for the V20, from four teams. What was different is fixed in the image or is in the list of tests below. Whoever writes it to a V10 takes the role of a tester: there may be problems we have not seen. The image comes with no warranty (GPLv2).

• The archive is only for the first Amiko Viper 4K (V10). On the V20, V30 and V40 install their own images, from their pages; do not install it on another receiver.
• Only the kernel and the system of the image are written (kernel.bin and rootfs.tar.bz2). The start-up of the receiver (the loader, the partition table) is not touched, and the HD Satelit image never writes it.
• The 0.6.25 image is the same version as on all HD Satelit receivers, with the fixes from r1 (the board program for the picture starts before the interface) and from r3 (the remote control buttons, the picture decoder, the SATA disk, the signal quality), with what r4 brought (the report of a failed start: if the receiver does not start and has a network cable, it sends us an anonymous technical report by itself, with no personal data, and shows its code on the front display; access over SSH, SFTP, FTP and Telnet only from your home network; the channel editor; the forum on the receiver; the screenshot button; the blue Bouquets button with Favourites in the menu language) and with everything added up to 0.6.25, in all languages. If your V10 has the 0.6.6 or 0.6.19 image, you also get 0.6.25 from the menu, under Software update (keys MENU 6 8 1), without the FTP server, which comes only with a complete image; after installing, restart the whole receiver (off and on). If you wrote the r1, r2, r3 or r4 archive, write the 0.6.25 image once: the bases of these archives no longer get updates.
• Never put on the USB stick a usb_update.bin file (a full copy of the memory) made for another model. It also rewrites the start-up of the receiver and can break it for good.
• Writing erases the current image, with the channel list, the settings, the plugins and everything you set by hand. In step 2 you make the settings copy (the channels come from it).
• While the receiver writes the image, do not cut the power and do not take out the USB stick.

• The receiver does not start?

What could not be tested without a V10

• Whether the board and the layout of the memory are those in the manufacturer's packages. At start-up the image reads and compares them; if only the board or the partition sizes differ, it starts and notes them; if the processor or the place of the kernel and the system in memory do not match, it does not start the interface, so it writes nothing on the receiver (then restore it as under Restoring the receiver).
• The tuners: how many and of what kind the V10 has (its tuner driver differs from the V20 one), scanning, the motor, the signal.
• Picture and sound: on the V10 the HDMI output is held by another board program, started with the receiver; the resolutions, HDR, AC3 and DTS, and what happens after Restart the interface.
• Films from a USB stick, IPTV streams and the picture of radio channels (on the V10 they go another way than on the V20).
• The remote from the box: the V10 has another remote than the V20, and some keys (for example TV, RADIO, PLAY/PAUSE) may not work.
• The front display (the digits and the brightness), the full shutdown and starting by itself at the time of a recording.
• The update from the menu from a USB stick, the VPN (WireGuard comes as a separate module on the V10), Wi-Fi and the speed of the menus.

The diagnostic screen is part of the image from r1 and appears only when the start fails. When the receiver starts normally nothing extra appears, not even a note at the first start. What the image has read you can see at any time in the web interface, on the page /paza-model, and on the receiver, under Main menu > System Information > Start-up diagnostics. Take a screenshot of the page or a photo; it helps us confirm the model.

What you need

• On the V10, an image that starts and has a function for writing an image from a USB stick (almost every image for the V10 has one, in its software or image menu).
• A USB stick of 32 GB at most, with a single partition, formatted as FAT32, with at least 1 GB free.
• A computer (Windows, macOS or Linux), on which you download and unpack the archive.
• The receiver's remote.
• Downloaded beforehand, a recovery archive made for the V10 (usb_update.bin, with bootargs.bin, fastboot.bin and apploader.bin), from the manufacturer's site or from another image for the V10, with its steps: it is the way back to another image.

Step 1. Prepare the USB stick

If the stick is already FAT32, skip the formatting. Formatting deletes everything on the stick, so do it now, before the settings copy, not after.

1. Put the USB stick into the computer.
2. On Windows: open File Explorer, under This PC right-click the stick and choose Format.
3. Under File system choose FAT32 and press Start. If FAT32 is not in the list, the stick is larger than 32 GB: use a smaller one.
4. On macOS: Disk Utility, choose the stick, Erase, the MS-DOS (FAT) format and the Master Boot Record scheme.

Step 2. Copy your settings and channels

Put the USB stick into the receiver and make the settings backup from the menu of the image you have now, on the same USB stick. At the first start, the HD Satelit image finds that image's channels and settings on the stick and asks you whether to bring them over.

Then take the USB stick out of the receiver and put it back into the computer.

Step 3. Download and check the archive

1. Download the newest archive from the table above, with the Download button. It is a .zip file, named after the version, the model and its date.
2. Check the SHA-256 checksum, so you know the archive arrived complete. On Windows, in PowerShell, in the downloads folder: Get-FileHash .\archive-name.zip -Algorithm SHA256. On Linux or macOS: sha256sum archive-name.zip.
3. The string shown must be the same as the one in the table. If it differs, download the archive again.

Step 4. Put the archive on the USB stick

Some writing functions take the .zip archive as it is; others want the image folder unpacked on the stick. Put both: the whole archive and, next to it, its contents, unpacked straight into the root of the stick (not into a folder named after the archive).

1. Copy the .zip archive into the root of the USB stick.
2. On Windows: right-click the archive and choose Extract All. In the window that opens, delete the proposed path and type the letter of the stick, for example E:\, then press Extract. On macOS: double-clicking the archive makes a folder named after it; copy to the stick what is IN that folder, not the folder itself.
3. The folder amiko\viper4k appears on the stick, with kernel.bin, rootfs.tar.bz2, imageversion and hdsatelit-model (the model mark, read by the image). The 0.6.25 archive has a single folder, like the images made for this receiver, and its name ends in _mmc.zip, as the start-up menu looks for it. amiko/viper4k is the folder in which the images for the V10 look for the image to write.
4. Check the stick: it must look like the drawing below.

E:\  (root of the USB stick)
├── amiko
│   └── viper4k
│       ├── hdsatelit-model
│       ├── imageversion
│       ├── kernel.bin
│       └── rootfs.tar.bz2
├── CITESTE.txt
├── JURNAL-0.6.25.txt
├── hdsatelit-0.6.25-viper4k-...._mmc.zip
└── (the settings copy from step 2)

Remove the USB stick from the computer safely (Safely Remove), so the files are written completely.

Step 5. Write the image from the current image

1. Put the USB stick into the receiver, with the current image running.
2. Open its function for writing an image from a USB stick (in the software, image or update menu, depending on the image).
3. Choose the archive hdsatelit-0.6.25-viper4k-...._mmc.zip on the stick or the folder amiko/viper4k, as the function asks.
4. If it asks in which place to write (the receiver has places in memory for several images), choose the first place (1). The image is made and checked for the first place.
5. Confirm. The receiver writes the kernel and the system for a few minutes and restarts by itself. Do not cut the power and do not take out the stick until the new image starts.

Step 6. The first start

1. If the diagnostic screen appears instead of the setup wizard, take a photo of it, with all the text readable, and send it to us (under The logs and where to write to us).
2. The setup wizard appears on the TV. On page 1, with “Language” selected, press LEFT or RIGHT (or OK for the list) until you reach your language.
3. Press DOWN and choose the resolution; if you do not know what to choose, leave 1080p Full HD 50 Hz. Press GREEN. If you changed the resolution, answer Yes to “Does the picture look right?” only if the picture really looks good; otherwise the previous one comes back by itself after 20 seconds.
4. On page 2 read about the receiver's features and press GREEN: the main menu opens.
5. Press EXIT to get to live TV. If the USB stick has another image's channels, the question “I found the channels and settings from another image. Shall I bring them over?” appears: press OK on Yes.
6. If you have no copy, search for the channels from the main menu: key 2 for the dish (if it is not set up yet or has a special LNB or switch), then key 1, Channel scan.

• The setup wizard
• Channels from another image

Tests for the tester (one hour is enough)

1. About the image (Main menu > System Information > About the image, keys MENU 4 1): version 0.6.25 and the model Amiko Viper 4K V10.
2. The web interface: open in a browser the address of the receiver and the page /paza-model (for example http://192.168.1.50/paza-model, with the address of your receiver). It shows what the image has read: the processor, the board, the board type (viper4k is expected), the partitions (the kernel in linuxkernel1, the system in userdata). Save the page or take a screenshot.
3. The tuners: Main menu > System Information; how many tuners appear and of what kind. Scan a satellite and, if you have them, cable or a terrestrial aerial; then copy the system log.
4. Zapping: change 20-30 channels on each tuner, HD and SD; the picture and the sound must appear within a few seconds.
5. HDMI: change the resolution under Main menu > Settings > Picture; unplug the HDMI cable and plug it back in with the receiver on; then Restart the interface (from the power menu): the picture and the sound must come back by themselves.
6. A film from a USB stick, an IPTV stream and a radio channel with a picture: they must start and the receiver must not crash; then copy the system log.
7. The remote: all the keys, including the coloured ones, TEXT, AUDIO, EPG, MENU, EXIT, TV, RADIO and PLAY/PAUSE; tell us which do not work. The front display shows the time and the channel.
8. A recording on a USB stick or on a disk and playing it back; timeshift (PAUSE on a channel, then PLAY).
9. Standby, then the full shutdown; then an automatic start at the time of a scheduled recording.
10. An update from the menu: Main menu > Settings > Software & Firmware > Software update (keys MENU 6 8 1). It must say, without an error, that there are no updates.
11. VPN (in the network menu, next to SSH access; in the web interface at /vpn): tell us whether WireGuard shows as available.
12. A restart from the plug: the receiver must start again in the HD Satelit image.

The logs and where to write to us

• The logs are on the TV under Main menu > Settings > System & Devices > System Log Viewer and Crash logs, and in the receiver's web interface on the pages /jurnale-sistem and /jurnale-cadere, where you can copy them from.
• Write to us at [email protected], with the model (Amiko Viper 4K V10): which image you had before and with which function you wrote ours, the screenshot of the /paza-model page (or the photo of the diagnostic screen, if it appeared), which tests worked and which did not, the logs. With them we fix the image and move it to tested.
• The image sends nothing by itself: the logs leave only when you send them to us.

• Beta testers

Restoring the receiver

The HD Satelit image writes only its own archives, not other people's images. To go back to the image you had before, or if the image does not start, a V10 is fully restored with a recovery archive made for it: usb_update.bin, with bootargs.bin, fastboot.bin and apploader.bin, from the manufacturer's site or from another image for the V10.

Put its files into the root of the USB stick and follow the steps that come with it (starting the receiver with the stick in it, as they say). The restore rewrites the whole internal memory, including the start-up of the receiver, so use only an archive made for the V10. Afterwards put the channels back from the copy of step 2.

The HD Satelit image never writes the loader or the start-up of the receiver, so the manufacturer's restore stays at hand.

If it does not work

• The image forum: Amiko receivers
• The image forum: report a bug

The source code

The image uses programs under the GPLv2 licence. The source code of every published version is public on GitHub, in the Monea Software organisation; the link is on the Source page.

• Source code and licences