HDMI output

The R36S ships with a Mini-HDMI port. Plug it into a TV or monitor; ArchR auto-detects and mirrors. The default behaviour is good in 90% of cases — this page covers the 10%.

Plug timing

Connect HDMI before powering on, when possible. Some R36S clones detect HDMI only at boot — hot-plug works partially (audio routes correctly, video may not).

If hot-plug doesn't pick up:

Plug the cable
Power off the device fully
Power back on with the cable connected

Resolution

Default is to mirror the device panel resolution (640×480 on R36S) and let the TV upscale. If your TV handles non-standard 480p poorly, force a friendlier mode:

Find your TV's preferred mode

Almost all modern TVs natively accept 1280×720@60 or 1920×1080@60. Pick one.

Drop an autostart script

Over SSH:

mkdir -p /storage/.config/autostart
nano /storage/.config/autostart/090-sway-hdmi-resolution

Content:

#!/bin/bash
echo "output HDMI-A-1 resolution 1280x720" >> /storage/.config/sway/config

(Replace 1280x720 with 1920x1080 for full HD.)

Make it executable

chmod +x /storage/.config/autostart/090-sway-hdmi-resolution

Reboot

sudo reboot. Sway picks up the new config and the HDMI output runs at the requested resolution.

Mirroring exactly

If the TV is showing the device output offset / cropped, force the position:

echo "output HDMI-A-1 resolution 1280x720 position 0 0" >> /storage/.config/sway/config

Audio

ArchR automatically routes audio through HDMI when an HDMI cable is detected. To override (e.g. you want speakers on the device while the TV displays):

amixer set 'Playback Path' SPK

For stickier preference, edit /storage/.config/system.cfg:

audio.path=SPK

…and add a quirk in /storage/.config/profile.d/050-audio_path if needed.

Why HDMI sometimes shows nothing on a clone

Clone devices ship with a different SPL/U-Boot than the original R36S. Some clones don't initialize HDMI at U-Boot stage at all — meaning you see no kernel messages or splash on the TV. The kernel still drives HDMI fine after boot, but if your TV insists on a signal during U-Boot to lock on, it may not display anything until ArchR is fully up.

There's no fix at the bootloader level today; the workaround is to power on with the device's internal panel as primary, then once ArchR is loaded, HDMI mirrors.

Disabling the internal panel when on HDMI

Some users prefer the device panel off when docked to a TV. Add to the same autostart script:

#!/bin/bash
echo "output HDMI-A-1 resolution 1280x720"     >> /storage/.config/sway/config
echo "output DSI-1     disable"                >> /storage/.config/sway/config

Reboot. Now the device's panel is dark, all output is on HDMI.

To revert: delete the autostart file, reboot.

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