Database Users

[GUIDE] U-Boot on GT-I9100(and similar devices) Reference

First off I would like to thank sp3dev for his awesome work in getting u-boot to work on our devices.
WARNING!!! Do not attempt this on a device that you normally can't use i9100 roms on, eg SHW-M250L. This has been confirmed to work on the SHW-M250S/K (by me). Of course it works on the i9100.
WARNING!!!(2) You won't be able to access recovery(looking into it). You can use SBL download mode as usual and ktool or mobile odin to change kernels.
1. Create an 'android' folder under /sdcard/ and copy to it kernel.uimg. It's dorimanx kernel as an example.
2. Flash the attached u-boot.bin, it includes some minor modifications to use a 2nd boot source.
3. Use heimdall to flash the included siyah-uImage to RECOVERY partition.
4. Reboot.
Now you have four options:
a) Do not hold any keys pressed during boot. This will boot Siyah off the RECOVERY partition.
b) Hold VOL_DOWN after you see the boot logo with the yellow triangle. This will boot Siyah CWM recovery off the RECOVERY partition.
c)Hold VOL_UP after you see the boot logo with the yellow triangle. This will boot the kernel located at /sdcard/android/kernel.uimg.
d)Hold BUTTON_OK(HOME) after you see the boot logo with the yellow triangle. This will boot the kernel located at /sdcard/boot/vmlinux.uimg.
Troubleshooting
If you get errors when you try to boot the kernel at /sdcard/android/ then format the internal storage from android and try again. It seems to happen when you have too many files and/or folders.
If you have any questions post them here.
NOTE: Due to an error instead of attaching the files here I have uploaded them to DevHost @ http://d-h.st/users/MemoryController/?fld_id=5685#files

RootFS build guide will come tomorrow.

Brilliant memory controller, just checked in to find your post, nice one.
Looking forward to rootfs guide.
Thanks alot for the guide.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Also at some point maybe a guide on how to roll the kernel for when siyah is updated or someone wants to use a different kernel.
Is the siyah kernel used the latest one?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Hello,
great news, i flashed uboot.
couple of issues i have had, i can't access siyah recovery or the kernal in /sdcard/android folder.
it tries to find the kernel at /sdcard/boot/vmlinux.uimg but fails as of course i havnt put it there.

joesnose said:
Hello,
great news, i flashed uboot.
couple of issues i have had, i can't access siyah recovery or the kernal in /sdcard/android folder.
it tries to find the kernel at /sdcard/boot/vmlinux.uimg but fails as of course i havnt put it there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have serial cable for i9100? We need to see if it's u-boot related. If you do please boot to uboot and start pressing space or RETURN to stop autoboot.
Then issue: "fatls mmc 0:b /" and paste or pm me the output. If you don't have serial i will pm you a uboot.bin to test it automatically.
Sent from my GT-I9100 running CM10

joesnose said:
Also at some point maybe a guide on how to roll the kernel for when siyah is updated or someone wants to use a different kernel.
Is the siyah kernel used the latest one?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's version 4.1.5+.

Hello MemCo,
i have a usb cable that i plug a keyboard into, is this what you mean by serial cable? unfortunately I only wave a wireless usb keyboard and it seems the drivers dont load until my android rom is booting, if i get a cabled usb keyboard would this be solved.
I am also having another issue, though i have not established if uboot is the culprit yet, but seeing as it was the last change i made on my phone yesterday i am guessing it is the issue.
Today nobody can hear me when i make or receive calls. i have booted both of my installed android roms and they both have this issue. i have yet to reflash siyah kernel to establish if this is the problem.
thanks.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

joesnose said:
Hello MemCo,
i have a usb cable that i plug a keyboard into, is this what you mean by serial cable? unfortunately I only wave a wireless usb keyboard and it seems the drivers dont load until my android rom is booting, if i get a cabled usb keyboard would this be solved.
I am also having another issue, though i have not established if uboot is the culprit yet, but seeing as it was the last change i made on my phone yesterday i am guessing it is the issue.
Today nobody can hear me when i make or receive calls. i have booted both of my installed android roms and they both have this issue. i have yet to reflash siyah kernel to establish if this is the problem.
thanks.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I don't mean that, I will send you a uboot bin via pm. As for the sound issues I don't have them so I don't know about it
Sent from my GT-I9100 running CM10

Would have been much more useful if you had posted the sources and what you did to them to make it work!! Perhaps a Github link or something...

E:V:A said:
Would have been much more useful if you had posted the sources and what you did to them to make it work!! Perhaps a Github link or something...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will send a pull request to sp3dev once I get my git working
Sent from my GT-I9100 running CM10

Can u add faq to first Page on what's the advantage of uboot and can u get back to stock bootloader
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

bluefa1con said:
Can u add faq to first Page on what's the advantage of uboot and can u get back to stock bootloader
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uboot allows for booting two different kernels, which means for instance dual booting ics and gb or dual booting android and native linux. And I have tried it and then reflashed kernel using odin, the uboot bootloader does not overwrite the samsung bootloader it chainloads from it.
Just to confirm bugs that have affected me MemCo.
I was unable to boot to siyah recovery. It went past the post screen but then nothing or rather every 5 seconds or so the screen would flicker but so fast and still black screen, it was hard to tell there was any activity.
My mic didn't work in calls, I can't confirm if it worked in other apps as I failed to try it. It was fixed as soon as I reflashed siyah kernel.
Thanks again for sharing your work.
Sent from my GT-I9100

Hello,
Just wondering how things are coming along. I am still surprised that this project and thread are not receiving more interest!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Hello I have been reading alot of info but it is a real mish mash of info.
So I think I have got together a rootfs but I don't understand how to use it still. Do I need a boot script or does my kernel need compiling with the path to the rootfs? And can I use a standard linux kernel to build my kernel.uimg or does it have to be an android specific kernel.
Thanks.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Hello MemoryController,
Could this howto be easily edited to work for s2?
Code:
= Ubuntu Maverick on USB (minimal rootfs) =
== Generating the rootfs ==
At your host (using Maverick) install the rootstock package: $ sudo apt-get install rootstock
Then identify the latest kernel image for OMAP 4 at http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/main/l/linux-ti-omap4/. In my case, http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/main/l/linux-ti-omap4/linux-image-2.6.35-903-omap4_2.6.35-903.12_armel.deb.
Run rootstock, giving the correct paramters to generate a maverick image: $ sudo rootstock --fqdn panda-maverick --login ubuntu --password ubuntu --serial ttyO2 --components "main universe multiverse" --kernel-image http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/main/l/linux-ti-omap4/linux-image-2.6.35-903-omap4_2.6.35-903.12_armel.deb
After running rootstock your rootfs will be at your current directory, called armel-rootfs-<DATE>.tgz
Now just extract the rootfs at your USB disk partition, preferred with an ext3 FS.
== Generating the boot partition ==
To be able to boot your Panda you'll need the X-Loader, U-Boot, Kernel and Initrd and a boot script file.
X-Loader: - Download http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/main/x/x-loader-omap4/x-loader-omap4_L24.9git20100901-0ubuntu1_armel.deb - Extract it with dpkg (dpkg -X x-loader-omap4.deb .) - Copy the MLO file
U-Boot: - Download http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/main/u/u-boot-linaro/u-boot-linaro-omap4-panda_2010.09~rc1.1-0ubuntu3_armel.deb - Extract it with dpkg (dpkg -X u-boot.deb .) - Copy the u-boot.bin file
Kernel: - After generating the rootfs with rootstock you'll find a file like vmlinuz-2.6.35-903-omap4 at the same directory you generated the rootfs - Install uboot-mkimage - Generate the uImage: mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x80008000 -e 0x80008000 -n "Linux" -d vmlinuz-2.6.35-903-omap4 uImage - Copy the uImage file
Initrd: - After generating the rootfs with rootstock you'll find a file like initrd.img-2.6.35-903-omap4 at the same directory you generated the rootfs - Generate the uInitrd: mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n initramfs -d initrd.img-2.6.35-903-omap4 uInitrd - Copy the uInitrd file
boot.scr: - Set up a file called boot.script with the following content: """ fatload mmc 0:1 0x80000000 uImage fatload mmc 0:1 0x81600000 uInitrd setenv bootargs ro elevator=noop vram=32M root=/dev/sda1 fixrtc console=ttyO2,115200 [email protected] [email protected] bootm 0x80000000 0x81600000 """ - Change the root paramter if needed - Generate the boot.scr file: mkimage -A arm -T script -C none -n "Ubuntu boot script" -d boot.script boot.scr - Copy the boot.scr file
Grab a SD card, create the first partition as a FAT 32 one and copy the files u-boot.bin, MLO, uImage, uInitrd and boot.scr on it.
Sorry to keep bumping this thread but still after masses of reading cannot work this out.

Hello.
Is this project dead?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

After readin both thread over and over im stumped...
Someone somebody help please lol
Id love this on my sgs2.
Tried done bored of chroot
Have tried and half suceeded turning of android ui and hijacking fb0 graphics
This looks like and is what i want on my phone..
Ill donate to whoever can wrap this into a step by step easy to follow tutorial, im sure others would like this but are to finding
The instructions a bit hard, thanks

Greate news! Thank you!

joesnose said:
Hello,
Just wondering how things are coming along. I am still surprised that this project and thread are not receiving more interest!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because the phone remain closed source (EFS, SBL1, SBL2, MODEM, UMS etc.)

[WIP/DEV/GUIDE] Debian Linux armhf

So following a couple of tuts that I've found on the forums I've been able to install debian linux wheezy armhf build on my tablet in a dual boot configuration with it booting off of a second ext4 partition on the microsd card along with getting the drivers/codecs from Linux4Tegra to be installed and somewhat used on debian linux.
What works:
-Wifi
-USB
-Display (doesnt use tegra drivers)
-Buttons (power, vol, rot switch [acts as wifi switch])
-Touchscreen
What doesnt work:
-Bluetooth (Untested but apparently it finds it and sets it up.)
-Audio (Detects it in the kde info center. System Settings program only says that there's a dummy output. Playing any form of audio crashes the program.)
-HDMI (with the Tegra gfx drivers it finds it but says it's disconnected even when connected.)
-Cameras
-GPS
-Motion Sensing
-Light Sensor
With the display, whenever the tegra drivers are used, it finds HDMI (as HDMI-1) and the LCD screen (as LVDS-1) but says that there is no device on the lcd screen. With that being said, it is using the fbdev driver instead which shows pink and/or inverted colors in some instances but at least it shows a gui.
Guides used:
{HOW TO} Native Debian on A500 and building your own rootfs
[BOOTLOADER][DUALBOOT + RECOVERY][BOOTMENU] Patched ICS bootloader V8 (07/06/2012)
[Dev] Native linux on Iconia
Requirements:
-an A500.
-a 16+GB microsd.
-Linux OS (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.)
-Linux 4 Tegra: Download the Ventana files under "Additional Information" and "Driver Packages"/"Codec Packages".
Ok, so here's how I've done it.
1) Make sure you have a multiboot loader and have flashed the appropriate bootloader image to the second boot partition. get the boot image from the 3rd guide under "precompiled kernel image" and flash that to the second boot partition. (be sure to check the dualboot guide above on flashing the image if you are using the bootloader that is in the guide.)
2) Have a microsd card partitioned with two partitions, one for normal data (can be any format) and a second one that is in ext4. you can do 3 partitions by adding a swap partition but the ext4 partition must be the second partition.
3) Install qemu on the host system.
Code:
For Ubuntu - sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static
4) Mount the microsd's ext4 partition.
Code:
sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/<microsd 2nd partition> /mnt/Linux
5) Run:
Code:
sudo qemu-debootstrap --arch armhf wheezy /mnt/Linux
6) Chroot into the installed environment.
Code:
chroot /mnt/Linux /bin/bash
7) Add sources to /mnt/Linux/etc/apt/sources.list. you can get debian sources from http://debgen.simplylinux.ch/. Be sure to choose "Testing (wheezy)" and all the sources check boxes along with where you live to find the nearest repository.
8) Install the wifi drivers pt1.
Code:
apt-get update ; apt-get install broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source firmware-b43-installer firmware-b43legacy-installer b43-fwcutter
9) Install the wifi drivers p2. In the "{HOW TO} Native Debian on A500 and building your own rootfs" guide, there is a download from mediafire for the firmware files for the drivers. Extract that and put it into /lib/firmware. I dont know if the individual files in the brcm should be in the /lib/firmware or not so i just copied the folder into it and the files within it into /lib/firmware.
10) Install the GUI:
Code:
apt-get install <gui>
List of GUI's (that i know of):
Code:
KDE (takes a long time to install): kde-full
XFCE: xfce4
11) extract the ventana_Tegra-Linux-R16.1.0_armhf.tbz2 file and the ventana_Tegra-Linux-codecs-R16.1.0_armhf.tbz2. you should get a folder called "Linux_For_Tegra" and a file called "restricted_codecs.tbz2". go into the "Linux_For_Tegra/nv_tegra" folders and extract the nvidia_drivers.tbz2 file. from there you should get 3 folders: etc, lib, usr. copy those to "/mnt/Linux" (you are going to have to do this as root). back out of those folders and extract the restricted_codecs.tbz2. you should get a folder called "lib" copy that to "/mnt/Linux". after that, it's time to make a hard link so that the X11 can find the tegra driver:
Code:
ln /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/tegra_drv.abi12.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/tegra_drv.so
Note: without using an xorg.conf file, by default it will use fbdrv instead of the tegra driver.
12) set the root password:
Code:
passwd root
13) add a normal user:
Code:
adduser <username>
14) exit chroot by typing "exit" and unmount /mnt/Linux:
Code:
sudo umount /mnt/Linux
15) pop that sucker into the the tablet and boot into it by holding power and vol down to get into the boot menu. select "boot into second partiton".
If everything went ok, you should be presented with a gui, if not and you are at a command line, log into root and type "startx". if that doesnt work then something wrong must have happened.
Untested easy script:
Code:
#! /bin/sh
set -e
#if there is a tegra_install.deb file.
hasTegraDeb=0
tegraDeb=acer-iconia-tab-a500+tegra+brcm+wheezy_1.0-1_armhf.deb
#change these if you do not like default install of kde.
arch=armhf
build=wheezy
rootDir=/mnt/Linux
guiEnv=kde-full
newUser=User
#setup the basics of debian linux using armhf and wheezy build.
qemu-debootstrap --arch $arch $build $rootDir
#copy the tegra_install.deb file for the tegra specific drivers.
if ["$hasTegraDeb" = "1"] then
cp $tegraDeb $rootDir/$tegraDeb
fi
#setup sources.list for apt-get.
echo "deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free" >> $rootDir/etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ wheezy-updates main contrib non-free" >> $rootDir/etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free" >> $rootDir/etc/apt/sources.list
#create the chroot_install.sh script and set it up.
echo "#! /bin/sh" > $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
echo "set -e" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#update apt-get inside the chroot.
echo "apt-get update" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#install the wireless card drivers inside the chroot.
echo "apt-get install broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source firmware-b43-installer firmware-b43legacy-installer b43-fwcutter" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#install the desktop in the chroot. (note: this will take a long time)
echo "apt-get install $guiEnv" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#install the tegra specific drivers inside the chroot
if ["$hasTegraDeb" = "1"] then
#install the tegra drivers.
echo "dpkg -i $tegraDeb" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#hard link the tegra_drv.abi12.so as tegra_drv.so in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ to enable X11 to find the display driver.
echo "ln /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/tegra_drv.abi12.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/tegra_drv.so" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
fi
#set the root password in the chroot.
echo "passwd root" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#add normal user in the chroot.
echo "adduser $newUser" >> $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
#execute the final stage of the install.
chroot $rootDir /chroot_install.sh
#cleanup
rm $rootDir/chroot_install.sh
if ["$hasTegraDeb" = "1"] then
rm $rootDir/$tegraDeb
fi
Script sets up everything along with installing kde window manager. Please note that the tegra_install.deb file does not exist, it is something that i am thinking of making in the future that has all the drivers and what not needed that is from the Linux 4 Tegra site. you are still going to have to manually install the tegra drivers in step 11.
Edit: Experimental copies of the deb files that has all the files needed from Linux 4 Tegra and the wifi drivers can be found at the bottom of the post.
xorg.conf to enable tegra driver (found in the Linux_for_Tegra/nv_tegra/config.tbz2/etc/X11 folder):
Code:
# This is the minimal configuration necessary to use the Tegra driver.
# Please refer to the xorg.conf man page for more configuration
# options provided by the X server, including display-related options
# provided by RandR 1.2 and higher.
# Disable extensions not useful on Tegra.
Section "Module"
Disable "dri"
Disable "dri2"
Disable "glx"
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Tegra"
Driver "tegra"
# OverlayDepth is a 32-bit integer which is used to control overlay
# stacking order. The overlay with the lowest depth is in front of
# all others. This value has meaning only when multiple overlays are
# present on a display.
# Option "OverlayDepth" "255"
# ARGBHWCursor controls whether the X driver uses an overlay to
# display 32-bit "true-color" cursors, or whether such cursors are
# emulated in software. Valid values are "true" to enable hardware
# cursors, and "false" (default) to disable them.
# Option "ARGBHWCursor"
EndSection
At the moment, I have looked through the config.tbz2 file and may have to stick the stuff in there into the tablet's linux filesystem. will test this later.
NOTE:
I am not a linux developer, I have no idea how to create linux drivers. All I can do is mash things together and hope things work out.
In theory, this should work for all tegra2 and tegra3 (using cardhu drivers instead of ventana) devices with some minor differences.
Edit:
Apparently it is using kernel version 2.6.38. I'm going to see if I can update the kernel to 3.2.23-1 which is the latest version for armhf in the debian package list (http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/kernel/linux-headers-3.2.0-3-all-armhf).
Edit2:
Looks like updating the kernel from apt-get doesn't necessarily enable the kernel to load as it seems that the boot loader loads a prepackaged kernel that has been flashed into mmcblk0p7. Tried out kexec and the kernel doesn't support it so adding it to the /dev/inittab script is useless for loading up new kernels. I tried making the new kernel into a flashable image using mkbootimg that is found within the Linux 4 Tegra folder but it doesn't do anything and the image apparently isn't valid when i tried booting it from fastboot (black screen). along with that, apparently it changed my password on my encrypted /data partition's password (when i flashed it within linux using dd) so a word of caution with that. If anyone can help me out, i would like to try to create something similar to grub (or even port it) where it loads up new kernels from the microsd or a specified place based on a boot list.
deb Files (Install using "dpkg -i acer-iconia-tab-a500+tegra+brcm+wheezy_<version>_armhf.deb" within the linux environment of the tablet.):
1.0-1: acer-iconia-tab-a500+tegra+brcm+wheezy_1.0-1_armhf.deb
--takes care of steps 9 and 11 sans hard linking the X11 tegra drivers.
1.0-2: acer-iconia-tab-a500+tegra+brcm+wheezy_1.0-2_armhf.deb
--has pre-depends for the first part of the wifi driver installation so this should, in theory, install both part 1 and 2 of the wifi drivers.
--takes care of steps 8, 9, and 11 sans hard linking the X11 tegra drivers.
Update log:
10/17/2012: added updated version of the deb package.
10/16/2012: first version.

Ok, so since I cant post anything including into ongoing threads in the android development forum due to the 10 post required thing i'll just have to ask development questions here till i reach the 10 post requirement.
Can anyone point me into the direction for how the second boot image that you flash for the dual boot bootloader is created? Trying to figure out how to create an image so that it boots everything off the microsd card including the kernel. It seems that the kernel used in the guide is locked to 2.6.38 and if you update the kernel within the tablet's linux environment it doesnt load it up. so i need to figure out how to create a boot image so that it loads it up or create a boot image that has grub (or other bootloaders) installed on it to boot different linux images.

alatnet said:
Ok, so since I cant post anything including into ongoing threads in the android development forum due to the 10 post required thing i'll just have to ask development questions here till i reach the 10 post requirement.
Can anyone point me into the direction for how the second boot image that you flash for the dual boot bootloader is created? Trying to figure out how to create an image so that it boots everything off the microsd card including the kernel. It seems that the kernel used in the guide is locked to 2.6.38 and if you update the kernel within the tablet's linux environment it doesnt load it up. so i need to figure out how to create a boot image so that it loads it up or create a boot image that has grub (or other bootloaders) installed on it to boot different linux images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are on the right track with mkbootimg. I have not figured it all out myself yet.
You have to compile your arm linux kernel then make a bootable image with mkboot
I don't know if you have seen this or if. this will help---Nethams kernel compile commands are;
make ARCH=arm menuconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueable--j16
./mkbootimg --ramdisk dev/zero --kernel arch/arm/zimage -o ../recovery.img
I believe these are the commands he uses to compile his recovery image (boot.img)
It is my understanding that mkboot combines the kernel with a ram disk to make an image file that will boot the system
That image file can be placed in several places 1-primary boot position 2 recovery position 3 and if you have Skrilax dual boot secboot position
So it depends on what mkboot compiled as to what happens when that boot point is activated.
I am still trying to work out how Spdev and Netham combine or configure the kernel + initramfs+ ramdisk to create their bootable images.
I know these images boot and point to the file system which can be stored on internal or external sd card or even usb drive it all depends on how the boot image is configured.
Still learning myself
Here is a link I found explanes about Linux ram disk and initram
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-initrd/index.html
And more info here downloads a PDF presentation on how to.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...poCoAw&usg=AFQjCNHLTHE3DaroC71FAjOjQWU2A61qEQ
All about that mkbooting after you get your kernel
http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Unpack,_Edit,_and_Re-Pack_Boot_Images

themechaniac said:
snip (freaking 10 post limit...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, i did find some stuff with mkbootimg including the last link that you posted.
The kernel was already compiled when i downloaded it using apt-get and it is placed in /boot folder.
I did make a boot.img from that kernel using mkbootimg and looking at "/proc/cmdline" at the arguments that were passed to the kernel in the other kernel image and it made it, flashed it to secboot and it didnt do anything except use the same kernal as before, though i did flash the image via dd in linux. Apparently this sorta screwed up my /data partition or something in where it wouldnt recognize my password for de-encryption to mount it. (fixing it by just erasing "/data" [bye bye data... TT.TT]) So i tried booting it using "fastboot boot <kernel>" and it didnt boot, only showing a black screen, but using the other boot.img it would boot linux up.
So I'm thinking of somehow creating a kernel image that can use kexec to make a grub like bootloader kernel that you flash onto the secboot partition that has something similer to grub.cfg in which you can easily select which kernel to load.
As for looking for a grub.cfg file, it would look in a few different places:
-in internal storage (probably recovery partition or the "/system" partition as the "/data" partition can potentially be encrypted and not mountable.)
-sd card (has to be in first partition and in fat32 format)
-usb drive (same as sd card)
from these places it will load each grub.cfg. that way it'll make the grub like bootloader kernel extendable in which kernel to load (i.e. have a linux system on usb that you want to boot from.)

I may be wrong but it is my understanding that the compiled kernel is in the boot image packed by mkbootimg.
The kernel is compiled to look for the compatible root file system in a particular place.
So when you change or use a boot image you change the kernel you are using.
So we have a system that;
Has a modified Linux kernel that selects the Android file system from internal memory installed in the first boot position.
We can put a Linux kernel compiled to find a compatible root file system say on external sd card in the second boot position.
We can replace the recovery image with a Linux kernel that finds a compatible root file system on the internal sd card.
That gives us a hardware selective three different systems (triple boot)
With fastboot on the PC we can quickly change any of the Three boot images, replace the recovery image or repair system.
I think all we need is a 3.2.23 kernel compiled thee separate ways and packaged with mkbootimg.
1st find root file system internel, 2nd find file system externel 3rd find file system usb
We already have two 2.6.38 kernels. One from Spdev (external root file system)and One from Netham {internal file system)
They are different kernels as Nethams has added modules.
I believe the were both compiled from the same Git.
I have tried switching the two boot images in second boot position with both root file systems installed and when you boot the second position
it switches to it's own file system.
I haven't tried swapping the root file positions yet.

themechaniac said:
I may be wrong but it is my understanding that the compiled kernel is in the boot image packed by mkbootimg.
The kernel is compiled to look for the compatible root file system in a particular place.
So when you change or use a boot image you change the kernel you are using.
So we have a system that;
Has a modified Linux kernel that selects the Android file system from internal memory installed in the first boot position.
We can put a Linux kernel compiled to find a compatible root file system say on external sd card in the second boot position.
We can replace the recovery image with a Linux kernel that finds a compatible root file system on the internal sd card.
That gives us a hardware selective three different systems (triple boot)
With fastboot on the PC we can quickly change any of the Three boot images, replace the recovery image or repair system.
I think all we need is a 3.2.23 kernel compiled thee separate ways and packaged with mkbootimg.
1st find root file system internel, 2nd find file system externel 3rd find file system usb
We already have two 2.6.38 kernels. One from Spdev (external root file system)and One from Netham {internal file system)
They are different kernels as Nethams has added modules.
I believe the were both compiled from the same Git.
I have tried switching the two boot images in second boot position with both root file systems installed and when you boot the second position
it switches to it's own file system.
I haven't tried swapping the root file positions yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Though i think it needs to be a specific type of kernel (i.e bzImage or uImage instead of vmlinuz) to actually run. also, the precompiled kernel in the guide that i had used in the opening post had a command line where one option was "root=/dev/mmcblk1p2" which pretty much says for the kernel to look for the linux file system in the second partition on the sd card.

Yes with the way the system is formatted you cannot change out the kernel on the fly. It is basically hard coded in the boot image. Skrilax has given us a way to change boot positions so we don't have to sacrifice recovery position to boot second kernel. I have not seen any pre configured 3.2.23 kernels yet. The one that Netham posted boots from internal SD but causes problems for some people as not all a500 have their internal SD card formatted in the same memory block. It works great for me I prefer to have my root file system on a fast external SD so would like to modify or compile a kernel like Netham's. I find I run out of space when I have it internal. Netham's kernel has USB sound and seems to boot differt than Spdev's.

themechaniac said:
Yes with the way the system is formatted you cannot change out the kernel on the fly. It is basically hard coded in the boot image. Skrilax has given us a way to change boot positions so we don't have to sacrifice recovery position to boot second kernel. I have not seen any pre configured 3.2.23 kernels yet. The one that Netham posted boots from internal SD but causes problems for some people as not all a500 have their internal SD card formatted in the same memory block. It works great for me I prefer to have my root file system on a fast external SD so would like to modify or compile a kernel like Netham's. I find I run out of space when I have it internal. Netham's kernel has USB sound and seems to boot differt than Spdev's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but this is how the linux boot loader is going to go with, instead of loading the linux system (sans kernel and initrd) from the sd card, we create a boot.img that has a linux system built in that has a sole purpose of loading other linux systems using kexec.
Edit:
Here's how the path is going to go:
Startup-->Bootloader-->Linux Bootloader (loads linux on external drives)-->Linux (on external drives)

Well I am happy with Ubuntu on my external SD card, I even ran a kernel compile on it and it ran pretty fast. I am stuck on the mkbootimg part. It can't be done on the tablet, has to be a PC. I tried unpacking the Two ready made boot images to see how they are configured but they don't seem to have a ram disk. Still working on that. It is learning how the system is put together that is half the fun, Getting it to work the way you want is the goal. When it is all squared away it will be time to move on to the next puzzle. I have enough computers that I could just put a system on each one and be done with it. Where's the fun in that. Most of them are dual booted already.

themechaniac said:
Well I am happy with Ubuntu on my external SD card, I even ran a kernel compile on it and it ran pretty fast. I am stuck on the mkbootimg part. It can't be done on the tablet, has to be a PC. I tried unpacking the Two ready made boot images to see how they are configured but they don't seem to have a ram disk. Still working on that. It is learning how the system is put together that is half the fun, Getting it to work the way you want is the goal. When it is all squared away it will be time to move on to the next puzzle. I have enough computers that I could just put a system on each one and be done with it. Where's the fun in that. Most of them are dual booted already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, even though mkbootimg is suppose to be run on linux, i don't think it was compiled for arm so you are going to have to use a pc for that program. as for the initrd, i did find a website that may help in creating an A.L.B.L. (Android Linux Boot Loader): http://www.thewireframecommunity.com/node/14
Essentially what is needed to create the A.L.B.L. is to create a kernel with kexec in it and an initrd that mounts the external drives along with an easy to use interface to be loaded before loading any kernels to allow for selecting kernels. with that said, how do you figure out how to use the volume buttons and the power button within linux using a c\c++ program?

BUMP!
any progress?
also
-Audio (Detects it in the kde info center. System Settings program only says that there's a dummy output. Playing any form of audio crashes the program.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But
Code:
cat /any/file/for/ex/bin/bash > /dev/dsp
works properly

Unfortunetly no.
Been to busy with other stuff to work on this.

tegra driver
I have ubuntu 12.10 armf runing on my a500 thanks to the "Linux on A500: The Future" thread. I am using the ferrariforzaleo mod of rogro82's kernel.
The problem I had was getting the xorg tegra module to load. I fixed this by getting the "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/quantal/armhf/nvidia-tegra/16.0-0ubuntu1"]https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/quantal/armhf/nvidia-tegra/16.0-0ubuntu1 and installing with
sudo dpkg -i
after I rebooted it started using the tegra video driver.
Cheers

HardlyAbelson said:
I have ubuntu 12.10 armf runing on my a500 thanks to the "Linux on A500: The Future" thread. I am using the ferrariforzaleo mod of rogro82's kernel.
The problem I had was getting the xorg tegra module to load. I fixed this by getting the "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/quantal/armhf/nvidia-tegra/16.0-0ubuntu1"]https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/quantal/armhf/nvidia-tegra/16.0-0ubuntu1 and installing with
sudo dpkg -i
after I rebooted it started using the tegra video driver.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you explain me the steps you done ? I also want ubuntu 12.10 running but I can't install any desktop on it ( show error and other error )

ubuntu 12.10
Forzaferrarileo said:
can you explain me the steps you done ? I also want ubuntu 12.10 running but I can't install any desktop on it ( show error and other error )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I used the debootstrap and and qemu / chroot to setup my rootfs. i found post #61 in the "Linux on A500: future" very helpful.
Also, make sure you have a usb keyboard handy. After you run "apt-get install -d ubuntu-desktop" (assuming you have a pc running ubuntu to use) in a qemu chroot, you can move to the a500 and boot up and login as root and run "apt-get install ubuntu-destop". since the stuff is cached. I found this faster than installing the desktop while in the chroot. After that finishes, you should boot up with a desktop available. If something is wrong and you can't login, try doing "ctrl-alt-f1" to get to the getty command line login and look at the /var/log/ folder for clues in the logs.

How to compile the kernel?
I succesfully got debian running on my iconia a500 :laugh:
Building my own rootfs and getting the wifi to work were not that hard, but I still don't know how to compile the Linux kernel for the a500 from source.
I already found the git repository of rogru82 (https://github.com/rogro82/picasso-kernel) and I downloaded the source to my pc (running ubuntu 13.04). Can someone point me to a tutorial explaining how to compile this source?
Also, can someone explain what sort of partition table the internal memory uses? I am running the 3.0 kernel and I can see a block memory device in the /dev folder but there are no partitions. How can I mount the internal memory?

Port ICS to Motorola Defy Mini

I open this thread to motivate to carry ice cream sandwich to our Motorola Defy Mini, and now we need to update root our devices and enjoy the latest versions of android.
Let's see if we can all get something.
I searched the internet and found yesterday that the Motorola Defy mini and htc xplorer have the same hardware, and the latter has adapted cyanogenmod 9.1, we can start there.
Let's try in this thread and with the help of all get a fully functional ics rom.

Please someone can move thist post to defy development

davis15 said:
Please someone can move thist post to defy development
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you found new informations about the CM for defy mini? I am really impatient !!

You can find some kind of hw comparison on wikipedia's Snapdragon chipset:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_%28system_on_chip%29
and look at similar models what for support they got
.

CM10 HTC Explorer (Pico) port
First thing: What SystemROM size showing in Titanium Backup?
Model name will show as A310 (Explorer). Try that because I don't have Defy Mini. Build contains stock defy mini kernel. Defy Mini recovery: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2187074. Make nandroid of stock rom. Tell if you can boot to it. If yes i will try made custom kernel (kexec or 2ndboot) & simpler cwm usage (2ndinit or 2ndboot) ,Model name will show as A310 aka Pico. If not, when restore nandroid or reflash stock rom via RSD Lite.
LINK: http://www.gigasize.com/get/g3kc53g7o7d
Also: if it boots make screenshot (better photo cause i will know if you didn't faked) of About Phone.

new stock roms
I just got a new Motorola Defy Plus phone with gingerbread 2.3.x stock rom.
Where can I find a Motorola Defy Plus ICS or Jellybean stock rom?
Not Cyanogenmod or AOKP/AOSP.
Is there any such thing as a stock ICS or Jellybean for Motorola Defy Plus rom?
So far all I see is cyanogen/aokp/aosp ics and jellybean roms.
Does this means that most likely there are no stock ics/jellybean roms for the phone?
Thanks

Misterjunky said:
I just got a new Motorola Defy Plus phone with gingerbread 2.3.x stock rom.
Where can I find a Motorola Defy Plus ICS or Jellybean stock rom?
Not Cyanogenmod or AOKP/AOSP.
Is there any such thing as a stock ICS or Jellybean for Motorola Defy Plus rom?
So far all I see is cyanogen/aokp/aosp ics and jellybean roms.
Does this means that most likely there are no stock ics/jellybean roms for the phone?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1795647

created kernel for defy mini
For who is interested:
I created an ICS kernel based upon the motorola sources merged with some stuff from a 3.4 kernel from code aurora.
You can find it on https://github.com/de-wolff/android_kernel_motorola_xt320.git
I think it is capable of everything you need, but I am still working on the CM stuff for it.
(At this moment my phone can start using fastboot, into a CM9 version.I have a working touch screen, a working volume button, audio, when I touch the screen, and a working shutdown. I will commit this also soon, so anyone who is interested, can create his own CM9 version)
If someone can point me to how 2nd boot is supposed to work, I would be very thankful.

de-wolff said:
For who is interested:
I created an ICS kernel based upon the motorola sources merged with some stuff from a 3.4 kernel from code aurora.
You can find it on https://github.com/de-wolff/android_kernel_motorola_xt320.git
I think it is capable of everything you need, but I am still working on the CM stuff for it.
(At this moment my phone can start using fastboot, into a CM9 version.I have a working touch screen, a working volume button, audio, when I touch the screen, and a working shutdown. I will commit this also soon, so anyone who is interested, can create his own CM9 version)
If someone can point me to how 2nd boot is supposed to work, I would be very thankful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2nd-boot is similar to how 2nd-init works where it uses a hijack to and it boots the custom kernel on top of the Motorola Stock kernel. It basically consists of a miniature bootloader to execute 2nd-boot. Can please upload what you have so far? I can help you to debug it. Thanks.

more progress
I am able to make a booting system, using code at:
https://github.com/de-wolff/android_device_motorola_xt320
I produced images and kernel:
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/system.tar.gz
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/kernel
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/recovery.img
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/boot.img
It boots (using fastboot), display working, touchscreen working, onscreen keyboard working.
I am convinced the kernel is complete, but I have still to create a correct camera.lib, and correct audio libs.
Also the gpu is not used (yet), but that is a matter of finding the right egl adreno libraries, and creating the correct libgsl.
If anyone wants to explore it: In system/lib/egl is egl.cfg.
This is a text file. When you remove the # on the second line, after reboot the system will try to use the adreno gpu.
The way to put system on the phone is extract on your system (eg using) remove all files in the existing system, create all directories on the system, and then transfer all files using adb push.

de-wolff said:
I am able to make a booting system, using code at:
https://github.com/de-wolff/android_device_motorola_xt320
I produced images and kernel:
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/system.tar.gz
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/kernel
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/recovery.img
http://dewolff.home.xs4all.nl/boot.img
It boots (using fastboot), display working, touchscreen working, onscreen keyboard working.
I am convinced the kernel is complete, but I have still to create a correct camera.lib, and correct audio libs.
Also the gpu is not used (yet), but that is a matter of finding the right egl adreno libraries, and creating the correct libgsl.
If anyone wants to explore it: In system/lib/egl is egl.cfg.
This is a text file. When you remove the # on the second line, after reboot the system will try to use the adreno gpu.
The way to put system on the phone is extract on your system (eg using) remove all files in the existing system, create all directories on the system, and then transfer all files using adb push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the Adreno Libs from the Qualcomm website. Is Hardware Acceleration working? How come it's saying its CM7 in the Github
@MauroSZ This is the instructions on how to install the custom ROM.
Use these commands in cmd
Code:
fastboot erase system
Code:
fastboot -w
Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img
Now mount /system
Code:
adb shell
Code:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock11 /system
Code:
exit
Code:
adb push system.tar.gz /sdcard
Code:
adb shell
Code:
cd /system
Code:
busybox tar xvzpf /sdcard/system.tar.gz
Code:
exit
Code:
adb reboot-bootloader
Code:
fastboot boot boot.img
And you will boot into the custom ROM.
EDIT: Custom ROM is not BOOTING

@Guitwo2 @Bernd.Defy @wilberfish and @junk031 There is a custom ROM for Defy Mini by @de-wolff
Read the previous post for installation instructions.
@de-wolff, I'm getting a blue screen, is that how it boots up?

Going to try this later. Sounds great!
Sent from my HTC Desire C using xda app-developers app

rootdefyxt320 said:
I'm getting a blue screen, is that how it boots up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this is when you use a normal boot (with old kernel)
At this moment you have to boot using fastboot:
$fastboot boot boot.img
When I have everything more working, and the rom is smaller (at this moment it is 136M and the gapps are not even installed on it.) I will try to implement 2ndboot in the rom,
And I will also create a more user friendly way to install it.

de-wolff said:
No, this is when you use a normal boot (with old kernel)
At this moment you have to boot using fastboot:
$fastboot boot boot.img
When I have everything more working, and the rom is smaller (at this moment it is 136M and the gapps are not even installed on it.) I will try to implement 2ndboot in the rom,
And I will also create a more user friendly way to install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contact @Hashcode to port 2nd-boot to our device. Upload our stock init.rc and he will find a 2nd-init hijack. Once, we have the hijack, we can boot into 2nd-boot. So I extracted system.tar.gz and adb pushed all the files to it and already did a fastboot boot boot.img to the phone and it gives me a blue screen. I already formatted /system how come I keep getting running out of space. Please give us a tutorial on how to install CyanogenMod to our phone. Just adjust the updater-scripts for gapps so that it flashes it to /flex and symlink it to /flex/app and /flex/lib.

rootdefyxt320 said:
Contact @Hashcode to port 2nd-boot to our device. Upload our stock init.rc and he will find a 2nd-init hijack. Once, we have the hijack, we can boot into 2nd-boot. So I extracted system.tar.gz and adb pushed all the files to it and already did a fastboot boot boot.img to the phone and it gives me a blue screen. I already formatted /system how come I keep getting running out of space. Please give us a tutorial on how to install CyanogenMod to our phone. Just adjust the updater-scripts for gapps so that it flashes it to /flex and symlink it to /flex/app and /flex/lib.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestions.
There is a lot to do, and it is a hobby project, so I will do those things one at a time. But when there is progress, I will keep you informed.
Maybe your problem is you are using windows?
(In that case symlinks will be expanded to the whole file)
But there is an alternative way:
Boot into fastboot and do:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img
adb shell 'mount -a'
adb shell 'rm -rf /system'
adb push system.tar.gz /sdcard/
adb shell 'tar -xzvf /sdcard/system.tar.gz'
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot boot boot.img

de-wolff said:
Thanks for your suggestions.
There is a lot to do, and it is a hobby project, so I will do those things one at a time. But when there is progress, I will keep you informed.
Maybe your problem is you are using windows?
(In that case symlinks will be expanded to the whole file)
But there is an alternative way:
Boot into fastboot and do:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img
adb shell 'mount -a'
adb shell 'rm -rf /system'
adb push system.tar.gz /sdcard/
adb shell 'tar -xzvf /sdcard/system.tar.gz'
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot boot boot.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bugs are Hardware Acceleration but I'm going to try the Qualcomm ICS ARMv7 Libs, wrong DPI, no settings. I will send my logcat and dmesg later.
EDIT: When I try to run a OpenGLES2.0 benchmarks, it crashes. Basically for now it's only a bootup. I suggest you to contact @cute_prince to help you to port CyanogenMod as he has ported it to HTC Pico (Explorer). Also another suggestion is that you use the codename of the Defy Mini which is Tinboost to compile CyanogenMod.

You guys are really amazing!, it won't surprise me that all the information, tutorials and videos all around the web came from all the experiments you made here. Thanks for all the time you spend, and go on guys!
Waiting for the ICS upgrade.

@cute_prince. Would you please help us to port CyanogenMod 9 to our device? As the Defy Mini has the same chipset as the HTC Explorer. I will provide whatever you need to port CM9. Thanks.

So is there a possibility of CyanogenMod on our device?

{TUTORIAL} Bodhi Linux on a500

EDIT:
Now you can follow the same process into rogro82's kernel, thanks to Forzaferrarileo. Note that you can just flash the kernel, if you already put it to work with sp3dev's kernel. There's no need to repeat all process.
I've, also, changed some structures for better visualization.
This tutorial is using the sp3dev's precompiled kernel from here or rogro82's precompiled kernel from here. If you want to use rogro82's from scratch or from internal storage, please look, also, some instructions at here. Please note that you will have to build that kernel from sources before proceed. You should be able to use internal storage also, with some changes into this tutorial.
I used a phisical usb keyboard into this tutorial, but bodhi offers an onscreen keyboard into tablet profile. To change into this profile, look at here.
It's partially based into this tutorial. I'll refer to number of steps on that, so please open it. Please read everything before doing anything, and make sure you have no doubts about the process before doing anything. I'm not responsable if it damages your tablet!
First of all, download the Bodhi rootfs from here.
Then, run the first 3 steps from the tutorial above. Please note that if you'll run the rogro82's kernel, the step 2 should be flashing that kernel. For infos about how to flash the second kernel image, please read this thread's first post.
After, extract the Bodhi rootfs into the ext4 partition from your sdcard (I needed to be logged as root or use sudo for doing this step). Make sure to extract directly into the root of the partition (the result of a ls into the root of the partition should be just like running ls /).
Now, you need to donwload the zip file from step 6 from the tutorial. Note that it's not needed to install the packages asked by the step 6, just extract the donwloaded files and copy them into your sdcard's /lib/firmware folder. I just copied the brcm folder into /lib/firmware/brcm and it worked.
Now you are able to boot into the image. Put sdcard into the tablet and then boot from second kernel (hold VOL UP while powering on until it shows bootmenu and select boot into second kernel).
After complete booting, you should have the E17 home screen. For tutorials about this interface, please look into Bodhi website.
For being able to connect into wifi, I needed to open terminology (terminal application into bodhi) and run, as root, the following. Please note that it may not be necessary, but recommended:
- rfkill unblock all
- ifconfig
Now please see what number your wifi got loaded, for me, it was wlan2. I'll call it wlanx, so just change x for the number you got.
- ifconfig wlanx up
To make sure it worked, run "iwlist wlanx scan". It should bring some network details into terminology.
Now open wicd, open preferences and make sure the wifi network is correctly set into wlanx. The default value is wlan0. Then, close preferences and click into reload. Now you should be able to select your network, set up the network preferences and then connect into it.
Now you should be able to install everything you want. As I read, bodhi uses a debian base for armhf version, so you can install anything you can install from debian. Chromium web browser is broken, and firefox is named iceweasel. The default midori web browser works fine, but I personally prefer iceweasel.
Thanks:
sp3dev, rogro82, Kevin Roscom, Forzaferrarileo (if I forgot someone, please tell me, I'll put your name here!)

i'd love to try this! does this run fairly well?:good:

For me it does. I have a class 10 sdcard.

guimendes said:
For me it does. I have a class 10 sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root password?

Tautvaldas said:
root password?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please take a look at here: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.nl/2012/12/bodhi-linux-armhf-rootfs.html
You can use sudo bash to root access. The password is bodhilinux. Then you can set root password.

Hey this is my first time installing linux on a tablet. Ive got the partitioned sd card, rootfs, kernel ready to go. just not famaliar with how to flash the kernel. Could you maybe give me an idea of those steps? For a first timer as far as android is concerned, the instructions can be a little vague. Thanks

adrock74 said:
Hey this is my first time installing linux on a tablet. Ive got the partitioned sd card, rootfs, kernel ready to go. just not famaliar with how to flash the kernel. Could you maybe give me an idea of those steps? For a first timer as far as android is concerned, the instructions can be a little vague. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please, first, make sure you're using this bootloader for dualboot. Into the thread there are all instructions for flashing the kernel into secboot, on dualboot section, into first post.

Ive been on v8 unlbootloader for awhile. Just never flashed a sec kernel before.

adrock74 said:
Ive been on v8 unlbootloader for awhile. Just never flashed a sec kernel before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download the fastboot package ( from xda , or search on google ) , next connect the tablet with usb to the pc , reboot the tablet with the bootloader menu and select fastboot ...... the pc will install drivers , when it finish , go in the fastboot folder click SHIFT + right click and select "open command window here " and type this :
fastboot flash secboot <nameofkernel> ex : fastboot flash secboot boot.img

Forzaferrarileo said:
download the fastboot package ( from xda , or search on google ) , next connect the tablet with usb to the pc , reboot the tablet with the bootloader menu and select fastboot ...... the pc will install drivers , when it finish , go in the fastboot folder click SHIFT + right click and select "open command window here " and type this :
fastboot flash secboot <nameofkernel> ex : fastboot flash secboot boot.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! Ive flashed this tablet seven ways to sunday within android, but this is kinda new to me. Recently installed 12.04 on my desktop as my intro to linux without a hiccup. I cant seem to get the tablet to respond to my computer. Have the sd card setup ready to go, terminal only says file does not exist ( in regards to secboot) should sd be in tablet or usb? Ive been at it all day. Should i rename anything? Thanks again.
---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:35 PM ----------
I Simply cant seem to get the kernel flashed. Once i get past that, i believe its smooth sailing..

adrock74 said:
Thanks for the reply! Ive flashed this tablet seven ways to sunday within android, but this is kinda new to me. Recently installed 12.04 on my desktop as my intro to linux without a hiccup. I cant seem to get the tablet to respond to my computer. Have the sd card setup ready to go, terminal only says file does not exist ( in regards to secboot) should sd be in tablet or usb? Ive been at it all day. Should i rename anything? Thanks again.
---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:35 PM ----------
I Simply cant seem to get the kernel flashed. Once i get past that, i believe its smooth sailing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please look if fastboot recognized your tablet. Run fastboot devices. If there's an answer, then your tablet was recognized. It can be missing drivers. From acer site it's possible to find the correct drivers.

ok. so not having the acer drivers seems to be my issue. But, Im trying to do this using my pc running ubuntu, and I'm not sure how to get the acer drivers installed on it. I'm sure there is a trick, but the downloads are for windows. And also the downloads are for honeycomb and ics and im running 4.2.2.

Well I cannot help you installing drivers into ubuntu, I made it into Windows.

on android terminal emulator:
cat /proc/mounts
make sure that data is on /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 not p7
if so then:
dd if=your_second_boot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7
do it within android, not within linux or initial ramdisk console on you tablet, because linux recognize data as /dev/mmcblk0p7. sorry for bad English.

Tautvaldas said:
on android terminal emulator:
cat /proc/mounts
make sure that data is on /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 not p7
if so then:
dd if=your_second_boot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7
do it within android, not within linux or initial ramdisk console on you tablet, because linux recognize data as /dev/mmcblk0p7. sorry for bad English.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the response, what will this be doing??

adrock74 said:
thanks for the response, what will this be doing??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'll flash the kernel into the correct partition, via android.

guimendes said:
It'll flash the kernel into the correct partition, via android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok gotcha. Sorry to be a bother, but i want to do this. Right now ive got my kernel and rootfs on a partitioned sd card in my extsd slot. If I flash the kernel using terminal, where should it be?

adrock74 said:
ok gotcha. Sorry to be a bother, but i want to do this. Right now ive got my kernel and rootfs on a partitioned sd card in my extsd slot. If I flash the kernel using terminal, where should it be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you follow strict what Tautvaldas said, it'll be placed in the right place for dualbooting, the same if you use fastboot tool.

Thanks for your help guys. But mixing and matching this and that, i give up. Ive flashed the sh*t out of this tab, but without a unified tutorial, i cant make sense of this. Ive been running linux on my pc and laptop, so this isnt foreign to me, but i need a more straight forward tutorial. Thanks though again. We all have to learn sometime:good:

I ran a dist-upgrade on it and my wifi now seems broken - rfkill can unblock it but ifconfig returns SIOsomething something error, permission denied. Ideas?

[DEV][WIP][Linux] Easy GNU/Linux on our tablet

Hi all!
Many of us are dreaming of having a real native desktop operating system on Galaxy Note 10.1 as a second system. Of course, the software there is not touch-optimized, but you can attach keyboard and mouse via USB-OTG and Bluetooth and imagine it's a netbook
exception13 showed us that it's possible and shared his work on in a forum and repo. X-Stranger could use it and shared compiled images of ArchLinux. But what if you want to do something more specific for your own needs and you are not such a great developer as both of them are?
My project is for all of you who want to have native GNU/Linux, who want to participate but don't know how yet. It's a guide how to build it from scratch. The problem is - I am not a superdev too and I couldn't do many things. Frankly speaking, all the remaining things seem to be small but I don't know how to overcome them. Maybe it's because I'm studying economics but not programming
Link to the guide.
I need help from anyone who knows how to overcome any of the problems on every step! Everything I managed to do by myself is already written there and currently I have a compiled kernel which is booting a partition on external SD but it freezes there.
If you have any ideas - you can just make a pull request out of Github's webinterface, if you don't know how to edit this html but know something about building Linux - you are welcome to open an issue or write it here and I will include it in the guide.
Let's make our Galaxy Note 10.1 better together!

,I just got my Note 101.1 earlier today. I'll look into the missing information and add to the webpage. Is there anything that you think I should look into first?

I actually had a question.
Looks like you have the section "Harder Way - how to prepare binaries" split into Ubuntu and Arch. Instructions for compiling the kernel are the same.
I guess my question is why the choice to show the arch kernel being compiled under arch?
Might be easier to read the guide with all the kernel compiling done in Ubuntu.
**Edit**
What I didn't originally mention is that i really like it. Hoping to help contribute as well.

darksabre_x said:
I actually had a question.
Looks like you have the section "Harder Way - how to prepare binaries" split into Ubuntu and Arch. Instructions for compiling the kernel are the same.
I guess my question is why the choice to show the arch kernel being compiled under arch?
Might be easier to read the guide with all the kernel compiling done in Ubuntu.
**Edit**
What I didn't originally mention is that i really like it. Hoping to help contribute as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question. The reason for that are that despite how close Arch Linux and Ubuntu are, the environments are different. Ubuntu usually has some sort of bash completion enabled by default whereas Arch Linux doesn't and of course each of them requires diferent packages installed to perform the same functions. I believe thermatk did each distro separately as to make things simpler for the end user. Pick a distro and go as each distro's guide can be tuned independent of the others.

Soul_Est said:
Good question. The reason for that are that despite how close Arch Linux and Ubuntu are, the environments are different. Ubuntu usually has some sort of bash completion enabled by default whereas Arch Linux doesn't and of course each of them requires diferent packages installed to perform the same functions. I believe thermatk did each distro separately as to make things simpler for the end user. Pick a distro and go as each distro's guide can be tuned independent of the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't really answer my question considering the end kernel will be the same regardless of the distro being used. I think you took my question as "Why are there 2 options for kernel compilation?", which wasn't what I was asking.
Looks like thermatk actually addressed the question with a page update.
It now gives separate options depending on which distro you want to end up with on your Note 10.1, in addition to separate kernel compilation options.
What I was referring to was when it was Ubuntu only instructions from kernel compilation all the way to deployment on the tablet and Arch only instructions. The kernel and linux image instructions weren't independent of each other, as they currently are.

Update
I'm really happy to hear that someone else wants to use it and contribute! :victory:
darksabre_x, you are right I separated the guide into parts yesterday because the system where you compile kernel doesn't really affect anything on the tablet.
Soul_Est, thank you for helping with questions in the thread :good:
Now I understand that tabs are not the best way to do it, will start this day from trying to rewrite this to a navbar constantly on top which lets you choose options from a dropdown.
Also yesterday got the guide to the point when one path through can get ypu to a bootable distro! You can compile kernel wherever you want, you should be on stock based rom and choose to install Arch on separate partition which probably will be a partition on SD. What you have to add at the end is
Code:
pacman -S lxde
and copy xorg.conf from X-Stranger's post. Once rebooted, you will be able to enter android:changeme and
Code:
sudo lxdm
and the gui will start if you don't have USB-OTG and keyboard you won't be able to enter password but you can poweroff from the interface's right corner :good: Attention: if gui says that it has no permissions to write logs do
Code:
sudo mount -n -o remount, rw /
and retry but do not forget to write here about it!
What are the current problems:
Why exception13 and X-Stranger both hardcoded the whole cmdline for kernel and forced it not to be changeable from bootloaders. It's easy to fix in the config but there should have been some idea or i'm paranoic?
What's wrong with LinuxDeploy, separate partitions and CyanogenMod? hiruna filed a bug but meefik seems to be away for a week. If anyone else with CM has an idea on how to overcome this maybe with some special unmount commands CM is thinking that ext4 partition is th extSdCard and mounts it so that LinuxDeploy can't install anything there (seems that it's the problem) while stock can't mount ext4 as extsdcard and is not touching the partition.
How do we make Debian/Ubuntu to boot? Both ways - for separate partition and img are stuck one the problem that not any mkinitramfs or abootimg or their combinations could get to a better state than initramfs shell. Separate partition should be easier so focus should be on it for the start.
Adapt X-Stranger's guide about booting Arch from *.img. It's there and should be tested, rewritten and easied and some whitespaces should be filled. I know there are some as i have spent many hours in Arch with little dirty hacks like
Code:
ln -s /proc/self/fd /dev/fd
that are needed but no one ever wrote that they are.
What's wrong with basic video? While we get bootable Arch if you add lxdm and xorg.conf it should work with lightdm and boot there without console commands. If you try to install lightdm you will get nothing but a black screen if you start it with
Code:
sudo lightdm
... and it should boot automatically without touching console.
Oh and why is kernel from exception13 not building at all? XD

Redesign #2
Anyone dislikes the new design idea with navbar selectors instead of tabs?
I hope it's better.
Will soon update the guide with last steps to have Arch with LXDE bootable from separate partition.
That's fun as I started this project to get Ubuntu working... :angel:
If anyone can understand what should be done with mkinitramfs to make debian/ubuntu rootfs bootable - please do it.

First success!
If you choose any pc distro, arch on sgn with lxde on a seaprate partition you will now get a fully working guide that will give you a native bootable GNU/Linux =)
That's first success for me but still i hope to get help as i don't know things I asked two posts ago and it's difficult to move forward.

XFCE problems
XFCE is booting (not in the guide yet) but for working with fingers in XFCE one should probably disable multitouch S-pen works fine.
http://lists.x.org/pipermail/xorg/2012-July/054626.html
http://xfce.10915.n7.nabble.com/Xfwm-window-borders-do-not-respond-to-touch-screen-td17348.html
Will find a way to enable onscreen keyboard on LightDM and update the guide with XFCE. Still I was hoping to make it my primary DE and they are not supporting fingers moving windows upstream :crying:

I was hoping to contribute this weekend but unfortunately my only machine is down after mucking up the /lib folder when heimdall. To add insult to injury, I have no backups. Installing Arch Linux or Debian and configuring everything to my liking again will take a few hours.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk 2

How to setup WiFi using wpa_supplicant.conf
How to setup WiFi using wpa_supplicant.conf​
1. Copy the "wifi" folder to "/opt"
- You will need gedit to edit the nameservers.
- You also need two dependencies before installing gedit.
- The two dependencies are : gtksourceview3-3.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz and libpeas-1.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
2. Download them and copy over to ArchLinux
3. Install the dependencies first then gedit:
Code:
sudo pacman -U gtksourceview3-3.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U libpeas-1.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U gedit-3.6.2-2-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
4. insmod the drivers:
***NOTE*** " 3.0.31-gedcc915 " is my kernel name. Change it to your
kernel name if it is different.
Code:
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.0.31-gedcc915/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.0.31-gedcc915/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/bcmdhd/dhd.ko op_mode=0 firmware_path=/opt/wifi/bcmdhd_sta.bin nvram_path=/opt/wifi/nvram_net.txt_murata
5. Enable the wlan0:
Code:
sudo ip link set wlan0 up
6. Setup wpa_supplicant and ip address:
Code:
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.33/24 dev wlan0
sudo ip route add default via 192.168.1.1
7a. Add nameservers:
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf
7b. Go to the next available line and type:
Code:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
7c. Next line :
Code:
nameserver 8.8.4.4
7d. Save it
8. Go back to the terminal and edit the wpa_supplicant file:
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
- wpa_supplicant.conf file should be like this:
Code:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
network={
ssid="NETWORKNAME"
scan_ssid=1
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
psk="NETWORKPASSWORD"
}
9. And finally, to connect to your network, run
Code:
sudo dhcpcd
Open up a web browser and enjoy!
:good: :good: :good:

WiFi
I am currently including WiFi in the main guide as it's something everyone needs :laugh:

Soul_Est said:
I was hoping to contribute this weekend but unfortunately my only machine is down after mucking up the /lib folder when heimdall. To add insult to injury, I have no backups. Installing Arch Linux or Debian and configuring everything to my liking again will take a few hours.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will be happy if you join :good:

thermatk said:
I will be happy if you join :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll get right on the Arch Linux instructions once I get an Arch based OS installed. Hopefully that'll be tomorrow.
Written on my Galaxy Note 10.1

is this project dead ?

Equilibrio said:
is this project dead ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great job! This is awesome.
Anyone else having dependency conflicts with bluez and obexd-client?

cctoro said:
Great job! This is awesome.
Anyone else having dependency conflicts with bluez and obexd-client?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did before but it really depends on what you have install at the time when you do the update.

Having a small issue
Ok, so I followed all the instructions and set the kernel up to boot from mmcblk1p2 (my ext4 partition on my sdcard I made for linux), and used dd to copy the prebuilt arch to the partition, and it boots and eveything seems to work but the wifi.... I repeated the process from the beginning all over and recompiled to make sure i didn't miss anything, but still no wifi... And since I'm using the prebuilt image copied to the sdcard for the distro, and everything works in it if i boot the .img from the internal storage and use the premade recovery, I'm assuming maybe there's something missing from compiling the kernel? In either case, if anyone has any ideas about this, please help, or if someone can make a properly compiled recovery.img that boots from mmcblk1p2, that would be super awesome.... I'm only mediocre in linux skill so any help would be appreciated!

K, so i was an idiot and forgot to copy the compiled kernel modules to /lib........ OOPS!
Arch linux distro booting from mmcblk1p2 with 1p3 as swap... all work awesome! Working on dri2 for the mali now.....
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Could you post a prepared .IMG, possibly? Thanks.
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