Database Users

[Q] What does it take to port new versions of Android to a handset?

I'm hoping somebody will be able to educate me a bit here on some deep technical questions. I've been searching for some information on this topic for a while now but without any luck. In a nutshell what I am curious about is this.. if I were to, lets say, build my own new handset, what would be entailed in getting android to work on it?
I know a kernel must be built with all the drivers and modules to communicate with any specific hardware/radios etc. But once you've got the kernel, is there still more porting that has to be done in the core android code? Are there significant CPU architectural differences or some other major differences between handsets that require more porting within the rest of the OS code? (Side question: if I want to build a kernel from source, what tools do I need)
To ask my question more specifically with the Epic, what is going to be necessary to get Gingerbread on it? If we already have the source for Eclair, or when we get the source for Froyo on the Epic.. what is it that makes it more than just a matter of pulling the drivers from those versions to make things work. Is android not built in a modular enough way to enable that?
I am myself a developer, but as I'm sure is obvious from my questions.. I'm not very experienced at OS level development. And what limited knowledge I do have mainly comes from making correlations to desktop OS, which is probably what is leading me astray.
I'm just really craving to know more about this stuff, so thanks ahead of time to anyone who takes their time to school me and help me understand. If there is any material out there that I should just go RTFM, I'd like to do that but please point me in the right direction.
Thanks!

FYI, your post/s do not pertain to any direct development. They are just generalized questions that can be answered with a simple search.
See Here
Reported as belonging in Q&A/general.

The most difficult part is porting drivers (if they're not already part of the kernel mainline) and device-specific glue code to the new kernel base. This is difficult becuase (i) it's a fair amount of code, (ii) the kernel does not have a stable API, so the necessary changes may be somewhat far reaching, and (iii) bugs that crop up are often more difficult to pin down and fix than in userspace programs. It also doesn't help the matter that Samsung's portion of the kernel code is messy, buggy, and just generally not in a state that would make it easy to port over to a new tree.
The reason why we can't just port Eclair drivers to Froyo, or Froyo drivers to Gingerbread, is that there's a fair number of proprietary modules on the phone (LCD, WiMAX, the entire storage stack, etc.) to which we don't have the source code. These modules are compiled against a specific kernel minor version (e.g., 2.6.29 for Eclair) and won't load in Froyo or Gingerbread. The version number can be faked, but if there's any change in the module API, or in the "API" (which isn't even formally defined) of dependent kernel code, all bets are off.
In theory if there's any Galaxy S device with a Gingerbread release, it might be possible to get a limited-capability kernel up and running, depending on how much the proprietary drivers change across devices (hopefully not much). The Nexus S doesn't count though as Google replaced the entire proprietary flash stoage stack with a GPL-based one. While we might be able to get such running on Galaxy S hardware, it would be incompatible with the existing storage layer and would necessitate a full device flash. Not really something you want to do when an official update with a complete set of drivers is going to be made in the "near" future.
Aside from the kernel, you would have to modify the parts of the Android userland that interface with hardware specific components, for example the "4G" (WiMAX) settings menu and such. I think much of the modem interaction also happens in userland. Then you have to port over whatever custom skin (e.g., TouchWiz) you have.
For some reason this is often believed to be the most difficult and time consuming part of a port, i.e., it's commonly complained that "HTC & Samsung delay releases to port Sense & TouchWiz, if they just dumped them and went AOSP updates would be a lot faster." Honestly it's not. It's an API update like any other Android app, and third party launchers don't seem to have significant problems here.
Mind you, I mention the difficulties of kernel porting without having actually attempted to do it myself, largely becuase it is so daunting. I know there's folks interested in doing this, and perhaps they have some tricks that make it a bit easier in a specific scenario. In general though, these are the difficulties one enounters when trying to port new Linux versions to any embedded platform.

I've often wondered this myself, as well as wondered why Google seemed to get caught with their pants down.
Now granted I don't know the nitty gritty details, but I don't understand why android wasn't written in a manner where as much of it as possible is just apps, and anything that is core is written where the handset makers just need to do the very low level stuff.
On top of that then it could have been made to be more easily themed, even rather dramatically.
Samsung/HTC should only be maintaining the low level "android wants the gps location, I know how to work this specific chip and give it back" and Sense/TouchWiz should just be a theme, and some custom widgets. Android itself should be virtually untouched between those two layers, and updates that don't change how it has to interact with the hardware or the themes should come straight from google.
Thankfully things have at least started to move this way. (you don't need to roll out a ROM update through sprint because Google updated the market like you used to, etc)
If Dell wants to customize Win 7 they add onto it, they don't roll their own copy of it, creating god knows how many fragmentation issues in the meantime. (And yes, I know Windows isn't open source, so they can't, but you get what I'm saying.) Because the second they did that they'd then take on a much larger QA burden, on top of everything else.
If android is untouched for the most part, it works, or it's a bug for everyone. You'd only need to test calls to your low level updates, which could for the most part be automated. The second you start changing a line here and there in the source code, now all of a sudden you have to do the "If I make a calendar item while on a call on a leap year the phone reboots" type QA/Support as well.
Edit: And of course it's very possible that is more or less how it is and the handset makers just flat out take longer to update then anyone imagined they would.

What language/s do you have to know to do all this?

nubsors said:
What language/s do you have to know to do all this?
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C for kernel and Os. Java for apps(sdk). C and java(ndk/sdk) for apps that require native code implementations of things (eg. The VLC player that is coming. It wasn't possible until the latest edition of the ndk.)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Thank you mkasick for a great detailed answer. I didn't think about the fact there are closed source drivers to worry about as well, and that explains a lot.
@ghostrid3r: I did plenty of simple searches which did not answer my questions before posting, but thank you for the link. Also, not that it matters to me.. but is the development section just for releasing custom roms or something? If questions directly pertaining to development details don't belong there, seems to me the section should be renamed to "Epic 4G Custom Roms" instead.

[Q] Device Startup on Omni Development Help

I'd like to know where to start on making a CM12 compatible device (VS985/Verizon G3 in this case) work in omnirom, where to start? I already have knowledge in building ROMs but not doing a full port towards another ROM type (not a modified CM12 variant ROM) just to get that out of the way

Bump?

KShion619 said:
Bump?
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Thing is, every device is different. Things that worked on one device might not work on another.
There are a few things where we can probably provide some "If you have this set in CM, you need to change it to that for Omni" - such as naming conventions for some of our CAF repos. These things are currently being redone for 5.1.
5.0 wasn't our proudest moment - a lot of us were mostly away for a good portion of the cycle, and we're just getting caught up now.
Also, in many cases, there might be patches to core repos needed for your device but none of our currently supported devices that require you to figure out what's missing - this can sometimes quite challenging.
In some ways, other than some basic hints about obvious differences, I don't want to provide TOO much detail, as for a device to be properly maintained it needs the maintainer to be independent and able to track down/solve issues themselves, as opposed to just blindly cherry-picking CM and applying some sort of step-by-step guide. Yes it's much more time consuming in the short term, but it allows a maintainer to truly learn the ins and outs of their device. We had a few devices in the 4.4 cycle where the maintainers blind-tracked CM and were not capable of anything more than basic cherrypicking, and the quality of those devices suffered.

No ROMs so far?

Hey guys. I came over to see how many ROMs this phone has, and I was astounded to see the forum empty. Since this phone is supported by the open device program, I'd have thought there would be a vibrant developer community.
What's up with this? No developer interest?

Z5c is also supported by AOSP and there's also not much custom ROMs I guess so far biggest issue is this device is quite new and not so many devs bought it

That's surprising. It's the first time I've seen a device with full kernel support but still not much development.
Usually it's the other way around. Sources are fudged or not released, but developers still find ways to work around it.

andy356 said:
That's surprising. It's the first time I've seen a device with full kernel support but still not much development.
Usually it's the other way around. Sources are fudged or not released, but developers still find ways to work around it.
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yeah the device is very good for development even better than Z5c because it does not have any heating issue, but still nothing
I guess we should wait and see if android 7 makes any difference...

Sony wiping camera keys at the time of bootloader unlock (the camera is a huge selling point for the phone) might have to do with this, it's very likely that devs would want to get TA backup working before focusing on developing ROMs for the phone. But since there aren't any devs here working on that either, we might simply have been doomed as well. The only custom ROM I've found so far was an AOSP Marshmallow build made by FreeXperia, plus Sony's device files released for building AOSP M and N.

Also supposedly 7.0 is around the corner so the few that are thinking about roming may be waiting until after its release. Time will tell.

I think the XC will get zero dev support. You can kinda see a trend in the developers support: I had the z3c which had tons of support, now when I look at the z5c forums there are only very few roms, and for the xc not even one developer has posted something yet. until it won't get easier to unlock and root the xperia phones without messing up the DRM protection there won't be a lot of support. I'm thinking about buying the z5c just for that reason.

:/ This is so bad on Sony's part. They try to give the impression that they're so pro development and pro custom ROMs, but then they mess up the camera if people actually want to do something.

andy356 said:
:/ This is so bad on Sony's part. They try to give the impression that they're so pro development and pro custom ROMs, but then then they mess up the camera if people actually want to do something.
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if someone doesnt find a exploit to root on locked bootloader then nobody will be able to backup ta data. i wont buy a sony phone if rooting means loosing features of the phone.
z3c has support because the giefroot was once found and this enabled all dev to backup ta data with drm. even if they decided to unlock bootloader they were still able to restore ta and lock again bootloader.
sony's aosp way is almost useless for the majority of people. when samsung was at s1/s2/s3 you could flash what you want and no feature was lost as they was nothing related with drm but now there you also have knox and efuse. if you root you will even loose guarantee and this is not reversible.

I guess it's better to look for a Z3 Compact then. I don't want to deal with this DRM nonsense.
Thanks for all the info, guys. I appreciate it.

andy356 said:
I guess it's better to look for a Z3 Compact then. I don't want to deal with this DRM nonsense.
Thanks for all the info, guys. I appreciate it.
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i bought a refurbished z3c again and had my battery replaced just because the z5c has this ****ty 810 snapdragon and the x compact a weird vibration motor (too loud) and several other reasons (no root on locked bootloader) and im fine.
ok maybe i get no nougat on this but i dont care because im still on kitkat because this has best battery handling and all apps are still working on kitkat.

Yeah Z5 compact is out of the picture because of the snapdragon 810. Otherwise my second choice after X Compact would have been that. Oh well. Z3 Compact serves the purpose just as well.

x10isrooted said:
i bought a refurbished z3c again and had my battery replaced just because the z5c has this ****ty 810 snapdragon and the x compact a weird vibration motor (too loud) and several other reasons (no root on locked bootloader) and im fine.
ok maybe i get no nougat on this but i dont care because im still on kitkat because this has best battery handling and all apps are still working on kitkat.
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yeah as long as roms go, xperia x compact is out of choices but this phone is gonna get nougat and maybe android 8(or whatever version it's gonna be) so I would say go for it, Im really enjoying screen quality on this baby

I built CM13 but I'm not allowed to post in the dev section because I'm not cool enough
Source is at github: heicrd (just drop the local_manifests in, lunch cm_kugo-userdebug, mka bacon)
Flash zip with CM recovery (AndroPlus's TWRP doesn't work too well) or flash images with fastboot
I would post build links but I'm not allowed to post links either
Working:
Cellular/Data (had to switch APN from ATT Gophone to ATT Nextphone for my gophone sim in order to get data)
WiFi
Fingerprint Scanner
Camera
BT
SELinux
Not working (PATCHES WELCOME):
FM Radio (/dev/radio0 is missing)
Music (audio_hw_primary: start_output_stream: cannot set device: Invalid argument)
Not tested:
NFC
Encryption
Special thanks to Sony-Kitakami for serving as a reference

@EliWallace That's great news! All you need to become member is 10 posts, which you can easily gain from participating in the forum. Then you can post in the dev section.
It's good to see someone take the initiative. I would have liked to do it too, but my knowledge is limited to Android customisation and adb/fastboot commands. :/
I'm sure the other members here would be willing to give you a hand in beta testing and general feedback.

@EliWallace And please make sure you take care of GPL compliance from the very beginning. Devs and mods here take it very seriously. Don't want to see possibly the only custom ROM being bogged down by such pointless issues. Good luck!

andy356 said:
@EliWallace And please make sure you take care of GPL compliance from the very beginning.
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Should be fully gpl compliant (source hosted on github: see first post). Most of it is just rebasing Sony-Kitakami commits to Loire/kugo or cherry-picking upstream commits (as described in the Sony aosp build guide; I didn't write a single line of original code).
In other news, Bluetooth works but fmradio does not.
andy356 said:
Devs and mods here take it very seriously. Don't want to see possibly the only custom ROM being bogged down by such pointless issues.
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As they should.

EliWallace said:
I built CM13 but I'm not allowed to post in the dev section because I'm not cool enough
Source is at github: heicrd (just drop the local_manifests in, lunch cm_kugo-userdebug, mka bacon)
Flash zip with CM recovery (AndroPlus's TWRP doesn't work too well) or flash images with fastboot
I would post build links but I'm not allowed to post links either
Working:
Cellular/Data (had to switch APN from ATT Gophone to ATT Nextphone for my gophone sim in order to get data)
Audio
WiFi
Fingerprint Scanner
Camera
Not tested:
BT
NFC
Encryption
Special thanks to Sony-Kitakami for serving as a reference
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're cool enough to me Eli Do you know if the DRM kernel patch work for the XC?

charliebigpot said:
You're cool enough to me Eli Do you know if the DRM kernel patch work for the XC?
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Interesting that the camera is working on your build. I build Aosp 7.0 and everthing is working but not the camera and deep sleep (only if bluetooth is enabled, but i think they have fixed it today).
You are mixing the kernel (from android 6.0/7.0) with device tree from android 7.1 and the camera is working.

@EliWallace Post 6 of the most random comments here if needs be. We need you in Dev asap
Great work!!

[PETITION] Ask OnePlus to implement Project Treble on currently supported devices.

Project Treble, as you've heard, is an amazing new update structure for Android devices and also can affect the speed and stability of Android development.
OnePlus has decided not to implement the current OnePlus devices with Project Treble, and they haven't given an explanation as to why they decided not to.
Project Treble can help the 3/3T as they are almost out of the OEM support days. If they do implement this, you may be looking at Android P ROMs for your device within days of the release of the AOSP commits.
Stand UP for your device and our responsibility as the community should be to bring support for our device for as long as possible. If OnePlus implements this, our device will be future proof for the aeons to come.
Your vote counts.
Change Org - https://www.change.org/p/carl-pei-w...-ask-oneplus-to-support-project-treble-in-oos
Do your part as a OnePlus 3/3T user and VOTE!

What's your drug of choice?

suraj.das said:
What's your drug of choice?
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What do you mean?

thes3usa said:
What do you mean?
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He means that you must be high on something to think OP will give this petition any consideration. I don't think they will either, but I signed it anyway. It'd be nice if they did. It would certainly bolster consumer confidence in OnePlus if they supported such a game changing feature.

HampTheToker said:
He means that you must be high on something to think OP will give this petition any consideration. I don't think they will either, but I signed it anyway. It'd be nice if they did. It would certainly bolster consumer confidence in OnePlus if they supported such a game changing feature.
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This really isnt that much of a game changer really. Dont let those on the portal make you think other wise. The rom developers are laughing at him as he has no real idea of how this is gonna work. In the end it will have 0 effect on roms or OEM updates.

zelendel said:
This really isnt that much of a game changer really. Dont let those on the portal make you think other wise. The rom developers are laughing at him as he has no real idea of how this is gonna work. In the end it will have 0 effect on roms or OEM updates.
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How so?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

HampTheToker said:
How so?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk
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Well the only this this allows is updated things from the SOC manufacturers. Making things for the oem faster, if they ran aosp. But they dont. Updates will be just as long If not longer now due to this. Why you ask. Well now the OEM has to build their entire OS completely differently now. This is from OEM changing the entire OS framework as well as every file google makes.
As for custom roms. Well this really means nothing as most custom roms are already on newer patches then even what google has pushed to aosp.

zelendel said:
Well the only this this allows is updated things from the SOC manufacturers. Making things for the oem faster, if they ran aosp. But they dont. Updates will be just as long If not longer now due to this. Why you ask. Well now the OEM has to build their entire OS completely differently now. This is from OEM changing the entire OS framework as well as every file google makes.
As for custom roms. Well this really means nothing as most custom roms are already on newer patches then even what google has pushed to aosp.
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What? What even are you talking about? Project Treble is a huge step for AOSP ROM development.
Read here - https://www.xda-developers.com/stock-android-oreo-huawei-mate-9-project-treble/
Project Treble can bring quicker and more stable ROMs to devices faster and more efficiently.

HampTheToker said:
He means that you must be high on something to think OP will give this petition any consideration. I don't think they will either, but I signed it anyway. It'd be nice if they did. It would certainly bolster consumer confidence in OnePlus if they supported such a game changing feature.
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OnePlus's rule is to listen to their community yeah? With the petition over 5000 signatures and the link booming on r/OnePlus, it'll make them look bad if they ignore the petition.

thes3usa said:
What? What even are you talking about? Project Treble is a huge step for AOSP ROM development.
Read here - https://www.xda-developers.com/stock-android-oreo-huawei-mate-9-project-treble/
Project Treble can bring quicker and more stable ROMs to devices faster and more efficiently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please. First of getting aosp to boot on that device is not that big of a deal. Rom devs do it all the time. The only reason those devices are left behind is because developers refuse to work with their chipset.
So explain how something only concerns the SOC manufacturer and the OEM will make roms faster?
If you really thiink this will make the OEMS update any more then they already do then you are sadly mistaken.
Thats the one that I mentioned that the devs are laughing at.
Also if you follow the thread linked you will see that things are still broken and causing issues. Nothing new.
Project treble means nothing for the average person and it is sad that the portal guys are not tech savvy, which leads them to making statements that are not even close to being true.

zelendel said:
Please. First of getting aosp to boot on that device is not that big of a deal. Rom devs do it all the time. The only reason those devices are left behind is because developers refuse to work with their chipset.
So explain how something only concerns the SOC manufacturer and the OEM will make roms faster?
If you really thiink this will make the OEMS update any more then they already do then you are sadly mistaken.
Thats the one that I mentioned that the devs are laughing at.
Also if you follow the thread linked you will see that things are still broken and causing issues. Nothing new.
Project treble means nothing for the average person and it is sad that the portal guys are not tech savvy, which leads them to making statements that are not even close to being true.
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By your judgement, what is not true as explained by the portal guys?
Isn't the whole point of Project Treble making it easier for devs to work with chipsets such as MediaTek or Kirin?
Project Treble third party development is still early, you need to give it time. It's not like every new feature in Android sprung up to be in the top places at once. Things will be broken, and the devs will find a solution.
Also, the point of Project Treble will be having unified ROM files for many devices in a category ( eg: Same SoC, same OEM, etc), and also where the device trees have not been released, unlike OnePlus, who has their Day One project.
By your logic, you're saying that there's no use for Project Treble, and it's all a complete waste of time.
But hey, it's your opinion .
But you do have a point, the portal is not to be trusted too far, and I would wait until a developer has shown that Project Treble has been put to good use on a device. But, that does not mean that Treble support should not be given to a device like ours that's super powerful.

thes3usa said:
By your judgement, what is not true as explained by the portal guys?
Isn't the whole point of Project Treble making it easier for devs to work with chipsets such as MediaTek or Kirin?
Project Treble third party development is still early, you need to give it time. It's not like every new feature in Android sprung up to be in the top places at once. Things will be broken, and the devs will find a solution.
Also, the point of Project Treble will be having unified ROM files for many devices in a category ( eg: Same SoC, same OEM, etc), and also where the device trees have not been released, unlike OnePlus, who has their Day One project.
By your logic, you're saying that there's no use for Project Treble, and it's all a complete waste of time.
But hey, it's your opinion .
But you do have a point, the portal is not to be trusted too far, and I would wait until a developer has shown that Project Treble has been put to good use on a device. But, that does not mean that Treble support should not be given to a device like ours that's super powerful.
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The portal guys will have you believe that this will help rom development. It wont.
The problem the devs have with the Kirin chip is that it is done in mostly Chinese and there is 0 documentation on how to work with the chips. as for MTK. Yeah that wont happen. There is a reason those chips are used mostly on devices that dont have google play services.
No that will not mean unified rom files. Another thing they lead to you believe. Even the dev doing the work (not the portal writer) has already said each device will still need its own kernel.
Project treble does have a use. Its just not something we can really use.
Project treble was made so OEM can update android without having to update their version of the android OS. Everything is between the SOC Oem and the device oem.
Now ask yourself this. What OEM is really gonna update a device without updating their OS version? Also you cant really seperate the OS framework from googles android and the OEM. This is due to the OEM changing or replacing completely every base android framework file that google releases. (another thing the portal has people not understanding. OEM do not skin android. They replace it with completely different versions of android. Like Linux distros.) Also even if you can boot AOSP on any device. Are you willing to lose all the features that Oem add to their devices? Take the one plus camera deal as a perfect example.

Quote from other thread:
regarding Project, it targets all devices launched with Android 8.x also It has almost nothing to do with Oneplus, if Qualcomm update the reference msm8996 kernel to linux 4.4 then its trivial to port oneplus modifications over. Qualcomm has practically zero motivation to do this, infact it works against their interests.
So better petition Qualcomm

Verizon Note 7 Port ROM - Project turned over to the community!

I'm back on Verizon after switching to Sprint back in 2008. So I recently picked up a mint condition Verizon Note 4 so I could have a little fun building a new Note 7 port ROM. Many of you may know me as the creator of the Ultimate Note 7 ROM for the Sprint Note 4. I'm here to tell all of you that I've been working on a new Ultimate Note 7 ROM for the Verizon Note 4. It is nearly ready for public beta release! With the experience I have porting Samsung Touchwiz ROM's. I figured it is long overdue for the Verizon Note 4 users. My port ROM has official and original Verizon Note 7 framework, apps, etc. So instead of trying to make international port ROM's work, which is no simple task unless you know what you're doing, get ready for a true Verizon compatible Note 7 ROM. Those of you who still have your Verizon Note 4 and want to get more life and use from it with a fresh look and feel, look for a new ROM thread soon.
I need a few reliable and knowledgeable testers. If you can help troubleshoot and test the rom, please install Telegram app on your PC and your phone and join my Hybrid Port ROM's group so you can have access to the the test ROM and join the rest of us who are ready to get this thing going. See you there!

Why not a Note 8 ROM or Oreo ROM? Just curious. Forgive me, I wouldn't know of any technical constraints.

i cant wait thanks man

JOSHSKORN said:
Why not a Note 8 ROM or Oreo ROM? Just curious. Forgive me, I wouldn't know of any technical constraints.
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The S8 and N8 ROM's are Nougat 7.0. The N4 has been cut off at Android 6.0 and doesn't have official Samsung Nougat 7.0 kernel source, therefore the Snapdragon N4 can't run Android 7.0. ROM's. If this was possible we would have a lot of excited dev's continuing to build 7.0 TouchWiz ROM's for the N4. Unfortunately Marshmallow 6.0 is all we have for the N4 so the N7 Marshmallow software and perhaps some ported S8/N8 apps is as good as it gets for the N4. What i'm doing is building a solid N7 base ROM for the Verizon N4. Once it's ready I will upload it as a stock base rom. Other dev's can use my base to build out custom ROM's with mods, ROM control, Xposed, etc, etc. This will eliminate the need to fix any network related features. It will all work as it should. International N7 port ROM's are not compatible with the U.S. CDMA carrier's features. This is why we need a true Verizon N7 base rom. I know it's a little late and many people have upgraded to newer phones but if there's still users here wanting to run a proper Verizon N7 ROM, this will be it.
With this said, I welcome any and all testers and dev's to pitch in and help test and troubleshoot minor bugs. PM me if you're interested in helping with this. The ROM is 100% complete and operational but I'm working on minor bugs with a few system apps.

tx_dbs_tx said:
The S8 and N8 ROM's are Nougat 7.0. The N4 has been cut off at Android 6.0 and doesn't have official Samsung Nougat 7.0 kernel source, therefore the Snapdragon N4 can't run Android 7.0. ROM's. If this was possible we would have a lot of excited dev's continuing to build 7.0 TouchWiz ROM's for the N4. Unfortunately Marshmallow 6.0 is all we have for the N4 so the N7 Marshmallow software and perhaps some ported S8/N8 apps is as good as it gets for the N4. What i'm doing is building a solid N7 base ROM for the Verizon N4. Once it's ready I will upload it as a stock base rom. Other dev's can use my base to build out custom ROM's with mods, ROM control, Xposed, etc, etc. This will eliminate the need to fix any network related features. It will all work as it should. International N7 port ROM's are not compatible with the U.S. CDMA carrier's features. This is why we need a true Verizon N7 base rom. I know it's a little late and many people have upgraded to newer phones but if there's still users here wanting to run a proper Verizon N7 ROM, this will be it.
With this said, I welcome any and all testers and dev's to pitch in and help test and troubleshoot minor bugs. PM me if you're interested in helping with this. The ROM is 100% complete and operational but I'm working on minor bugs with a few system apps.
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I realize the Note 4 has been cut off at Android 6.0, but how are devs able to come up with a 7.1.2 ROM for it? User hsbadr has three: LineageOS, ResurrectionRemix. and EmotionOS (this one seems to be discontinued). I haven't used any of his ROMs for quite some time, because they seem a bit buggy, to me, but that's beside the point I'm getting at. How is he able to make a 7.0 ROM and others can't seem to? That said, why wouldn't an 8.0 ROM be possible?

JOSHSKORN said:
I realize the Note 4 has been cut off at Android 6.0, but how are devs able to come up with a 7.1.2 ROM for it? User hsbadr has three: LineageOS, ResurrectionRemix. and EmotionOS (this one seems to be discontinued). I haven't used any of his ROMs for quite some time, because they seem a bit buggy, to me, but that's beside the point I'm getting at. How is he able to make a 7.0 ROM and others can't seem to? That said, why wouldn't an 8.0 ROM be possible?
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You're talking about AOSP ROM's. Those ROM's are open source from Google, not Samsung Touchwiz ROM's. Big difference. The kernels they build are not compatible with Samsung Touchwiz ROM's

bmhbmh715 said:
i cant wait thanks man
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+1

Thanks for this!

Would there be anyway you could make it to use normal bootanimation.zip?

tx_dbs_tx said:
Those of you who still have your Verizon Note 4 and want to get more life and use from it with a fresh look and feel, look for a new ROM thread soon.
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Hello, I am still rocking the note 4 Verizon. And I will be keeping it as long as devoted members such as yourself put out great roms! That being said I would like to be a beta tester if you so need one. I have a little knowledge in troubleshooting and the like, mostly my expertise is in repairing and building phones. I have a whole closet that's devoted to phone parts repair, and computer systems repair. My last few phones I have held on to until the dev section went quiet, note 2, Moto atrix, moto bionic... they were awesome with deodexed/rooted roms... I am addicted to flashing new roms to find the right balance between performance and battery...
By the way, one slight request, when all said and done fixing most of the bugs, don't forget to make sure the rom has a kernel that is compatible with extended batterys. Most of us holding out with our outdated note 4, usually have those huge batteries hanging off the back...lol

getyroks said:
By the way, one slight request, when all said and done fixing most of the bugs, don't forget to make sure the rom has a kernel that is compatible with extended batterys. Most of us holding out with our outdated note 4, usually have those huge batteries hanging off the back...lol
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No worries. I'm using the Flashpoint kernel and there's also an extended battery version. It's based on Verizon N4 QI2 so it's good to go.

OH MY GLOB!
I still have my Verizon Note 4, can't wait for this rom ???

tx_dbs_tx said:
No worries. I'm using the Flashpoint kernel and there's also an extended battery version. It's based on Verizon N4 QI2 so it's good to go.
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I just figured you would build your own kernel. Yes, flashpoint is the best in my opinion, as of right now.

getyroks said:
I just figured you would build your own kernel. Yes, flashpoint is the best in my opinion, as of right now.
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I really don't mess with kernels. That's not really my forte. If needed, I would just ask someone to build one. But since there's already one available and it happens to be from Verizon source I will use it and give credit. But I may request a new kernel from the latest source once I get the rom ready.

tx_dbs_tx said:
I really don't mess with kernels. That's not really my forte. If needed, I would just ask someone to build one. But since there's already one available and it happens to be from Verizon source I will use it and give credit. But I may request a new kernel from the latest source once I get the rom ready.
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I think I may have the CQL1 source kernel ready. I've been running it since Tues and was thinking of posting it soon. If you, or anyone else, wants to try it out you can download it here.
The source code is here for those interested.
The changes are the same as the ones for the 910F beta kernel that was posted the other day.
Change Log:
Backported the 3.18 Linux version of Interactive Governor
Add patch for USB fast charge
Add Sound Controls- so far this hasn't negatively impacted anything but it's definitely the change I'm most concerned about and will probably make a separate version without this in the future. Be careful with this. Had my earbuds in and it gets very loud.
LED fade control
Completely reworked the thermal temperature control. So far the temperature has been throttling down pretty good when it goes above the set temp. I've been setting mine on the lowest setting.
Added zswap control
Extended Battery patch is included
On a personal note, I'm very excited to see a port rom that's not built with an international firmware. If there's anything I can help with let me know. My skills are somewhat limited but every now and again I can get lucky.

Thanks Kevin. What I want to do is get the stockish base N7 ROM done then see if there's somebody who wants to take it to the next level and add mods, rom control etc, etc. I know a lot of people like the custom mods, xposed, etc but these days I really don't care for that stuff as long as everything works as it should i'm happy. So if you know of someone who could take on that task once I get the base ROM finished, then that would be great for everyone who wants the custom stuff. And I can take a break. I'll pm some of you once the test build is ready. We'll need to test the basic functions like bluetooth NFC, wifi, etc. It should all work because i've ported these roms before so I know what all i have to do. I'll get the test rom ready as soon as i can as time permits. I'm going over framework getting it debugged and making sure it's a smooth and zippy as i can make it.

tx_dbs_tx said:
Thanks Kevin. What I want to do is get the stockish base N7 ROM done then see if there's somebody who wants to take it to the next level and add mods, rom control etc, etc. I know a lot of people like the custom mods, xposed, etc but these days I really don't care for that stuff as long as everything works as it should i'm happy. So if you know of someone who could take on that task once I get the base ROM finished, then that would be great for everyone who wants the custom stuff. And I can take a break. I'll pm some of you once the test build is ready. We'll need to test the basic functions like bluetooth NFC, wifi, etc. It should all work because i've ported these roms before so I know what all i have to do. I'll get the test rom ready as soon as i can as time permits. I'm going over framework getting it debugged and making sure it's a smooth and zippy as i can make it.
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I don't use xposed anymore... too much of a hassle to get through some apps that look for it and are diabled from xposed...
Couple brainstorming requests, or something... lol
the people Edge should work properly... I've had so many TW roms that are half done and people Edge is boinked..
Something with note 7 roms and task manager is buggy on note 4...
There is a fingerprint work around for ported roms, if we could get a good, understandable write up to make that work, that would be appreciated.
TW launcher should be themeable... some ports I've tried have that boinked as well.
The brightness on some ports has an issue with not dimming, or high brightness when in sunlight and darkness...
Mostly stock feel and look is quite nice though.

getyroks said:
I don't use xposed anymore... too much of a hassle to get through some apps that look for it and are diabled from xposed...
Couple brainstorming requests, or something... lol
the people Edge should work properly... I've had so many TW roms that are half done and people Edge is boinked..
Something with note 7 roms and task manager is buggy on note 4...
There is a fingerprint work around for ported roms, if we could get a good, understandable write up to make that work, that would be appreciated.
TW launcher should be themeable... some ports I've tried have that boinked as well.
The brightness on some ports has an issue with not dimming, or high brightness when in sunlight and darkness...
Mostly stock feel and look is quite nice though.
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All of the things you mentioned will be working, except fingerprint scanner. That is a lot harder to pull off and will be the very last thing on the to-do list. If it could be made to work other dev's would have figured it out by now without the N4 settings apk swap trick. But i will definitely try my best to get the fingerprint scanner working with my verizon N7 ROM. With Kevin's custom kernel this will be an amazing ROM for the Verizon N4! It's coming along great. It's raining all day today so i'm inside hammering away on the ROM.

tx_dbs_tx said:
All of the things you mentioned will be working, except fingerprint scanner. That is a lot harder to pull off and will be the very last thing on the to-do list. If it could be made to work other dev's would have figured it out by now without the N4 settings apk swap trick. But i will definitely try my best to get the fingerprint scanner working with my verizon N7 ROM. With Kevin's custom kernel this will be an amazing ROM for the Verizon N4! It's coming along great. It's raining all day today so i'm inside hammering away on the ROM.
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I kniw it's tricky with the fingerprint, I was just suggesting an easy unified post of HOW to do it on this new rom you're making

getyroks said:
I kniw it's tricky with the fingerprint, I was just suggesting an easy unified post of HOW to do it on this new rom you're making
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Well it's never been accomplished by anyone as far as I know. I started working on the fingerprint scanner fix for my sprint UN7 ROM but I abandoned it due to the complexity and the time it takes to do it. It wasn't worth the amount of time and work. This is why it hasn't already been done. We'll see how it goes but I seriously doubt fingerprint scanner will be working on initial release. it's probably my biggest negative on running the N7 port ROM. I use fingerprint lockscreen even though it's the swipe method.