-----------
HOW-TO: Ubuntu on Asus Transformer Prime TF201
Port by lilstevie (thank you for your hard work)
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DISCLAIMER:
I wrote this how-to from my experience installing successfully Ubuntu on my Prime.
I am in no way responsible for what you do with your Prime, even when you are following my instructions.
There is always the risk of making it worse, hardbricking your device, and this risk is completely down to you !
This is not a final version. This port is currently very unstable !
Install Ubuntu on your TF201 for testing purposes only !
HOW-TO Unbrick your Prime (or not...):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1514088
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VERSION:
v0.1: First version of the tutorial
ABOUT:
- Working:
Wifi – Same patch as for the TF101
Keyboard (if you have a dock)
USB Host (if you have a dock)
- Partially working:
Graphics Acceleration (only 2D at this point)
Touchscreen (it works but every few touches are off target by 1/2 the screen)
- Not working:
Bluetooth
Trackpad
Sound
Sensors (ALS, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, GPS, magnetometer)
Shutdown, Reboot, Suspend
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Links:
Bootimage http://173.244.200.139/ports/prime-sdlinux.blob
RootFS http://173.244.200.139/ports/ubuntu-prime.img.gz
Fastboot http://alpharev.nl/wintools.zip
MD5:
9625d336062b2ff7eb9530dd5e48fb9e prime-sdlinux.blob
1a59e7918c199a85f805cb62ca130dae ubuntu.img
81238957a42b207213442cba7eeff684 wintools.zip
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Hardware:
Asus Transformer Prime TF201 (bootloader unlocked & with data/charge cable)
A computer with Linux installed
MicroSD card of at least 4GB (a fast card is better)
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Pre-requisities:
1. You need to have an already unlocked Prime.
To unlock it, use the official Asus Bootloader Unlock Tool APK on Android.
2. You need to have the latest ClockWorkMod (CWM) Recovery installed to easily backup & restore your device.
To install it, you can use the Android tool 'ROM Manager' from Play Store if you system is already rooted.
Otherwise, you can use the 'Fastboot' tool along with this tutorial (BE CAREFUL!):
HOW-TO 1: http://www.theandroidsoul.com/install-cwm-5-8-2-0-on-transformer-prime/
HOW-TO 2: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1576937
(You can also install the Touch version of CWM to avoid destroying your volume buttons while navigating )
CLASSIC : http://download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-5.8.2.0-tf201.img
TOUCH : http://download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.1.8-tf201.img
3. Before trying to do anything with your device, make a full nandroid backup of the current WORKING Android system.
To do that:
- Reboot on CWM (see the sticky, at the end)
- Navigate to 'backup and restore', then 'backup'
- Wait until the full backup is done...
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- INSTALL Ubuntu -
Introduction:
To have a working Ubuntu system on the Prime, you have to:
- Extract the root file system on your MicroSD card
- Flash the bootimage right on the device
While installing Ubuntu, the only thing you modify about Android, is the bootimage. You leave the system intact,
so you'll be able to do a pseudo-dualboot between Ubuntu, and Android (we'll see that later).
HOW-TO:
Extraction of the root filesystem:
- Connect your MicroSD card on the computer running linux (ex: /dev/sdc)
- Umount all current partitions from the card
- Using fdisk, fully erase it, rebuild partition table, and create one partition (ex: /dev/sdc1)
- Format it in 'ext4' (ex: $ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1)
- Using 'dd' command, extract the 'ubuntu.img' filesystem to the recently created partition
(ex: $ dd if=ubuntu.img of=/dev/sdc1)
- Wait until extraction completes... (It takes a while...)
- Mount the partition to verify that the extraction completes successfully (ex: $ mount /dev/sdc1 folder)
- Umount it, eject the card and put it on the Prime (ex: $ umount /dev/sdc1)
- Your Ubuntu filesystem is ready to use !
Flashing the bootimage (BE CAREFUL!):
- Reboot in fastboot mode (see the sticky, at the end)
- Connect the Prime to the computer, and be sure the drivers are correctly installed
You can find the drivers here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1426502
- Extract the fastboot archive 'wintools.zip' and move the file 'prime-sdlinux.blob' in the same folder
- Execute the command: fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash boot prime-sdlinux.blob
(WARNING! This command will overwrite the bootimage of your Prime! Be sure you know what you're doing!)
- Wait until the flash completes... (it generally takes a few seconds...)
- When the blue progress bar is full, on the Prime, hold the Power switch to reboot the device
- Be sure that the MicroSD card is in the Prime
- Your Prime is now booting on Ubuntu, you should see some text displaying on the screen
- Wait until the system initializes... (It takes a while for the first boot...)
You should see kernel verbose booting, displaying something saying the system is resizing a partition
on the MicroSD card...
- Your Ubuntu system is installed ! You can do the graphical basic setup, then do a hard reboot of the device !
- Good luck with your freshly installed Ubuntu on your awsome Asus Transformer Prime !
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- RESTORE Android -
Introduction:
After installing Ubuntu, to have Android back on the Prime, you have to:
- (OPTIONAL: Do a full nandroid backup to be able to restore the Ubuntu bootimage directly from the CWM later)
- Simply restore the Android bootimage from the nandroid backup made before the installation of Ubuntu
HOW-TO:
To do that:
- Reboot on CWM (see the sticky, at the end)
- Go to 'backup and restore', then 'advanced restore'
- Choose the Android backup made before installing Ubuntu
- Choose 'Restore boot' option
- Wait until the restore is done...
- Choose 'reboot system now' to boot in Android
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- DUALBOOT Android/Ubuntu -
Introduction:
We can note that the both systems are installed on two different storage devices.
Android is directly on the device and Ubuntu is on the MicroSD.
The only thing that changes between the two systems is the bootimage.
If you have a nandroid backup of each WORKING systems, you can do an advanced restore of the boot 'boot.img'
of Ubuntu to boot it from the MicroSD card, or restore the boot of the Android backup to boot on Android !
HOW-TO:
To do that:
- Reboot on CWM (see the sticky, at the end)
- Go to 'backup and restore', then 'advanced restore'
- Choose the correct backup (the Android one, or the Ubuntu one)
- Choose 'Restore boot' option
- Wait until the restore is done...
--------
STICKY:
- Booting the Prime on recovery mode (CWM):
1. Power off the device (using Android, or by a long press of the power switch)
2. Power it on, by keeping simultaneously pressed the power switch and the volume down button
3. When text displays on top of the screen, release all, and press the volume up button
4. Wait a few seconds and CWM will appear on the Prime...
- Booting the prime in fastboot mode:
1. Power off the device (using Android, or by a long press of the power switch)
2. Power it on, by keeping simultaneously pressed the power switch and the volume down button
3. Wait until the message saying 'OS will coldboot in 10 seconds' etc... then release all buttons
4. Use the volume down button to select the USB icon
5. Validate with volume up
6. You can connect your device to a computer to send fastboot commands...
Testing request
If someone want to test it and confirm that this tutorial can be fully approved, it'll be great
This is really great news!!!...I wanted to run ubuntu on my prime and use it as fully fledged portable laptop...
all there already was had either ubuntu running through vnc server and that too outdated version or chroot ubuntu...(if i am not missing anything here)
I wish that we would be soon able to get ubuntu for android (UFA) from canonical preinstalled with the next update of tf201...I heard that we cannot possibly install it without asus agreeing to team up with canonical...
atm, this seems great...will test and report...!!!
Would be nice to have grub or a similar bootmanager to switch between the systems on startup
OP, so what is your connection with lilstevie? I notice the links for the downloads of the blob and image file go to http://lilstevie.geek.nz/ports/ and the files there are almost 6 weeks old. Your working/not working list is also the exact same as the original post from lilstevie at http://androidroot.mobi/2012/02/23/ubuntu-on-the-transformer-prime/
Just wondering are you actually developing any of this or just found the links and put up a howto?
Thanks
As I said at the beginning, this is the work of lilstevie. I searched how to install it, and once I've set it up on my Prime, I made that tutorial today.
I share it here if someone want to try installing Ubuntu on their Prime.
The files are the original ones hosted by lilstevie. And I did not found any version newer, so let's wait for a new release, or a final version.
And no I don't work with him for the development.
I was waiting for something like this! Thanks a lot for writing up a guide and trying it on tf201.
Now we need proper dual boot, shouldn't be too hard to figure out...
Just followed your howto and it's working fine on my tf201.
Now I'm updating via apt-get
Looking Forward to this
Will transform then Device into a laptop excellent.
Not sure why more people arn't getting involved.
ryanbell said:
Will transform then Device into a laptop excellent.
Not sure why more people arn't getting involved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably due the the high risk of completely bricking your prime until a safe dual boot or single boot solution is in place. Certainly that is what is holding me back.
The whole reason I bought the Prime was for this, but without nvflash I am going to hold back until some more intrepid soul does the boot work
do we need linux to format the sd card or can we do it in windows?
jellydroid13 said:
do we need linux to format the sd card or can we do it in windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need Linux, but don't let that stop you if you're a windows user - installing, say, Ubuntu is INCREDIBLY simple on windows, you can install it as a windows program, run live CDs, or (with just a liitle more effort) set up a dual-boot with windows and the Linux distros you like. I am NOT computer savvy, so trust me when I say it isn't hard
To anyone who has tried this, any comments on how well it runs? I'm not going to try this just yet, but I'm really curious. Does it run as well as Ubuntu on today's low-range laptops? I guess what I'm wondering is, does it seem like ordinary Ubuntu on ordinary x86 machine? Forget about the known issues, just browsing Unity or gnome, is it smooth and pleasant enough? Thanks for any info
Komodo Rogue said:
You need Linux, but don't let that stop you if you're a windows user - installing, say, Ubuntu is INCREDIBLY simple on windows, you can install it as a windows program, run live CDs, or (with just a liitle more effort) set up a dual-boot with windows and the Linux distros you like. I am NOT computer savvy, so trust me when I say it isn't hard
To anyone who has tried this, any comments on how well it runs? I'm not going to try this just yet, but I'm really curious. Does it run as well as Ubuntu on today's low-range laptops? I guess what I'm wondering is, does it seem like ordinary Ubuntu on ordinary x86 machine? Forget about the known issues, just browsing Unity or gnome, is it smooth and pleasant enough? Thanks for any info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks but i dug through and found my live linux flash drive(im no noob ) i will be installing soon and tell you how it goes.
just tried it and it looks very promising. I could finally use remote desktop decently from my prime and control vms within the server, which was awesome.
can't wait for these corageous and smart people to get dual boot working among the other issues
also found out:
- no functioning battery indicator for both batteries (dock/tablet)
- couldn't install flash so for youtube (guess none is available for arm?)
i also just tried it out and cant wait for it to be fully functional (is anyone even still working on it?) anyways i would replace android with it.
jellydroid13 said:
i also just tried it out and cant wait for it to be fully functional (is anyone even still working on it?) anyways i would replace android with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But then what is the point of having a tablet over a netbook or cheap laptop? Battery life? Touch screen?
dotnerdify said:
But then what is the point of having a tablet over a netbook or cheap laptop? Battery life? Touch screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both of those things, plus versatility (dock, no dock, Linux or Android), and of course the cool factor
I would want to keep android around (hence desire for dual boot) for the times I might want it (like to watch movies on a flight, etc) but I think for the most part if there was a good, fast native Linux that's where I would be.
My opinion is that there is no need for Linux Ubutnu on Primes, because I bought just because PRIME has Android OS and has features that no laptop! And more like Prime with Android OS because it is function of the sea than no have a laptop with Windows, Mac or Linux Ubuntu. Some of the features that I like on my To: Touchscreen, Bluetooth, trackpad, sensor (ALS, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, GPS, magnetometer), shutdown, reboot, no need for always shotdown and wait time for the system start, It is great for work and playing games, two cameras, GPS, BATTERY LIVES IS MUCH BETTER THAN IN LAPTOPS and lot more options.
Sure tabs have their use cases, but having a full blown Linux distro running as well extends that set of use cases by a phenomenal amount. I can certainly use a Linux distro on my tab for the full blown IDE Eclipse an other apps available like FTP, VNC etc.
Current users, can you say how the touch screen works? Still half of the screen?
qubz said:
Sure tabs have their use cases, but having a full blown Linux distro running as well extends that set to use cases by a phenomenal amount. I can certainly use a Linux distro on my tab for the full blown IDE Eclipse an other apps available like FTP, VNC etc.
Current users, can you say how the touch screen works? Still half of the screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My touchscreen has been working fine so far also lilsteve said on his twitter that he has a most stuff working and that the release of Ubuntu 12.04 in 4 days is supposed to have native tegra 3 support so he is planning on a 12.04 release with most stuff working soon.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Related
Bought a quad core Onda clone tablet (AOC Leopard hardware designation) from China - yes i know, i know, it was a bad idea but the spec was so good i thought it might get me into the tablet fun everyone seems to be having - i repair em but dont really have a lot of knowledge on the software side of things for hacking these things - although after the last two weeks of hacking the thing I am becoming a bit of an expert.
Here is a link to the same one albeit with a different manufacturer made up name - as you can see the spec (Quad core, 1Gb ram, 16Gb storage and hdmi) is amazing for the price of £42 I won it for at the auction so it was more of a plaything to learn on than a big purchase for me.
I am pretty good with Linux so be as technical as you need to be.
Basically the thing buggered up when my mate plugged in the wrong power supply and thankfully it still booted albeit with the OS or bootloader I suspect corrupted.
It is stuck on the Onda loading screen leading to my assumption that it is in a boot loop.
I have spent the last two weeks trying to find drivers for windows , a compatible os and a way to get it restored - ahh the perils of buying chinese!!!
Problem I have now is that the sdcard slot is completely snafu due to my careless and fat fingered fiddling and to be honest a slight bit of temper with the thing after two weeks of head scratching - do you blame me!!!
I have managed to get it recognised by windows by trying driver after driver on the internet until i found one that worked - the perils of buying a no name chinese clone are myriad.
Without the sdcard slot the problem is now worse as i have to use the usb slot connected to the pc and sideload the apps and os but thankfully that is sorted now - Have installed the Android development Bridge - SDK toolkit and adb devices linux command was coming up with no devices but i figured it out with a lot of fiddling with the android ini file in the user profile and the dev id in system device drivers in case anyone else is trying to figure that one out - its a very obscure fix but it works.
So all is swoopy and seemed to be going well until i got the same error i was getting with the sdcard when i tried to sideload a new os - sideloads the new "update.zip" perfectly and even passes the file verification but crashes out with the fatal "unexpected error" have tried Onda official zips and Cyanogenmod flashes but i reckon the problem is because the system is not rooted and doesnt have the cyanogen bootloader installed even though i rooted it with supersu before it went up the khyber so in essence I need root to get the new os on and yes "shell su" command doesnt work as the device is only in sideload mode - only option on the 3e emergency recovery mode on the tablet is either reload from usb , sideload from usb as well as the usual clear cache, reset system and clear user data.
I should add that the hardware isnt snafu as I can see my old files and the operating system on the flash drive when i use recovery mode (power button / up volume combo) - load from sdcard option when i choose browse to sdcard - Linux always mounts the onboard flash as sdcard and an external sdcard as ext-sdcard on a tablet or smartphone - so i can select sdcard and then browse the main flash storage where i can see all my movies , development programs apk's and the Linux system itself but obviously cannot do anything else other than browse the thing for a ZIP to upload onto the \temp which is then extracted by the Emegency recovery environment - checked for verification - it then seems to prepare to install but fails with as you say the usual "unknown error" which i only assume is because I dont have root i cant go any further.
Oneclick root doesnt work.
Also tried the pad product tool v1.05 for direct flash to the tablet using Ainol Novo 10 Captain firmware and it wont even work.
Flashboot adb doesnt work.
Rockchip android tool doesnt work.
Kinda running out of ideas now!!!
Ok ok so what i need to know is basically - Does anyone know if it is possible to root and install a new bootloader from the usb sideloader - ie Adb sideload "filename".
And yes i have tried the pinhole reset button on the back of the tablet and the wipe system and reload option in the recovery menu so hopefully there are some good techies on here who know how to su the bootloader and reload the os or if it is even possible!!!
This is not an Android project so I don't feel that posting it in the Android Development forum would be appropriate.
ArchLinuxARM for the manta (Samsung/Google Nexus 10) - Native Boot
Working:
Wi-Fi (with NetworkManager)
Audio (requires manual intervention)
Not Working:
Bluetooth
2D & 3D Accelerated Graphics
Installation (to a subfolder of the /data partition)
You will need a Terminal Emulator or ADB Shell to install.
This assumes that arch_manta_20141210_root.tar.gz is in the root of your internal storage (/data/media/0).
Code:
su
mkdir /data/local/arch
tar -C /data/local/arch -xpzvf /data/media/0/arch_manta_20141210_root.tar.gz
Booting
Since there is no workable multiboot solution for the Nexus 10 yet, you can take one of two routes to boot this thing:
Option 1: Flash the arch_boot.img to either the recovery or the boot partition of the internal flash chip. Due to risk of BRICKING if you flash to the wrong partition, I will not provide instructions here. I might make a flashable zip later on. Note that this removes access to Android.
Option 2: Use Fastboot to tethered boot the provided kernel from another computer where it is installed:
Code:
fastboot boot boot_arch_manta.img
Logging in
The username is "arch" and the password is "archlinux". Change the password ASAP.
For root, the username is "root" and the password is also "root". CHANGE THE PASSWORD ASAP!
You'll probably want to enable the On-Screen Keyboard (onboard) and set your Session to "MATE" up in the top right corner.
To make audio work after booting and logging in, run "fix_audio.sh" in a terminal.
Read Me
If you WIPE DATA, it will also WIPE OUT THIS PORT, all its applications, and any files you may have stored within it!
Downloads
root filesystem archive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4WUjKii92l2Qkd6S3c3M2tDcTQ/view?usp=sharing
kernel for fastboot or flashing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4WUjKii92l2UGhIWTlVam5vSk0/view?usp=sharing
Kernel Source: https://github.com/willcast/kernel_manta
Also available for:
Nexus 7 2013: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nex...fficial-archlinuxarm-release-n7-2013-t2969301
Galaxy S3 LTE: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...unofficial-port-archlinuxarm-release-t2969290
HP TouchPad: http://forum.xda-developers.com/hp-touchpad/other/unofficial-archlinuxarm-release-hp-t2969310
HTC HD2: http://forum.xda-developers.com/hd2-ubuntu/development/unofficial-archlinuxarm-htc-hd2-t2970483
Free space required?
Started with 5GB+ before downloading the 1.5 tar.gz, thought it will be enough but I'm supposed it wasn't cuz I'm getting "No space left in the device" although I still have 537MB free left.
Hmm, shouldn't do that. The archive itself is 4,060 MB uncompressed according to gzip -l.
Try booting it anyway, maybe? Also, perhaps I uploaded a truncated archive. I'll have to check.
Edit: Wait, you'd need upwards of 5.5 GB free to have both the archive and the extracted files on /data.
So, I deleted my nandroid backup and was able to install it. Actually it runs very well, I think even better than when ubuntu was being officially developed by canonical for the nexus 7. Of course it was easier to run because of the MultiRom solution, always wonder why Nexus 10 it's not supported, like Nexus 4, 5, 7 and even som non-nexus devices.
tavocabe said:
So, I deleted my nandroid backup and was able to install it. Actually it runs very well, I think even better than when ubuntu was being officially developed by canonical for the nexus 7. Of course it was easier to run because of the MultiRom solution, always wonder why Nexus 10 it's not supported, like Nexus 4, 5, 7 and even som non-nexus devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, honestly. After I'm done with the HD2 flash-image port of this, I'm looking at porting kexec hardboot from a random old Epic 4G kernel to my kernel_manta on github, because that's the only ready-made Exynos hardboot patch I can find through google. Then, we could boot this with a script similar to the Galaxy S III LTE port, and someone could theoretically port MultiROM, though that someone is probably not going to be me.
Thank you, Castwilliam! It run good , with some gitch on screen, but better than ubuntu phone devReview .
But when I run pacman -Syu ( update packages), reboot and it become blackscreen, try many taps in middle touch screen, intensity light of screen is something change. What wrong when update packages in pacman ?_?.
Is the booting option 2 temporary? Can I just turn off nexus and boot back to android? Can I unplug the nexus from PC while running linux?
I have no idea what I am doing here (and you probably dislike dealing with noobs flooding forums with questions right? :silly: )
Dri0m said:
Is the booting option 2 temporary? Can I just turn off nexus and boot back to android? Can I unplug the nexus from PC while running linux?
I have no idea what I am doing here (and you probably dislike dealing with noobs flooding forums with questions right? :silly: )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, yes and yes
Hello,
This is awesome work! It booted properly, connected to a network, and programs run just fine. But as the tablet's pixel density is pretty high, it isn't too comfortable to use. I tried adding a new resolution using xrandr, but it throws something along the lines of "failed to get gamma size for display default". I've tried googling for it, but nothing worked. What can I do to resolve this?
Thanks,
Vedanth
Hi XDA community, since I don't have enough power to land this on other forums I choose here.
First, this is my disclaimer:
Please try this at home at your own risk, the steps performed on this guide worked for me and may work for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But come on, this is XDA, you will figure it out without problems.:fingers-crossed:
Second, the good thing about this is you only need 3 ingredients:
Old tablet, The HP Stream 7 tablet SPECS
Precious Disk Space :victory:
Sweet Internet
W00t? no USB or Keyboard required? Yes, that's why it took me a while to glue the pieces together. Now, here we go:
I suggest to download PhoenixOS (November Release v1.1.2-226), because it worked for me immediately, I have an issue with RemixOS that I didn't try to fix it yet, I got stuck on the "Select Language" screen, but the steps may work for you.
Now, free disk space on your tablet, I did the upgrade to Windows 10 a while back and I had almost 1GB left on C, that's ridiculous because the drive has 20GB-ish, so, I google (yes, you need to do your homework too because I did the steps on the fly) how to recover space from the greedy Windows 10 OS, I removed a lot of useless info/cache/downloads/apps/etc and even compressed the Windows binaries (yes, you can do that). Concerned about Windows performance? be not, it works faster than ever. After the next steps this may seem useless but free space is free space, you'll need it later on life.
After all that dark magic, I was able to reclaim 10GB-ish, yeah!, but then realized I had 8GB more on the tablet "lost", this is the recovery partition for Windows 10, now, this is something that you may think of because you can get rid of all that info and reclaim what is yours, that partition is for you, but maybe you wont so this is one of these life choices. I did, I don't care about recovery stuff, most of my gadgets have custom ROMs or OSes. Used Minitool Partition Wizard Free and managed to reclaim the precious Disk Space.
Important thing here, some users Shrink the drive C to create a new partition, I didn't, used the 8GB partition instead.
We have Disk Space available, now, we prepare the operations table:
Disable Bitlocker on the drive you want to install the new OS.
Disable Secure Boot, power off the device and press Power+VolDown for a few seconds until you're on the BIOS.
Boot on Windows and install the Android OS flavor you want, I'll split the installation in two because for RemixOS is harder.
NOTE: Remember that grub doesn't support touch and both Android OSes grub have Windows as first OS to boot and kids, there is the key.
PhoenixOS
Download the OS
Extract it and run the installer
Select install to Hard Drive and install it on the Drive desired (I did that on E: which is the 8GB partition).
Restart and let the system do the job, you'll land on Windows again.
In Windows, as you read on the NOTE, we need to change grub.
Open Windows Powershell ISE in Admin mode (yeah yeah, yo can use whatever you want)
Then execute the command
Code:
mountvol B: /s
With this you'll be able to see the contents from the UEFI partition
Now, remember to select view all files, with WPISE open the grub.cfg file located on
Code:
B:\EFI\PhoenixOS\
Put the Windows entry below the PhoenixOS entry, change the grub timeout to 3 or whatever timeout you want, this change is for faster boot, save the file and you're ready to go.
Restart the system, press Power+VolDown -> F9, Select the PhoenixOS, let grub do the magic and you win
Notes about PhoenixOS
Phoenix OS installation, straight-forward on the 8GB partition
Needed to change Grub but friendlier than RemixOS
Keyboard behaves weird, you need to be accurate when using your fingers
When using browser and playing videos the tablet heats up hard
Rotation is wrong, I selected not to use rotation so I can use the UI without problems
Is fast, Wireless work
Something I saw one time is it got stuck when showing my user recently booted, restarted the device and then it worked again.
Video after the break.
Veredict: It works for me and can play with Android in a tablet without the need to buy another.
RemixOS
It supposed to have more support for things but looks like PhoenixOS has more . Not going to start a war here, I always try to find what suits best for me .
RemixOS is a pain on this tablet with the newest November 2016 version, I need to play more and harder.
You do almost the same as PhoenixOS, the installer is easy as well but it shows you an installation issue the first time, you need to restart the device and try the installation again. After that it was a game of try and fail but I sorted out the pieces.
Restart and you'll be on Windows again, well, let the system land on Windows and modify grub, kind of same as PhoenixOS:
Open Windows Powershell ISE in Admin mode
Then execute the command
Code:
mountvol B: /s
With this you'll be able to see the contents from the UEFI partition
Now, with WPISE open the grub.cfg file located on
Code:
B:\boot\grub\
Remember to select view all files
Put the Windows entry below the RemixOS entries, save the file, change the timeout and you're ready to go.
For RemixOS you also need to change the timeout for the theme.cfg file on
Code:
B:\EFI\RemixOS\
Restart the system, press Power+VolDown -> F9, Select the OS Bootloader, let grub do the magic (after some errors, just let it be) and you win (see, no hands mom!), well, sort of because it freezes :silly:.
I'll try to do more tests with RemixOS and see what happens.
Is this guide enough for you, not? blame the Internet or leave your comments.
Enjoy.
Thanks for the info.
I'm not getting any sound with PhoenixOS. WiFi is OK but sound & Bluetooth is not functional. Any suggestions ?
I've experimented with RemixOS as well...... sound works but it's very laggy and touch-screen / rotation is unresponsive. PhoenixOS is very stable and far far better but no sound :crying:
android x86 nougat on hp stream 7
Try this ISO of Android Nougat on the Stream 7, Wifi Bluetooth & Audio work. touchscreen is a little sensitive
Search youtube for HP Stream 7 for a link to the ISO.
I'm not aloud to post links on hear
mlckchip said:
Try this ISO of Android Nougat on the Stream 7, Wifi Bluetooth & Audio work. touchscreen is a little sensitive
Search youtube for HP Stream 7 for a link to the ISO.
I'm not aloud to post links on hear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please explain the installation instructions?
Any news? I tried newest phoenix, but it´s way too heavy for it. Runs very slow. The older lollipop works better. The touchscreen is more a problem, it´s like a tablet from hell, very bad sensitivity.
The "Trekstor Surftab Xintron i 7.0" should be the same hardware and has android, so there could be a way to install this or at least use the touchscreen drive in phoenix. But I´m afraid of bricking it.
This is a guide to install Debian Linux on your Nexus Player
NOTE: This guide is for advanced users
This is NOT VNC nor chroot nor Android X server nor anything else like that, but running Linux natively.
D I S C L A I M E R
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Use this at your OWN RISK. Experimental software may harm you, your device and others around you. I cannot be held responsible for any damage done. You have been warned!
Installing Linux will most likely VOID YOUR WARRANTY! (If warranty still applies to a five year old device...)
P R O L O G U E
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I have adapted the Nexus Player's kernel to meet GNU/Linux, namely Debian 10, requirements so far that it has become quite stable by now.
Since the processor is Intel x86 compliant you can run a regular distribution, receive updates, load software, etc. etc. This makes the Dell Venue virtually a desktop PC.
You can install Debian onto a USB stick and dual boot along with Android OR you may install Debian to the device's internal storage (and speed up things significantly).
H A R D W A R E S U P P O R T
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What is NOT working:
* Suspend/standby
* Full 3D support
* Cameras
* Microphones (needs proper asound.conf)
* Likely something else
* Dell Venue 7840 users please see notes attached about sound. Be careful not to damage your speakers with high volumes.
R E Q U I R E M E N T S
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* Dell Venue 7840 or Dell Venue 7040 (obviously) w/ unlocked bootloader
* USB OTG cable and mirco USB cable
* A USB Hub
* An empty USB stick (I suggest at least 16 GB of storage and 40 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write speed. 8 GB is the minimum requirement though.)
* Input devices (i.e. mouse, keyboard)
* Linux PC (or virtual machine)
* Basic Linux/ROM tinkering knowledge, some time and patience...
A lot of stuff has not been tested entirely, I am a little short of spare time lately, so please be patient, I am willing to help as good as I can.
Ready?! Let's go!
S T E P 1: Install the Linux boot image
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a) Unlock your tablet's bootloader (there are guides online in case you don't know how to do that)
b) Reboot to bootloader, attach the tablet to your PC and flash the device specific Linux boot image to the boot partition.
fastboot flash boot dell_venue_7x40_linux_boot.img
Hint: This will be the only change to your tablet.
Note: You may revert the changes by flashing the stock boot image.
S T E P 2: Prepare SD card (done on the Linux PC)
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a) Format the partition on the USB stick with the ext4 file system.
b) Manually mount the partition to e.g. /mnt
c) Download the attached root file system creator, untar it and change to that directory. (sorry had to be a tar inside a zip, XDA forum requirements)
d) Create the rootfs (need to be root):
./bbep_rootfs_creator /mnt your_username your_password
Note: The process sometimes fail, you might have to try more than once.
Note: This will take a long time. To speed things up, you may create the rootfs inside a disk image on your local hard drive and afterwards write the image to the SD card.
e) Download the system image (link: https://mega.nz/file/tK4UiDaB#yfmTgf8qg8e-WKFPfISbKabNeA2vd5cSfTiKCs5Oh2I)
f) Rename the downloaded system image file to system.img and paste it into /mnt
g) Insert the SD card into your tablet.
h) That's it, if you now boot your tablet, it will actually boot into Linux. Please see the debug output messages for hints in case you run into troubles.
Note: The kernel has become quite old. In case the file system gets corruptes, the kernel cannot recover the file system because the current EXT4 version is not entirely supported by the kernel. In that case, please remove the SD card and use another PC with a recent kernel to recover the file system by typing e2fsck -fy
P O S T I N S T A L L A T I O N A N D I S S U E S
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a) sbin tools
I compiled some tools useful for running Linux on the tablet. Have a look at /usr/local/sbin. Those should be quite self-explainatory.
"toggle_blue_light" is a nifty little feature allowing you to turn on and off the blue pixel (makes the screen a little more easy on the eyes, also eliminates blue light hazard)
b) Keyboard and Dell Venue 7040
Dell has not released the kernel driver for the keyboard, so currently you won't be able to pair the keyboard using Linux. If you happen to own 2 units, you may boot Android on one of the machines and Linux on the other. Trigger the pairing in Android but then connect with the Linux machine. Swap keyboards afterwards. It's a mess...
c) Touchscreen orientation on Dell Venue 7840
Touchscreen orientation on the Dell Venue 7840 might be incorrect. In this case you need to trigger the script /usr/local/sbin/ts_rotate
d) Sound on Dell Venue 7840
Sound on the Dell Venue 7840 needs to be set up manually (you can automate the process with a start up script). You need to call /usr/local/sbin/bb_on_tfa9890.sh as root.
To change the volume use /usr/local/sbin/bb_set_volume.
Be careful with the volume, do not overdrive the speakers. I permanently damaged my 7840's speakers!
e) Compositing
On the tablet, Mate's window manager "Marco" is NOT hw accelerated. Compositing is slow. When watching Videos or browsing the internet, you may want to disable compositing (use mate-tweak) to increase performance.
If you need hw accelerated compositing you may use kwin-x11 but this takes up 1GB of disk space and stability is subpar...
You may reduce the resolution to full HD (still very good picture) by uncommenting the appropriate line in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-hwc.conf
f) Chromium
Chromium can be accelerated with X11/EGL, but buffer management does not work properly. When resizing the window you may need to restart Chromium, because the buffer allocation may fail.
Chromium does have support for WebGL. It's quite buggy.
g) Firefox
Firefox is not hw accelerated but still gives you decent performance when browsing or watching movies (tested Youtube FullHD and Netflix, works fine).
However when using WebGL, Chromium is much faster (in case it does not crash).
h) VLC media player
Video playback hw acceleration is not supported. To achieve decent performance anyways do as follows:
I) Choose Tools --> Preferences --> Video
II) As "Output" choose "X11 video output (XCB)" and for "Fullscreen Video Device" select "hwcomposer" for best performance.
i) Splashscreen
You can create your own splash screen. Just grap the appropriate raw flash file for your device (see below) and append a valid 24 bit image to the file (using your favorite hex editor). Flash afterwards:
fastboot flash splashscreen your_image.img
Q & A
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Q: Does graphics acceleration work?
A: Well, OpenGL ES does work, however a lot of programs do depend on desktop OpenGL which is NOT supported. Graphics acceleration is achieved through libhybris which makes it possible to use Android graphics drivers in GNU/Linux. It might be very buggy. YMMV
Q: What is graphics performance like?
A: Depends. When a program supports OpenGL ES, you get decent performance (e.g. Kwin-X11 window manager, Chromium). Performance is sufficient to watch FullHD movies in Firefox or with VLC or browse the internet. Chromium supports accelerated WebGL.
Q: What is system performance like?
A: Depends. Bottle neck of system performance is the speed of the storage used. Using the internal storage gives huge speed improvements vs. an external USB storage (max ~ 30 MB/s). With internal storage simple tasks like file management, office applications etc. work fine.
S O U R C E C O D E
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* Halium - https://github.com/halium
* Libhybris - https://github.com/NotKit/ and https://github.com/libhybris/
* Debian - https://www.debian.org/
* Kernel - https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/x86_64/+/refs/heads/android-x86_64-fugu-3.10-nougat-hwbinder , https://github.com/fcipaq/android_kernel_asus_fugu
* Lineage OS - https://github.com/lineageos
C R E D I T S
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks goes to the Halium team, especially JBB and NotKit
And to Hybris, Debian and the LOS team
ROM OS Version: Debian 10
ROM Kernel: Linux 3.10.20
ROM Firmware Required: 5.x
Graphics drivers based On: Lineage OS 14.1
Version Information
Status: 7040 ok, 7840 untested
Created 2021-01-30
Last Updated 2021-02-25
Watch the demo on youtube:
20 days now, believe it or not but I have been waiting for something like that...sort of. Well, I'm gonna give it a try and see if I can provide you with some feedback.
Thanks, amazing idea.
Glad to finally get any feedback
Which device are you using? I have made some progress with the 7040 version - the attachable keyboard now works! I'll update the image file later.
Good luck with the installation and don't hesitate to contact me if you run in any difficulties...
I'm running the 7840. You wouldn't manage to get some kind of an installation script would you?
Well... I'm afraid a script is not possible as it includes to many different platforms...
However I can upload an image of the SD card (I'm currently already working on that) so that you would basically just have to put it onto a SD card.
Linux is running quite well now on the 7840. Even Bluetooth is working without any need of configuration...
So please be patient, may take some days...
fcipaq said:
Well... I'm afraid a script is not possible as it includes to many different platforms...
However I can upload an image of the SD card (I'm currently already working on that) so that you would basically just have to put it onto a SD card.
Linux is running quite well now on the 7840. Even Bluetooth is working without any need of configuration...
So please be patient, may take some days...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing to hear that, thanks for your work. Really looking forward to that.
K, you got it! The links to the file system are online now, as well as the new kernels. Let me know how you like it!
PS: The kernel for the Dell Venue 7840 is running with reduced resolution. If you intend to only use the table in portrait mode I can post an boot image running full resolution...
Thank you, I'm currently very busy with exams, I'll look into it the end of this week. Thank you very much for your efforts.
Fingers crossed for your exams!
Also, I've now implemented the ability to set a custom wifi mac and country code using the kernel command line. This can be set by editing the image file with a hex editor (command line is right at the beginning of the file, there is no checksum which has to be recalculated).
Alright, working good so far. Battery drain is pretty high, I assume thats due to the lacking suspension mode. Oh and sound would ofc be nice x). Graphics acceleration would be nice to have and I guess improve battery run time.
Congrats you got it working (first confirmed!)
I find battery performance quite decent when actually running (i.e. using) the system. I get approx 8 hours of uptime, but I agree that standby performance is indeed terrible - as you already stated this is due to the lack of suspend mode. You actually need to shutdown the tablet when not in use.
Graphics acceleration is (I'm quite sure) not going to happen. Linux is lacking a PowerVR open source drivers, many have tried but no success so far afaik.
Sound drivers appear to be tricky. I found at least two pieces of code to be problematic in a 32 bit kernel, but might be working in a 64 bit kernel. However, Intel/Dell seem to do some initializing in user space code which is unavailable. So doesn't look to good for sound...
I installed Linux the the device's internal EMMC (purged Android) which is really boosting performance (internal storage is approx three times the speed compared to the external SD card reader's max speed...)
I tweaked the kernel a litte, it is now possible to choose between full and reduced resolution/color at kernel command line as well as a custom wifi MAC address and country code. I'll upload the updated kernel once I'll return from vacation...
PS: Hope your exams went well!
Awesome! I've been trying to figure out something interesting to do with my 7840. I'll likely have to wait until this weekend to flash it but am looking forward to doing so. Thank you for your work on this.
This is awesome!
I have been waiting for someone to do something exciting with this little guy. Thank you, seriously. I will be flashing this on mine and following along with your progress. This remains my favorite tablet to date (and I have gone through plenty), such a shame dell shut it down and it didn't get too much love from the community.
Well I had some issues with the state of my tablet after the last time I played with it; so things took a little longer to get going than I expected. But I was successful at getting this loaded and so far so good! I am not really seeing any slowness (using a Class 10 U3 mircoSD) but would be interested in the process to purge the Android file system as it would be more convenient at start-up.
I was able to connect to my WiFi using both wireless N and AC standards. In the little bit of testing I have done so far, sound and touch are working quite well. I did notice that the screen rotation script didn't redraw the desktop, but the touch locations seemed to change orientation. I have not yet tried to figure out why.
@fcipaq You have probably already seen libhybris but if not it may be worth looking at for 3D acceleration. I am not completely positive it is relevant as it may be specific to ARM processors. https://github.com/libhybris/libhybris/
It's been a while - sorry! I'm glad to get your feedback. I have been quite busy lately (and still am). I recently made only some minor tweaks/adjustments, e.g. patched to kernel against the blueborne vulnerabilty.
My 7840 is dead now as the connector failed (connected it too many times to my pc) - this is the sacrifice I made But I still have my 7040 up and running - which is basically the same device. I suggest you do a lot of the flashing from the linux command line or buy a magnetic charger cable ($5 on ebay) to reduce wear on the connector - it's quite delicate and really hard to repair (if you find any spare parts at all).
The rotation script is for touch only - this will not alter the screen rotation. The screen rotation (unfortunately) can only be changed by rebooting (or logging our and in again/restarting the X server).
@FairOh: Thank you for the hint. I am aware of that option but it would take quite some engineering effort and that is far beyond what I can do (alone). The current driver does not even give you 2D-acceleration...
I will upload an updated kernel asap as well as I will publish the kernel source so that others may contribute or study...
I benchmarked the internal EMMC and the SD-Card read/write speeds (I used a really fast SD card) and it turns out that the internal storage is about 3-4 times the speed of the external card. I think this is the card reader's limitation.
FYI: If anyone who reads this owns an Asus Zenfone 2 - this is almost the same hardware and a lot of code can directly be ported - I just took a quick glance at the Asus source code... (and to be honest, I took the wifi driver )
No rush, but curious if you have been able to get your source files uploaded/shared. Not that I'm much if a developer, but you gotta start somewhere.
@FairOh: I'm really sorry for my delayed response. I have been very busy lately...
BTW: it was my first project of that kind. I greatly appreciate your interest. Maybe you can figure something out.
Well source code is now online as well as the updated flashable boot images. Feel free to alter the source code in any way, republish, modify, share, learn etc...
I made some remarks inside the archive (readme file) to guide you to a running build quickly. I suggest you use the toolchain (compiler) from google (instructions provided inside the archive), otherwise the code might not compile properly.
Please let me now if you run into any difficulties compiling the code or setting up the build environment...
So far, so good
First of all, I want to thank you so much for your work on this.
I have a 7040 and I was really concerned about Blueborne vulnerability. I tried a few months ago this, but unfortunately I wasn't be able to get working the Bluetooth adapter, so the built-in keyboard/mouse weren't working (Firmware contents were in place, so I didn't really know what happened).
This time, December revision, I run into the same problem and also when I want to update the system, Ubuntu ask me the admin or root user password.
If you don't mind share the admin/root password, I would be very glad to try and fix the Bluetooth adapter in my system and maybe tweaking some system settings.
Finally, I want to thank you again. Our little loved devices can do so much things because of you. Maybe sometime in the future I will be able to dig in the source code and collaborate in these project (First, I have to learn a lot of things, but I think I will).
Glad you like it!
I might have forgotten to mention that the password is simply "password" sorry!
First of all you need to make sure that your bluetooth adapter is working at all (you may try to pair with any bluetooth device). All you basically need to do is to put the firmware files in place.
Connecting to the magnetically attachable keyboard is a whole different story. As Dell has not released the kernel source for the Dell Venue 7040 (but only for the 7840 model) I had to reverse engineer the driver for the keyboard. There are four pins (two inner pins and two outer ones) connecting the keyboard to the tablet. The outer ones are used to supply power whereas the inner ones serve to put the keyboard into pairing mode - using a "secret" protocol which I have not figured out. So here is what I did to get it working anyways:
1. Boot into Android
2. Delete the Dell keyboard from within the bluetooth menu (this will immediately cause Android to try and reconnect)
3. When prompted to enter the pin just click on cancel (the keyboard will remain in pairing mode for another minute awaiting incoming requests)
4. On another Ubuntu PC search for pairable bluetooth devices. Once the Dell keyboard has been detected connected to it.
5. On the Ubuntu PC tar/copy the key files in /var/lib/bluetooth/XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
sudo tar czf btkeys.tar.gz XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
(These are the keys the Ubuntu PC brokered with the keyboard - we are going to reuse these on the Android tablet)
Hint: Both PCs need to have the SAME bluetooth MAC address.
6. Reboot the tablet into Ubuntu and copy the tared file over to /var/lib/bluetooth.
7. Untar this file on the Android tablet in /var/lib/bluetooth
sudo tar xzf btkeys.tar.gz
8. Reboot (The Android tablet now has matching keys to connect to the keyboard).
BEWARE: Booting into Android will result in resetting the keyboard and you will have to do the procedure all over again. You may use electrical tape to disable the two inner pins thus preventing Android from telling the keyboard to go into paring mode)... It's a littel complex... I asked Dell twice to publish the source code but to no avail (did not even receive an answer)
Hi All,
Firstly, I am pretty much a 'newbie' here....so apologies if my questions are inane!
I have an original HP Touchpad - with HP webOS 3.0.5 (4GB RAM/ 16GB Storage) that has been sitting around since not long after getting it when I used to work for HP. I have been contemplating re-imaging it as an Android OS for a number of years, but scared off by my perceived complexity of the task.
But the time has come where I need to either try it - or toss it out. So, my question is........is there a process, that is reasonably easy to follow, for a non-Android guy to achieve this re-imaging of the device to whatever latest version of Android it will support?
Again, apologies if my question is too simplistic. If it's not reasonably intuitive for a layman to follow, let me know and I'll recycle the device. I AM however, always UP for a challenge, so happy to try whatever is required.
Thanks for taking the time to read my plea! And I would sincerely appreciate any responses to my quest.
Brian Wormald
Email: [email protected]
HP Touchpad from WebOS to Android
brain_163 said:
I have been contemplating re-imaging it as an Android OS for a number of years, but scared off by my perceived complexity of the task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The task is simple, easy and fast.
Basic process:
Novacom driver needs to be install on PC that allows communicating to the Tablet and load the required file:
Automatic_Wipe_All_and_Create_Android_with_Swap
Tablet needs to be place into WebOS recovery mode.
Once the Automatic_Wipe file is loaded into the Tablet it does everything.
When done the Tablet reboots into Recovery and any Android ROM can be flash ( install ).
That is all to it, the following are options and details but the process is the same for all.
How to activate WebOS recovery mode: Battery must be charge and be able to boot into WebOS.
1. Tablet must be off and disconnected from the USB cable.
2. Hold the Tablet with the Power Button facing at the Left Top from the user.
3. Press and hold at the same time, Power, Volume Key (Right) and the Home Button ( Right side by the USB connection).
4. A white USB Symbol will show, then connect the Tablet to PC
Novacom Drivers:
Download novacom driver for Windows: link provided by @smithylovestouchpad
Click HERE to Download Novacom Drivers for Windows
Follow this Guide by @DoubleStuff
Click HERE for How to install Android 9.0 through 4.4 on Touchpad.
If the user does not want to install the Novacom driver or using any Operating System not supported or having issues with the drivers then follow this Guide:
Click HERE for HP TOUCHPAD Novacom Repair Android
When all the Process is done, the moboot menu will show with the Recovery option.
Click HERE to Download all Android ROMs
1) How long does it take to root?
2) is it still a worthy tablet and responsive? Or am i better off getting a new samsung tablet for $100? (by definition of worthy and responsive - i am still ok using an old 2007 dual core laptop with an ssd since it can handle most mundane tasks/browsing etc. but without the SSD, its paperweight to me)
johnnyjuice99 said:
1) How long does it take to root?
2) is it still a worthy tablet and responsive? Or am i better off getting a new samsung tablet for $100? (by definition of worthy and responsive - i am still ok using an old 2007 dual core laptop with an ssd since it can handle most mundane tasks/browsing etc. but without the SSD, its paperweight to me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is just flashing a zip file within TWRP (the recovery which is the "central place" to flash everything outside the OS). For getting root you need to flash a zip like "SR5-SuperSU-v2.82-SR5-20171001224502.zip". That's normally all.
Don't expect too much out of it. The limiting factor is more the 1GB RAM, less the dual CPU core. But I would push you to give it a try. And of course, all depends on your usage of the TP. But following the different guides of HP_TOUCHPAD for getting the MAX out of the TP, one should be able to use it for several "daily things" like watching YouTube, checking eMails, as a SmartHome Monitor, Weather station and other things, which do not need the massive power and memory of actual devices.