Hello, I am not-exactly-proud owner of PAP5400DUO, it has only 512 MB RAM and Quad-core CPU, so it is sometimes unresponsive and since there is no hope of it getting an update to KitKat. I searched for a custom roms, but I haven't found any (which is little troubling), yet the device can be rooted and MIUI recovery flashed (version unknown, I didn't root my phone yet). On my way when searching what do I need to build AOSP ROM I found out that I need a "device tree" which if I understood right is some specific information about my device (drivers etc) needed to compile a rom properly.
Which is quite an obstacle, because it is nowhere to be found, yet I stumbled upon a post that said that device tree can be created from scratch (yet probably by trial-error method).
All I need is to know if it is really worthy the time and struggle, I used to own HTC Wildfire S and have limited knowledge about ROMs, yet I am willing to study by myself, there are the main questions:
Is it everything possible?
Is the said recovery sufficient to flash KK? (hard to tell, i don't know the version, I know)
Would AOSP KK ROM improve the performance? (I hope so, but still its 512 MB RAM only)
Is it worth it? isn't there another way? (the kernel doesn't support SWAP, so maybe kernel update?)
As far as I know, flashing a ROM cannot brick the device (unless it harasses with Radio, which I really don't intend), so I can Always revert to backup and phone stays functional right?
Related
I'm not understanding how kernels and ROMs connect. Can someone give me some extra insight?
[Hardware] <-- Unique to every phone
--
[Kernel] <--- Tells the OS how to talk to the hardware
--
[ROM] <--- Slightly confused. Is the OS in the Read only Memory, or has this term changed its "street" meaning?
I understand that most ROMs (e.g. CM7 and CM9) include both the kernel and the ROM, but can you flash these separately too?
I have a 1.5 year old thunderbolt that's rooted, and has CM7 which is based on gingerbread. I believe HTC has also released the kernel as open source, which is probably the reason I have CM7
Anyway, I guess what I'm looking for is an answer/guide/forum that explains why I can't install newer versions of android onto the already working/open source kernel I'm already running. Is it accurate to view the kernel as all the phone's drivers, or just the CPU driver? If that statement is true, why can't I load ICS or Jelly Bean onto my already existing set of drivers?
I'm thinking about starting a Wiki on this if 1) it doesn't already exist, and 2) I can wrap my brain around it enough to share with others!
Thanks to anyone with a response!
shadowrelic said:
I'm not understanding how kernels and ROMs connect. Can someone give me some extra insight?
[Hardware] <-- Unique to every phone
--
[Kernel] <--- Tells the OS how to talk to the hardware
--
[ROM] <--- Slightly confused. Is the OS in the Read only Memory, or has this term changed its "street" meaning?
I understand that most ROMs (e.g. CM7 and CM9) include both the kernel and the ROM, but can you flash these separately too?
I have a 1.5 year old thunderbolt that's rooted, and has CM7 which is based on gingerbread. I believe HTC has also released the kernel as open source, which is probably the reason I have CM7
Anyway, I guess what I'm looking for is an answer/guide/forum that explains why I can't install newer versions of android onto the already working/open source kernel I'm already running. Is it accurate to view the kernel as all the phone's drivers, or just the CPU driver? If that statement is true, why can't I load ICS or Jelly Bean onto my already existing set of drivers?
I'm thinking about starting a Wiki on this if 1) it doesn't already exist, and 2) I can wrap my brain around it enough to share with others!
Thanks to anyone with a response!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct about the ROM, but ROMs also include the kernel (if it didn't, or no kernel was flashed separately, the device would not boot). Yes, other kernels can be flashed on your existing ROM, but it's not necessarily going to be compatible.
Sort of, but there's a lot more than that. See here and here. Later versions of Android will require newer drivers,etc. which the existing kernel won't provide (they'll be outdated). Back porting and additional coding is theoretically possible, but insanely difficult (many times). Even after this some things may still not work.
Thanks for the insight, I was able to get a lot deeper into this with those links. For anyone else wandering down a similar path, you might as well stop now! Here are a few links:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1039217&page=2#17
http://www.cs.uwc.ac.za/~mmotlhabi/avmk.pdf
http://www.iteachandroid.com/2012/01/what-is-firmware-rom-and-firmware.html
So, if anyone else is still listening, I do have two more questions:
Do any phones have truly open source drivers? (a.k.a. higher probability of allowing old hardware to work with new android OS)
Is there any way to determine which phones will be supported by the custom-ROM community early on? I know the Nexus line doesn't have vendor modified code, is that the direction which would have the highest probability to stay at top of the Custom ROM curve without upgrading devices every year?
Thanks again for any insight! I hope I'm posting this in a Newb-Friendly forum!
shadowrelic said:
Thanks for the insight, I was able to get a lot deeper into this with those links. For anyone else wandering down a similar path, you might as well stop now! Here are a few links:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1039217&page=2#17
http://www.cs.uwc.ac.za/~mmotlhabi/avmk.pdf
http://www.iteachandroid.com/2012/01/what-is-firmware-rom-and-firmware.html
So, if anyone else is still listening, I do have two more questions:
Do any phones have truly open source drivers? (a.k.a. higher probability of allowing old hardware to work with new android OS)
Is there any way to determine which phones will be supported by the custom-ROM community early on? I know the Nexus line doesn't have vendor modified code, is that the direction which would have the highest probability to stay at top of the Custom ROM curve without upgrading devices every year?
Thanks again for any insight! I hope I'm posting this in a Newb-Friendly forum!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For both your questions, the Nexus-line devices would be the way to go. They usually have everything working on new Android versions the soonest, and Google always releases their code, etc.
Hi
i can use linux kernel (zimage) to update android kernel if yes ,how ?
thnx
I realize that one can run and install linux on an android device (which is running it's own kernel on top of android's kernel), so wouldn't it be just as possible to run a factory kernel on top of a modded kernel to regain access to device specific features that only the factory kernel can currently utilize (4g, 3d cameras, etc.)? As far as I understand, linux has access to those features and can interface with them (whether it can do anything with them is another topic, but...), so wouldn't this be a viable solution to make custom ICS, JellyBean, Cyanogenmod roms work 100% with each device? Sorry for the lack of specific technical mumbo-jumbo lingo, just a newbie brainstorming here.
I’ll start by admiting that, in the arts of cooking/building/porting android innards, I’m closer to being a complete noob than na intermediate user.
I own a Newman K1S, JB 4.2.2, MT6592, 2Gb/16Gb, 720p, and, sadly for me, it looks like the manufacturer (Newman Mobile, or Newsmy, who knows) pretty much disavows any knowledge of this model ever being built or sold. No reference to it, no community, no android updates or ROM releases.
Taking into account some MediaTek source codes for KitKat were made available earlier this year (even if unofficially), I was wondering:
So, question number 1 – Is it possible to build android 4.4 for my device straight from said sources? Or are they unreliable and it would be best not to attempt it?
And question number 2 – Being at the noob level, should I stay away from such a task? And, in this case, would I be better off porting a 4.4 ROM from a similar spec’ed device?
Also, while browsing needrom, I noticed that a 4.4 “official” ROM was posted for my device. However, having flashed it, I found that it produces no sounds from the external speaker (although with headphones it works fine). Same thing was experienced by other users, and there is no fix so far.
Which takes me to question number 3 – What may I try, in order to fix an issue like this? Does KK use the same sound drivers as JB, and maybe it’s only a matter of replacing them? (if so, I believe this is within my grasp, even if I must unpack the IMG files to reach the drivers)
Lastly, Newman K1S has a severe overheating problem when pushed, which I believe would be easily solved by underclocking it to 1.3 or 1.5, or maybe implementing an optimized kernel.
Final question – How do I manage to underclock with my current kernel, or, better yet, how do I port a custom, optimized kernel to my device?
Congratulations to everyone who managed to read this far, and thank you in advance for any help provided. I’ve spent the last few days reading tutorials and guides, only to become even more confused… I did manage to get android kitchen running on my Windows laptop, though!
Links to recent/updated guides that might be useful are appreciated, too.
Hi everyone,
After a few hiccups, I successfully rooted my Leagoo T5c, thanks to the excellent tutorial posted here. The phone works fine, thank you, but now, I'd like to know how to proceed to, say, upgrade the phone from its current Android version (7.0) to a more recent version.
Where to start?
Since this phone has a Spreadtrum/Unisoc SC9853i SoC (Intel-based), I suppose the custom ROMs and upgrade possibilities are few and far between, but I'd like to give it a shot.
I'm open to ideas, tips, tricks, voodoo moves and Santeria incantations, but I'm still a noob when it comes to Android, so please, be patient, and methodical... :good:
@UglyStuff
If you can unlock phone's boot-loader then you should be able to flash any Custom Recovery and/or Custom ROM that's suitable to 100% to phone's CPU-architecture. Who is the supplier of phone's SoC isn't of any interest at all.
Hi,
Thing is, as I said, I'm a noob when it comes to Android, so I don't want to brick my phone by trying to make it ingest a ROM that's not suitable for it.
If my phone came with a MediaTek or Qualcomm SoC, I wouldn't worry, because there are plenty of ROMs out there, custom or not, to play with, but this Spreadtrum/Unisoc SoC is a thing of its own.
It's based on Intel's Airmont architecture, and few phones or tablets use it, at least this specific version (SC9853i). Maybe I just don't understand too well how a ROM is built.
UglyStuff said:
Hi,
Thing is, as I said, I'm a noob when it comes to Android, so I don't want to brick my phone by trying to make it ingest a ROM that's not suitable for it.
If my phone came with a MediaTek or Qualcomm SoC, I wouldn't worry, because there are plenty of ROMs out there, custom or not, to play with, but this Spreadtrum/Unisoc SoC is a thing of its own.
It's based on Intel's Airmont architecture, and few phones or tablets use it, at least this specific version (SC9853i). Maybe I just don't understand too well how a ROM is built.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For example, I found this article where they explain how to flash LineageOS 17 (based on Android 10) on a Panasonic Eluga Ray 800 that uses the same SoC as my Leagoo T5c.
The thing is, I don't know if this is transposable to my device, though the two share the same SoC. As I said earlier, I don't want to permanently brick my phone...
@UglyStuff
The mentioned Intel Airmount SoC's instruction set architecture is x86_64 , the also mentioned Intel Spreadtrum SC9853i SoC's instruction set architecture is x86_64, too. Hence in order to upgrade yor phone's Android you need a Custom ROM compiled for x86_64 architecture. GIYF ...
OK, but since this Panasonic and my Leagoo share the same SoC, they also share the same x64 instruction set, so do I get it right if I say that the custom ROM built for the Panasonic would fit on my Leagoo, or am I missing something?
In theory it should.
OK, I guess I'll have to chance it, and use recovery in case things so south. My phone isn't compatible with Treble, according to this app. Does it mean anything in terms of installing one of the generic system images found here or not?
I have a Lenovo A1010a20 (A Plus). It shipped with Lollipop but I'd really like to install a custom ROM. I have the bootloader unlocked and a TWRP image for it but I can't find it supported by any of the major custom ROMs.
I'm just wondering - how difficult would it be to compile the ROM (I was particularly looking at ResurrectionRemix but I could use another if it makes a massive difference) from source, to work on my device? I'm not too bothered about this phone, it wasn't very good even when it came out so I'm willing to use it as an experiment.
I have some experience with this stuff, but not a massive amount. Any help would be much appreciated.