[ROM][OFFICIAL][13] LineageOS 20.0 for the SM-T290 (gtowifi) - Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover

WARNING: Samsung rolled out a new firmware update starting roughly at the end of January 2023.
This contains bootloader version 4. From what we understand with SM-T295 bootloaders, this may or may not permanently lock you out from ever flashing anything custom. Considering that we even have to downgrade our bootloader to the Android 9 version to get anything going, updating your bootloader this time will very likely block you from downgrading it, ever.
Our last known bootloader version is T290XXU3CVG3. Do not update past this, you will not be able to flash custom anything again.
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LineageOS is a free, community built, aftermarket firmware distribution of Android 13, which is designed to increase performance and reliability over stock Android for your device.
* Your warranty is now void.
(But I mean it's probably already void at this point... bleh.)
* We are not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
* thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed.
* Please do some research if you have any concerns about features
* included in this ROM before flashing!
* YOU are choosing to make these modifications and if
* YOU point the finger at us for messing up your device,
* WE will laugh at you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LineageOS is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra contributions from many people within the Android community. It can be used without any need to have any Google application installed. You will need to provide your own Google Applications package (gapps). LineageOS does still include various hardware-specific code, which is also slowly being open-sourced anyway.
All the source code for LineageOS is available in the LineageOS GitHub organization. And if you would like to contribute to LineageOS, please visit our Gerrit Code Review. You can also view the changelog for a full list of changes & features.
Instructions :
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/gtowifi/install
Downloads :
https://download.lineageos.org/gtowifi
Device source code:
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_device_samsung_gtowifi
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_samsung_sdm429
Credits:
LineageOS team
@Magendanz for TWRP
@SebaUbuntu for twrpdtgen
AndroidDumps on Telegram for help extracting blobs
@retiredtab for much initial testing and feedback

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reserved

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Changelog from before official:
Build 20221230:
Initial, very broken release
Build 20221231 (being hotfixed many times):
GPS now turns on but doesn't do anything useful
Fixed sensor service
Screen rotation works now
Fixed display issues
Fixed Widevine
Fixed Wi-Fi not turning back on after turning off
Build 20230102:
GPS fully working
Some proprietary blob cleanup
Build 20230103:
SELinux enforcing
ZRAM
Fix SafetyNet basicIntegrity
Build 20230108:
Android 12L
FM Radio is dropped
Nothing in the stock ROM suggests that this device actually supports FM Radio, despite online specifications saying otherwise. There is no hardware abstraction layer present for FM Radio anywhere I've found.
This will be disabled until someone can confirm it does work on stock. In which case, I will attempt to dig deeper, but I'm not sure how far I will get.
Build 20230115:
USB file transfer (MTP) fixed by switching to basic USB HAL
OTA updates have been implemented (maybe) (possibly) (idk)
Build 20230117:
Android 13
Performance upgrades:
Some kernel changes to improve performance (VDSO32 backport)
Various system services pinned in memory for UI responsiveness

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Happy (belated) new year.
New build: 20230102 (more hotfixing)
Changelog:
GPS fully working
Some proprietary blob cleanup
Available at DL link in OP.
I'm going to be frequently releasing builds until I consider the ROM fully working (at least in the scope of my usage of this device). Afterwards, it'll probably be monthly builds with the usual ASB merging.

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Glad to see there is a dedicated ROM for the T290!
I installed it on a T295 and a simple test found no issues.
Compared with GSI ROM, auto brightness and headphone jack can be used normally without any settings, and what's even better is that Bluetooth audio can be enabled with aptX!
Is it possible to add zRAM function in ROM? This can slightly alleviate the situation with only 2G RAM
Thank you so much for your work!

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xperiazu21 said:
Glad to see there is a dedicated ROM for the T290!
I installed it on a T295 and a simple test found no issues.
Compared with GSI ROM, auto brightness and headphone jack can be used normally without any settings, and what's even better is that Bluetooth audio can be enabled with aptX!
Is it possible to add zRAM function in ROM? This can slightly alleviate the situation with only 2G RAM
Thank you so much for your work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I assume just as I expected cellular functionality doesn't work?
ZRAM is a TODO. For now, everything hardware-wise is working on the Wi-Fi model, so I am working on SELinux.

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lifehackerhansol said:
Interesting. I assume just as I expected cellular functionality doesn't work?
ZRAM is a TODO. For now, everything hardware-wise is working on the Wi-Fi model, so I am working on SELinux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, after inserting the SIM card and restarting, there is no related cellular option. There is no IMEI number displayed in the system

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xperiazu21 said:
I installed it on a T295 and a simple test found no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@xperiazu21 , does the FM radio app work for you if you plug in headphones? Traditionally this doesn't work on wifi-only devices, but may on LTE devices due to modem chipset?
xperiazu21 said:
Is it possible to add zRAM function in ROM? This can slightly alleviate the situation with only 2G RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lifehackerhansol's upcoming build have should zram + enforcing. I built my own using his repos that incorporates the zram + enforcing. I suggest waiting for his build.
Code:
gtowifi:/proc/sys/vm # free -m
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 1845 1813 32 18 23
-/+ buffers/cache: 1789 56
Swap: 1369 124 1245
gtowifi:/proc/sys/vm # getenforce
Enforcing

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New build: 20230103
Changelog:
SELinux enforcing
ZRAM
Fix SafetyNet basicIntegrity
Known issues:
SafetyNet doesn't seem to pass the CTS check.
Available at DL link in OP.

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retiredtab said:
@xperiazu21 , does the FM radio app work for you if you plug in headphones? Traditionally this doesn't work on wifi-only devices, but may on LTE devices due to modem chipset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After I plugged in the headset and opened FM APP, the operation failed and it seems to be not working.
After updating to version 20230103, zRAM works fine and now I can switch between multiple APPS without reloading!
@lifehackerhansol, Is there any plan to fix the cellular function for T295? Even though I don't use it often, I always want all the features to work properly.
If so, I can help with testing.
Thank you.

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xperiazu21 said:
After I plugged in the headset and opened FM APP, the operation failed and it seems to be not working.
After updating to version 20230103, zRAM works fine and now I can switch between multiple APPS without reloading!
@lifehackerhansol, Is there any plan to fix the cellular function for T295? Even though I don't use it often, I always want all the features to work properly.
If so, I can help with testing.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given I don't have the device, I do not want to blindly try to take a crack at the cellular function. So until I get my hands on one, I have no plans to support it.
I hope that is reasonable.
I'll check on FM in a bit. I'm not even sure if this device supports it, I saw the libraries and thought hmm, maybe.

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So, I was wondering if there are any big differences between your rom and andy yan's GSI builds? (https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-20-light/)
I have Lineage 20 running on the sm-t290 , rooted with magisk and it's running great. As in everything works fine. Does this one add something that the other doesn't?
Either way, I love to see development on this device, Thanks!

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SunSlide said:
So, I was wondering if there are any big differences between your rom and andy yan's GSI builds? (https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-20-light/)
I have Lineage 20 running on the sm-t290 , rooted with magisk and it's running great. As in everything works fine. Does this one add something that the other doesn't?
Either way, I love to see development on this device, Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The big difference is that this ROM isn't a GSI. It's specifically built for this device. i.e. what LineageOS should have been.
GSIs are very interesting in that you can simply load a generic image of a ROM onto any Treble-enabled device. It's very easy to do so as well. However, while tailor building a ROM for the device ends up being a lot of work, it ultimately ends up in a better experience at the end of the day as there will be edge cases a GSI doesn't always cover.
For now we're at 18.1 because it's the same release version as the stock ROM and I figured it'd be easier to start there. Am working on 19.1 right now, but my SSD just died so I need to go fix that first.

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New build: 20230108
As of this build, we are LineageOS 19.1.
To dirty flash from 18.1 to 19.1:
Flash LineageOS.
Before rebooting to OS for the first time:
If you use gapps, flash Android 12 gapps
LineageOS recommends MindTheGapps: https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps
If you use Magisk, then flash latest Magisk
If you use gapps and Magisk, then flash them in that order
Changelog:
Android 12L
FM Radio is dropped
Nothing in the stock ROM suggests that this device actually supports FM Radio, despite online specifications saying otherwise. There is no hardware abstraction layer present for FM Radio anywhere I've found.
This will be disabled until someone can confirm it does work on stock. In which case, I will attempt to dig deeper, but I'm not sure how far I will get.
Known issues:
SafetyNet doesn't seem to pass the CTS check.
Camera is not working. (hotfixed)
Available at DL link in OP.

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Clean flash LineageOS 19.1.
The camera is working fine and seems to have no problems.
Sometimes the start-up animation of the app is not displayed.
There is also a missing animation in the settings.
Your browser is not able to display this video.

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xperiazu21 said:
Clean flash LineageOS 19.1.
The camera is working fine and seems to have no problems.
Sometimes the start-up animation of the app is not displayed.
There is also a missing animation in the settings.
View attachment 5804899
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the camera wasn't working the first time I uploaded it. Worked fine after I fixed it quickly and reuploaded.
I'm uncertain if this settings thing is a bug or not. I wonder if other devices with low RAM also have this?

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This tablet is the only low RAM device that I can flash to Android 12+.
But before I used LineageOS 20 GSI, I didn't encounter this problem. Maybe this is possible to fix?

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Just flashed this to my T290, Wayyyy faster then stock rom. I haven't had a chance to play around with it to much yet. I can say so far it seems to be working amazing! good work!

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New build: 20230115
Changelog:
USB file transfer (MTP) fixed by switching to basic USB HAL
OTA updates have been implemented (maybe) (possibly) (idk)
I consider this to now be fully functional hardware wise. Hope this sparks some new development across other developers with this device out there.
I now have OTA updates! Next build will (hopefully) show in the built-in updater app! (at least I hope that's the case.)

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New build: 20230117
As of this build, we are LineageOS 20.0.
To dirty flash from 19.1 to 20.0:
Flash LineageOS.
Before rebooting to OS for the first time:
If you use gapps, flash Android 13 gapps
LineageOS recommends MindTheGapps: https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps
If you use Magisk, then flash latest Magisk
If you use gapps and Magisk, then flash them in that order
Changelog:
Android 13
Performance upgrades:
Some kernel changes to improve performance (VDSO32 backport)
Various system services pinned in memory for UI responsiveness
Available at DL link in OP. While the built-in updater can download it, it will not allow you to flash from it directly. Use a custom recovery to dirty flash.
At this point I will start moving to monthly builds, and each build will have an Android security patch level uprev (unless someone reports an important bug, then I'll try to release right after fixing). I'll be moving on to figuring out how to get LineageOS recovery going.