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Hi all!
I want to share the way i have to run Debian on Nexus One
I'm editing my own install of deb-armel and ill upload to everyone but first i need to finish it
By now, we will use a qemu image ready and edit it to your needs
You'll need a SD parted with Amon_RA recovery, few files i'll upload later and some skills with Debian, of course hehe
Partition could be user-alike but i recommend:
Im using a microsdhc 8gb class-2 from my magic
- EXT3: 2gb (nice for install a lot of stuff)
- SWAP: 150MB
- The rest as fat32
You need also a rom with app2sd or mount ETX3 partition under /system/sd, im using Modaco's 1.3
First of all, im working on archlinux but this can be done on windows too using the qemu version for windows
Install qemu on your machine.
NOTE: Also you can start a new installation from 0 using images (iso) and info found on google
Now we will use the following QEMU images:
http://people.debian.org/~aurel32/qemu/armel/
We will download the followings Of course you can choose the small or normal version with X preinstalled (the X version preinstalled is not tested by me and i dont know if works)
debian_lenny_armel_small.qcow2 150M
initrd.img-2.6.26-1-versatile 2.1M
vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-versatile 1.2M
Put they in your home folder or where u want.
Now, lets run it.
Use the following command (run it from the folder you have the downloaded files) :
qemu-system-arm -M versatilepb -kernel vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-versatile -initrd initrd.img-2.6.26-1-versatile -hda debian_lenny_armel_small.qcow2 -append "root=/dev/sda1"
Wait a moment... Debian-armel running under qemu
Here are the configuration by default:
- Keyboard: British English
- Language: English
- Mirror: ftp.uk.debian.org
- Hostname: debian-armel
- Root password: root
- User account: user
- User password: user
Edit the system to fit your needs, im not going to explain how to do this, im asumming you know how to. If u don't, use the debian reference guide:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/
Of course, you'll need to edit basic things as locales, network, ssh preferences, etc...
Edit your system, update, configure packages, etc...
Once edited and configured, quit you virtual machine.
Now, we are going to convert the qemu image to a raw image, mount the fs and copy to your SD
Assuming you still in the same folder as the qcow2 image of debian (for windows, google a little, im sure there are something to do the same):
qemu-img convert -O raw debian_lenny_armel_small.qcow2 debian.raw
With this will obtain the qcow2 converted to a raw file (without touching the original qcow2 file)
Now mount it where u want or follow this steps:
sudo mkdir /media/debian
Before mount, lets see where start the partition on the raw file:
sfdisk -l -uS debian.raw
U will see a list of partions under the raw file, use the first, like this one:
debian.raw1 * 63 20225834 20225772 83 Linux
Now, we know the / starts at 63, mount this partition
sudo mount -o loop,offset=$((63*512)) debian.raw /media/debian
Ok, we have our partition mounted now, lets make a copy in our EXT3 partition on SD.
Use the USB Storage function from android, sd card reader... and mount the EXT3 partition
Once mounted, copy everything from /media/debian to /media/yourSDext3mounted
cd /media/debian
sudo cp -a * /media/yourSDext3mounted/
If everithing works as expected, umount the systems /media/debian/ and /media/yourSDext3mounted or use the Android notif to disconnect the USB storage function
Check if everything is now in the SD EXT3. Open a terminal and adb shell
adb shell
cd /system/sd
ls
U'll see the Debian / extructure and the app & app-private
Of course dont worry about this, u can still using apps2sd and debian at the same time
Now, it's time to boot debian
We need some modded files from the G1 version to boot it:
Download from Megaupload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q67SNOBC
Download from MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/?mxgcyk3whdt
Also, files attached to post (rename the extension to tar.gz)
Put the files into your FAT32 SD partition, no in a folder just in "/"
Now, it's time to give it a try
U have two ways:
Open a terminal window in your PC
adb shell
cd /sdcard/
sh installer.sh
sh bootdeb
Or:
Open up a terminal in your N1, like Terminal Emulator on Market
cd /sdcard/
sh installer.sh
sh bootdeb
PROFIT!!!
Enjoy your debian-armel on your N1
For the next chapter, how to run X with VNC Viewer
Bye and thanks for reading!
Looks like Klingon to me.
I have Debian running too now
Nice! Cant wait to try it out!
nice, i've been looking for a n1 debian how-to
Installing debian is pretty much the same as running it on your g1. I had it working the day after I got mine using the g1 instructions.
So, what's the reason or running debian on your phone?
Jst wondering
u
The reason by now is just fun hehe
But, if we can run it natively via fastboot, would be awesome hehe
Sorry for the delay guys, ill do it now, the last night was too late for me 4am here hehe
EDIT: Just give some time more, i going to try it with the Cm 5.0 beta 1
jairuncaloth said:
Installing debian is pretty much the same as running it on your g1. I had it working the day after I got mine using the g1 instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldnt get chmod or installer.sh from the g1 instructions to work. I tried it both with bacon and modaco 1.3. I skipped the jesusfreak part though so maybe thats why. Anyway seeing confirming instructions would be nice.
Because the g1 files need to be modded first
I have it running it under modaco 1.3 and now im going to try it with the new b1 from cyanogen
Guide ready
Enjoy it!
Hi,
i have one question about debian. Is the network traffic routed trough android, or does debian has direct access to the wlan adapter for monitor mode and aircrack ?
meld0
it's using the same ip and mac, so is shared for both
If there are the apropiate drivers maybe, don't really know
Calling Linux Experts!!! hehe
Is there any way to create a boot.img bootable via fastboot to run the ext3 partition of sdcard with debian?
Driskol said:
Calling Linux Experts!!! hehe
Is there any way to create a boot.img bootable via fastboot to run the ext3 partition of sdcard with debian?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry for being noob in this matter but, why do i need debian on my phone? what does it give me?
amir
The answer is a choice, Android or a Full Desktop OS with Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, etc...
When its booting I'm getting an error:
/system/bin/bootdeb: line 61: chroot: command not found
Doing "find / -name chroot" only returns binaries within the debian image.
Any ideas?
Driskol said:
The answer is a choice, Android or a Full Desktop OS with Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How well does Firefox run?
Can anyone take some pics or video?
Any instructions for creating and mounting linux as an img file instead of using separate partitions?
tetlee said:
When its booting I'm getting an error:
/system/bin/bootdeb: line 61: chroot: command not found
Doing "find / -name chroot" only returns binaries within the debian image.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe your rom doesn't have Busybox
EDIT: Im going to make a img version tutorial
Of course, this version was without the highmem kernel, now with more ram, more flawlessly
I thought since the cm5b4 thread is getting hard to navigate through that i would pull some helpful info out of it and make it in a seperate thread
I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THE INFO BELOW, jerbarton should get credit for the procedure
As usual I'm not responsible for any problems you may encounter or broken phone, i also cant confirm if this works on any other rom's but cyans and there is no gurantee it will always work but here you go
EDIT:When updating to a new CM rom you WILL encounter a boot loop, simply run the steps below AGAIN during the loop cycle and then reboot the phone and it should work.
ALWAYS NANDROID!!
you will need to have an ext2 partition before this will work, i believe you can make one with the "partition" option in recovery
Code:
adb remount
adb push 04apps2sd /system/etc/init.d/
adb push e2fsck /system/xbin
adb shell
chmod 755 /system/xbin/e2fsck
chmod 755 /system/etc/init.d/04apps2sd
mkdir /system/sd
Downloads:
e2fsck: http://www.mediafire.com/?tzwwjyz2t2r
04apps2sd: http://www.mediafire.com/?mjjntmtmjmj
Attempted this, and I've never once tried doing apps2sd. I dl'ed the files to the root of my SD card after partitioning the SD card to ext2. After this was done, I went to my terminal emulator, but all I get from the commands are "adb: not found"
What am I doing wrong?
heroskyy said:
Attempted this, and I've never once tried doing apps2sd. I dl'ed the files to the root of my SD card after partitioning the SD card to ext2. After this was done, I went to my terminal emulator, but all I get from the commands are "adb: not found"
What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to get the android sdk kit on your computer and type in those commands from tools. Make sure those files are placed in your tools folder so it can find them(adb). Also need to hold down shift and right key to open up command in folder.
nonmindo said:
I thought since the cm5b4 thread is getting hard to navigate through that i would pull some helpful info out of it and make it in a seperate thread
I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THE INFO BELOW, jerbarton should get credit for the procedure
AS usual I'm not responsible for any problems you may encounter or broken phone, i also cant confirm if this works on any other rom's but cyans and there is no gurantee it will always work but here you go
ALWAYS NANDROID!!
you will need to have an ext2 partition before this will work, i believe you can make one with the "partition" option in recovery
Code:
adb remount
adb push 04apps2sd /system/etc/init.d/
adb push e2fsck /system/xbin
adb shell
chmod 755 /system/xbin/e2fsck
chmod 755 /system/etc/init.d/04apps2sd
mkdir /system/sd
Downloads:
e2fsck: http://www.mediafire.com/?tzwwjyz2t2r
04apps2sd: http://www.mediafire.com/?mjjntmtmjmj
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for putting this up but your crediting wrong person. First and foremost Cyanogen(his script pulled from rom) Second, dhanj was the first to post the script on here and the other guy added to it( the one your giving credit too.) Go back and read original post.
kamasi36 said:
You have to get the android sdk kit on your computer and type in those commands from tools. Make sure those files are placed in your tools folder so it can find them(adb). Also need to hold down shift and right key to open up command in folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome! thank you! Ive always been confused about that
heroskyy said:
awesome! thank you! Ive always been confused about that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha. me too man. You have to learn fast on here. They expect us to know all this stuff coming in the gate. Just holla back if you need some more help. I'm a noob too but managed to figure it out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=532719
This might help you get started. make sure you get everything updated because this is kind of dated.
kamasi36 said:
Thanks for putting this up but your crediting wrong person. First and foremost Cyanogen(his script pulled from rom) Second, dhanj was the first to post the script on here and the other guy added to it( the one your giving credit too.) Go back and read original post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah cyanogen (especially) and dhanj should be credited more than me. I didn't really do anything but add on how I got it working for me.
One thing to mention, if cyanogen doesn't implement this officially in his ROM (and for most people it's probably not needed) you'll have to redo this procedure each time you flash/update so I'd suggest keeping the 2 files saved.
@nonmindo...thanks for posting this, I've been meaning to put something together but had a handful of things going on.
In any case, I was also hesitant on starting a new thread about this because of the apps2sd, need or not to need discussion that's been going on. Anyway, I'm glad you did post this and glad that there are others asides from myself(kamasi, jerbarton, t0pgun & dscottjr81 that I know of!) who chose to get this up and running on their nexus one.
As for who get's credit, I certainly cannot take any credit for this because all I did was share information. The real credit goes to cyanogen and the great devs we have here on xda that made our toys even more enjoyable that it was stock.
Edit:
Regarding the second(ext) partition that's created when you partition your sd card using RA-nexus-v1.5.3 recovery, there isn't a menu option to upgrade your partition to ext3, unlike other versions of Amon_Ra's custom recovery for the HTC Dream: G1.
Regardless, of this you can always go back into the recovery, hook up your phone to your pc, open up command prompt and type in the following commands:
Code:
adb shell
sdparted -ufs ext3
dnanj said:
@nonmindo...thanks for posting this, I've been meaning to put something together but had a handful of things going on.
In any case, I was also hesitant on starting a new thread about this because of the apps2sd, need or not to need discussion that's been going on. Anyway, I'm glad you did post this and glad that there are others asides from myself(kamasi, jerbarton, t0pgun & dscottjr81 that I know of!) who chose to get this up and running on their nexus one.
As for who get's credit, I certainly cannot take any credit for this because all I did was share information. The real credit goes to cyanogen and the great devs we have here on xda that made our toys even more enjoyable that it was stock.
Edit:
Regarding the second(ext) partition that's created when you partition your sd card using RA-nexus-v1.5.3 recovery, there isn't a menu option to upgrade your partition to ext3, unlike other versions of Amon_Ra's custom recovery for the HTC Dream: G1.
Regardless, of this you can always go back into the recovery, hook up your phone to your pc, open up command prompt and type in the following commands:
Code:
adb shell
sdparted -ufs ext3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks dnanj. Just upgraded to ext. 3. apps2sd b4 now.
You betcha....as always, just sharing information whenever I can.
am i suppose to get a conformation in shell if the commands worked?
Ohal_yeah said:
am i suppose to get a conformation in shell if the commands worked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the commands complete, you should be brought back to the prompt where the shell awaits the next command.
I apologize for not looking deeper into who deserves credit here, thanks for those of you that do know!! I was simply just trying to make it easier to get the information to people that might want it...
as for the debate of needing a2sd or not, i was out of space right from the get-go because of all the apps i had on my mt3g...so to me i definitely need it out of the 1gb partition i made on my sd card i have .82 free now lol...
completed all steps but everything still saves to internal memory
JustinLoe said:
completed all steps but everything still saves to internal memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a small glitch probably when you run the last command before adb reboot, it fails to create the directory as it exists, probably change the name to solve it, it happened to me once
dnanj said:
@nonmindo...thanks for posting this, I've been meaning to put something together but had a handful of things going on.
Edit:
Regarding the second(ext) partition that's created when you partition your sd card using RA-nexus-v1.5.3 recovery, there isn't a menu option to upgrade your partition to ext3, unlike other versions of Amon_Ra's custom recovery for the HTC Dream: G1.
Regardless, of this you can always go back into the recovery, hook up your phone to your pc, open up command prompt and type in the following commands:
Code:
adb shell
sdparted -ufs ext3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, what does the code has anything to do with app2sd? anyone cares to shed some lights to a newcomer?
TIA
jakontil said:
hi, what does the code has anything to do with app2sd? anyone cares to shed some lights to a newcomer?
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext3 is essentially a ext2 file system with journaling.
Click Here to read about ext3 and it's benefits over an ext2 fs. As to why ext2 over ext3 for apps2sd, since journaling improves reliability of the fs, that makes it more ideal than ext2.
it works great thanks!
hi dnanj
thanks for the link
sorry but im stuck here
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb remount
remount succeeded
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb push 04apps2sd /system/etc/init.d/
failed to copy '04apps2sd' to '/system/etc/init.d/': Is a directory
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>
why does cmd show me this error can you help me out please..very much appreciated
I don't want to dual-boot, even, just have a nice "normal" Nookie Froyo install on eMMC. I've seen several allude to the fact that it worked for them but no reviews of how they did it. I've backed up my 2.1 install with Clockwork so I'm not really worried about that.
TIA.
It's quite simple actually. All you need is basic knowledge of adb.
All disclaimers apply, I'm not responsible for any damage. Just know that mine is running on internal partitions. And the SD does mount too!
Before doing anything, I would recommend applying a dd from your partitions to your pc.
With, for example on mmcblk0p1 (boot) adb: dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=boot.img
You should do that for each partition to be safe (0p1 to 0p8).
All the following commands can be execute one after one, the separations are only there to makes things a bit more clear.
Then,
Boot to a working Nookie (NF) with your uSD fresh from burning, without any google apps, and without any uSD damaged errors.
Empty your internal system and copy uSD system over, by doing:
- adb shell mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mmcblk1 / (---there is a space after the 1---)
- adb shell
- mkdir tmpfolder
- mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 tmpfolder
- cd tmpfolder
- rm -r * (---note that there is space after the r---)
- cd ..
- cp -r system/* tmpfolder (---this will take a few minutes---)
- umount tmpfolder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then, you need to boot push the attached files (bottom of post) except for the 2 vold files to your boot partition: mmcblk0p1. Unzip, copy content, not zip.
You could very well replace uImage with the new Quickie overclocked uImage for froyo (see dev thread).
To push attached files to boot, do:
- mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 tmpfolder
- exit
- adb push [folder-containing-4-attached-files-except-vold.fstab] tmpfolder
- adb shell
- umount tmpfolder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also recommend erasing all your data. But that's up to you, if you want to keep your data on it. In any case, you can revert back with the data.img you created above . So next part you could skip, haven't tried skipping personally:
Non mandatory, but you could do:
- mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 tmpfolder
- cd tmpfolder
- rm -r *
- cd ..
- umount tmpfolder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you need to push vold.fstab and vold.conf (unzip volds, copy content) to system/etc
Copy vold's to system/etc:
- mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 tmpfolder
- exit
- adb push [folder-with-vold's] tmpfolder/etc/
- adb shell
- umount tmpfolder
- rm -r tmpfolder
- exit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then shut down, remove uSD, and boot.
Again, you can choose to push the Quickie uImage, I you prefer, but the accelerometer doesn't work with it at the moment. The 950 kernel does sometimes crash on boot, but once booted is quite stable.
I think that's all folks. I could have been a bit vague at some times, but this should work. And if you made your imgs as recommended, you're bullet proof.
To revert back to initial state with img files, you need to copy files to sdcard and then dd:
- adb shell mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 sdcard
- adb push XXX.img sdcard (--could take a few minutes--)
- dd if=XXXX.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0pX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do that for each partition.
For those who don't feel up to the task, I could make a CWR flashable zip file of all this. The only thing is, CWR dosen't boot on Nookie just yet. So you couldn't restore with a zip after the change.
[Before doing anything, I would recommend applying a dd from your partitions to your pc.
With, for example on mmcblk0p1 (boot) adb: dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=boot.img
You should do that for each partition to be safe (0p1 to 0p8).
[/QUOTE]
I am a little confused here. What are the names of the 7 other partitions? Thanks, Great guide btw!
See here.
Do you see improved speed and touch response running nookie from emmc?
im getting a "No such file or directory" error after "adb push [folder-with-vold's] tmpfolder/etc"
I created the directory but now it looks like i am stuck at the landscape android splash screen on boot...
any ideas? I am attempting to redo the whole process again just incase i missed something.
Sorry, there's a slash after etc.
Make sure you've copied the systen files, with "ls" inside tmpfolder where you copied system. Should be a etc folder there.
Sam
to the op: I'm not knocking you here, but do you have a basic idea of generic linux file hierarchy or operations in general? Getting a basic grasp on working with files in a linux terminal will make all of these operations make a lot more sense, since most "adb shell" commands are basic linux commands.
FastCR said:
to the op: I'm not knocking you here, but do you have a basic idea of generic linux file hierarchy or operations in general? Getting a basic grasp on working with files in a linux terminal will make all of these operations make a lot more sense, since most "adb shell" commands are basic linux commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but I don't see how that comment adds anything here.
Looks like the issue is above commands copy the actual system folder (not the contents of the folder) To the root of the partition. ls shows the folder "system" not the contents including etc. They are inside the folder but if the partition is mounted as system then the folder is redundant. Will check copying the contents and see if that helps.
Once I get it working in will post back to let others know
**** in the first block of code replace
Code:
- cp -r system tmpfolder (---this will take a few minutes---)
with
Code:
- cp -r system[B]/*[/B] tmpfolder (---this will take a few minutes---)
many thanks!
FastCR said:
to the op: I'm not knocking you here, but do you have a basic idea of generic linux file hierarchy or operations in general? Getting a basic grasp on working with files in a linux terminal will make all of these operations make a lot more sense, since most "adb shell" commands are basic linux commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you go out of your way to say that? It's not constructive. As a junior member with three posts and 0 thanks after a year and a half, sharpen your teeth here at XDA before you act like a big shot.
Right thanks. Changed it.
Has it worked for you?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
samuelhalff said:
You could very well replace uImage with the new Quickie overclocked uImage for froyo (see dev thread).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you certain on this part? Last I read in that thread, Froyo needs a different minimum kernel.
UPDATE: Nevermind, I missed this updated effort.
Homer
Well, last time I checked, my NC was running at 950 on froyo with setcpu.
Check the forum. There's a nookie version of quickie. Except accelerometer doesn't work..
First, huge thanks to the second poster - great guide! Can we sticky this?
Second, yes I know what dd does, etc, I've been working with Linux for about ten years . I just don't know the ins and outs of embedded devices yet.
samuelhalff said:
Right thanks. Changed it.
Has it worked for you?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i was up till 4am last night but got it working. first i tried to use my existing nf sd card... bad idea. would boot from emmc to the touch android screen to begin, but could not get past. i assume it was the issue on nookdevs because wifi was not enabled. so i removed the setupwizard.apk but somehow bricked and was unable to boot from emmc. so i took the following steps to get things working properly:
1. reimage boot and system from the stock 1.0.1 images and reset the nook to stock, didnt even touch. at the intro screen i just powered it off.
2. next i took a fresh nf sdcard and run steps from your post(with the correction to copy system contents)
3. from there i had a working nf from sdcard! i did my tweaks (google apps, market fix and button remapping from nookdevs froyo tips)
i might to put together a post with a more verbose set of instructions for a one stop froyo shop but if i do i will be sure to give you credit for your contribution.
thanks again!
Hi,
Second, yes I know what dd does, etc, I've been working with Linux for about ten years . I just don't know the ins and outs of embedded devices yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's a nice contrast. I've been working on Linux/Android for about 2 months now
I should have mentioned that the NF uSD Card must be a newly burnt image, without all the nookie tips added to it. Of course, your Google framework will crash if you port it without your data.
By the way, there's a nice trick to get past the numb android interface, simply touch every corner of the screen, starting with top left and going clockwise. You'll then be sent the your home screen, and from there you'll log on to google account again.
I think the best way of doing it would to create a flashable .zip, which I'll make tonight if I find the time and if people are really interested. But don't forget CWR dosen't work on nookie for the time being. The only way back would be through adb.
So, does anyone wish to have a flashable zip of this? Or will it be a waist of time?
Sam
samuelhalff said:
Hi,
Well, that's a nice contrast. I've been working on Linux/Android for about 2 months now
I should have mentioned that the NF uSD Card must be a newly burnt image, without all the nookie tips added to it. Of course, your Google framework will crash if you port it without your data.
By the way, there's a nice trick to get past the numb android interface, simply touch every corner of the screen, starting with top left and going clockwise. You'll then be sent the your home screen, and from there you'll log on to google account again.
I think the best way of doing it would to create a flashable .zip, which I'll make tonight if I find the time and if people are really interested. But don't forget CWR dosen't work on nookie for the time being. The only way back would be through adb.
So, does anyone wish to have a flashable zip of this? Or will it be a waist of time?
Sam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love a flashable .zip. I think many others would as well.
starkruzr said:
I would love a flashable .zip. I think many others would as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't wait for a flashable zip. Maybe even some cm7 release candidates would make me real happy.
Sent from Nooted NookColor using XDA App
For anyone actively working with and on the webtop portion of these phones, you'll have noticed that webtop suffers greatly from sluggish response. I decided to experiment and through that, managed to alleviate a large portion of my problems. By creating and enabling a swap partition, I gained a very noticeable increase in performance on my webtop.
1: Remove SD card from phone and mount onto a computer capable of formating as Linux Swap.
Linux machines can obviously do this with any partition manager.
Windows machines can do so with: Paragon Partition Manager
Mac: I'm not currently sure what tool can handle creating swap partitions.
2: Create Swap partition on SD Card. (I personally made mine 1.5 GB)
3: Put SD Card back into phone and boot fully into webtop.
4: In Synaptic, download Partitionmanager. (This is the only partition manager package I have found to do anything at all in the webtop. If anyone has any luck with others, please post what lead to your success.)
(Path Method):
5: Inside Partitionmanager, navigate to the swap partition of your SD card and take notice of the "Device:" line underneath the the bar Volumes bar.
6: If in gnome, Alt+F2 and type
Code:
gksudo gedit /etc/fstab
If in any other desktop environment, open a terminal and type
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
7: Append the following line to fstab replacing "<path>" with the value in the "Device:" line of partitionmanager:
Code:
<path> none swap sw 0 0
(UUID Method)
5: Inside either Webtop terminal or phone Terminal Emulator type:
Code:
su
blkid
Look for the line which contains
Code:
TYPE="swap"
.
Alongside "TYPE" should be a
Code:
UUID="xxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
.
(If no "UUDI" is listed, take the path of the device from the same line and do the following replacing "<path>" with the path value from above.)
Code:
sudo mkswap <path>
6: If in gnome, Alt+F2 and type [code]gksudo gedit /etc/fstab
If in any other desktop environment, open a terminal and type
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
7: Append the following line to fstab replacing "<UUID>" with the value in the "UUID=" line of blkid:
Code:
UUID=<UUID> none swap sw 0 0
8: Reboot phone
9: Download Script Manager from the android market.
10: Download View attachment swap.sh.zip and unzip it to a directory of your SD Card where you won't erase it.
11: In Script Manager, navigate to the directory you placed the script and select "swap.sh".
12: Check:
Code:
"Run as root" and "Run at boot"
13: Click "Run"
14: Profit!
To see if it is working, open terminal emulator or a terminal window on either phone or webtop. Type the command "free". and take notice of the "Swap" line. It should tell you the partition size, amount used, and amount free.
Hope this helps someone.
**Tested Working Phones**
Motorola Droid Bionic
Motorola Milestone A854 (Nearly Identical to A855) {blkid is not compiled on this phone. /etc/fstab is non-existent. Easiest way of making the proper /etc/fstab is to partition the swap as the 2nd partition on the card and only have 2 partitions total. This will ensure that the path for the swap is "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2"}
Motorola Atrix 4G using faux123's 2.4beta (Several kernels for the Atrix 4G do not support swap. faux123's 2.4beta does, however) thanks nabicat
If anyone has any other phones that they can confirm working, PM me and I'll add them to the list. If anyone has a phone that requires any special steps, be sure to list the steps taken along with the PM.
*UPDATE!! 06/23/12*
I am currently running the ICS leak 2033 on my Bionic. Webtop is running ICS Tablet. For starters, even without swap space, this version of webtop runs smooth as butter. Swap space IS still capable, though, and does still improve performance. To those who are leery about having android instead of ubuntu for webtop, I challenge you to try it. Some will like it (I certainly do). Others will hate it.
One change that needs to be noted: ICS kernel doesn't support the -a tag on "swapon" instead of using "-a" you'll need to put the path in the command script instead. In my case, the script now reads "swapon /dev/block/mmcblk0p2". It still needs to be run as root. Webtop picks up immediately when you run the script, so no extra steps there. Chrome beta is sexual on webtop 3.0, btw.
Special Thanks:
Sogarth: Fantastic work with webtop2sd across multiple platforms. Opened monstrous doors for all of this.
tallnerd1985: Compiling a great guide for multiple steps of unlocking webtop
[mbm]: Fixing what Moto broke
Natronics: Providing the UUID solution in this guide
Very nice, I will have to test this out tomorrow. Webtop is working well minus some hiccups with Bluetooth mice not clicking properly and display.
But if I want to use this for Citrix receiver and OpenOffice, will definitely want to get this going.
hey bang, an easier way to find the UUID of the swap partition is to run blkid from terminal....it should actually list it as TYPE="swap".
Awesome thanks! I'll give this a try right now and report back!
Natronics said:
hey bang, an easier way to find the UUID of the swap partition is to run blkid from terminal....it should actually list it as TYPE="swap".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very nice. I'll update the guide when I get a chance to reflect that. I'm guessing from either terminal emulator on phone and terminal in webtop?
I ran it on the webtop terminal. it showed the UUID with the quotations after the UUID. so I removed the quotations and entered the UUID into fstab.
---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------
this is what it looks like in blkid:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2: UUID="a0a11111-a94e-4fa1-ada0-69186b667b1e" TYPE="swap"
The UUID should look like this when you paste it in fstab:
UUID=a0a11111-a94e-4fa1-ada0-69186b667b1e
this is what the finished product looks like in fstab:
UUID=a0a11111-a94e-4fa1-ada0-69186b667b1e none swap sw 0 0
If you don't see a UUID when you do blkid...
get the location of the partition using blkid... mine was /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
then do a:
sudo mkswap /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
replace the /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 with your sdcards path if it is different than mine. That will set a UUID to the swap partition.
Just a note to those who aren't familiar with linux and/or UUIDs. YOUR actual UUID will be different. You'll have to actually run blkid in either the webtop terminal or terminal emulator (both work. run as super user).
UUID has benefits and drawbacks when compared with the device paths:
UUID values won't change unless the partition is destroyed and recreated. If it's moved around and/or resized, it'll remain the same.
Paths are easier to determine and remember for the less knowledgeable.
Thanks for clarifying the uuid being different for everyone. Forgot to mention that part.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using XDA App
Oops, got distracted half way though. Anyways, works great! Noticeably snappier right away. Thank you so much for noticing this! Seems like Motorola should have had this on from the get go...
I have Paragon installed on my computer but I am still fuzzy on how to make this swap partition. Can anyone help me?
dB Zac said:
I have Paragon installed on my computer but I am still fuzzy on how to make this swap partition. Can anyone help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
delete or resize the existing partition to create blank space. Make a new partition the size you want for swap. Choose "Linux Swap" as the partition type.
I couldn't find an option for swap partition. I made the space but couldn't get past that step
dB Zac said:
I couldn't find an option for swap partition. I made the space but couldn't get past that step
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's called "File System Type" or "Partition Type". It's the same option as where you'll find "FAT32" and "NTFS" file systems. You're looking for either "Linux Swap" or "Swap Space"
Banggugyangu said:
It's called "File System Type" or "Partition Type". It's the same option as where you'll find "FAT32" and "NTFS" file systems. You're looking for either "Linux Swap" or "Swap Space"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, that is weird. I found all those options but there is no option that says swap.....
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
dB Zac said:
Man, that is weird. I found all those options but there is no option that says swap.....
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using it myself, so I don't know for sure what options you have. Perhaps you can list them or post a screenshot of them so I can know more of what's going on?
NTFS, FAT16, FAT32 and none is all it offers
dB Zac said:
NTFS, FAT16, FAT32 and none is all it offers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm that must be a limitation on the free version. You could always download a live CD of ubuntu and use GParted inside that to do the job.
Banggugyangu said:
Hmm that must be a limitation on the free version. You could always download a live CD of ubuntu and use GParted inside that to do the job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
confirmed. the free version did not have the "swap" partition options but the paid one does
If you paid for it, that's a little foolish, as downloading ubuntu is free and comes w/ GParted on the live CD.
During my time hacking on android I've discovered some nice easter eggs deep in the android platform. One such easter egg is the mounting of ext4 images directly in the init.rc script. This is a feature I have never seen used by any oems and only by one custom rom [ EDIT: and by letama in his Sony Xperia Boot Manager ]! looking at the git logs this functionality has been present since September 2010 [ commit 49b8124a1759cb8b27e0c21a1a5a54b8a81bdb19 ]. What this effectively gives us is the ability to overlay a pseudo partition layout over the top over the existing layout, thus avoiding any "Danger" of accidental bricking the device by reformatting the SDCard. This is very similar to the way archos mount the stock file system and a variation/extension on the existing methods we use for the SDE Roms.
Although the explanation assumes the use of the SD models it should be fairly straightforward to apply the the HDD models.
THE METHOD:
PART 1 - Prepare a recovery ext4 image file
1. Build CWM6 from the CM10 source.
2. Modify The Recovery's init.rc file to look something similar to this
Code:
on early-init
start ueventd
on init
export PATH /sbin
export ANDROID_ROOT /system
export ANDROID_DATA /data
export EXTERNAL_STORAGE /sdcard
symlink /system/etc /etc
mkdir /boot
mkdir /sdcard
mkdir /system
mkdir /data
mkdir /cache
mount /tmp /tmp tmpfs
mkdir /partitions 0771 system system
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /partitions
# Mount /system rw first to give the filesystem a chance to save a checkpoint
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/CAC /cache nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/DATA /data nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/SYS /system
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/SDCARD /sdcard nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/BOOT /boot
on boot
ifup lo
hostname localhost
domainname localdomain
class_start default
service ueventd /sbin/ueventd
critical
service recovery /sbin/recovery
service adbd /sbin/adbd recovery
disabled
# Always start adbd on userdebug and eng builds
# In recovery, always run adbd as root.
on property:ro.debuggable=1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 0
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/idVendor 18D1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/idProduct D001
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/functions adb
#write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iManufacturer $ro.product.manufacturer
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iProduct $ro.product.model
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iSerial A101S_REC
#start adbd
setprop service.adb.root 1
# Restart adbd so it can run as root
on property:service.adb.root=1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 0
restart adbd
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 1
3. Modify the etc/recovery.fstab to look like this
Code:
# mount point fstype device
/cache ext4 /dev/block/loop1
/data ext4 /dev/block/loop2
/system ext4 /dev/block/loop3
/sdcard ext4 /dev/block/loop4
4. Creating an empty ext4 image file name REC and mount it on your pc. [ 5MB should do it ]
5. Copy the contents of the built recovery/root directory to the root of your mounted image.
6. chmod init.rc , default.prop and ueventd.rc to 644 ( rw-r-r- )
7. umount the ext4 image and push it to the root of you data partition
That's stage 1 complete. Part 2 Will Follow Shortly.....
Part 2 - Make a dual boot initramfs.cpio.lzo
1. Change the name of the /data directory to /bootdata by modifying the etc/mountpoints file in the initramfs.cpio.lzo. This stops CWM getting confused when trying to un/mount the data partition
Code:
mount_name mount_dev mount_point mount_fs mount_opts volume_name error_code custom_opt
rawfs /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/rawfs rawfs none 150
system /dev/mmcblk0p2 /mnt/system ext4 rw,noatime,noexec system 152
bootdata /dev/mmcblk0p4 /bootdata ext4 rw,noatime,noexec bootdata 154 crypt_compat
storage /dev/mmcblk1p1 /mnt/storage ext4 rw,noatime #storage_name# 155
storage_A80S /bootdata/media /mnt/storage bind bootdata none 155
storage_A101S /bootdata/media /mnt/storage bind bootdata none 155
storage_A101XS /bootdata/media /mnt/storage bind bootdata none 155
storage_LUDO /bootdata/media /mnt/storage bind bootdata none 155
storage_A80H /dev/hdd1 /mnt/storage ext4 rw,noatime #storage_name# 155
storage_A101H /dev/hdd1 /mnt/storage ext4 rw,noatime #storage_name# 155
usbhost_ehci /dev/storage_ehci1 /mnt/usbhost_ehci vfat rw,noatime,utf8,shortname=mixed none 156
usbhost_otg /dev/storage_otg1 /mnt/usbhost_otg vfat rw,noatime,utf8,shortname=mixed none 156
rfsext4 /dev/loop0 /new-root ext4 rw,noatime none 157
rfsext3 /dev/loop0 /new-root ext3 rw,noatime none 157
rootfs /dev/loop0 /new-root squashfs ro,cts_compat none 157
ramdisk /tmp/ramdisk /ramdisk vfat loop,rw,utf8,shortname=mixed #ramdisk_name# 158 ramdisk,ramdisk_size=256
2. Using sirduke989 dmenu initramfs you can modify the init script in the initramfs to mount /bootdata instead of /data and also add /bootdata/REC and /bootdata/BOOT to the list
of known locations , I see this a temporary measure as there are a number of other ways to enable dual ( Triple?!? ) booting
3. Flash the modified initramfs and your choice of kernel using either the recovery menu or kd_flasher, I used the 3.0.21 kernel extracted from the 4.0.24 aos file.
You should now be able to boot into CWM Recovery!
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Clearly I'm a developer not a photographer!!
Part 3 - Create rest of the "partition" images.
You should have a /partitions directory in you device root, This is what is normally mounted as your /data ( /dev/block/mmcblk0p4) and contains normal android user data e.g installed app settings databases etc. This is where I've created the reset of my Partitions which are just more ext4 images files. I did this using "dd if=/dev/zero ...." and "mke2fs -text4 ...." on the device through adb whilst booted into CWM. This saved time in pushing large empty ext4 files from my pc.
I called my image CAC ( cache ) DATA ( data ) SYS ( system ) SDCARD ( sdcard ) BOOT ( boot ) you can obviously call them what you like and place them anywhere as long as you match up the image names with those in init.rc and make sure the loop numbers are correct in the etc/recovery.fstab everything should be fine.
You can play around with the files sizes, I have an 8gb my current file sizes at the moment are
BOOT = 25MB
CAC = 500MB
DATA = 3GB
SYS = 500MB
SDCARD = 2GB
The sdcard mount point is probably worth pointing at an external sd if you have one available. I have a 32GB Class 10 that I'll probably set up.
After you've setup your psuedo partitions you should then be able to reboot into recovery, if you've done things correctly you mount output should contain the following
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 on /partitions type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/loop1 on /cache type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/loop2 on /data type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/loop3 on /system type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/loop4 on /sdcard type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/loop5 on /boot type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
Everything seems to function correctly, I have successful done a backup and restore of my system partition. I have also applied CWM-SuperSU.zip through install zip from sdcard. Mounting and Remounting works although I'm not sure if Mount USB Storage works yet, I didn't on linux and I've not tested on windows and finally wiping and formating was also successful.
Part 4 - Notes on setting up rom images.
Now you may of already realized normal archos images don't come as separate the /boot and /system images so work is require to split them up.
Also if you want to split the /system from the reset of a archos image your boot partition will need to be about 50MB as archos have they /bin /lib /usr directories which contains binary files that use /lib/libuClibc-*.so as it's libc which brings there root filesystem in at around 38MB.
There is a very strong case for ditching these binaries especially when using AOSP/CM based roms. My intial tests show this is possible.
Just like the recovery init.rc Similar changes have to be made to the roms init.rc
Moving Forward:
of course, there's a lot to do but I wanted to at least get this initial information out there for people to consider. I'm currently booting a Linaro 4.1.1 rom using the split partitions. I have also been working on better booting methods which is why I haven't given any details re the initramfs init script but It's fairly straight forward to adjust and adapt. I'll write up more details soon!
More Research!
As I mentioned, I've been further looking into different booting methods and I think I'm approaching what could be a workable solution that will make the Gen9 more like standard android devices
Here's some more of my findings
1. It turns out that we can dump the existing initramfs.cpio.lzo and we can use a standard android ramdisk layout as the android init will load instead of the init script that is currently being used, this also removes the need for switch root and other nonsense that archos have in there. There was one gotcha when had me stumped for about ten minutes, I needed to add "write /sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness 75" to the init.rc to turn the screen on.
2. It's possible to stop android either using adb shell stop or stopping each service zygote etc, and start CWM while android is booted. It's probably also feasible the manage booting between recovery and android using the persist properties system which should make switching between the 2 fairly easy to control without much tweaking to any binaries. Looking at other devices, namely samsung, they seem to do something similar with recovery being in the same boot.img as the standard files, they simply load a recovery.rc instead of the main init.rc, this might mean that we have to patch CWM to load the correct init.rc I've not looked at the code properly yet but It's not going to be an issue anyway as all the code is fully available, You've gotta love open source.
3. By mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 to /mnt/rawfs we are still able to use abcbox, reboot_into writes to the params file in the partition to control boot switching, so we can maintain booting into sde while leaving the stock android partition in place. I was unable to get any immediate joy from kd_flasher, that maybe because we currently have the ramdisk we want to overwrite mounted as the rootfs. Again I can't imagine it being too difficult to jig this, It can probably be worked out by looking at the current recovery ramdisk scripts should kd_flasher style functionality be required at any point.
4. Most of the binaries that rely on uClibc can be recompiled against bionic without any issue, usb_modeswitch for example. If there are any closed source ones, then the dynamic linker ld-uclibc or whatever is called, ultimately symlinks back to uClibc and we can just grab the one file and place it in the /lib directory. I tested /usr/bin/lsdvd in this way and It seemed to work fine.
I've got all this going on while still leaving a stock android fully intact, which is a great fallback Just in case.... Keeping these modifications at a safe level is one of the primary goals to enable much wider use
I'll put together some examples within the next couple of days to demostrate what I'm talking about here.
I've got a Linaro 4.1.1 ( JRO03R ) which has working powervr drivers with a 3.0.21 kernel, although that's about all that's working on it at the minute.
It's more a proof of concept than anything else, The kernel would need recompiling to add tracefs functionality which is required by jellybean but using the same magic should leave the powervr drivers functioning still, If anyone's interested I can stick that up, I've foolishly deleted ( misplaced/can't remember ) the device files I used to build this.... Too many android source trees and not using git properly leads to school boy errors.
I'm currently working on an omapzoom 4.1.2 tree using the blaze_tablet device as a base, I think this may yield the best results for the archos.
I suppose one other thing to do is the fix up a stock rom to use these methods and give it CWM, that should be pretty simple to do. Although ICS is ooold and I'm really not a fan of some of archos' methods e.g booting 4 different devices off one firmware. Although to their credit they do demostrate just what possible with deviating android from it's normal standard structures.
Hopefully this has whetted your appetites, I'm pretty excited about what's possible here as I feel it brings these archos devices in line with most others.
Me Again!
Just a cheeky little update, I been trying the figure out the best approach to handle switching between android and recovery mode. In effect I kind of wanted to create a Stage 4 bootloader! because you can never have too many bootloaders LOL I certainly wanted to do a "proper" job on it and try to avoid changes to the android platform code.
While to doing research into this I found this patch to the linux kernel which the android team submitted for review, Reading the mailing list thread I don't think it's been accepted yet! It's true what they say about the Kernel Mailing List, You need to bring your A game and be sure of what your doing..
Anyways the patch add a boot-control-block driver to kernel which check for a boot flag, which is exactly what I need to make booting into alternative configuration nice and simple. I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to chuck in support for the fastboot protocol on one of those configurations. So a CWM Shouldn't be too far off now!!!
As a little treat I've attached a recovery based ram disk if anyone what's to play, just flash it with you favourite kernel on to your sde partition. Then You can boot into recovery and set your self up a pseudo partition image layout through adb. You won't be able to be into android, obviously until you put your old initramfs back.......
This is totally unsupported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just chucking up for those who want to get a feel for to do so. If your uncomfortable playing around in this area then stand well back, It's not prime time yet!!!!
However Feel free to ask questions of a technical bent but If you can't get it to boot then tough luck I'm afraid for now! :laugh:
You shouldn't be able to do any damage with this be I wouldn't go selecting wipe/format etc until you've got some partition images sorted.
I've add abcbox to sbin and symlink reboot_into. It does not seem to fully reboot but It will set the boot flag which you then follow with a call to reboot, That will reboot back into CWM (sde).
Onward
EDIT: Here's the Init.rc and etc/recovery.fstab that It attempts to use.
Code:
on early-init
start ueventd
on init
export PATH /sbin
export ANDROID_ROOT /system
export ANDROID_DATA /data
export EXTERNAL_STORAGE /sdcard
symlink /system/etc /etc
mkdir /boot
mkdir /sdcard
mkdir /system
mkdir /data
mkdir /cache
mkdir /mnt
mkdir /mnt/rawfs
mount /tmp /tmp tmpfs
mkdir /partitions 0771 system system
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /partitions
mount rawfs /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/rawfs
# Mount /system rw first to give the filesystem a chance to save a checkpoint
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/CAC /cache nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/DATA /data nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/SYS /system
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/SDCARD /sdcard nosuid nodev
mount ext4 [email protected]/partitions/BOOT /boot
on boot
ifup lo
hostname localhost
domainname localdomain
class_start default
service ueventd /sbin/ueventd
critical
service recovery /sbin/recovery
service adbd /sbin/adbd recovery
disabled
# Always start adbd on userdebug and eng builds
# In recovery, always run adbd as root.
on property:ro.debuggable=1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 0
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/idVendor 18D1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/idProduct D001
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/functions adb
#write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iManufacturer $ro.product.manufacturer
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iProduct $ro.product.model
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iSerial A101S_REC
write /sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness 75
#start adbd
setprop service.adb.root 1
# Restart adbd so it can run as root
on property:service.adb.root=1
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 0
restart adbd
write /sys/class/android_usb/android0/enable 1
Recovery.fstab
Code:
# mount point fstype device
/cache ext4 /dev/block/loop0
/data ext4 /dev/block/loop1
/system ext4 /dev/block/loop2
/sdcard ext4 /dev/block/loop3
Any words about hdd versions?
DragosP2010 said:
Any words about hdd versions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I all depends how you want the structure it, What it would change is the mount point of the paritions directory. After that. everything is loop mounted and sitting on top of the existing structure.
Code:
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /partitions
Great stuff!!!!
Hey trevd,
that's fantastic... i will definitely try this CWM in a few days with my custom kernel and bootloader (mountpoint will need some tweaks as well ).
I'm very busy these days, so i gess i'll leave some longer statements to the recent developments in a few days.
Just in short... it's very pleasant to see all these open developments popping up and i really, really appreciate this kind of hacking!
Keep on your great work... you rock!!
Cheers,
scholbert
Hi Trevd,
Nice job!
I've been using the same kind of trick on my Xperia S boot manager project, recovery on loops and mount [email protected] in inits. You may want to take a look at what I did there (see my sig), it may have some use for your project.
Basically, what I do is storing multiple kernels+cpios on the regular kernel partition. I use one (trimmed down to maximize space) to handle the boot logic and cwm, and I have enough space to handle two "regular" kernels. I handle kernel switch just before they load with a small assembly loader. It works very nicely on Xperia, and it's very nice to be able to dual boot with isolated cwms. I can't remember maximum size on a g9 kernel rawfs file, but I think you could have at least enough space to have two kernels to isolate recovery.
Hey letama,
nice to read you :highfive:
letama said:
I've been using the same kind of trick on my Xperia S boot manager project, recovery on loops and mount [email protected] in inits. You may want to take a look at what I did there (see my sig), it may have some use for your project.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool stuff again...
letama said:
Basically, what I do is storing multiple kernels+cpios on the regular kernel partition. I use one (trimmed down to maximize space) to handle the boot logic and cwm, and I have enough space to handle two "regular" kernels. I handle kernel switch just before they load with a small assembly loader. It works very nicely on Xperia, and it's very nice to be able to dual boot with isolated cwms. I can't remember maximum size on a g9 kernel rawfs file, but I think you could have at least enough space to have two kernels to isolate recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK, we got around ~30MBytes in the raws partition on our tablets so would be possible to put some more kernel+cpios here easily.
Anyway, made some experiments with my latest u-boot port for the tablet this weekend.
I was able to bring up my A80S completely from MicroSD and boot into CWM by using uImage and uInitramfs (based on trevd's CWM image).
There's also some lowlevel multiboot implemented now by using the volume keys... but i know that i use a very special setup, so this is more a proof of concept and not a suitable environment for the average user
Cheers,
scholbert
Thanks Letama + Scholbert
I'll look at all this stuff this week....As a aside, I've played around with mmcblk0p3 and given myself an mmcblk0p5 / 6 of 4MB each. I found parted to be pretty useful (read:safe) for this..... I'm dubious about playing around with the rawfs too much at this point, mainly because I don't understand it fully, yet!.
Have you guy seen this https://github.com/swetland/omap4boot ( I think it's along the line of what Scholbert been working with/on )
Like I've mentioned to ultimate goal is a solution that is "safe" for the average user and also leaves the rest of the tablet in-tact, it maybe a lofty goal but worth a shot. :good:
Thanks for the input guys!
scholbert said:
AFAIK, we got around ~30MBytes in the raws partition on our tablets so would be possible to put some more kernel+cpios here easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
30 for init kernel ? That's plenty indeed! Cool!
Anyway, made some experiments with my latest u-boot port for the tablet this weekend.
I was able to bring up my A80S completely from MicroSD and boot into CWM by using uImage and uInitramfs (based on trevd's CWM image).
There's also some lowlevel multiboot implemented now by using the volume keys... but i know that i use a very special setup, so this is more a proof of concept and not a suitable environment for the average user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice job! Too bad that Archos doesn't do this on their board with a small internal switch. Would be cool for people like me with big fingers and poor soldering skills
trevd said:
I'll look at all this stuff this week....As a aside, I've played around with mmcblk0p3 and given myself an mmcblk0p5 / 6 of 4MB each. I found parted to be pretty useful (read:safe) for this..... I'm dubious about playing around with the rawfs too much at this point, mainly because I don't understand it fully, yet!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hummm... You're going to end with a full re-partitioning scheme with system and data if you continue this way . Just be careful when you recreate partitions to let the empty space at the beginning of the disk untouched, instant brick ahead if you go there...
Just in case, here is what I did with my repartition script (do you have it ?): delete p3, delete p4, re-create p3 (careful with start point, leave the hole! it should start just after p2) as extended partition, big enough to hold the new partitions, recreate p4 (same thing about the hole, it should start after p3) with what remains and then you can create p5,p6,p7 with the size you want inside p3.
Last advice: rawfs, don't touch it .
Anyway, the good thing with what I did on Xperia S is that you don't mess with rawfs and re-partition, it's just like flashing a very big SDE kernel from recovery with unmodfified sde firmware, that's all. If I find some time, I'll take a look to see if we can do the same thing here.
letama said:
Just in case, here is what I did with my repartition script (do you have it ?): delete p3, delete p4, re-create p3 (careful with start point, leave the hole! it should start just after p2) as extended partition, big enough to hold the new partitions, recreate p4 (same thing about the hole, it should start after p3) with what remains and then you can create p5,p6,p7 with the size you want inside p3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Yes I have read your previous threads on the subject which provided alot of the inspiration for the work currently at hand, It is also why I am being ultra careful around the partitions
I think maybe I'm just being too clever trying too pull everything back a step into the intramfs when we can just do the old switch root method method.... It's a little messy on the inside but it will get the job done!
Well, I don't like much the switch root too, it's not a very "Android way" of doing things and make some apps not very happy with it, but yes, it will get the job done, one root for recovery, one root for firmware. And Archos stock would be difficult without switch root, they did put far too much stuff outside of system.
letama said:
Well, I don't like much the switch root too, it's not a very "Android way" of doing things and make some apps not very happy with it, but yes, it will get the job done, one root for recovery, one root for firmware. And Archos stock would be difficult without switch root, they did put far too much stuff outside of system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very much for the "Android Way" I believe the archos stock roms can be re-jigged as the stuff outside of the system is not required by the system, this is all stuff that is a result of the BuildRoot build system and has a dependency on uClibc.
I'm going to try and get something usable this week, can I store additional files in the rawfs partition without running into trouble?
trevd said:
I'm very much for the "Android Way" I believe the archos stock roms can be re-jigged as the stuff outside of the system is not required by the system, this is all stuff that is a result of the BuildRoot build system and has a dependency on uClibc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's required. It's used inside Android, it handles audio, wifi, codecs, smb...
I'm going to try and get something usable this week, can I store additional files in the rawfs partition without running into trouble?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In rawfs or initramfs ? I wouldn't add any file in rawfs, it would be difficult to do and I don't know how would behave the bootloader if it sees new files there. Initramfs you're free to do whatever you want until you reach maximum size of kernel+initramfs.
trevd said:
Have you guy seen this https://github.com/swetland/omap4boot ( I think it's along the line of what Scholbert been working with/on )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well kind of... while i try to stick with the MicroSD our fellow vincencb follows the omap4boot path.
He already made a port of barebox bootloader to work with this tool and pushed it to the repos.
This way you may put anything you like on the tablet's RAM by using MicroUSB for communication and file transfer.
My way is more to get a full featured u-boot and put it into a state, where it might replace stock loader.
Last step is to put it in internal eMMC... so this is also research and development for now.
trevd said:
Like I've mentioned to ultimate goal is a solution that is "safe" for the average user and also leaves the rest of the tablet in-tact, it maybe a lofty goal but worth a shot. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yepp that sounds like a reasonable approach.
letama said:
30 for init kernel ? That's plenty indeed! Cool!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be even more precisely, there are 32512*1K blocks for the rawfs partition.
On my device there's ~12MB left...
letama said:
Nice job! Too bad that Archos doesn't do this on their board with a small internal switch. Would be cool for people like me with big fingers and poor soldering skills
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, a real switch would be nice indeed... there's some unused testpoints giving us additional GPIO
Need to solder though...
trevd said:
I'm very much for the "Android Way" I believe the archos stock roms can be re-jigged as the stuff outside of the system is not required by the system, this is all stuff that is a result of the BuildRoot build system and has a dependency on uClibc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some stuff outside of system is quite useful and gives us something like a minimal linux ecosystem.
Very useful at console level... some tools seem to be used by the Android system as well.
trevd said:
I'm going to try and get something usable this week, can I store additional files in the rawfs partition without running into trouble?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmmh, letama maybe right with being very careful with this part of internal storage. If it get's corrupt you'll risk a brick (could be restored though by using external boot mechanism).
Anyway the best would be to mount it RW and use the kernel driver to access it... the unknown part is still the bootcode.
There's some kind of allocation table at the beginning of rawfs partition. It is yet unknown how bootcode behaves with an additional entry
Anyway, this is a real nice project and i would really appreciate to see it pushing forward.
Take your time trevd, and again thanks a lot for contribution!!
Have a nice day,
scholbert
Not to put this down in any way, but wouldn't TWRP be better for the G9? It has a full touch tablet UI, which is better than CWM's
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Quinny899 said:
Not to put this down in any way, but wouldn't TWRP be better for the G9? It has a full touch tablet UI, which is better than CWM's
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Quinny
There's nothing to stop us using whatever recovery we like.... they all work the same way ( I think ) , i.e the code is compiled into a recovery binary. Unfortunately my touch screen stopped working long ago so I wouldn't really benefit
scholbert said:
To be even more precisely, there are 32512*1K blocks for the rawfs partition.
On my device there's ~12MB left...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, yes, but there is space reserved for each file there, what I have to figure is how much is reserved for custom file (sde kernel). I don't want to have to shift the files located after custom to make room for sde kernel , it would defeat the "no-fuss/no-risk" of the method.
Anyway the best would be to mount it RW and use the kernel driver to access it... the unknown part is still the bootcode.
There's some kind of allocation table at the beginning of rawfs partition. It is yet unknown how bootcode behaves with an additional entry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely. Re-partitioning is much safer if space is needed.
trevd said:
.... they all work the same way ( I think ) , i.e the code is compiled into a recovery binary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a good keyword: The recovery binary itself!
Most tools inside the recovery are simply linked to busybox, which itself is a link to recovery executable.
In other words, we have some code responsable for the menu and framebuffer stuff and we have busybox.
The strings command gave me version 1.2.0. Now my question...
How to configure this part of code?
I'd like to enhance the busybox part.
Could you please provide a little to howto for a compiler run?
Will i need all that Android stuff installed...
I you have any clue, please point me in the right direction.
Lazy,
scholbert
scholbert said:
How to configure this part of code?
I'd like to enhance the busybox part.
Could you please provide a little to howto for a compiler run?
Will i need all that Android stuff installed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you need full android repo. Android Build system is messy and tightly coupled, busybox is compiled with bionic (android libc), recovery is built on top of it with few android libraries links. Isolating all this "mess" would be difficult. Except disk space required, there is no big deal in getting full android repo.
I'd suggest to take a look at this, you should do the "Prepare the Build Environment" section.
I don't know how trevd built his recovery, but what I did is create a gen9 device to get proper configuration for recovery (frame buffer config, ...). You can get mine if you want, it's a little outdated (latest cwm doesn't need a specific gfx anymore, the custom one I used has been moved to upstream for instance), but it should give you a base.
To do that, you have to create an "archos" directory in cm9/device directory, then from inside it do:
Code:
git clone git://gitorious.org/archos-ics/device-g9.git gen9
Then, you need to setup the build env once. From cm9 root, you have to do that:
Code:
. build/envsetup.sh
(it setups android build environment)
then
Code:
lunch
then choose full_gen9-eng.
(it selects device target for build)
You should have something like that:
Code:
============================================
PLATFORM_VERSION_CODENAME=REL
PLATFORM_VERSION=4.0.4
TARGET_PRODUCT=full_gen9
TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT=eng
TARGET_BUILD_TYPE=release
TARGET_BUILD_APPS=
TARGET_ARCH=arm
TARGET_ARCH_VARIANT=armv7-a-neon
HOST_ARCH=x86
HOST_OS=linux
HOST_BUILD_TYPE=release
BUILD_ID=IMM76L
============================================
from this point, you can compile:
make -j4 recoveryimage (change j4 with the number of parallel build you want depending on your cpu).
whole recovery fs should be in out/target/product/gen9/recovery/root, with recovery command in sbin
Last, how do you want to extend it? If you want to add custom commands, take a look at cwm bootable/recovery/extendedcommands.c, it may be easier to add stuff there than in busybox.