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Hi to all fellow Athena owners.
It's been a while since i did any custom work for our phones, as I lost hope on the WM6x and the lack of support for our Athena400 models.
But now that Google Linux Android 2.1 is picking up steam in all other platforms, and seeing all the new HTC devices out and coming out with Android 2.1 there it seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, specially now with the addition of Gen.Y DualBOOT for WM6x phones.
after reading a few post in the forum i found new movements all round this front, so I felt inspired to try this project out and see how it turns out.
Here are our "ingredients"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5420781#post5420781
Android 2.1 (Eclair) On HTC [09 Jun 2010] (V2.4) Improved GPS and Speed
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=623792&highlight=x7510
[APP][25MAR10]Gen.Y DualBOOT v1.0.6.0[W|Q|VGA][CAB|EXT]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=402654
Ultra Vanilla for SPL 1.2 and SPL 3.5 (we'll need to first re-cook it to work for the x7510)
1. So the idea is simple, to start we'll try to make the Gen.Y DualBOOT on our phone. If that works we'll...
2. Install Android 2.1 first on SD card, if it runs properly...
3. we'll move it to the internal Flash Drive of the X7510, this will let you run both WM6, 6.5 or 7.0... and Android 2.1x whenever you want.
4. Then start cooking a good build of Android 2.1 with all the must have basic applications related to our phone, once we can confirm it can receive and make calls, get the GPS, 3G, WiFi, and smooth video/audio play back (hopefully with support for our ATI chip)...
5. Then we can cook a vanilla WM6x ROM to include Gen.Y DualBOOT and default it to Android 2.1
Android 2.1 is great, but not that great, there are still lots of applications missing in the Android platform, by that I mean software that are only available on WM6x and not on Android, StyleTap has not yet created a WM6x emulator for Android yet.
So the only way to use any application that you need in WM6x is to boot back to WM6x and use it, then boot back to Android.
Currently I've a lot of old Palm OS software that i can continue to run comfortably in WM6x using StyleTap, so until then it's all about hunting a replacement software for Android or waiting for StyleTap to release their WM6x emulator.
I noticed a lot of interest around Android an our WM HTC phones.
If anyone has spare time, please feel free to pitch in.
I'll keep you guys updated with my progress
Nice.
I am on for som testing when you are ready for that.
This manual might help with the hunt for drivers.
Gen.Y Dual boot, works great.
I got as far as loading the Kernel.... when running Android 2.1 but after that, it just hangs.
I tried installing it as all the available supported models without over clock, and it wont get pass that way.
I think we'll need to spend some time hacking and repacking Android 2.1 to support Athena
The the only thing Auto-Setup.exe seems to be doing is copying startup.txt from the models directory to the root of your memorycard.
containing:
set ramsize 0x6000000
set ramaddr 0x10000000
set mtype 2039
set KERNEL zImage
set initrd initrd.gz
set cmdline "lcd.density=210 msmvkeyb_toggle=off physkeyboard=raph board-htcraphael-navi.wake=0 gsensor_axis=2,-1,3"
boot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This file is used by haret.exe in the booting process.
Time to edit that to something usefull.
I have played a little with the 'set mtype xxxx', but it did not get me any further. It needs to point out to some usefulness in the kernel that is made for the Athena or is common to it.
On my search to a way to decompile zImage, I came upon a site that has various linux kernels for HTC smartphones.
Athena is in the list but has nothing yet.
http://htc-linux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
I have tried to search for Mtype, and found that i could be mtype = 182 !?!
set MTYPE 182
set FBDURINGBOOT 0
set KERNEL "zImage"
set RAMADDR 0x30008000
set CMDLINE "root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 mem=64M rootdelay=5 panic=30"
set kernelcrc 1
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.comp.handhelds.haret/month=20090201
http://ibot.rikers.org/#htc-linux/20081002.html.gz
and on this page they are using mtype = 1289
They are all probably using different kernels with different mtype adressings.
We probably need a kernel for intel PXA based devices with a Athena x7510 mtype in it.
There are some Athena related recources over here.
And some basic info about booting linux on a deveice over here.
It's been more than 10 years ago that I compiled a linux kernel and that was just for a 486 PC.
Hey, i'm making good progress on the Universal that has similar hardware you can check the status. So far i've gotten every version of android to boot on it so far.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=658664
If anybody already knows how to build a kernel i can provide some help/tips and files.
the Linux page is not all that bad, i see they have collected several relevant information already but they are still missing the CPU type, GPS, keyboard, and many other items.
http://htc-linux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Athena
also thanks notime2d8, your input is very helpful, we'll give that a shot.
can y describe, how y compile kernel for univerzal? We can use the recept for x7510
Android on X7510
AllGamer,
I too am waiting for this major improvement to my X7510 device. Looking forward to testing for you anytime. Just let me know when you're ready! Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Van
AllGamer said:
the Linux page is not all that bad, i see they have collected several relevant information already but they are still missing the CPU type, GPS, keyboard, and many other items.
http://htc-linux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Athena
also thanks notime2d8, your input is very helpful, we'll give that a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The keyboard is there actually. http://htc-linux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Keyboard
And a technical info document of the processor:
www.phytec.com/pdf/datasheets/PXA270_DS.pdf
And you probably want this one too:
Porting Linux 2.6.9 to the PXA270 based development platform
Hello, you'd better go on a dell streak.
Maybe i will buy one but i don't know android and i wait for windows phone 7.
Yes, I am probably going to buy the Dell Streak or the Motorola Driod X.
But even then, I am curious if the X7510 can be made into something useful.
this is going to be a slow process to re-vitalize our Athena phones with Android OS.
in the meantime i'm getting myself a Samsung Galaxy S i9000, with more insight and hands on into a working phone, this'll make it easier to figure how to make it work with Athena, obviously the main challenge are the drivers for Athena, i can then use a dump of the phone and hopefully be able to find and replace all the drivers to make it work with the Athena.
Having 2 phones will allow me to test stuff on my Athena without having to worry about bricking the phone and getting myself stranted with no smart-phone to use for my daiy business.
Quite a few of the drivers are already available here link
This athena device file seems to include gpio keys, keyboard, bluetooth and gps power, backlight and video, and touchscreen for the 2.6.32-rc5 kernel. If anyone knows how to build a linux kernel, they can simply download any android kernel 2.6.32+, and add this plus related files and build a android kernel for the athena and only have the remaining drivers to work on or improve.
i was scavenging the forum for files that we could use, and this proves to be rather interesting although abeit modified.
http://rapidshare.com/files/116019051/Android-Athena.zip.html
i'll see if i can make it dual boot
came from this other topic
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387654&page=4
i'm still inspired by this very old video of the first android running on the Athena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtlcCQSRmiA
AvengerPenguin was working on getting android working on the x7501, which is pretty much the same as the x7510. Not sure what progress he made, or if he's still working on it, but you should look into teaming up with him. I know he has put a lot of hours into research and working on it. There are a couple android threads in the x7500 sections you should look at that he has posted in. I would love to see android on our athenas.
I have also been looking at the Streak, but I don't think anything comes close to the hardware suite we have on the 7510 -- processor speed aside. i am one of those rare birds who LOVES the magnet-attached keyboard, but then I use my 7510 as a palmtop PDA, not a phone. I would beg, borrow, steal or bribe for a working version of Android on this device!
Avi on 7510
Hi,
I am a user of the joggler.info community. We are trying to create a working build of Android 2.2 using the android-x86 source and the vilivs5 modifications.
Until now what has been achieved is the following:
basic graphic support (the image is 8bit color) most of the time the interface is fluid during the transitions not. Many games doesn't work, I tyhink because of the lack of opengl es.
wireless support
ethernet works
touchscreen works
audio works
We would like help overall for the graphic/display driver. The user who is working on this has also tried to apply the 32bpp patch but the result is a yellowish image.
If anyone knows how to make any changes or improvements post it here.
Thanks!!!
+1 for this please
I'd love to see this developed too.
in the meantime we have an almost full working image of Android 2.2. You can download it here: http://www.multiupload.com/FSK4RWEYTR
You can follow the development here: http://joggler.info/forum/index.php (software -> mobile os section, android 2.2 thread)
bump....
i wish i knew anything useful about android to help with this
cmon anyone want to take the challenge up, we nearly have a £50 android 2.2 tablet, that runs very well, we just need expert help
mur76 said:
cmon anyone want to take the challenge up, we nearly have a £50 android 2.2 tablet, that runs very well, we just need expert help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn what happen, you just forgot about this section or was it a completely fail project??? if i am lucky i might try a jellybean when i get mine, just need some foundation help
I recently bought a ZiiO and at first look it seems like an excelent tablet for is price. But it get's me frustrated to be stuck on Android 2.2.1 version as well as stuck on Creatives' propritary updates.
At first glinpse on the device everything here looks like it has been developed according to the hardware. Not having market, not beeing able to mess around
Searching and researching on the web allowed me to root my device and install common software like the Market.
Then I realized that ZiiO's hardware is capable of supporting USB Host which sadly hasn't been enabled on the kernel that's compiled on the device. Looking at config.gz made me wonder why on the world would Creative do such a thing.
Has anyone been able to dump ZiiO's boot or kernel? I need to recompile the kernel to enable some flags. Has anyone gone through this expirence that can lead me on the right track?
Having such a variety of devices on the world makes me confuse on what should and could be done on this device.
So I'm trying to get Android running on my Yoga 2 Pro (not the Yoga Tablet Pro 2 or whatever its called)
IM ASSUMING MANY EFI devices are having the same problems as well. Fill free to contribute
I was able to get Android IA dual booting very smooth with windows. However I have a few issues (I'm not a developer, I'm a noob, but probably have enough skills to contribute fruitfully to the conversation)
It works ...ok...As many of you know it doesn't have gapps, and I cannot figure out how to install gapps. it cant be installed like a traditional android device where one can flash it...
As of now, Display support works great. Both touch and hi resolution support
no sound
no bluetooth
accelerometer not working
Many apps don't work on intel ia as well....netflix, watchespn...etc
After fooling around with intel IA, I tried Android x86 instead...heres what I got from it.
Only could boot into Android from the live CD (my case thumb drive) when using VESA mode
graphic is not supported at high resolution (only in VESA mode)
gapps worked well with Android X86
Sound works
bluetooth (not tested)
I could not get Android x86 to install AT ALL...I can't figure out how to boot into android x86 using VESA on grub
So my question is this...How do I begin integrating the two if it is possible (I've read somewhere the kernals are different)..do I need to use Kitchen or can this be done by copying and pasting lib, and apks?.
I need the graphic support of Android IA
Sound support of Android X86
Working Gapps
whatever arm translator that seems to work in Android X86 as apps seem to work a little better
EFI support of Android IA
Any takers?
If anyone needs a tutorial on how to get intel IA working on Yoga 2 pro, I'll post one if needed
Hi,
Would be best to ask about this here,
Chef Central
I'm thinking the windows section would be best, but I'll leave that to you.
Good luck!
First off, I wanted to say I posted a few threads about this thing here asking questions about stuff I needed to get it working in the way I'd like and I'd want to thank you because I have made a lot of progress in getting it to be what I'd like it to be. I also don't know if this is the best forum to post this report because it's neither a question nor necessarily a tutorial but rather a summary and description of work already done so far, and especially because this device, while it sure runs Android (very well!) does not fit into any of the categories on this site neatly.
The story so far
This post concerns my experience working with the ITX-3588J, a board released just a few months ago by the Chinese manufacturer Firefly (or T-Chip Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd, based in Zhongshan) that is in the coveted mini-ITX form factor which means it can actually fit into a small-size desktop computer case and indeed has enough compute power to theoretically - and perhaps not so theoretically! - function as an honest desktop system with an ARM processor: namely the - also very new - Rockchip RK3588 system-on-a-chip.
About two months ago, I was looking into acquiring a new kind of computer to replace my somewhat longer on the tooth x86 machine that would be compact, low-power, and easy to transport while also being a fully capable desktop. And I certainly didn't want Apple. I had seen some very small form x86 desktops before, but I also knew there were many boards - like Raspberry Pi - that featured the ARM processor. Not content with the Pi, which is still very weak for this application at least when compared against modern software, I wanted to see if there was something else by now in a similar vein, and when I saw this board I thought it was an amazing option, esp. given I have not yet found a peer. Many ARM single-board devices exist but this is the only one I've found so far that looks to be in a proper desktop form factor and sporting a processor powerful enough to work at that level.
So I got the board, a case, and - noting it had SATA ports - a cheap 250 GB SSD, and put it all together ... and fired it up! And to my surprise, it booted up Android! Which was a real shocker because I generally thought this'd be like another PC board, not having had much experience with this ecosystem beyond phones, so that it would just give the usual "OS not found" stuff. Nope - pre-loaded on the board. Very minimal, very bare-bones though, not even the Google Play and similar essentials required for a usable Android experience. Yet with the little bit I had, I couldn't help but notice it was extremely fluid, responsive, and snappy, moreso than my aging 2018 era x86 box. Moreover, it was very, very interesting (and exciting!) to see Android booted onto a full-size monitor screen like Linux or Microsoft Windows - and actually and surprisingly, to see that it didn't look and feel all that bad!
However, of course, I wanted more. First, I wanted a fully-featured installation of Android. Second, I wanted to run Linux on it - especially given that, a short while later, I found that the board manufacturers were offering a stock Ubuntu 20.04 to be installable to it. Although, in the early stages, I didn't know how to do this at all, and then soon after learned how to reflash the embedded MMC chip to change the OS. And I did so, trying the Ubuntu and finding it also very performant, but not liking either that it was not quite the newest version but also more that it was mutually exclusive with Android - so far.
And that would begin a long - and at many times frustrating, especially given how much information out there is not at all tuned to a device like this being pressed into this application - learning journey toward exploring topics as diverse as how ARM processors and SoCs work under the hood, U-Boot, kernel features, the Firefly-Rockchip developer kit - and having to essentially single-handedly discover many of that kit's ins and outs given there was pretty much no documentation - and more, ultimately leading to where I've got it to now.
What it can do at this point
And that is, right now, I have it sitting here, loaded up with the stock Android 12 and Ubuntu 20.04 - with the former on the eMMC and the latter on the SSD hard drive. On the Android side, Google Play is now loaded and functional, though Google Chrome is not (it crashes with a "Telephony is null" exception for some reason, which seems to suggest for some reason it's trying to act like it's on a phone but isn't). Zoom - an app that I really, really wanted to have (and why I wanted to keep Android around on it) - works and works smoother and cleaner than my 2018 x86 Linux clunker. On the Ubuntu side, though, things are not yet coming - mostly because of seeming inability to use U-Boot to boot from the SSD. I managed to install GRUB, and given that Firefly's generous board SDK provides the full U-Boot source code was able to recompile it with the necessary "bootefi" command enabled which is not present in stock, but nonetheless alas this U-Boot seems to have its SATA support bugged or incomplete, because it would crash immediately upon trying to initialize that subsystem.
Where I'd like to go with it
Obviously, full dual boot of Android and Ubuntu, so getting U-Boot to boot the GRUB resident on the hard drive, is the biggest issue so far, and that means investigating whatever is the problem (or not?) in its SATA subsystem. Getting Google Chrome working on Android is another important step. Moreover - though it would cost extra money that I do not have right now - there's the very interesting possibility, owing to the fact that it has a built in M.2 slot on the board, and alluded to in the title - that the device could be made to act as a cell phone. And finally, the possibility of upgrading to a newer version of Ubuntu (ideally 22.04) - however from what I know so far, it looks like this will have to wait because the stock Linux kernels do not currently support the RK3588 fully - though I'd suggest the Linux kernel developers really should take a look at the SDK that came with this thing because it has lots of code in it including for the kernel, all under GPL.
Final note
One of the most interesting things I've learned from this project, and mentioned earlier, is just how well Android seems to work as a desktop OS. While there have apparently been some attempts to port it to x86, this is perhaps one of the first devices that is desktop-workable and which runs it natively. And one of the things I find that's nice about it is that ironically, because all the apps are designed for small screens, when they are run on a very big screen (and this monitor is not "very big" even by today's monitor standards, being a used and earlier LCD type), they are extremely easy on the eyes and have minimal UI clutter when compared to a typical desktop app on most Linux WMs and on MS Windows.
If you want to know more about the details, or anything else, feel free to ask any questions you might have!
UPDATE:
I believe I may have found an easier way to dual-boot Linux with Android, and that consists of configuring a custom ROM that will put both kernels, and GRUB, on the board's eMMC, while the rootfs for both OSes is placed on the hard disk. Will be seeing how it works.
UPDATE:
I have almost completed the custom ROM! I have now both Android and at least the base system for Ubuntu 20.04 (Kernel 5.10.66) bootable with Android now storing user data on the hard drive; though I'm still running into some hardware initialization issues in the latter that are keeping me from actually installing the desktop system. With regard to the Ubuntu system, there is some interesting issue in that for some reason the provided SDK kernel, which I had to rebuild, seems to build more Android-like because it wants to look in "/vendor" for some things related seemingly to the networking facilities, and it is possible this is preventing me from bringing up wifi, which I need in order to download the rest of the system.
But lots of progress overall - it seems that a full-fledged ARM desktop running simultaneously Android and Ubuntu is within reach to be wrung from this board!
Ignore my request for an update in another post. Seems you like you moving along. I don't need dual boot, just a working Android 12 with GPlay and Chrome. Did you get Chrome to work?
mebalzer said:
Ignore my request for an update in another post. Seems you like you moving along. I don't need dual boot, just a working Android 12 with GPlay and Chrome. Did you get Chrome to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yeah, I want to say that I have pretty successfully gotten Android 12 working on it for sure, but Ubuntu is proving much more difficult due to graphics support issues, and I'm not sure if it will be possible until RK3588 is supported in the mainline Linux kernel tree which is still something under development. And yes! I got Chrome to work Everything works, actually - it's great as an Android system, though obviously Android is kinda funny to use as a desktop OS. I am wondering if I can't get a "pseudo" Linux using something like Linux Deploy in lieu of running it natively, at least until the kernel development catches up with this new processor.
(FWIW, I'm posting this post from that machine while it is running A12. )
Good to see someone else is interested in it, though. What are you planning on using yours for?
Insofar as getting Android 12 to work w/GApps - it depends on if you want to do it purely on the eMMC or you want to also put user data on an attached hard drive like I did. In either case, the best option, I feel, is to create a custom ROM - I could provide custom ROMs for it for download, but don't know because of Google's licensing conditions around the GApps and have heard of people getting in trouble with Google for distributing custom ROMs for phones that have GApps in them. You basically need to unpack the stock Android image, unpack the "super.img", then load the apps from a package like NikGApps into the "product" partition (NOT "oem" - that was a big mistake), then repack everything and flash to the eMMC again. You will need the board SDK from Firefly for all this as it has the custom ROM-packing and flashing tools.
Alternatively, it is possible to manually install the NikGApps GApps using the Android console - as it's a fully unlocked system, obtaining root access is trivial: just put it into Developer mode and you will find the root access in the "Developer options..." menu under "System".
Shimmy99 said:
Insofar as getting Android 12 to work w/GApps - it depends on if you want to do it purely on the eMMC or you want to also put user data on an attached hard drive like I did. In either case, the best option, I feel, is to create a custom ROM - I could provide custom ROMs for it for download, but don't know because of Google's licensing conditions around the GApps and have heard of people getting in trouble with Google for distributing custom ROMs for phones that have GApps in them. You basically need to unpack the stock Android image, unpack the "super.img", then load the apps from a package like NikGApps into the "product" partition (NOT "oem" - that was a big mistake), then repack everything and flash to the eMMC again. You will need the board SDK from Firefly for all this as it has the custom ROM-packing and flashing tools.
Alternatively, it is possible to manually install the NikGApps GApps using the Android console - as it's a fully unlocked system, obtaining root access is trivial: just put it into Developer mode and you will find the root access in the "Developer options..." menu under "System".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will keep this in mind. See my reply to you other reply on another post as well.
I would to run gplay as well please send me instruction the nikapps github doesnt say nothing