Here's my thoughts on VS (not)source - G Tablet General

So I'm an undergrad majoring in comp sci and personally love the whole idea of open source. I've been thinking lately about our issue of no kernal and it hit me... The vega tab is about 95% the same as ours... Once they release their source we can simply build off it. We can also attempt to de-compile the kernal from our device but as we all know de-complying is shakey at best and has some legal issues, but I doubt that's gonna cause us as much grief with VS already violating GNU. Just my thoughts on the situation. I mean even if VS pulls all these devices and we have the Vega source I do believe these will live on as a modder toy.

Well said, well said indeed.

We're betting on the Advent VEGA - not just for that, but also the possibility of a Tegra based Gingerbread image to work off of. The hardest part is the kernel, since we cannot use theirs. But perhaps zPad can help us, there.
This is assuming the worst case scenario, which is that VS pulls the plug on this thing.

cant we decompile our kernal?

roebeet said:
We're betting on the Advent VEGA - not just for that, but also the possibility of a Tegra based Gingerbread image to work off of. The hardest part is the kernel, since we cannot use theirs. But perhaps zPad can help us, there.
This is assuming the worst case scenario, which is that VS pulls the plug on this thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roebeet, I am not too familiar with the kernel stuff. what are the differences between the Advent Vega, Zpad and Gtablet? Are they all built on the same chipset/platform?
thanks

Related

Surprised no hoopla about Viewsonic working on other Android OS versions for Gtablet

The marketing VP of Viewsonic posts on this board and basically confirms that they are working on new Android versions for the G:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
"We are working on other OS versions, hint hint" The VP wrote the "hint hint", not me.
I know Roebeet has been busy with a big work project, but surprised the post did not ignite discussion. Does EVERYBODY have a big project with a short deadline?
added:
I think 2.3 is coming soon, due to the support issues. JMO.
Hmmm
rushless said:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Support from adobe and google will happen for the Tegra II(TABLETS) when the new OS hits. IMO it will be when Honeycomb hits not gingerbread, but who knows....
rushless said:
The marketing VP of Viewsonic posts on this board and basically confirms that they are working on new Android versions for the G:
"Adobe and Google do not support Tegra II with Froyo"
"We are working on other OS versions, hint hint" The VP wrote the "hint hint", not me.
I know Roebeet has been busy with a big work project, but surprised the post did not ignite discussion. Does EVERYBODY have a big project with a short deadline?
added:
I think 2.3 is coming soon, due to the support issues. JMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could mean so much, I was actually trying NOT to think about or discuss it.
It could mean:
They're working on a port of the ZPad UI for the G Tablet. We know the G Tablet and ZPad are identical internally (and even externally, lol), so it wouldn't be far fetched to think VS has licensed (or whatever) the Zpad software from Malata and has it in their hands, working with it more directly - or maybe hired programmers to work on it on an official basis.
I no longer think of TnT as horrible, but I still think the dashboard section is unnecessarily bloated and way too static and rigid for an android homescreen environment. Feels more like a picture frame UI or a bedside device UI than part of an Android device and the 2.2 dock sort of takes care of those needs. XDA devs have done an exemplary and extremely commendable job with the ROM but after everything, people still have trouble with it from what I've read, so perhaps an official port by VS would work out for all the non-techies and typical users. Not to mention, you'd be able to get official OTAs as required/needed.
Security or not, I prefer the official OTAs than having to reflash the device through clockwork....the main reason I have remained on stock despite accolades given to TnT 4.1
They're working on/with 2.3 for the G Tablet. God, that'd be nice.
They're giving us something more standard/generic/closer to vanilla 2.2/2.3 and removing TnT completely. We know for the most part, that Froyo in it's more pure form, isn't tasty on the G Tablet MOSTLY because the hardware keys aren't backlit. I've always thought of TnT to be thoughtful because everything you can do from the hardware button(s) you can do from the toolbar. If they removed TnT and just wrote a new toolbar in, this would give us a more standard experience - paired with a newer kernel and newer tegra drivers, we'd have a more or less 2.2/2.3 with benefits experience.
So yeah, I don't like having low expectations but they keep me from hoping too hard/high and that way I won't be TOO disappointed if it really means a different version of the very same TnT with a few 'bug fixes', aka TnT 3452/3453.
Gingerbread is here....cm7 beta is available
http://vegantab.gojimi.com/download/update-cm-7.0.0-Beta1-Harmony-signed.zip
thebadfrog said:
Gingerbread is here....cm7 beta is available
http://vegantab.gojimi.com/download/update-cm-7.0.0-Beta1-Harmony-signed.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but at the cost of correct sdcard & sdcard2 mapping for the Gtablet? I loved CM roms on my G1, but hardware is too splintered now to cover all the hardware bases.
Not mention other hardware issues that CM is too general to make work correctly.
CM7 is using the correct Gingerbread mapping of sdcards.
Viewsonic release
What I was getting at was the fact that Viewsonic has yet to release an OFFICIAL gingerbread release. I still think that Adobe and Google will not give support to our tablets until they have an OS designed for them.
I know we have hacked ROMs that are based on Gingerbread, but I want to see VS take the next logical step and get us a real OEM OS..
Well hopefully then Viewsonic is SKIPPING Gingerbread because that is not a tablet supported OS just like Froyo.
We need Honeycomb to be the OS they are working on. Motorola is rumored to release the Xoom (Android 3.0 "Honeycomb") in late February.
Agreed
I agree, Honeycomb would be best... I don't think Motorola will get it all together and released by the end of February. I would love it if they did, then at least we could get a good source code!
Hopefully OfficialVS will come back and update us like he promised...
Gingerbread eh! Honeycomb would definitely be sweet. Now I'm in no way a techie, I am good at following instructions, with that said Notion Ink ships today would it be hard to port the eden UI over to the G-Tab? I'm curious what all the hype is about with it being that they both run the tegra chipset.

[Q] Should I buy a gtab?

I recently bought a Nook Color so I could have an inexpensive tablet. They have froyo roms available for it but it still has issues that I have been fighting constantly. One of the big ones is touchscreen accuracy issues that can get annoying so I'm taking it back and replacing with something different?
How is the dev community when it comes to the Gtab?
Am I correct in thinking since it's based on Tegra 2 that it should be easy to port Honeycomb and such since they are going to be based on the same chipset??
Thanks
f4ion1 said:
I recently bought a Nook Color so I could have an inexpensive tablet. They have froyo roms available for it but it still has issues that I have been fighting constantly. One of the big ones is touchscreen accuracy issues that can get annoying so I'm taking it back and replacing with something different?
How is the dev community when it comes to the Gtab?
Am I correct in thinking since it's based on Tegra 2 that it should be easy to port Honeycomb and such since they are going to be based on the same chipset??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what a lot of us are hoping, but the actual situation remains to be seen.
Even without Honeycomb, the G Tab is a fantastic device. The support here is the best as well.
My opinion is go with something that is easy to flash roms on and has some future hardware specs. That's why the g-tab seems to be positioned well. It is super easy to flash and has good hardware.

looks familiar?

This is what I found on engadget tonight:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/06/olivetti-launches-olipad-tablet-second-coming-of-the-typewriter/
looks familiar? I admit the HDMI connector is new, unless it's via adock, in which case its another rebranded version of our viewsonic gtab
Yeah, I saw that this morning and was thinking the same thing. The black TNT interface looks better than that blue they stuck us with by default. However, it's probably a good thing for us in that it means that TNT is still developing for what is at worst a very similar device, so maybe an official Honeycomb version will eventually appear.
Both the tab and the posting look familiar
Both the tab and the posting look familiar:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=982235
The folks at engadget are blind for not seeing that Olipad is clearly the gtab renamed.
Actually that would be an Advent Vega re-badge. as the 3G functionality is included as well.
Hmm! another location for ROM's me like ROM's - Yum Yum Yum.
i'm italian... so i'm quite interested in this...
if it really is a rebranded viewpad... can i flash other viewpad roms on it?
or is it needed a specific version?
loth77 said:
i'm italian... so i'm quite interested in this...
if it really is a rebranded viewpad... can i flash other viewpad roms on it?
or is it needed a specific version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes probably (might need to be tweaked) but you will loose your 3G functionailty. There are very few 3G enabled ROMs on this platform, zPAD, and the Advent Vega (modaco ROM). All the other ROMs do not have 3G capability, as they do not have a 3G modem.
i see...
uhmm... i'm seriously thinking to buy this tablet, do you think it is a good one after the rom tweaking?
loth77 said:
i see...
uhmm... i'm seriously thinking to buy this tablet, do you think it is a good one after the rom tweaking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For value for $$ the gtab cant be beat. with the addition of 3G (provided there is dev support, I cant believe it wont be better) In europe Modaco seeems to be the forefront of dev. I would ask there what people think.
Looks alott like the Viewsonic G but everything is made in China today. It probably has differnet specs. for differnet OEM company's.

Honeycomb on other tablets story

Yesterday I helped a friend install honeycomb on his Dell Streak7, which was a pain in my arse btw because their forums had no good instructions. It got me thinking hWHY does a 7 inch Dell Streak7 get HC with everything working and not the G tablet. WTF?? lol sorry i just don't get it. Did they just get lucky with video drivers and what not? Makes no sense to me. Then again i'm not a developer so maybe than it would make more sense. Thanks to those working on HC for Gtablet. Had to let that out. But with the question, does anyone know why a dell streak 7 ****ty tablet would have Honeycomb with everything working and the G-Tablet wouldn't?
Only a guess here, but perhaps the Dell Streak, being a crappy tablet, has a lot less hardware demand than the G-Tablet.
TJEvans said:
Only a guess here, but perhaps the Dell Streak, being a crappy tablet, has a lot less hardware demand than the G-Tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, never thought about that....
I'm wondering if you can get Android Honeycomb on a Windows 7 Tablet and if it is difficult or not?
RedWolf023 said:
I'm wondering if you can get Android Honeycomb on a Windows 7 Tablet and if it is difficult or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya dude! totally possible. You just gotta rebuild the kernel from the ground up and figure out how to get android to run on an atom processor!
(gets on soapbox)
Why do we even need mods at all? (being serious here, not sarcastic) Some of the users here purchased their GTAB for $400, but even at $279 it's not chump change. Heck, you can buy an Xbox for that, a PS3 or a netbook.
So we get this device with really decent hardware specs (except the screen), but the software is AWFUL. So Google finally responds, months later, with Honeycomb. But...we're not allowed to have it. And Nvidia agrees as well - no hardware drivers for you!
This whole situation, when you look at it from the outside in, is really sad. We shouldn't have to do this at all - Google should be working with Nvidia and Malata to get HC out on these devices ASAP. It would be good for Google, good for the manufacturer, and good for the consumer. Everyone would win.
So, why hasn't that happened? This isn't a 100 dollar ChiPad that's disposable, it's a tablet from a well-known vendor. Honestly, it MS gets its act together and deploys Windows 8 on ARM, I might drop Android like a bad habit next year. We shouldn't have to play these games.
(ends rant)
[Initiating slow clap] Well spoken sir. I spent 400 for mine and in no way is this a throw away pad. Even at the prices today its no joke. Google, VS, and nvidia are all looking at Gtab like some sort of stillborn fetus. Just flush it and pretend it didn't happen.
If they wont listen I can at least speak my mind with my money. I just returned the nvidia SLI motherboard and the 2 blackhawk grafix cards I purchased for my next computer build project. In my email I told them I no longer trusted them to support their products and told them that when they stopped supporting 6 month old teck it left me no choice but to build using their competition.
Suck it nvidia.
If viewsonic chooses to release a 2.3 or 3.0 android version for the g tablet will nvidia release the drivers for hardware acceleration?
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
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Click to collapse
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony
Just words, as far as I'm concerned. Where's the Harmony build for Gingerbread, with hardware acceleration? We're still waiting on that. Should we blame Malata for not wanting Gingerbread or Honeycomb badly enough? I find that hard to believe. We know Notion Ink wants it.
Just words. Like Viewsonic telling us that they will continue to support the device and give us updates (and even, at one point, subtly allude to Honeycomb) and then not give us an updated ROM (that stuck) since January.
Again, let them prove me wrong. Let's see a GB ROM with full hardware acceleration, this month. Or let's see Viewsonic / Malata get us a HC ROM, this month. Shock me, I'd love it if they did that. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
Isn't it obvious that google is beginning to act more like microsoft?
I honestly don't think viewsonic meant anything big out of the gtab. I'm thinking someone was drunk and decided to sign the papers agreeing to rebrand the gtab. The gtab's rise in popularity through the word of mouth took them by surprise and now they have no idea what to do next.
Viewsonic has instead decided to spend all their energy on pushing the viewpad 10 into the business world. So far, it's been a big failure. Not only that, they are coming out with the viewpad 10pro, which will be prised at around $800.
Sometimes, I don't understand why these mega corporations just let things slide like that.
roebeet said:
(gets on soapbox)
Honestly, it MS gets its act together and deploys Windows 8 on ARM, I might drop Android like a bad habit next year. We shouldn't have to play these games.
(ends rant)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, the BS we have been feed has put me right off the whole lot of them. Id love to see a ARM version of windows on this thing, the idea of a OS that actually utilises the device correctly makes me smile Oh how great this thing would be with a OS that actually supported the device correctly.
TJEvans said:
Only a guess here, but perhaps the Dell Streak, being a crappy tablet, has a lot less hardware demand than the G-Tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off topic I guess, but I played with a Dell Streak 7 for a couple of days while selling it for a friend. My god, what a terrible, terrible machine. The viewing angles are basically the same as the gTablet, but the resolution is so low it's comical for a 7" screen, and the battery life reminds me of my old MotoQ -- sucks the same amount of power awake as it does asleep.
The only pluses were that it was reasonably fast, and that the feel and heft of the tablet was good, would've made a nice eReader if the screen wasn't so bad.
dfin13 said:
Off topic I guess, but I played with a Dell Streak 7 for a couple of days while selling it for a friend. My god, what a terrible, terrible machine. The viewing angles are basically the same as the gTablet, but the resolution is so low it's comical for a 7" screen, and the battery life reminds me of my old MotoQ -- sucks the same amount of power awake as it does asleep.
The only pluses were that it was reasonably fast, and that the feel and heft of the tablet was good, would've made a nice eReader if the screen wasn't so bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya i noticed those faults as well and still frustrated My friend has a Fully Working Verison of Honeycomb with Hardware accel, camera, flash, and opengl in browser. WIth honeycomb the tablet actually is pretty zippy.
Since Atom Ink wants GB/Honeycomb so bad. Why cant they request the hardware drivers from NVIDIA? Technically according to what the NVIDIA guy said, that is 100% possible.
RedWolf023 said:
I'm wondering if you can get Android Honeycomb on a Windows 7 Tablet and if it is difficult or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android x86 project has made tremendous progress since the last time I looked. They don't have a Gingerbread-based distribution yet, but, they have fully working Froyo-based CDs which you can try out on your desktops, laptops and netbooks.
If you want to port any kind of Android to x86-based hardware this is where you'll have to start.
fosser2 said:
Since Atom Ink wants GB/Honeycomb so bad. Why cant they request the hardware drivers from NVIDIA? Technically according to what the NVIDIA guy said, that is 100% possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point - I suspect that they have. And yet it hasn't materialized. If I was Notion Ink, I'd be sending them emails daily asking for this - it's definitely in their best interest to have it. And Malata, as well.
Again, I think Nvidia is full of it.
roebeet said:
That's my point - I suspect that they have. And yet it hasn't materialized. If I was Notion Ink, I'd be sending them emails daily asking for this - it's definitely in their best interest to have it. And Malata, as well.
Again, I think Nvidia is full of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if there's anyone that we could contact at Atom that would give us a straight answer about this question.
Just look at Notion Ink's blogs - I think it's fairly obvious what's going on. They had a GB port, but no hardware acceleration. Nvidia is either unwilling or unable to help them get their Adam device working on GB.
Granted, they have mentioned June 27th as the date to get the Adam devices HC. So maybe they did strike a deal with them. And if they did, where is Viewsonic? If the Adam gets HC on the 27th, I think everyone with a GTablet should be tweeting / emailing / calling Viewsonic that day saying "what about us?".
roebeet said:
Just look at Notion Ink's blogs - I think it's fairly obvious what's going on. They had a GB port, but no hardware acceleration. Nvidia is either unwilling or unable to help them get their Adam device working on GB.
Granted, they have mentioned June 27th as the date to get the Adam devices HC. So maybe they did strike a deal with them. And if they did, where is Viewsonic? If the Adam gets HC on the 27th, I think everyone with a GTablet should be tweeting / emailing / calling Viewsonic that day saying "what about us?".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately someone at viewsonic seems to think that your suggestion sounds a little too much like "work" and have abandoned us completely. I email and call VS almost daily but all I get are canned responses or detours to some tech number in a foreign country.
How can it be that simply ignoring a problem is actually a solution in this day and age?
roebeet said:
Just look at Notion Ink's blogs - I think it's fairly obvious what's going on. They had a GB port, but no hardware acceleration. Nvidia is either unwilling or unable to help them get their Adam device working on GB.
Granted, they have mentioned June 27th as the date to get the Adam devices HC. So maybe they did strike a deal with them. And if they did, where is Viewsonic? If the Adam gets HC on the 27th, I think everyone with a GTablet should be tweeting / emailing / calling Viewsonic that day saying "what about us?".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how much was the NI Adam brand new at release? And comparitively how much was the G-Tablet brand new, at release? What's the price for continued support?

Rom Development

Why aren't there many roms available for this device, and a lack of cases?
God only knows why. Ask him.
Because ROMs outside of CM, BlissPop, Omni, and stock aren't worthwhile... Especially when the stock ROM is as good as it is. I mean the device already has the latest version of TWRP, amazing specs, a great stock TOM optimized for it, and a few other things such as the ability to tweak performance. As for cases, this device came from Nvidia and Nvidia isn't a big competitor like Samsung and LG in spite of having the best bang for the buck on any other Android device with the recent K1. Personally, I've been eying this:
http://www.amazon.com/Fintie-NVIDIA...0580591&sr=1-2&keywords=Shield+tablet+k1+case
For $8 you can't go wrong, and the shield cover straight from Nvidia is kinda costly. With the relaunch of the K1 expect more development and more cases as its way cheaper and the best deal for a device right now (if you take away the Volcano iteration of the G Flex 2 for $240, and that is just because it has a SD 810).
Those are just my thoughts,
What ROM would you like to see ported? I may be able to help.
SeekingSight said:
Because ROMs outside of CM, BlissPop, Omni, and stock aren't worthwhile... Especially when the stock ROM is as good as it is. I mean the device already has the latest version of TWRP, amazing specs, a great stock TOM optimized for it, and a few other things such as the ability to tweak performance. As for cases, this device came from Nvidia and Nvidia isn't a big competitor like Samsung and LG in spite of having the best bang for the buck on any other Android device with the recent K1. Personally, I've been eying this:
http://www.amazon.com/Fintie-NVIDIA...0580591&sr=1-2&keywords=Shield+tablet+k1+case
For $8 you can't go wrong, and the shield cover straight from Nvidia is kinda costly. With the relaunch of the K1 expect more development and more cases as its way cheaper and the best deal for a device right now (if you take away the Volcano iteration of the G Flex 2 for $240, and that is just because it has a SD 810).
Those are just my thoughts,
What ROM would you like to see ported? I may be able to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its alright, I just was wondering that's all. Thanks though. I posted this before I even recieved the tablet in the mail. I just got it today and its actually fine the way it is, I only need to install xposed and viper4android.
SeekingSight said:
Because ROMs outside of CM, BlissPop, Omni, and stock aren't worthwhile...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that's most of the devs work on XDA written off then, nice!
sminki said:
So that's most of the devs work on XDA written off then, nice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that. I understand others have differing tastes. I was just covering the distros I consider to be major as they can be altered to work like most others. They tend to be the ones with the least useless crap installed.
For instance, I love Team Vipers work with ViperDNA and ViperOne, Linux4Tegras ability to allow you to run a full distro, and the Bit-O kernel. I didn't mean any offense.
Sorry about that

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