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, the way I see it, android (especially the newer versions) are capable of distributing several processes over the dual cores. Apps however don't utilise both cores.
Another question: what kind of apps would benefit from using both cores? I could imagine that heavy games and home launchers could benefit from using both cores.
Are there tools available for android that enable multithreading apps? And what are the average prices of app development tools?
Im currently working in Java, but how do most people write Android apps?
Edit: Just found some information that confirms my thoughts on how android uses parallel structures, but this still leaves open my other questions:
"Android 2.2 already takes advantage of multicore. Anything that multitasks and multithreads already takes advantage of multicore. But this exploitation is a matter of degrees.
Android 2.3 takes further advantage of the multicore, because unlike Android 2.2, 2.3's file system is multithreaded one, not single threaded. When it comes to file I/O or database searches. 2.3 will be a lot faster.
Android 2.4 or 3.1 as rumored to be, will take even greater advantage of multicores with further "architecting" parts of the OS to use more multithreads."
thanks .....
I use a number of different Android devices and have rooted all of them (so far). Taking a chance, I purchased a GoClever R103 Netbook (which runs Android 4.0) from Morgan Computers in the UK at the princely sum of £89.95
The hardware is not stunningly fast (single core 1GHz Cortex A8 with 512MB RAM + 8GB flash built in) but is surprisingly usable. If I could only root it, it would be a stunning little Netbook (I suspect). Nirvana could be if I could run ARM based Ubuntu on it (although rooted Android would still be good) but:
There is no option within 'Settings' to turn on debugging or developer mode
GoClever have not provided any updated ROM images (yet)
Does anybody have any hints as to how I could find any chinks in its armor and root the damned thing?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43573256#post43573256
You can go here! I have managed to root the device and stay tuned because I will launch soon a Debian port from it with debootstrap with working sound and all drivers needed.
hi
i like to know if there is a database for smartphone vs android OS or linux OS?
i have a phone, Brand X it comes with android version Y.
i'm interested to know questions like, i want to run an OS that is specifically tuned for an application, say I want sensors A, B and C, that i and don't care about the telephone, touch screen, volume, etc or a fancy GUI but want to use the graphics pipeline for calculations of the sensors with a minimal GUI so i can get as close to a real time response as possible.
is it better to tune the current android version Y?
or rollback android version to an early one as possible to remove bloat?
or nuke the android OS and install a flavor of Linux with a highly tuned kernel?
say i don't care about going back to original shipping android OS.
thanks
Hi,
I'm looking for a new tablet the idea is to have a linux based environment as the main ui, usage will mostly be web browsing media playback and file management the occasional linux program.
why? short version I want a desktop touch experience somewhat similar to what I get out of my windows 8 tablet but without the Microsoft part.
one method I have seen seems to be the chroot ubunto running on top on android and I was wondering if anyone could help with a few questions please?
1/is it possible to use without needing VNC? (not a fan of having to vnc into the local desktop)
2/any performance hits running a linux system on top of an android one? (other than vnc)
3/its running on top of android so it should have full hardware support with any device right? it isn't going to use the touch screen as a track pad right?
4/recommend any devices I might have luck with? looking around maybe $70ish price range with supported rooting/modding.
5/is it actually there? I mean does it work? Im going to assume if it could be done people (someone at least) would be doing it already ?
thanks
~SandG
*edited*
after many days *cough* 10 minute sections where I had nothing better todo* I messed around and finally got the x server working.
it isn't accelerated (and stopped working after I tried to change base distro)
the x wrapper felt slower than VNC.
the dpi is kind of messed up the UI isn't made for it.
the touch screen works like a track pad (urg)
the keyboard erm where is the keyboard? (don't answer that)
for some reason they went and put this really neat tilt thing that moves the mouse around but lacks other things(acceleration?)
I could maybe pass as a really slow desktop if it were hooked upto a usb hub keyboard mouse and hd screen.
I still think it is an amazing feat it just isn't there. it is not usable for day to day tasks, install it for fun with vnc to show your friends you have "linux" installed on your tablet/phone, use it to run scripts / tools on the go you wouldn't normally have access to but that's about the extent to its usefulness, you aren't going to be playing games in it, doing heavy browsing streaming video or even playing sound.
tldr I got no feedback from anyone with experience but from what I gather it isn't going to replace android os on your tablet.
guess I will probably look for a tablet that runs linux native or suck it up and get a vanilla droid tablet and forget about switching out the UI/OS this way