[RECOVERY] [S7560/M and S7562] [Switches] - Samsung Galaxy S Duos

Hi !
After the MODEMS thread,
i decided to start this thread to help SGS ACE IIx and S Duos owners in recoveries switching....
So, if you want to flash kk+ roms(Like CM11, BeanStalk...), TWRP is better for you
You can get it >>>>> HERE
If you want to flash stock-based roms(Like PMP Ultra, Kyle/SS/Open, Cosmic...), CWM is better for you
You can get it >>>>> HERE
Just flash your recovery from your current one and then reboot recovery....
Regards......

.rootCoder. said:
Hi !
i decided to start this thread to help SGS ACE IIx and S Duos owners in recoveries switching....
Regards......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your job!
I'm using TWRP and have already customized .fstab to allow backing up all the partitions
including modem FW and settings (ecrypted, contains real qualcomm efs customized by Samsung incl IMEI, locks and baseband settings) which are very important to be on the safe side and restore device to the working condition independently of what had been damaged and what Samsung and other unfair "money-makers" want me to do or not to do or buy or not to buy. Furthermore, we can dump whole emmc to the raw image incl partition table and secret holes (its almost standard MBR, because emmc is nothing else than almost standard extremely cheap $2 (in retail!) uSD card (the only difference it's soldered as BGA) which sold as some valuable BIG'n'cool "internal storage" and I will not be surprised if its made of MLC NAND which will fail soon to make Samsung happy to sell you a new cool device ). This full emmc dump will be flashable via JTAG as RAW image (RIFF JTAG standard), so we needn't to have $150 RIFF to backup, but can buy it once we would be forced to restore our devices.
S7562 has JTAG connector so even soldering is optional and pin adapter could be used instead.
But there is problem to me - I can't find TWRP recovery settings in external file, so I can't edit primary check boxes positions and can't manage cache entry because it always shows "Android Secure" instead of cache independently of what cache entry contains in .fstab. I realize these settings built-in to the recovery binary so I ask you to share sources in this topic so everyone could be able to fully customize package.
On other hand I would be pleased to cooperate with you because I have 20+years of hacking experience but almost have no android/linux development experience, so I think it could get more time for me to install and tune up environment than hacking itself. I can provide you with full partition layout and some other internals of the Kyle and ready (but not debugged) .fstab to make a few good TWRP assemblies with different fstabs (most full version I'm sure shouldn't be offered to the novices, because they can easily kill their devices) or one more customized and featured.
Furthermore, MAYBE ones (who are familiar with iron and fan) can blow off emmc and solder in standard uSD slot (8-9 wires, I don't think they use SPI pins) to use cheap 16-32Gb uSD or may be superfast 64-128 or even 256Gb for internal storage. Anyway, I can't remember real parts# inside, even if there is MCP instead of pure emmc, ones can always order another BIG'n'Fast emmc (or MCP with emmc and bigger DRAM size), flash it and reball in place. (or reball then flash w/RIFF).
No flashing/software problems they should experience - the only modification req'd is to expand userdata ext4 partition to the size of new emmc or create new additional one and write script to mount it to the system at startup.
Modding is always fun because it's your creature and your win, not the other's labor and mind, bought at the store
The most limiting here is a free time, but I have a small amount.

TheDrive said:
Thank you for your job!
I'm using TWRP and have already customized .fstab to allow backing up all the partitions
including modem FW and settings (ecrypted, contains real qualcomm efs customized by Samsung incl IMEI, locks and baseband settings) which are very important to be on the safe side and restore device to the working condition independently of what had been damaged and what Samsung and other unfair "money-makers" want me to do or not to do or buy or not to buy. Furthermore, we can dump whole emmc to the raw image incl partition table and secret holes (its almost standard MBR, because emmc is nothing else than almost standard extremely cheap $2 (in retail!) uSD card (the only difference it's soldered as BGA) which sold as some valuable BIG'n'cool "internal storage" and I will not be surprised if its made of MLC NAND which will fail soon to make Samsung happy to sell you a new cool device ). This full emmc dump will be flashable via JTAG as RAW image (RIFF JTAG standard), so we needn't to have $150 RIFF to backup, but can buy it once we would be forced to restore our devices.
S7562 has JTAG connector so even soldering is optional and pin adapter could be used instead.
But there is problem to me - I can't find TWRP recovery settings in external file, so I can't edit primary check boxes positions and can't manage cache entry because it always shows "Android Secure" instead of cache independently of what cache entry contains in .fstab. I realize these settings built-in to the recovery binary so I ask you to share sources in this topic so everyone could be able to fully customize package.
On other hand I would be pleased to cooperate with you because I have 20+years of hacking experience but almost have no android/linux development experience, so I think it could get more time for me to install and tune up environment than hacking itself. I can provide you with full partition layout and some other internals of the Kyle and ready (but not debugged) .fstab to make a few good TWRP assemblies with different fstabs (most full version I'm sure shouldn't be offered to the novices, because they can easily kill their devices) or one more customized and featured.
Furthermore, MAYBE ones (who are familiar with iron and fan) can blow off emmc and solder in standard uSD slot (8-9 wires, I don't think they use SPI pins) to use cheap 16-32Gb uSD or may be superfast 64-128 or even 256Gb for internal storage. Anyway, I can't remember real parts# inside, even if there is MCP instead of pure emmc, ones can always order another BIG'n'Fast emmc (or MCP with emmc and bigger DRAM size), flash it and reball in place. (or reball then flash w/RIFF).
No flashing/software problems they should experience - the only modification req'd is to expand userdata ext4 partition to the size of new emmc or create new additional one and write script to mount it to the system at startup.
Modding is always fun because it's your creature and your win, not the other's labor and mind, bought at the store
The most limiting here is a free time, but I have a small amount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for my longer Delay( coz i'm busy, you know, studying...)
Happy new Christmas year!, and happy new Hijri year !
Thank you for every thing you said
even if you're only a junior 3+ posts member here, you're a one of the most respectable hackers, we may go on and make somthing special with this device.
About the source code of twrp, it's originally owned by codename13, this is only a binary dump and repackaging, he just got the code of kyle(ss)open kernel and made a working recovery, you may contact him for it( coz i didn't find it on his github)
i wish to you a good experience with linux, just like the other systems
and i wish to get some experience from you (coz i still a 16years beginer with some 2years of linux experience )
may god help us.....
Regards......
.rootCoder.

Related

Potential opportunity to increase device longevity?

I was thinking and can't remember where I posted it before, but it seems that all of windows mobile devices for the most part lack one think available ram, now I was wondering if a developer or everyday tinker person could create this. As we all know all of the new MS OS available have a feature called ready boost that allows you to use an usb flash drive with the same size to increase or double your available ram similar to the use of swap in linux. Now if were able to partition our sd disk to a portion being the size of the available ram and would make device see it maybe this could increase the lifespan of older devices and increase performance. I believe this can be achieved because I am able to boot an entire android rom off my sd card. And with the community effort this can be achieved. If you guys think this is a worthy opportunity please let me know though I don't program I will do what I can to help. Thanks in advanced.
search for ramdisk.
or click:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ramdisk+xda
gotcha but
I read through that and had different results (thanks for showing me how to use google........you have to have appropriate keyword for appropriate responses). Have you tried that image and did it help you?

[REF]{Definitions} Andorid & SGS4G specific <7/18>

THE SGS4G DICTIONARY​
A COMPANION TO THE BIBLE​​​
I am going to put a more in depth dictionary together, but this is my start. This was "Kanged" (look it up) from cyonogenmod wiki and Wikipedia. but I will be rewording it and customizing it to fit our needs here over time. This is just a jumping off point to get me going. As always, feel free to leave any words that need to be added!
2e recovery
3G
3G is the term generally used to describe 3rd Generation mobile telecommunications, specifically allowing for greater throughput of data over cellular networks. The official standard is known as "International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)".
4G
4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. In 2009, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).
ADB
Android Development Bridge. Command line tool used to communicate with & control the device over a USB link from a computer. The ADB command is found in the Android SDK.
ADP
Android Developer Phone. The first ADP was a "development" version of the HTC Dream. The current ADP is the Samsung Nexus S II.
Aftermarket
Aftermarket generally refers to any product or service applied or requisitioned by end-users to add usability or functionality to the original product. Many aftermarket modifications can void the manufacturer's warranty. From a manufacturer's perspective, the after-market is any goods or services offered by the manufacturer directly to end-users of a given product or service. After-market services include support for warranties, contracts, and parts and accessories sales.
Android
Unveiled on 5 November 2007, Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel developed by Google. Below is a list of the most recent versions, and what they include:
2.0 (Eclair) included a new web browser, with a new user interface and support for HTML5 and the W3C Geolocation API. It also included an enhanced camera app with features like digital zoom, flash, color effects, and more.[46]
2.1 (Eclair) included support for voice controls throughout the entire OS. It also included a new launcher, with 5 homescreens instead of 3, animated backgrounds, and a button to open the menu (instead of a slider). It also included a new weather app, and improved functionality in the Email and Phonebook apps.[46]
2.2 (Froyo) introduced speed improvements with JIT optimization and the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine, and added Wi-Fi hotspot tethering and Adobe Flash support[47]
2.3 (Gingerbread) refined the user interface, improved the soft keyboard and copy/paste features, and added support for Near Field Communication[48]
3.0 (Honeycomb) was a tablet-oriented[49][50][51] release which supports larger screen devices and introduces many new user interface features, and supports multicore processors and hardware acceleration for graphics.[52] The Honeycomb SDK has been released and the first device featuring this version, the Motorola Xoom tablet, went on sale in February 2011.[53]
3.1 (Honeycomb) was announced at the 2011 Google I/O on 10 May 2011.[54]
3.2 (Honeycomb) is "an incremental release that adds several new capabilities for users and developers." Highlights include optimization for a broader range of screen sizes; new "zoom-to-fill" screen compatibility mode; capability to load media files directly from the SD card; and an extended screen support API, providing developers with more precise control over the UI.[55]
Below is a list of future releases that have been announced:
4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)[56] is said to be a combination of Gingerbread and Honeycomb into a "cohesive whole."[57] It will be released in Q4 2011.
.apk
The .apk is a file extension that denotes "android package". As android in a linux based operating system, things are installed in packages. It is practically the installation file of a new program.
Apps2SD
Move applications from the internal NAND memory on the device to a removable SD Card.
Bloatware
Software or 'apps' that you don't need, but come preinstalled to a device's /system partition, meaning that you cannot remove them unless the device has been rooted. Usually, these are apps are sponsored by a company and included by a carrier for profit. The majority of bloatware put on the phones can be useless, as well as additional theming provided to the SGS4G can cause lag.
Brick
Bricking; Essentially the phone is as good as a "brick" or "Paper weight". There are two types of bricking;
Semi-bricked - Phone will boot up to a stage of perhaps the S logo animating but not entering the correct stage of normal use, you should be able to enter recovery mode or download mode and recover your device.
Fully Bricked - The phone will not boot up, depending on what went wrong, you may not even be able to access recovery or download mode to recover your device, but in some circumstance it is possible with the help of a home-made JIG to Trigger download mode. Or- The phone will do nothing, in which case only a JTAG will help.
CWM
ClockWorkMod is an alternate recovery menu where you can execute more advanced features such installing custom ROMs, Modifications such as kernels, lagfixes, battery indicator MODS etc from the internal SDCARD. As well as backing up and restoring the current ROM you are using. Other advanced features include clearing Dalvik Cache, wiping battery stats and partitioning the sdcard. Kernel/lag-fix settings can also be changed using the CWM. It can be installed by using the update.zip by downloading from either a site or via the app on the market. You must have 2e recovery to install this MOD.
{
"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"
}
Dalvik-Cache
The dalvik-cache directory holds all of the pre-compiled .dex files created from installed apps. These files are static and do not change unless the app is updated.
Debranding
To "debrand" a handset, you flash stock firmware to it, thus stripping it of any network branding whatsoever. It is a clean handset where adding customizations and modifications has a less chance of causing instability with the SGS.
Download Mode
Can be accessed by pressing "Volume Down + Power + Menu" when the phone is powered off. It is the standby prompt for the installation of new firmware.
ext2
Second extended filesystem for the Linux kernel. ext2 is still the filesystem of FSchoice for flash-based storage media (such as SD cards, SSDs, and USB flash drives) since its lack of a journal minimizes the number of writes.
ext3
Third extended journaling filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions. Note that due to limitations of SD Cards, you need to run "e2fsck -f" on any ext3 based SD Card filesystems after a crash to insure your data is still intact.
ext4
Fourth extended journaling filesystem is a journaling file system developed as the successor to ext3. Note that due to limitations of SD Cards, you need to run "e2fsck -f" on any ext4 based SD Card filesystems after a crash to insure your data is still intact.
Fastboot
Fastboot is protocol used to directly update the flash filesystem in Android devices from a host over USB. It allows flashing of unsigned partition images. It is disabled almost all production devices since USB support is disabled in the bootloader.
Firmware
Programs stored in the ROM, EPROM, or flash memory that usually control various internal electronic devices (Hard Drives, Keyboards, Displays, etc). Firmware is typically 'fixed' software that is not updated in consumer devices, however it is often updated (or 'flashed') by advanced users to fix bugs or add features to the device. Flashing firmware designed for one device onto a different device, or not following a specific procedure while flashing will often render the device unusable.
Flash
Non-volatile computer storage that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed (similar to EPROM). No power is needed to maintain the information stored in the chip. This technology is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products. Because of its ease of use, speed, ability to be updated (see flashing), this technology is often used in mobile devices, PDAs, digital media players.
Flashing
The process of applying a firmware image (or ROM) to a device. It generally entails a very specific order of steps. Failing to complete any one of these steps properly may result in bricking the device.
GApps/Google Apps
An add-on for Google's applications (Market, GMail etc.), packaged separately to avoid copyright issues
GNU
A recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix!”; it is pronounced g-noo, as one syllable with no vowel sound between the g and the n. The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.
IMEI
The International Mobile Equipment Identity is a number unique to every GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile device, as well as some satellite devices. The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen device from accessing the network. For example, if a mobile device is stolen, the owner can call their network provider and instruct them to "ban" the device using its IMEI number. This renders the device useless, whether or not the device's SIM is changed. The IMEI can be displayed by dialing *#06#.
JTAG
JTAG is repair solution providing unique scripting support and IDA real time debugging via GDB Server. RIFF Box JTAG is a high quality hardware with the Resurrection feature allowing for one-click repair.
Kang
The process of creating a code based of someone else's code or reapplying code that someone else created into your own code (e.g. git cherry-pick)
Kernel
The central or core software component of most operating systems. Its responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components) and can provide the lowest-level abstraction layer for resources (especially memory, processors, and I/O devices). You can flash different kernels to the SGS, being Voodoo, SpeedMOD and others, you can have different desired effects with flashing different kernels by enhancing sound/picture, the enhancement of input/output between the processor and memory as well as lagfixes.
Kies
Kies is official software from Samsung which allows you to connect your SGS to your PC. It provides many features such as photo/audio/video copying PC <-> Mobile, firmware upgrading and backing up of data such as contacts/calendar/media.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat. Basically a chatroom, or a cross between Instant Messaging and a forum.
Lagfix
The lagfix in the SGS is exactly what it means...fixing lag. Reason for it is that the SGS has a proprietary filing system known as RFS, this although works with android, it can cause lag. Fixes for these are "lag-fixes" which can convert the original RFS filing system into EXT4, a linux filing system which the android operating system can work very well with. Newer ROMs such as 2.2.1 JPU + have improved RFS structures which aid against lag and alot users are not using lagfixes anymore.
Launcher
The standard launcher that the SGS comes with is the touchwiz. This allows you to have a standard 4-icon dock and 7-home screens, placing icons and widgets onto the home screen, it is responsible for launching various applications. You can have alternate launchers such as "launcher pro", ADW, new gingerbread launcher and modified touchwiz's, each can give you additional performance and features such as graphics, widgets and increased speed in launching applications.
Logcat
A debugging tool built into Android devices that displays system logs as they occur. See Logcat.
NANDroid
A set of tools that will enable anyone who has root on their Android device to make FULL system backups, in case something goes wrong or you want to try out that new experimental ROM/theme. NANDroid will backup (and restore) /system, /data, /cache, and /boot partitions.
ODIN
Is a windows program used to flash the SGS phones when the phone is activated in download mode. It is an un-offical method to flashing the SGS. However, it is rumoured to be leaked firmware flashing software from Samsung.
PIT File - Believed to be responsible for the partitioning and directing where to install firmware on disk.
PDA File - Is the main firmware image of the phone containing the kernel, bootloader and majority of data for the SGS.
Phone File - Also known as the modem file, believe it is responsible for the phone/modem data, such as calling protocols and having the relevant software for being able to sign onto mobile networks and other communications such as wi-fi/bluetooth and GPS.
CSC File - Customer sales code, responsible for the identification of the phone, e.g XEU-CSC will be UK/Europe Standard. The CSC values will be used for future "over the air" updates as well as current identification while in the android market to see which apps are available to you.
Open-source
Open-source is software that anyone is allowed to see the 'source' code. In the context of Android, Open-source refers to the approach to the design, development, and distribution of software. This offers accessibility to a software's source code for modification, improvement, bug-fixing, and security-enhancement. CyanogenMod is based on this principle.
Radio
The cellular radio on the device which needs control software called firmware to control it.
Recovery Mode
A special environment that you can boot into for troubleshooting and upgrading purposes. Can be accessed by pressing "Volume UP + Power + Menu" when the phone is powered off, press and keep a hold for approx 4 seconds and release.
2e Recovery;
Is a revision of recovery mode which allows you to apply unsigned "update.zip"s, Wipe Cache partition, Wipe data/factory reset and format the internal SD-Card. This is the commonly used recovery mode.
3e Recovery;
Is the latest revision of recovery mode which allows allows you to flash signed "update.zip"s. Wipe Cache partition, Wipe data/factory reset and format the internal SD-Card. This recovery revision can be downgraded to 2e in order to flash unsigned zips and allow the installation of rooting or other modifications used in recovery.
ROM
Read Only Memory. In the context of an Android device, ROM is the internal flash memory where the core operating system resides. It can also refer to a specific version firmware that can be applied to a device through a process usually referred to as flashing. An improperly flashed ROM can often brick the device, rendering it unusable.
Rooting
Obtaining root ("administrator", or "full") access to the device. This means you can mount its internal memory partition as read/write, which lets you do various things: have USB or Wi-Fi tethering, uninstall applications you otherwise can't uninstall (e.g. the Amazon MP3 store), install applications that need root access (such as AdFree), disable the camera shutter sound (simply by deleting the shutter sound file), overclock or underclock the CPU, install and boot Debian, and so on. Installing CyanogenMod roots the device in the process. The "Superuser" app controls what applications may gain root privileges.
SDK
A software development kit (SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform. You can find the Android SDK at http://developer.android.com/sdk.
SIM
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module (SIM) is a small card provided by your carrier. It is an integrated circuit that securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices (such as mobile phones and computers). A SIM card contains its unique serial number (ICCID), internationally unique number of the mobile user (IMSI), security authentication and ciphering information, temporary information related to the local network, a list of the services the user has access to and two passwords (PIN for usual use and PUK for unlocking).
SPL
Second Program Loader, in conjunction with the IPL comprise a device's bootloader. Aside from bootstrapping Android, the bootloader also fulfills various diagnostic functions. One of these functions is the manipulation of data in the device's internal flash ram. Depending on the SPL installed, the user might be able to flash signed NBH files, flash nand images, and more. Note that the SPL is installed and operates independently of the Android build that runs atop it.
Generally speaking, there are two variants of the SPL: Stock, which is 'locked' and is installed on most devices from the factory, and Engineering, which is 'unlocked' and has to be manually flashed - usually after 'rooting'.
Stock firmware
Stock firmware is official, untouched firmware from Samsung.
Tethering
Using a wireless device (e.g. an Android phone) to share it's wireless data connection to another device (e.g. laptop). With an Android device, the wireless data connection can usually be shared via WiFi, Bluetooth or USB connection.
Unlock
Most GSM devices are locked to only work with the sim cards of a particular carrier. Obtaining root access (e.g. installing CyanogenMod) on the device usually does nothing to the sim-lock. The usual way to unlock the device to all SIM cards is to obtain a subsidy unlock code from a carrier.
Vanilla
A clean, unmodified version of something. In the context of Android ROMs, vanilla refers to the stock ROM that came pre-installed on the device.
Widget
An application that lives (in other words, is always running) on the homescreen instead of being 'run' like a regular app. It feeds information right to the home screen, and you can interact with the app without the need to open the app. Common examples are calenders and weather widgets.
Wipe
Usually refers to wiping data and cache partitions of the device.
Zipalign
Reduces the amount of RAM consumed when running the application by allowing data to be mmap'd in; which causes all uncompressed data within the .apk, such as images or raw files, to be aligned on 4-byte boundaries.
More to come as I fill it and make it pretty!
*reserved*
Thanks for all the reference materials you put up golmar88!
thank you for this. it will certainly help so many people; to learn and explain to others.
bkoon1218 said:
Thanks for all the reference materials you put up golmar88!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NP, Hope it helps.
This'll definitely prove useful for many people.
**requesting this to be a sticky**
Thank you!! Very helpful
Possibles
I'd like to understand these better and
any other similar. Thanks.
ODEXED DEODEXED voodoo KG4
KG6 KB5 KC1 KD1
@idiot41, I'm right there with you, I know what a modem is on computers, but is it the same?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
VERY helpful to this noob! Thanx
We could refer every noob here..YES!
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
idiot41 said:
I'd like to understand these better and
any other similar. Thanks.
ODEXED DEODEXED voodoo KG4
KG6 KB5 KC1 KD1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded. I found this thread while trying to find out what odexed/deodexed mean.
Great resource for noobs!
bump for sticky.

A ton of difficult questions about Android

They are all about Android 4.3 and upper.
A pair of questions about unrooting/locking/unlocking/booting.
1) What are the benefits of rooting other than being able to a) set custom cpufrequency policies, b) being able to update your phone (to custom new ROMs like cyanogenmod) when your OEM has decided to stop supporting it, c) full filesystem access, d) tuning sysctl parameters?
I don't like the fact the rooting totally breaks Android's security model.
2) Do I understand correctly that a locked phone is the phone in which you cannot overwrite/replace/customize vmlinuz? or there are even stricter limitations?
3) Do I understand correctly that in order to change e.g. /etc files you don't really need a custom ROM, you can boot into TWRP and replace/edit/remove the needed files?
4) Why does unlock wipe all your data?
5) If the phone is locked, how bootloader/firmware understands that our bootloader is untempered? Does the bootloader have a digital signature? I have this question because let's imagine that I 1) unlock 2) change vmlinuz (allow superuser) 3) lock?
6) How does "oem lock" verifies that system data is genuine? Or it simply wipes everything clean? Does Android has some (RO) partition which always contains a genuine virgin ROM you cannot meddle with?
7) If I do "unlock" on my Nexus device, without changing anything or installing any 3d party bootloader (like TWRP), will I be able to update to new official ROMs via OTA updates?
8) Why every "lock" manual says that I need to upload a genuine official ROM - what if I've changed it and made it "rooted"?
Storage.
Why does Android has so many partitions?
What method is used to break the internal storage into partitions? Is it some kind of partition table (MS-DOS, GPT) or it's hardware based?
1. The purpose of rooting is to give you an access level equal to the product's development team. Rooting is basically an unofficial way of doing exactly what the developers are doing on a daily basis. You can either consider that people are going to root and that the community adds value and bug fixes to your product by independent development (Android); or you can actively take measures to lock down root access and maintain a a gateway to development in the belief that this doctrine maintains a unified experience, protects security of intellectual material, and provides better overall security (Apple).
There's pros and cons to each side. With the Android thought, you are offloading a lot of your development burden onto the community and getting R&D, patches, and extending product life in return - for free. You take the risk of lowered security, but usually make it back because the community is a larger workforce with greater man hours and a vested interest in the product. They provide you with answers to problems you don't even know about as long as you listen.
With the Apple thought, you maintain a strong control on making the product do exactly what you want. This makes the product work exactly as expected, which can be easier for the user. However, your design has to be VERY good for the community to accept it. You also suffer in that you lock the community out from enhancing your product, so you HAVE to be the one coming up with all the ideas. Also, if the community finds a breach in your security, it can be devastating. Look at how much energy and money Apple pours into preventing jailbreaks.
I wouldn't be too worried about the 'break in security model' as you say, unless the Android platform becomes fraught with virii. After all, consider that unix on your PC is essentially the same thing, and you request root access on it to install certain things.
2. I'll let someone else chime in with a better answer
3. with root access you don't need a custom ROM, you just need the ability to access root permission and a file browser that will get you to protected areas.
4. I'm not sure I'm thinking about the same stuff as you here. Rooting doesn't wipe anything from what I remember. Replacing the ROM does, but that's because the ROM 'installer' doesn't have anything to preserve user settings. I don't consider this weird since Windows didn't have a really decent migration package built into the installer until windows 8.
5. There's a counter that iterates. Research trianglemod for an example of this topic.
6. It's hard to say what the OEM has for tools without them releasing the tools to the public. They, of course, are going to have better tools than us. No, there is no read only partition that I'm aware of that contains a full ROM that you can dump back in place. I've gone so far as to fully wipe my Galaxy S3 to the point where it only had clockworkmod and a boot screen that never went away. If I went much further, I could probably brick the phone, requiring an external programming program. A full brick would remove interface to your PC, which I believe is a possibility.
7. A new OEM ROM update will do one of three things:
a. update the phone to the new ROM and most likely break all the apps
b. update the phone and wipe everything
c. partially update the phone to a state where it won't boot due to a corruption (I've been here, lol)
8. not sure what we are talking about here
9. Android is based on linux. Linux is designed with specific partitions to handle different tasks for storage, memory access, stuff like that. If you aren't happy with the design, you are free to do something else - you don't have to use Android on an Android phone, you can probably put FreeBSD or Slackware or something, or write your own kernel.

Time to stand together !!!

I am one of the unlucky who've bought a new phone, unaware that android 4.xx contained even major changes compaired to the earlier versions. My phone is a HTC DESIRE 816, bought only because of the 8 gb internal memory and the promise that the phone supported additional 128 GB of memory
This has resulted in many of my programs no longer work because Android now blocks the direct access to the SD card and to the system.
What I find reprehensible is that these phones are sold without the producers inform us about this limitation, and I actually find that we have taking a step backwards concerning user freedom.
Furtermore HTC expresses thet they are 'excited to see what you are capable of. HTC eagerly anticipates your innovations'and also containes a complet guide to how to root your phone.
This, I find is hypocritical as they at the same time refuses to give us S-Off or to edit the platform.xml giving us access to our self paid SD CARD, and at the same time in their AD's makes a big deal about the fact, that we can add 128 GB of additional memory, but doesn't mention that we have no say over it.
A few Of my paid programs that doesn't work anymore:
Navigon, because of the amount of data it require you to DL.
My expensive Firewall / Antitheft.
My GPS tracking App
Nandroid,
Callrecorder
several of my paid Backup programs
many Jrummy App
etc etc.
We have to stand together an demand that the prducers find a solution, and we have to face up to Google, their excuse that it has to do with security don't hold water in court, they must have had other choices, but they chose the easiest and the one which made most trouble for their users.
Maybe instead they could have chosen to have apps that needed the R/W to apply for a signed certificate to get access to this and as the experts Google is to gather information, it wouldn't have been hard to monitor those apps who was awarded with the certificat to control if thet was abusing this.
This is just one solution, but I'm no expert, but guaranteed, there must have been lots of ways to solve and to achieve their goal.
Regards Sc0rpio

Rooting the Anki Vector Robot - a robot that runs Android

Hi,
my name is Melanie, I'm part of an effort to root the Vector robot made by Anki.
Anki has recently gone into administration, with the IP of the company winding up as collateral for an emergency loan that was never paid back.
Vector is very much dependent on the "cloud", namely, Anki's servers running on AWS. The SSL certificate for these servers is due to expire in September. There is little chance of it being renewed since the company has no funds.
A group of tech-savvy owners have got together on Discord to discuss how to help Vector survive the coming demise of his servers. They had already collected a not insignificant amount of information in the form of datasheets and observations as well as images of the internals of the robot and images of jigs Anki used during development.
I'm bringing this project to this forum because, internally, Vector is really a phone without the GSM part.
He is powered by a Qualcomm APQ8009 (Snapdragon 212), which has been paired with a combination ram/flash chip by Kingston, 04EMCP04-NL3DM627. There is also a Wifi/BLE module and a screen and 4 microphones.
The Snapdragon runs an Android boot loader and Linux kerner version 3.18.66-perf.
This is where he becomes different from a phone in that he doesn't start Zygote, but rather runs a number of daemons from systemd.
As shipped, there is no user accessible wired IO.
There are a number of wirepads on the PCB, as well as unpopulated pads for a micro USB port. When I joined the project, the serial port was already known, but while it provides a boot log, there is no getty on it.
The USB port had to this point not been successfully activated.
Since I'm a hardware person, that is where i placed my lever. I populated the USB port and started digging. Finally I found a solder pad labeled F_USB which was not even close tot he USB port, but turned out to be a boot mode pin from the CPU. Pulling it to VCC made the USB port enumerate in EDL mode. Qualcomm call it QDL or QDLoader, but it basically an interface to the ROM in the CPU, just like phones have.
From this I managed to grab a CPU ID but not much more.
Meanwhile, we reverse-engineered the phone app that comes with it and are currently writing a general purpose library to talk to Vector over BLE.
At this point, I found that I was facing a thicket of software, mostly either cracked or containing malware, or both, but very little legit options.
I see a few options to go forward on this:
- Find a software that can talk to the Snapdragon 212 to extract the current image
- Desolder the flash to extract the image via a programmer
- Desolder the CPU to access the flash's data lines without having to heat the flash, which could corrupt it
The last two options are bound to be destructive and all us owners have found a connection to their robots and are loath to sacrifice them. Also, they require a bit of investment and are, because of that, no quick wins.
I'm hoping that someone here may have the missing pieces I need to get from QDL 9008 mode to an image of the flash on my disk. We believe we have another way to flash it, not needing the USB port, but we don't have an image to try it with and flashing something like all zeroes would needlessly destroy a robot.
- Melanie
PS: I would post links but I'm too young to do so. There is a google group called "Project Victor" that has the info we have so far called anki-vector-rooting, a.k.a. Project Victor.
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/anki-vector-rooting
You are welcome to PM links to me and I will post them as a work around.
hope the best!
Link to Project Vector
http://projectvictor.my.to/
Sent from my ocean using XDA Labs

Categories

Resources