Database Info

[APP] Boot Manager Pro - Dual boot unlimited ROMS! [WIP]

Hola peoples!!! Ok so I just thought I'd create my own thread on this matter. Mustangtim started one in apps and themes (and here is the link to that thread) but since I'm taking over this project it was brought to our attention that this should be in the dev section as its no longer just an app.. I am actually tearing .imgs apart trying to figure out what the deuce.
FIRST OFF THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, WE ARE NOT YET FULLY SUPPORTED. HOWERVER I'M DOING MY BEST TO CHANGE THAT.
Secondly if you want to help get this started please visit the market and grab the app here. Its a $3 dollar app for unlimited amount of roms, based on your SD card storage capacity anyway. And speaking of which you need AT LEAST a class 4 or better SD card to make this run smoothly.
Also feel free to visit the forums at http://forum.init2winitapps.com/
Ok so here it is, Boot Manager Pro. Its been a long time coming for the g2x to dual boot. First off let me say long story short, I currently have a bootable SD Rom, known as ROM1. I have yet to be able to recreate my findings tho. But it works and it doesnt brick at all. However it is a bit laggy on my class 4 SD card. Luckily I've already done my research on this project as there are many threads of such awesome info so I'm just going to be lazy about it and quote the good people of xda versus re-writing it based off of their info.
ChrisDDD said:
So here's a very basic description of how it works... It doesn't partition your SD card, it just creates a folder of its own, and then sub-folders to hold the different roms you install. When you install a rom, it basically creates images of the usual Android partitions - system, data, cache, & boot. These are standard .img files, just like the ones Clockwork creates when you do a backup. After the images are created and wiped (formatted, which you should do initially) it installs your rom into these essentially the same way as Clockwork installs a rom to your phone's actual partitions. I assume it modifies the kernel that comes with each rom to mount the image files on the SD card instead of the phone's partitions.
When you want to boot a rom, it just replaces your current boot image with the modified one and restarts the phone. With the modified boot image, the system, data and cache images on the SD card are mounted to the correct locations and Android starts up none the wiser. The rom will initially run a little slow, because the SD card is slower than the internal memory, but after things get cached it speed up considerably.
When you want to reboot to another rom, or back to the phone's rom, Boot Manager again swaps boot images that mount the desired rom's partitions (in the case of the phone's rom) or files (in the case of an SD card installed rom).
When you first run Boot Manager, it makes a Clockwork flash able backup of your current boot image, which you can flash if a rom hangs or loops on startup. Alternatively, you can also simply boot into recovery and do an advanced restore, choosing just the boot image to restore from a backup. It accomplishes the exact same thing.
It can be a little hit or miss, with some roms just plain refusing to start through Boot Manager, but it does work and when it does, it's pretty amazing given what it's actually doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically upon installing the app you need to setup your phone so that way you can properly install a ROM, follow these steps:
1. Go into the supersu(or superuser app) and then go to settings then disable logging or click none.
2. Then go into the BMP app and press the menu button on your phone, not the app, and go to settings. Once in settings put a check mark in force large boot.img, screen on during install, and then go into variables, leave tegra alone but change the sdcard block to show mmcblk1p1. Then press finish and let the app restart. By the way I didnt change any of the sizes of the .imgs but feel free to do so. But be warned do not decrease the size of the system.img only increase it, if desired.
3.Then after you've done the above you need to setup the phone rom. Click on 'Setup Phone' under phone rom and follow that process to setup your phone rom.
4. Once your phone rom is setup you may begin to install a zip to rom1 or rom2 or whatever slot you want. This is the tricky part. I have done tons of reading and most people say that if your using CWM, which us g2x'ers do, then you will probably have a better chance of getting a bootable rom by restoring from a nandroid backup you did versus installing new.
5. So after you decide which path you will take, nandroid backup or fresh rom install, choose install. If you choose a fresh rom, wipe system, data, and cache right away. If nandroid, then wipe after the install.
6. Now once you have clicked install put your phone down, DONT MESS WITH YOUR PHONE AT ALL! PUT IT DOWN AND WALK AWAY OR SOMETHING! Don’t mess with it, text from it, xda from it, dont even use the screen as a mirror!!!! lol seriously the app is picky and while under the .img creation process you want nothing to mess that up or you will not get it booted. You may however drag down the notifications bar to follow the progress of the install.
7. Once its complete, tap the install complete notification in the notification bar and let the app do its thing to finalize the install and get you back to your rom selection screen. Now if you did a nandroid back up here is where you click 'manage slot' and then factory reset the backup you did. Just do it, dont ask why.
7.1 Also so if you desire to install gapps and/or possibly a different kernel, now would be the time to do so while your here. I have read mixed reviews of doing this process right after the rom installs. However when I set up my rom1, I booted into it first all happily then realized I had no gapps. So I had to reinstall BMP on rom1 then boot back to phone rom and then I installed GB gapps and had no issues booting back into rom1.
8. Once the above steps are done if your feelin lucky go ahead and tap on boot the rom you installed, and if all goes well it will boot up.
9. If it boots up you need to post confirmation here!!! Provided info such as phone rom and the info on the sd rom you used and slot number and such.
Hopefully it will just work for you. I have done all the above steps using HFP 2.1 as my phone rom and only been able to get 1 bootable rom. Being it was for testing I used HFP as my phone rom and as well as my rom1.
So if the above steps dont wortk out for you and your boot lopped or what ever, then turn your phone off and reboot into cwm. You have 2 options to resolve the boot issue you just created. 1, you may go to restore then advanced restore then restore your boot. Or 2. select install a zip and nav to the bootmanager folder then phone rom then flash the update zip there.. then reboot and you should be back at your phone rom.
Here is a basic run down of everything that I have done so far:
When I first started working on this project I wasn’t doing any dev'ing to change any of the stuff in the boot.img. I just changed settings in the app per all the research I did. So when all was said and done I restored HFP 2.1 to ROM1 and it actually booted!! And it works lovely btw.. I can still boot into this rom today. I then decided to pass the word and ways that I created the working rom1, well I nor anyone else I passed the info to was able to get it working. Only one other person was able to confirm that rom1 works but only after I copied all my rom1 info and sent it to him for testing.. and he was able to boot into my created rom1… As I see it, it was a blue moon event that I have yet to repeat. So I thought eff it lets do some dev'in so I unpacked the boot.img from rom1 then compared that to the unpacked boot.img from rom2 that I created in my trial and error experiences. So in doing so I noticed 4 differences; 1, the mount points obviously, 2, in the sbin folder had a ueventd file from the working rom1 was a text file viewable by gedit in ubuntu. In rom2 it was just a non-readable file. 3, in the init.rc file was also missing a chmod command for system, (the command is in rom1 but not rom2) and 4, there was a ueventd.tegra file that was in rom1 that wasn’t in rom2, but everything else is the same. So I decided to plug and play with the differences to see if she boots and no go. I don’t understand why its boot looping because I am using the same rom as phone rom as for rom1 and rom2. So it boot looped. So I had to restore my boot.img many times in cwm.
So then I said eff it lets do some more research, then I noticed in the .zips folder plus the individual rom folder there are .zips that will let you flash via cwm if you get boot loops and 'should' get you booting to your desired sdrom. I then tried that way and no go.. so then I opened up the zip and had a look at the internals.. first there is the moveboot.sh file that the app runs in cwm flash the given boot.img. I then checked out the meta-inf and opened up the updater-script thinking that the app wasn’t actually flashing the boot.img which is why it loops... Well I think im half way right. However the script itself is lil dodgy... first thing I noticed was at the end of the script they have a command to cp the log from /tmp to /sdcard/bootmanager well the command was wrong so it never copied the log. So I fixed that. I also saw that the assert command was pointing to ‘boot’ instead of mmcblk0p5, so I changed that too. Then I decided to do away with the assert command and the moveboot.sh file they have going on to utilize the same functions that the kernel zips use, which is a kernel folder that holds the boot.img and a run_program that dd's the boot.img to 0p5. plus I even updated the update-binary that the file uses. I used the one from the g2x nullifier as I know that one was made for our phone and should have no issues.. plus there was a noticeable difference in the sizes of the provided binary to that replaced binary. So with the updated.zip file I then rebooted into cwm to flash that being that I was using a different command to flash the boot.img as well as the other changed stuff and still it boot looped. So as of now the only thing I don’t think ive done was grab the boot.img from rom1 then change the mount points, only change that, and then use that for rom2 and see if it boots. I don’t think I’ve done that yet. But every dam process I do I get boot loops. So basically I have came to the conclusion that it’s now NOT a boot.img issue being that I have done everything to change the boot.img and to make sure it flashes, which it does indeed and now creates the log too… I think maybe it has issues with the system.img as that’s what comes next in the boot process. But that’s just my hypothesis. I won’t be able to confirm this till I liberate rom1’s boot.img then change the mount points to point to rom2 and then see if it boots.. if it don’t work then that would mean to me that there is an issue with system.img created. But that’s just my hypothesis…
What I don’t understand is why the eff when I didnt hack the app I got a working sd-rom, but when I do change some stuff with it still don’t work!!???!! I guess maybe ill just edit/hack the apk to see what’s up.. This is getting way more complicated than it needs to be, since it worked prior to all my major changes to the script its using for flashing and the boot.img and what not. Anyone have any ideas feel free to add them.
My next steps are to edit rom1 boot.img one last time to change the mount points to point to rom2 and then if that’s a no go then it’s got to be the system.img that’s getting created. By the way this whole process I have only been restoring my nandroid backup for HFP 2.1. I have not attempted to flash new as with thru my research more times than not people would get a bootable rom via restoring versus flashing new.. so if anyone wishes to experience an sd rom let me know, ill send you a link to download my rom1 to get it going. Mind you that its not perfect and you need a class 4 or better sdcard. Everything works but it just takes a bit longer to load things and get things cached as its on the sdcard and not nand. Also if you have any input or are wishing to help pm me I need more heads to get this sorted as I can’t be the only one who knows how to edit scripts and unpack imgs and such. Either way I will continue to do this until I get it right damit!!! Oh and I just ordered a class 10 sdcard to help with this process…
That was copied from the other thread that mustangtim started. Last night when I went home the first thing I did was change the mount points on rom1 to reflect rom2, I changed nada else, then I tried to boot it... it boot looped. So maybe its a permissions issue or the system.img.
So just as a proof of concept and before anyone calls bs on my work/findings Here is the link to my rom1 that boots and is HFP2.1. *Update, 'm just going to
leave it on my DB for now till I find something better I guess. xda wont let me attach the file since its 233MB. Oh well here is the link :
Code:
[URL="http://db.tt/eBZwrOrs"][U][B]Here it is, my Rom1 HFP 2.1[/B][/U][/URL].
I have also attached my updated script file to flash back to rom1, for now.
The boot.img points to rom1 instead of phone rom, ill add to phone rom
as well, just not the now. :) Feel free to flash this via cwm versus
restoring...
Also this is part of the this: the ‘.zips’ folder you need to replace the file in
that folder as well. It’s an update file for rom1 to flash the boot.img.
..
If you’re going to use this you need install a random rom to rom1 then replace those created files in rom1 with these files in the 7z file..
So I am doing this new thread to get the devs or people with know how to help me out with my findings. I have edited the boot.img so much I could pretty much re-write everything in there by now including using magic to create to my own kernel eff!! lol jk but seriously I need people with knowhow to provide confirmation of go or no go. Basically I have people whom have helped out but It seems that I'm the only one who has dug this far into this app(unless i've been misinformed) and I have no one on my level to talk with except the init2winit devs. Which are very helpful btw.
And lastly:
Conap said:
Guys if it's failing to make the boot.img first make sure your using the market version....others have released cracked versions of our app which they broke...if your using the actual market version just send me a pm or email [email protected] and send your log.txt from BootManager folder on sdcard and we'll get it straightened out. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or post here or PM me, I'm always down to help out.
Also thanks go to the init2win team, Gflam and Conap as they started this app. and as well to Mustangtim as he brought me into the light of BMP.
So you got all that???!!!??? Now lets get this party started and get full support for dual booting. I will not rest until I get this working. Thanks for your time and possible assistance.

Ok so since I have a book above I thought this is a good place for links and such...
So just incase anyone is curious, here is the Official Boot Manager Manual
Here is a nice link for Tips and Tricks while Installing ROM's that so far has good info to help you watch via adb what the BMP is doing in its creation process.
Some FAQs:
When should I set up my phone ROM?
Set up your phone ROM EVERYTIME you install a new ROM to your phone so you can get back to your phone ROM and won't get stuck on your SD ROM.
My SD ROM seems to lag how can I fix this?
SD ROM lagging may be due to a few things which all have easy fixes. First fix is that most of you have class 2 cards which are what usually come with your phones. These have a much lower read/write then cards of a higher class, we recommend a class 6 card or above. Another easy solution is overclocking merely install a better kernel and use CPU Boost (or any other overclock app) to overclock your phone.
Can I nandroid my SD ROM slots?
Yes and no you can't nandroid them in the traditional sense of the word using recovery but this app works as a recovery for your SD ROM slots and you can back up your ROM slots within the app in the Manage Installed ROMs section which works as a nandroid for your slots by fully backing up your slots to your sdcard which can later be restored.
What if I want to change the sizes of my images, how may I determine the individual sizes easily?
Easiest way is to open up terminal emulator in your app drawer. Type 'su', then grant permissions if need be, then type 'df -h' and it will display such information. You may also use adb in the same fashion. Connect via usb, open up command prompt/terminal and get adb connected and then type 'df - h' again and the same info will show. I will say this again just because, do not decrease the size of your system.img ever! Unless you want mad issues!
Here is the changlog link and just for heck of it the info based on that link:
Code:
V3.2.6
Fixed DroidX/Droid2 Install issue
Fixed UI theme issues
Fixed issue with spaces in name of pic when selecting photo for screen shot
V3.2.5
Fix to allow continue of install if no boot.img is found.
V3.2.4
Added support for HTC Rezound
Added support for rom's with multiple boot.img's
Added support for rom's made for multiple phones
AutoDetect sdcard for usb mounting
Fix for installing ICS gapps
Optimized SDRom Install process
Added support for Motorola RAZR
Added install queue
V3.2.3
Fixed issues with rom's not showing when on emmc on Droid Incredible
Fixed issues with not showing correct booted rom in app
More improvements to sms sync(all rom's will need updated app for changes to apply)
Fix issues with loader
Fixed issue with switching to backup server when main server goes down
Fixed 1x1 widget to show unlimited rom slots
Added 2x2 widget that works with unlimited rom slots
V3.2.2
Fixed force close for img's over 1Gb when resizing
Fixed current booted rom displaying correctly on gnex
Fixed issue with wrong busybox downloading on gnex which should fix alot of install/boot issues
V3.2.1
Fix for errors causing installs to fail.
Fix for some of the licensing stuff.
Removed sdbooster prefs from Galaxy Nexus(Since they don't have sdcard).
V3.2
Changed 4 sd slots to infinite slots!
Galaxy Nexus Support
Sms and Call Log synced between ROMs (you choose what ones too also requries updating boot manager in all slots)
License Check extended to a week
ROMs do not need market installed for boot manager to run (requires updating boot manager in all slots)
Hide su toasts (superuser elite only)
Fix for force close when setting screen shot in MIUI rom's
Thunderbolt defaulted to force large boot.img
Fixed unsupported device using a key
Manually setting variables only accepts numbers
V3.1.1
Fix for various force closes in rom installs and Nand restores
V3.1
Added su binary check
User selectable colors for everything
Better navigation (press title for quick action)
Added compatability for new twrp backups
Better compatiblitlity with memory tweak scripts(i.e. supercharger script and liquids default scripts)
Fix for install process being killed by android
Fix for some themes erasing img's
Fix more force closes during install
Force smaller boot.img option in settings(Fix for some phone's who's boot.img won't fit on the phone after BootManager edit's it)
Improved gapps checker
Improved security
Boot Manager now accepts keys pay for by paypal (see http://init2winitapps.com/stories/BootManager.html)
Added Evo 3d GSM Support
Added notifcation sound/vibrate for finished install (turn on in settings)
Improved data check
V3.0.3
Fix some force closes
V3.0.2
Added backup server (Sorry our server dropped out)
Fixed some force closes
2nd init fixes for Liquid's ROMs
V3.0.1
Last minute UI fixes
V3.0
UI Completely redone
Includes screen shot of each slot
Custom Info
Custom Dialogs
Custom Animations
Custom everything!
Bug Fixes
Added Droid 2 Global support
Screen shot with long press of search
V2.2.1
Bug fixes in file browsers
File browsers only show relevent files
Kernel installer fix
Droid 2 bug fix
V2.2
New security (more advanced and requires data only once a day)
Installs no longer require data
Added Italian translation thanks Black-Ice
Droid X support
Droid 2 support
Fixed status bar notifications
Fixed phone rom rebooter if gapps aren't installed
Bug fixes
V2.1
Restore android_secure to sd from nandroids
Added TWRP nandroid support
Added CWM tar nandroid support
Added Spanish translation
Made widgets easier to use
SD Booster added (Change SD read cache for better preformance)
Added current settings to manually set variables.
Added option to keep screen on during install in settings
Fixed usb layout
Updated Security
Bug Fixes
V2.0
Install now runs from the foreground (status bar)
Restore Nandroids to slots also in the foreground
User can cancel installs as they run
4 new themes added including one by apophis9283
Some phones such as tb moved to new install code (Fix for some sense rom's)
V1.3
Added third theme to app (Red Theme)
Added 4x1 widget and new widget styling
Fixed in app messenger
Added support for Htc Evo 3D
Added support for Htc Sensation
Added Support for Htc Incredible 2
Added Support for Htc Incredible S
Added Support for Htc Desire S
Added support for LG Ally
V1.2
Added option to reboot to phone rom to install gapps in license check dialog
Better error checking and error logging
Automatically install's ext2 libs if not present
Moved Set Names to Manage rom's
Fix for add-on's not installing correctly
Better compatiblility for rom's that use data2ext or apps2sd(user must set larger img's in manual variables)
Trash cleaner added to extras
Better Fix for WiFi issues on Droid 1
Added display to show what rom you are booted into
Fix for updater-script not found errors
Added support for Htc NexusOne
Added support for Htc MyTouch4G
More compatiblity for ext4 support
V1.1
Fix WiFi issues on Droid 1
Fix bug in rom installer for setting permissions correctly
Fix bug for cache size not setting correctly in setting variables manually
Fix for decimals entered into partition sizes causing force close
Fix force close in widget
Fix force closes in installer
Added Wipe data/Factory reset to Manage Rom's section
Added code to show what file's are being unzipped in dialog
Added support for rom's that extract files to sdcard so the files actually end up on your sdcard
Added support for Htc Desire (apps2sd and data2sd rom's support is experimental. Please email if you test it and it works/doesn't work)
Added support for Htc Inspire4g
Added support for Htc DesireHD
Added option to use ext4 filesystem if rom's support it-Experimental Won't work with all rom's.
Added log.txt file to sdcard to log errors during install
V1.0
Initial Release

YEZZZ

glad to finally see this here!

jookdakang23 said:
glad to finally see this here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed... hopefully it wont be before too long that I get this app fully supported for us!

This app will be extremely useful for G2X owners and makes the G2X more versatile and desirable.

da-pharoah said:
indeed... hopefully it wont be before too long that I get this app fully supported for us!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
idk how you get it booted. lol i keep getting bootloops

jookdakang23 said:
idk how you get it booted. lol i keep getting bootloops
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using the files I supplied or the ones that BMP created for you?

Woo hoo good job bud
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

x0xhellx0x said:
Woo hoo good job bud
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL thanks bro.... Go Team Hellfire!!!!

da-pharoah said:
Are you using the files I supplied or the ones that BMP created for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i remember requesting the files but think you ever sent them

jookdakang23 said:
i remember requesting the files but think you ever sent them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no we had a miscommunication due to our avail times and GB's lacking ability to utilize two accounts on gtalk.... I have posted those files in the op however...

First, I want to thank everyone who has helped with us on this app. Second, I know I picked the right man for the job, did you see that OP! All kidding aside, a lot of you know I write for ACS under screen name artifintel. I just had too much on my plate to give this project the attention and direction it needs. The right guy is in charge, he's a stand up person and very knowledgeable with this app. Good luck everyone!
[email protected]

I tried installing CM9, it didnt work, stuck on first boot screen after the LG logo.
I'm using rooted stock 2.3.4

Rafase282 said:
I tried installing CM9, it didnt work, stuck on first boot screen after the LG logo.
I'm using rooted stock 2.3.4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what rom are using as phone rom? and you installed to rom1?

da-pharoah said:
what rom are using as phone rom? and you installed to rom1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As phone rom i;m using rooted stock 2.3.4 v21y
The to rom1 I installed CM9 kang from oiwan with gapps and harsh kernel

Rafase282 said:
As phone rom i;m using rooted stock 2.3.4 v21y
The to rom1 I installed CM9 kang from oiwan with gapps and harsh kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and no bootloop you say?? well then it may be the stock rom your using... The app is very picky and if you get a bootloop, I feel that those can get booted with tweaks... but stuck on lg screen is just no bueno.. Try a different rom... maybe one that has its partitions at ext3 format just to try it.. I think owains rom uses ext4, but I could be wrong. I havent fully researched his rom yet..

hands down, a badass app...

SiL3nTKiLL said:
hands down, a badass app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol +1 for sure!

da-pharoah said:
I think owains rom uses ext4, but I could be wrong. I havent fully researched his rom yet..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
positive on ext4

Suggestion:TWRP, exfat, GT-N7000 external SD Card bug

On my Samsung GT-N7000 I'm trying Omnirom again. I've tried it in the past and also tried vanilla CM stable and nightlies. I have also tried SuperNexus and PA and some other stuff that left no impression. Basically on this device for functional hardware, reasonable user control and a coherent UI it is Samsung's Touchwiz rooted, or Omnirom.
It is a bit too hard to install Omnirom and it can be horribly tedious to go from Omnirom back to stock or to another ROM. It's OK after you have done it a few times, but it is a huge obstacle for anyone trying to discover the way via inaccurate, misleading and fragmented documentation. The install guide at omnirom.org is actually utterly useless for this particular device, a complete non-starter. XpLoDWilD your GT-N7000 specific thread at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516933 almost guarantees a boot loop because it only mentions but doesn't identify or link to versions of CWM which are adequate. In fact unless the user by diligent searching (or more likely by blind chance) comes across a link to the specific suitable raw kernel then it is one big dead end. You could spend hours and days searching for a suitable CWM and never find it because actually you should be searching for raw_kernel_r#_j##.zip. But how is anyone meant to know this. It turns what is actually a reliable and rather trouble free 15 or 20 minute process into a some kind of waking torment. In the past the documentation on installing via CWM was so bad that I used ODIN, which is less than ideal IMO because it means that anyone switching from stock to Omni doesn't get the chance to make a full nandroid backup of the original system (so to revert means a very tedious clean install).
So assuming the end user somehow finds the right raw kernel whose recovery can install Omnirom, what should they do? Of course they should back up their current apps and also make a nandroid backup. Apps backup is easy with oandbackup or titanium or similar. How about a nandroid backup to external SD? No problem in CWM but once you have TWRP installed you can't use it to access anything on an exfat formatted external SD card! You can back up before installing Omnirom but afterwards you can't restore! This is 100% nuts. exfat has now been around for 8 years. CWM supports it brilliantly. Even my crusty old Debian stable desktop reads and writes to exfat at very high speeds even via a FUSE FS and my puny Asus EeePC netbook running XP Home handles it fine. TWRP? Nope. exfat? Wha tha? Aaaaaagh.
Sorry to rant But for these specific devices Omnirom (with an exfat SD) is really the only high quality competitor to the stock Samsung, and there surely isn't a good reason for it being so frustrating to install and also to revert? Is TWRP really such a killer facility that it is worth foregoing the ability to backup and restore to the now very common exfat microSDHC? I run plain CM 11 on another device and OTA updates work fine on that. In these days of phatter pipes is it really worth making a huge compromise in functionality simply to avoid 200MB of downloads sometimes? On this device the delta updates are going to fail for many anyway unless they use an exfat card, but if they use an exfat card they.....oooouuuurrrggg...vicious circle.
/rant over.
Loving Omnirom btw and writing as a fan.

#blamesamsung
The Exynos Galaxy S2 family are some of the only devices remaining that don't have separate recovery partitions. This has always led to various annoyances for custom firmware users since it's impossible to change recovery without changing kernel.
Probably the documentation could be updated to indicate a double-flash though. Flash once to get a working recovery, flash a second time to get a working /system

Entropy512 said:
#blamesamsung
The Exynos Galaxy S2 family are some of the only devices remaining that don't have separate recovery partitions. This has always led to various annoyances for custom firmware users since it's impossible to change recovery without changing kernel.
Probably the documentation could be updated to indicate a double-flash though. Flash once to get a working recovery, flash a second time to get a working /system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for responding. I do appreciate that the exynos based devices are sons-of-b...b...bad persons.
I know documentation is boring and mostly thankless but it also matters a lot, most especially for projects which invite the user to perform realtively complex and potentially hazardous tasks.
Personally I would be very happy to edit/update XpLoDWilD's guide, but of course I can't because it's a forum post, not a wiki, so he owns it and it will remain there guiding new and trusting people into disappointment and boot loop oblivion until he decides to change it.
Omnirom has some issues but on the GT-N7000 is probably the only really mature and coherent alternative UI to Samsung's Touchwiz. To me it seems simply insane to direct newcomers into an unnecessary, time consuming, badly described and potentialy hazardous obstacle course, when in fact installation can be done with only small inconvenience.

I'm currently looking for information about installing OmniROM (I'm currently running CM11 nightlies), and I can attest the information in XpLoDWilD's post is somewhat vague, and also doesn't fully correlate with the directions to install Omni at the official wiki -- I'm assuming this lack of correlation is partly due to the fact, mentioned in this thread, that the N7000 doesn't have a separate recovery partition.
Something which made me especially uncertain about the installation process is the following part:
XpLoDWilD said:
- Make sure you're running a proper working ClockworkMod-Recovery - WITH SELINUX SUPPORT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding is that SeLinux is a feature of the kernel -- not the recovery console -- am I wrong about this? Or should I look for SeLinux in the features of the recovery console as well? (if so, how?)
What I currently do, is run adb, or start a console from the normal operating mode (not recovery mode), run the command:
Code:
getenforce
and confirm the reply is:
Code:
Enforcing
which means I have a kernel with SeLinux. Is that good enough to ensure the requisites for the installation are provided?
I'd appreciate any input about this matter.
julian67 said:
Personally I would be very happy to edit/update XpLoDWilD's guide, but of course I can't because it's a forum post, not a wiki, so he owns it and it will remain there guiding new and trusting people into disappointment and boot loop oblivion until he decides to change it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cant you add device-specific installation guide at the official wiki?

sagie said:
Cant you add device-specific installation guide at the official wiki?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm back on rooted Samsung TouchWiz. As things stand I wouldn't encourage any normal end user with a GT-N7000 to try a ROM. Hardware support is poor and unlikely to improve, installation documentation is misleading, backup is difficult, and restoring stock Samsung successfully requires ODIN. Also you stand a real chance of bricking the device. On my B+N Nook HD CM11 nightly is, as far as I can tell, beyond criticism but on these Exynos based devices all the third party ROMs have poor hardware support, poor multimedia support, poor stability and truly terrible battery life (even with no gapps installed). I will keep trying out ROMs occasionally and if the day arrives where the hardware is truly supported I will write a guide and drink a bottle of french fizz, but at the moment I would discourage any regular end user from doing anything to their GT-N7000 except running the newest available official firmware and rooting it if required.

I'm pretty sure I can save my twrp backups to my exfat sdcard.
edit: yup. just touch "internal storage" on the twrp backup page and select your sdcard.

julian67 said:
I'm back on rooted Samsung TouchWiz. As things stand I wouldn't encourage any normal end user with a GT-N7000 to try a ROM. Hardware support is poor and unlikely to improve, installation documentation is misleading, backup is difficult, and restoring stock Samsung successfully requires ODIN. Also you stand a real chance of bricking the device. On my B+N Nook HD CM11 nightly is, as far as I can tell, beyond criticism but on these Exynos based devices all the third party ROMs have poor hardware support, poor multimedia support, poor stability and truly terrible battery life (even with no gapps installed). I will keep trying out ROMs occasionally and if the day arrives where the hardware is truly supported I will write a guide and drink a bottle of french fizz, but at the moment I would discourage any regular end user from doing anything to their GT-N7000 except running the newest available official firmware and rooting it if required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've been using omnirom as my daily driver for 2 weeks now. love kitkat and omnirom features, but its still very unstable i think. stuff that's bothering me for now:
-stock camera is really plain, can't even switch to front camera
-video playback sometimes fail
-music playback will fail the first time i launch and play a song or 2. have to reboot and it'll work all day long
-intermittent random reboots, about 3 times so far the whole week
-wifi signal range is somewhat lower compared to touchwiz rom
-stock clock app, can't manually input time via keypad when you want to add an alarm
-contacts app is very confusing, can't even add a contact with ease. well at least for me that is
other than that kit kat is sure a welcome on this legendary device. contemplating the switch back to stock touchwiz, but loathe at the idea of setting up everything again zzz

In answer to this, and if it can help.
That the second time I install a ROM on my N7000, so it was still a bit frightening for me
Based on a CM10.1, I already had an old CWM.
1) From CWM I've just installed Philz Touch
2) On Philz, i've wiped everything, formated both internal and external sd cards (well I wanted something reeeally clean)
3) Used abd for copying omnirom and Gapp zip on the root
4) installed them from Philz Touch.
And it works like a charm (... but not enough feedback yet, just 2 days).
Now the question is to know if a day Omnirom will accept CWM based recoveries for updates.
TWRP is unfortunately not available on N7000 (from what I see, only USA flavors of Galaxy Note1).
Thanks!
Polux

Polux44 said:
In answer to this, and if it can help.
That the second time I install a ROM on my N7000, so it was still a bit frightening for me
Based on a CM10.1, I already had an old CWM.
1) From CWM I've just installed Philz Touch
2) On Philz, i've wiped everything, formated both internal and external sd cards (well I wanted something reeeally clean)
3) Used abd for copying omnirom and Gapp zip on the root
4) installed them from Philz Touch.
And it works like a charm (... but not enough feedback yet, just 2 days).
Now the question is to know if a day Omnirom will accept CWM based recoveries for updates.
TWRP is unfortunately not available on N7000 (from what I see, only USA flavors of Galaxy Note1).
Thanks!
Polux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Per my earlier post - You cannot change kernels on the Samsung GS2 family (including N7000) without also changing recovery.
Conversely, you can't change recovery without changing kernel. It's a limitation of this device since the recovery partition is not actually used, and recovery is in the normal kernel.
Once you flash Omni, your recovery will be TWRP. The reason TWRP doesn't "officially" support any of the GS2 family is because, as I said - you can't change recoveries without changing kernels.

Entropy512 said:
Once you flash Omni, your recovery will be TWRP. The reason TWRP doesn't "officially" support any of the GS2 family is because, as I said - you can't change recoveries without changing kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thanks for the precision, i've just seen that now my recovery was TWRP. (well which is good for me since it means I can use OTA). Your details helped me to understand why recovery and kernel are linked together, for my device.
Does it mean that installing omni on a non GS2 device (let's say a more recent device) will not overwrite the existing recovery?
Thanks again!

Polux44 said:
Yes thanks for the precision, i've just seen that now my recovery was TWRP. (well which is good for me since it means I can use OTA). Your details helped me to understand why recovery and kernel are linked together, for my device.
Does it mean that installing omni on a non GS2 device (let's say a more recent device) will not overwrite the existing recovery?
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Sony devices also have this limitation, there is a semi-workaround (where the kernel pulls recovery ramdisk from another location) on those that *in theory* could be done on the old Samsungs... but so few people are working on the old Samsungs that it isn't likely to happen.
Pretty much all GS1s and Exynos GS2s had this limitation. Qualcomm GS2s (Skyrocket/Hercules) had a separate recovery, as did all GS3s and onwards.

UNOFFICIAL CM12.1 for Nook HD/HD+ [2015-12-18]

This thread is a direct continuation of @Hashcode's work for porting to Lollipop. Because of his and @verygreen's heavy lifting, porting to CM12.1 happened almost painlessly, for which I'm grateful. Their contributions compelled me to share something back. Thus, I'm uploading personal builds of CM12.1 for HD and HD+ in this shared Box folder. While I do not own a hummingbird, sister builds are generated more or less concomitantly.
Some of the important device-specific changes from KitKat/CM11 are described in Hashcode's thread. The goal is to keep as close as possible to CM upstream, and integrate whatever fixes and enhancements we find over time. More progress information will be added here gradually, as I have time. A lot of useful discussion happened on the CM12.0 thread, and the status of things is available to anyone willing to search. Hunting for possible bug fixes, understanding how to actually boot a newer kernel are some of my current priorities. I am not a developer, and the usual disclaimers apply.
Recovery Information
Up to date eMMC TWRP images are included in the respective device folders. Personally, I've had a good experience with TWRP, and do not plan on looking at other recovery distributions. Now, there have been (very) sporadic reports of broken partition tables, soft-bricked devices, etc, blamed on recovery. Although recovery is usually not the actual culprit, here are some ways you can rescue a completely unresponsive device:
It's a good idea to keep a microSD card around, with verygreen's external recovery image from here.
Once booted off the external recovery, you can easily fix whatever is broken (ADB is your friend here). There's no need to re-install CM11, as re-flashing recovery and/or boot will most likely fix your issue.
Recovery partition: dd if=<path to recovery image> of=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/recovery
Boot partition: dd if=<path to boot/kernel image> of=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/boot
Afterwards, you should at the very least have a working internal recovery. I don't recall any instance where /system and/or /data became corrupted because of recovery, but you can certainly fix them now.
I've never tested this part, but I believe that you may be able to install an eMMC CM12 ZIP with verygreen's external CWM, even if /data and /cache are F2FS (assuming you copied all ZIPs onto the external card). My understanding is that only /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/system (always ext4, mountable by any recovery) is touched during installation, so you may even bypass TWRP completely.
P.S. If you broke you bootloader by flashing the wrong recovery flavor, despite all images being clearly labeled as hummingbird or ovation, well, no sympathy for you… Still, you can bring your device back to life within minutes as described above.
Progress towards Official CM12 Nightlies
As of now, most things are ready for turning official nightlies on, including official TWRP images and SELinux Enforcing support, albeit with this proviso:
My HW composer changes described in post #3 and #602 are not included upstream, since the plan was to fix upstream for all devices using CyanogenMod/android_hardware_ti_omap4.
The stumbling block with SELinux Enforcing had been remounting /system upon each new install, to write the customized WLAN NVS BIN. I'm avoiding this step by modifying the scripts to store the Wi-Fi calibration data in /rom now, with the added benefit that it only needs to be generated once. These changes are also not captured upstream, and may never be. If someone figures out an upstream-approved way of writing to /system upon first boot under Enforcing, then we'll probably switch back to the old fix-mac script.
On a personal note, posting on my threads is pretty tricky business... My builds were never intended for general consumption, but rather a way to move porting and development forward, and I often debate only keeping the GitHub repositories for people to build themselves. Obviously, that would upset hundreds of people at this point, so I make an effort to upload reasonably bug-free builds, as well as help even with trivial non-problems whenever I can. Nevertheless, low quality, or badly written posts (and I don't mean bad English) are a sure way to get ignored, and my memory is pretty long term Basically, I won't police content here, but I also don't want to deal with the the kind of stupidity and entitlement so prevalent in real life.
In conclusion, no need to thank (unless you really want to), or ask about donating, etc, but do reassess the limits of your current understanding before making bold claims, as I do too. Nothing worse than having to fix a trail of misinformation... Also, comparisons to other people's work (unless constructive), complains about the state of things, or simply starting with "no offense" and such, will make your problem much less likely to be solved by me.
XDA:DevDB Information
UNOFFICIAL CM12.1, ROM for the Barnes & Noble Nook HD, HD
Contributors
amaces, Hashcode, verygreen, Jon Lee
Source Code: http://github.com/airend
ROM OS Version: 5.1.x Lollipop
ROM Kernel: Linux 3.0.x
Version Information
Status: Testing
Created 2015-04-16
Last Updated 2015-09-14

All Things Kernel
The information below (branch names, kernel progress, etc) is slowly becoming out of date (post #2 in the Marshmallow thread has more details). Although it feels pretty archaic at this point, I'm leaving this information here, mostly for historical reasons.
My primary focus has been and continues to be an even better kernel. Instead of opening a separate thread, I will be using this space for kernel updates and related information, in a sort of log format.
Since making any of the fancier OMAP-specific kernel trees work properly is a huge headache with limited benefits, I just merged the linux-3.0.101 patches, mainly for testing (the d-3.0 branch). These patches may help with the ARM core, not so much with OMAP parts, and certainly no change to any of the Nook-specific systems. Subjectively, the normal kernel still feels marginally more stable, but hey, everything still works.
It's mid May, and for the past couple of weeks, branch g-3.0 has slowly become my default kernel. It contains additional merges from the Google 3.0 OMAP kernel, the .101 commits, plus cherry-picked changes from various sources. Hopefully, all these make for a better kernel, although the holy grail remains K3.4…
I've been experimenting with improvements upon KSM; UKSM and PKSM are supposed to better recover duplicated/lost RAM (the former in the default g-3.0 branch, the latter in p-3.0). As with KSM, they need to be enabled (and optimally tuned) through the sysfs interface (echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/[up]ksm/run).
A significant number of patches were added for LZ4 support, and to make zram/zcache actually use it. I think it makes things snappier, but we'll have to wait and see. Also, it turns out that good old KSM is better after all; PKSM creates instability, and UKSM is a lot more CPU hungry, very much undesired on an already underpowered device.
Another exciting week for K3.0… @Hashcode uploaded a bunch of LMK/low RAM/etc optimizations for some AMZ/OMAP44xx variants, which I'm stealing for the HDs. As I'm better understanding the use of MFLAG/QOS for frame prioritization, I ported some of these changes from K3.4. The most exciting however, is the DMA-buffered K3.0 that I have working (branch dma-buf). It definitely feels better, although figuring out how to completely switch away from memory carveouts, fix the communication with OMX/Ducati for HW accelerated video, is complicated. This branch will remain an experimental project till K3.4 is up and running.
Just for testing, I'm rebasing most of my changes on top of the official CM12.1 kernel, and made the new iosched branch default for a while. This branch contains many changes to the block layer, cherry-picked from @faux123's tuna kernel. We now have newer I/O schedulers, such as FIOPS, ROW, and eventually BFQ. The current default elevator is ROW with 256 KB readahead. A few other interesting patches popped up, mainly related to unaligned access on ARM, and related optimizations.
Since July, all changes are grouped into feature branches on top of the upstream kernel, which are finally merged into the cm-12 branch, the default for the foreseeable future. This way of doing things is easier to maintain, and makes these changes easier to read, when deciding what to keep/discard for upstream.

HW Composer Issues & Fixes
The goal, and probably one of the base requirements to have these devices included in the CM12 nightlies, is to have a stable ROM with normal HW accelerated overlays. As of now, we achieved this by mostly reverting to the HW composer in CM11, although understanding why the newer code in hardware/ti/omap4 creates these underflows is equally important. Post #602 contains more information about this issue.
Starting with the July 14th builds, disabling HW overlays shouldn't be necessary any longer.
Before mid-July, we were using the upstream HWC in CyanogenMod/android_hardware_ti_omap4. As discussed ad nauseam, that combination of upstream K3.0/PVR modules/SGX DDK binaries/HWC runs into serious GFX buffer underflows. With five or more composer overlays, the panel attempts to reset constantly, which causes display flickers, followed by reboot (dumpsys SurfaceFlinger|grep -A 10 type will show how consistent this bug is).
In the meantime, a poor workaround was to disable HW overlays in Developer options. To make it stick across reboots, you could use this /data/local/userinit.sh:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
(while :
do
sf=$(service list | grep -c "SurfaceFlinger")
if [ $sf -eq 1 ]
then
service call SurfaceFlinger 1008 i32 1
break
else
sleep 2
fi
done
) &

First!!! Great to see you start your own thread. Thanks for all the great work

ac-t660 said:
If I have the 3/24 ROM already installed, should I dirty-flash the 4/8 version or do I need to reset and fresh install it in order to properly get the changes?
And like everybody else has said - thanks amaces and hashcode, incredible job!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doh! I must have been typing my question as you were creating this new thread. Moving it since you and everyone using your builds are moving over here. Thanks again!

Based on this, I'd say that should be possible soon, if not already. However, that wasn't the case with the initial builds. I'd say no harm wiping just /system, and maybe /cache, flashing a CM12.1 ZIP, plus the proper GApps, and see how it goes.

Thanks!
I've flashed your 8 Apr build, and it (mostly) looks good. I still get the occasional forced reboots after some flickering. The flickering tends to occur when changing from portrait to landscape and pulling down the settings bar.
I very much look forward to see some progression.
Can you provide some instructions with installing TWRP on the HD+? I have Cyanoboot installed and flashed your build using CWM recovery.
Thanks.

In response to this post in the 12.0 thread.
amaces said:
The changelog would basically be the CM12.1 one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, so can you point to the latest CM12.1 commit that you've included when you make a release? Knowing the date doesn't pin it down completely.
amaces said:
About the ovation kernels, those images were for CM12.0, and while they may work with current builds (for reasons stated above), they don't provide any benefit anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we should use our original boot/kernel images?

Thanks!!
Hey amaces,
Thanks so much for the 12.1 builds. On the 4/4 build and will be testing out the 4/8 build over the weekend.
Thanks!!

shdware said:
Can you provide some instructions with installing TWRP on the HD+? I have Cyanoboot installed and flashed your build using CWM recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashify can do that for you inside the ROM, or you could dd if=recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/recovery inside adb shell or terminal. Also, current TWRP allows flashing of boot/recovery images directly.

MossyTC said:
Great, so can you point to the latest CM12.1 commit that you've included when you make a release? Knowing the date doesn't pin it down completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, can do, although that kind of tagging needs to be thought out. I could simply append the CM review change number, but that's not very useful since most changes are in repositories that don't affect our devices. I'll look if anyone found a good way to do it (frankly, I don't recall seeing it done).
MossyTC said:
So we should use our original boot/kernel images?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROMs come with their own kernel. Those independent kernels were simply testing a few patches for the buffer underflow/flickering issues, and were meant for easy swapping within compatible CM12.0 builds.

Hi amaces,
I had done the 5.0 build, what do I need to do in order to pull in the 5.1?
TIA

andtron said:
Hi amaces,
I had done the 5.0 build, what do I need to do in order to pull in the 5.1?
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's better to backup your apps (I use titanium), do a full wipe and then install the 5.1 rom and gapps.

I am running the 04/08 and it is working fine except one major problem that is the bane of Android everywhere since kitkat...
It keeps telling me I have insufficient storage space to do anything, update apps or install new apps, and there are hardly any apps on the device.
When I go to Settings -> Storage it says total space 12.67GB but "Available" is only 700MB, which doesn't add up and doesn't agree with the graph.
I have:
Apps 0.92GB
Pictures, videos 5.62MB
Audio 296KB
Downloads 1.20GB
Cached data 1.24MB
Misc 1.65GB
Adding that up is just under 3.8GB total so I should have about 8.9GB free, but it only reports 700MB.
Something is wrong with the free space calculation. Any help here? This wasn't a problem on the previous CM12.
BTW I did a clean install (full system wipe) before installing the CM12.1.
Any help is appreciated. I am at my wit's end on this issue.

Thanks Tschumi.
My question is more on how to pull the sources and build the 5.1 myself.

mr72 said:
I am running the 04/08 and it is working fine except one major problem that is the bane of Android everywhere since kitkat...
It keeps telling me I have insufficient storage space to do anything, update apps or install new apps, and there are hardly any apps on the device.
When I go to Settings -> Storage it says total space 12.67GB but "Available" is only 700MB, which doesn't add up and doesn't agree with the graph.
[…] Adding that up is just under 3.8GB total so I should have about 8.9GB free, but it only reports 700MB.
Something is wrong with the free space calculation. Any help here? This wasn't a problem on the previous CM12.
BTW I did a clean install (full system wipe) before installing the CM12.1.
Any help is appreciated. I am at my wit's end on this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That must be… frustrating. So, you're saying this happened on CM11, then CM12.0 was fine, and now the bug is back on CM12.1? There are a couple of unusual/puzzling issues that people report, including the reboot-instead-of-poweroff bug. Never having experienced these, it's hard to figure out the cause, but I'll keep it in mind.
andtron said:
My question is more on how to pull the sources and build the 5.1 myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These days, it's very easy; you simply upgrade your LP5.0/CM12.0 sources with: repo init -u git://github.com/CyanogenMod/android.git -b cm-12.1

mr72 said:
I am running the 04/08 and it is working fine except one major problem that is the bane of Android everywhere since kitkat...
It keeps telling me I have insufficient storage space to do anything, update apps or install new apps, and there are hardly any apps on the device.
BTW I did a clean install (full system wipe) before installing the CM12.1.
Any help is appreciated. I am at my wit's end on this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it has something to do with updating from stock to cm. Go to 'terminal emulator' app, type 'su' then 'df'. Let us know what is the output.
Also, backup all your data. Do you mind clean install again? Which recovery are you using? If you convert your data partition to F2FS I'm sure it'll fix it. Not because F2FS will fix it, but because converting it to F2FS will format the entire /data partition (including the virtual /sdcard). There might be old files downloaded when you used stock rom.

extrem0 said:
...If you convert your data partition to F2FS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick question, how does one go about converting the partition to f2fs on the ovation? I've done a couple searches but can't find anything definitive such as which recovery I should have installed and if it is a zip that I would need to flash.
Thanks!

J-Pod said:
Quick question, how does one go about converting the partition to f2fs on the ovation? I've done a couple searches but can't find anything definitive such as which recovery I should have installed and if it is a zip that I would need to flash.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did it using twrp recovery 2.8.6.0 built by amaces. There's an option that allows you to convert some partitions to f2fs. Remember, it will erase all your files in your nook. Do a backup of your files before converting to f2fs.

J-Pod said:
Quick question, how does one go about converting the partition to f2fs on the ovation? I've done a couple searches but can't find anything definitive such as which recovery I should have installed and if it is a zip that I would need to flash.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using @amaces TWRP, go to Wipe, check the data box, select "advanced wipe then it's something like " repair file system". I'm sure you can figure it from that.

[ROM][OFFICIAL] LineageOS 14.1 Nightlies for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 (d2vzw)

LineageOS is a free, community built, aftermarket firmware distribution of Android 7.1 (Nougat), which is designed to increase performance and reliability over stock Android for your device.
Code:
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
/*
* Your warranty is now void.
*
* We are not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
* thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
* do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM
* before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
* you point the finger at us for messing up your device, we will laugh at you.
*
*/
LineageOS is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra contributions from many people within the Android community. It can be used without any need to have any Google application installed. You will need to provide your own Google Applications package (gapps). LineageOS does still include various hardware-specific code, which is also slowly being open-sourced anyway.
All the source code for LineageOS is available in the LineageOS Github repo. And if you would like to contribute to LineageOS, please visit our Gerrit Code Review.
Download Links
LineageOS:
Downloads: https://download.lineageos.org/d2vzw
Google apps addon:
OpenGapps: http://opengapps.org/ (you'll want a zip for the ARM platform, Android version 7.1)
HEADS UP: Be sure you flash the gapps package with your rom. If you boot your rom, then go back and try to flash gapps after the fact, you're gonna have a bad time.
Firmware:
Your best bet is to be on the MF1 bootstack/NE1 modem combo. Here's a flashable zip (this only needs to be done once): http://www.invisiblek.org/firmware/d2/d2vzw_MF1_firmware_NE1_modem.zip
Misc Links
Changelog:
Link: https://download.lineageos.org/d2vzw/changes/
Learn to build yourself:
Link: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/d2vzw/build
The LineageOS team would like to thank everyone involved in helping with testing, coding, debugging & documenting! Enjoy!
XDA:DevDB Information
[ROM][OFFICIAL] LineageOS 14.1 Nightlies for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 (d2vzw), ROM for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III
Contributors
invisiblek
Source Code: http://github.com/LineageOS
ROM OS Version: 7.x Nougat
Version Information
Status: Nightly
Created 2016-12-05
Last Updated 2016-12-05

reserved

Hallelujah!
Is this the eighth or ninth life of this great phone?

@invisiblek, are there plans for the release of a Snapshot of CM13.0 for the d2vzw?

Congratulations on the "official" release!! Thank you for such an excellent and stable ROM for our ooooold, but no longer irrelevant, s3!

Nice job! Wich partitions can I mount as f2fs?

Just out of curiosity regarding the CM14.1...
Anyone having issue with internet connectivity specifically with the Play Store only (downloaded from Open GApps)?
Also, is anyone having issues with their external MicroSD. Though the external MicroSD can be viewed and can browse it, I'm Specifically stating the inability to execute, open, write to, etc...?
I had already sent the issues I'm having along with all my log files to @invisiblek and was curious as to any others experiencing the same/similar issues I experienced.
Thank you all for your time and understanding!

Thank you @invisiblek and other contributors. This is a great rom for this old phone. My DD is a LG G4, again, I went back to that after three Note 7's and all that drama. It's sad when a years old Galaxy S3 is running the latest and greatest but my LG G4 is still on last years Android! Yikes
I'm only using the SGS3 as a Wifi device so I can't comment on Cell radio functions but it's very smooth and seems markedly faster than when I was last using it as a DD. The only issue I've had and it may not even be related to this rom... I wanted to use Chainfire's PryFi to stick it to Kohls and Walmart that use WiFi Mac trackers, but when I launch PryFi and turn it on, it almost immediately crashes no matter what I do. Wipe cache, dalvik, reset and I get the same thing.
Thanks for the great work. Much appreciated!

@invisiblek, I'm reading elsewhere that the CM14.x should be installed first, then after the setup is accomplished, reboot back in to the recovery, then flash the GApps package.
Is this correct?
I just wanted to be sure in regards to the unconventional method of flashing the CM and the GApps together then reboot.
But, as you may know, after installing the 2 conventionally, I'm having trouble with the Play Store as well as the External MicroSD after setup.
I'd really appreciate your confirmation.
Thanks a Bunch!
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs

Ibuprophen said:
@invisiblek, I'm reading elsewhere that the CM14.x should be installed first, then after the setup is accomplished, reboot back in to the recovery, then flash the GApps package.
Is this correct?
I just wanted to be sure in regards to the unconventional method of flashing the CM and the GApps together then reboot.
But, as you may know, after installing the 2 conventionally, I'm having trouble with the Play Store as well as the External MicroSD after setup.
I'd really appreciate your confirmation.
Thanks a Bunch!
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a problem installing the first time - I put build+Open GApps Aroma in the que and when the Aroma install was supposed to come up everything went black but the phone was still on. I flashed one and then the other without booting and it booted into initial setup normally.
But, I created a Nandroid with TWRP 2.8.7.0 and tried to restore the last Unofficial 14.1 build nandroid that worked normally but I couldn't get the sim card to work. Same when I tried to restore the new official. I tried numerous different ways to hold my mouth but it would never mount the SIM and settings was crapped out. I was able to restore my last MM nandroid and have it work normally. I've just switched to the latest TWRP 3.x.x.x. Don't know if that has anything to do with it....
I'm clean installing the new official again! It got stuck on boot (wrong boot animation, too) but pulling the batt and restarting, it went normally. (My Tibu settings were in the /data wipe. Gotta mount one and pull them )

Master Cylinder said:
I had a problem installing the first time - I put build+Open GApps Aroma in the que and when the Aroma install was supposed to come up everything went black but the phone was still on. I flashed one and then the other without booting and it booted into initial setup normally.
But, I created a Nandroid with TWRP 2.8.7.0 and tried to restore the last Unofficial 14.1 build nandroid that worked normally but I couldn't get the sim card to work. Same when I tried to restore the new official. I tried numerous different ways to hold my mouth but it would never mount the SIM and settings was crapped out. I was able to restore my last MM nandroid and have it work normally. I've just switched to the latest TWRP 3.x.x.x. Don't know if that has anything to do with it....
I'm clean installing the new official again! It got stuck on boot (wrong boot animation, too) but pulling the batt and restarting, it went normally. (My Tibu settings were in the /data wipe. Gotta mount one and pull them )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your response!
I always had the latest TWRP 3.0.2-0 installed.
I flashed the CM14.1 20161207, Open GApps Pico 20161207 and, at first, SuperSU 2.78 Stable then when I retried a fresh install, i used SuperSU 2.78 SR5.
The same issues occurred (primarily) with the Play Store not being able to access the Internet the Internet and being able to see everything on my External MicroSD but, still not being able to read, write, move copy, install, etc...
I did see, during the initial bootup where you have the initial setup of CM & Google, the Google setup went fine but, I did notice that the carrier name reflected "no service" or "unknown" or something similar. I had ventured in to the network settings and did see everything needed in there so I didn't give it another thought.
To be honest, my opinion is that i really don't think that the release of the OFFICIAL CM14.1 Nightly was not ready yet.
I had to E-mailed @invisiblek the list of issues along with the installation log files from both the CM14.1 and the GApps but, I haven't even received an acknowledgement of at least a thank you.
@invisiblek is listed as the primary point of contact for Cyanogenmod and other than e-mailing him along with posting the issue here to his attention, I'm not sure how else to report any issues/feedback to Cyanogenmod... Cyanogenmod doesn't really pay attention to their own forums that has resulted in most individuals not even bothering with posting anything there anymore.
I'm personally going to put CM14.1 on hold till there's either some indication of improvement or finding some information reflecting my issues with some fixes, tryouts, solutions, etc...
I'm real disappointed with this...
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs

Ibuprophen said:
Thank you for your response!
I always had the latest TWRP 3.0.2-0 installed.
I flashed the CM14.1 20161207, Open GApps Pico 20161207 and, at first, SuperSU 2.78 Stable then when I retried a fresh install, i used SuperSU 2.78 SR5.
The same issues occurred (primarily) with the Play Store not being able to access the Internet the Internet and being able to see everything on my External MicroSD but, still not being able to read, write, move copy, install, etc...
I did see, during the initial bootup where you have the initial setup of CM & Google, the Google setup went fine but, I did notice that the carrier name reflected "no service" or "unknown" or something similar. I had ventured in to the network settings and did see everything needed in there so I didn't give it another thought.
To be honest, my opinion is that i really don't think that the release of the OFFICIAL CM14.1 Nightly was not ready yet.
I had to E-mailed @invisiblek the list of issues along with the installation log files from both the CM14.1 and the GApps but, I haven't even received an acknowledgement of at least a thank you.
@invisiblek is listed as the primary point of contact for Cyanogenmod and other than e-mailing him along with posting the issue here to his attention, I'm not sure how else to report any issues/feedback to Cyanogenmod... Cyanogenmod doesn't really pay attention to their own forums that has resulted in most individuals not even bothering with posting anything there anymore.
I'm personally going to put CM14.1 on hold till there's either some indication of improvement or finding some information reflecting my issues with some fixes, tryouts, solutions, etc...
I'm real disappointed with this...
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll attempt to try to help with some of the issues here, as I have direct contact with invisiblek pretty much daily. First I will start off with a few questions, NOT poking, just asking, this also may address some previous posts as well... You have a verizon SCH-I535 correct, and not another variant? Just making sure. And to start you wiped data in TWRP (wipe to install new ROM option basically). Told it to flash your 12/07 build? Did you ADD the "opengapps 7.1 ARM Pico" build to the multiple flash option, or did you flash rom, then go back in and flash opengapps? After it rebooted, it sometimes takes a while to get the setup to actually start and display, sometimes it goes to a black screen for minutes, but be patient, it will come.. At that point in time, it will initialize sim card and be connected, as this was my experience on all 3 of my S3 phones in my household. Then proceed through setup...
Is your external card formatted as "portable storage", or is it formatted as "Adopted storage". Also what type of filesystem do you have the card formatted with? What file manager are you using to try to access your card with? There was some expected changes that might have to be worked out as the "unofficial" roms were running Selinux in permissive mode, and the "official" roms are running it in Enforcing mode. That is bound to cause some small differences in the way the 2 roms behave. Also, I need to ask why you are trying to install SuperSU on a rom that already has Root (and the ability to manage it) built into the rom? There might be some issues being caused by that in itself.
I know that personally BusyBox (I rely on it daily) will NOT install on the official for me, but installs fine on the unofficials. Also, I have had limited luck with the built in file manager. I have used ES File Explorer forever, and it continues to behave well on this rom. Also, even if you are going to nandroid back and forth between official and unofficial, it is best to do a wipe of DATA before the nandroid... As far as the play store goes, I haven't experienced any lack of connectivity. I do get very small intermittent blips where it seems like it isn't connected for a second or 2, but it is very rare, and it has always been like that as far as I can remember.. Part of the reason that is for me is because I use a network extender, and it has always been the achilles heel with CM.
Try going into TWRP, do the "wipe to install new rom", add the cm zip, and ALSO add the latest "Opengapps arm 7.1 pico or micro" (your choice) build into the zip queue so that they are flashed in succession. Let it rip, and see if that offers you any different results. After you get it initially setup, go into developer options and enable root as needed. Give it a run and see what issue are still present, if any. I am surprised to hear some of these issues, as between myself, my kids, and a handful of friends, everyone is super stoked at how well these early builds are running... I myself have less than 3 reported issues from friends that we are looking into, and they are all just cosmetic bugs so far... I will be glad to try to help in any way possible..
P.S. There have been quite a few things resolved/changed between TWRP 2.8.7.0 and 3.0.2-0, I would highly suggest not only upgrading to the latest TWRP version, but also making sure you are on the firmware versions that are mentioned in the OP.
Stealth111

Stealth111 said:
I'll attempt to try to help with some of the issues here, as I have direct contact with invisiblek pretty much daily. First I will start off with a few questions, NOT poking, just asking, this also may address some previous posts as well... You have a verizon SCH-I535 correct, and not another variant? Just making sure. And to start you wiped data in TWRP (wipe to install new ROM option basically). Told it to flash your 12/07 build? Did you ADD the "opengapps 7.1 ARM Pico" build to the multiple flash option, or did you flash rom, then go back in and flash opengapps? After it rebooted, it sometimes takes a while to get the setup to actually start and display, sometimes it goes to a black screen for minutes, but be patient, it will come.. At that point in time, it will initialize sim card and be connected, as this was my experience on all 3 of my S3 phones in my household. Then proceed through setup...
Is your external card formatted as "portable storage", or is it formatted as "Adopted storage". Also what type of filesystem do you have the card formatted with? What file manager are you using to try to access your card with? There was some expected changes that might have to be worked out as the "unofficial" roms were running Selinux in permissive mode, and the "official" roms are running it in Enforcing mode. That is bound to cause some small differences in the way the 2 roms behave. Also, I need to ask why you are trying to install SuperSU on a rom that already has Root (and the ability to manage it) built into the rom? There might be some issues being caused by that in itself.
I know that personally BusyBox (I rely on it daily) will NOT install on the official for me, but installs fine on the unofficials. Also, I have had limited luck with the built in file manager. I have used ES File Explorer forever, and it continues to behave well on this rom. Also, even if you are going to nandroid back and forth between official and unofficial, it is best to do a wipe of DATA before the nandroid... As far as the play store goes, I haven't experienced any lack of connectivity. I do get very small intermittent blips where it seems like it isn't connected for a second or 2, but it is very rare, and it has always been like that as far as I can remember.. Part of the reason that is for me is because I use a network extender, and it has always been the achilles heel with CM.
Try going into TWRP, do the "wipe to install new rom", add the cm zip, and ALSO add the latest "Opengapps arm 7.1 pico or micro" (your choice) build into the zip queue so that they are flashed in succession. Let it rip, and see if that offers you any different results. After you get it initially setup, go into developer options and enable root as needed. Give it a run and see what issue are still present, if any. I am surprised to hear some of these issues, as between myself, my kids, and a handful of friends, everyone is super stoked at how well these early builds are running... I myself have less than 3 reported issues from friends that we are looking into, and they are all just cosmetic bugs so far... I will be glad to try to help in any way possible..
P.S. There have been quite a few things resolved/changed between TWRP 2.8.7.0 and 3.0.2-0, I would highly suggest not only upgrading to the latest TWRP version, but also making sure you are on the firmware versions that are mentioned in the OP.
Stealth111
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay... I tried to sort out and answer all the questions the best i could.
I also attached the log files. They are dated according to the Nightly releases.
Q: You have a verizon SCH-I535 correct, and not another variant?
A: Yes. I have an SCH-I535.
Q: And to start you wiped data in TWRP (wipe to install new ROM option basically).
A: 1) Factory Reset. 2) Wipe Dalvik, Data, Internal Storage, Cache and System. 3) Format Data. Then Restart Recovery back to TWRP.
Q: Told it to flash your 12/07 build?
Did you ADD the "opengapps 7.1 ARM Pico" build to the multiple flash option, or did you flash rom, then go back in and flash opengapps?
A: Install and select CM14.1 12/07 build then the Open GApps 7.1 ARM Pico. To add... I tried flashing the 2 above only, then tried the same 2 above with SuperSU 2.78 Stable, lastly the 2 above with SuperSU 2.78 SR5. All resulted with the same issues.
Q: Is your external card formatted as "portable storage", or is it formatted as "Adopted storage".
A: Portable Storage.
Q: Also what type of filesystem do you have the card formatted with?
A: VFAT
Q: What file manager are you using to try to access your card with?
A: Stock & ES File Explorer Pro
Q: Also, I need to ask why you are trying to install SuperSU on a rom that already has Root (and the ability to manage it) built into the rom?
A: I'm aware of the stock root manager but, i've always preferred SuperSU's root management.
I really appreciate your assistance and please don't hesitate to defer to @invisiblek if necessary.
Also, please keep in mind that I'm not in a race. Take your time because patience is a virtue...
Thank you very much!!!
I wonder if the GApps issue is the underlying issue. I hope @MastahF & @Rapper_skull is aware of and working on it?
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs

Stealth111 said:
I know that personally BusyBox (I rely on it daily) will NOT install on the official for me, but installs fine on the unofficials.
Stealth111
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed Stericson BusyBox Pro using Google Play and it works fine! Lucky me!
Ibuprophen said:
Okay... I tried to sort out and answer all the questions the best i could.
I also attached the log files. They are dated according to the Nightly releases.
Q: You have a verizon SCH-I535 correct, and not another variant?
A: Yes. I have an SCH-I535.
Q: And to start you wiped data in TWRP (wipe to install new ROM option basically).
A: 1) Factory Reset. 2) Wipe Dalvik, Data, Internal Storage, Cache and System. 3) Format Data. Then Restart Recovery back to TWRP.
Q: Told it to flash your 12/07 build?
Did you ADD the "opengapps 7.1 ARM Pico" build to the multiple flash option, or did you flash rom, then go back in and flash opengapps?
A: Install and select CM14.1 12/07 build then the Open GApps 7.1 ARM Pico. To add... I tried flashing the 2 above only, then tried the same 2 above with SuperSU 2.78 Stable, lastly the 2 above with SuperSU 2.78 SR5. All resulted with the same issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this may sound funny but I've had this EXACT response from clean installs using the tiny GApps packages. Try one of the larger ones or the Aroma installer. (I know it's annoying if you want to keep all that crap off your phone ...)
As I said, I installed without using the qeue. I also wiped Dalvik/cache AFTER the installations, as per the OpenGApps instructions.
Oh, and my phone is purring like a kitten with 12/7 on it! XD
PS - Except for that dang restore issue. Scared to try it again but I gotta try it again eventually.

Master Cylinder said:
I installed Stericson BusyBox Pro using Google Play and it works fine! Lucky me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same version as well. I go to the store, click install on the Pro version. It installs just fine... I then go in and open the program, it immediately asks for the needed root permissions, which I promptly give it, then I close the welcome message. When I actually then click install from within the program, it then tries to install for about 2 seconds and then says "oops, it looks like the installation was unsuccessful, maybe try a different location"....
Who knows.... :laugh:
Other than that, I agree, purring like a kitten!
Stealth111

Master Cylinder said:
I installed Stericson BusyBox Pro using Google Play and it works fine! Lucky me!
I know this may sound funny but I've had this EXACT response from clean installs using the tiny GApps packages. Try one of the larger ones or the Aroma installer. (I know it's annoying if you want to keep all that crap off your phone ...)
As I said, I installed without using the qeue. I also wiped Dalvik/cache AFTER the installations, as per the OpenGApps instructions.
Oh, and my phone is purring like a kitten with 12/7 on it! XD
PS - Except for that dang restore issue. Scared to try it again but I gotta try it again eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the nano on one attempt thinking that pico was the culprit but, the same issue...
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs

Sorry to ask this again but wich partitions should be remounted as f2fs for better performance?
Sent from my Pixel using XDA Forums Pro.

Ibuprophen said:
I tried the nano on one attempt thinking that pico was the culprit but, the same issue...
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem with Nano. If you're gonna spend the time to do it, go big. Bigger rather than smaller.

Pierre2324 said:
Sorry to ask this again but wich partitions should be remounted as f2fs for better performance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a link that, i believe, will answer your question:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2537119
Good Luck!
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 02:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 AM ----------
Master Cylinder said:
I had the same problem with Nano. If you're gonna spend the time to do it, go big. Bigger rather than smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a member in the GApps thread who had mentioned that he had a similar issue.
He stated that what worked for him was flashing a GApps Pico package on from about 30 days ago.
I believe that others had to flash their GApps packages from about 30 days ago had worked for them.
I know that this is an issue for many others who also reported it to the Dev(s).
I can't think of what in the world is going on...
Sent from my d2vzw using XDA Labs

Running smooth as ice.......only issue I've had was a single browser hicup. Incredible work, makes me smile knowing I have a newer version on my ancient phone than most of the $700+ flagship phones. Invisablek you sir are the man:good:

[FIX][Update Dec 15th][BLUETOOTH FIXD]Boot AOSP-ish ROMs on James_t(Metro XT-1921-3)

After many hours of trial and error, I now understand how to get RR and Lineage to boot with latest firmware updates. NO MORE BLINKING BLACK/GREY SCREEN!
Tested with Resurrection Remix 16.1 and Lineage 15.1 (Oreo)
Simply flash the boot and vendor images to their corresponding partitions using fastboot. Find the proper images from this Tmobile firmware,. https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=11410963190603878004 This method preserves IMEI and Baseband.
Nano/pico gapps work as well. HideProps magisk module can set your fingerprint to Moto E5 Play and get around that unregistered Google sh**. I edit /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom myself with vi and inside TWRP terminal shortly after flashing vendor partition. I do this because zips and other copies held me up. All I change is forceencrypt to encryptable in the data line of the fstab. Magisk 19.3 patches for verity. Another thing I do is move /vendor/lib/libeffects.so to /vendor/lib/soundfx/libeffects.so. Doing this will keep music/audio from studdering when screen is off. Last thing, TWRP 3.3.1 formats data as ext4 by default. We want to format with f2fs or you get corrupted data messages at boot. Happy flashing!
##
I find the earliest of these metro pcs firms have a working vendor image.
https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/james/official/Metropcs/
I got bluetooth working today, and lots of clues where I found the fix...
####Bluetooth
Now that I can set it up from a clean install, here's the basics for Bluetooth...
You'll need files from the stock system image. You can use a backup to get these or also use simg2img with dd and 7zip, I'll make a zip installer when I have more time.
1. Copy the following files, from stock image directory "/system/etc/" to the "/vendor/etc/" directory on device
mixer_paths* (14 files)
audio_* (5 files)
media_profiles* (3 files)
Edit the file /system/etc/ld.config.26.txt
add this text to the very end of line 61 :/system/${LIB}/vnd-sp/hw
You're done! If you did everything as described, and it doesn't work, check the permissions of the files you add to vendor partition with other xml files in same directory. I did mine on the device while running, it worked in place, without rebooting device. The GSI system is new to me, however the "Same Proccess HAL(hardware abstraction layer)" voodoo can likely be configured correctly to fix screen and port other GSIs' to our device.

Any chance of getting lamens terms step by step instructions on how to do this? That is the model I have and really liked those roms when I tried unsuccessfully to make them work last year.

edit: 9/21 6pm
I think it's because mine is TMO variant.
Mattswad said:
Any chance of getting lamens terms step by step instructions on how to do this? That is the model I have and really liked those roms when I tried unsuccessfully to make them work last year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying based on this now. I'll update you.. been trying for TOO LONG lol it's almost the same time you posted 2 days ago!
---------- Post added at 04:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 AM ----------
I've been up all night trying to get either one to work.. I think I came close but I am stuck at a looping blank screen.
If you could step through a bit more for us? I'd REALLY love to have lineageOS on it.
mrbox23 said:
After many hours of trial and error, I now understand how to get RR and Lineage to boot with latest firmware updates. NO MORE BLINKING BLACK/GREY SCREEN!
Tested with Resurrection Remix 16.1 and Lineage 15.1 (Oreo)
Simply flash the boot and vendor images to their corresponding partitions using fastboot. Find the proper images from this Tmobile firmware,.
Nano/pico gapps work as well. HideProps magisk module can set your fingerprint to Moto E5 Play and get around that unregistered Google sh**. I edit /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom myself with vi and inside TWRP terminal shortly after flashing vendor partition. I do this because zips and other copies held me up. All I change is forceencrypt to encryptable in the data line of the fstab. Magisk 19.3 patches for verity. Another thing I do is move /vendor/lib/libeffects.so to /vendor/lib/soundfx/libeffects.so. Doing this will keep music/audio from studdering when screen is off. Last thing, TWRP 3.3.1 formats data as ext4 by default. We want to format with f2fs or you get corrupted data messages at boot. Happy flashing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have the Metro PCS version
Moto e5 Play XT1921-3

Mattswad said:
I have the Metro PCS version
Moto e5 Play XT1921-3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh That is excellent news. I am about to take a focus supplement, and dive into trying again I'll let you know. I found a few more of MrBox23's posts and I think I MAYBE onto something.... wish me loads of luck. If it works for me I THINK it should work for you, but you might need to start with a diff image than me, or use a different boot and vendor img than I will.. not sure if I can help you find those files or not..
I'll be back later to update what I find.

Sorry I haven't been on for awhile. I'll go ahead and post my working vendor and boot images. On Google drive for download. Doing this will trash your speaker if you play music very loud at all, expect that. I do not understand how to fix it. Other than that it's a daily driver. I have been asked about encryption this and that.. You have to modify fstab.qcom within vendor partition. Also the TWRP for this device will format your data partition as ext4 while the ramdisk and init stack are configured for f2fs(if you try and boot with ext4 data, you get corrupted/encrypted data message). You have to change data partition back to f2fs in TWRP every time you format that partition. Or you could modify the TWRP image like I did to fix it permanent.
Files will be uploaded soon, make sure you understand what's involved before getting into this. I'll answer questions best I can, but this is for those who are dediced and willing to get down on some bootloops to figure it out, especially if you're not used to this sort of thing. Some magisk modules will cause bootloops, do those one at a time and gapps separately. I seriously recommend taking apart the firmware from OP and focus on getting to the aosp boot animation, THEN take care of verity/root and fstab. You're formatting data partition anyway you might as well successfuly backport the graphics first.
Vendor image TWRP backup, put this on its own with boot image. I keep it as vendor_fixed for easy reference. The fstab is already patched if you use mine.
Boot image TWRP backup, it is patched with magisk (19.4 likely) install magisk on your own anyhow. KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL VENDOR/BOOT PARTITIONS! There's stuff in there that you might want later on. Like the /vendor/etc/wifi folder for example or the pieces from the original ramdisk.
Vendor and boot with md5 sums to verify integrity.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1-2KO_iRFTjLv6pyx-7Qmhi8kWZBpVIWD
Wipe everything, including internal storage(after backing up a working system).
Format data partition back to f2fs in advanced wipe options.
Get LineageOS 15.1 beta or RR you can find these here on XDA.
Flash Lineage zip its the old style zip install that copies idividual files, not an image, the boot image it installs needs to be replaced per instructions that follow.
Or flash RR system image from official repository link is found here on XDA.
If you flash a system image with TWRP you'll need to reboot back into recovery right after and resize the system partition in advanced wipe options or your system partion will be incorrect size afterwards, if flashing system with fastboot(recommended) then skip the resize instruction.
After you have a system installed, restore the vendor and boot images from the link. A good approach would be to backup your existing boot/vendor as a pair, then replace originals with downloaded images.
The first time I got this to work, I used fastboot to flash partitions, like this.... I followed instructions within Metro PCS firmware(one of those xml files has the fastboot commands, including some oem options that specify a particular mode) Then i flashed ...RR system, followed by boot/vendor images from firmware referenced in OP. I finished that with fastboot -w option, that was when it worked for me. I dealt with the fstab and boot verity patching AFTER I first saw the default Android boot animation. Once you see that plain white "android" with the slow moving left to right animation, your in. From what I can tell our device needs the older kernel within the boot image and the libs/binaries from the vendor image to get the screen working correctly. Your trading your working speaker, for a working screen. I have attempted to find exactly what it is that's different between the two, but it's over my head. Overall it's relatively stable, go easy with magisk modules, some of them will cause kernel panic(bootloop) use a recovery based magisk tool to disable offending module if this happens. Sometimes the device will not boot normally, usually this means the cache was erased(its okay) for whatever reason and I wait it out, otherwise I restore the vendor_fixd backup I made. I have not had gone back to stock ROM, however I have had to flash the vendor partition to get it booting, usualy happens if i flash a module or when updates break substratum theme.
Good luck!
Oh email me for quick response, within reason.
mrbox24 at gmail
Bonus screenshot and the TWRP 3.1.1 I modified with correct data format. If you have an sdcard with second partition it will show up as "linux" named after the chroot partition from mine.
Screenshot shows LSM kernel found here, yes it works.

mrbox23 said:
The first time I got this to work, I used fastboot to flash partitions, like this.... I followed instructions within Metro PCS firmware(one of those xml files has the fastboot commands, including some oem options that specify a particular mode) Then i flashed ...RR system, followed by boot/vendor images from firmware referenced in OP. I finished that with fastboot -w option, that was when it worked for me.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for this! (and the files)
questions...
1.) Your files in your zip extract as boot.emmc.win and vendor_image.emmc.win ...
Should we rename them to boot.img and vendor_image.img before flashing?
2.) Is your file TWRP-3.1.1_JAMES_T_f2fs-data.img already fixed to format data as f2fs?
3.) where is the option in Twrp to backup vendor and boot images?
I'm almost ready to dive in...

aka.bugle said:
thank you for this! (and the files)
questions...
1.) Your files in your zip extract as boot.emmc.win and vendor_image.emmc.win ...
Should we rename them to boot.img and vendor_image.img before flashing?
2.) Is your file TWRP-3.1.1_JAMES_T_f2fs-data.img already fixed to format data as f2fs?
3.) where is the option in Twrp to backup vendor and boot images?
I'm almost ready to dive in...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes TWRP is fixed for f2fs data, also the correct version is 3.3.1 latest for device.
Those files are ready to be RESTORED, not flashed in TWRP. You would replace files in an existing backup with those. I have a fresh backup made from from the earliest metro pcs firmware. I am about to upload. What device do you have?

mrbox23 said:
Yes TWRP is fixed for f2fs data, also the correct version is 3.3.1 latest for device.
Those files are ready to be RESTORED, not flashed in TWRP. You would replace files in an existing backup with those. I have a fresh backup made from from the earliest metro pcs firmware. I am about to upload. What device do you have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. thanks.. So far I have three, 1921-2 At&t (new, prepaid, bootloader unlockable so far, daily phone), an xt1921-5 unlocked bootloader, sim locked to sprint, so far been unable to get another rom to boot, and an xt1921-3 metropcs Gsm unlocked, boot loader unlocked, and now booted to lineage 15.1 thanks to you and phh. Wifi works, and gapps go seem to not crash, I did the register a non-stock rom hoop jump with google. Camera nothing but gray or crashes. Everytime it boots, clock time is wrong. haven't really tested much yet.
Really want to be able to get camera functioning, and test an At&t sim in it before switching it to my daily device. I read that the camera fix was committed to 15.1 but I'm lost as how to apply those patches even if I could find them.

aka.bugle said:
Cool. thanks.. So far I have three, 1921-2 At&t (new, prepaid, bootloader unlockable so far, daily phone), an xt1921-5 unlocked bootloader, sim locked to sprint, so far been unable to get another rom to boot, and an xt1921-3 metropcs Gsm unlocked, boot loader unlocked, and now booted to lineage 15.1 thanks to you and phh. Wifi works, and gapps go seem to not crash, I did the register a non-stock rom hoop jump with google. Camera nothing but gray or crashes. Everytime it boots, clock time is wrong. haven't really tested much yet.
Really want to be able to get camera functioning, and test an At&t sim in it before switching it to my daily device. I read that the camera fix was committed to 15.1 but I'm lost as how to apply those patches even if I could find them.
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Click to collapse
I think those patches are applied at source code level. meaning it would be in a future release. My camera works running Resurrection Remix, on xt-1921-3 try copying [email protected] from stock /system/lib/hw to /vendor/lib/hw, making sure to keep permissions same as others in vendor/lib. im willing to read logs, does your att run lineage? if so, does bluetooth work?
I make custom scripts and have a custom build.prop, for example this.....
resetprop 'media.camera.ts.monotonic' 0
resetprop 'persist.camera.HAL3.enabled' 1
resetprop 'audio.deep_buffer.media' true
Those three lines are saved to a file called mediafix.sh in /data/adb/service.d to be ran at boot. it helps with media and camera issues. As well as a one line file called led-chg.sh
echo battery-charging > /sys/class/leds/charging/trigger
Which turns on the light, otherwise never used, in front of phone when charging.
I think it's important to use a/the real fingerprint from an e5 device along with other properties. To get the best out of the hardware and least error messages during boot. I go through logcat/dmesg and attempt to fix what's broken, like the camera on lineage(works without trouble on rr remix btw). I used hidepropsconf module at first and a sprint fingerprint, but later began using the one found in info.txt of firmware zip.
ill post my work in progress build.prop(hosting it with new vendor and boot images on gdrive) which noticeably improves overall performance and lends to less log errors, or lags and crashes.
I find the vendor/boot firmware here(oldest 2018) https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/james/official/Metropcs/ to work best. Audio is completely a loss though. My speaker is blown now and no Bluetooth unless running stock, not even the headphone jack works. All sound comes from the one speaker, even with headphones plugged in I'm at a loss with that issue.
I also modify the boot image. turns out the 1921-3(possibly others?) uses the sdk26 8.0 android ld(library config) instead of the ld.config.27.txt that matches its sdk level. in fact if i try to force the 27 lib config, the gray/black screen comes back. it boots up, i know because my charger light comes on, but no screen. Anyhow i change the os level in boot config to 8.1.0, this gets me to where i am now with only bluetooth(mixerpath/lib issues i suspect) and a couple missing ui features due to what i imagine originate from missing whitelists in /system/etc/permissions xml files.
Another thing of note is how i spoof the mac adress for wifi, this(and other things) is done by modifying the kernel command line config in boot.img. my second e5 play xt-1921-3 has a broken screen, and serves exclusively as a wifi-repeater, captive-portal, and ssh server/tunnel. i spoof the busted screen wifi mac, with an old device mac address that is still registered on xfininity wifi network. it repeats that connection to my other devices. very efficiciently at that. with 3+MiB/s average. it took some hacking but after i found out the oem partition on this device can be formatted, and removed from the ramdisk/system all together, without consequence(not to lineage, bootleggers, or rr remix that is) and be re-purposed to whatever else. its roughly 700MB in size perfect for a debian chroot with my custom wifi repeater and misc servers. running in its own dedicated internal(FAST)partition. This device, and its kernel level mac spoofing with the now almost phased out WCNSS qualcom configurable wifi firmware, is incredible. the busted screen one has been on every day non stop functioning as a repeater, router with captive portal, and dhcp service, for almost two months. it automatically connects to wifi, kills the android zygote/system server, kills its backlight and starts up a hotspot and sshserver/captive portal, all without cell service, and without any interaction.
Anyway, new mpcs files up soon.....

mrbox23 said:
I think those patches are applied at source code level. meaning it would be in a future release. My camera works running Resurrection Remix, on xt-1921-3 try copying [email protected] from stock /system/lib/hw to /vendor/lib/hw, making sure to keep permissions same as others in vendor/lib. im willing to read logs, does your att run lineage? if so, does bluetooth work?
###bugle added### my Att is an xt1921-2, can't even unlock the bootloader... But 30 bucks isn't bad for a new screen and a new speaker. ###
Another thing of note is how i spoof the mac adress for wifi, this(and other things) .
Anyway, new mpcs files up soon.....
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Click to collapse
Years ago, I used to compile Gentoo to run on some archaic hp tablets... Now I just run Linux mint on somewhat newer hardware. This gave me a limited skillset to get an old Moto mb300 running with gingerbread and CyanogenMod. Everything worked, had them for over 4-5 years, just started really messing up over the summer. Miss the real keyboard.
Thanks so much for the tips and insights. It'll take some time to absorb everything in your post.

aka.bugle said:
Years ago, I used to compile Gentoo to run on some archaic hp tablets... Now I just run Linux mint on somewhat newer hardware. This gave me a limited skillset to get an old Moto mb300 running with gingerbread and CyanogenMod. Everything worked, had them for over 4-5 years, just started really messing up over the summer. Miss the real keyboard.
Thanks so much for the tips and insights. It'll take some time to absorb everything in your post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first "Android" phone was the HTC HD2 wich was actually a Windows phone that can boot linux from the sdcard. I came across it while learning how to get linux booting on laptops. I was fascinated with booting a mini linux on a portable device. I learned about Android and linux in that way, at the same time. Kernel, ramdisk, java machine, broadband cellular modem, and wifi radio in my pocket. I abandoned windows entirely, to this day lol

Right you are! @mrbox23 ... I've got camera on RRemix on the metro 1921-3!
I'm gonna put the lineage/no camera issue on the back burner for when I try to use your older boot/vendor img trick (boot Lineage 15.1) on the unlocked 1921-5.
(I only have a 1Mb/s dsl connection here, takes about 4-5 hours for a 1 gig file to dl)
So, for the Metro 1921-3, I can't find libeffects.so or even the soundfx folder to copy into. (studder fix)
Your script 2 files for media/camera and charge led, other than making them executable (0755? 0700?) will they be called (without any other mod) being in /data/adb/service.d ?
I think it's important to use a/the real fingerprint from an e5 device along with other properties. To get the best out of the hardware and least error messages during boot. I go through logcat/dmesg and attempt to fix what's broken, like the camera on lineage(works without trouble on rr remix btw). I used hidepropsconf module at first and a sprint fingerprint, but later began using the one found in info.txt of firmware zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pulled one out of my Att phone that is a james xt1921-2 but has a locked bootloader, all stock ... I used #getprop ro.build.fingerprint.. not sure if i should use this, or wait to see your build.prop...
ill post my work in progress build.prop(hosting it with new vendor and boot images on gdrive) which noticeably improves overall performance and lends to less log errors, or lags and crashes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the best to you and yours in 2020. Meeeerrrry eXksMix, hic up'

Yes to service.d with those three. I ditched the camera ones though, footej or another camera is nice. Im close to figuring out what the vndk library thing.
hosting current prop setups, between resetprop in service.d and modifying build prop. other goodies too. I turned oem partition into swap space, and added permissions to priv-app xml's enabling more RR features, like hold back to kill app.

mrbox23 said:
Yes to service.d with those three. I ditched the camera ones though, footej or another camera is nice. Im close to figuring out what the vndk library thing.
hosting current prop setups, between resetprop in service.d and modifying build prop. other goodies too. I turned oem partition into swap space, and added permissions to priv-app xml's enabling more RR features, like hold back to kill app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mediafix line 2... set or resetprop?
1 resetprop 'media.camera.ts.monotonic' 0
2 setprop 'persist.camera.HAL3.enabled' 1
what are these last lines in mediafix for?
16 resetprop net.dns1 1.1.1.1
17 resetprop net.dns2 1.0.0.1
and i'm guessing the deb.sh is for your wifi repeater? swap space in oem?
how is mpcs.prop called? where is its proper folder?
can you host a copy of libeffects.so ?

@mrbox23 Bluetooth working! check.

aka.bugle said:
@mrbox23 Bluetooth working! check.
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something I just noticed here recently is that's all the audio output now. I can't test cellular calls, Hangouts only works when i restore that vendor path Back to where it was. My camera broke again to. I want to reach out to phh here or github.

Well that's a big bug, sorry. I've reverted the metro 1921-3 to stock for now, but on the positive side, I tried using your older boot/vendor imgs trick on the 1921-5 (Sprint)... and success! it boots Lineage 15.1 and bluetooth works, I haven't tried using the GSM Att Sim yet and still no camera, (I haven't tried your other camera recommendations yet.) One step closer for the 1921-5.