Database Info

[i5500] Guides & Resources

Ok so there doesnt seem to be much work being done on the little gem that is the Samsung GT-i5500/Europa.
So i've done a rummage around and tracked down a few useful things that can be done for any users of the phone.
Since we have no dedicated forum category yet if anyone finds any more details of useful modifications being done on the device then dont hesitate to drop me a PM and i'll add it to the original post.
Flashing and Firmware Updates
-----------------------------
ODIN + Firmware Packages - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149
Rooting
-------
Rooting can be done using UniversalAndroot, works like a dream without any problems even after flashing the latest firmware.
Busybox
-------
Busybox - http://www.codeplex.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=de&DownloadId=96485
Ok so I found numerous different reports on Busybox stating different mount commands some of which didn't work so well for me.
So here is how I personally got busybox installed and working.
First off grab a copy of busybox from the above link and place it in the root of your SDCard.
The do the following from a command line:
Code:
adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
dd if=/sdcard/busybox of=/system/bin/busybox
chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox
mkdir /data/busybox
/system/bin/busybox --install -s /system/bin/
This differs from the /system/xbin instructions I mostly found however works fine and i've yet to find any issues with it.
Market Patch
------------
Market Patch Guide - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=834959
The above market patch removes the issue of not being able to see all app's on the market.
Apps2SD
-------
Apps2SD Guide - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=9087708
Works fine however it requires partitioning to be done from linux since we currently don't have a modified recovery.img with parted available.

Better integrating Busybox (2012-11-17)

Most Android ROMs use toolbox as primary binary with symlinks in /system/bin and /system/xbin. The problem with toolbox is that it sucks. On some ROMs it's even so limited that it does not even allow for --prefix
Busybox is a great replacement for toolbox, but in order to use it, you have to call it using 'busybox cmd'. I would much rather use it by calling 'cmd' but this would execute toolbox instead of busybox.
Most would think the command 'busybox --install' would fix this, but it does'nt. It tries to install links at /bin and /sbin.
The script below will replace any toolbox links in /system/bin and /system/xbin that is supported by the busybox version installed on the Android device running the script. This will make busybox the default binary when executing regular commands without adding 'busybox' at the beginning of the command.
For an example 'ls' instead of 'busybox ls'
Download as an update.zip
v1.3.0 (Nov 17, 2012) (MD5: c233964f0f62a16d7376739041e8b250) - busybox_installer.zip (Only for ArmV7 devices)
v1.3.0 (Nov 17, 2012) (MD5: e921a6c4119644a18d4feea565824ab1) - busybox_installer-nobin (Without binaries)
busybox.sh
Code:
#!/sbin/sh
for cmd in test find basename readlink ln rm; do
eval export "_$cmd=\"/sbin/busybox $cmd\""
done
_busybox=$($_find /system -type f -name "busybox")
_toolbox=$($_find /system -type f -name "toolbox")
if $_test -e "$_busybox" && $_test -e "$_toolbox"; then
sToolboxList="watchprops wipe vmstat date uptime reboot getevent getprop setprop id iftop ioctl ionice log lsof nandread newfs_msdos notify ps r schedtop sendevent setconsole setprop sleep smd start stop top"
sBusyboxList="`$_busybox --list`"
for applet in $sBusyboxList; do
if $_test -L /system/bin/$applet; then
if $_test "`$_basename $($_readlink -f /system/bin/$applet)`" = "toolbox"; then
$_ln -sf $_busybox /system/bin/$applet
if $_test -L /system/xbin/$applet; then
$_rm -rf /system/xbin/$applet
fi
fi
elif $_test -L /system/xbin/$applet; then
if $_test "`$_basename $($_readlink -f /system/xbin/$applet)`" = "toolbox"; then
$_ln -sf $_busybox /system/xbin/$applet
fi
elif ! $_test -e /system/bin/$applet && ! $_test -e /system/xbin/$applet; then
$_ln -sf $_busybox /system/bin/$applet
fi
done
for applet in $sToolboxList; do
$_ln -sf $_toolbox /system/bin/$applet
done
fi
Toolbox install links
watchprops, wipe, vmstat, date, uptime, reboot, getevent, getprop, setprop, id, iftop, ioctl, ionice, log, lsof, nandread, newfs_msdos, notify, ps, r, su, schedtop, sendevent, setconsole, setprop, sleep, smd, start, stop, top
Busybox install links
Whatever the currently installed busybox supports that is not in the list of toolbox install links
Change log
Dec 10 2011, 21:39 UTC:
The script will now leave skip replacing /system/bin/reboot as it needs to be pointed at toolbox
Dec 11 2011, 10:08 UTC:
Added an update zip that will configure busybox and it provides an extended 1.4MB binary instead of the regular 480KB most ROM's provide
Dec 12 2011, 09:25 UTC:
Added new busybox build (1.20.0.git 2011-12-11) since there was problem with the old one for some people
Added more busybox search dirs (/system/sbin and /sbin)
Added Toolbox install to make sure that some android specific links uses toolbox instead of busybox. See list above.
Jun 27 2012, 13:45 UTC:
Better Busybox and Toolbox search
Added symlink check to make sure that busybox only replaces toolbox links and not things like "sh -> mksh"
Nov 17 2012, 10:30 UTC:
Added a custom toolbox binary to the ArmV7 installer
Added latest CM9 busybox binary to the ArmV7 binary
Added an auto search function to locate the binaries on the device
Fixed both installers to work with newer devices that uses EXT4 file system

Thanks, dk_zero-cool. I've been looking for a guide to installing BusyBox, since I can only find an add-supported installer in the Android Market.

Thanks, nice job!!

Ran the script, worked and did fine....ONE BIG ISSUE....now if you have any script or app that relies on the "reboot" function, it no longer works. For example, rom manager & bootstrapper will not boot into recovery. I even open up terminal and typed:
Code:
$ su
# reboot
...and nothing...does the reboot in /bin need to not be linked to busybox?

KMDonlon said:
Ran the script, worked and did fine....ONE BIG ISSUE....now if you have any script or app that relies on the "reboot" function, it no longer works. For example, rom manager & bootstrapper will not boot into recovery. I even open up terminal and typed:
Code:
$ su
# reboot
...and nothing...does the reboot in /bin need to not be linked to busybox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to relink it back to toolbox and then I will update the script to leave reboot alone.
1: mount -o remount,rw /system
2: rm -r /system/bin/reboot
3: ln -s /system/bin/toolbox /system/bin/reboot

Great! Will try again!

Cool... can I steal this?
I'd implement it with a busybox install script
I'm not a super expert on the subject but is /system/sbin a possible location?

zeppelinrox said:
Cool... can I steal this?
I'd implement it with a busybox install script
I'm not a super expert on the subject but is /system/sbin a possible location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use this as you like.
And you can type "echo $PATH" in an adb shell, if /system/sbin is there, then it will work. But why? /system/xbin is usually the default dir for placing busybox, otherwise /system/bin. And you will have to change the script since it will only check in /system/bin and /system/xbin

All times in my scripts report UTC time instead of system time, I am sure there is one other applet in /bin that was linked to toolbox that is now linked to busybox and reporting the date wrong or at least the date/time that busybox says (UTC time).

KMDonlon said:
All times in my scripts report UTC time instead of system time, I am sure there is one other applet in /bin that was linked to toolbox that is now linked to busybox and reporting the date wrong or at least the date/time that busybox says (UTC time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do the same as before, only this time replace 'reboot' with 'date'
This must be a setting in the busybox compile menu. A new binary might fix this because busybox should be able to display system time. But for now point date back to toolbox and it will work for you.

Yup, did what you just said and all is fine. Thanks! Is there a way you can implement the reboot and date applet ignore in the script within the .zip you made.... I think it will save users some headaches.

dk_zero-cool said:
You can use this as you like.
And you can type "echo $PATH" in an adb shell, if /system/sbin is there, then it will work. But why? /system/xbin is usually the default dir for placing busybox, otherwise /system/bin. And you will have to change the script since it will only check in /system/bin and /system/xbin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well bb is sometimes installed elsewhere.
At first SuperCharger only looked in those 2 locations and stopped when it wasn't found.
What would happen if there was a second version elsewhere?
I suppose it wouldn't matter because of the symlinks.

KMDonlon said:
Yup, did what you just said and all is fine. Thanks! Is there a way you can implement the reboot and date applet ignore in the script within the .zip you made.... I think it will save users some headaches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reboot fix is already in the zip file.
The date fix I don't want in it, I would much rather fix busybox to work properly.
I'm currently looking at that.
zeppelinrox said:
Well bb is sometimes installed elsewhere.
At first SuperCharger only looked in those 2 locations and stopped when it wasn't found.
What would happen if there was a second version elsewhere?
I suppose it wouldn't matter because of the symlinks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that does not mater because of the symlinks.
That's why I referrer to the complete path, f.eks, "/system/xbin/busybox" and not just the binary name "busybox".

I am going to try your binary for Busybox and see, I am currently using JRummy's BB installer which installed v1.19.3 which is about 1.06MB....
EDIT: Just flashed the .zip, my phone will not boot past the logo....did a battery pull several times and can't get into CWR....SBF time

KMDonlon said:
I am going to try your binary for Busybox and see, I am currently using JRummy's BB installer which installed v1.19.3 which is about 1.06MB....
EDIT: Just flashed the .zip, my phone will not boot past the logo....did a battery pull several times and can't get into CWR....SBF time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put in your USB cable, open a terminal/console on your computer and try "adb logcat" to see what it says when it stops booting.
You must of cause have adb installed on your computer, and USB drivers if you use windows, which I don't and cant help with.

Already reflashed phone back....sorry, no logcat....

Do it again...
C'mon take one for the team... hehe...

LMFAO!!!! Sorry dude, I ain't gonna do it....will let some other poor soul ....I got honey do's today, it's Sunday!!

Whatever it was I can't recreate it. Works fine when I flash the damn thing.

Here's a thought.....make a script that reverses the toolbox links, I can undo it and try to flash again....I was unable to manually install your busybox version so I think some other toolbox applet is causing me trouble.....

GOOGLE TV & Better Terminal Emulator V4.0.3

First of all I would like to thank my intuitions on this discovery! the SONY Google TV can be rooted, well, at least the /system partition can be changed to read/write. I have not actually executed the command to do so, but I do know the necessary path to the Google TV's /system partition. I recently discovered that the the Google TV uses Better terminal Emulator pro V4.0.3, and I was looking around on the magicandroidapps.com WIKI and noticed that there was an application called TV Terminal Emulator Pro, but I think that was a throw-off. Better Terminal Emulator Pro version 4 works perfectly when trying to access system level permissions on SONY's (notice I said SONY) Google TV. Here are the facts. Hopefully someone can try the usual remount command and switch the system to read/write
1.install Better Terminal Emulator Pro (version 4.0.3 ONLY!) no other version will work
Hit the menu button in your SONY Google TV remote once the terminal has opened and in the default shell setting, choose the Almquist shell as the default!
2.type this command in the terminal
\ $/system/bin/ash
This will give you permission to execute all /system/bin commands(ash=advanced shell)
you will now have a prompt like this one below
\w \ $
3.you can now type this command to see all files in /system/bin directory:
\w \ $ls /system/bin
4. type this command:
\w \ $/system/bin/mount
NOTE: This command will give you a list of all partitions within the TV's file system!
NOTE:The system partition will be in the list of mounts called /dev/block/sda5. It is the only one of two mounts that is in read only mode.
NOTE: This directory is a ext3 file system, and this should be added in the remount command in terminal. Plaese give me some feedback on this matter because I know you GTV fans have been waiting on something like this!!

GOOGLE TV & Better Terminal Emulator Pro V.4.0.3 [UPDATE]
So have figured out how to issue the command to remount the system partition to rw, but it appers that I am not in root? For those who do not know the command, here it is:
\w \$ mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/block/sda5 /system
mount: permission denied (are you root?)
This is no big deal, this just means that we are getting closer to seeing just what this giant tablet can go. This also means that the command is corrects as well, for one to get an output like the one above., I will try to use another shell and see what commands will have to be executed and get back with all you GTV users.
NOTE: This is post is related to the (SONY Internet TV) and NOT the LOGITECH Revue
ALSO: Those of you who are trying to use ADB to control the television, The \$ adb root command cannot be executed in a production build of GOOGLE TV, which led me to go with Better terminal Emulator Pro.

GOOGLE TV & Better Terminal Emulator Pro V4.0.3 [UPDATE]
Hay guys, I was playing around some more with the terminal and I see that there ARE busybox commands present in the application.
I think the trick to rooting the SONY NSX32GT1 would be the CHMOD command. Entering this command while in the BASH shell when the emulator starts will give you the options for executing the command properly. if smeone can help me out with this command to change the permissions of the /system file system, that would be great. The CHOWN command may be of some use as well. I am almost 100 percent sure that if we change the permissions of the filesystem with one of these commands, we will be on our way to getting proper root access to out TVs!
If you are familiar with linux commands, please post a reply with the proper execution, and I will, in return, provide some very exclusive information about the television!
Here are some pics of the terminal up and running with busybox v1.16.2 built in.

i believe u may be speaking of commands like chmod -R 777 /system to give read write and execute permissions to user group owner .or chown root:root but to do any of that u must be root (the owner of most system files) or owner of said files in order to change owner group permissions and more. those commands come after a su or sudo in full bash. so u would still have to remount as rw. but the fact u got busybox installed is nice perhaps we can start looking at other root options if the busybox commands can be found during zerg or other overflow
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Easy terminal emulator startup.

Well currently i am using jackpal.androidterm emulator and always needed to type 2 commands bf new entriws would be allowed.
Namely the following commands. 1. startup su by running su command. 2. mounting r/o to r/w of /system mount blabla.
Well here comes in my helpfull hint (^o^)
go into settings menu and alter the startup command send to shell into this line of text.
su && busybox mount -o remount,rw /system
now ur emulator will always start with su approved (#) and /system
running as r/w mounted. u could add more commands as long as u
add these symbols btween commands && . take note there aint spaces inbetween or it wont work.
ohh and easy command help for terminal u get by typing the next
line of text. replace the COMMAND with desired item.
busybox COMMAND --help
use the busybox command on its own to see commands it can use..
hope helps someone who wanna know more about busybox and terminal emulator commands.
And if u wanna use bash scripts just add it to the startup command.
su && busybox mount -o remount,rw /system && bash
u need bash installed of course, and i used an alternate path so the program stays clean. i used /data/local/foldername to store my bash, busybox, android toolbox so they wouldnt get corrupted. the android toolbox i found in my /system/bin and i put bash and busybox into /system/xbin and all seems to work fine.
Sent from my GT-P3110 using XDA Free mobile app

How To Guide Mount System read/write

My native language is not English.
I am sorry, but I do not understand native English.
This operation is very dangerous.
Enables writing to "/".
All at your own risk.
Devices preinstalled with android 10 or later are
Even if you root the device, it will still be r/o and you will not be able to edit it at all.
By running this script, you can r/w the system itself.
We will use makeSystemRW and makesysrw_repair created by lebigmac.
You will need a linux system to run makesysrw_repair.
[SCRIPT][Android 10+] Universal Mount System read write R/W
I would like to thank lebigmac for creating this script.
1. After unlocking the boot loader and becoming root, disable all vbmeta.
Code:
fastboot -–disable-verity -–disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot -–disable-verity -–disable-verification flash vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img
2. Copy makeSystemRW to /data/local/tmp of edge s.
3. Run makeSystemRW.
Code:
adb shell
su
chmod +x /data/local/tmp/makesysrw_1.31/makesysrw.sh
setenforce 0
./data/local/tmp/makesysrw_1.31/makesysrw.sh size=20
An error will occur here and it will fail.
You need to use makesysrw_repair.
4. Run makesysrw_repair.
Copy makesysrw_repair, open a terminal at the location where you copied it, and run the code.
Code:
sudo bash makesysrw_repair.sh
We have confirmed that this command is executable on Ubuntu.
5. Finish.
You are now done.
You can mount it with r/w using the root explorer.
Make sure that you can create new files and folders.

Would like to do this but why hasn't anyone else posted on this thread regarding success or fails?

nexus7lte said:
Would like to do this but why hasn't anyone else posted on this thread regarding success or fails?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess no one tried it, or they did and never commented

Thank you for your interest in my SystemRW/SuperRW feat. MakeRW project.
Yes I got the project thread closed while I was enjoying the summer holidays. Everyone needs a well deserved break every once in a while. I'll have it reopened as soon as I'm ready to publish the new version of my script. Hopefully soon
It's looking like a fall release rather than a summer release though... Time flies...
The old version 1.32 works in A10, A11 and some folks even got it to work in A12 simply by disabling the sdkCheck() function
The new version should have A13 support straight out of the box if everything goes according to plan. Wish me luck! Thanks!
Cheers

i would like to try this just to get rid of the annoying Android 12 update message.
Evan after disabling google play services notifications and freezing the OTAs, I still cant stop
com.motorola.ccc.ota and I assume thats because its on a read only portion, right? ADB commands didnt work.

My error in adb or terminal is_
u
:/ # pm disable com.motorola.ccc.ota
Exception occurred while executing 'disable':
java.lang.SecurityException: Cannot disable a protected package: com.motorola.ccc.ota

Hi @nexus7lte
Did you get my SystemRW/SuperRW feat. MakeRW script to work on your Android 12 device?
Is it the Motorola Moto G100 ? How do you like it?
Yeah disabling those protected system packages can be tricky sometimes. I'm sure it's possible somehow.
On Xiaomi devices we also got this Xiaomi security app and I can't disable it even as root with full rw access but I'm sure a true expert could do it

lebigmac said:
Hi @nexus7lte
Did you get my SystemRW/SuperRW feat. MakeRW script to work on your Android 12 device?
Is it the Motorola Moto G100 ? How do you like it?
Yeah disabling those protected system packages can be tricky sometimes. I'm sure it's possible somehow.
On Xiaomi devices we also got this Xiaomi security app and I can't disable it even as root with full rw access but I'm sure a true expert could do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... I tried your script on my new Realme GT Neo 3T android 12. It booted but seems like nothing changed. Mounting system still says "mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts"

Vipxpert said:
Mounting system still says "mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. That's a nice device you've got!
Are you sure you're calling the command as root?
Usually you get this error message if you try to remount something as shell user...
Or you're trying to remount the wrong path. Try mount -o remount,rw /
Without seeing any screenshots or at least your log it's very difficult to tell what's wrong on your device from here. Did you check if my script successfully removed the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature from your phone?
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol"; done

lebigmac said:
Hi. That's a nice device you've got!
Are you sure you're calling the command as root?
Usually you get this error message if you try to remount something as shell user...
Or you're trying to remount the wrong path. Try mount -o remount,rw /
Without seeing any screenshots or at least your log it's very difficult to tell what's wrong on your device from here. Did you check if my script successfully removed the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature from your phone?
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol"; done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here I have flashed it through EX kernel manager since there's no TWRP for Neo 3T or even a forum yet. Do u need a full log somewhere though?

lebigmac said:
Hi. That's a nice device you've got!
Are you sure you're calling the command as root?
Usually you get this error message if you try to remount something as shell user...
Or you're trying to remount the wrong path. Try mount -o remount,rw /
Without seeing any screenshots or at least your log it's very difficult to tell what's wrong on your device from here. Did you check if my script successfully removed the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature from your phone?
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol"; done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah here I found

Also I tried copy-paste your code. It gives a bunch of nonsenses hmm...

Same this result for me even with your command
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $ etc
Or if i flashed rw fixed_super.bin
Device not able to boot anymore

Hi @Vipxpert thanks for your log and for the screenshots!
I don't understand why the script didn't detect your shared_blocks read-only feature...
Are you saying the script didn't do anything and you flashed the resulting super_fixed.bin to your super partition and phone still boots in read-only mode?
Oh yeah right I forgot that OnePlus devices usually have dozens of useless pseudo (cow) partitions in its partition table...
To find out if your device has got the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature please try this updated code. Good luck!
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol" -e "mounted on"; done
Or like this:
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in `seq 0 5`; do tune2fs -l /dev/block/dm-$a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol" -e "mounted on"; done
@Mr Hassan bootloops are always very sad . Do you have any idea why it happened?
Try to boot into TWRP and pull any log files to find out reason for error and then reflash original stock super.img and phone should boot again Good luck!

lebigmac said:
Hi @Vipxpert thanks for your log and for the screenshots!
I don't understand why the script didn't detect your shared_blocks read-only feature...
Are you saying the script didn't do anything and you flashed the resulting super_fixed.bin to your super partition and phone still boots in read-only mode?
Oh yeah right I forgot that OnePlus devices usually have dozens of useless pseudo (cow) partitions in its partition table...
To find out if your device has got the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature please try this updated code. Good luck!
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in /dev/block/dm-*; do tune2fs -l $a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol" -e "mounted on"; done
Or like this:
Bash:
adb shell
su
for a in `seq 0 5`; do tune2fs -l /dev/block/dm-$a | grep -e "feat" -e "vol" -e "mounted on"; done
@Mr Hassan bootloops are always very sad . Do you have any idea why it happened?
Try to boot into TWRP and pull any log files to find out reason for error and then reflash original stock super.img and phone should boot again Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I even try stock super but device wont boot until flash back stock
And hes oneplus have somekinda cow partitions etc
I see when i try flash its asked to delete all cow parts
Don't know what's this

Yeh I did flash it with "fastboot flash super super-fixed.bin" and that took no effect ://
Anyways here're the results of your 2 commands. They seem not to end up well

@lebigmac mention mention

Well it looks like your /product partition does indeed have the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature.
I know that's a stupid feature but this is actually good news. This means new upcoming version of my script should be able to do the job

lebigmac said:
Well it looks like your /product partition does indeed have the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature.
I know that's a stupid feature but this is actually good news. This means new upcoming version of my script should be able to do the job
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yess!! U're the hero thanks so much now I can debloat, fake Google daydream service, add AR supports, edit mixer_path.xml for volume and tons of stuffs. Oh I miss those time a lot ^^^

lebigmac said:
Well it looks like your /product partition does indeed have the infamous shared_blocks read-only feature.
I know that's a stupid feature but this is actually good news. This means new upcoming version of my script should be able to do the job
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any any estimate of days or release date