postmarketOS Boot Issue - Surface 2 RT - Windows RT Development and Hacking

*Issue solved, OS build meant for Surface RT, not Surface 2 RT. If someone could comment on how to delete a post, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.*
I've searched for this and found one dead, low-traffic thread that didn't provide any information. I'm attempting to use a USB to boot postmarketOS onto my Surface 2 RT, and have followed the instruction at openrt.gitbook to the point of booting the new OS. I formatted the USB in Windows cmd following these instructions:
diskpart
list disk
select disk X (Where X is the number assigned to the target USB drive)
clean
convert mbr
create partition primary
format fs=fat32 quick
assign
active
exit
I download the img.xz file (newest lxqt image from the postmarketOS surface rt wiki) on my android and use Zarchiver to get the .img file. I move that to my computer and write it to the USB using Rufus. After booting the Surface from USB, the following is displayed after a half hour or so of just the "Surface" logo:
Booting 'postmarketOS'
EFI stub: Entering in SVC mode with MMU enabled
EFI stub: Booting Linux Kernel...
EFI stub: Free memory starts at 0x82320000, setting kernel_base to 0x82300000
EFI stub: Using DTB from configuration table
EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path
EFI stub: Exiting boot services and installing virtual address map...
_
It sat there throughout last night and never progressed. I feel as though I haven't properly created the bootable USB, but I'm pretty new. Can anyone see where I went wrong from just this information?
Thank you.

Lol kinda funny you got that far without realizing which Surface you had

FoxyDrew said:
Lol kinda funny you got that far without realizing which Surface you had
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew which one I had, I just thought the entire tutorial was for surface rt/ rt2. It's my first time, I've got some learnin to do.

JoggingOtter said:
I knew which one I had, I just thought the entire tutorial was for surface rt/ rt2. It's my first time, I've got some learnin to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you wanna learn more, or think you can contribute in any way, theres an Open RT Discord. That's where everyone is who got postmark/linux to work in the first place.
Currently they have a build of LineageOS recovery running and are working on Android.
Linux CAN be booted on the Surface RT 2, but its a WIP at the moment. A few things are broken Theres a guide in the discord as well.

FoxyDrew said:
If you wanna learn more, or think you can contribute in any way, theres an Open RT Discord. That's where everyone is who got postmark/linux to work in the first place.
Currently they have a build of LineageOS recovery running and are working on Android.
Linux CAN be booted on the Surface RT 2, but its a WIP at the moment. A few things are broken Theres a guide in the discord as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate that. I've joined the discord, that's where I found my error. Those guys were quick and spot on with the replies. I get a good feeling from this community right off the bat, so I'll be sticking around to learn and hopefully get to a point where I have usable input.
It seems to me my best course for right now might be the win10. I've read that many find it painfully slow, but they were running it on rt. Do you know if that's also the case for the 2?

JoggingOtter said:
I appreciate that. I've joined the discord, that's where I found my error. Those guys were quick and spot on with the replies. I get a good feeling from this community right off the bat, so I'll be sticking around to learn and hopefully get to a point where I have usable input.
It seems to me my best course for right now might be the win10. I've read that many find it painfully slow, but they were running it on rt. Do you know if that's also the case for the 2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like numbers >8, sure go Windows 10. Windows 10 is still slower than Windows 8 even on the RT 2. Windows 10 can't install any apps that Win 8 can't. It has Microsoft Edge, but it's still no better than IE really, no youtube, slow loading, lots of pages broken, etc. It's basically unfinished beta software.
It's a fun little project and it's cool to see Win10 on the device, I had Win10 on my surface 2 for a few months, but i realized it's just not practical so I switched back to 8. I mainly use my surface for Splashtop, as a second monitor for my PC.
Not tryna discourage you, by all means flash Win10 to the tablet, just letting you know it's functionally the same and even a little worse than 8.1

FoxyDrew said:
If you like numbers >8, sure go Windows 10. Windows 10 is still slower than Windows 8 even on the RT 2. Windows 10 can't install any apps that Win 8 can't. It has Microsoft Edge, but it's still no better than IE really, no youtube, slow loading, lots of pages broken, etc. It's basically unfinished beta software.
It's a fun little project and it's cool to see Win10 on the device, I had Win10 on my surface 2 for a few months, but i realized it's just not practical so I switched back to 8. I mainly use my surface for Splashtop, as a second monitor for my PC.
Not tryna discourage you, by all means flash Win10 to the tablet, just letting you know it's functionally the same and even a little worse than 8.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know. The issue that got me started searching around is that there are some websites that I just can't access, example being dndbeyond. Kindle app has been gone for years which is why I put the tablet in the drawer in the first place. I'd just like to use it minimally, I decided yesterday to try and reload 8.1 because I can't even get the updates it should have (I've followed some troubleshooting tutorials to no avail). I like the tablet, I just wish it was still useful.

JoggingOtter said:
That's good to know. The issue that got me started searching around is that there are some websites that I just can't access, example being dndbeyond. Kindle app has been gone for years which is why I put the tablet in the drawer in the first place. I'd just like to use it minimally, I decided yesterday to try and reload 8.1 because I can't even get the updates it should have (I've followed some troubleshooting tutorials to no avail). I like the tablet, I just wish it was still useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish it was too, especially for us with the Surface 2. The screen and speakers on this thing are still pretty dang good. Even on the first one with linux running okay, theres still no hardware acceleration for web browsing, so streaming sites like youtube or netflix won't work. But the small community in the discord seem to be making progress almost daily.
I'd legit hand over $50 to get a build of Android

FoxyDrew said:
If you like numbers >8, sure go Windows 10. Windows 10 is still slower than Windows 8 even on the RT 2. Windows 10 can't install any apps that Win 8 can't. It has Microsoft Edge, but it's still no better than IE really, no youtube, slow loading, lots of pages broken, etc. It's basically unfinished beta software.
It's a fun little project and it's cool to see Win10 on the device, I had Win10 on my surface 2 for a few months, but i realized it's just not practical so I switched back to 8. I mainly use my surface for Splashtop, as a second monitor for my PC.
Not tryna discourage you, by all means flash Win10 to the tablet, just letting you know it's functionally the same and even a little worse than 8.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Thanks for the good review of win 10 on RT. Was a question in my head from a long time. Any idea for Linux/postmarketOS on surface RT?
Thanks

vicky1982 said:
Hello,
Thanks for the good review of win 10 on RT. Was a question in my head from a long time. Any idea for Linux/postmarketOS on surface RT?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the surface RT 1, Linux has gotten pretty solid. Even Android is available. Better than Windows for a couple usecases.
On the Surface RT 2 however, I'd stay away. Still no hardware acceleration on the RT2. So everything is slow and choppy in Linux. Not to mention USB doesn't work unless it's externally powered, so if you want any peripherals to work you need a powered USB hub. And still no Android builds.

FoxyDrew said:
On the surface RT 1, Linux has gotten pretty solid. Even Android is available. Better than Windows for a couple usecases.
On the Surface RT 2 however, I'd stay away. Still no hardware acceleration on the RT2. So everything is slow and choppy in Linux. Not to mention USB doesn't work unless it's externally powered, so if you want any peripherals to work you need a powered USB hub. And still no Android builds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. Can you please recommend any distro/build which is best in Linux for RT1. I can not find any link for Android, any guide for that.
Thanks

vicky1982 said:
Thanks for the reply. Can you please recommend any distro/build which is best in Linux for RT1. I can not find any link for Android, any guide for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

vicky1982 said:
Thanks for the reply. Can you please recommend any distro/build which is best in Linux for RT1. I can not find any link for Android, any guide for that.
Thanks l
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to install Postmarketos, never used it before. When i click on Web browser, it says no default application. And I can not find any browser. Please help how to install any app or browser on Postmarketos. Or is there a better Linux os for surface RT1.
Thanks

Related

Please help a, gosh, a newb

I have a MAC. I'm using VM Fusion on with Windows XP for the virtual machine.
I want to go I9000 (sick of app limitations and ATT in general).
I cannot for the life of me get the Samsung USB drivers to work on my Windows side of the MAC. I've tried install, re-install over and over. I've tried, and have, both versions of the Samsung drivers that are out there.
I have the ODIN program and all the stuff needed to get the i9000 on my phone.
My phone goes to down load mode.
I've been at this 8 HOURS and am about to break a 32" lcd monitor!!!!
Please.... I will take any suggestions on how to get my phone to connect on Windows XP.
i'm not sure what the compatability is for emulating windows but i did have problems installing my drivers on my pc (win XP) and my solution was kies from samsung. it automatically installed the drivers for me. it can be found at samsung.com.
Sorry..... a little anxious, frustrated, and well.... you get the point.
Thanks.... I am getting KIES right now....
talking like that won't get you help any faster...
edit: yeppers, trust me, i get you.
....
Yes I know.... thx again..
Breath, drink, don't break the monitor, keep trying..... the now 9 hours will pay off!!!
lol, did it work for you?
Downloading now...
Of course the download is taking forever. Normally I can download around 200 MB in a minute or two... this 136 MB file is going at the rate of about 39 KB/sec..
Grin and bear it right? Man I hope this works!
Will update this with results.....
40k a sec...wow, i'm sorry man...that makes me want a drink now.
chaosjh said:
40k a sec...wow, i'm sorry man...that makes me want a drink now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just the kind of day it's been.... I no sooner type the speed of download and hit post.... sure as sh*t the thing has downloaded already.
The Kies installer will open, and the progress bar is indicating the files are extracting and then it just dead ends me....
Gotta play around with it I guess..
ever think about dual boot instead of emulating? or maybe in addition to. or can mac's do that? kies installed fine for me, sorry man, idk...
hey i was also thinking about this, how does your setup send the fact that your phone is connected to the emulated xp instead of just iOS? maybe stupid question, but i thought i'd ask
pdxrealtor said:
I have a MAC. I'm using VM Fusion on with Windows XP for the virtual machine.
I want to go I9000 (sick of app limitations and ATT in general).
I cannot for the life of me get the Samsung USB drivers to work on my Windows side of the MAC. I've tried install, re-install over and over. I've tried, and have, both versions of the Samsung drivers that are out there.
I have the ODIN program and all the stuff needed to get the i9000 on my phone.
My phone goes to down load mode.
I've been at this 8 HOURS and am about to break a 32" lcd monitor!!!!
Please.... I will take any suggestions on how to get my phone to connect on Windows XP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im in the same page yesterday when I got my captivate.. im just wondering why go with the I9000 stock firmware(too much hassle) if you can just use the unleash the beast
chaosjh said:
ever think about dual boot instead of emulating? or maybe in addition to. or can mac's do that? kies installed fine for me, sorry man, idk...
hey i was also thinking about this, how does your setup send the fact that your phone is connected to the emulated xp instead of just iOS? maybe stupid question, but i thought i'd ask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey that is a great idea, the booting up just the windows side... I've never done it but I think there is a native Mac app called boot camp.
As of now, it seems like the first kies file I downloaded was corrupt. I downloaded again and now it is actually installing the software.
My virtual machine sees the Android phone, and then Windows picks it up but errors it out as an unknown USB device. No matter where I point the XP device to for driver files it won't pick them up.
On the Mac side... it just shows up in Finder once mounted.
Hey OP, I had the same problem as you and I just ended up going the Bootcamp route. For whatever reason VMware Fusion with Win7 does not want to recognize the Captivate. I know its not much help and having to go with bootcamp instead of a VM does kinda suck but the bright side is that you can always open up your bootcamp partition with VMware Fusion while in OSX if you need quick access to Windows.
Kind of topic, but how do you access boot camp with VM Fusion from the Mac OS?
I only use windows for IE, as I visit websites that only work with that browser.
Anyways... sure as sh*t this morning I wake up and get the old xp laptop out, download the Samsung Capitave drivers and instantly hook my phone up.
So.... an entire day wasted on trying to connect my phone to XP virtual machine. Gotta laugh .... right?

Original Impression - Is this for real?

I bought this Gtablet when my wife and I were out doing last minute Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon. No actual live unit on display or available at Sears so bought one based on hope. My first impressions were very mixed. It was painfully slow when I first booted it up while waiting for my wife who had gone into another store and I waited for her in the car (plugged in using inverter we carry with us). Later when we got home it downloaded the update and that helped the speed issue (but still sluggish) but I've run into all kinds of issues that have me ready to return this thing.
First thing I noticed is the number of times that apps force close on the GT including the browser built into the unit. That is about to drive me nuts but I discovered another even more major issue - for me. I planned to use this device to log into our webmail server when I'm travelling in order to get my mail. I can log into the webmail and I can bring up the mail but when I open a piece of email I cannot scroll the screen to read the entire email. I also have a Moto DX and I can read my email via web just fine on that (don't like it because of the small screen and keyboard). So, why does my DX work fine with our webmail client and the GT not work? I am clueless and ticked off.
I was going to return it today but my wife wants me to hold off and call Viewsonic support but I have my doubts that they will be of much help. So, I'm wondering if putting up a custom ROM might help because of using a different kernel?
I have a couple of weeks to return this but I want it either working or gone so I have a proposal. I'm new to Android and don't want to take the chance of bricking this and losing my money and I need this done quickly in order to make a decision. I"m willing to pay a modest fee for someone "KNOWLEDGEABLE" to possiby teamviewer into one of my machines to to root/rom this unit. There would absolutely have to be a return to stock method in case the new rom doesn't work either.
I have a Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit machine, Win 7 Prof. 64 bit and a Win XP 32 bit machine available to use. In reading through a number of threads here it seems that various iterations of Windows have issues with the drivers for this. You can PM me here.
R
Unless you mess around with the bootloader, you cant really brick it. Nobody has yet, and I doubt you would be the first.
Also I reccomend this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=885940
It is like A lite eversoin of TNT lite. It speeds it upi while keeping it stockish.
Many of us understand your experience. Most of us acknowledge that the first software was not what it should have been.
I have a modded machine which is super. I have an OTA 3389 tablet which is more than acceptable.
From your comments, it sounds to me like your plan to return is the best course of action.
The G-Tablet can be a super machine, but not without some interest in working with and improving it on your part.
Sorry this is not better news. Maybe someone else will respond with a different idea.
Rev
bijan588 said:
Unless you mess around with the bootloader, you cant really brick it. Nobody has yet, and I doubt you would be the first.
Also I reccomend this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=885940
It is like A lite eversoin of TNT lite. It speeds it upi while keeping it stockish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, just check the dev forum for instructions on installing new custom firmware. I'd also recommend making sure that you install clockwork mod 0.8 to ease backup/restores.
...OTOH from what I've heard is that the new stock fw 3389 is quite a bit better than what it ships with. And from there you can add a few minor updates, rooting, maybe the performance pack, sideload some apps and possibly the market "fix" which might be good enough for you, but even then I'd really have to recommend installing clockwork mod simply for the ease of making an image of a nicely working modified system and then being able to restore that if something messes it up...
Tablet is really nice, stable, and fast once properly setup and it's not really too hard to do any of the above IF you FOLLOW the instructions and READ them ENTIRELY and the caveats BEFOREHAND.
Really it's almost plug and play...
racedog said:
I planned to use this device to log into our webmail server when I'm travelling in order to get my mail. I can log into the webmail and I can bring up the mail but when I open a piece of email I cannot scroll the screen to read the entire email. I also have a Moto DX and I can read my email via web just fine on that (don't like it because of the small screen and keyboard). So, why does my DX work fine with our webmail client and the GT not work? I am clueless and ticked off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a trick that works for me: if I zoom in a little on the webmail page that I cannot scroll, after the zooming in I am able to scroll to view the entire email.
I guess that soon you'll find the lack of Copy/Paste. Apple was run out of town for this and Windows Phone 7 too. At least with the G Tablet the lack of Copy/Paste seems to be limited to the stock apps.
Fuzzy John said:
Here's a trick that works for me: if I zoom in a little on the webmail page that I cannot scroll, after the zooming in I am able to scroll to view the entire email.
QUOTE]
Thanks John for that suggestion!! It worked and I can read my email from the G. That makes me happy.
Now for a new issue, I formatted a 16gig SD (FAT32) and put that in, the unit says that it knows that it is there but when I connect the unit using the USB cable to my Win 7 (64) machine its finds the machine, I tell it to activate USB transfer mode but I don't see SD2 in there. I wanted to transfer a pile of music onto it but can't do that since I can't see it. I tried transferring the music directly to the sd and then putting it into the G but when I do that it doesn't find anything.
I didn't really find anything on point in searching so if I'm missing that please point me to the thread.
I think I will go ahead and work with this. I've used and moded Win Mobile phones for the last ten years but am new to Android.
The offer for help still stands if anyone wants to take advantage and I would like to use it as a learning experience as I get into Android.
Oh yeah, thanks to all for the super fast responses. That is really appreciated. Even though it only shows that I have 5 or six posts here that isn't quite accurate. Many years ago when this site first opened I found it because I was using XDA phones but those were all WinMO at the time. I drifted away for a long time and when I came back now I am a new member again here. No longer a WinMo user and I really don't like Windows Phone 7 so I bought a Moto DX and love the phone, got my wife an HTC Incredible (she gave up her iPhone for that and that took a LOT of convincing on my part) but I am pretty much really happy with the Android OS and where it seesm to be going.
What I do love about the G is the size, the Galaxy Tab is just too small and the 800 horizontal resolution is too small so when I found a 10" tablet with 1024 and only $379.95 it sounded like a great deal. The screen angle is a ***** but I can live with that but I am sorely missing the Market (GMarket is sad). Looking forward to getting this machine rooted and rom'ed and up and running like it should be.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
racedog said:
Fuzzy John said:
Here's a trick that works for me: if I zoom in a little on the webmail page that I cannot scroll, after the zooming in I am able to scroll to view the entire email.
QUOTE]
Thanks John for that suggestion!! It worked and I can read my email from the G. That makes me happy.
Now for a new issue, I formatted a 16gig SD (FAT32) and put that in, the unit says that it knows that it is there but when I connect the unit using the USB cable to my Win 7 (64) machine its finds the machine, I tell it to activate USB transfer mode but I don't see SD2 in there. I wanted to transfer a pile of music onto it but can't do that since I can't see it. I tried transferring the music directly to the sd and then putting it into the G but when I do that it doesn't find anything.
I didn't really find anything on point in searching so if I'm missing that please point me to the thread.
I think I will go ahead and work with this. I've used and moded Win Mobile phones for the last ten years but am new to Android.
The offer for help still stands if anyone wants to take advantage and I would like to use it as a learning experience as I get into Android.
Oh yeah, thanks to all for the super fast responses. That is really appreciated. Even though it only shows that I have 5 or six posts here that isn't quite accurate. Many years ago when this site first opened I found it because I was using XDA phones but those were all WinMO at the time. I drifted away for a long time and when I came back now I am a new member again here. No longer a WinMo user and I really don't like Windows Phone 7 so I bought a Moto DX and love the phone, got my wife an HTC Incredible (she gave up her iPhone for that and that took a LOT of convincing on my part) but I am pretty much really happy with the Android OS and where it seesm to be going.
What I do love about the G is the size, the Galaxy Tab is just too small and the 800 horizontal resolution is too small so when I found a 10" tablet with 1024 and only $379.95 it sounded like a great deal. The screen angle is a ***** but I can live with that but I am sorely missing the Market (GMarket is sad). Looking forward to getting this machine rooted and rom'ed and up and running like it should be.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install the latest update and do a factory restore inside the security section of settings.
Then if you want install the tnt enhancement pack from the device section. Don't worry about returning to stock because they don't even open the box when you return or exchange. If they did, they would have no idea what they would be looking at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
racedog said:
Fuzzy John said:
Here's a trick that works for me: if I zoom in a little on the webmail page that I cannot scroll, after the zooming in I am able to scroll to view the entire email.
QUOTE]
Thanks John for that suggestion!! It worked and I can read my email from the G. That makes me happy.
Now for a new issue, I formatted a 16gig SD (FAT32) and put that in, the unit says that it knows that it is there but when I connect the unit using the USB cable to my Win 7 (64) machine its finds the machine, I tell it to activate USB transfer mode but I don't see SD2 in there. I wanted to transfer a pile of music onto it but can't do that since I can't see it. I tried transferring the music directly to the sd and then putting it into the G but when I do that it doesn't find anything.
I didn't really find anything on point in searching so if I'm missing that please point me to the thread.
I think I will go ahead and work with this. I've used and moded Win Mobile phones for the last ten years but am new to Android.
The offer for help still stands if anyone wants to take advantage and I would like to use it as a learning experience as I get into Android.
Oh yeah, thanks to all for the super fast responses. That is really appreciated. Even though it only shows that I have 5 or six posts here that isn't quite accurate. Many years ago when this site first opened I found it because I was using XDA phones but those were all WinMO at the time. I drifted away for a long time and when I came back now I am a new member again here. No longer a WinMo user and I really don't like Windows Phone 7 so I bought a Moto DX and love the phone, got my wife an HTC Incredible (she gave up her iPhone for that and that took a LOT of convincing on my part) but I am pretty much really happy with the Android OS and where it seesm to be going.
What I do love about the G is the size, the Galaxy Tab is just too small and the 800 horizontal resolution is too small so when I found a 10" tablet with 1024 and only $379.95 it sounded like a great deal. The screen angle is a ***** but I can live with that but I am sorely missing the Market (GMarket is sad). Looking forward to getting this machine rooted and rom'ed and up and running like it should be.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to see the microsd on the Gtab using, for example, ES File explorer. It'll be at /sdcard2.
As for seeing /sdcard2 from your pc, I thought I saw a post saying that if you have winamp installed on the gtab, it has an option for mounting sdcard2, and when that's enabled you can see /sdcard2. Haven't tried that myself.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
racedog said:
Fuzzy John said:
Here's a trick that works for me: if I zoom in a little on the webmail page that I cannot scroll, after the zooming in I am able to scroll to view the entire email.
QUOTE]
Thanks John for that suggestion!! It worked and I can read my email from the G. That makes me happy.
Now for a new issue, I formatted a 16gig SD (FAT32) and put that in, the unit says that it knows that it is there but when I connect the unit using the USB cable to my Win 7 (64) machine its finds the machine, I tell it to activate USB transfer mode but I don't see SD2 in there. I wanted to transfer a pile of music onto it but can't do that since I can't see it. I tried transferring the music directly to the sd and then putting it into the G but when I do that it doesn't find anything.
I didn't really find anything on point in searching so if I'm missing that please point me to the thread.
I think I will go ahead and work with this. I've used and moded Win Mobile phones for the last ten years but am new to Android.
The offer for help still stands if anyone wants to take advantage and I would like to use it as a learning experience as I get into Android.
Oh yeah, thanks to all for the super fast responses. That is really appreciated. Even though it only shows that I have 5 or six posts here that isn't quite accurate. Many years ago when this site first opened I found it because I was using XDA phones but those were all WinMO at the time. I drifted away for a long time and when I came back now I am a new member again here. No longer a WinMo user and I really don't like Windows Phone 7 so I bought a Moto DX and love the phone, got my wife an HTC Incredible (she gave up her iPhone for that and that took a LOT of convincing on my part) but I am pretty much really happy with the Android OS and where it seesm to be going.
What I do love about the G is the size, the Galaxy Tab is just too small and the 800 horizontal resolution is too small so when I found a 10" tablet with 1024 and only $379.95 it sounded like a great deal. The screen angle is a ***** but I can live with that but I am sorely missing the Market (GMarket is sad). Looking forward to getting this machine rooted and rom'ed and up and running like it should be.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you join #tegratab on freenode, I or someone else would help you. Here is a web client: http://webchat.freenode.net/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
P.S. Here's the thread about winamp and sdcard2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=880237&highlight=winamp
Ahead of the game.
Hi racedog, actually I think you are ahead of the game. You seem to have made a lot of progress if you bought this Christmas eve.
How did you get it to run in the parking lot of the mall on Christmas eve? Even with a power inverter for power, hoe did you get a WiFi connection?
So far my G Tablet is stock and I am over-all happy with it. However, after Viewsonics post that they won't be providing any support for swapping the LCD screen, I feel they are missing the point. Their post said they would be anouncing some new products soon (my guess is at CES right after the first of the year).
I might end up taking my G Tablet back to Sears and waiting for the newer, more powerful and maybe more promising second generation tablets I am sure are to come at CES.
This tablet has been fun and I may keep it, but, I would really like to know the price points on the new models at CES.
Sucks out of the box.
Erase it and start over.
Load Clockwork Recovery Mod first! Put the update.zip on the sdcard, don't worry about the external SD method.
Once you have that boot mod, it's next to impossible to screw it up.
Flash that then get TNT lite 3.1.0 plus the supplement
Make sure you format the SDCARD using the advanced menu 2048 and 0 swap r it will crash on ya.
Do the full market fix. Download Dolphin HD and you will have a very usable tablet.
racedog said:
I bought this Gtablet when my wife and I were out doing last minute Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon. No actual live unit on display or available at Sears so bought one based on hope. My first impressions were very mixed. It was painfully slow when I first booted it up while waiting for my wife who had gone into another store and I waited for her in the car (plugged in using inverter we carry with us). Later when we got home it downloaded the update and that helped the speed issue (but still sluggish) but I've run into all kinds of issues that have me ready to return this thing.
First thing I noticed is the number of times that apps force close on the GT including the browser built into the unit. That is about to drive me nuts but I discovered another even more major issue - for me. I planned to use this device to log into our webmail server when I'm travelling in order to get my mail. I can log into the webmail and I can bring up the mail but when I open a piece of email I cannot scroll the screen to read the entire email. I also have a Moto DX and I can read my email via web just fine on that (don't like it because of the small screen and keyboard). So, why does my DX work fine with our webmail client and the GT not work? I am clueless and ticked off.
I was going to return it today but my wife wants me to hold off and call Viewsonic support but I have my doubts that they will be of much help. So, I'm wondering if putting up a custom ROM might help because of using a different kernel?
I have a couple of weeks to return this but I want it either working or gone so I have a proposal. I'm new to Android and don't want to take the chance of bricking this and losing my money and I need this done quickly in order to make a decision. I"m willing to pay a modest fee for someone "KNOWLEDGEABLE" to possiby teamviewer into one of my machines to to root/rom this unit. There would absolutely have to be a return to stock method in case the new rom doesn't work either.
I have a Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit machine, Win 7 Prof. 64 bit and a Win XP 32 bit machine available to use. In reading through a number of threads here it seems that various iterations of Windows have issues with the drivers for this. You can PM me here.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will be doing the clockwork mod and putting on a new rom. The question is about formatting the card. You mention above used "advanced menu 2048", I don't know where I would find that on android on the G, or are you referring to something else?
I didn't get it connected while in the car, I just had it plugged in so that I could take a look at it and start putting a charge on it. I didn't connect until I got home. However, I DID try connecting it in the car using my Moto DX with wireless tether. The dx showed that it was running but the G never found the signal from the phone. It did see a few other secured wifi connections but it didn't see the phone. I have no idea whether this was because I don't have wifi tethering setup correctly on the DX or what the deal is but I figured I would work with that later.
I don't really care if I have to tether via usb with the phone but wifi is a lot cleaner and easier if possible. I know that easy tether and pdanet are out there but I haven't checked to see if they have an android client yet, I've only used them on my Win 7 netbook.
R
racedog said:
I will be doing the clockwork mod and putting on a new rom. The question is about formatting the card. You mention above used "advanced menu 2048", I don't know where I would find that on android on the G, or are you referring to something else?
I didn't get it connected while in the car, I just had it plugged in so that I could take a look at it and start putting a charge on it. I didn't connect until I got home. However, I DID try connecting it in the car using my Moto DX with wireless tether. The dx showed that it was running but the G never found the signal from the phone. It did see a few other secured wifi connections but it didn't see the phone. I have no idea whether this was because I don't have wifi tethering setup correctly on the DX or what the deal is but I figured I would work with that later.
I don't really care if I have to tether via usb with the phone but wifi is a lot cleaner and easier if possible. I know that easy tether and pdanet are out there but I haven't checked to see if they have an android client yet, I've only used them on my Win 7 netbook.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Offer is still open on IRC
racedog said:
I will be doing the clockwork mod and putting on a new rom. The question is about formatting the card. You mention above used "advanced menu 2048", I don't know where I would find that on android on the G, or are you referring to something else?
I didn't get it connected while in the car, I just had it plugged in so that I could take a look at it and start putting a charge on it. I didn't connect until I got home. However, I DID try connecting it in the car using my Moto DX with wireless tether. The dx showed that it was running but the G never found the signal from the phone. It did see a few other secured wifi connections but it didn't see the phone. I have no idea whether this was because I don't have wifi tethering setup correctly on the DX or what the deal is but I figured I would work with that later.
I don't really care if I have to tether via usb with the phone but wifi is a lot cleaner and easier if possible. I know that easy tether and pdanet are out there but I haven't checked to see if they have an android client yet, I've only used them on my Win 7 netbook.
R
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found that the stock rom cannot use ad-hoc networks. I had to use the hack for the 3G Hotspot app on the DX to get it working on the Gtab. Once I upgraded to TnT lite than I was able to use Wireless Tether and stopped getting all the drops and reconnects too.
I really think that you will be happy with this as soon as you mod it with what's here in this community. I have only been here for less than a week and have found answers to all my questions. Good luck.
rothnic said:
Offer is still open on IRC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the offer but because of the holidays I won't be able to take you up on it until probably Tuesday, maybe tomorrow Monday if I get REALLY lucky. I going to be trying to do as much as I can myself until them.
I wondered if the problem might be that the stock rom did not recognize ad hoc networks because I looked for the option to select it and it was not there. Thanks for that info.
R
Forgot, the winamp solution didn't work. I selected the mount option in winamp but it did nothing. I will get back to this issue once I get the greater issue of the rom and wifi connect to my phone fixed. Those are the real biggies that need fixing first.
R
Thanks to rothnic this new G has CWM installed and tnt like running on it along with Market and other apps that I've downloaded from it. What a huge difference this makes, my constant FC's seem to have stopped happening and I am now very happy with this unit. What a world of difference.
The screen is still a major issue but I can live with it (for now, will keep watching the screen swapping thread) but the device is fast, functional and completely usable whereas 24 hours ago I was set to return it to Sears but my wife talked me out of that and to try fixing it.
Again, special thanks to rothnic for all the "above and beyond" help and patience and also to all of the Gtab community here for the help and suggestions.
R

Surface Breakthroughs?

As we saw back in January, an individual had been able to crack the secure boot to allow a Mac OS to successfully run on an RT...no tutorial released. I own an RT, so this information was extremely appealing. I was hoping an android method would be released sometime soon but nothing ever came of it. Has anyone made any progress?
Twiisted said:
As we saw back in January, an individual had been able to crack the secure boot to allow a Mac OS to successfully run on an RT...no tutorial released. I own an RT, so this information was extremely appealing. I was hoping an android method would be released sometime soon but nothing ever came of it. Has anyone made any progress?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's using an x86 emulator (BOCHS, it's floating around here somewhere) to run an old version of Mac OS on top of Windows RT. All the information to do that has been documented, it's just more or less pointless, so nobody in the real world gave it much attention.
As far as I know (and I try to keep up to date on these things) SecureBoot hasn't been compromised. As far as I know there haven't been any in depth looks into it, either, but that could easily be going on in secrecy.
Edit: Theoretically it should be possible to use a kernel mode driver to essentially hijack the entire system and reboot into Linux without actually rebooting. I'm way oversimplifying what it needs, though.
netham45 said:
Edit: Theoretically it should be possible to use a kernel mode driver to essentially hijack the entire system and reboot into Linux without actually rebooting. I am oversimplifying what it needs, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On your edit, so essentially an executeable safestrap? My thought would be that the kernel would be difficult to compile. However, my experience in the subject is rather limited at best. Oversimplification is great to get everyone one the same page of possibility. The main purpose of this thread was to spark interest in that possibility. Your knowledge of the subject could get the ball rolling to unlock the full potential of this machine. So...what needs to be done?
A kernel for the Tegra 3 SOC used in Surface RT isn't hard to come by; I think nVidia makes them publicly available. However, the Board Support Package for the Surface's hardware might be trickier; a lot of it is probably already supported by Linux but some might not be. It's basically the standard driver support issue; you might get Linux to boot but some stuff just wouldn't work (at least at first).
Now, writing that driver? Heh, good luck. Driver development on NT is hard enough in the first place, even assuming you have a good DDK (I don't think we do yet) and that there aren't a bunch of checks in the system plus hacks to bypass them. Then there's the fact that it's a very low-level driver, to be able to take over the whole OS memory image (probably implies full control over the Windows memory manager) and replace it wholesale. I wouldn't even know how to write that in x86, much less ARM. That isn't to say it can't be done, of course, but it's a hell of a task.
There is a full DDK floating around, it's where I got cdb from for the jailbreak.

[Q] Aircrack-ng on Windows8

So let me tell of a little story,
I managed to get myself on this nice laptop. It was really good for gaming and such, and at one point in time I tried putting another Operating System on it. Sadly I kept having driver issues, and they couldnt be fixed. So I went back to Windows8 and kept it on.
That is why I am using Windows8.
My question is:
Can Aircrack-ng work on Windows8?
Thanks for reading this low quality post ^_^
this is the wrong forum for you, or is your device running windows 8 RT? i don`t think so.
besides that, using aircrack is best on linux. you don`t have any driver issues there AND there maybe special drivers available to make you hack your wifi faster, better or easier.

[Q] What to do with my TF101?

Hi all,
I haven't used my tablet in ages, because I don't know what to do with my tablet.
That sounds a bit strange, but I haven't found something interesting.
Some topics I'm interested in: hacking, modding, Linux, etc.
I was thinking about using my tab for controlling stuff in the house (lights, power, etc.).
But then, I could also use my phone for that kind of stuff. And their the problem begins, almost everything I can do on my tab, I can do on my phone.
It seems also to be difficult to sell the tablet for some reason, no one seems interested.
What I would like is to get Arch Linux on it or something that is clean, fast & up-to-date.
Or just some cool ideas I haven't done with the tablet yet.
Anyway, sorry for this question. But I hope to get an answer what to do.
Thanks!
Dunno about Arch, but there are a couple of Linux projects going on
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2648862
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2692270
Maybe learn from the above, and port Arch linux instead of *buntu
If you are knowledgeable with Linux, maybe you could take up where this project ended
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2168473
And iirc, there was a way to emulate Win 95 on the TF a while ago
There are some hardware mod projects too, people have added laptop HDDs to the dock (inside) and wired them to the USB ports
But being an ARM Android tablet, options for projects are quite limited, I guess you could learn how to port Android and make your own ROMs for the TF101 / become a dev on XDA and release new builds of your ROMs like other devs do
--
Sounds like the Raspberry Pi would be more your type of thing, they have just released a new Model B+ for $35 the other day too, you can install Arch on that
I know some people set them up to use in the car for media devices or for obdii scanners. Just a thought.
beta990 said:
Hi all,
I haven't used my tablet in ages, because I don't know what to do with my tablet.
That sounds a bit strange, but I haven't found something interesting.
Some topics I'm interested in: hacking, modding, Linux, etc.
I was thinking about using my tab for controlling stuff in the house (lights, power, etc.).
But then, I could also use my phone for that kind of stuff. And their the problem begins, almost everything I can do on my tab, I can do on my phone.
It seems also to be difficult to sell the tablet for some reason, no one seems interested.
What I would like is to get Arch Linux on it or something that is clean, fast & up-to-date.
Or just some cool ideas I haven't done with the tablet yet.
Anyway, sorry for this question. But I hope to get an answer what to do.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really the best way to figure out what it can do, and do better that your phone is to use it. There are some things I find much easier to do on my table than on my phone especially as I have a keyboard which gives me usb ports and a real keyboard. Much more convenient to type anything of length than my phone.
Anyway, you really just have to dedicate yourself to using it before you can make judgments as to what device is going to be best suited for what activities.

Categories

Resources