yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Acer Iconia A500] .Ahau:
Thanks, guimendes!

I've downloaded the bodhilinux armhf rootfs (bodhi-rootfs-20130124.tar.gz), and have installed it inside Qemu. I've got to revert my kernel config changes so that I'm using the same wifi driver as rogro82's config and load it all back onto my tablet to test. If you don't mind, would you please let me know exactly which files you copied for the wifi, where you got them, and in which directory you placed them? I'm sure I could figure it out eventually, but it would be great to get it right out of the box, I've got a lot of irons in the fire :)

In other news, I am working on modifying my initramfs such that it can boot other operating systems from other partitions without needing to replace the kernel. The initramfs is embedded in the kernel image; it mounts all local filesystems and searches for a particularly named file and then reads commands off the mounted disk to alter it's booting behavior. I have this working where the kernel will boot Porteus if no parameter is passed, or boot slackwarearm or bodhilinux when pointed to the appropriate partition (e.g. altboot=/mnt/mmcblk1p2).

This should allow us to boot linux from any posix-compatible partition on any device, including a usb flash drive. I've not tested with ubuntu yet, but if bodhi works, I don't see why ubuntu and debian would not. More to come.
[Acer Iconia A500] guimendes:
Please look into my signature. I wrote a tutorial for installing bodhi on a500. It's in general and into my sigature.
[Acer Iconia A500] .Ahau:
Perfect, thank you! My apologies for even asking, as I have read that HOWTO before. I've read so many guides on so many things recently, it's all blurring together...
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Sure. That's not an issue at all, provided the support is there. It looks like it's almost completely there in Debian, according to a quick Google search.

Would a Continuous Integration system be useful? I have somewhere I can probably have a CI system going (a friend's dedi) and I can back it up nightly to my VPS. I can host a wiki too if there's a consensus from others too that we actually need one.

Have we decided to launch Android & Ubuntu from the stock bootloader or kexecboot?
[Acer Iconia A500] nvbn:
Has anyone tried to boot from usb stick?

I write in CONFIG_CMDLINE "... root=/dev/sda1".

But when i trying to reboot in linux, i saw usb stick led off and 'booting recovery kernel image' on screen.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Has the initrd mounted the partition? You may have to mount it in a folder
[Acer Iconia A500] lexiperplexi91:
Kubuntu Active?

Perhaps, for a Ubuntu based distro that would work an an ARM device would be Kubuntu Active, over at kubuntuforums.net, they have Active running on a Samsung Tab, which it has a full KDE GUI that is designed for tablets.

Active however is not stable on ARM yet, but it would be killer when it is!

Just my two cents

:)
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
I don't think that would be an issue once the kernel is done. We can probably just create a post-installation script that we include and the end users can just use that to install necessary root filesystem patches
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
I'd prefer a torrent with http seeds. This would help with both speed and redundancy of copies.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
We can sort distribution after
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
Sounds good. I'm getting prepared to release AP Alpha0.1. It's built on Debian Sid HF, using the Linux kernel built with HF support. It will run the Gnome desktop.

This may be of interest. X11R7.7 supports multi-touch input. It was just released 6 June, 2012. I'll try to compile it myself, but I would rather wait for 'stable' binaries for the sake of revision control.

EDIT: After running some tests, Debian just isn't cutting it for me. I've never used Gentoo before, but I thought I'd give it a shot. It's quite stable on our little tab. It's all optimized for the Cortex A9, with hard-float support. It's running quite nice.
[Acer Iconia A500] amphi66:
Looking forward to the Alpha release. Is there a trick to storing this in the proper modules/location for booting as a secondary image?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
I don't use the chroot'd bootimg technique. I run everything from an external sd. This gives obvious speed limitations, due to using a class 4 like I do. The fun part is making run as fast as it does even with said limitations.
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
I can help with a http download link too (on www.droid-developers.org site, where I have the BL releases).

btw. out of interest, why do you keep it on sdcard with the speed limit?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
I keep it on the sdcard for a few reasons. The first reason *is* the speed limit. If I can make it run fast on external, then it'll run much faster when transferred to internal.

Second, to lift a different speed limit. I don't have the best wireless where I do the bulk of my work, and I can just shutdown, insert into the computer, then use a qemu chroot to install packages using ethernet. It makes it much, much faster for me.

Third, it makes copying and distribution easier. I can easily make a dd image of the entire card, compress it, and distribute it.

One final reason is that flash memory is getting cheaper and cheaper. Instead of using the bootimg on a single internal partition, which will wear out the flash memory over time, I use the external which is easily replaceable. If I wear it out, I go, buy a cheaper or larger card, image out a backup, and I'm done. If I wear out the internal, I'm fairly SOL.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Looks very nice. A release almost dedicated to multitouch!
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Make sense. Surely its not too difficult to then make it run on the internal flash? Just set its boot device to mmcblk0p8 then chroot /data/linux or even mount the dd'd image as a loop device then chroot to that :D
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
There is no problem in switching between mmc / internal in that, but it would be more convenient if you already used some trivial intird, which would contain where to take rootfs from i.e sdcard or /data/linux (and not having hardcoded cmdline in kernel).

Oh, I've overlooked this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1421812&page=4

I suppose you're using sp3dev's 2.6.38 kernel w/o any extra patches in there?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
I've tweaked a few things. I changed the boot partition to /dev/mmcblk1p1, and the cross compile options in the Makefile. That's about it. I've been tinkering around with kexecboot in the initramfs. I haven't gotten it to work, yet. It would be the best solution for loading new kernels, etc.
[Acer Iconia A500] OldGaf:
Just read this thread.... very exciting!

I was considering looking for a second hand w500 so I could try Kubuntu on it (I run is on all my home systems), but this looks very promising.

Please let me know if you are looking for beta testers :)
[Acer Iconia A500] ezterry:
Sounds painful..

The idea of initramfs is you kernel intended for Linux uses the initramfs as root calling an init binary in the initramfs, the that init can mount the real root, load additional modules the chroot/pivotroot before running exec on the true init (thus transforming the init in the ramfs to the real one you wish to have under normal system operation)

Kexec from either the ram disk or running gnu/Linux or android/linux system is to use the current kernel as a bootloader to load another kernel image. Assuming we can reset the device state to something the new kernel understands. This allows for quicker restarts to a new system without the boot loader needing to reset the device.

I just assume use the dual boot functionality to have the bootloader deal with recovery for Linux recovery, boot for android, and sec boot for a Linux system.. pref using /data/linux but an option for the SD card is a good idea.. the initramfs can either try to auto detect or read a pref file in theory.
[Acer Iconia A500] sp3dev:
How about fixing uboot for multi-boot? I have the following setups on my phones now:

on Galaxy S2:

uboot is flashed to kernel partition. Kernel and recovery are flashed to the RECOVERY partition which is unused by samsung bootloader. Depending on the volume keys, it loads either normal kernel, recovery mode or a custom boot script from the user data partition

on Galaxy Nexus:

uboot is flashed instead of Samsung SBL. Depending on the volume keys, it boot either normal kernel partition, recovery or a custom boot script from the user data partition.

I suggest that we do the same as on Galaxy Nexus because we already have a working uboot, just need to add key detection and android boot image format.

Ping me via email, cause I don't have much free time but since I'm working on a similiar task for Galaxy Nexus, I will have some code to share.
[Acer Iconia A500] ezterry:
These systems have a very different boot loader than most android devices...

Can't say I'm very interested in linux on my Galaxy Nexus .. dualboot on a dedicated phone is never going to work out well.

BUT If such a full functioned bootloader was crated, thus we could boot boot,recovery,secureboot, or a custom script be it uboot or an arm version of GRUB people may be interested (or an arm version of grub that can be installed into secboot, and chain boot, just need to format it sorta like a boot.img)

However this ought not be a requirement of having a native linux dual boot as we can already switch between boot and secboot by using the menu in Skrilax_CZ's bootloader.
[Acer Iconia A500] sp3dev:
That's quite an euphemism for "samsung have made a huge PITA for everyone with their crap again"

Well, there are reasons beyond dual-booting why I need uboot on gnex. Either way, it is not quite finished - uboot starts, LEDs/usb/emmc work, but linux is not yet starting and I have yet to forward-port fastboot/DFU to the recent uboot, but I plan to get this sorted by the end of the week.

Well, if you hardcode the cmdline to kernel, you can boot it with any bootloader.

As for the linux-side stuff, I think it will be hard to make camera work with v4l2, but sensors should be easy. I think now that you got .39 kernel working it makes sense to clean up some androidisms/port code from my 38 branch, but I think it is a good idea to use recent bcm4329/4330 driver instead of brcmfmac because iwlist scan is now fixed on it and it is more stable and fast than brcmfmac.
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
But, that's the point of it; using Linux as a bootloader. This would make future kernel updates a whole lot easier, especially if one compiles it on the device itself. Instead of flashing a kernel, one could just install it to the /boot directory. It'd also make command line tweaking a whole lot faster, without requiring a recompile every time.
[Acer Iconia A500] sp3dev:
Yes, but uboot can mount ext[2-4] and fat just fine. You do not need kexec hackery (especially since kexec is broken for smp armv7 and I have never seen it working on anything past-2008). Besides, it can execute boot scripts and load arbitrary images to arbitrary addresses with custom command line. So I think we just need to add android image support to uboot so it can load unmodified Acer's and custom ROMs and when the user presses a custom key combo (2 volume keys and the lock switch give us 8 possible combos) it can boot from the data partition, external microsd or usb.

You can take a look at uboot scripts in my sgs2 thread

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1680898
[Acer Iconia A500] nvbn:
No, it is likely it not loading. init script should be written at the beginning of "Start!", but this does not happen = (

My simple initramfs - http://ubuntuone.com/1w4NdqVolJO10tzMIhL8Z4
[Acer Iconia A500] jnktechstuff:
Message me im new to this forum but i have experience so go ahead and message me

i can help you all the way with this
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Isn't the syntax busybox --install -s /bin ?

But anyway the script I would use is:

#!/bin/sh
echo "Start!"
EXPORT PATH=$PATH:/bin
busybox mount -t proc proc /proc
busybox awk ' { if ( NR > 2 ) printf( "busybox mknod /dev/%s b %s %s;", $4, $1, $2) } ' /proc/partitions | sh
host="/dev/sda1"
if [ -e "${host}" ]
then
mount "${host}" /mnt/host
else
echo "Could not find ${host}! Dropping to a shell."
exec sh
fi
busybox umount /proc
cd /mnt/host
exec busybox chroot /mnt/host ./sbin/init

Also its probably worth noting that if sh is in the shebang then it should probably be included as a binary in the initrd too :P

Either that or modify it to #!/bin/busybox sh
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
I've added EXT2-4 fs support to my BL patch (https://github.com/SkrilaxCZ/a500_bootmenu), it's demonstrated on "fastboot getvar version-android" atm. (note that u-boot does not support ext4 properly ! - you have to patch it from GRUB, and also the indirect block handling is ehm worthy updating from GRUB).

So yeah, would be good to put up some format for GRUB style booting (note that it can't boot from sdcard, only internal eMMC), especially about the location of the file (i.e either /data/linux and no repartitioning OR repartition the tablet, rename AKB to UBN (for BL to recognise that), and use that as rootfs for linux -- although the bootloader can be generic for both options, I think it would be better to stay with just one). It can boot android image format only, but it can be hacked to boot zImage + initrd + cmdline.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Looks beautiful!!!

Would it be possible to (just an idea, probably crazy :P) fork the busybox code and compile that in too? Is there any kind of support for making a fastboot shell? Cos if fastboot could drop to a shell testing could be sooooo much easier xD

Personally I still vote for /data/linux because

1) you don't have to force android to lose space for linux

2) its scalable

3) if you don't like it you can just delete the folder and wipe the second kernel partition

4) it used ext4 too therefore no need to repartition or reformat everything

5) won't have to hack a new BCT / flash cfg therefore no loss of tablet data :)
[Acer Iconia A500] Cicar:
Help!!! Cant build a working rootfs....

I've been trying to build rootfs for ubuntu 12.04 (precise) but unable to make it to boot. I've tried many methods (rootstock, qemu-debootstrap-chroot, mk-sbuild,...). But none of it work. I'm not able to get shell on tty. It stops at:

"mountall: Disconnected from plymouth."

and booting just stops there.. New device that I plug in are detected. It also shutdown properly on ctrl+alt+del.

rootfs posted by sp3dev & tegra-rootfs workd fine.

Any help Please........

I'm using kernel version 2.6.38.3 (posted by sp3dev : http://www.mediafire.com/?d73g9bnc8s3b18c). Do I need to update it to version 3.0?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
I was having a similar problem. I just tweaked some things in the kernel command line in the .config file. I believed i changed mmcbl1px to rw. If you look, it may say that it's mounted read-only.
[Acer Iconia A500] Cicar:
Phew.. finally got it working. :-)

Thanx man. i wasted a hell of time trying to figure it out. finally recompiled kernel, build rootfs using rootstock and got it working.

maybe rootfs is not fully depricated YET!!
[Acer Iconia A500] nvbn:
I tried the modified init script, but nothing changed.

Maybe i compile kernel wrong?

I use:

export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi-
export INSTALL_MOD_PATH=../modules/
make iconiaa500_defconfig
#change initramfs path and cmd line manually
make -j12 zImage modules
make modules_install
mkbootimg --ramdisk ../initramfs.igz --kernel arch/arm/boot/zImage -o ../recovery.img
[Acer Iconia A500] darkensx:
has anyone thought to use xubuntu :confused: as it gets rid of unity and still has older packages for compatibility even with 12.x :)
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Unity is sexy though :P removing the scrollbar package might be a good idea though
[Acer Iconia A500] nscxp2005:
I would love to see the Unity scroll bar as that what I think makes ubuntu look nice.
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
Is mkbootimg in your root directory? If not, you'll have to change /mkbootimg to ./mkbootimg if it's in your current working directory. You don't actually need mkbootimg anymore. Just use fastboot raw
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
True it's nice but there's no way that it'll be anything less than a pain on a 10" touch screen.
[Acer Iconia A500] nscxp2005:
Ok.

Would it be possible to run the 2D version of Unity instead?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
Unity-QT (2D) should suffice.

https://launchpad.net/unity-2d

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+source/unity-2d

There are armel and armhf binaries available, already.
[Acer Iconia A500] nscxp2005:
That sounds excellent.

I am looking forward to seeing ubuntu with unity running full speed on our A500's.

Keep up the amazing work guys.

All the best,

NSCXP2005
[Acer Iconia A500] nvbn:
Typo, i meant "mkbootimg". It's in '/usr/local/bin' =)
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
Ah, okay. Just making sure. If you have the fastboot compatible bootloader, you won't even have to use mkbootimg, though. It's just one less step, in my opinion.
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
You have to use mkbootimg to create android boot image regardless of the bootloader, it won't boot raw zImage (that is until I add there mkbootimg on the fly :P ).
[Acer Iconia A500] ezterry:
The fastboot application (the one on your PC) has mkbootimg functionality embedded.

fastboot flash:raw boot <kernel> <ram disk>

Or

fastboot boot <kernel> <ramdisk>

From the device perspective either of these ought to be the download command with the boot.img pre-generated followed by the 'boot' or 'flash boot' command to either boot the previously downloaded buffer or write it to the boot partition respectively.

You can see said code in aosp:

system/core/fastboot
[Acer Iconia A500] workdowg:
Keeping an eye on this thread... The A200 needs linux love also.... :)
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
So.. you're checking in on the "Linux on the A500: The Future" thread for A200 updates?

Anywho, you should just try compiling a kernel for your device and flashing. Doesn't hurt too much to try if you can restore to factory.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Do we have a central code repo yet?
[Acer Iconia A500] workdowg:
We have a thread going @acertabletforum.com. I'm scouting for clues and pieces of the puzzle to do what is done here...
[Acer Iconia A500] netham45:
Unity 2d works decently on the A500, it even has a few multi-touch shortcuts.

As previously stated, the scrollbars do suck, though.
[Acer Iconia A500] MikeCriggs:
Lol, Linux is a kernel. Not a bootloader :p
[Acer Iconia A500] Useless guy:
kexec?
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
It's been around almost a decade now.. and there are Cortex A9 patches available.
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
can somebody please help to create a recovery image file. i compile a kernel finaly but dont know how to put in a img file
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
mkbootimg --help
[Acer Iconia A500] jnktechstuff:
Hey i saw you need a place to put your ideas and organize them, you can pm me, i have a site up and running
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
Based on your previous "work" I highly recommend against this.
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Lol Omg but back on topic I can get you FTP into my VPS if you want?
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
i have ubuntu 12.04 where can i get rootstock to install i try terminal and didnt work thanks
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Rootstock is easy to use if you install it but it is deprecated now. We have to build a RootFS manually
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
How can I build it manually can you help me out on that
[Acer Iconia A500] Cicar:
Build RootFS using QEMUDebootstrap..

You can use QEMUDebootStrap method as detailed in:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RootfsFromScratch/QemuDebootstrap

Use static method. After completing second stage, add a user and change the group to root.

Next step, edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add repositories for your build eg. precise .You can even just copy sources.list from your desktop installation and replace sources.list in rootfs dir. and replace the release according to your rootfs. "natty" with "precise" in all the repo info.

Then update your package lists by "apt-get update" in chroot.

After that you are ready to install packages. In chroot environment, just download the packages by "apt-get install -d xxxx". and copy the built rootfs dir to sdcard. Boot into linux from ur tablet and then complete the install using "apt-get install xxx" in tty session. and your rootfs will be ready.

you can just download ubuntu-desktop package for starters.

Lightdm will start but it won't be able to start X environment. for that you will have to first "sudo stop lightdm" in tty session and then "sudo startx".
[Acer Iconia A500] apapousek:
You could build up from Ubuntu Core as well. It's not bad.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Core
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
Ubuntu core sounds interesting what do i do with that just download it and extract.

Would it just work or i have to edit something to make it boot
[Acer Iconia A500] Cicar:
Debootstrap does the same thing. It will build core filesystem in the targeted directory.
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
Vicar I compile the Ubuntu kernel and running Ubuntu from internal storage do you know how to fix battery meter
[Acer Iconia A500] Timelord83:
so after much screwing with this lets have a device sound off i have an A501 and i can't get any ubuntu kernels to work with it. at all. also do we have an IRC channel or something??
[Acer Iconia A500] macia10:
Hi,

Could you share your kernel? Is it booting from p7 or p8?
[Acer Iconia A500] el.quechon:
cansomebody upload a 12.04 rootfs please ive been trying to create it but no luck
[Acer Iconia A500] gears177:
would there be issues with the honey comb boot loader vs having the ics boot loader and whether or not its unlocked?
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
Nobody plans HC BL support these days
[Acer Iconia A500] gears177:
agreed xD
[Acer Iconia A500] Timelord83:
So I've been wondering who else here has an A501 because I'm having issues getting anything that people say is working to boot on my tablet. If someone has a few extra mins to help me debug or something
[Acer Iconia A500] amphi66:
Has a developed package been successfully created (Ubuntu or other) that can be booted as secondary or from the sdcard? Thanks
[Acer Iconia A500] japinder:
+1

I guess as soon as something is available, it will be announced prominently. Till then all we can do is wait. :)

I have a couple of beers waiting for the guy who makes the announcement. :good:
[Acer Iconia A500] blackthund3r:
There is a thread in the General section for building a RootFS. That's a nice start and I'll give that a go pronto. As for the kernel, we'll have to play with some of the kernel sources and see if we can port the iconia-dev code forward to the new 3.x kernel. Then we should be able to boot ubuntu
[Acer Iconia A500] Kevin Roscom:
Hey guys, I've been watching this thread for some time, and it was a huge honor to have blackthund3r acknowledge my thread! But I think that once mostly everything works in my rootfs, perhaps it could be put into a CWM flash able zip, along with the Chrome OS kernel and Skrilax boot loader. Then it'd be like a dual-boot ROM? If it isn't possible, please let me know. Also, I'll be making images of my SD card. If anyone gets sound working, please by all means let me know how! Thanks guys!