[Acer Iconia A500] HenrikE:
Freshly built Android 4.4.4 ROM based on Omnirom KitKat !

The Team 'IconiaHD' is proud to present a new ROM for your Acer A500 or A501 tablet.

This small team is composed of:

- HenrikE: A200 owner, responsible for an unofficial CM-10.2 build for the A200

- Doume: A200 owner, experienced linux developer

- macia10: A501 owner, tester

This is essentially the same rom as we published for the A200 here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2693179 and here: http://www.acertabletforum.com/forum/acer-a200-roms/10043-rom-a200-omnirom-kitkat-4-4-2-a.html

We have now modified our sources to support also the A500!

Why Omnirom, and not Cyanogenmod ?

Google , through AOSP repository, has dropped support for the Tegra 2 platform. The Tegra 2 does not support the 'neon' instruction set, and more importantly relies on a set of old (ICS) proprietary hardware libraries. AOSP has dropped support for both non-neon devices and the older hardware libraries.

Cyanogenmod has decided to follow AOSP on this and has dropped Tegra 2 support since CM-10.2. With CM-10.2 the differences were not yet very big and could be overcome. But with CM-11 it has become an unreasonably large effort to add Tegra 2 support.

Only Omnirom, for now, has included the forward-ported code in its repository to support machines like Acer A500

How to install

Recovery

To flash this rom, it's necessary to have a recent recovery (at least CWM 6.0.4.4 or TWRP 2.6.3.1) having Selinux capabilities.

Otherwise the flash operation fails with status 0 or status 7. There are also some problems installing GApps with Thor's recovery v.1.8.1.

We recommend using CWM 6.0.4.5 by nelsontky: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2583710

Flashing

Boot in recovery mode to flash the KitKat Rom.

First, don't forget to execute a 'Wipe Data/Factory reset'

Flash the KitKat Rom

Flash the Minimal Gapps

Do a 'wipe cache partition'

Flash the SuperSU zip file if you need it

Flash the Netflix fix if you need it

And reboot System !

Be patient on first boot... There's a lot of background work to do, before coming to the 'Welcome' screen. Don't worry if you are stuck with a black screen for several minutes. Next boot will be much faster.

After first configuration, it's recommended to reboot the tablet to avoid some unstabilities after 1st boot.

Enjoy KitKat !

Downloads

Download build 8, 2015-02-10, from here:

NOTE: This is an untested build! If you try it, please report back on how it runs! The A501 version probably has the same stability problems as earlier builds, but please feel free to test it. It's at least possible that some update of the OmniROM sources has helped.

A500: omni-4.4.4-20150210-a500-IconiaHD.zip

A501: omni-4.4.4-20150210-a501-IconiaHD.zip

(Build 7 was for A200 only)

Download build 6, 2014-07-14, from here:

Primary A500: omni-4.4.4-20140714-a500-IconiaHD.zip MD5: c5fcabf327c390f5c4ef5495edda616c

Mirror A500: omni-4.4.4-20140714-a500-IconiaHD.zip

- fixed Plex video streaming (reverted to 4.4.2 version of Http Live Streaming)

- sync with OmniROM repos

- network location works

This build is A500 only since the issues with the A501 version are not yet solved.

Download build 5, 2014-06-23, from here:

Primary A500: omni-4.4.4-20140623-a500-IconiaHD.zip MD5: 7d6b17f7dc9027371a56f04b9377efe9

Mirror A500: omni-4.4.4-20140623-a500-IconiaHD.zip

- updated to Android 4.4.4

- sync with OmniROM repos

- permanent Netflix fix from Asus TF101 included

Unfortunately we can't release the A501 version yet because we are struggling with serious stability problems related to the 3g driver.

Download build 4, 2014-04-29, from here:

Updated! If you downloaded build 4 with an older date, please download again!

Primary A500: omni-4.4.2-20140429-a500-IconiaHD.zip

Mirror A500: omni-4.4.2-20140429-a500-IconiaHD.zip

Primary A501: omni-4.4.2-20140429-a501-IconiaHD.zip MD5: 898feec518b2fb60e1a551208f318a7f

Mirror A501: omni-4.4.2-20140429-a501-IconiaHD.zip

Changelog

- First release for A501, includes MBM HAL to support GPS and 3g

- Fixed network location provider

- Fixed boot animation

- Removed apps Movie Studio, Voice Dialer, OpenDelta

- Sync with OmniROM repos

Download build 3, 2014-04-04, from here:

omni-4.4.2-20140404-a500-IconiaHD.zip

Changelog

- First release for A500

Build 1&2 were for A200 only.

GApps are here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2397942

For the A200 the Pico package is the only one that is small enough so we generally recommend that. The A500 has more space in the system partition and should be able to use the larger packages as well.

SuperSU is here: (needed only if you wish to have a full rooted access)

SuperSU is needed for root, get the latest CWM flashable zip from here:

[2014.02.06] SuperSU v1.93 - xda-developers

Netflix fix for builds 1-4 (not needed for build 5) is here: netflixfix.zip

Flash in recovery. It will just copy this simple script to init.d. It is run during boot and changes a setting in the Netflix configuration to use a player backend that works with the Tegra 2. This is a workaround for a bug in Netflix that makes it choose a video player backend that is incompatible with the Tegra 2. The config file is created the first time Netflix is started, so the very first time you start Netflix it will force close. After that, reboot, and then Netflix should work.

Remember : in all cases, it's a good idea to make a backup before installing!

We're not responsible, in any way, if you brick your tablet!

Big thanks to:

- the Omnirom team

- pjsports for the A500 JB kernel and device tree

- nelsontky for building the recovery

- and everyone else that has been working on the Iconia A500 / A200!

The kernel, and the device tree are available at GitHub: IconiaHD Github