[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] return.of.octobot:
Neutrino Kernel began as an effort to keep the stock LineageOS 15.1 kernel up-to-date with the latest linux-stable releases and has since evolved into an intensive crash course in maintaining my own custom kernel. Although some of you would accuse me of modesty, I think it's important to acknowledge that I am a "kernel developer" in the same way that Amy Schumer is a "comedian". That is to say, my work is highly derivative and built on the backs of individuals who are far more talented than I am. My role here is to have a vision, establish a design philosophy, and use the resources at my disposal to bring that vision to fruition.

Those of you who've perused my staging repo will know that I'm very particular about cleanliness. All changes and additions are vetted based on viability and purpose. Neutrino is based on kernel.lnx.4.4.r35-rel, pure CAF source for Android 9.0 tracking and upstreamed to the latest linux-stable release. I have manually rebased Essential's stock kernel source on top of CAF using relevant OEM commits from PPR1.181005.034. All major features and patchsets are assembled on independent staging branches of this codebase base and merged into the release repository.

I do not commit changes that I cannot justify or explain, and I do not go on indiscriminate cherry-picking sprees. There are a handful of developers that I highly respect, and who's projects have served as inspiration for my own. My intention is to incorporate the best of what they've brought to the table in a way that most effectively achieves and enhances this project's design goals.

I like to think that Neutrino is relatively subdued in terms of "features", with a stronger focus on optimizations over fluff. That being said, there have been quite a few additions which I feel have merit in terms of increased performance and/or efficiency provided the former does not compromise the later:

Revamped EAS implementation for Pie

sultanxda's CPU/GPU Boost Drivers

Dynamic SchedTune Boosting

Maple I/O Scheduler

Broader subsystem support for Power Efficient Workqueues

KCAL Color Control

Backlight Dimmer

Fsync Toggle (enabled by default)

GPU Underclock @ 180 MHz

CPU (partial) Overclock, Silver Cores @ 2035 MHz

Boeffla Wakelock Blocker v1.1.0

Wireguard Support

VDSO Support

Treewide memory allocation/overflow patches from mainline

OOM Reaper and various memory management enhancements to improve LMK

Treewide compiler warnings corrected

Built with self-compiled Clang 8.0.3 and GCC 8.2.0 toolchains, with a local initialization sanitizer and polly optimization flags

INSTALLATION:

**Neutrino now utilizes AnyKernel2 zip format for universal compatibility**

As a result, you can now flash this kernel on just about anything including Oreo/Pie custom and stock ROMs. The only requirement is that your firmware is current and up-to-date with PPR1.180905.036 at a minimum. Flashing on older firmware will result in broken input detection and a non-functional touchscreen.

That being said, this is an EAS kernel and is best suited for use on EAS-compatible ROMs. Just because it can be flashed on stock does not mean that you should do so. Installation on ROMs which do not natively support EAS (such as stock) will likely result in sub-optimal battery performance and I will not entertain any complaints stemming from the use of Neutrino on ROMs which are incompatible with EAS. Stock support is a perk and an experiment on my part, please do not make me regret giving you the ability to flash on stock, I will drop public support for it if this disclaimer is routinely ignored. If you choose not to heed my recommendations, you are doing so at your own discretion.

For ease of use, I would recommend using an app with built-in zip flashing functionality such as EX Kernel Manager or FK Kernel Manager. Of course, I cannot expect all of you to utilize a paid app for installation and as such, conventional installation via TWRP is certainly possible as well.

Neutrino will preserve existing Magisk installation during kernel update, meaning if you already have Magisk installed on your device you need not worry about reflashing Magisk when updating your kernel. If you do not already have Magisk installed and desire root access then Magisk zip must be flashed following kernel zip via TWRP.

DOWNLOADS:

Current releases can be downloaded here.

Archival builds (boot images) for lineage-15.1 can be found here.

SOURCE & SPECS:

Neutrino Kernel Source

Neutrino Staging Repo

Changelog

Linux Kernel Version: 4.4.166

CAF Release: LA.UM.7.4.r1-03900-8x98.0

Neutrino Kernel Version: hercules

Clang Version: neutrino clang 8.0.0-r348460

Build Date: 20181206