yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
"This may be clear to you, but it isn't to me. "

Post #2 https://xdaforums.com/hp-touchpad/general/how-to-create-swap-partition-size-t3892060

Your words not mine. And you had nothing to say after leaving that post. Just sayin'. How many times do I have to repeat myself, I do hardware, not code like you and HP-TP. If I fully understood it, I wouldn't ask for clarification.

---------- Post added at 11:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 PM ----------

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux)

Of course, now I get it. It's all so easy to understand. Maybe for you!!!!!
[TouchPad General] shumash:
Referred to his instructions; not the concept.
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
It is not necessary to understand all those codes, yes it looks very complicated. It will be the same as me reading an electrical diagram of all the lines symbols that represents the terminal connections.

Every single symbol in an electrical drawing has its meaning, is an universal language to be able to communicate how the electrical components needs to be connected. You can read those drawings perfectly.

The only thing here that you need to get it clear, is that the extra space need it for placement of temporary data, due to the limitations of the physical amount of memory ( RAM ).

Is store in a partition (specific allocated space) named /swap in the internal storage and not in Memory ( RAM ) that is zRAM.

The main limitation of the Tablet is the limited amount of Memory (RAM). Android is extremely bad when it comes to handle memory, check out the new Smartphones with 10GB of RAM, that is the equivalent of having a nuclear power plant in your house to run a 100 watts incandescence light bulb. That will be totally acceptable if the "really" smartphone have a real operating system that you can connect wireless to your TV and run real Software. With that amount of RAM, a 64x desktop OS can be install.

I will try to trick Android to use a 2GB Swap file, which then have to be trick to think that it has a 2GB RAM. That will expand the 1GB RAM to 3GB making it a total of 4GB Device.

I have done that separately and will combined both settings, if Android and Apps will use it then I will post a new Guide. HP Touchpad software upgrade to 4GB RAM/Swap.

Will post the results soon, how it goes!
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
That's fine. Just goes to show you that what one person says makes perfect sense to him but can be interpreted differently by someone else.

Kind of like a lay person trying to understand what is being discussed here. Makes perfect sense to you, not to me. HP-TP thinks if I go read this:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux) that all of a sudden I have the same gasp of something that he has been working with for months, maybe even years. He seems to think that everyone is just magically going to understand what he is saying, just like you didn't in the post you made back in January. https://xdaforums.com/hp-touchpad/general/how-to-create-swap-partition-size-t3892060
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
Great, you're getting down to the lay person's level now. I would have thought that the Android OS, based on Linux, could easily use a larger Swap file like is explained in some of the posts I looked up on how Linux uses Swap. But Android isn't pure Linux, right? You are the one who understands the finer points of that. Correct me if I have misunderstood along the way, but I thought you said currently the Swap file is 500 MB. Even if you could get it up to 1 GB would be 100% better. It seems to be a fairly easy process in Linux. but again, I'm just a lowly hardware guy. Good luck with which ever size you shoot for.

---------- Post added at 04:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 AM ----------

Well, I just found some new reading which I'm sure you are well aware of. But for others who hang out here, they might find it interesting:

https://www.**********.com/speed-up-android-devices-using-swap-part-1/

https://www.**********.com/speed-up-android-devices-using-swap-part-2/

Based on what is said here, the kernel you are using supports swap.
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
I finished testing as follow:

Using Evervolv 7.1.2 ( ROM only install )

2 GB /swap partition set to priority 1 ( meaning the OS will use this swap first, once is full it will use another one )

1 GB /zRAM swap priority 0 ( the OS will use it after the first is full )

Total of 3.0G swap

Swappiness was change from 60% to 100 % with same results.

Results:

Filename	Type	Size	Used	Priority
/dev/mapper/store-swap partition	2097148	423900	1
/dev/block/zram0 partition	1048572	0	0

The swap partition will not grow over 500 MB and zRAM will not be use.

total used free shared buffers
Mem: 828M 478M 350M 0 104K
-/+ buffers/cache: 478M 350M
Swap: 3.0G 452M 2.5G

The test was also perform as zRAM with priority 1, which it was used until the limit of 500 MB and the /swap partition did not get use.

I do not know if when building the ROM, there are options for the Android ( Activity Manager ) to swap more or is hard coded it into the OS. It will be ideal to removed this limitation from the system and see how it will perform.

Conclusion:

It does not matter how large the /swap partition, file or zRAM is, Android will only swap half the device RAM.

Only the ROM developers can provide more details or information if it could be done.
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
There are a lot of incomplete information about swapping on Android.

Creating a swap partition or file and just turn it on, does not mean everything is done.

Those changes have to be made persistence into the Ramdisk, otherwise the user will have to manually turn it on or run script at boot.

Also the settings for swapping are extremely important and vary for all devices, wrong settings and performance will get worse.

I have not found, the information from the horse mouth and everything has been what users are doing to improve performance, but at the same time use use less battery.

Those are contradicting, make the device faster but use less battery. Is impossible to have the CPU performs faster if is getting cap by a governor to not use more energy.
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
This youtube video is about memory usage in Android.

Click Here for Understanding Android memory usage

That is how the Tablet runs with the original set up, Low Memory Killer kills to gain memory and eventually a crash or unstable.

With the /swap partition from this guide, Low Memory Killer is disabled and the Apps or process instead of getting kill will be move to swap.

If the App is using too much RAM and goes over the limit, the Kernel will kill that specific App and the data from swap will be place into RAM and the Tablet will keep working.

This links explains more:

Click Here for android-memory-management
[TouchPad General] middle_road:
All the coffee in the house isn't going to help me comprehend the last two pages...:p

(8) years using Touchpads and I never knew SWAP was an option. Seems to me to make all the difference running PIE on the two I did up this week.

/me thinks we could prune off the SWAP posts into their own thread. :cool:

Back to the main topic.

I installed Milaq's on a third tablet and it's acting a bit flaky. It is snappy though. YouTube is doing that B&W scrambled screen/playback thing.

VLC is playing back videos off of our media server just fine though.

Random reboots sporadically. I won't have much time to do anything with it for the next week though.

Need to get one tablet up and running for a trip this weekend.

I am using Nova on both the PIEs, I couldn't get the icons to look good as [MENTION=8005714]HP_TOUCHPAD[/MENTION] showed me in a previous post - gave up.

Question: How do we run the A6 Battery firmware now? Seems to me that it does make a difference since I started performing the op years ago.

One word of note from personal experience here. A few pages back there is discussion of leaving the device to charge all the time.

I would urge caution with this. I've seen units that have been left on the Touchstone swell the battery and ruin them - twice now.

What I do with my collection is use a low amp USB charger (~.50A) from an old mobile phone - kind of like a trickle charger.

The standard barrel charger outputs over 2A.

Dis-assembly of a TP with a swollen battery is a PiTA.
[TouchPad General] DoubleStuff:
You can still run TPTB via cable connection to your PC, and A6 firmware flash is an option on that menu. Or can't you load TPTB into you moboot menu like the good ole days, that is renaming the tptoolbox.bin file to uImage.TPTB and copy it into /boot directory. It takes up 12 MB, and boot only has room for 32 MB. Also HP_TOUCPAD has been kicking around the idea of making a flash file to load the TPTB.
[TouchPad General] middle_road:
How did I forget that? I've had the Toolbox as a menu choice for so long ... I'll go stand in the corner now...

Thanks [MENTION=8115234]DoubleStuff[/MENTION]
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
The Tablet needs to be ON and with WiFi turn ON, all the time, while charging with the original HP charger. The battery is been use and recharge constantly providing constant use and nothing will happen. But is not to be charge when off, there is no point to that. All batteries works the same way, the car battery is constantly been use and charging, the battery will be in optimal conditions in long range drive, it won't explode. But it the car is off for 6 month the battery will get damage, for not been use, same applies to the Tablet. If the Tablet is not going to be use, then full charge the battery and disconnect from charger, but make sure it gets turns on every month to check on it. If the battery died then the user will think is brick and is not.
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
[MENTION=3698561]middle_road[/MENTION],

There is a misconception about chargers. The amperage rating of a charger is not how much it puts out but rather how much it can supply on demand to the device that is using it to charge. The battery charging circuit in the device controls the charging rate. Where you get into trouble is trying to charge a device that needs 2.0 amps and connect it to an under-rated charger. Two things will happen, the battery in the device will take a very long time to be charged and the under-rated charger will likely get very hot trying to provide amperage it can't supply.

As to your swollen batteries, I suspect they were defective and swelling up is a symptom of that defect. It could also be a defective charging circuit in the device not properly controlling the charge to the battery.

I also disagree with HP-TP about comparing a lithium-ion battery in a TouchPad to a lead acid battery in a car. Lead acid batteries are specifically designed to be left fully charged for a long time. That is where they got the name, "Lead Acid Storage Battery".

"Guidelines for Storing A Sealed Lead-Acid Storage Battery:

Store the battery after fully charging it.

Store it at room temperature or lower.

Remove the battery from the equipment.

Charge it every 6 months, or as recommended by the manual.

Avoid deep discharge.

Choose proper float voltages to avoid sulfation and corrosion."

On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries should not be stored fully charged.

"During storage periods, keep your lithium battery at a 40% charge state. Although it's best to fully charge a battery before use, prior to storage of lithium-ion batteries it's harmful to fully discharge them. The best battery manufacturers store lithium batteries at around 60 degrees and at a 40% charge level."

HP-TP has never fully explained to my satisfaction why he insists on keeping a TouchPad charging all the time. Mine work quite nicely on battery and when they get down to around to 40%, I put them back on the TouchStone. In fact there is a school of thought around that is pretty heavily supported that for the best longevity of a Li-ion battery, you should never charge it above 80% and recharge when it gets down to 20-40%. Here is a link to a developer's app that helps you stay within those parameters. This app does not control anything on your device, it just monitors your charging habits and helps you maintain the health of your battery.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digibites.accubattery&hl=en_US

Cheers,

Smithy
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
Getting into all the details will be exhausting, I have debated this topic many times but will do once more and will try my best to make it short.

The number one issue the Tablet had and still does is the "brick effect" which is a discharged battery due to the negligence of the users. When the device came to market people thought it could be kept as a magical "book" toss it around and pick it up when need it. For many wrong reasons many Tablets never turned back on as users did not know how, it could take days to reboot from a completely drain battery and the infamous " brick effect from the Android devices, infected the HP TP". As time has proven the battery has exceed expectations. The Tablet is the same as a Laptop and needs to be use and charge the same way. If not in use then ON, with WiFi and charging, it is providing a constant charged and discharge and ready to be use when need it. If the procedure to keep the battery at 80% charge and off will be apply, this will be the time that it will take to use the device. Turn it on, wait for a complete boot, it could take 15 minutes to settle if there is no updates. If 5 apps are updating be ready to wait, by that time there is less battery available, 30 minutes has past and no time to keep waiting, place it on standby and check it later. But wait the user forgot and in a couple of days is going to check on it again, sure it will be dead. The Tablet was design as an all time on device to quickly read e-mails, check anything immediately not needing to wake up the PC from standby or even click to load. Is just there waiting to be use. I could be wrong but the Tablet could cost $10 annually in electricity plus it has the wireless charger that takes a second to drop or grab. Think of it, how are Laptops use in the real world of business, charging while in the office, unplug when mobility is required.

Take a look at the first page, the flash files for the ToolBox to Reflash the battery firmware.
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
The flash file to load the TPToolBox is available in the guide, also provided a way to removed it and clean boot. Hopefully the concept will be easy for users to follow as always when you make something is easy on your own eyes but for others could be invisible !
[TouchPad General] schwatter:
Because my experience with gapps is, the device slow down after some time. Nothing special installed, so i searched for

some alternative to replace gapps.

I'm testing now Android 7.1.2 with Swap, latest optimized settings + microg from here:

https://xdaforums.com/android/development/microg-unofficial-installer-t3432360

Playstore is working. Downloading apps work. Chrome is really fast. Must dig deeper, because youtube says ' play services needed'.

But even without not working playservices, this is a good compromise between full gapps (slow device down) and no gapps (every

app must be sideloaded or alternative store).
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
[MENTION=8005714]HP_TOUCHPAD[/MENTION],

Question, I copied the following from your OP and highlighted the part I have a question about. I don't remember you mentioning this before. Have you modified each Rom?

Flash all listed ROMs in the order to download:

1. First the ROM ( Only the specific ROM by the built date will work )

2. Universal Optimize Swap Settings ( It enables Android to use the swap partition )

If you do not know the maximum CPU speed of your Tablet flash 1674 first to set up.

All Kernels are the same, the speed is preset to avoid installing any Kernel App in Android.

Do not install any Apps in Android to make the Tablet work faster, it will be the opposite.

It will use more RAM and cause reboots, there is nothing to change.

This is a laptop with a touch screen keyboard not a phone.

3. Flash the Open Gapps according to the ROM version, is best to install Pico and build the system as need it.

4. All listed ROMs have /system Read and Write enabled, use SuperSu v2.82 for root access.

5. Optional, flash the ToolBox to /boot only to Reflash A6 Firmware for the battery.

If all is done specifically this way, the Tablet can be set up from the beginning with no issues and performs perfectly.

Also, since you reminded me that I could use the file manager in TWRP to edit the /boot volume, I just use that to copy TouchPad Toolbox v.42 from the SD card over to /boot. One just had to remember to mount /boot before attempting to change anything in /boot. But good idea to create a flash to install TP Toolbox in /boot. A6 needs a refresh every once in a while.

Smithy
[TouchPad General] DoubleStuff:
Hello again my friend Smithy,

HP_TOUCHPAD can answer this when he gets around to it, but he already answered this question previously to me

in one of these threads, that no changes were made to any ROM. Because I had asked him about the word "retrofitted ROM" that he has used in the past. The changes he made are to the Universal Settings file, and I think he made a tutorial to developers about his settings, I think its in the development section.

I believe his exact words were: "...The ROM is untouched, only modification can be done in the Kernel, Ramdisk and the build.prop...."

There used to be a member on this forum, and his favorite saying was "read my friend, read" LOL

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=79635158&postcount=137

and his settings thread in development section:

https://xdaforums.com/hp-touchpad/development/boost-optimize-settings-android-rom-t3924185
[TouchPad General] schwatter:
Ok i sorted all to get microg fully working. I missed the spoofing-thing. So my steps for microg are.

1. ev_tenderloin-7.1.2-nightly-2017.11.03.zip

2. NanoDroid-patcher-21.0.91.20190709.zip from here https://downloads.nanolx.org/NanoDroid/Beta/ (takes long 20-30min)

3. 1782_CPU_Universal_Optimize_Swap_Evervolv_7_1_2_Nougat.zip

4. microG unofficial installer 1.0.34 beta --> https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=141201

5. Google Sync Add-on 1.0.3 beta --> https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=143098

more Infos here: https://xdaforums.com/android/development/microg-unofficial-installer-t3432360

6. SR5-SuperSU-v2.82-SR5-20171001224502.zip

7. Open microG-settings and follow this guide --> https://shadow53.com/android/no-gapps/setup-guide/microg/

Chrome login with synced bookmarks and youtube sign in is working. Now i kick youtube to install youtube vanced.
[TouchPad General] Steelskinz:
Is that really efficient on the touchpad ? Do you see huge improvement ? Thanks.
[TouchPad General] schwatter:
First night and still all fine. I would say, give it a try. I installed AdAway without problems so far. Blocking ad's give more performance in chrome.

In chrome://flags i enabled "Smooth Scrooling".
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
Other of my guides that are use for the Universal Optimize Settings:

Click Here for How to Recompile the Kernel

Click Here for How to Set Maximum CPU Frequency for all ROMs
[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
Thanks for the update on installing The Open MicroG for the Tablet. The more options the better and that is what makes this device extra special, all the different configurations and options available. Once the Android ROM is install the possibilities are endless on how it can be configure. I would like to add my experience related to the "slow down".

The ROM never gets updated, which is a very good thing. It must be done manually. The Tablet can be totally use without the play store, apps directly can be downloaded to PC and transfer over the Tablet. Web Browsers, like FireFox, Opera, Dolphin and many others that do not required google services works perfectly and have built in AdBlock. The same for e-mail, video streaming Apps and games that do not required Google Services. The Play stores makes it easier to manage Apps and keep them updated, yes it adds extra process and takes extra RAM but is not the major factor of slow down as the only thing is doing is updating Apps not the ROM.

My advice if the Tablet is slowing down, take a look in Developer Options (Pie) other ROMs will be different.

( Settings --->> System --- >> Advanced --->> Running Services )

Look for Apps that are active and consuming RAM in the background, see how much free RAM is available.

Only install the Apps that really are use and nothing more, every single byte of RAM counts. The same applies to "Apps to make the device faster"

To check using Adb shell on PC type in terminal top it will list everything.

It can also be use inside Android on a terminal emulator.

Look for the CPU activity by process, there maybe a background process that is using too much the CPU.

The attached screenshots are of Lollipop after applied " ROM Reducer" is a flash file that I will post for all the ROMs to remove all the stock Apps and make it a super Basic ROM.

That provides 100 MB of extra RAM, also the Pico gapps is install and the game Pinball plus Play Games .

It is great to have options and we all use the tablet in many ways. It is now possible to use the Tablet by easy flashing to use it as:

Original configuration ( RAM only )

Swap partition ( provides optimized settings and extra RAM )

ToolBox to /boot ( convince way to flash a6 Firmware )

Pico Gapps ( All the Google services )

MicroG ( Pretend to be the official implementation of Play Services )

Xponsed Framework ( Add individual features to any ROM ) Modules

and many more !

( Posting Soon )

ROM Reducer ( Use a reduced ROM or a stock ROM from the same installation )( Reduce the ROM install to use less RAM )

Optimize Setting Control ( just with a touch have full control of all the Android system, including the swap settings )
[TouchPad General] smithylovestouchpad:
I went and read this link: Click Here for How to Make Root Permanent Read Write to All Android ROMs ever created for the HP Touchpad.

Again, all of this is talking way over my head, but I believe that this is something one does after the Rom is installed on the TouchPad. Since I don't understand the mechanics of compiling or recompiling a Rom, wouldn't it make more sense to build this into the Rom and then post a download link to the download? Otherwise, I can just download and flash SuperSu to get root. All the steps you describe in the above guide seems like a lot of work when all that is required is flash SuperSU. I never did understand why developers did not build root into their Roms which required the flashing of SuperSU. I seem to remember that some of the older Roms already had root built in, including Sullin's CM11.

Smithy

P.S. Wondering if using TWRP 3.0.2 would be a problem. I want to try an experiment.
[TouchPad General] DoubleStuff:
Smithy, I really like your curiosity and willingness to learn, as per your question, I think I remember HP_TOUCHPAD saying something about that you can use old recoveries for testing, but its alway best to use the latest...In fact his exact words were...

"...I also did some testing and the Automatic_Wipe_All works with old Recoveries. It does not necessary needs to be TWRP 3.1 or 3.2....But is best to update Recovery just in case...." -HP_TP

cheers!!!, I look forward to your experiment, would it be too much to ask what your experiment consist off?