*edit* sorry, didn't notice general warning, please move to Q&A
I migrated from SGS i9000 to a huawei G700 phone featuring a mtk6589 chipset.
Sadly, the android version limits the possibilities of the phone really hard: it's oriented towards users who play nicely with their phone, not towards me!
so, to keep a long story short, I'd like CM to be ported to this device. this is not a top-of-the-line product, so I'll certainly have to do it myself.
I already got the complete OS image, kernel properties, installed applications, and so on (boot.img, uboot.img, ...), locally installed here.
the question is: where to go from here? In your guides, I can follow what the developers explain to do and why they are doing it, but I got no idea how to convert this OS image into a CM image ...
Also, as there are apparently developers waiting for mtk6859 roms, should I send them a message asking for their help? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2375957
the only issue here is that I can't contact them yet because of the noob limit.
Related
Lemme get some things out of the way.. I am a noob. I have searched. I have read some of the results from the search. I am overwhelmed by the 20+ pages of results (lol). I am not 100% sure this is the correct forum for this (not sure where else would be ).. I believe this is one of those things where I need help based on my situation.. Ok, so here I go.
I wish to start porting ICS to my phone. That's my goal. I have general understanding of how linux works, but I do not know much about the android specifics of how they work, or what needs to be modified for this to work. I do not plan to use the kitchen tool as I wish to learn this the hard way. I believe this will help me become more understanding in what I am doing. However, at this point I don't and that's why I'm here. My phone model is irrelevant almost because its prepaid and usually the communities don't even recognize their existence.. at least that's how I feel about it. But I digress. My phone is the zte warp by boost mobile and I am here to learn hopefully the things that will get me started on porting ICS to this phone. I right now believe that the best thing for me to learn is how the android related files work because as it is, I only looked at guides on how linux works and I understand most of it. I'm not sure that's the best thing that will help me port ics, but I'm certain it is important.
Please help me figure out where I should start in learning how to port ICS to my phone basically.
Thanks XDA
anyone? I am quite serious about wanting to do and go into this but I have yet one thread that anyone's ever replied to.. (or post iirc) which puts a damper on me
Snake X said:
Lemme get some things out of the way.. I am a noob. I have searched. I have read some of the results from the search. I am overwhelmed by the 20+ pages of results (lol). I am not 100% sure this is the correct forum for this (not sure where else would be ).. I believe this is one of those things where I need help based on my situation.. Ok, so here I go.
I wish to start porting ICS to my phone. That's my goal. I have general understanding of how linux works, but I do not know much about the android specifics of how they work, or what needs to be modified for this to work. I do not plan to use the kitchen tool as I wish to learn this the hard way. I believe this will help me become more understanding in what I am doing. However, at this point I don't and that's why I'm here. My phone model is irrelevant almost because its prepaid and usually the communities don't even recognize their existence.. at least that's how I feel about it. But I digress. My phone is the zte warp by boost mobile and I am here to learn hopefully the things that will get me started on porting ICS to this phone. I right now believe that the best thing for me to learn is how the android related files work because as it is, I only looked at guides on how linux works and I understand most of it. I'm not sure that's the best thing that will help me port ics, but I'm certain it is important.
Please help me figure out where I should start in learning how to port ICS to my phone basically.
Thanks XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my limited knowledge, I think it is a huge task undertaking, you can download Android source code from Google, the hard part will be the device driver development and porting for Linux kernel (and maybe portion of Android). If you are lucky, you can use the existing phone bootloader (or you have to port one). Understanding the inner of the phone (different chip set may need different device driver) will be another challenging task.
by the device driver development, you mean all the libs that go into the phone? Couldn't I just copy/paste the pre-existing libs that are already made for the phone? Also the phone im working with is a bit strange really.. noone has been able to compile the kernel from its source and get it to boot yet.. when it was compiled the zImage was different than that of the stock one.
And yeah, I have downloaded the aosp source.. I just need to know where to start at and the processes involved really
Snake X said:
by the device driver development, you mean all the libs that go into the phone? Couldn't I just copy/paste the pre-existing libs that are already made for the phone? Also the phone im working with is a bit strange really.. noone has been able to compile the kernel from its source and get it to boot yet.. when it was compiled the zImage was different than that of the stock one.
And yeah, I have downloaded the aosp source.. I just need to know where to start at and the processes involved really
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer you question no the drivers and lib files are different for aosp based rooms then they are for the stock OEM from. The first step will be to get a working kernel. Without anything you do will be pointless
I'm somewhat interested in the same thing, and from what I've gathered, you'll need to do these things to begin ROM development:
1. Read every page on the AOSP site and grab a copy of the AOSP source. It probably wouldn't hurt to read the regular Android developer wiki as well.
2. Learn about Linux driver development:
http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ (this is apparently considered THE BOOK on Linux driver development)
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/drivers_linux
3. Learn pretty much every detail about your phone and its hardware, especially when it comes to how ROMs are installed on it. For example, my phone (the Droid X2) has a locked bootloader, so 2nd init has to be used to boot new ROMs, and this makes it so that we cannot update the kernel.
You can usually find this sort of information on your phone manufacturer's website. Sometimes they even post the source code to their phone's drivers, which is helpful.
4. Look at other ROMs (preferably for your phone) and see how they work. The source code is freely available for most popular ROMs.
For example: CyanogenMod keeps their source code in a public git repository: https://github.com/cyanogenmod
5. Get to work on porting!
I would highly recommend starting with something smaller, however, just as a start. One good jumping-off point is probably this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1272270
If any part of this was wrong, or if I left something out, somebody feel free to correct me, I'm still a noob.
Thank you so much for your direction, however,, android kitchen.. im not sure about that because isnt that only ment for htc devices? My phone is made by zte
what device do you even have?
if it's stuck officialy on 2.1 or 2.2 there's no hope that if you even port it that it'll work
its the zte warp from boost mobile (prepaid). Btw if I compile an aosp ics launcher and put that on my phone whats the chances of that working?
edit: it uses 2.3.5
Well Sebastian responded on android forums, apparently zte is very bad at version control with their kernel sources. So when they complete one project, they use the same source for the next project, and what they release could be for anything. Apparently the blade source had the same issues, it took him a while to get them to correct the source
Sent from my N860 using Tapatalk
Yeah I noticed that there were ppl saying there were things similar but I'm not sure what will work or what won't.. guess its time to start a petition on zte to release the source code lol
edit: seems like zte's bein a bad company and violated the GNU GPL license for not providing a complete source code.. I compiled an email and sent it to someone who can proof read it and send it to the right person for this kinda thing.. danggit zte
Hi,
I had a question about Custom Android ROM and hoping you will guys will guide me in the right direction. I am starting a company wherein we are building a new touch screen h/w device for the fitness industry. We want this device to run on Android. Naturally we want to hire android developers to build the system. (FYI - I am not a programmer, so please don't assume I know anything about programming/android). Here are some questions, I am hoping you can answer:
1. Since this is not an app, but a new h/w device itself, I am guessing I need to modify the Android ROM and customize it to our needs...am I correct in this assumption?
2. Is there particular android rom that I need to focus on ?
3. Do folks who know how to build an app, can do this rom customization or am I looking for folks with different skillset?
4. What kind of skillsets should I look for in people before I hire them for this job?
5. Any other points that you guys can help me with, will be highly appreciated.
Thanks
I’ll start by admiting that, in the arts of cooking/building/porting android innards, I’m closer to being a complete noob than na intermediate user.
I own a Newman K1S, JB 4.2.2, MT6592, 2Gb/16Gb, 720p, and, sadly for me, it looks like the manufacturer (Newman Mobile, or Newsmy, who knows) pretty much disavows any knowledge of this model ever being built or sold. No reference to it, no community, no android updates or ROM releases.
Taking into account some MediaTek source codes for KitKat were made available earlier this year (even if unofficially), I was wondering:
So, question number 1 – Is it possible to build android 4.4 for my device straight from said sources? Or are they unreliable and it would be best not to attempt it?
And question number 2 – Being at the noob level, should I stay away from such a task? And, in this case, would I be better off porting a 4.4 ROM from a similar spec’ed device?
Also, while browsing needrom, I noticed that a 4.4 “official” ROM was posted for my device. However, having flashed it, I found that it produces no sounds from the external speaker (although with headphones it works fine). Same thing was experienced by other users, and there is no fix so far.
Which takes me to question number 3 – What may I try, in order to fix an issue like this? Does KK use the same sound drivers as JB, and maybe it’s only a matter of replacing them? (if so, I believe this is within my grasp, even if I must unpack the IMG files to reach the drivers)
Lastly, Newman K1S has a severe overheating problem when pushed, which I believe would be easily solved by underclocking it to 1.3 or 1.5, or maybe implementing an optimized kernel.
Final question – How do I manage to underclock with my current kernel, or, better yet, how do I port a custom, optimized kernel to my device?
Congratulations to everyone who managed to read this far, and thank you in advance for any help provided. I’ve spent the last few days reading tutorials and guides, only to become even more confused… I did manage to get android kitchen running on my Windows laptop, though!
Links to recent/updated guides that might be useful are appreciated, too.
Edit: I was told to ask this in this section of the forum so here goes.
Hi,
some time ago i bought a 50€ chinese tablet to mess with. It has android v4.0.4 on it and is very slow/ has a lot of useless stuff. In my attempt to educate myself on Android OS, I'm trying to build my own custom rom for it using this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801690
I'm at the point where I could repack my work and flash it to this tablet, but all i've achieved so far is simplified version (less random apps and few tweaks here and there) of existing rom.
I want to update this tablet's android version but I'm completely unsure how I'm supposed to do that and google isn't being of any help as the search results are just bunch of those irritating blog posts that in nutshell just explain how to plug your usb cable into your pc.
No updates are provided by the manufacturer himself (duh).
Do I have to get desired android version's source code and integrate it with existing files or something?
Any help is appreciated.
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever dreamed to get not any device but YOURS on the wide screen of your computer? Create a custom ROM and emulate it, or just check another custom ROM compatibility virtually without having to flash and risk your everyday tool? Well I did and I still do!
In the old times this was possible but, unfortunately, it's no longer the case. Since our beloved mobile devices got more features, system has become also more complex. This is why we can't run a custom ROM only with system and data images as before anymore. Unless you still want to develop on Gingerbread and below — seriously? — we need to move to another solution.
And this is what this project is for!
According to the fact that we're not all pro developers and / or we're not all rich enough to buy multiple devices in case of brick, I think such project is necessary to avoid taking stupid risks like we do now.
ORGANIZATION
Currently the project is committed under the name of "AndROMega".
It is planned to work under the Windows and Linux environments. An eventual port for Mac OS isn't envisaged for now but still welcome if someone wish to work on once a version is released.
By the way, this project being free and open-source, everybody can join, improve it but thieving (including copying then claiming project as-is / unmodified is your and, worse, selling this common work) is absolutely UNALLOWED. This must still free, open-source and mention the original authors (me and other devs eventually joining) in case of copying to make custom release. All of this juridical stuff will be put in a license file as usual anyway.
The QEMU emulating software will be used to facilitate the cross-platforming of the project software. It is fast, powerful, reliable, and, moreover: FREE.
Edit: Great new! Editing a custom Android emulator from scratch won't be in the question anymore!
A Github repo has been created allowing to run a stock AOSP Android ROM, so one step is made
Link to this repo: https://github.com/aosp-mirror/platform_external_qemu
Other notes coming soon in this thread...
Reserved.
Atronid said:
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever dreamed to get not any device but YOUR on the wide screen of your computer? Create custom ROM and emulate it or just check another custom ROM compatibility virtually without having to flash and risk your everyday tool? Well I did and I still do!
In the old times this was possible but, unfortunately, it's no longer the case. Since our beloved mobile devices got more features, system became also more complex. This is why we can't run a custom ROM only with system and data images as before anymore. Unless you still want to develop on Gingerbread and below — seriously? — we need to move to another solution.
And this is what this project is for!
According to the fact that we're not all pro developers and / or we're not all rich enough to buy multiple devices in case of brick, I think such project is necessary to avoid taking stupid risks as we do for now.
ORGANIZATION
Currently the project is committed under the name of "AndROMega".
It is planned to work under the Windows and Linux environment. An eventual port for Mac OS isn't envisaged for now but still welcome if somebody wish to work on once a version is released.
By the way, this project being free and open-source, everybody can join, improve it but thieving (including copying then claiming project as-is / unmodified is your and, worse, selling this common work) is absolutely UNALLOWED. This must still free, open-source and mention the original authors (me and other devs eventually joining) in case of copying to make custom release. All of this juridical stuff will be put in a license file as usual anyway.
The QEMU emulating software will be used to facilitate the cross-platforming of the project software. It is fast, powerful, reliable, and, moreover: FREE.
Edit: Great new! Editing a custom Android emulator from scratch won't be in the question anymore!
A Github repo has been created allowing to run a stock AOSP Android ROM, so one step is made
Link to this repo: https://github.com/aosp-mirror/platform_external_qemu
Other notes coming soon in this thread...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what do you mean by custom rom environment builder? Do you mean when you port a rom and it has glitches and the environment fixes it or what? I'd be happy to help with this.
NonStickAtom785 said:
So what do you mean by custom rom environment builder? Do you mean when you port a rom and it has glitches and the environment fixes it or what? I'd be happy to help with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really understand your question, but I'll sum up what the project is, hoping it will help you understand.
It's nothing more or less than a tool that mimic hardware and specific components and architecture of a phone model. It is supposed to be more than an AVD, allowing you to literally flash a custom ROM and debug it virtually instead of having to buy the phone, flash it, screw everything if something goes wrong, restore backup, etc.
Back when I got this idea (before it got forgotten among the million projects I have) I thought the hardest part was to get the core component of every phone (ramdisk, ROM, bootloader — assuming it's possible, otherwise "create" a replicant) and get the hardware spec mimicked with QEMU. Now I grew a bit and got a new-featured phone (seamless partition system that was pretty new to me), I know it will be even more complicated.
Since I'm not really available this year because of my exams, this project will still idle for a while. But I won't abandon it, so if the principle interest you and you're ready to give a hand you are welcome !
I'm In!
Atronid said:
I don't really understand your question, but I'll sum up what the project is, hoping it will help you understand.
It's nothing more or less than a tool that mimic hardware and specific components and architecture of a phone model. It is supposed to be more than an AVD, allowing you to literally flash a custom ROM and debug it virtually instead of having to buy the phone, flash it, screw everything if something goes wrong, restore backup, etc.
Back when I got this idea (before it got forgotten among the million projects I have) I thought the hardest part was to get the core component of every phone (ramdisk, ROM, bootloader — assuming it's possible, otherwise "create" a replicant) and get the hardware spec mimicked with QEMU. Now I grew a bit and got a new-featured phone (seamless partition system that was pretty new to me), I know it will be even more complicated.
Since I'm not really available this year because of my exams, this project will still idle for a while. But I won't abandon it, so if the principle interest you and you're ready to give a hand you are welcome !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well this is a very interesting idea. It would be very useful for the rooted phones that don't have any custom roms already built.
Maybe you wouldn't have to get the core components of every phone all at once. Maybe it you could make the program to extract a twrp or cwm backup, and have a database of all the ramdisks and chipsets that the program will have access to.
I think this project is very useful and I would like to start in the development of it or aid you in it. PM me with more details :good:.
NonStickAtom785 said:
Well this is a very interesting idea. It would be very useful for the rooted phones that don't have any custom roms already built.
Maybe you wouldn't have to get the core components of every phone all at once. Maybe it you could make the program to extract a twrp or cwm backup, and have a database of all the ramdisks and chipsets that the program will have access to.
I think this project is very useful and I would like to start in the development of it or aid you in it. PM me with more details :good:.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, backup extraction and component database was the original idea
Thank you for your help! I'll PM you as soon as the project starts :fingers-crossed:
Atronid said:
Yes, backup extraction and component database was the original idea
Thank you for your help! I'll PM you as soon as the project starts :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks:laugh:
Best thing ever, life saver etc, I am ready to do whatever you want just this thing to succeed!
ender1324 said:
Best thing ever, life saver etc, I am ready to do whatever you want just this thing to succeed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very nice, thanks!
As mentionned earlier, the project won't start right now due to my work, but in theory I should be available and ready to start it in the next months! I'll DM you as soon as it gets its first kick !