release candidate 1 of android-x86 for generic n450 tablet

[slajeune]

Hi,

this is release candidate 1 for android-x86 for generic n450 tablet.
The current image:

- supports a tablet with Atom N450
- intel NM10 chipset
- imtel GMA 3150 graphics card
- Realtek audio (should support most of them)
- PixCir / Sintek touchscreen
- RT3090 wifi (the only wifi card that works with this image)
- you can plug in a usb key and it will appear as /mnt/sdcard2 in the
file manager

Please note the following issues:

- will not go to sleep
- audio works but plugging in headphones doesn't disable the speaker
- Open GL 2 is not supported (most live wallpapers will not work)
- Bluetooth isn't configured in this image as I don't have bluetooth
on my tablet

This image can be installed to a hard drive. If you do decide to
install it onto a hard drive, you will need to partition your hard
drive in 3 partitions:

/dev/sda1 -> ext3 -> this will contain the main boot system. When I
installed android, I made it 1GB in size
/dev/sda2 -> ext3 -> this will be the /data partition, it is where all
new apps are installed and where the data is stored. When I installed
android, I made it 4GB in size
/dev/sda3 -> VFAT (fat32) -> this is the "sd card" partition. This is
where you can put your mp3/images/etc.. Use the space from the hard
drive that you want but it needs to be fat32!

You can easily create those partitions by booting from the usb key in
debug mode. You will need to know linux to perform that, but anybody
that is used to linux will be able to create and format those
partitions.

To transfer mp3s or other media to the internal SD card, you can use a
usb key and use EStrong File Manager to copy. You can also install
apks from the usb key (again, using the file manager). You can also
use SwiFTP to have an FTP server running on your tablet. You can then
use any FTP client to transfer music to your tablet. Here is the link
to SwiFTP : http://code.google.com/p/swiftp/

Finally, here is the link to the image:

http://android.sopht.ca/android-x86/generic_n450_usb_rt3090.zip

Please note that this is a usb image. You will need a usb key to boot
to image. Please use Win32DiskImager to create your usb key:

http://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/0.2/0.2/+download/win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.2-r23-win32.zip

Hope anybody finds this useful.

Cheers,
Stephane.

[slajeune]

Forgot to mention that the buttons on the tablet are mapped as such:

- the square button (a la iPhone) is mapped to home
- up/down buttons are mapped to volume up and volume down

For all other fonctions (i.e. menu, back) use the builtin status bar
swipes as defined here:

http://www.android-x86.org/documents/touch-only-device-howto

Cheers,
Stephane.

[slajeune]

Slight update with a simple key remap. The volume down is mapped to
the back key and the volume up to the menu key. This is the image
with the remapped keys:

http://android.sopht.ca/android-x86/generic_n450_usb_rt3090_alt_keys.zip

Cheers,
Stephane.

[Sam]

Thanks for your work on this!

I have the generic n450 tablet, JK01-TT which looks like an oversized
iphone. I recently bought a new WiFi+Bluetooth mini pcie card which
uses the RT3090 chipset, which is quite fortunate of me :P

I have tried running the image you uploaded as a Live USB and it
worked great! It could enable my WiFi and detect my router. However,
when I tried to connect to it, it got stucked at "Obtaining IP
address", and then the tablet hangs after a while. I had to push the
reset button.

When I tried to install android onto an NTFS partition which has my
win7, the android installation always gets stucked at around 50+%.

When I repartitioned my HDD and reformatted that partition to ext3, I
could install it. The problem is that it couldn't boot up android when
I reboot the tablet. I'm not that good at these stuff, perhaps you
could write an idiot's guide to install the image onto the harddisk?

I would very much appreciate it, thanks!

[slajeune]

Hi Sam,

for the dhcp thing, please disable ethernet before trying wifi.

As for installing, its a bit involved but here goes:

Before installing to the hard disk, you will need to partition and
format your
hard drive. To do so, boot with the usb image and go into debug
mode. You will
need to create 4 devices before formating, here are the devices that
you will
need to create:

mknod /dev/sda b 8 0
mknod /dev/sda1 b 8 1
mknod /dev/sda2 b 8 2
mknod /dev/sda3 b 8 3

You then use fdisk to partition the disk. See the details on how to
use fdisk
here: http://lissot.net/partition/partition-05.html

What you want in the end is 3 primary partitions

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 184 370912+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 185 368 370944 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 367 7783 370944 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)

The above is an example, don't rely on it for the start end and
blocks, they
will differ on your system. You need to ensure that you have the boot
flag on
for the first partition (/dev/sda1).

On my system, I have a 64GB ssd card and I partitioned it as such:

/dev/sda1 (/) -> 1GB
/dev/sda2 (/data) -> 4GB
/dev/sda3 (/mnt/sdcard) -> 59GB

Once the partitioning is done, make sure that you write the partition
table (w),
you can format all partitions with the following commands:

mke2fs -j /dev/sda1
mke2fs -j /dev/sda2
newfs_msdos /dev/sda3

Once this is done, you can reboot and boot from the usb key. Select
install
android and follow the prompts. It will boot into android after!

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Stephane.

[Al Sutton]

Aren't the devices auto-detected and device nodes placed in /dev/block (e.g. /dev/block/sda, /dev/block/sda1, ...)?

Al.

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[Sam]

Disabling Ethernet works. Now I can use WiFi, thanks!

I'm still trying to install it on my harddisk, will update if I am
successful.

[slajeune]

Cool!

[slajeune]

Ah,

that would make the install easier! I'll check into that!

Cheers,
Stephane.

[Mosh]

Fyi, tried on the Novatech nTablet and it boots okay, but the touch
screen does not respond so unable to get past the lock screen.

> http://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/0.2/0.2/+download/win32diskim...

[Sam]

Your tablet looks similar to the Viewsonic Viewpad 10 tablet, perhaps
you should try that image instead. This release is for the tablet that
looks like a large iPhone.

[Mushishi]

Sam this is the one you mean when you say look like a oversized iphone
right:
http://image.dhgate.com/upload/spider/b/564/737/b_fcoyhn737564_2.jpg

[Sam]

Yeah, mine looks a bit different on the outside:
http://www.chinahappybuy.com/upload/201011120371222878.jpg . It
doesn't have the speaker thing on the left and the button doesn't have
the white square.

The internal components should be identical.

[Mushishi]

It do look the almost same from the front yes... Do yours have the sim card slot and have you looked at the hardware inside of it...??? 

I do think the hardware is the same... I did find one that look almost like a oversized iPhone 4 also but that uses the Atom n455 insted of the 450 so it got another gfx... Belive the 455 uses the gma500 if i remember correct... :)

[Sorpio]

Hello Stpehane,

Thank you very much for the image, I got it working. I have a similar
device as yours:
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs/372946467-HKPeggy-10-inches-Touch-Screen-Tablet-PC-with-Intel-Atom-N450-1-66GHz-Memory-1GB-HDD-wholesalers.html

However as you said the wirelss would only work with rt3090, my
question is will there be one available with the Realtek 8191SE
Wireless N driver. If not is it easy for me to make one myself with
the driver included.

regards,

Steven

> http://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/0.2/0.2/+download/win32diskim...

[slajeune]

Hi Steven,

I have stopped developing the N450 generic build. I simply have no
time to do so. The realtek 8191se is a pain to use in linux because
it doesn't have a driver in the kernel source. You would need to
download the driver from Realtek and try to add it to the drivers/
staging portion of the kernel. If you are lucky, it'll compile fine
and work. If not, you have hours of debugging to make it compile as a
module!

Cheers,
Stephane.

On Dec 22, 4:11 am, Sorpio <srhdeh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Stpehane,
>
> Thank you very much for the image, I got it working. I have a similar

> device as yours:http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs/372946467-HKPeggy-10-inches-Touc...

[Sorpio]

Hello Stephane,

It is a shame that you don't have the time anymore, but thanks for the
heads up.
Will see if I can get it to work, I am not a linux guy you know,..

regards,

Steven