Touch Android / Debian on Touch N905B

[Kobo88]

Hey everbody,

at first: im from germany, so my english is not that good but i will
try my best.

I really need some help with my new Kobo Touch.

Im very intrested in the debian/android mod from Marek.
How you can read in the title i got an N905B an original old model.
The Memory is an micro SD Card.

So i copied the images on the sd card and the kobo is booting the android/debian mod correctly.
The problem is that the touch screen did not work.

I tried to find the problem on my own but i cant find the correct data
in the filesystem(ext4).

Can someone give me an advice how to find the correct data or how
to fix the problem itself?

I hope someone can help me :-)

regards

[MarekGibek]

Hi!

Maybe I can help

In the image file there is "HW CONFIG" section (before the first partition). Different kernel drivers look here to read what hardware configuration you have. For example, what resolution, do you have wi-fi, do you have frontlight etc.

There is a byte 0x08 at the offset 0x80017 in the image. 0x08 means that you have neonode v2 touch controller. Try to change it to 0x00 (neonode v1). That's what probably you have.

Best Regards,
Marek

[Kobo88]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

Hi!

Maybe I can help

In the image file there is "HW CONFIG" section (before the first partition). Different kernel drivers look here to read what hardware configuration you have. For example, what resolution, do you have wi-fi, do you have frontlight etc.

There is a byte 0x08 at the offset 0x80017 in the image. 0x08 means that you have neonode v2 touch controller. Try to change it to 0x00 (neonode v1). That's what probably you have.

Best Regards,
Marek

Hello

Thanks for your Answer.


I dont know if i understand you right.
So i have to open the image data itself?
I got the program Isobuster but when i try to take a look at the
part before the first Partition it shows nothing.

So which program does i have to use to see find the mentioned
HW config?

Regards

[hawhill]

A hex editor, I'd suggest, on the image file before writing it to the SD card.

[Kobo88]

Originally Posted by hawhill

A hex editor, I'd suggest, on the image file before writing it to the SD card.

I opening it with a Hex Editor but i dont found the Offset 0x80017.
Can anyone Helping me to Patch the file with a Hex editor?

or anyone make a Working Android .img for my Kobo Touch N905B?





Please, Thanks

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by Kobo88

I opening it with a Hex Editor but i dont found the Offset 0x80017.
Can anyone Helping me to Patch the file with a Hex editor?

or anyone make a Working Android .img for my Kobo Touch N905B

Detailed instruction.

1. Download HxD (freeware hex editor).
2. Open Android image file (.img).
3. Press ctrl+g.
4. Make sure "hex" radio button is pressed.
5. Type "80017" and hit enter.
6. Make sure that cursor points to "08" value.
7. Type "00".
8. Press ctrl+s.

9. Write modified image file to SD card just like you did it the first time.

[Kobo88]

Hello,

thanks so much its Working
Really nice Android and Debian on Kobo.

but a question.
on kobo the green LED is on, can i make it off?

when kobo is in sleep mode i cant wake it up.
why?

i have read about new Kernel updates for android?
on Marek site. how Do i install it ?

thanks

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by Kobo88

thanks so much its Working
Really nice Android and Debian on Kobo.

Thank you! I'm glad I was able to help you even if you have different model.

but a question.
on kobo the green LED is on, can i make it off?

Please read both threads about Debian and Android. There is answer on both. Personally I never turned it off for myself - I like it You can see if it is really sleeping or how long it is turning off.

when kobo is in sleep mode i cant wake it up.
why?

I can't help here. I never had such problem. I'm not even sure how to diagnose it (without adding debug print-lines to custom kernel). It's probably another difference between our devices.

What you try is to copy whole "HW CONFIG" section (about 40 bytes starting from offset 0x80000) from Kobo original SD card to Android image.

i have read about new Kernel updates for android?
on Marek site. how Do i install it ?

Generally it's forum for developers. I'm not publishing binary images of every kernel. To compile it from source you need to know how to use git to download source codes, compile it and write it using dd command. It's not that hard anyway:
https://github.com/marek-g/kobo-kern...d_instructions

But if you don't want to do it, just skip it. What you have is the same kernel as in commercial Tolino Shine so it's production ready. You should be happy with it, too

Regards,
Marek

[Kobo88]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

Thank you! I'm glad I was able to help you even if you have different model.



Please read both threads about Debian and Android. There is answer on both. Personally I never turned it off for myself - I like it You can see if it is really sleeping or how long it is turning off.



I can't help here. I never had such problem. I'm not even sure how to diagnose it (without adding debug print-lines to custom kernel). It's probably another difference between our devices.

What you try is to copy whole "HW CONFIG" section (about 40 bytes starting from offset 0x80000) from Kobo original SD card to Android image.

Hello,

Thanks now its works complete
You are the best
The copy from offset 0x80000 was the solution



On your Homepage you write that you make a working ubuntu for Kobo?
Can we make it too? Replace the Debian Folder and add a Ubuntu?

or is it something more complicated?

maybe, can you help again ?



Edit:

In your Image with Kobo Firmware and Debian i have a question.
How we can Update to the newest Kobo Firmware 3.0.1 without Delete the Bootscreen to boot Kobo or Debian?



Thanks

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by Kobo88

Thanks now its works complete

Perfect!! I'm really glad!!

On your Homepage you write that you make a working ubuntu for Kobo?
Can we make it too? Replace the Debian Folder and add a Ubuntu?

Yes. It is that easy as you say. You need to use Ubuntu for ARM of course. Both armel and armhf version works. You can just remove content and unpack Ubuntu root filesystem to that folder.

The real work is with configuring X11 to be useful on touch device. But you can install the same window manager (awesome) and copy my configuration from debian to ubuntu. You may still have problem with touch as I started implementing my own X11 multi-touch driver (not completed - only supports single touch). You can replace it with standard evdev driver in x11 config file.

So it will run fine but you will spend plenty of time with configuration. It's a Linux

In your Image with Kobo Firmware and Debian i have a question.
How we can Update to the newest Kobo Firmware 3.0.1 without Delete the Bootscreen to boot Kobo or Debian?

Switch from armel version (v2.6) to armhf version (v2.8 or later) is very complicated (repartitioning, recompiling python, replacing boot menu).

I have such image ready with 2.8.1. I can upload it somewhere. Starting from 2.8.1 upgrading to 3.0.1 should be as easy as manually copying new files from update archive.

[EDIT]
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z2iaieegv4...arek.part1.rar
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isn6ufl7oy...arek.part2.rar

[Kobornolio]

Sort of hijacking this thread but I'm going the same place as you... I have a couple of issues.

I've been trying to compile a kernel from scratch, it builds fine using imx507 (I verified the model), but it does not boot. I tried Marek's kernel from his repo, it builds and this time boots just fine. My .config is identical to his except for the console stuff that I didn't activate. Nevertheless I loaded the kernel from Marek's reboot made sure I had the eInk frame buffer refresh option compiled. Booted, loaded my debian chroot, "xinit xclock", nothing appears :/ I copied the xorg.conf from Marek also but to no avail. I'm a bit at a loss; all I really want is to to be able to run a browser (Dilio?) without firing up the networking (to run kiwix-server) - and I don't want to play the binary patch dance...

[Kobornolio]

EDIT: Sorry for the double post...

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by Kobornolio

Booted, loaded my debian chroot, "xinit xclock", nothing appears

You also need to turn on autorefresh mode by running eink_enable_autoupdate command:

https://github.com/marek-g/kobo-kern...autoupdate.cpp

[Kobornolio]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

You also need to turn on autorefresh mode by running eink_enable_autoupdate command:

https://github.com/marek-g/kobo-kern...autoupdate.cpp

Ahhhh I need both the kernel and to have fb_update running, makes sense. Pardon my ignorance but how does one go about building the tools? I tried just arm-gcc file.ccp -o prog to no avail...

Also, any clues as to why kernels built from the official source will not boot? Not that I care a whole lot as yours works

[Kobornolio]

Meanwhile I copied the eink_ binaries from your image, still a no go :/

[root@kobo-touch debian]# ./debian.sh
root@kobo-touch:/# xinit xarclock

_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for inet6
_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for inet6/kobo-touch:0
_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for inet6

X.Org X Server 1.12.4
Release Date: 2012-08-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.2.0-4-mv78xx0 armv5tel Debian
Current Operating System: Linux kobo-touch 2.6.35.3-850-gbc67621+ #5 PREEMPT Wed Dec 18 04:09:06 GMT 2013 armv7l
Kernel command line: console=ttymxc0,115200 rootwait rw quiet lpj=3997696 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootfstype=ext4 hwcfg_p=0x7ffffe00 hwcfg_sz=110 waveform_p=0x7fe5fa00 waveform_sz=1704879 mem=254M
Build Date: 21 October 2013 06:03:54PM
xorg-server 2:1.12.4-6+deb7u1 (Moritz Muehlenhoff <jmm@debian.org>)
Current version of pixman: 0.26.0
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sat Dec 21 20:11:13 2013
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"