Kobo Vox Hacking Progress - Page 5

hieronymos · 11-18-2011, 12:47 PM

Just a wild guess.

I don't see why we should tiptoe around the idea that they locked the thing, as long as we don't go against a wall somewhere.

P.S.: I'll remove my links to freescale docs now, as google is pretty apt at indexing this thread and I shouldn't redistribute their stuff. Make your own accounts :-)

P.S2: very curious! No adb signal at all for me!

hieronymos · 11-18-2011, 02:41 PM

Guys, please tell me you have the same photos in /etc.

PeterT · 11-18-2011, 02:51 PM

From what we have been told they are the Vox Dev team, and a part of an Easter Egg on the Vox.

hieronymos · 11-18-2011, 03:05 PM

Nice! :-)

FriendlyFire · 11-18-2011, 09:39 PM

Why I'm glad to see that there appears to be some progress regarding the Vox *somewhere*. I'd started losing hope what with the dearth of information on the CM forums or xda. Maybe I should've guessed this tablet would be firmly in ebook territory

In any case, I'm afraid I won't have much time to tinker with it. If I do, I'll report anything useful I might find here.

hieronymos · 11-18-2011, 11:51 PM

These guys seem to have answers: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...ed/index2.html
Custom Roms, disassembly, all.
And no custom recovery. But since we can mount the recovery partition, we could just replace Kobos wiper with the Aosp recovery. There we might get full adb access. If that works, no custom recovery needed. http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...very-mode.html
Flashing: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...n-process.html

Will try tomorrow.

jefftheworld · 11-19-2011, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hieronymos

These guys seem to have answers: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...ed/index2.html
Custom Roms, disassembly, all.
And no custom recovery. But since we can mount the recovery partition, we could just replace Kobos wiper with the Aosp recovery. There we might get full adb access. If that works, no custom recovery needed. http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...very-mode.html
Flashing: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...n-process.html

Will try tomorrow.

The stuff on that freescale forum is really promising. I'm going to shoot off a PM to the Kobo team with some questions tonight and armed with those answers and some stuff from the forums I'll be spending the rest of the weekend going at it!

hieronymos · 11-19-2011, 02:31 PM

Couldn't find out how to get into that bootstrap mode. But Kobo still has to provide something like that - for general service (i.e. problems during automatic upgrades / bricked units). Would be nice to recover through a cable instead of opening the thing up each time something goes wrong. I can't adb into my device. Don't know what's wrong there.

Add: Also using LiGux Tools https://market.android.com/details?i...b3VkLnRvb2wiXQ I can't seem to get into bootloader mode. I doubt adb will bring different results. However, when I turn on the Kobo while on USB under Windows, something pops up while the first black-and-white Kobo logo is there and then disappears when the colored logo comes up. Maybe we'll have to poll it somehow.

The further I go into the sources of the whole thing and read discussions, I see two important problems for custom roms though: pretty nasty proprietary drivers for the GPU and the Wifi (hélas why we don't have it).
Personally, I'd let the Android job to Kobo - they get the docs and maybe even the sources. Only important thing would be to get the USB host running - adapter on the way. I'm pretty content with the OS they provided.

Another forum is here: http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/110-...ex-a8-tablets/
Note the first thread - 3G USB dongles.

As such, I'm rather tempted to check a dual-boot in the future. Freescale provides an Ubuntu image that seems to have all the drivers. If then I can get Bodhi (http://bodhilinux.com/) running, it's time to ditch the netbook :-)

FriendlyFire · 11-20-2011, 12:37 AM

ADB seems to be very hard to get working normally, but you can always install ADBwireless if you've rooted your device. That works just fine.

pulsar · 11-20-2011, 11:31 AM

Was it just me, or anyone else had the unit gone to a full factory reset this morning? I didn't do anything with the unit for a couple of days, and this morning, trying to power it on, I got "system error - will do a factory reset" message. After that it went through a couple of reboots, system update, and from all the looks ended up in the state identical to the one when I just got it (kernel Oct. 27) - so apparently it can do a true factory reset under certain circumstances, if the things get pretty screwy.

I am thinking - should I make a full SD card image now, when it's in its most pristine state? I have now adb over USB working, so presumably I don't even have to root the unit or install any apps.

pulsar · 11-20-2011, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FriendlyFire

ADB seems to be very hard to get working normally, but you can always install ADBwireless if you've rooted your device. That works just fine.

I gave up doing adb under Windows, but managed to do it under Linux (I installed a Linux on my old laptop's partition just to do that). I can provide the details, if anyone is interested. This is very useful if for some reason Kobo's WiFi stops working (it happened to me - I accidently renamed sh to sh0).

danieru · 11-20-2011, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsar

Was it just me, or anyone else had the unit gone to a full factory reset this morning? I didn't do anything with the unit for a couple of days, and this morning, trying to power it on, I got "system error - will do a factory reset" message. After that it went through a couple of reboots, system update, and from all the looks ended up in the state identical to the one when I just got it (kernel Oct. 27) - so apparently it can do a true factory reset under certain circumstances, if the things get pretty screwy.

I am thinking - should I make a full SD card image now, when it's in its most pristine state? I have now adb over USB working, so presumably I don't even have to root the unit or install any apps.

I think I might have had this happen to me. It didn't give any error but today while switching wallpapers the device rebooted. When it came back up everything was back to factory settings except: the wall paper was switched to what I selected and the application list included everything I had installed but everything crashes when I try and run it.

My device had been rooted. I've had it crash before when switching wallpapers but it never reset itself before.

I really hope we can get a decent third party firmware going.

Has anyone taken the freescale ubuntu images and tried booting them?

spikexp · 11-20-2011, 05:05 PM

Well, a recovery would be better first. So that we can get back if anything wrong appear.

Some question to those who extract the sdcard, did you manage to change it? If I make an image with my computer, can I restore the sdcard even if I totally brick the device?

pulsar · 11-20-2011, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danieru

I think I might have had this happen to me. It didn't give any error but today while switching wallpapers the device rebooted. When it came back up everything was back to factory settings except: the wall paper was switched to what I selected and the application list included everything I had installed but everything crashes when I try and run it.

My device had been rooted. I've had it crash before when switching wallpapers but it never reset itself before.

I really hope we can get a decent third party firmware going.

Has anyone taken the freescale ubuntu images and tried booting them?

In my case, it was a full factory reset - I went again through the same procedure as when I used it for the first time (signing up for the Kobo account, wifi settings etc.) All my applications are gone, including the root access. The wallpaper is exactly as it was at the beginning.

Which does suggest that the recovery*.zip file is not purely stock Android - it must have the Kobo initialization script (signing up for an account and getting an update). And then the first "update" is probably installing the first real Kobo distro.

Regarding restoring the system using an image of the internal micro-SD - it should work (at least when you are not trying to change partitions), but I haven't tried it yet.

I would leave physical swapping of the internal SD card as the last resort, when the unit is completely bricked, as these cards are extremely flimsy, and the card slot is probably flimsy too. The first card I bought to use as an external micro-SD card for Kobo, 16GB, stopped working (I suspect my kids played with it - though I can't find any signs of physical damage). Then as an experiment I very slightly bent it, and it immediately broke into two separate pieces.

As long as one can reboot the unit, and get adb over USB access, the best way to fix a bricked unit is to copy the image back onto the card using adb. I'll probably write a small guide regarding how to set up adb over USB access to Kobo Vox (from Linux), and how to create a backup (clone) SD card.

hieronymos · 11-20-2011, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsar

Which does suggest that the recovery*.zip file is not purely stock Android - it must have the Kobo initialization script (signing up for an account and getting an update). And then the first "update" is probably installing the first real Kobo distro.

Nice! Sounds very plausible! And would mean that they actually made quite an intelligent recovery (as long as it doesn't take over like HAL in your case) - all we need to do in order to get a full factory reset is bricking the tablet :-)
Now since the device can apply an update after downloading it in the OS, there must be a way to reboot into a recovery mode where an update gets directly applied?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsar

As long as one can reboot the unit, and get adb over USB access, the best way to fix a bricked unit is to copy the image back onto the card using adb. I'll probably write a small guide regarding how to set up adb over USB access to Kobo Vox (from Linux), and how to create a backup (clone) SD card.

A howto would be nice. With the same setup (Ubuntu Maverick) I can connect to the phone just right, but the Kobo never shows up. When I go into the terminal and type adbd, it says it can't open the port.
What is it with that adb? Is there an instance flashed right onto the board? Say, if the SD card is completely erased, will there still be adb access?

Quote:

Has anyone taken the freescale ubuntu images and tried booting them?

An easy and reasonably elegant solution for a dual boot is here: http://stream0.org/2011/08/10/dual-b...s-transformer/
In recovery, he applies a zip each time he wants to boot into the other OS.

11-18-2011, 12:47 PM	#61
hieronymos Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 45172 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Just a wild guess. I don't see why we should tiptoe around the idea that they locked the thing, as long as we don't go against a wall somewhere. P.S.: I'll remove my links to freescale docs now, as google is pretty apt at indexing this thread and I shouldn't redistribute their stuff. Make your own accounts :-) P.S2: very curious! No adb signal at all for me! Last edited by hieronymos; 11-27-2011 at 08:07 PM.

11-18-2011, 11:51 PM	#66
hieronymos Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 45172 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	These guys seem to have answers: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...ed/index2.html Custom Roms, disassembly, all. And no custom recovery. But since we can mount the recovery partition, we could just replace Kobos wiper with the Aosp recovery. There we might get full adb access. If that works, no custom recovery needed. http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...very-mode.html Flashing: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...n-process.html Will try tomorrow. Last edited by hieronymos; 11-19-2011 at 12:37 AM.

11-19-2011, 02:31 PM	#68
hieronymos Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 45172 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Couldn't find out how to get into that bootstrap mode. But Kobo still has to provide something like that - for general service (i.e. problems during automatic upgrades / bricked units). Would be nice to recover through a cable instead of opening the thing up each time something goes wrong. I can't adb into my device. Don't know what's wrong there. Add: Also using LiGux Tools https://market.android.com/details?i...b3VkLnRvb2wiXQ I can't seem to get into bootloader mode. I doubt adb will bring different results. However, when I turn on the Kobo while on USB under Windows, something pops up while the first black-and-white Kobo logo is there and then disappears when the colored logo comes up. Maybe we'll have to poll it somehow. The further I go into the sources of the whole thing and read discussions, I see two important problems for custom roms though: pretty nasty proprietary drivers for the GPU and the Wifi (hélas why we don't have it). Personally, I'd let the Android job to Kobo - they get the docs and maybe even the sources. Only important thing would be to get the USB host running - adapter on the way. I'm pretty content with the OS they provided. Another forum is here: http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/110-...ex-a8-tablets/ Note the first thread - 3G USB dongles. As such, I'm rather tempted to check a dual-boot in the future. Freescale provides an Ubuntu image that seems to have all the drivers. If then I can get Bodhi (http://bodhilinux.com/) running, it's time to ditch the netbook :-) Last edited by hieronymos; 11-19-2011 at 03:00 PM.

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11-18-2011, 02:41 PM	#62
hieronymos Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 45172 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Guys, please tell me you have the same photos in /etc.

11-18-2011, 02:51 PM	#63
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,266 Karma: 78869092 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	From what we have been told they are the Vox Dev team, and a part of an Easter Egg on the Vox.

11-18-2011, 03:05 PM	#64
hieronymos Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 45172 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Nice! :-)

11-18-2011, 09:39 PM	#65
FriendlyFire Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Why I'm glad to see that there appears to be some progress regarding the Vox somewhere. I'd started losing hope what with the dearth of information on the CM forums or xda. Maybe I should've guessed this tablet would be firmly in ebook territory In any case, I'm afraid I won't have much time to tinker with it. If I do, I'll report anything useful I might find here.

11-20-2011, 12:37 AM	#69
FriendlyFire Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	ADB seems to be very hard to get working normally, but you can always install ADBwireless if you've rooted your device. That works just fine.

11-20-2011, 11:31 AM	#70
pulsar Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 52416 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: kindle 3, kobo vox	Was it just me, or anyone else had the unit gone to a full factory reset this morning? I didn't do anything with the unit for a couple of days, and this morning, trying to power it on, I got "system error - will do a factory reset" message. After that it went through a couple of reboots, system update, and from all the looks ended up in the state identical to the one when I just got it (kernel Oct. 27) - so apparently it can do a true factory reset under certain circumstances, if the things get pretty screwy. I am thinking - should I make a full SD card image now, when it's in its most pristine state? I have now adb over USB working, so presumably I don't even have to root the unit or install any apps.

11-20-2011, 05:05 PM	#73
spikexp Connoisseur Posts: 88 Karma: 4132 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Kobo Vox	Well, a recovery would be better first. So that we can get back if anything wrong appear. Some question to those who extract the sdcard, did you manage to change it? If I make an image with my computer, can I restore the sdcard even if I totally brick the device?

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