"Engineering software" for Onyx Boox

[Slople]

Hey everyone

(if you want to read some background to my request, please go here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=334020)

I am in contact with Onyx HQ for a special request, because for a project, we would need to use the serial port that seems to be available on all PCBs of all Onyx devices - see the following answer from Nikita from Onyx:

All BOOX ereader have an unused serial port on the PCB, But for the BOOX official production version of the software, lots of development permissions is closed by our engineer.

Probably you own the poke2 color , could not test your project. Engineering software needed , then you could test.

The most import, we could not offer the Engineering software verison so far, a few hundred have not match our MOQ. The MOQ of poke2 color need 3K at least.

I'm not quite ready to order 3'000 Pokes right now, so my question is:

Does someone have any information about the "engineering software" mentioned by Onyx?

Maybe it's just that they changed something on Android, maybe it's something on a custom controller on the board.



Looking forward for any informations!
Raphael

[Galunid]

I'm not too sure what "engineering software" is. In theory you should be able to root Poke 2/Poke 2 Color. This would give you all the permissions you may need (it's basically super administrator level account ). There is a thread about rooting Max3. It should be pretty similar for Poke 2. Get EDL cable (also known as Deep Flash Cable), make Poke2 enter EDL mode, dump boot partition, patch it with magisk, and boot it in the end. I'm not sure how safe it is to flash the patched image, I didn't flash mine and kept it for when I actually need root permissions. The info you provided in the other thread is pretty sparse. Without knowing what the app should do and how you want to achieve it, it's pretty hard to give more accurate answer.

TL;DR
It should be possible to root Poke2/Poke2 Color and get all the permissions you may need.

[Slople]

Great information, Galunid! Thanks so much.
Basically we want to install xctrack.org flight software on the e-reader. It already works perfectly on those devices when connected to external sensors (baro, GPS) via bluetooth, no problem. But I want to hack a wired device together, using a baro/GPS that can be connected by serial.
Many advantages in doing this:
- only 1 battery
- wired connection more reliable than wireless / bluetooth
- pack everything in one new case

I already did the same with Kobo e-readers, but xctrack needs Android, and a color screen would be super fine.

Thanks for the hints about rooting. When I search for "Deep Flash Cable" I mostly find references to Xiaomi phones, are all those cables the same or what do I need to pay attention to?
And should it be possible to backup the device first using dd on the boot partition, should I need to reverse the changes / rooting?

[pazos]

@Slople: serial support needs to be enabled in the kernel (in-built on declared in device tree), for that to work.

Onyx doesn't abide to GPLv2 license, as you can see in http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/...nel-source/698

Also, since android has its own permissions, probably you need to modify the boot image to grant yourself a proper SELinux context to use that particular device node.

Somebody with the device can tell you if /dev/tty0 (or similar, it can change with the SoC) exists, and you can actually use it to read/write even if root is available.

If you consider serial you can try with a Tolino Shine 3 (same model as Clara HD, has a wired serial header, might need changes in the kernel, boot image, etc but sources are available)

[Galunid]

Originally Posted by Slople

Great information, Galunid! Thanks so much.
Basically we want to install xctrack.org flight software on the e-reader. It already works perfectly on those devices when connected to external sensors (baro, GPS) via bluetooth, no problem. But I want to hack a wired device together, using a baro/GPS that can be connected by serial.
Many advantages in doing this:
- only 1 battery
- wired connection more reliable than wireless / bluetooth
- pack everything in one new case

I already did the same with Kobo e-readers, but xctrack needs Android, and a color screen would be super fine.

Thanks for the hints about rooting. When I search for "Deep Flash Cable" I mostly find references to Xiaomi phones, are all those cables the same or what do I need to pay attention to?
And should it be possible to backup the device first using dd on the boot partition, should I need to reverse the changes / rooting?

Yeah, those are the "Xiaomi" cables, it should work on devices running Qualcomm SoC, which I believe it does, although I have no way to confirm it. You can make this cable pretty easily, the idea is to short something in the USB line, there are plenty of tutorials online
I'm afraid that's as far as I can help you

[helmut]

Hi Slope,
I am trying to dothe same thing, using the Poke 2 color as screen for glider nacigation with XCS. Did you succeed in rooting it, or making it in some way a dedicated device for the purpose?

[Renate]

I never saw any part of this thread.
I've put GPS on spare UARTS on a B&N Glow3.

I have no experience with the Poke2, but I have a Poke3 and a Poke5.

The Poke3 does not have the serial driver built into the stock kernel.
I do use the 1.8V logic level UART as a check during xbl and abl.
The Poke3 does not do USB D+ detecting, so an "EDL cable" does not work.
OTOH, the EDL test points are readily accessible, also adb reboot edl.
There is a Firehose loader available for the Poke3.

The Poke5 does do USB D+ detecting, so an "EDL cable" does work.
The EDL test points on the Poke5 are tiny, but adb reboot edl works.
There is (as of now) no known Firehose loader available for the Poke5.
The two photos are for the Poke5.