[Arm-netbook] going to try and build CM9 for my new A10 9.7" tablets

[simon at koala.ie]

On Sun, 24 Jun 2012 10:05:31 +0100, Alejandro Martínez <zen at itram.es>  
wrote:

> Welcome!

thank you. i appreciate the suggestions.

> A10 devices are unbrickable. There is a FEL "bootloader" mode used for
> recovery that can always be accessed, usually by pressing a pinhole
> reset-like button on the device. This way the device gets detected by
> Livesuit, and you can flash the .img.

livesuit. it reminds me of donkey kong. i assume it should have been live  
suite.
not terribly impressed with that tool. it is very tempremental.
getting into FEL mode using the back button and hitting the power button  
10 times is an error prone operation. i much prefer phoenixtool. much  
prefer.

> You can also use another tool, PhoenixTool, to create an SD card which
> will, once inserted and the tablet turned on, flash the firmware to
> the device.

that is what i have been using for the last 36 hours. i have previously  
used it to burn images for my mele 1000.
but i have been using it a lot for these tablets.

- stick the microshdc in my laptop
- burn an image
- stick it in the tablet
- get an error in the burn
- try another image
- get that to install
- boot and discover that the touch pad doesn't work
- start again

then you get an .img that does work and you discover that the camera and  
the 3-axis sensor doesn't work.

couple of gotchas.

never reboot with the SD still installed. it reinstalls.
never use the SD card to try to transfer files to the tablet. phoenixtool  
creates a file system on the end of the card. but the .img is still there.  
stick it in the tablet and it reinstalls.

now here is another piece of info. if you try to reboot with an SD card  
installed it hangs. the firmware assumes you want to boot off the card and  
when it doesn't find anothing of interest it hangs. not sure if this is  
just a function of the bootloader, but is sure cost me a lot of time. i  
made assumptions about the brokenness of otherwise of some .img files  
based on the lack of booting. it was because i had the SD card in the  
tablet when i tried to boot.

if anyone can suggest a starting .config i would be grateful. whoever  
built these tablets decided in their infinite wisdom to disable  
/proc/config.gz. thanks a bunch whoever you are!

keep the suggestions coming.

oh and luke, assuming you want all this on the wiki, where should i put my  
voyage of discovery?


-- 
simon

Simon Kenyon
e: simon at koala.ie
m: +353 86 240 0005