Develop Bugs

[ThinkTank] Getting an AOSP Eclair build for Hero

We have had alot of activity over the last few days, what with the first 2.0 releases from the main players and now even some 2.1 builds. Which is excellent.
Maybe I am not 100% up to speed on the whole thing, but if AOSP 2.0 is "released" by google, then surely things like sync issues, etc shouldn't be in the source code?? I mean, the code should be as "bug free" as possible, so anything obvious like that would strike me as odd.
The reason I raise this point, is because I dislike the Rosie/SenseUI on my Hero, I would rather have the good, old Android standard like I had on my G1 - just what I prefer. However there are only beta versions of the AOSP eclair for Hero.
Would it be possible to build an AOSP eclair firmware, using the Qualcomm? proprietory drivers from someones leaked 2.1 image (working on an assumption that 2.1 has the same kernel base?) to produce a fully working Eclair 2.0 for Hero?
If I am way off the mark with this, please say, I'm just trying to think it through with the help of the people in the know.

Ditto. I am all for AOSP 2.0

richbayliss said:
Maybe I am not 100% up to speed on the whole thing, but if AOSP 2.0 is "released" by google, then surely things like sync issues, etc shouldn't be in the source code?? I mean, the code should be as "bug free" as possible, so anything obvious like that would strike me as odd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think part of the "issue" is that whilst Google have release some 2.0 code to AOSP, it is not currently complete (see here). In addition, many of the Google apps (e.g. Gmail) are closed source, so you have to rely on prebuilt components which may, or may not, be compatible.
The long and short of it is that Lox is already doing what you are asking. The prerelease of HTC's 2.1 has possibly served as a distraction to the AOSP 2.0 build, but I'm sure once Google properly drops AOSP 2.1 code that work will be of direct relevance to the AOSP project.
Regards,
Dave

yeah exactly. just sit tight and wait for Lox_dev to finish his 2.1 Then he might look after the AOSP 2.0. and as AOSP 2.0 is running pretty fine without much hassle its fine if Lox takes some time before working on AOSP 2.0 . cheers

I'm with this idea!
I mean, just compare the 2.1 and 2.0 aosp videos; android 2.0 has much cleaner, and better transitions imo.
Design choices in 2.1 by HTC are, imo, bad as usual; the transparent notification drawer for example; what is the purpose? It's only jerky. And so on..

I suggest suspending judgement on HTC's 2.1 until they've actually released final code! Remember this is a leaked internal build - what ends up in the final ROM may be quite different.
Regards,
Dave

I think I have a clearer picture now, thanks guys.
I just wish that we could be in a scenario where we could flash a standard AOSP build onto our Hero's, sans the whole SenseUI, and have a basic usable phone.
I really dont get the whole "gmail is closed source" crap with Google. I mean, I can have Gmail on WinMo, S60, etc - but only on Android IF I have a license?? WTF! Crazy! Luckily, now that Gmail does support Exchange Activesync I don't need the standalone app anyway.
So the word on the street is wait.... which I guess is what we will have to do
I am keen to be able to build from source so I can start on a project I have in mind. Think along the lines of SenseUI, but a bit different.....

richbayliss said:
We have had alot of activity over the last few days, what with the first 2.0 releases from the main players and now even some 2.1 builds. Which is excellent.
Maybe I am not 100% up to speed on the whole thing, but if AOSP 2.0 is "released" by google, then surely things like sync issues, etc shouldn't be in the source code?? I mean, the code should be as "bug free" as possible, so anything obvious like that would strike me as odd.
The reason I raise this point, is because I dislike the Rosie/SenseUI on my Hero, I would rather have the good, old Android standard like I had on my G1 - just what I prefer. However there are only beta versions of the AOSP eclair for Hero.
Would it be possible to build an AOSP eclair firmware, using the Qualcomm? proprietory drivers from someones leaked 2.1 image (working on an assumption that 2.1 has the same kernel base?) to produce a fully working Eclair 2.0 for Hero?
If I am way off the mark with this, please say, I'm just trying to think it through with the help of the people in the know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive me if I'm missing the point, but we already have a fully working AOSP Eclair image for the HTC Hero. I've been using it for over a week, on a daily basis and other than the looping sync issue (which we are working on) it works fantastic..

jnwhiteh said:
Forgive me if I'm missing the point, but we already have a fully working AOSP Eclair image for the HTC Hero. I've been using it for over a week, on a daily basis and other than the looping sync issue (which we are working on) it works fantastic..
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Click to collapse
I wasn't aware that all issues apart from the syncing were fixed. I thought we still had issues with camera stability etc?? Is this not the case??

There are some minor issues with stability, but it's absolutely useable on a daily basis. I guess it would be better for you to list what your problems are or concerns, rather than making (what appears to me) to be a grand claim for concentrated work on something.
There are a number of us who are solely focused on getting AOSP Eclair working 100%.. but we're very nearly there. Having people contribute constructive information about what doesn't work would be the best.

jnwhiteh said:
There are some minor issues with stability, but it's absolutely useable on a daily basis. I guess it would be better for you to list what your problems are or concerns, rather than making (what appears to me) to be a grand claim for concentrated work on something.
There are a number of us who are solely focused on getting AOSP Eclair working 100%.. but we're very nearly there. Having people contribute constructive information about what doesn't work would be the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me, I'll come back to AOSP soon with great things

That's an awesome news ! Thank you Lox !

Lox_Dev said:
Believe me, I'll come back to AOSP soon with great things
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Click to collapse
Thanks Lox, appreciated.

Lox_Dev said:
Believe me, I'll come back to AOSP soon with great things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news man! Thanks a lot! Holding my breath...

jnwhiteh said:
There are some minor issues with stability, but it's absolutely useable on a daily basis. I guess it would be better for you to list what your problems are or concerns, rather than making (what appears to me) to be a grand claim for concentrated work on something.
There are a number of us who are solely focused on getting AOSP Eclair working 100%.. but we're very nearly there. Having people contribute constructive information about what doesn't work would be the best.
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Click to collapse
I agree. The only reason I am now using Lox_devs Hero 2.1 1.4 instead of the pure Eclair one is that Eclair does not sync my exchange calendar. I just cant see why the calendar has been left out.

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Being Pushed To AOSP

http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/1...3-gingerbread-being-pushed-to-aosp-right-now/
go, go, go! )

These are very good news
I already see my Hero running CM 7
:happy face:

Excellent News Lets see who get's their GingerBread ROM out first

Sweet, if the hero really will be supported!

Cooooooooooooooool man very nice go go go go gooooooooooooooogle

Tchuup-tchuup! Hotness train is leaving the stations

ummm...
yea. will be interesting to watch... if it works on hero it will be fun... I don't expect devs will take the time on the hero any more like they used to but if someone out there has the know how and time and dedication then it's probably possible.

dkelley said:
ummm...
yea. will be interesting to watch... if it works on hero it will be fun... I don't expect devs will take the time on the hero any more like they used to but if someone out there has the know how and time and dedication then it's probably possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Feeyo...

Good news
Sent from my HTC Hero

C0mpu13rFr34k said:
Feeyo...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
should be interesting to watch his progress

I wish the technical know-how would be something well documented.
What I mean is, ive seen lox/benocharm (sp?) progress in the last year in terms of Android knowledge, almost from the start. Ive seen one of these two guys post about initial questions about how things work, then edit his own post to do a mini-FAQ on ROM cooking. Now today it would look like they would kick some major ass at doing it if they were still able to give time for this, because they know the Hero hardware by heart; they know the usual glitch when porting (ie: how to make camera/bluetooth work, etc), all the minor details that makes a ROM usable or not for a day-to-day ROM! However, this kind of knowledge seems not so well documented.
What i'm basically saying is if a developer bails out the documentation about how to rebuild a custom ROM does too. It looks like (from a non-cooker point of view) that there is no centralized Wiki or webpage about the usual generic steps or roadblocks when porting from another device or when starting from AOSP to build FOR an Htc Hero (or any device, too).
Personally i know enough about linux in general, ive build a few updates.zip for my own knowledge's sake (nothing fancy though, removed/added apks ), but I have my questions on how to properly make something not built specifically for an Hero work with all the hardware functioning. I'm sure many others are in the same boat (plenty of tech knowledge but lack of Android ROM resources). For example, the question I had in mind were in the form of:
Does specific hardware components (gps, wifi, bt) relies on linux kernel modules? Does it need some kind of special APKS or Jars to make it work along with the framework, or just kernel modules are enough once loaded?
Following up on the point above: would copying modules from another device specific ROM would be sufficient? (I guess not), what about Android release versions (Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, etc)? Can modules work regardless of the Android version being run on?
ETC...
Well its pretty much a long rant, but since i'm stuck with a 3 year contract on Telus with an HTC Hero, I wouldnt mind giving a bit of my free time to make a working ROM out of it. However I am/was under the impression that the Hero ROM development scene went to a stop once Cyanogen started supporting Hero (seems to me there are only two *major* roms out there, CM and VillainRom), and due to that ROM cookers stoped caring about the Hero since it was well enough supported as it is (with CM on board).
Thanks for listening, doctor

I'm actually in the process of setting up an Ubuntu virtual box to dive right in, when I saw the AOSP sources getting pushed I thought why wait? Why not try it myself?
Don't expect anything soon. First of all I am just going to build off the Cyanogen tree and see if I can make a working ROM, then I will look into the deep dark hell that is porting software to HTC's proprietory-drivered-up-the-ass Hero

l0st.prophet said:
I'm actually in the process of setting up an Ubuntu virtual box to dive right in, when I saw the AOSP sources getting pushed I thought why wait? Why not try it myself?
Don't expect anything soon. First of all I am just going to build off the Cyanogen tree and see if I can make a working ROM, then I will look into the deep dark hell that is porting software to HTC's proprietory-drivered-up-the-ass Hero
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck with it? I had the same idea, reading now a lot of information about building a rom.

Maybe we can post some useful links or tutorials about building ROMs in this thread so that we can kind of collaborate?

That would be a great idea, i really like the idea of building my own rom. or at least try to build one.
Here you can find how to setup your own machine to build android roms
http://source.android.com/source/download.html
if you have problems with installing sun-java5-jdk follow the instructions on this page:
http://blog.enea.com/Blog/bid/32050/Ubuntu-9-10-Java-5-and-the-Android-Open-Source-Project

Also checkout Cyanogen's wiki, they really did an excellent job there:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Compile_CyanogenMod_for_Hero

I'm progressing... slowly. Downloading Ubuntu 10.10 iso, 200MB of updates, the SDK, Eclipse, the ADT plugin, all the platform updates and GIT is taking a while on < 2Mb connection...

Especially the repo syncing... that just takes ages ;

krispijn_s said:
Especially the repo syncing... that just takes ages ;
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Click to collapse
Gives me time to read I spose! I totally understand how to build off Cyanogen's code, that sounds simple, but I get a little lost when it comes to syncing with AOSP or branching Cyanogen to make changes... but I got hours of dowloading yet so I can read up about it then!

Make sure you download the x64 version of Ubuntu. Since 2.2.1 you need a 64-bit system to compile the Android OS project.
Also don't expect to get it compiling right away, I reckon somekind of cpu-profile is missing (could be named different). Third I heard that the sound and camera (again) systems got changed, could be buggers to get those working.
Just my two cents

CyanogenPure?

I love CyanogenMod, I really do. It is constantly improving and the devs working on it obviously work very hard to keep things running smoothly. However, with a codebase this large, constant improvements inevitably leads to a fairly consistent stream of new bugs amidst the improvements. I understand that nightlies are not intended to be used as daily drivers, although usually they are stable enough for most here at XDA.
Acknowledging all of this: I can't help but wish on some days that I could take the excellent skills/care/devotion of the CyanogenMod team and have them devote a fraction of their work to create a pure, optimized AOSP ROM. No mods, no community apps, and (hopefully) no bugs. This would be an incredible stop-gap between the initial build of a new CM nightlie (say, CM11) and the inevitable stable release.
This is NOT a statement against the added mods/apps to CyanogenMod (File Manager, Apollo, DSP Manager, etc.), I am very much of the opinion that these additions are beneficial, even necessary to the growth of CyanogenMod.
I do not expect this to happen, and I especially do not expect them to go back through CM10 and line-by-line strip all of their adjustments/additions. I understand that they are all very busy at work to keep us happy, and I appreciate that. Think of this as wishful thinking from a big fan.
Am I alone in this opinion?

it is called an AOSP rom. in this case vanilla. get a nexus device for that

Obviously, but I think you're missing my point...or you didn't read my post.

ohfoxxxycole said:
create a pure, optimized AOSP ROM. No mods, no community apps, and (hopefully) no bugs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A vanilla android rom with a custom kernel
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

XxSilent.NightmarexX said:
A vanilla android rom with a custom kernel
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Click to collapse
Yes, but done by devs that know what they're doing.

Every single dev here knows what they are doing. Plus aosp is easy to compile for any device
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

I don't see any after a quick search. I've used pure vanilla ROMs on my evo/evo3d and they were pretty terrible. I just assumed, by prior experience and lack of vanilla roms here, that they were tricky.

no, thats just because AOSP roms lack features that people crave from CM or AOKP

Alright, so we're back to my initial post now.

In other words an aosp pure android rom is not people look forward to. Cm10 stable rom is there and probably with like one minor bug or two.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

I know how you feel; I wish they would release a stable ROM for those that prefer stability over speed/features

EXACTLY. i love how hard the devs work to improve android and add features but until its possible to get a stable rom with these features I'd prefer simple, pure vanilla with all work going towards stability. Maybe I'll start on that one day
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

ohfoxxxycole said:
EXACTLY. i love how hard the devs work to improve android and add features but until its possible to get a stable rom with these features I'd prefer simple, pure vanilla with all work going towards stability. Maybe I'll start on that one day
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't ask for optimization with stability. The nightlies are there because that's what they're trying to achieve, if it's not stable enough for you - don't use it. Go back to TW. That's the closest to pure stable for this device you're going to get. There are -always- bugs, even in the most fine tuned software, because it's all about what the user puts on their devices and how it interacts with the system.
Plus, not too long ago CM released the CM10 Milestone 2. It's stable enough for daily use. Give that a shot. If it's not to your liking, pull CM's device tree into a freshly synced repo of AOSP and compile it. See how easy it is to get it working.

There are -always- bugs, even in the most fine tuned software, because it's all about what the user puts on their devices and how it interacts with the system.
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Click to collapse
this is true, but i'd be using this with mostly stock software + social network feeds and games only
the milestones are a great idea, and probably the closest thing im going to get to this, but they are still snapshots of mostly stable aosp with many many tweaks to keep modifications that i may or may not use stable. not exactly ideal, but thanks for the suggestion. i'll probably stick with the newest m build when it is ready.
im not asking for cms device tree compiled as it is, or anything at all. im just hoping that before or adjacent to cm11 getting going with mods and tweaks that they will release builds tailored to vanilla and nothing else, concentrating only on bugs before adding things and testing them and adding things and breaking things and testing them and so on and so forth. i feel im not communicating this efficiently and im sorry

$MyName said:
You can't ask for optimization with stability. The nightlies are there because that's what they're trying to achieve, if it's not stable enough for you - don't use it. Go back to TW. That's the closest to pure stable for this device you're going to get. There are -always- bugs, even in the most fine tuned software, because it's all about what the user puts on their devices and how it interacts with the system.
Plus, not too long ago CM released the CM10 Milestone 2. It's stable enough for daily use. Give that a shot. If it's not to your liking, pull CM's device tree into a freshly synced repo of AOSP and compile it. See how easy it is to get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the bottom mic work on M2? What about the data drops that constantly happen? Does it transition well from LTE to 3G, vice versa?
And these are serious questions, I'm not trying to be a [email protected] at all.
I have a 20 month old baby girl so I do a lot of video recording, so the bottom mic is important to me since the top one doesn't pick anything up unless you're basically speaking directly into it. I do a lot of business through my phone, so a reliable data connection is obviously very important too. I've had BB6 on my phone for about a week now, and I absolutely love it...with these two exceptions. It seems they're both problems with all AOSP ROMs. If they get fixed sooner rather than later, there will be zero reason to have TW ROM for me.
EDIT: And GPS seems to take quite a bit longer to lock on compared to TW.

hayzooos said:
Does the bottom mic work on M2? What about the data drops that constantly happen? Does it transition well from LTE to 3G, vice versa?
And these are serious questions, I'm not trying to be a [email protected] at all.
I have a 20 month old baby girl so I do a lot of video recording, so the bottom mic is important to me since the top one doesn't pick anything up unless you're basically speaking directly into it. I do a lot of business through my phone, so a reliable data connection is obviously very important too. I've had BB6 on my phone for about a week now, and I absolutely love it...with these two exceptions. It seems they're both problems with all AOSP ROMs. If they get fixed sooner rather than later, there will be zero reason to have TW ROM for me.
EDIT: And GPS seems to take quite a bit longer to lock on compared to TW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using m2 for quite a while before I switched over to bb6. In my time playing with m2 I found that video recording was fine and data connectivity took about 10 seconds longer on a reboot. Other than that I've experienced no data drops.
To add to this, YMMV. I'm not sure if my phone is different somehow but I've never had any of these problems that people describe with data drops at random.
Edit:
Also, as far as lte/3g hand off goes, I'm unable to test as I'm not in an lte area. As for GPS, it takes about 7 seconds to lock on in a room with no windows. Tested on slimbean, so again YMMV
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Just try looking into building aosp from source its really not that hard it will just take some time. You could even use the device tree for d2spr from cm so you really will just be using pure stock
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

ohfoxxxycole said:
I don't see any after a quick search. I've used pure vanilla ROMs on my evo/evo3d and they were pretty terrible. I just assumed, by prior experience and lack of vanilla roms here, that they were tricky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're clearly smoking some good crack. AOSP ROMs for the E3D are awesome right now.

Months ago
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

[Q] What would happen if I build android from source and flash it to my One X?

What would happen if I build android from source and flash it to my One X?
With the current release, it is possible to build for Nexus 7, for some variants of Galaxy Nexus, for a variant of the Motorola Xoom, and for all variants of Nexus S and Nexus S 4G. The exact level of functionality for each device depends on the availability of the relevant proprietary hardware-specific binaries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- (source)
Will I brick my device? Did HTC basically just take the code and modify it to work on the One X? Any suggestions on how to proceed if I were to build my own ROM?

If you have no experience in this you are likely to f*** things up.
Just stick to aosp roms - same result.
Sent from my HTC One X

TToivanen said:
If you have no experience in this you are likely to f*** things up.
Just stick to aosp roms - same result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is no fun answer. I want to learn. I make apps for a living and want to advance and build my own ROM, because I want an all custom made one. I know I can go with CM and mod their code (or, can I?), but it would be more fun to actually do it from scratch. If it is possible, not build from AOSP at all. I know it sounds retarded but I believe the best way to learn is do as much as possible completely from scratch.
With that said, do you have any suggestion on where to start? Like mod the AOSP source code and get it running on the emulator?

You can branch cm10 and build that, it's a good place to start, you'll learn a lot.
After that, you may want to say, diff the AOSP kernel against a similar HTC kernel to see how many changes you'd be required to make to pure AOSP to get it to work with all the hardware specific bits.
Due to GPL, HTC are required to release the source modifications to the kernel and android (I assume), for any released binaries, but they can be a little slow. The JB stuff should be out soon, in theory. Hopefully that's enough to get everything working, but you will also need any binary drivers from nVidia etc.
It's a long road, and you'd do well to start with something working and work backwards towards AOSP.
I'm not sure what you mean by not even with AOSP, do you intend to create your own OS?

BenPope said:
You can branch cm10 and build that, it's a good place to start, you'll learn a lot.
After that, you may want to say, diff the AOSP kernel against a similar HTC kernel to see how many changes you'd be required to make to pure AOSP to get it to work with all the hardware specific bits.
Due to GPL, HTC are required to release the source modifications to the kernel and android (I assume), for any released binaries, but they can be a little slow. The JB stuff should be out soon, in theory. Hopefully that's enough to get everything working, but you will also need any binary drivers from nVidia etc.
It's a long road, and you'd do well to start with something working and work backwards towards AOSP.
I'm not sure what you mean by not even with AOSP, do you intend to create your own OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the thorough information! If it is possible to create your own OS, then yes, it would be awesome. Actually my idea is to make a ROM similar to the Linux distribution Tiny Core Linux; only the most essential stuff are present and bloatware and other features are removed. It could maybe serve as a good starting point for other ROMs to build on that want a minimalistic base. However, that is very, very far into the future. Now I would just like to compile a ROM that I have developed. But as I said before, if possible, skip AOSP and build my own OS definitely! Is that even possible?

Of course its possible, Android wasn't invented by some higher being or alien lifeform.
Nobody would use it though, because there would be no apps.

BenPope said:
Of course its possible, Android wasn't invented by some higher being or alien lifeform.
Nobody would use it though, because there would be no apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, so I am locked to AOSP then? i better start with the CM branch, thanks a bunch.

Most Stable ROM

What is the current most stable Android Lollipop ROM? Need one that is closest to AOSP and least amount of bugs with things like the Camera etc.

@Ziyan's zmod is a stable basic rom. All 5.1 roms for GN have ~250MB less available RAM than 4.x roms, because of a deficiency with the kernel. The lack of optimization for 5.1 means skippy performance and worse multitasking. So the problem now isn't stability

What exactly is that about deficiency of the kernel @bamtan2?

-V-O-Y-A-G-E-R- said:
What exactly is that about deficiency of the kernel @bamtan2?
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Click to collapse
Apparently the combination of Android 5 and the old 3.0 kernel means the developers must reserve RAM permanently for some features, like the camera. This is called a memory "carveout". The 3.4 kernel would let developers stop wasting that RAM. But making a new kernel is a lot of work...
Here is a list of (some) developers who have helped bring Galaxy Nexus from Android 4.3 up to 5.1: https://github.com/MWisBest/android_manifest THE OMAP4XXX TEAM by @MWisBest

So that's why all the 5.x ROMs I've tried so far become sluggish in matter of hours
So the best solution would be going back to 4.4?

-V-O-Y-A-G-E-R- said:
So that's why all the 5.x ROMs I've tried so far become sluggish in matter of hours
So the best solution would be going back to 4.4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If ZMOD + whatever tweaks you choose is still too slow for you, then yes, 4.x would be more polished in some ways! But some of the best 4.x ROMs are unfortunately disappearing from the internet even though they work well. Software doesn't "age" the same way hardware does Ideally the old releases would be re-built with the latest security patches and kept online for people to download. Exactly what ROM is best for you is hard to say without a lot of personal testing.

Thanks for a new keyword to google (ZMOD)
GNE is my secondary phone, I'd like to have it around and to be able to count on it should I need it.
I like to have Xposed and even the stock ROM would be totally acceptable then (well, "stock" feature-wise), without any bloat. Any recommendations for 4.4 or 5?
Thanks for the info so far.

I was leaning towards ZMOD, thanks for explaining the kernel issue.

-V-O-Y-A-G-E-R- said:
Thanks for a new keyword to google (ZMOD)
GNE is my secondary phone, I'd like to have it around and to be able to count on it should I need it.
I like to have Xposed and even the stock ROM would be totally acceptable then (well, "stock" feature-wise), without any bloat. Any recommendations for 4.4 or 5?
Thanks for the info so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best bet is to stick with Ziyan