Hello everyone,
Most of you must be aware of the Indian tech startup Notion Ink, which has released its much-awaited nVIDIA Tegra 2 based tablet, Adam, which runs on Android 2.2. You must also be aware that Google has not released the source code of Honeycomb (Android 3.0), claiming that much work needs to be done, but some large hardware manufacturers like Motorola, Acer, Asus etc. already have access, and have released their Honeycomb tablets based on nVIDIA Tegra 2 to a great public reception.
The Adam tablet is technically as capable as the rest of the Tegra 2 devices, but it suffers from lack of access to the latest operating system. On the other hand, Notion Ink has been supportive of efforts by hackers to improve upon the device software, which has given us various alternative ROMs, root access, etc.
As of now, the community of hackers organised around the forum at http://tabletroms.com is focusing its effort on porting Honeycomb to the Adam and other 'left out' tablets. This work is being done by tweaking the system dumps obtained out of the existing Honeycomb tablets, and so far, there has been substantial progress in getting it to run on the Adam. ( http://tabletroms.com/forums/showthread.php?356-Honeycomb-on-the-Adam-%28Upd... )
As you may read on the thread above, there is still lots of work to be done to have a stable system, and much of this concerns the kernel. ( http://tabletroms.com/forums/showthread.php?596-WIP-Honeycomb-kernel-(nv-teg... )
The community is running short of experienced hands at kernel development, and would like to solicit your help in the kernel development effort. If you are an experienced kernel developer with interest in Android or embedded systems, you could be an ideal candidate. In fact, the community has chipped in to create a bounty for a fully working instance of Honeycomb, with amounts set aside for different aspects of the OS. (http://tabletroms.com/forums/content.php?2-Honeycomb-ROM-Contest) (http://tabletroms.com/forums/content.php?4-Stabilize-the-HC-Rom)
We know that the chief motivators for open source contributors are knowledge, community building and recognition, not money. However, it always helps to show our gratitude for your contribution, apart from actually using it. Many members have also demonstrated good spirit by sending donations to student developers and others that have been helping maintain the forum and development out of their own pockets.
If any of you feel that the likely end results are worth the effort, please feel free to visit the forum or IRC at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23%23adamroot&uio=d4
Best regards,
Nishit
ps: If you are interested in the device itself, some owners are willing to sell their tablets as they have access to other alternative models.
On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 6:15 PM, Nishit Dave stargazer.dave@gmail.comwrote:
Hello everyone,
Most of you must be aware of the Indian tech startup Notion Ink, which has released its much-awaited nVIDIA Tegra 2 based tablet, Adam, which runs on Android 2.2. You must also be aware that Google has not released the source code of Honeycomb (Android 3.0), claiming that much work needs to be done, but some large hardware manufacturers like Motorola, Acer, Asus etc. already have access, and have released their Honeycomb tablets based on nVIDIA Tegra 2 to a great public reception.
As per my basic understanding about Android Operating System,if your device us running on Android 2.2 then it won't be a big deal to port Honeycomb or the latest Android 3.1 to the same device .
You may right that google hasn't released the source code of the latest android versions,but I feel it won't deny the developers to work with the latest versions.You will be able to get the latest rootfs images from the Android SDK , even it contains 3.1 rootfs images too.
So I will suggest you to give a try with the HoneyComb rootfs and the old 2.2 kernel.
The Adam tablet is technically as capable as the rest of the Tegra 2 devices, but it suffers from lack of access to the latest operating system. On the other hand, Notion Ink has been supportive of efforts by hackers to improve upon the device software, which has given us various alternative ROMs, root access, etc.
As of now, the community of hackers organised around the forum at http://tabletroms.com is focusing its effort on porting Honeycomb to the Adam and other 'left out' tablets. This work is being done by tweaking the system dumps obtained out of the existing Honeycomb tablets, and so far, there has been substantial progress in getting it to run on the Adam. (
http://tabletroms.com/forums/showthread.php?356-Honeycomb-on-the-Adam-%28Upd... )
As you may read on the thread above, there is still lots of work to be done to have a stable system, and much of this concerns the kernel. (
http://tabletroms.com/forums/showthread.php?596-WIP-Honeycomb-kernel-(nv-teg... )
The community is running short of experienced hands at kernel development, and would like to solicit your help in the kernel development effort. If you are an experienced kernel developer with interest in Android or embedded systems, you could be an ideal candidate. In fact, the community has chipped in to create a bounty for a fully working instance of Honeycomb, with amounts set aside for different aspects of the OS. (http://tabletroms.com/forums/content.php?2-Honeycomb-ROM-Contest) (http://tabletroms.com/forums/content.php?4-Stabilize-the-HC-Rom)
We know that the chief motivators for open source contributors are knowledge, community building and recognition, not money. However, it always helps to show our gratitude for your contribution, apart from actually using it. Many members have also demonstrated good spirit by sending donations to student developers and others that have been helping maintain the forum and development out of their own pockets.
If any of you feel that the likely end results are worth the effort, please feel free to visit the forum or IRC at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23%23adamroot&uio=d4
Best regards,
Nishit
ps: If you are interested in the device itself, some owners are willing to sell their tablets as they have access to other alternative models. -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
You may right that google hasn't released the source code of the latest android versions,but I feel it won't deny the developers to work with the latest versions.You will be able to get the latest rootfs images from the Android SDK , even it contains 3.1 rootfs images too.
Only Kernel's source has been released so far. 3.1 Kernel (2.6.36) is available at :
http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=kernel/tegra.git;a=summary
Since userland code is Apache licensed, Google can take its own time to release that part of code.
Does SDK emulate hardware similar to this tablet? If it does not that SDK image might not work.
-Shamit
On May 19, 2011 9:24 PM, "Shamit Verma" subs.linux.mum@vshamit.com wrote:
Only Kernel's source has been released so far. 3.1 Kernel (2.6.36) is available at :
http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=kernel/tegra.git;a=summary
Since userland code is Apache licensed, Google can take its own time to release that part of code.
Does SDK emulate hardware similar to this tablet? If it does not that SDK image might not work.
-Shamit
Thanks Shamit, it is the .36 version at minimum that the devs are working on. The problem as I understand it is that nVIDIA also puts binary blobs in the releases. The stock Android SDK does not support such tablets. In addition, nVIDIA has moved on to the Ventana development platform from the Harmony one, on which the Adam and other tablets depend. Building toolchains aldo seems to be a challenge for ARM-based devices.
nVIDIA says that actually the device manufacturer is supposed to provide support, and not them. Unfortunately for us, the actual manufacturer is some company named Malata, while Notion Ink, Viewsonic etc. are just rebranders with not much technical expertise, and who may not be in a position to negotiate with nVIDIA, let alone Google.
Which is why we are scouting for help, and need people who need their way around the kernel.
By the way, there is another effort on to port Ubuntu to the tablets (nVidia has put L4Tn the backburner too) on tabletroms and XDA, whuch needs more developers.
Regards,
Nishit
Hi Nishit,
nVIDIA says that actually the device manufacturer is supposed to provide support, and not them. Unfortunately for us, the actual manufacturer is some company named Malata, while Notion Ink, Viewsonic etc. are just rebranders with not much technical expertise, and who may not be in a position to negotiate with nVIDIA, let alone Google.
Is Notion Ink willing to help? And is bootloader in Notion ink tablets unlocked?
Reason I ask is, I am working on similar problem for the Tablet that I have (Acer A500). If we have support from Notion Ink, I can help setup toolchain once I solve that problem for the tablet that I have.
-Shamit
On May 19, 2011 10:06 PM, "Shamit Verma" subs.linux.mum@vshamit.com wrote:
Is Notion Ink willing to help? And is bootloader in Notion ink tablets
unlocked?
Reason I ask is, I am working on similar problem for the Tablet that I have (Acer A500). If we have support from Notion Ink, I can help setup toolchain once I solve that problem for the tablet that I have.
-Shamit
Yes, the bootloader is unlocked. However, NotionInk can't help much because it doesn't have the resources, nor access to Honeycomb source. Still, it has dedicated a developer to the community effort, who has made some good contributions to stabilizing the hacked ROM.
The toolchain is not the problem, it is just difficult to set up. You can visit http://tabletroms.com and check if others are working on the Acer tablet. If it is Tegra based, you may be able to use some common solutions for the Adam, GTab, Vega etc. or otherwise get help from other like-minded people.
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Nishit Dave -
Shamit Verma -
Siji Sunny