Arnova 9G2 Finless Custom ROM Version 1.5

[Finless]

OK folks the wait is over! Been quite a few weeks getting everything together but my 1.5 ROM for the Arnova 9G2 is now in production!

A special thanks to all the BETA testers that helped get this ROM right!
WOW, the BETA test went so well I never had to change anything. The BETA ROM is the production ROM. Special thanks to Miklaus, Petrus, Damo, etc for make a FIRST CUT of this ROM working 100% from the get go!

I have to say this has been a labor of love by many people!

Now before I go into what this ROM is, I want to answer a few things for some folks asking I put other stuff in this ROM. This is a total debloat for TOP performance! If any of you want me to make additions like adding Fenice57's bluetooth, 3g, etc, let me know and if there is enough demand I will make a derivative ROM with those added. Realize however the BT and 3G drivers will NOT make all BT and 3G sticks work!!! Only those which the drivers support. Best I can offer to those that want it.

So what is this ROM anyway? Bottom line it is all about performance! To find out more:
1) Read the README.TXT file in the ROM kit! I explain a lot in there.
2) Watch the video I made explaining what my 1.5 ROM is, the benefits and reasons, and instructions on how to get the most out of it using Petrus' APP Injector!

Here is the video download. This is for the Arnova 10 G2 but the principles of this ROM still apply to the Arnova 9G2:
VIDEO -> Arnova 10G2 Finless 1.5 ROM Overview and Instructions (91 megs)

Here is a summary of 1.5 taken from the README:
Features in 1.5 "performance" ROM:
1) This has all the same features of my 1.4 ROM. FAST and REAL ext4 file system, 1gig app space, full root,etc.
2) This is a total debloat of the ROM. All apps, etc are removed except a file explorer as you have to have that to do anything later. Google Play (Market) is also NOT installed. See below as I supply in this kit a APP injector. The reason for this is file system fragmentation! Having a ROM with a bunch of stuff you do not want in it, you remove them and then install others and this leaves the file system a mess. Especially on NAND memory devices! Now you can install what you want after flashing and keep a nice clean file system
3) A full "settings" menu system! This is something many have asked for. Special thanks to Miklaus for making this new settings.apk. HOWEVER, during BETA TEST we could not get Accounts and SYNC settings to show up. Sorry guys. Maybe later we will figure that out.
4) A new WPA_Supplicant that will allow you to connect WiFi to Ad-hoc networks. Thank the Nextbook guys for figuring this one out!
5) In this ROM kit is Petrus' APP Injector. This was written specifically to support my 1.5 ROM. What this does is after flashing you can now "inject" Google Play, Google add-on apps, stock Nextbook apps. You get to pick and choose what you want and not get stuff you do not want! It properly injects this stuff CLEANLY either in /system/app or data/app! A lot of testing went into this and where best to inject these apps for performance!
6) This also has Fenice57's 3G stick support.

Everything I have removed can be put back using Petrus' APP Injector! So I am not going to list everything removed. Trust me IT WAS A LOT OF CRAP Run his App Injector and see the list for yourself
In the kit is a NEW folder called APP Injector.
Please watch my video if you can’t figure out how to use it.
But here are QUICK instructions:
To use app injector you must do the following
1) In the kit is a folder called App Injector. Copy the 2 files appinjector.apk and package.zip from that to the ROOT of your sdcard either external or internal if you do not have a physical sdcard.
2) On the tablet open your sdcard using the file manager. Tap on appinjector.apk to install it.
3) Run app injector. If you copied package.zip properly to the root directory of your sdcard you should be presented with a list of apps.
4) Click the box next to each app you want to inject.
5) Then at the top just tap the button "Install selected applications". It will then inject all the apps you selected!
6) At this point you can uninstall appinjector if you like or leave it and later come back and install other apps!
NOTE: If you click on an app that has already been installed, it WILL overwrite and reinstall the app.


Credits:
Special credits to the 1.5 development people:
1) Petrus for the APP Injector. Without his work here things would be a lot harder for you guys to put apps back on this ROM and keep it FAST. He spent a lot of time to make this work and trust me... I AM PICKY. Awesome Job Petrus!
2) Miklaus for his very COOL "system settings" APK. Miklaus is the MAN for reverse engineering this! THANK YOU Miklaus! I know a lot of others will love this too!
3) Fenice57 for his still awesome performing ext4 file system
4) Daman for his boot screens and super fast bootanimation. So you know, Daman's boot Animation is only 2 screens and very FAST. I tested and it only slows boot time by 2 seconds!


OK so enough jibber jabber.... Here is the download:

ROM ->Arnova 9G2, Finless Version 1.5 ROM (175 megs)

Again here is the video download link as well in case some missed it above. This is for the Arnova 10 G2 but the principles of this ROM still apply to the Arnova 9G2
VIDEO -> Arnova 10G2 Finless 1.5 ROM Overview and Instructions (91 megs)


I hope you Nextbook owners enjoy this ROM. Again thanks to the BETA testers!

Bob

[slavadm]

Thanks, Bob!!!!!!!

[chaplinb]

Thanks again!

Thanks again Bob! Just downloading the ROM now after finding this post from reading the BETA post of this ROM. I know it's the same download but hey, production is production, right? I'm planning on flashing this from your Finless 1.4 ROM, which was already a work of art. Obviously, since you don't own a 9G2 yourself it may be difficult for you to see the benefits of your work on the tablet. I'm sure though, from the feedback you've received, you can guess how much of an improvement you have made to this device over recent months!

A weird problem i noticed, when flashing 1.4 however, was that the computer i first tried flashing it with gave me an error while writing to flash (it gave the error after writing 4016 bytes). I have absolutely no idea why this is the case, but after trying the flash using another computer, i received no such error. Obviously, no one blames you or the team for this, but it's weird, right? Both machines were running Windows 7, too. Odd yes?

Anyways, Chrome is telling me the download is complete in 20 Secs, so I'm off to have fun!

Thanks again to you and the team, a fantastic achievement considering none of you have ever owned a 9G2!

[Jontta]

Many thanks for exellent ROM!

:banana

[rindj]

Nice work

Congratulations!!

[MrSpoons]

When I first bough an Arnova 9 G2 I was sad

No Google Market. Slow. Buggy. I feared I had bought a pup.

I'm now on my third iteration of the Finless Bob ROM and life is sweet.

Thank you Bob and everyone else.

[LiquidRobotics]

@Bob

Does the Kernel of Version 1.5 support Overclocking ?

I know OC can be Dangerous for the Hardware, but maybe just a littlebit from 1,0GHz to 1,2GHz if it works

[Damo]

@Bob

Does the Kernel of Version 1.5 support Overclocking ?

I know OC can be Dangerous for the Hardware, but maybe just a littlebit from 1,0GHz to 1,2GHz if it works

I think it could probably be done but without the kernal source code from Arnova than not likely unless they release it. Many people including Bob has asked for it but have not got very far

Sent from my SK17i using Tapatalk 2

[HannesBK]

One more happy user

I used the stock ROM (with GPlay) for some weeks.
A few days ago I flashed the 1.5 and now the 9G2 seems to be another tablet.
Faster, smoother, more free memory and no more junk apps.

Great work, thank you!

Only a few little things to mention:

I had some FC issues with superuser. After downgrading to v0.7 it works fine.

The WiFi connection gets lost in sleep mode. Not immediately, but after a while.
In systems settings the WiFi standby policy is set to "never".
I tried some tools like "Wi-Fi keep alive" but nothing helped.

But that's not as bad as the lame duck before.

In your (excellent) flash tutorial you write:
"4) Slide the power switch to the locked Position."
The 9G2 has no slider but a pushbutton for the power menu.
The procedure to enter recovery mode is:
Press and hold menu button and power button simultaneously, then press reset.
You will get a black screen.

A bluetooth stack would be nice. Is it possible without rebuilding the kernel?

Has someone succeeded in loading CIFS drivers? Connecting with ES file explorer works, but I want to mount a windows share to the file system. "Mount Manager" is the app for this job, but it lacks of drivers (cifs.ko).

Hannes

[Finless]

Thanks, I will update the README.

The Wifi thing is a function of the kernel. Many have compained of this. NOt sure how to fix that.

As for CIFS, I do have a ko module but I am unsure if it works on the 9G2. I also have some BT.ko modules but I do not know what BT sticks it supports. Maybe later if you want to test I can inject them in init.rc and you can try?

Bob

[HannesBK]

Bob,

it's really applaudably how you take care about a ROM for a tablet that you do not own.
I like to help you, if I can.

Let's start with the CIFS module. How can I get it?
Mount Manager allows to load modules while starting. This should be easy to test.

Hannes

[Finless]

Do you know how to mod init.rc or how to insmod the ko module?
While you can edit ini.rc it is in boot.img so on the next reboot, all edits will be lost.
If you know how to do this I can give you a ZIP file with the cifs ko module.


Bob

[Finless]

Here is the CIFS KO modules.

http://video.freaktab.com/?subpath=f...ename=cifs.zip

Bob

[HannesBK]

Bingo!

Is seems that the loading order is important.

This is the order I use:
1. nls_utf.ko
2. slow-work.ko
3. cifs.ko

All checkboxes in Mount Manager -> Preferences are checked.
I use the licensed version 1.0.41

Works as expected.

If your BT modules are from the same source, the chances should be good.

Thanks
Hannes

[HannesBK]

Bob,

I just saw your post prior to the link.

Sorry no, I am only a dumb user. I never edited system files.
And I really don't know "how to insmod the ko module".

Hannes