Great News for Pipo tablet owners!!!!!!!
One of the biggest challenges faced by the custom firmware community has been trying to fix firmware deficiencies without having the source code to build custom stock kernels. While we've found workarounds to some problems, the real fix has to be made in the kernels. Some developers with a lot of time on their hands have been able to reverse engineer the firmware...but most of us don't have that luxury.
From your user requests, I was able to get final firmware versions from Pipo for each of "last year's models" to make my last batch of RileyROM's before Pipo ended support for them. During the process, I was able to make some contacts within the Pipo company and negotiate a little bit more for us.
After making literally hundreds of Pipo RileyROM's using stock firmware as my base, our friends at Pipo have noticed that our development has increased sales of their products.
Freaktab.com is happy to announce a new agreement with Pipo for further firmware support on their discontinued models.
What exactly does that mean?
Pipo is providing Freaktab.com developers the source code to their tablets they have stopped supporting.
We have a handful of kernel developers who will take these sources and provide us with new firmware versions to attempt to address those lingering issues. Before you ask...I'm not even sure if we can upgrade a tablet to the next Android version...but when we look at the sources, we will see what we can do.
Generally, a manufacturer only provides firmware updates for the products they currently have in production. Therefore, while hardware warranties may still be in effect, further firmware development halts as their in-house developers move on to the next model. Because of this, we've seen some very good devices never reach their full potential performance...with one or two faults that did not get cleared up before firmware development ended.
Our goal is to take the sources from Pipo and get your feedback on each of these models to see what needs to be addressed and get some of these problems ultimately fixed. Many of these issues are well documented in the Pipo RileyROM threads. For each tablet, just go to the Current ROM for your tablet model and make your comments in the RileyROM thread.
Now please understand this...all of us Freaktab.com developers are hobbyists. We all have families, and full time jobs, which clearly come first. As you have seen...we've also been quite busy with the Freakbox Project...so we want to take our time and get things right.
We are not providing hardware support...just firmware support...so we will be taking baby steps at first...concentrating on select devices we already own to test.
We plan on a Triage approach to deciding which tablets will be supported...based on what needs the most attention. We may take a look at a certain model and determine that the last firmware release is as good as it gets...and move on to the next device. That will be a judgement call on our part, based on our experience. There may be some hardware limitations that prevent us from making some changes.
Our crystal ball is a little hazy right now on just exactly how quickly we see any results, or how successfully we will be in fixing some of the problems. As of now, we have not even seen the sources. We aren't promising the holy grail...but this is a major step toward providing you with fresh firmware releases past the manufacturer's support cycle.
The fact that Pipo is willing to work with us at all boosts my confidence in choosing Pipo products to own.
As I get more information on this project, I will keep everyone up to date. Also, be looking for a web site dedicated to promotion of this Pipo Project.
Thanks to Neomode and Finless, we've started a new web page just for this project called Pipo-Project.com. Be looking at this site as we begin work on the sources.
And just as you do when you go out to eat...be sure to tip the developers...hahaha!!!!!!
One of the biggest challenges faced by the custom firmware community has been trying to fix firmware deficiencies without having the source code to build custom stock kernels. While we've found workarounds to some problems, the real fix has to be made in the kernels. Some developers with a lot of time on their hands have been able to reverse engineer the firmware...but most of us don't have that luxury.
From your user requests, I was able to get final firmware versions from Pipo for each of "last year's models" to make my last batch of RileyROM's before Pipo ended support for them. During the process, I was able to make some contacts within the Pipo company and negotiate a little bit more for us.
After making literally hundreds of Pipo RileyROM's using stock firmware as my base, our friends at Pipo have noticed that our development has increased sales of their products.
Freaktab.com is happy to announce a new agreement with Pipo for further firmware support on their discontinued models.
What exactly does that mean?
Pipo is providing Freaktab.com developers the source code to their tablets they have stopped supporting.
We have a handful of kernel developers who will take these sources and provide us with new firmware versions to attempt to address those lingering issues. Before you ask...I'm not even sure if we can upgrade a tablet to the next Android version...but when we look at the sources, we will see what we can do.
Generally, a manufacturer only provides firmware updates for the products they currently have in production. Therefore, while hardware warranties may still be in effect, further firmware development halts as their in-house developers move on to the next model. Because of this, we've seen some very good devices never reach their full potential performance...with one or two faults that did not get cleared up before firmware development ended.
Our goal is to take the sources from Pipo and get your feedback on each of these models to see what needs to be addressed and get some of these problems ultimately fixed. Many of these issues are well documented in the Pipo RileyROM threads. For each tablet, just go to the Current ROM for your tablet model and make your comments in the RileyROM thread.
Now please understand this...all of us Freaktab.com developers are hobbyists. We all have families, and full time jobs, which clearly come first. As you have seen...we've also been quite busy with the Freakbox Project...so we want to take our time and get things right.
We are not providing hardware support...just firmware support...so we will be taking baby steps at first...concentrating on select devices we already own to test.
We plan on a Triage approach to deciding which tablets will be supported...based on what needs the most attention. We may take a look at a certain model and determine that the last firmware release is as good as it gets...and move on to the next device. That will be a judgement call on our part, based on our experience. There may be some hardware limitations that prevent us from making some changes.
Our crystal ball is a little hazy right now on just exactly how quickly we see any results, or how successfully we will be in fixing some of the problems. As of now, we have not even seen the sources. We aren't promising the holy grail...but this is a major step toward providing you with fresh firmware releases past the manufacturer's support cycle.
The fact that Pipo is willing to work with us at all boosts my confidence in choosing Pipo products to own.
As I get more information on this project, I will keep everyone up to date. Also, be looking for a web site dedicated to promotion of this Pipo Project.
Thanks to Neomode and Finless, we've started a new web page just for this project called Pipo-Project.com. Be looking at this site as we begin work on the sources.
And just as you do when you go out to eat...be sure to tip the developers...hahaha!!!!!!
.gif "HELL YEA!!")
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