Run any Android ROM from SD card

[linuxium]

Run any Android ROM from SD card.


Ever wanted to try an Android ROM on your RK3188 device but don't want to flash it and risk bricking your device? Or maybe you've currently installed Linux and want to try Android? I've created a tool to create a bootable SD card that can run Android directly from the SD card.


You will need a PC running Linux and an SD card of 8 GB or more, at least class 10 speed, and your Android ROM(s). In this example I've downloaded Radxa Rock's Kitkat ROM 'radxa_rock_android_kitkat_140909_update.img' from 'http://radxa.com/Rock/prebuilt_images'.


Download the tool from 'https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B99...3dBUjFzcUoyLWs'. After unzipping you will see a shell script called 'create-android-sdcard' and a directory called 'Tools'.


First load your SD card into the PC and use a command like 'blkid' or 'lsblk' to identify its device name (e.g. /dev/sdc).


Now run the program and pass the name and location of the Android ROM you want to install onto the SD card, e.g.:


./create-android-sdcard radxa_rock_android_kitkat_140909_update.img


The program will prompt you to confirm the name of the device for the SD card. Once confirmed it will then unpack the Android ROM, create partitions on the SD card that mimic the ROM including a 'user' partition that will use the remaining space of the SD card. It will then install the Android ROM to the SD card and notify you when complete.


Finally just take the SD card and insert into your RK3188 device and power on to enjoy Android.


The initial boot is very slow so be patient. For some ROMs this actually seems like a very long time, so be extra patient! Subsequent boots however are faster.


Everything should work 'out of the box' for Kitkat ROMs. For 4.2.2 ROMs as internal storage is implemented slightly differently, I did find one specific ROM where 'Explorer' didn't recognise the internal storage but 'ES File Explorer' did. All other 4.2.2 ROMs worked fine.


In theory it should work with any Android ROM packed as an image. My program uses standard RK tools which are included in the 'Tools' directory. I've included checks to ensure the ROM's format follows the traditional build layout so if the ROM, and in particular, the 'parameter' file is substantially different then YMMV.


Enjoy!

[ultimatexbmc]

Cool will give this a try when I get time - thanks

[no_spam_for_me]

Hi Ian,



for this you will get a sticky
(Of cause not so much PC-Linux user here, but before we lost it in space...)

I also saw that you find a way to do the same for Linux at SD?
=> https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/P6TNn3sisa2

Maybe you will also find a way at RK3288 devices....

Regards
Tom

[taki]

for minix neo x7
used firmware http://dl.radxa.com/rock/images/andr...911_sdcard.zip
used tool and method

http://radxa.com/Rock/SD_images

(anything changed)

write clas 10 sandisc card

inserd mmc slot minix neo x7
first look recovery screen (I think erase my nandflash but anything load it) later boot raxdarock screen.
about 50 secont look kitkat screen but wifi of minix dont work but everthing looks perfectly
I try sdcard dual boot. if it work may be modifed
radxa_rock_ite_android_ubuntu_dual_boot_141107_sdc ard.zip

[kandilak]

Hi linuxium, thanks for your efforts.
I'm trying this tool but i am stuck at the point that Android boot image created on sdcard. I test it with three different KitKat roms for my MK908ii.

root@leonidas-UbuntuBox:/home/leonidas# ./create-android-sdcard KitKat_T010_AP6210_public_20140403.img
./create-android-sdcard: Is your SD card loaded as '/dev/sdc' (y/n)? n
./create-android-sdcard: Do you want to use a different device? y
./create-android-sdcard: Enter new device name? /dev/sdb
./create-android-sdcard: Is your SD card loaded as '/dev/sdb' (y/n)? y
./create-android-sdcard: Unmounting partitions on '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Unpacking Android image 'KitKat_T010_AP6210_public_20140403.img' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Unpacking Android boot image ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Formatting SD card '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Flashing bootloader 'sdboot_rk3188.img' to '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Updating partition table on '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Calculating partition sizes for '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Creating 'cache' partition as '/dev/sdb1' with size of 128 MB ...done.
./create-android-sdcard: Making 'ext4' file system for 'cache' partition on '/dev/sdb1' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Creating 'data' partition as '/dev/sdb2' with size of 1020 MB ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Making 'ext4' file system for 'data' partition on '/dev/sdb2' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Creating 'metadata' partition as '/dev/sdb3' with size of 4 MB ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Making 'ext4' file system for 'metadata' partition on '/dev/sdb3' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Creating 'system' partition as '/dev/sdb4' with size of 768 MB ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Making 'ext4' file system for 'system' partition on '/dev/sdb4' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Creating 'user' partition as '/dev/sdb5' using rest of space on '/dev/sdb' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Making 'vfat' file system for 'user' partition on '/dev/sdb5' ... done.
./create-android-sdcard: Updating Android boot source ... egrep: res: Is a directory
egrep: sbin: Is a directory
egrep: res: Is a directory
egrep: sbin: Is a directory
done.
./create-android-sdcard: Rebuilding Android boot image ... 3794 blocks

./create-android-sdcard: Cannot create Android boot image ... exiting.
root@leonidas-UbuntuBox:/home/leonidas#

I'm running this with ubuntu 14.04 on a VirualBox machine.

[no_spam_for_me]

RK3288

Yesterday Ian posted this:

RK3288 SD card bootloader binary is available from

http://androtab.info/rockchip/u-boot/

however note the caveat that the eMMC bootloader takes precedence and that it needs to be erased to boot from SD card.

Source: https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts

[no_spam_for_me]

Hi linuxium, thanks for your efforts.
I'm trying this tool but i am stuck at the point that Android boot image created on sdcard. I test it with three different KitKat roms for my MK908ii.

:
./create-android-sdcard: Rebuilding Android boot image ... 3794 blocks

./create-android-sdcard: Cannot create Android boot image ... exiting.
root@leonidas-UbuntuBox:/home/leonidas#

I'm running this with ubuntu 14.04 on a VirualBox machine.

I'm not sure, BUT I think VirualBox is the problem (maybe there exists problems with access to devices at Host OS (at this case the SD))...

Have you checked if the img (or how he/it call the file) which the tool try to write to the SD exists after the crash?
How will the script write this img to the SD (maybe with dd?)?
If the img exists after the crash, try to use 'Win32DiskImager-0.9.5-binary.zip' ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/win3...files/Archive/ ) at windows to write it to the SD...

[no_spam_for_me]

BS
Ok, every thing back, because the access to the SD seems to work (because of the partitions)

:
[B]MKKRNLIMG=${TOOLS_DIR}/mkkrnlimg[/B]
:
[B]CREATE_PARTITIONS_ON_SDCARD()[/B]
[B]{[/B]
[B]            echo -n "$0: Calculating partition sizes for '${SDCARD}' ... [/B][B]"[/B]
:
[B]}[/B]
:
[B]CONVERT_ANDROID_IMAGE_TO_RUN_ON_SDCARD()[/B]
[B]{[/B]
:
   [B]${MKKRNLIMG} boot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz boot.img > /dev/null 2>&1 && ANDROID_IMAGE_CREATION_SUCCESSFUL=true[/B]
[B]            if ! ${ANDROID_IMAGE_CREATION_SUCCESSFUL}; then[/B]
[B]                        ERROR "[I]Cannot create Android boot image[/I]"[/B]
            [B]fi[/B]
:
[B]}[/B]
:

It happens at the point where the tool try to build boot.img...

[linuxium]

Hi linuxium, thanks for your efforts.
I'm trying this tool but i am stuck at the point that Android boot image created on sdcard. I test it with three different KitKat roms for my MK908ii.

root@leonidas-UbuntuBox:/home/leonidas# ./create-android-sdcard KitKat_T010_AP6210_public_20140403.img

Please can you send me a link to where I can download the ROM KitKat_T010_AP6210_public_20140403.img so I can investigate?

Is it always the same error for each different ROM? If not, can you send me links to the other two ROMs as well?

[kandilak]

Please can you send me a link to where I can download the ROM KitKat_T010_AP6210_public_20140403.img so I can investigate?

Is it always the same error for each different ROM? If not, can you send me links to the other two ROMs as well?

it is the same error for each rom.

http://www.freak-tab.de/wasser/wasser-firmware-um2-1.0.1.zip

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5rplkt5b1hb8wk/firmware_new.img?dl=0

https://mega.co.nz/#!WgR0WCZC!UPxulfbGI1vusjSgE42BtLRigauW68YLozyjv5BTcCQ

[linuxium]

it is the same error for each rom.

http://www.freak-tab.de/wasser/wasser-firmware-um2-1.0.1.zip

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5rplkt5b1hb8wk/firmware_new.img?dl=0

https://mega.co.nz/#!WgR0WCZC!UPxulf...8YLozyjv5BTcCQ

I can confirm there is no problem with these ROMs using the script on native Ubuntu 12.04 so ...

I've just spent several hours rebuilding a Windows PC and installing Virtual Box and Ubuntu 14.04 only to find I cannot get it to recognise my USB micro SD card reader ...

If you know of the secret to getting a USB to be seen within VB, please let me know

[superceleron]

No problem here, VB (Ubuntu 14.04) using my USB micro SD card reader.
Btw great work
You should make one for linux, because i want to use my own kernel on this image "linux-sdcard-rkm-mk802iv-new.img" and i dont know how to change it, maybe you can help?
Or show how to build a linux-sdcard.

Regards.

[no_spam_for_me]

I can confirm there is no problem with these ROMs using the script on native Ubuntu 12.04 so ...

I've just spent several hours rebuilding a Windows PC and installing Virtual Box and Ubuntu 14.04 only to find I cannot get it to recognise my USB micro SD card reader ...

If you know of the secret to getting a USB to be seen within VB, please let me know

VirtualBox and USB are two parts which often have problems (instead of VMWare Workstation at 2.0)... It depends on the Host OS and also on the USB-chip-set...
But at older VMWare Workstation (~1/2 year ago and older) they also have problems with USB 3.0 ... maybe meanwhile fixed???

[linuxium]

Hi Ian,



for this you will get a sticky
(Of cause not so much PC-Linux user here, but before we lost it in space...)

I also saw that you find a way to do the same for Linux at SD?
=> https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/P6TNn3sisa2

Maybe you will also find a way at RK3288 devices....

Regards
Tom

For RK3288 please see my new post here

[linuxium]

No problem here, VB (Ubuntu 14.04) using my USB micro SD card reader.
Btw great work
You should make one for linux, because i want to use my own kernel on this image "linux-sdcard-rkm-mk802iv-new.img" and i dont know how to change it, maybe you can help?
Or show how to build a linux-sdcard.

Regards.

For Linux please see here