ShaunMT's Modified ROM for Nextbook NX785QC8G (Support Thread)

[shaunmt]

hmm do you have a knowhow on bootloaders and partitions or android

Learning as I go... this is the first Rockchip device I've worked on. There are a lot of differences between rockchip and the amlogic devices I was working on previously.

[mel4787]

Learning as I go... this is the first Rockchip device I've worked on. There are a lot of differences between rockchip and the amlogic devices I was working on previously.

Hmm how much of this device have you deciphered

[shaunmt]

Hmm how much of this device have you deciphered

A bit...

There are a lot of tools available for working with rockchip ROMs.

Unpacking and repacking a Rockchip ROM is easy.

Modifying the parameter file is fairly simple.

I compiled a working TWRP recovery tonight. (Working does not mean it is ready for release...)

Here's what's at the top of my todo list currently:

• Test and Tweak TWRP.
• Attempt to add rockchip update.img support to TWRP
• Assuming the above goes well... Release new ROMs with TWRP Recovery and optional partition layouts.

ShaunMT

[mel4787]

Yay. Now the next phase is to find a way to merge nand flash to internal storage.

[shaunmt]

Yay. Now the next phase is to find a way to merge nand flash to internal storage.

nand flash IS internal storage...

I think you meant either changing the partition sizes of the internal storage, or using the external SD card as internal storage?

[mel4787]

Yes changing the size of the internal storage since only 1gb is all we have for apps

[shaunmt]

Yes changing the size of the internal storage since only 1gb is all we have for apps

I've successfully changed the sizes of my internal /data and /sdcard partitions, It's just a pain to install the changes... It currently requires either flashing each part of the ROM separately from a PC, or flashing from stock recovery and rebooting 3 times. First boot fails because /data and /cache moved and didn't get wiped correctly by stock recovery. Reboot to recovery and wipe /data and /cache then boot into Android, but /sdcard still needs to be reformatted to get the new size, requiring another wipe of /data, /cache and /sdcard...

I'm hoping to reach a point where anybody can just flash the desired ROM from the tablet the same way they would on any other device.

ShaunMT

[mel4787]

I see. Well with 1gb for apps its too small for me to put anything on. And I cannot access the name flash to move my apps to

[shaunmt]

I see. Well with 1gb for apps its too small for me to put anything on. And I cannot access the name flash to move my apps to

I'm well aware... every Nextbook model I've ever worked on had a tiny /data partition and large /sdcard partition...

At least it's controlled by a parameter file on this tablet.... all of the Amlogic models had the partition locations and sizes hard coded inside the kernel... impossible to change without building a custom kernel and no kernel source code available...

ShaunMT

[mel4787]

Darn so that means we can't build a kernel for this device?

[shaunmt]

Darn so that means we can't build a kernel for this device?

This device, someone (not me... I don't have time to learn kernel development) might be able to build a kernel... We don't have specific kernel configs, but we have Rockchip source from other devices and they tend to be pretty similar, but I wouldn't count on it...

ShaunMT

[mel4787]

OK. So how we gonna get these tablets to not use much battery

[shaunmt]

OK. So how we gonna get these tablets to not use much battery

The battery consumption seems typical of a budget android tablet to me...

Regarding the inaccurate battery level reporting... I don't have any ideas... I doubt we'll ever see a fix...

ShaunMT

[mel4787]

My moto g gets me a day and a half on battery. So Ik we can tweak the battery a bit

[shaunmt]

My moto g gets me a day and a half on battery. So Ik we can tweak the battery a bit

Your moto g consists of much higher quality hardware parts than your Nextbook...

So does my Samsung Galaxy S5, and it only gets me about 12 hours without any time on a charger...

ShaunMT