Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.4

[rrileypm]

This week, I received Pipo's Android 4.2.2 update for the Pipo M8 Pro and I immediately put out ROM v1.3. Well, Pipo has since released an update to the firmware which fixed a bunch of bugs they had in their first ROM. Namely, they had a bug in the contacts storage app that caused a nagging force close notification. Although I found a temporary fix for that, it left contacts unusable. They fixed that. Also, there was a bug in Gmail that would cause a force close whenever you replied to an email...they fixed that too. What else they did...who knows, I can't find their change log.

Since Pipo still requires you to enter a pass code to access their extra apps (Launcher and other stuff), I decided to remove all of that and make this ROM as clean as possible.

This ROM is rooted, 2,4,6 or 8gb of user app space by switching the parameter file before you flash. Expanded EXT4 file system, busybox commands added, init.d support and of coarse debloat.

Just follow the readme file for instructions.


Here is the download page:

Download

If this is the first time you are flashing one of our ROM's, you may encounter some challenges in installing Windows drivers. Please download this First Time User Guide to help you throught he process:

Download



If this ROM makes a difference for you, please consider a donation to support future RileyROM's here at Freaktab.com Donate!!!

[rrileypm]

Oh, BTW...they still haven't added DRM cert's for Netflix. If you rely on Netflix for your device, stick with my last 4.1.1 ROM.

[rrileypm]

There is an increase on the Antutu score...17148.
The last ROM had only 16500.

[Sodalitas]

My Pipo M8 Pro should be delivered in this coming week. Looking forward to flashing your 1.4 as soon as I get it!

I did have a question though. Is this ROM for the 3G version or the Wi-Fi-only version of the Pipo M8 Pro?

[rrileypm]

Re: Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.4

I used the latest 3g firmware as the base for this rom. It works just fine on my wifi only tab.

Sent from my M8 pro

[vikidroid]

hello rrileypm!

i found your's posts on slatedroid forum, and managed to find you here.

i'll buy m8pro very soon, so i'm reading all about it, rooting, customizing etc. in your's tutorial how to update rom, there are some things that confusing me.

first - after update (and every next update), will all apps, settings will be erased to default state?
than, you mentioned that is possible to select size of user space (2,4,8gb) from internal storage. but, after that it is something weird - mounting and erasing external sd card? every time after update or just in case of changing that user space? so, it is little bit troubled to every time copy, format, mount, copy back all what is on sd card?
or i didn't understand well??? or it is just because CWM implemented in rom?

thanks in advance!

[rrileypm]

Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.4

The user app space is set by choosing the correct parameter file to flash. The default is 2gb. If you want 4,6 or 8gb, just rename the parameter to parameter2 then rename the one you pick to parameter. Then flash. Those files are in the ROM folder in the flash kit.

Since each rom I release is a significant change to the whole system, you have to erase IDB each time you flash. This erases all of the INTERNAL NAND memory. After flashing the remaining NAND isn't formatted, because the current CWM Recovery won't do it automatically. In order to use the remaining internal NAND as storage space for apps to use you need to format it manually using the instructions in the readme.

This is why I suggest taking out the external sd card during flashing. When you are all done and reboot the second time you can install your external sd to restore your backup. I have had my external sd erased before during flashes, so as a precaution I just take it out.

Also, I use Titanium for my backups. The option I use to restore is to restore missing apps with data. Don't restore system data, because some previous system files may not be compatible with the new system. This is especially true when upgrading from Android 4.1.1 to 4.2.2.

I hope that clears things up a bit.

Thanks for the feedback.

Btw. I'm very happy with this tablet.


Randy

[vikidroid]

hello!

about user app space, that is "partitioning" of internal space and assignment part for user and rest for storage. that is clear (i think at least! ;-))
with that possibility i met on my android tv box, but i must say that i didn't find any complete tutorial to do it myself. must say that i stopped customizing roms after gingerbread. so, many things are familiar, but i do not have whole picture. and no enought time to learning it from zero.

about erasing - yes, now is much clear. i saw SD you wrote in tutorial, and simply pass by "internal", altouogh you wrote it twice! . and for EXTERNAL is just precaution to take it out before cwm restore.

must say that this whole process is little bit demanding than for M9 or this android box, also on 4.2.2.

is it because cwm is implemented or tablet is so fresh and there is no many customizers and different procedures yet?

i tryed to find some root procedure for m8pro, no success-just general procedure for rokchip 3188. tryed to find cwm for m8pro, no success. just some general cwm file or m9 and cube tablets.

so, imho, it is not covered with many users and no much tutorials for it. hope that will changed when my unit arrive.

in any case, i'll try to find if there will be some news and, of course, keep track your's work on firmware.

thanks and hope you will not abandon work on this tablet soon!


viki

[rrileypm]

Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.4

Yes, this is all due to the CWM. I included the stock recovery in case someone didn't want to jump through all those hoops.


Randy

[vikidroid]

so it is cwm. i love to have it on my devices. but i'll be more happy to add it later by myself just to skip those steps. but, as i didn't find it (yet), i'll stick to your's rom. WHEN it arrive!

regards!

viki

[Sodalitas]

deleted; turns out my USB drivers didn't install correctly. Just for future reference, the USB drivers need to be installed from the Rockusb folder in the Rockchip Firmware tools RKBatchTool. The auto-installed ones don't seem to work.

Running RileyROM 1.4 now, will go about using this and will report if there are any issues. Thanks for your work!

[vikidroid]

deleted; turns out my USB drivers didn't install correctly. Just for future reference, the USB drivers need to be installed from the Rockusb folder in the Rockchip Firmware tools RKBatchTool. The auto-installed ones don't seem to work.

Running RileyROM 1.4 now, will go about using this and will report if there are any issues. Thanks for your work!

imho, that with drivers is common thing. for all this time that i looking for pipo stuff, i newer saw that autoinstalled drivers are good.

please, after some time of usage of 1.4, please give us some feedback!

[Sodalitas]

Struggling to break 17,000 in Antutu on RileyROM 1.4, but in real world usage, it's working great and first impression is that it's smoother than stock.

A question though, how do I take a screenshot in this ROM? In the stock ROM there was a button to snap a screenshot, but it's gone probably because of the debloat. This is my first tablet device, and the volume down + power button combination doesn't seem to work here for taking screenshots and also since the volume rocker is now the Esc key... Yeah, a little confused.

[dcr33p]

Hello and stuff

Hi,

i am new here, so I want to say hello to you guys, especially to Riley, releasing ROMs for this rare device
I received my PIPO M8 Pro tablet a few days ago and of course searching for ROMs.
As I am spoiled with my Galaxy S2 using cyanogenmod, I am quite unhappy with the stock ROM.

For users yet deciding if they want to buy the M8 Pro or not I would like to write down some first impressions:

I am using latest 4.2.2 stock firmware.

Pros:

• Display is great, but not as great as AMOLED Samsung panels
• PPI is more than enough, BUT have a look at my first "Cons" issue.
• Battery seems to be acceptable, can't tell at the moment, but logging my device with "battery mix" app,
  I tracked down an interval of 6 hours: 8% battery drop, WLAN ON, ~90% standby mode using the device 4-5 times for a few minutes within this interval .
• Speed: This is kind of weird. If it runs it runs, if not ... well ... then is laggy Most of the time it is running very well, but then the device gets in some kind of bad mood, cause it is lagging as sh*** I dont know why, I guess the device is brand new and firmware is not optimized, yet. This is a PRO & CON Point, so dont be confused.
• Build quality is good, but still not as good as non-chinese brands IMHO. There are some flaws with the way the back panel is attached to the whole body.
• I like the Design

Cons:

• Text within the android system (Android Systems, Menus, Popup menu etc) is very blurry and looks "pixelated", where the fonts in the browser and most other apps looks great, even if font size is smaller.
• Sometimes quiete serious lags.
• The need for "longer micro usb plugs" is a joke
• Using ~2mm Nokia-style connector for charging is a bad idea IMHO.

Some thoughts: In "battery mix" I saw that all 4 Cores are ALWAYs on, switching from ~300Mhz to ~800Mhz, but I never saw it clock to 1.6Ghz, actually. The CPU Gouverneur seems to be running "interactive" or "on demand" and I guess it is not optimal.

@Riley: You mentiond in your stick that we have 3 wishes :-) ... experimenting around with CPU clock would be one wish
I think I am going to try your firmware, today. With root, I can play around myself with some other CPU clocks or modes.
Of course I will post some feedback, comparing latest stock FW with your latest 1.4 build.

Sincerely,
Dusko C.

EDIT: I just read somewhere that stock 4.2.2 FW is rooted by PIPO? On my device, the firmware is definitely NOT rooted.

[rrileypm]

Pipo M8 Pro 4.2.2 RileyROM 1.4

Struggling to break 17,000 in Antutu on RileyROM 1.4, but in real world usage, it's working great and first impression is that it's smoother than stock.

A question though, how do I take a screenshot in this ROM? In the stock ROM there was a button to snap a screenshot, but it's gone probably because of the debloat. This is my first tablet device, and the volume down + power button combination doesn't seem to work here for taking screenshots and also since the volume rocker is now the Esc key... Yeah, a little confused.

Just go into settings and turn on the screen shot function. In the original stock ROM this was turned on by default, but I noticed it was turned off in this last firmware.


Randy