Linuxium's Bootloader software for RK3188 devices

[linuxium]

The power of a bootloader lies in giving you the choice in what happens after you power your device on. Perhaps you want to boot Linux and not Android. And you want Debian not Ubuntu. Maybe you need quick access to Android as you just need to run one applications. Or perhaps you want to test that new ROM before deciding whether to adopt it.

Hopefully what follows together with the software will help with some of these issues.

Two aspects I have focused on cover creating flexibility in booting both Linux and Android from either NAND or SD card together with a simple way to save and restore existing installs.

I've tried to make the code device independent and I've provided full source and instructions in the hope that many will find it easy to tailor to their specific hardware and needs.

This latest version will:

Check if there is an SD card with Linux and then offer to:
Boot Linux from SD card or
Install Linux to NAND
Check if there is an SD card with Android and then offer to:
Boot Android from SD Card or
Install Android to NAND
Check if Linux is installed on NAND and then offer to:
Boot Linux from NAND or
Remove Linux from NAND or
Save Linux to SD card
Check if Android is installed on NAND and then offer to:
Boot Android from NAND or
Remove Android from NAND or
Save Android to SD card

as well as offering access to the command-line by invoking a shell.

The provided binaries are for the new model MK802IV with the latest firmware (131107) but can easily be tailored to support any device or specific configuration requirement, for example just have the device running Linux but also boot Android from SD card if one is loaded.

The basic configuration as supplied facilitates the backup of both Linux and Android together with a simple way to install Linux. I've also provided five utilities: create an empty Linux or empty Android SD card, create an empty SD card for either Linux or Android and create an SD card with either Linux or Android installed on it.

Please goto https://plus.google.com/109451178006...ts/9DvTKTy99Yy for the software, instructions, pictures and source code.

[sevo1984]

The power of a bootloader lies in giving you the choice in what happens after you power your device on. Perhaps you want to boot Linux and not Android. And you want Debian not Ubuntu. Maybe you need quick access to Android as you just need to run one applications. Or perhaps you want to test that new ROM before deciding whether to adopt it.

Please goto https://plus.google.com/109451178006...ts/9DvTKTy99Yy for the software, instructions, pictures and source code.

Hey, this looks absolutely marvelous!!!
How difficult would it be to run it on other rk3188 devices, eg. mk908v1?
Does it install Android Rom of your choice, or can it be substituted with another one, user selected?
Many thanks for your great work, this is huge step forward for RK devices!
And I apologize if some of the questions are already covered in your tutorial.

[leolas]

No words
Thanks a lot for it.

[Jo2010]

Super!!!!!i been playing with it .Everything working like a charm except wifi in linux .could not connect to wifi.ethernet connection is working.mine is new mk802iv.i wish I also had adobe flash player working in the linux for online streaming.no complaint.this is great achievement !!!.

[linuxium]

Super!!!!!i been playing with it .Everything working like a charm except wifi in linux .could not connect to wifi.ethernet connection is working.mine is new mk802iv.i wish I also had adobe flash player working in the linux for online streaming.no complaint.this is great achievement !!!.

This is now fixed - I didn't realise the latest Rikomagic wifi module didn't work with their published kernel - just download again the binaries then reflash and wlan0 will appear!

[linuxium]

Additional device support

I've also posted binaries for other devices and whilst they are untested kernels as I don't have the devices I hope they may be of interest:

• Old model MK802IV -> 8188EU wifi (e.g. old model MK802IV)
• T428 -> AP6330 wifi (e.g. T428)
• MK908 -> removed
• Devices using LCDC0 -> removed

[Jo2010]

This is now fixed - I didn't realise the latest Rikomagic wifi module didn't work with their published kernel - just download again the binaries then reflash and wlan0 will appear!

Thank you very much .will do it now.again this is marvellous !!.now I have android and Ubuntu on NAND and Debian on sd card what a choice !!!If you don't mind ,is it possible to install adobe flash player on linux ?i have become greedy!

[sevo1984]

mk908 v1

I've also posted binaries for other devices and whilst they are untested kernels as I don't have the devices I hope they may be of interest:

• Old model MK802IV
• T428
• MK908
• Devices using LCDC0

O.k. Tried it on my mk908 v1 I believe (could be v2, never figured out the difference - it is not v3 for sure).
Erased IDB - everything went o.k.
Selected your 6 binaries and checked the respective boxes in RK Flash Tool (of course, selected mk908 kernel you provided instead the one from binaries (which is for MK802IV only)
Flashed - everything went o.k.
Expected that it will reboot to Android straight away but there was a black screen only (blue light on the dongle was on - illuminated blue)
Waited for some 10 minutes even though did not expect any major activity on the NAND as it apparently happens when flashing nand linux.
Disconnected and flashed back to android hoabycsr 2.2 universal which is my favorite android rom.
Now, what is really strange, all android mk908 roms work without issues. The only linux recovery kernels that I managed to use were mmm123 and Omegamoon (the other one with some graphics issues in GUI though). I wonder do other people share similar experience with this device?
Nevertheless, many thanks for your fantastic work once again!!!! Fair dinkum mate

[linuxium]

O.k. Tried it on my mk908 v1 I believe (could be v2, never figured out the difference - it is not v3 for sure).
Erased IDB - everything went o.k.
Selected your 6 binaries and checked the respective boxes in RK Flash Tool (of course, selected mk908 kernel you provided instead the one from binaries (which is for MK802IV only)
Flashed - everything went o.k.
Expected that it will reboot to Android straight away but there was a black screen only (blue light on the dongle was on - illuminated blue)
Waited for some 10 minutes even though did not expect any major activity on the NAND as it apparently happens when flashing nand linux.
Disconnected and flashed back to android hoabycsr 2.2 universal which is my favorite android rom.
Now, what is really strange, all android mk908 roms work without issues. The only linux recovery kernels that I managed to use were mmm123 and Omegamoon (the other one with some graphics issues in GUI though). I wonder do other people share similar experience with this device?
Nevertheless, many thanks for your fantastic work once again!!!! Fair dinkum mate

Interesting ... just to clarify these are kernel images and not recovery images (as in this set up Linux is actually the primary kernel and the recovery kernel is only used to boot Android) ... important for flashing but functionally no big deal as I also developed another version with Android as the primary kernel and Linux as the recovery one.

My (blind) theory was you should get something on each device by selecting the closest kernel even if wifi didn't work. If you got a blank screen did you try the LCDC0 as I can't remember how close the MK908 is to the MK802IV?

[sevo1984]

thanks

Interesting ... just to clarify these are kernel images and not recovery images (as in this set up Linux is actually the primary kernel and the recovery kernel is only used to boot Android) ... important for flashing but functionally no big deal as I also developed another version with Android as the primary kernel and Linux as the recovery one.

My (blind) theory was you should get something on each device by selecting the closest kernel even if wifi didn't work. If you got a blank screen did you try the LCDC0 as I can't remember how close the MK908 is to the MK802IV?

Fair enough: I flashed your mk908 kernel to kernel partition (section in the RK tool), not to recovery partition.
All other 5 files provided in your binaries were selected and flashed to corresponding android sections of the RK tool (that is system to system, recovery to recovery, loader to loader etc respectively).
And I am least worried about wifi as I use USB ehternet, performance is significantly better in my experience.
Thanks for your very quick reply!!!

[linuxium]

Fair enough: I flashed your mk908 kernel to kernel partition (section in the RK tool), not to recovery partition.
All other 5 files provided in your binaries were selected and flashed to corresponding android sections of the RK tool (that is system to system, recovery to recovery, loader to loader etc respectively).
And I am least worried about wifi as I use USB ehternet, performance is significantly better in my experience.
Thanks for your very quick reply!!!

Did you try flashing this kernel? LCDC0 kernel https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B99...XhVNnVEYkh6Mm8

[sevo1984]

same thing

Did you try flashing this kernel? LCDC0 kernel https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B99...XhVNnVEYkh6Mm8

I did so this morning, and exactly the same thing happened: no screen output (black screen), does not boot to android even though blue lamp is on after flashing.
Erase IDB went on well, double checked that I selected the right files and checked right boxes in the RK flash tool, everything also went on o.k. without reporting any errors.
On the top of everything, I could not reflesh back to Hoabycsr 2.2 universal any more. First time I tried this, after erasing nand, RK flash tool could not detect RK loader any more? ! Tried different cables etc. avail.
Looking back, I am sure that erasing nand reported 4096 (isn't is supposed to be 2048 or something like that, never payed attention to such details before?)
This way or another, will have to open my device and try connecting two pins to unbrick, as pressing reset button while simultaneously connecting the usb to computer does not enter the mask mode any more, and blue lamp does not illuminate. Some other day with less bad vibrations I suppose
Would appreciate if anyone could provide me the link for unbricking mk908 v1, it would definitely save me a lot of time!!!!
Also, seriously considering getting an mk802IV, while not giving up on unbricking this poor fellow
cheers

O.K. UNBRICKED!!! BACK TO SQUARE ONE AND READY TO PLAY. That's what this game is all about, right

[linuxium]

I did so this morning, and exactly the same thing happened: no screen output (black screen), does not boot to android even though blue lamp is on after flashing.
Erase IDB went on well, double checked that I selected the right files and checked right boxes in the RK flash tool, everything also went on o.k. without reporting any errors.
On the top of everything, I could not reflesh back to Hoabycsr 2.2 universal any more. First time I tried this, after erasing nand, RK flash tool could not detect RK loader any more? ! Tried different cables etc. avail.
Looking back, I am sure that erasing nand reported 4096 (isn't is supposed to be 2048 or something like that, never payed attention to such details before?)
This way or another, will have to open my device and try connecting two pins to unbrick, as pressing reset button while simultaneously connecting the usb to computer does not enter the mask mode any more, and blue lamp does not illuminate. Some other day with less bad vibrations I suppose
Would appreciate if anyone could provide me the link for unbricking mk908 v1, it would definitely save me a lot of time!!!!
Also, seriously considering getting an mk802IV, while not giving up on unbricking this poor fellow
cheers

O.K. UNBRICKED!!! BACK TO SQUARE ONE AND READY TO PLAY. That's what this game is all about, right

Well done!

FYI, I've removed the MK908 and LCD0 images based on your testing results.

[mihu]

Flashed it on a CS968/TV-01 box, works great, thank you very much!
Maybe you could consider adding a "Do you really want to ..." query before deleting anything. Just one typo, and whoops! - my Android was gone. No issue for me, but others might just

mihu

[stani]

how to make this available on other devices

Great work thanks!
Hi I have device which is identified as rk3188_box_szy_x6v1_0 131024 in other threads.
I tried the version for mk802iv, but the android didn't play very nice. So i decided to play around and try to produce hybrid version that uses you bootloader and linux, but my android rom.
...and I ended up bricking my device at least 2 times.

Is it possible to make instructions how can make such solution - to use images from your binaries and images from any, possibly change whatever parameters are required and compile new rom with dual boot?

Thanks