Acer Iconia Tab A500 (acer-picasso)

Contributors

 * Worldblender

Maintainer

 * Worldblender

How to enter flash mode (requires a custom bootloader)
See https://forum.xda-developers.com/iconia-a500/a500-2019-2020-t4039271 for a through explanation of how to go from stock to fully modded.

To get serialnumber, use  then   then look for   in it.

To convert the CPUID to SDK without Windows, you can use the perl code referenced on xda-developers.

The  tool is documented by Nvidia on https://http.download.nvidia.com/tegra-public-appnotes/flashing-tools.html#_nvflash

Installation
From https://forum.xda-developers.com/iconia-a500/linux-acer-iconia-tab-a500-2020-edition-t4136023:

Follow the Installation_guide as usual, where theses specifics have to be specified when requested:


 * Vendor: acer
 * Device code-name: picasso
 * Install non-free Wi-Fi + Bluetooth firmware: y

Only the mainline kernel is available for installation now, as downstream kernels no longer successfully compile. The user interface may be freely selected, as long as it is not one that requires 3D acceleration. To use KDE Plasma 5, add these lines to /etc/security/pam_env.conf:

Next, run the following commands in succession, after each one finishes, assuming the working directory contains the pmbootstrap.py script:

From here on out, the generated chroot can be either installed to the eMMC, or a microSD card that must be inserted at or before boot time (the latter method allows for dual-booting Android already installed to the eMMC, although it can be directly accessed from the Linux system). The boot partition always has to be flashed to the eMMC in fastboot mode, as it is not possible to boot directly off of a microSD card. If installing to the eMMC, run

If installing to a microSD card, run

Depending on what user interface was chosen earlier in the installation process, there may not be enough packages installed to get a fully-loaded GUI. Besides the built-in Wi-Fi, it is also possible to use a USB ethernet adapter, or connect to another computer with a micro-USB cable and get RNDIS access that enables using SSH to the tablet.

After installation to either a microSD card or the eMMC, the screen should look like: