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Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) (samsung-gtowifi)

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Revision as of 21:42, 7 October 2024 by Oatm22 (talk | contribs) (no mainline support)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019)
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019)
Codename samsung-gtowifi
Released 2019
Type tablet
Hardware
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 429 (SDM429)
CPU Quad-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 504
Display 800x1280
Storage 32GB
Memory 2GB
Architecture aarch64
Software
Original software Android
Original version 9
Extended version 11
postmarketOS
Category testing
Pre-built images no
Mainline no
postmarketOS kernel 4.9.227
Features
Flashing
Broken
USB Networking
Broken
Internal storage
No data
SD card
Works
Battery
Partial
Screen
Partial
Touchscreen
Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
No data
Audio
Broken
Camera
Broken
Camera Flash
No data
Connectivity
WiFi
Works
Bluetooth
Broken
Ethernet
No data
GPS
No data
Miscellaneous
FDE
No data
USB OTG
No data
HDMI/DP
No data
Sensors
Accelerometer
No data
Magnetometer
No data
Ambient Light
No data
Proximity
No data
Hall Effect
No data
Haptics
No data
Barometer
No data


Note If you have installed, or if your device shipped with, stock firmware newer than T290XXU3CVG3, you cannot use custom firmware due to a change Samsung made to the bootloader.

Contributors

  • Irihapeti
  • Oatm22

Users owning this device


Known problems with this port

  • On LightDM, the desktop won't work until you disable logind-check-graphical in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf. (see Display manager#CanGraphical_issue)
  • Battery capacity doesn't update.
  • Device now kernel panics when connected to USB. Likely related to USB networking.
  • Networks are detected, but nmcli and nmtui say "Secrets were required, but not provided" if you try connecting to an encrypted Wi-Fi via terminal even with the correct password. Most likely it's NetworkManager's fault or a service that didn't start.
  • SD card has to be mounted manually via terminal.

Download mode

  • Turn off the device.
  • Plug in a USB A to Micro-USB Data cable from a PC to the tablet while holding down both volume up and down buttons, releasing the buttons when the screen turns on.
  • If you are met with a blue screen, press the volume up button. If not, reboot and try again.

Volume up is located right under the power button.

Installation

Run pmbootstrap install, then pmbootstrap export.
Transfer the exported files to the device using your preferred method. (e.g. microSD, USB OTG, adb push)

Start TWRP and do the following

  • Wipe System and Data partitions.
  • Flash boot.img to Boot.
  • Go to Advanced > Terminal and run dd if=samsung-gtowifi.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p69 and be patient. Make sure you adapt the input file to wherever you copied it to.
  • Reboot. TWRP will warn you saying "No OS is installed!", you can ignore this.

/dev/block/mmcblk0p69 is the data partition, do not misspell this when installing or you may brick your device.

Note For Android to work again, you will need to flash stock firmware and wipe Data via (stock) recovery.
If not, or if you try to use TWRP, Android gets stuck on the boot animation.

See also