Samsung Galaxy Tab E 9.6 (SM-T560) (samsung-gtelwifi)

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Samsung Galaxy Tab E 9.6
Stock image of Galaxy Tab 3 9.6 running Android
Stock image of Galaxy Tab 3 9.6 running Android
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy Tab E 9.6
Codename samsung-gtelwifi
Model SM-T560
Released 2015
Type tablet
Hardware
Chipset Spreadtrum SC7730SE
CPU 4x 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU Mali-400 MP2
Display 800x1280 TFT
Storage 8 GB
Memory 1.5 GB
Architecture armv7
Software
Original software Android
Original version 4.4.4 (Linux 3.10.17)
postmarketOS
Category testing
Pre-built images no
Mainline no
postmarketOS kernel 3.10.17
Features
Flashing
Works
USB Networking
Works
Internal storage
SD card
Battery
Works
Screen
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Audio
Broken
Camera
Camera Flash
Connectivity
WiFi
Works
Bluetooth
GPS
Miscellaneous
FDE
USB OTG
HDMI/DP
Sensors
Accelerometer
Magnetometer
Ambient Light
Proximity
Hall Effect
Haptics
Barometer


Contributors

Maintainer(s)

Users owning this device


User Interfaces

  • Gnome starts but is pretty unusable
  • Phosh/Plasma Mobile do not work (require mainline)
  • Xfce4 works

Installation

  • pmbootstrap init
    • User interface: xfce4
    • Extra packages: matchbox-keyboard[1] or corekeyboard [2] to get an on-screen keyboard
  • pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip
  • pmbootstrap flasher --method=adb sideload

What works

  • Flashing rootfs and kernel via TWRP
  • Screen
  • Touchscreen
  • WiFi

Attention: latest edge won't come up with ssh cause of missing /etc/network/interfaces do a "pmbootstrap chroot -r" create and edit the missing interface file and add: auto lo iface lo inet loopback

After that do a install as usual and network comes up with ssh

What doesn't work

  • Audio
  • USB-OTG
  • charging sdl

Additional notes

  • ADB sideload stops at 50%, but it actually succeeds.
  • The power button instantly shuts down the entire system
  • LightDM Hangs after a while but can be restarted from USB/SSH
  • Some audio devices do show up, but they don't actually work.

How atipls made wifi work

How atipls made wifi work (with a bit of confusing detours). Inspired by the (sort of) helpful How_bonsaiblue_made_wifi_work.

  • Since the kernel provided by Samsung has built-in support for the BCM4343, enabling it was enough to get wlan0 to show up.
    • I actually have tried loading it as a kernel module, which ended up with horrible messages like no wifi platform data, skip and DHD wifi platform data is required for Android build
  • Grab nvram_mfg.txt and bcmdhd_mfg.bin from /etc/wifi from either a stock install or an unofficial lineageos port.
    • I have also tried firmware-aosp-broadcom-wlan, but the firmware seems to be newer than wanted thus either not loading or straight up soft bricking the OS.
  • Bring the interface up: $ ip link set wlan0 up
  • Use XFCE4's menu or nmtui to connect to a wifi network.

Useful key combinations

  • home + volume up + power: flash mode (TWRP)
  • home + volume down + power: reboot

See also

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