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Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) (samsung-jxelte)

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Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy J7 (2016)
Codename samsung-jxelte
Released 2016
Type handset
Hardware
Chipset Samsung Exynos 7870 Octa
CPU 1.6GHz Octa-Core (Cortex-A53)
GPU Mali-T830 MP1
Display 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED
Storage 16 GB
Memory 2 GB
Architecture aarch64
Software
Original software
The software and version the device was shipped with.
Android 6.0.1
Extended version
The most recent supported version from the manufacturer.
Android 8.1
postmarketOS
Category downstream
Mainline
Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.
no
pmOS kernel
The kernel version that runs on the device's port.
3.18.14
Device package device-samsung-jxelte
Kernel package linux-samsung-jxelte
Features
Flashing
It is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher.
Broken
USB Networking
After connecting the device with USB to your PC, you can connect to it via telnet (initramfs) or SSH (booted system).
Works
Battery
Charging and battery level reporting works
Works
Screen
Display works. Ideally with sleep mode and brightness control.
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Broken
Audio
Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons.
Partial
Camera
Broken
Connectivity
WiFi
Works
Bluetooth
Broken
GPS
Untested
Modem
Calls
Untested
SMS
Untested
Mobile data
Untested
Miscellaneous
FDE
Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr.
Untested
USB OTG
USB On-The-Go or USB-C Role switching
Works
Sensors
Accelerometer
Auto screen rotation works in desktops e.g. Phosh or Plasma Mobile
Broken

Contributors

  • Error1001

Users owning this device


Notes for audio

it "Works", as long as it doesn't hard reboot (Kernel panic?) for some reason. For some reason I (Brewy) encountered this issue when running SXMO on it. had to comment an audio initialization line in sxmo_hook_start.sh for it to not crash.

Activate Sideload

Install TWRP

Download TWRP for j7xelte.

Hold down the Home button + the Power button + the Volume Down button from a power off state to get into Odin mode. Once the Odin screen is open, press the Volume Up button.

heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.2.1-0-j7xelte.img

Start TWRP

In case TWRP didn't start automatically, hold down the Home button + the Power button + the Volume Up button from a power off state to boot to TWRP.

Installation

Warning WARNING: Flashing with heimdall and TWRP gets stuck.
Note Only use adb sideloading to get postmarketOS flashed. See below.


pmbootstrap init
pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip
pmbootstrap flasher --method=adb sideload # Remember to unmount all partitions first.

Status of interfaces

  • Wayland in general gets stuck loading
  • none gets stuck loading
  • fbkeyboard gets stuck loading
  • plasma-mobile gets stuck loading, requires deviceinfo_gpu_accelerated="true" to show up as an option
  • plasma-desktop boots but does not get past login
  • phosh gets stuck loading, requires deviceinfo_gpu_accelerated="true" to show up as an option
  • gnome-mobile boots and gets past login, but cannot find Wifi connections, does not allow to enable virtual keyboard past login, cannot close popups
  • sxmo-de-dwm cannot find Wifi connections (also takes time to load, which is possibly because it is looking for a driver for wireless connectivity)
  • sxmo-de-sway stuck loading

Serial debugging

This device has an S2MU005 MUIC, which exposes UART when a cable with either 150K or 619K resistance is plugged in. See the serial debugging for general information on this topic.

In order to halt S-BOOT and get access to its console, you must hold volume down while the device is powering on, in addition to mashing the enter button in your serial console. The easiest way to do this is to first remove the battery, connect the USB debug cable, hold power down, then start spamming enter in your console while you reinsert the battery.

Once you have gained access to the S-BOOT console, you can configure the bootloader to persistently enable UART logging from the booted kernel:

S-BOOT # setenv CMDLINE console=ttySAC2,115200
S-BOOT # saveenv
S-BOOT # load_kernel
S-BOOT # boot

See also