Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (3G and Wifi) (samsung-espresso10)

From postmarketOS Wiki
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" booted into postmarketOS with weston
Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" booted into postmarketOS with weston
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Codename samsung-espresso10
Released 2012
Type tablet
Hardware
Chipset TI OMAP 4430
CPU Dual-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A9
GPU PowerVR SGX540 @ 307 MHz
Display 1280x800
Storage 16 GB (expandable with up to 64 GB MicroSD)
Memory 1 GB
Architecture armv7
Software
Original software Android
Original version 4.0.1
postmarketOS
Category community
Pre-built images yes
Features
Flashing
Partial
USB Networking
Works
Internal storage
SD card
Battery
Works
Screen
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Broken
Audio
Broken
Camera
Camera Flash
Connectivity
WiFi
Partial
Bluetooth
Broken
GPS
NFC
Modem
Calls
SMS
Mobile data
Miscellaneous
FDE
Works
USB OTG
HDMI/DP
Sensors
Accelerometer
Magnetometer
Ambient Light
Proximity
Hall Effect
Haptics
Barometer


Contributors

  • WilliamO7
  • Archbtw

Maintainer(s)

  • Mighty17

Users owning this device

  • AAT596 (Notes: espressowifi, 7 inch version)
  • Alexdmrk (Notes: Some experiments with hardware acceleration blobs has been done: they are abandoned)
  • Coldarchie (Notes: Unlocked, currently Slim7)
  • Daniel071 (Notes: Works great except very poor performance; Probably because of no hardware acceleration)
  • Dartvader316 (Notes: Mainline)
  • Deathmist (Notes: 10.1" Wi-Fi-only model (espressowifi))
  • DolphinChips
  • Eloy (Notes: 7 inch version, runs pmOS)
  • Hreikin (Notes: espressowifi, 10 inch version)
  • Hueku (Notes: espresso3g)
  • Lm2 (Notes: postmarket works almost well testing the operatin'system)
  • Mighty (Notes: espresso3g, 7 inch version)
  • Nieldv (Notes: 10,1" wifi, runs unlegacyAndroid)
  • Nulldayo (Notes: Has 5 of the 10.1" Wi-Fi-only model (espressowifi))
  • Piero-e (Notes: 10.1" inch 3g variant / gt-p5100 / testing PostmaketOS (big thanks to Mighty) / running unofficial /e/OS android 7 based (espresso3g) (special thanks to Android-Andi))
  • Stupidenbyace (Notes: Broken motherboard)
  • TPJS (Notes: running Lineage-OS)
  • UltrasonicMadness (Notes: Wi-Fi version)
  • UxAmadeus
  • Wjtje


What works

  • Display
  • Weston
  • Touchscreen
  • USB
  • Wifi (if started up manually, there's still some problems on boot)
  • FDE w/ osk-sdl
  • Battery (Gnome 3 can read the battery percentage, whether it is discharging or charging and Charging-sdl does work. One small issue is that Gnome 3 cannot detect the battery time remaining)
  • Bluetooth service

What does not work

  • RIL (hasn't been setup yet, but Replicant got it going on the android side so it should be possible.)
  • 2D + 3D acceleration (so most UIs slow down to a crawl, such as plasma-mobile).
    • Note: There is community-patch to achieve this, but it's using non-free BLOBS. You may check out their website, but be aware that you do this on your own risk. This project is not associated with postmarketOS!!
  • Currently the kernel is not mainlined, but the OMAP chip is supported, so it should be possible to mainline. Kernel is on mainline now.
  • Bluetooth service crashes; Running sudo service bluetooth start and then sudo service bluetooth status returns "crashed"
  • Audio does not work with built-in speakers, bluetooth headphones, or the headphone jack (Tested with Gnome 3)

To test/do

  • Audio
  • Graphics Acceleration
  • GPS/Compass/Sensors
  • RIL


Known issues

WiFi not working after reboot

workaround : always boot the device to TWRP first, then from there, reboot to system.

See https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/issues/1211

Fixes with patch in kernel: https://github.com/hansemro/kc1-linux/blob/v5.16.x/patches/0006-Add-clk32kg-to-twl6030.patch

Graphic desktop not launching

The device's GPU is not supported by postmarketOS because it requires proprietary blobs. These are kept outside of pmaports, in the PVRports repository on Gitlab.

If you use them, please do not report issues related to PowerVR on the postmarketOS issue tracker. Open/report the issue in the pvrports issue tracker instead. If discussing it on Matrix/IRC, we recommend using the offtopic room(s).

SGX540 blobs also seem to be missing some EGL configs, so UIs like plasma-mobile do not work. Video decoding does not work as it is done by Ducati subsystem.

always shutdown the device from the Linux interface

otherwise (buttons or TWRP) it will immediately reboot to system

If you want to charge the device while it is off, plug the tablet in before you shutdown from the Linux interface, because plugging the USB charger in will cause the device to boot into the system.

Never let the battery fall down to 0%

because of the partially functional charging feature

otherwise even plugged to an USB power supply, the device will enter in an endless bootloop. and you will have to open the device, disconnect the motherboard from the charge module to wait some times, letting the battery charging in peace


How to enter flash mode

  • to enter into download/odin mode : Hold Power + Volume Down.
  • to enter into recovery/TWRP mode : Hold Power + Volume Up, and release Power when you see the Samsung logo for the second time.


The 6 ways to build pmos for samsung-espresso10 and flash it to the device (tested by Piero-e)

Preparation

you will need to install pmbootstrap on your Linux Computer

  • From package manager

Use the package manager of your distribution to install pmbootstrap:

Alpine Linux, postmarketOS:
# apk add pmbootstrap
Arch Linux:
# pacman -S pmbootstrap
Debian (unstable):
# apt install pmbootstrap
Fedora:
# dnf install pmbootstrap
Void Linux:
# xbps-install -S pmbootstrap
  • From git

Follow this section if your Linux distribution doesn't have pmbootstrap packaged, or its version of pmbootstrap is too old, or you would like to change the code. Run the following to clone and install pmbootstrap from git.

$ git clone https://git.sr.ht/~postmarketos/pmbootstrap
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
$ ln -s "$PWD/pmbootstrap/pmbootstrap.py" ~/.local/bin/pmbootstrap


then open a new terminal, or restart your session or restart your computer...

and run :

$ pmbootstrap --version
it must return something like
1.52.1

Follow the pmbootstrap article to build your own image


you may need to :

  • Install adb on your host Linux distribution (usually in an android-tools-adb package that you can install with your distribution's package manager),
  • Install heimdall on your host Linux distribution (usually in a heimdall-flash package that you can install with your distribution's package manager), or install odin if using windows

in a way to


each days before building

Run

$ pmbootstrap pull
$ pmbootstrap status

.

1. The pure pmbootstrap classic way (partial)

. this will create

"/home/username/.local/var/pmbootstrap/chroot_native/home/pmos/rootfs/samsung-espresso10.img"

and

"/home/username/.local/var/pmbootstrap/chroot_rootfs_samsung-espresso10/boot/boot.img"

then push it to the device

generate some partitions images for the device (works)

run :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install

if you want to enable Full Disk Encryption

add the " --fde" suffix to the command :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --fde

flash pmos.img to the /system partition (broken ?)

Note broken : heimdall ERROR: FACTORYFS partition is too small for given file. Use --skip-size-check to flash anyways.
Note Comment : adding --skip-size-check dont work

This action wraps various flash programs (e.g. fastboot and heimdall) with a common syntax, and automatically fills out the paths to the files previously generated during pmbootstrap install.

Boot your phone into the downloading mode (also called Odin mode), typically by holding the special button combination

Power + Volume Down while booting up then Volume Up

and run :

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_rootfs

By default, this will target the /FACTORYFS partition of your Galaxy Tab 2.

Beware that this will overwrite the existing installation and data on your phone!

or

if you prefer, flash pmos.img to the /data partition instead (broken ?)

Note broken : heimdall ERROR: Uploading DATAFS at 1% Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!

because the default partition (typically "/system", here /FACTORYFS) is became too small for the generated image, it is possible to flash to another partition. Just be sure to erase any previous installations of postmarketOS in other partitions, because the init script will start with the first one that it encounters. (To delete a previous version simply install the known working OS, e.g. Android, on it, or wipe or format the partitions using TWRP if installed). And if you really know what you are doing, you might consider using dd command). Using multiple partitions with LVM is planned (pmbootstrap#60).

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_rootfs --partition DATAFS

this will target the /DATAFS partition of your Galaxy Tab 2.

Beware that this will overwrite the existing installation and data on your phone!

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_kernel

reboot the device and enjoy...

.

2. The alternative Heimdall method (partial)

.

generate some partitions images for the device (works)

run :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install

if you want to enable Full Disk Encryption

add the " --fde" suffix to the command :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --fde

flash pmos.img to the /system partition (broken ?)

Note broken : heimdall ERROR: Uploading FACTORYFS at 1% Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!

$ heimdall flash --FACTORYFS samsung-espresso10.img

or

flash pmos.img to the /data partition (broken ?)

Note broken : heimdall ERROR: Uploading DATAFS at 1% Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!

$ heimdall flash --DATAFS samsung-espresso10.img

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition (works)

$ heimdall flash --KERNEL boot.img

.

3. The alternative Odin method (not documented)

.

generate some partitions images for the device (works)

run :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install

if you want to enable Full Disk Encryption

add the " --fde" suffix to the command :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --fde

create some .TAR files from the generated partitions images

flash a pmos.tar to the AP section (not tested)

flash a boot.tar to the AP section (not tested)

or better

create a .TAR files including the generated partitions images

flash the pmos.tar to the AP section (not tested)

.

4. The alternative "dd" method (not documented) (should work)

.

generate some partitions images for the device (works)

run :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install

if you want to enable Full Disk Encryption

add the " --fde" suffix to the command :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --fde


flash the pmos.img to the device (not tested)

  • to the /system partition (not tested)

or

  • to the /userdata partition (not tested)

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition (not tested)

.

5. The recommanded TWRP method (works)

this will create

"/home/user/.local/var/pmbootstrap/chroot_buildroot_armv7/var/lib/postmarketos-android-recovery-installer/pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip"


generate a recovery flashable .ZIP targeting /system partition (works)

Note that the /system-partition is likely too small (1,4 GB), which will -for example- prevent the lightdm-windowmanager from starting up. The recovery-zip should be built to target the data partition!


according to Installation from recovery mode page.

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip

By default, this will target the /FACTORYFS partition of your Galaxy Tab 2.

If your want Full Disk Encryption add the --fde argument.

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip --fde

or

generate a recovery flashable .ZIP targeting /data partition (works)

Note that the /system-partition is likely too small (1,4 GB), which will -for example- prevent the lightdm-windowmanager from starting up. The recovery-zip should be built to target the data partition!

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip --recovery-install-partition=data

this will target the /DATAFS partition of your Galaxy Tab 2.


sideload the pmos.zip using pmbootstrap + TWRP (broken ?)

Note broken : (native) % adb -P 5038 wait-for-usb-sideload


This allows pushing the zip file on the fly directly from your computer.

  • Boot the device into TWRP mode
  • Unmount the partitions (Click on "Mount", then unselect all checkboxes)
  • Click on "Advanced / ADB Sideload", then "Swipe to start sideload"
  • Connect your phone to your PC
  • Start the sideloading process from your PC:
$ pmbootstrap flasher --method=adb sideload

reboot and enjoy

or

sideload the pmos.zip using ADB + TWRP (works)

This allows pushing the zip file on the fly directly from your computer.

$ pmbootstrap export
[07:48:04] NOTE: To export the rootfs image, run 'pmbootstrap install' first (without the 'sdcard' parameter).
[07:48:07] Export symlinks to: /tmp/postmarketOS-export
[07:48:07]  * initramfs-samsung-espresso10 (Initramfs)
[07:48:07]  * boot.img-samsung-espresso10 (TWRP flashable boot.img file, contains initramfs and kernel)
[07:48:07]  * vmlinuz-samsung-espresso10 (Linux kernel)
[07:48:07]  * pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip (Android recovery flashable zip)
[07:48:07] NOTE: chroot is still active (use 'pmbootstrap shutdown' as necessary)
[07:48:07] Done
  • Boot device into TWRP mode
  • Unmount the partitions (Click on "Mount, then unselect all checkboxes)
  • Click on "Advanced / ADB Sideload", then "Swipe to start sideload"
  • Connect your phone to your PC
  • Start the sideloading process from your PC:


run the following commands. The special cd is necessary, because adb can't resolve the symlink on its own. :

$ cd $(dirname $(readlink /tmp/postmarketOS-export/pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip))
$ adb sideload pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip
loading: 'pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip'...
connecting...
Total xfer: 1.08x

reboot and enjoy...

or

installing the pmos.zip using TWRP via a SDcard (works)

Instead of sideloading, you can run

$ pmbootstrap export
[07:48:04] NOTE: To export the rootfs image, run 'pmbootstrap install' first (without the 'sdcard' parameter).
[07:48:07] Export symlinks to: /tmp/postmarketOS-export
[07:48:07]  * initramfs-samsung-espresso10 (Initramfs)
[07:48:07]  * boot.img-samsung-espresso10 (TWRP flashable boot.img file, contains initramfs and kernel)
[07:48:07]  * vmlinuz-samsung-espresso10 (Linux kernel)
[07:48:07]  * pmos-samsung-espresso10.zip (Android recovery flashable zip)
[07:48:07] NOTE: chroot is still active (use 'pmbootstrap shutdown' as necessary)
[07:48:07] Done

copy the pmos-samsung-esspresso10.zip file to a SDcard. Insert it into your phone,

  • Boot the device into TWRP mode
  • Unmount the partitions (Click on "Mount, then unselect all checkboxes)
  • select "Install" Then navigate to the zip file and flash it.

reboot and enjoy...

.

6. The recommanded running from the /external_sd method (works)

insert a MicroSDcard into your computer and find its name by running

$ lsblk

make sure it is the right one as you will overwrite everything on it. Use a path without partition number at the end,

such as /dev/mmcblk0, or /dev/sdd

.

generate pmos directly on a MicroSDcard (works)

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/name-of-your-SDcard

if you want to enable Full Disk Encryption

add the " --fde" suffix to the command :

$ pmbootstrap init
$ pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/name-of-your-SDcard --fde

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition using pmbootstrap (warning ?)

Note WARNING: config-postmarketos-omap.armv7: CONFIG_USB_FUNCTIONFS should *not* be set (usb_gadgets): https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/kconfig#CONFIG_USB_FUNCTIONFS

insert the MicroSDcard into the device and boot into downloading mode

(also called Odin mode), by holding the special button combination

Power + Volume Down while booting up then Volume Up

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_kernel

now reboot and enjoy...

or

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition using Heimdall (works)

insert the MicroSDcard into the device and boot into downloading mode

(also called Odin mode), by holding the special button combination

Power + Volume Down while booting up then Volume Up

$ heimdall flash --KERNEL boot.img

reboot the device and enjoy...

or

flash the boot.img to the /boot partition using TWRP (works)

insert the MicroSDcard into your device, and boot it in recovery mode by holding the special button combination

Power + Volume Up while booting up, then release Power when you sée thé Samsung logo for the second time.

using the mount feature, unselect all /partitions except "MicroSDcard",

using the install feature, switch to "install image" rather than "install ZIP"

navigate to the "/external_sd/boot.img", and flash it to the /boot partition

reboot system and enjoy...

.

How to use Community pre-built image AND "dualboot" androidOS / postmarketOS (Piero-e 's contribution)

Note install instructions for Phosh and XFCE4 images


works if running postmarketOS from a SD card

as explained in Installation - Flashing - From SD Card Our device can boot SD card, USB stick or other external storage.

1. preparation in a way to easily switch between Android_OS and PostmarketOS

from your actual Android_OS install file (AP_Stock_Samsung_Firmware.tar.md5 or Custom_Android_Based_OS.zip), extract the boot.img and copy it to your TWRP folder in internal storage (/sdcard/TWRP)

Download the pmOS pre-built image on your computer

from the download page

insert a MicroSDcard into your Computer

and find its name by running

$ lsblk

make sure it is the right one as you will overwrite everything on it. Use a path without partition number at the end,

such as /dev/mmcblk0, or /dev/sdd

decompress the downloaded file and write it to your MicroSDcard :

$ xz --decompress --stdout path-to-pmos-samsung-espresso7.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/name-of-your-SDcard bs=4M status=progress

Wait until the command completes and eject the SD card.

2. Install Postmarket on your device

insert the MicroSDcard into your device, and boot it into TWRP

using the mount feature, unselect all /partitions except "MicroSDcard",

using the install feature, switch to "install image" rather than "install ZIP"

navigate to the "/external_sd/boot.img", and flash it to the /boot partition

reboot system

The rootfs image will boot right into postmarketOS. You are done with installing postmarketOS, congratulations! default login is "user" and password is "147147"

3. to restore your Android_OS

boot the device into TWRP mode,

and simply using the install feature, switch to "install image" rather than "install ZIP"

navigate to the previously stored "/sdcard/TWRP/boot.img", and flash it to the /boot partition

4. to restore your PostmarketOS

boot the device into TWRP mode,

and simply using the install feature, switch to "install image" rather than "install ZIP"

navigate to the "/external_sd/boot.img", and flash it to the /boot partition

Photos

Partition layout

galaxytab2:~# fdisk -l -o Device,Start,End,Sectors,Size,Name /dev/mmcblk1

Disk /dev/mmcblk1: 14.68 GiB, 15758000128 bytes, 30777344 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 52444E41-494F-2044-4D4D-43204449534B

Device             Start      End  Sectors  Size Name
/dev/mmcblk1p1      8192    49151    40960   20M EFS
/dev/mmcblk1p2     49152    53247     4096    2M SBL1
/dev/mmcblk1p3     53248    57343     4096    2M SBL2
/dev/mmcblk1p4     57344    73727    16384    8M PARAM
/dev/mmcblk1p5     73728    90111    16384    8M KERNEL
/dev/mmcblk1p6     90112   106495    16384    8M RECOVERY
/dev/mmcblk1p7    106496  1540095  1433600  700M CACHE
/dev/mmcblk1p8   1540096  1581055    40960   20M MODEM
/dev/mmcblk1p9   1581056  4448255  2867200  1.4G FACTORYFS
/dev/mmcblk1p10  4448256 29728733 25280478 12.1G DATAFS
/dev/mmcblk1p11 29728734 30777309  1048576  512M HIDDEN

galaxytab2:~# mount

/dev/mapper/mmcblk1p10p2 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime)
/dev/dm-0 on /boot type ext4 (rw,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,size=203440k,nr_inodes=819200,mode=755)
dev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=10240k,nr_inodes=124636,mode=755)
mqueue on /dev/mqueue type mqueue (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
configfs on /sys/kernel/config type configfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,size=4096k,nr_inodes=1024,mode=755)
cgroup2 on /sys/fs/cgroup/unified type cgroup2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/elogind type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,xattr,release_agent=/usr/libexec/elogind/elogind-cgroups-agent,name=elogind)
tmpfs on /run/user/10000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=101716k,nr_inodes=25429,mode=700,uid=10000,gid=10000)

Links

PostmarketOS

LineageOS:

Mainline kernel: