Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (samsung-espresso7)

From postmarketOS
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
Codename samsung-espresso7
Released 2012
Category community
Pre-built images yes
Original software Android
postmarketOS kernel 6.1
Hardware
Chipset TI OMAP 4430
CPU Dual-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A9
GPU PowerVR SGX540
Display 7.0 inches, 137.9 cm2 (~58.2% screen-to-body ratio) 600 x 1024 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~170 ppi density)
Storage 8/16/32 GB
Memory 1 GB
Architecture ARMv7
Type tablet
Unixbench Whet/Dhry score 442.9
Features
USB Networking
Works
Flashing
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Display
Works
WiFi
Works
FDE
Works
Mainline
Works
Battery
Works
3D Acceleration
Broken
Audio
Broken
Bluetooth
Works
Camera
Broken
GPS
Broken
Internal storage
USB OTG
Broken
Sensors
Accelerometer
Works
Magnetometer
Ambient Light
Proximity
Hall Effect
Barometer
Power Sensor
Misc
Built-in DVB
Camera Flash
Keyboard
Touchpad
USB-A
HDMI/DP
Ir TX
Ir RX
Stylus
Memory Card
Haptics
Ethernet
FOSS bootloader
This device is based on the TI OMAP 4430.
See the SoC page for common tips, guides and troubleshooting steps

Contributors

  • Mighty
  • AAT596 (testing in espressowifi variant)

Users owning this device

Hardware status (mainline)

Status Hardware Info
Y Panel Samsung LTN070NL01 LCD panel
Y Touchscreen MMS136
Y SD cards MicroSD card.
Y Internal memory
N GPS
Y WiFi Uses BCM4330B1.
Y Bluetooth Uses BCM4330B1.
Y Buttons There are 2 keys on GPIO: Volume up, Volume down. Power button works as well.
P Charger SMB136 WIP by mighty17
Y Fuel Gauge MAX17042
Y PMIC TWL6032
N Sound Sound codec is WM1811.
Y Accelerometer BMA254
Y Magnetometer YAS530
Y Proximity and Light The P3100 variant has GP2A002, P3110 variant has AL3201.
N Cameras Front - SR030PC50 Back - S5K5CCGX (OMAP4 devices have Ducati firmware for cameras)
P GPU PowerVR SGX 540 needs out-of-tree kernel module, patched mesa, and some proprietary blobs
N Modem Only in espresso3g (P3100 and P5100) - XMM6262

Status

Supported variants

  • samsung-espressowifi, which is almost identically similar to samsung-espresso3g, but with the exception that it has no modem.

Display

OMAPDRM works fine.

Display seems to be running at 45Hz due to the clock speed for 60Hz not working properly.

Battery

Fuel gauge works fine. The charger driver is WIP, if connected to usb during boot, then only it charges.

Camera

OMAP4 has different subsystem (Ducati) for camera which is non free. Probably will never work on mainline.

3D GPU Acceleration

3D acceleration works fine with out-of-tree code and blobs. As a result, these are kept outside of pmaports, in the PVRports repository on Gitlab.

If you use it, 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.

Phosh

This is no more needed, as you can unlock it with scale as 1, kept for future reference.

By default phosh has a scaling 1, this makes us unable to unlock the screen. So we need to set it to 0.75 (https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Phosh#Manual_Scaling) by adding

[output:LVDS-1]

scale = 0.75

in /usr/share/phosh/phoc.ini.
You can revert it back to 1 to get better performance.
wlr-randr can also be used.

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

For Phosh (and maybe other wayland desktops?): create a .sh file in /etc/tinydm.d/env-wayland.d/ and add the following text export MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=pvr. See https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/merge_requests/2790

always shutdown the device from the Linux interface

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

if you want to charge the device during it stays off, plug it before shutdown from the Linux interface, because plugging the USB charger make the device booting

Never let the battery fall down to 0%

because of the partialy fonctional 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

Non-free unofficial GPU support

As said in the Status section, GPU support can be enabled by copying additional PostmarketOS pmaports in your work directory, called pvrports.

pvrports are basically non-free PowerVR blobs and quirks with Phosh and Plasma Mobile, and not specific for this device. This means that any device that has a PowerVR SGX Series 5 GPU could be enabled by adding this repository.


Installation (first edition)

follow the general pmbootstrap instructions to build your own.

Prerequisites: TWRP installed on the Tab, see the LineageOS wiki for instructions: espressowifi, use the espresso3g TWRP image if you have the espresso3g tablet.

Make sure to backup your data and store this somewhere safe if you care about the stock OS and/or your files!

Run pmbootstrap init and configure your installation. Flashing the image to the device is in 2 parts; the rootfs and the kernel. If this installation process does not go well for you, please try the alternative installation instead.

rootfs

There are 2 ways to go about installing the rootfs, depending on where you want to install it to.

  • For an sdcard use:

pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/sdX

Make sure to specify the mountpoint of the sdcard plugged into your computer.

  • For installing on the internal filesystem use TWRP

pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip

pmbootstrap flasher --method=adb sideload

By default this will install on the (fairly limited) 1GB /system partition.

To specify a different partion (for example the 8/16 GB /data partition), add --recovery-install-partition=data to the first line.

  • For installing on the internal /data partition use:

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


When asked, boot your device into TWRP, wipe cache and your partion. Then go into advanced and start sideload mode, wait for this to finish.

kernel

After the rootfs is installed, insert the SDcard (if you used this) and boot the device into download mode. run pmbootstrap flasher flash_kernel This will flash the kernel to the device and reboot it. If you land in TWRP, just go to reboot and click system. It might complain about missing an OS, but do not worry! You should see some tuxes and be dropped in the OS!


Alternative install

In your PC, type these commands to generate and export the flashable installation (defaults flashing to /system partition), please see this section for more details:
pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip

pmbootstrap export

adb push /tmp/postmarketOS-export/*.zip /sdcard/



How to enter flash mode

  • Press Power + Volume Down to enter download/odin mode.
  • Press Power + Volume Up to enter recovery.

.

How to build pmos for samsung-espresso7 and flash it to the device (second edition)

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

Note install instructions for Phosh and XFCE4 images



works running from a SD card

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


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

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.

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

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

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


See also

PostmarketOS

Mainline WIP kernel:

Pvrports (additional non-free pmaports):

Screenshots

Videos