Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 (SM-T580) (samsung-gtaxlwifi)
This device runs a Downstream kernel. Some UIs will not work, and most features (3D acceleration, audio, etc.) may be broken. |
![]() Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 running XFCE4 on postmarketOS | |
Manufacturer | Samsung |
---|---|
Name | Galaxy Tab A 2016 (SM-T580) |
Codename | samsung-gtaxlwifi |
Released | 2016 |
Type | tablet |
Hardware | |
Chipset | Samsung Exynos 7870 Octa |
CPU | 1.6GHz Octa-Core (Cortex-A53) |
GPU | Mali-T830 MP1 |
Display | 1920 x 1200 LCD |
Storage | 16GB |
Memory | 2GB |
Architecture | aarch64 |
Software | |
Original software The software and version the device was shipped with. |
Android 6 |
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. |
3.18.140 |
Device package |
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Kernel package |
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Flashing It is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher . |
Partial
|
---|---|
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 |
Partial
|
Screen Display works. Ideally with sleep mode and brightness control. |
Partial
|
Touchscreen |
Works
|
Multimedia | |
3D Acceleration |
Untested
|
Audio Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons. |
Broken
|
Camera |
Broken
|
Connectivity | |
WiFi |
Broken
|
Bluetooth |
Untested
|
Miscellaneous | |
FDE Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr. |
Untested
|
USB OTG USB On-The-Go or USB-C Role switching |
Untested
|
Sensors | |
Accelerometer Auto screen rotation works in desktops e.g. Phosh or Plasma Mobile |
Untested
|
Contributors
- Tim453
Users owning this device
- Shokifrend77 (Notes: may or may not have given up on mainlineing it)
Install TWRP
- Dowload the TWRP image for gtaxlwifi
- Press
Volume down
+home
+power
to enter Download mode - Flash the Recovery
$ heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.6.0_9-0-gtaxlwifi.img
To boot into TWRP press Volume up
+ home
+ power
Installation
Flashing with heimdall gets stuck, so adb sideloading has to be used. |
Install from the recovery zip installer
- Install TWRP on your device
- Configure the image
Weston and Plasma-Mobile does not launch, XFCE4 work |
If a UI is used the following additional package has to be added during pmbootstrap init msm-fb-refresher |
$ pmbootstrap init
- Prepare the installation
$ pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip
- In TWRP go to Advanced->Sideload and flash the image on the tablet
$ pmbootstrap flasher --method=adb sideload
Issues
Stuck on "Starting...", screen frozen
The screen might get stuck on the pmOS loading screen with the logo and frozen circles in the middle and the text Starting... below, just before opening LightDM.
To fix this, one can add/change the following in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
as described in CanGraphical issue on Display_manager:
logind-check-graphical=false
Red and Blue are swapped
As you can see in the Screenshot, the color format is wrong. The xfce4 theme color is blue by default instead of yellow as can be seen here. This could probably be fixed by following Display/Troubleshooting.
Long boot time
User:Shokifrend77's xfce4 installation spends 3min10sec in the Starting... phase, which seems rather long considering the smoothness of the actual xfce4 desktop. If this is just normal with these sorts of device, please remove this section, but the time is consistently just above 3 minutes, which seems like a default timeout duration or something.
LCD controller warming up
(On User:Shokifrend77's device at least) the bottom half of the device, where the LCD PCB is located, gets noticeably warm after just a few minutes of usage. I'm pretty sure that was not the case with LineageOS running on the same device, but if you can run your device for some time without the bottom half heating up, then it must be just a hardware defect of my device, please remove this section in that case.
Serial Port
There is a 12-pin connector like the one described in the Mainboard UART on Exynos devices section on the Serial debugging page. If you look at the device from the back with the microUSB port at the top, the top-right pin is the RX (data going into the device) and the pin left of that is TX (data going out of the device). It operates at 1.8v logic levels, 115200 baud and default format (8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity).

See also
- pmaports!2796 Initial merge request
- SM-T580 Service Manual (ask User:Shokifrend77 if it gets removed)