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Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 (SM-T580) (samsung-gtaxlwifi)

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Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 (SM-T580)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 running XFCE4 on postmarketOS
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 device-samsung-gtaxlwifi
Kernel package linux-samsung-gtaxlwifi
Features
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

  • 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

Note 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
Note Weston and Plasma-Mobile does not launch, XFCE4 work
Note 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).

The mainboard with wires attached to the serial bus on the bottom-left. (covered by epoxy for protection)

See also