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Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3 (samsung-xcover3lte)

From postmarketOS Wiki
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3
Xcover 3 running XFCE
Xcover 3 running XFCE
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy Xcover 3
Codename samsung-xcover3lte
Released 2015
Type handset
Hardware
Chipset Marvell PXA1908
CPU Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Vivante GC7000UL
Display 480x800
Storage 8 GB
Memory 1.5 GB
Architecture aarch64
Software
Original software Android
Original version
The version the device was shipped with.
4.4.4
postmarketOS
Category testing
Pre-built images
Whether pre-built images are available here.
no
Mainline
Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.
partial
pmOS kernel
The kernel version that runs on the device's port.
3.14.27
Unixbench score
Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench.
1137.7
Features
Flashing
It is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher.
Works
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
Untested
Connectivity
WiFi
Works
Bluetooth
Untested
GPS
Untested
NFC
Near Field Communication
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
Partial
Magnetometer
Sensor to measure magnetism
Works
Ambient Light
Untested
Proximity
Works


Contributors

  • Blacksilver

Users owning this device


How to enter flash mode

Volume Down + Home + Power

How to enter recovery mode

Volume Up + Home + Power

What works

  • XFCE
  • Weston
  • TTYEscape
  • fbkeyboard
  • MUIC/UART

What doesn't work

  • Blanking and Unblanking leads to framebuffer flickering, which stays after reboot and even battery-removal for some time.
  • Only kernels built with GCC4 will boot downstream.
  • AlsaUCM profile must be reapplied before each audio play.
  • LEDs

Installation

Flash the boot-image

$ pmbootstrap flash flash_kernel

Installation of rootfs can be be done either to SD-card

$ pmbootstrap install --sdcard=/dev/XXXXX

This makes manual dual boot (by replacing boot-image) possible.

Alternatively installation can be done via recovery to USER partition (5.3GB). The system partition is rather small (1536M) for postmarketos with UI.

For installation to USER partition via android-recovery-zip you need a TWRP recovery (codename xcover3ltexx). The latest TWRP recovery isn't flash-able after update to latest vendor version (Android 5.0). A "Hackish TWRP" alternative recovery image can be found in XDA forum.

$ pmbootstrap install --android-recovery-zip --recovery-install-partition USER
$ cp /tmp/postmarketOS-export/pmos-samsung-xcover3lte.zip ...

Boot image

The created pxa-bootimage contains a legacy uImage which is slightly different from vendor one. Despite having keyword postmarketos and missing extra gzip compression, it boots as well.

Debugging

To enable ramoops the kernel cmdline must be extended by these module parameters. See also ramoops

ramoops.mem_size=0x40000 ramoops.mem_address=0x8100000 ramoops.record_size=0x8000 ramoops.console_size=0x30000 ramoops.dump_oops=1

After kernel panic the console can be extracted in e.g. recovery.

$ hexdump -C -s 0x8108000 /dev/mem | less

UART

You can get serial console with a microUSB/Carkit_debug_cable and 619KΩ resistor. The phone will boot when plugging the cable in, after the phone has been powered off or battery inserted. Might take several attempts. 150KΩ will start the phone in flash mode.

Audio

The Alsa UCM usecase must be set before each play, e.g.

alsaucm -c map_asoc set _verb HiFi set _enadev Speaker

Mainline

See SoC Marvell PXA1908 for git-repo and DTS booting mainline.

Partitions

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 15269888 sectors, 3360M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID):
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 15269854

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            8192            9215        512K   0700  MRD
   2            9216           10239        512K   0700  MRD1
   3           10240           24575       7168K   0700  MEP2
   4           24576           28671       2048K   0700  LOKE2ND
   5           28672           32767       2048K   0700  LOKE1ST
   6           32768           65535       16.0M   0700  EFS
   7           65536           73727       4096K   0700  PARAM
   8           73728          106495       16.0M   0700  RECOVERY
   9          106496          139263       16.0M   0700  KERNEL
  10          139264          196607       28.0M   0700  MODEM
  11          196608          262143       32.0M   0700  SSTD
  12          262144          264191       1024K   0700  OTA
  13          264192          313343       24.0M   0700  NVM
  14          313344         3459071       1536M   0700  SYSTEM
  15         3459072         3868671        200M   0700  CACHE
  16         3868672         4073471        100M   0700  HIDDEN
  17         4073472        15267839       5466M   0700  USER

Similar devices

The following devices are similar to SM-G388F.

See also