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Starway Andromeda S8 (starway-andromeda-s8)

From postmarketOS Wiki
Starway Andromeda S8
Manufacturer Starway
Name Andromeda S8
Codename starway-andromeda-s8
Released 2013
Type tablet
Hardware
Chipset Rockchip RK3188
GPU Mali-400 MP
Storage 16 GB
Memory 2 GB
Architecture armv7
postmarketOS
Category testing
Mainline
Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.
yes
Unixbench score
Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench.
551.2
Device package device-starway-andromeda-s8
Kernel package linux-postmarketos-rockchip-rk3188
Features
Flashing
Whether 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
Whether charging and battery level reporting work.
Untested
Screen
Whether the display works; ideally with sleep mode and brightness control.
Broken
Touchscreen
Untested
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Untested
Audio
Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons.
Untested
Camera
Untested
Connectivity
WiFi
Broken
Bluetooth
Untested
GPS
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.
Untested
Sensors
Accelerometer
Handles automatic screen rotation in many interfaces.
Untested

Contributors

  • faveoled

Also known as

There is a device with the same hardware called FNF ifive X2.

How to enter flash mode

Turn the device off. Press volume up button (the rightmost button on device) and connect to computer via USB. You'll have this line in lsusb:

ID 2207:310b Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Company RK3188 in Mask ROM mode

Restoring stock ROM

Backing up

Back up your stock kernel and boot partitions:

$ rkflashtool r kernel > stock-kernel.img
$ rkflashtool r boot > stock-boot.img

Restoring system image

Flashing system partition isn't usually necessary with pmOS as it only uses kernel and boot partitions and a root FS on an SD card.

Note if you need that anyway: flashing system partition with rkflashtool results in NAND read errors even though device's NAND is fine (doesn't affect boot and kernel partitions which are smaller). Successful flashing of NAND system partition was done using Windows 7 32bit VM with RKDeviceManage v1.7.

Installation

Installation includes flashing kernel and boot partitions (kernel and system ramdisk respectively) and a root FS to an SD card.

Building image files

You need mkkrnlimg program from links at the end of the page.

$ pmbootstrap init # choose Vendor: starway, Device codename: andromeda-s8
$ pmbootstrap install
$ pmbootstrap export

$ export BOOT_DIR=$(dirname $(readlink -f /tmp/postmarketOS-export/boot.img))
$ cat $BOOT_DIR/vmlinuz $BOOT_DIR/rk3188-starway-andromeda-s8.dtb > zImage-dtb
$ mkkrnlimg -a zImage-dtb pmos-kernel.img
$ mkkrnlimg -a $BOOT_DIR/initramfs pmos-boot.img

Flashing

Root FS to SD card (replace /dev/mmcblk0 with the name of your block device):

$ pmbootstrap install --disk=/dev/mmcblk0

kernel and boot partitions:

$ rkflashtool w kernel < pmos-kernel.img
$ rkflashtool w boot < pmos-boot.img
# reboot to system
$ rkflashtool b

See also