Vernee Thor (vernee-k506)

From postmarketOS
Vernee Thor
pmOS splash
pmOS splash
Manufacturer Vernee
Name Thor
Codename vernee-k506
Released 2016
Category testing
Pre-built images no
Original software Android
Original version 6.0
postmarketOS kernel 3.18.99
Hardware
Chipset MediaTek MT6753
CPU Octa-core Cortex-A53 1.3GHz
GPU Mali-T720 MP3
Display 5" IPS 720x1280
Storage 16GB
Memory 3GB
Architecture AArch64
Features
USB Networking
Works
Flashing
Partial
Touchscreen
Works
Display
Works
WiFi
Works
FDE
Mainline
Broken
Battery
Works
3D Acceleration
Broken
Audio
Broken
Bluetooth
Broken
Camera
Broken
GPS
Broken
Mobile data
Broken
Internal storage
SMS
Broken
Calls
Broken
USB OTG
NFC
Sensors
Accelerometer
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


Contributors

Users owning this device


How to enter flash mode

  • Recovery: Power on the device with both Power and Volume Up buttons. Then select Recovery pressing Volume Up and confirm with Volume Down.
  • Fastboot: Do the same as for Recovery, but select the Fastboot option in the menu.
  • MediaTek Preloader: The preloader triggers automatically everytime the phone turns on or reboots.

Installation

Fastboot doesn't allow flashing on this phone.

pmOS can be installed either using a Recovery ZIP through TWRP or using MediaTek's SP Flash Tool.

Unlock the bootloader

  1. Enable Developer Mode in Android tapping 5 times the Build Number in Settings -> About Phone.
  2. Then go to Settings -> Developer Options and tap OEM Unlock.

Install using Recovery ZIP

Follow the Installation from recovery mode guide.

Install using SP Flash Tool

  1. Export the pmOS files running pmbootstrap install && pmbootstrap export
  2. Open SP Flash Tool.
  3. Select the MT6753 scatter file.
  4. Asign boot.img-vernee-k506 to partition boot and vernee-k506.img to partition system
  5. Click Download and turn on/restart the phone. It will automatically flash the files.

SoC features

WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and FM Radio are all integrated into the SoC and need to be initialized all at the same time.

To do this the proprietary firmware files matching the kernel need to be copied into /lib/firmware/postmarketos.


To initialize the chip and drivers MediaTek provides two proprietary programs:

  • wmt_loader: initializes the chip and starts the drivers.
  • 6620_launcher (or connsys_launcher): finds and loads the firmware files into their respective chips.

These tools are not officially available outside Android, but there are source code versions available that do work.

In the case of the Vernee Thor all the required connectivity drivers are compiled into the kernel, so theres no need to load them prior to executing these programs.

  1. Execute sudo ./wmt_loader without parameters. /dev/wmtDetect should appear.
  2. Execute sudo ./6620_launcher -p /lib/firmware/postmarketos. This program needs to keep running, so better send it to background with &.

If it worked now there should be a bunch of /dev/stp* entries and /dev/wmtWifi.

For debugging use dmesg | grep wmt. Execute sysctl -w kernel.printk=7 to improve verbosity.

Caution: the phone will crash if wmt_loader runs twice.

WiFi

To get WiFi working first initialize the chip and driver.

  1. Execute sudo chmod 644 /dev/wmtWifi
  2. Execute sudo echo "1" > /dev/wmtWifi
  3. Check with ifconfig that the interface wlan0 appeared

To connect to a network:

  1. Bring the interface up: ifconfig wlan0 up
  2. Scan to find out what WiFi networks are detected: iw dev wlan0 scan
  3. Connect to WPA/WPA2 WiFi network: wpa_passphrase SSID PASS >> /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
  4. Start wpa_supplicant to connect to the network: wpa_supplicant -B -D nl80211 -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
  5. Verify that you are indeed connected to the SSID: iw wlan0 link
  6. Start udhcpc to get an ip address: udhcpc -b -i wlan0

If everything seems fine but theres no network traffic (ping postmarketos.org doesn't work) it probably means the firmware files are not the correct ones.

See also