So let me start off by saying, I am by no means a seasoned developer, just somewhat of a power user with a long time love for Motorola devices... Somebody has to root for the under dog, right? In any case, I want to sink my teeth into getting something custom running on the beloved Xoom 2.
To me it seems like it wouldn't be all that difficult now -- after all, we seem to have all the prerequisites for a custom ROM -- we've got root, we have a functioning bootstrap system, there are fastboot files available in case of a stuff up... The only thing we don't have is developer interest. To me that is really disappointing, in my personal opinion the Xoom 2 is a great device that could truly shine with a little bit of attention.
At the very least, I'd like to get CM10 running, after all, the MZ617 got an OTA update to JB, so the majority of the porting work is done... As far as I can tell, the only difference between my device (MZ616) and the 7 is lack of 4G and CDMA radios in the 616. In fact I see no reason that the OTA shouldn't work on a 616, however I don't want to run that risk and would much rather work on something truly custom that can be run in a ROM Slot and worked on, with the stock system there to fall back on in case of disaster.
Given that this hasn't happened already, I would wager that there are very few, if any, developers out there with these devices so I have a feeling I'm going to be undertaking this project on my own. That's fine, but this is mostly new territory for me and I don't even know if I'll succeed. I realise there are most likely threads related to topics like this already, but none that I could find dated past 2012...
I don't want to over hype this or give anybody false hope. Chances are, this won't work... But from what I can see, all the foundations are there for a solid custom build, there's just been nobody with the necessary skills to do the work. Hell, I'm not even sure I have the necessary skills, I've only ever ported a themed ROM which is nowhere near as much work as this.
The reason for my posting this thread is to gauge community interest in something like this. Personally, I'd love to see it done because I tend to not use my Xoom 2 because of it's old and inefficient software (does anybody else find 4.0.4 laggy and horrible?). I would benefit from this and it would breathe new life into my device... However, if there are others interested it might provide some extra motivation to get stuck into it. Alternatively, if anybody feels they have any talents or skills to add to this project then by all means, you're welcome to apply your talents. I'm going to look into using Git for this once I determine the best software to fork and work on.
N.B. Also, if anybody knows of an active mirror with the "Blur_version.0.268.4.MZ616.Retail.en.AU" fastboot file that I could get a hold of, I'd appreciate having some kind of fall back in case I brick my device attempting this!
To me it seems like it wouldn't be all that difficult now -- after all, we seem to have all the prerequisites for a custom ROM -- we've got root, we have a functioning bootstrap system, there are fastboot files available in case of a stuff up... The only thing we don't have is developer interest. To me that is really disappointing, in my personal opinion the Xoom 2 is a great device that could truly shine with a little bit of attention.
At the very least, I'd like to get CM10 running, after all, the MZ617 got an OTA update to JB, so the majority of the porting work is done... As far as I can tell, the only difference between my device (MZ616) and the 7 is lack of 4G and CDMA radios in the 616. In fact I see no reason that the OTA shouldn't work on a 616, however I don't want to run that risk and would much rather work on something truly custom that can be run in a ROM Slot and worked on, with the stock system there to fall back on in case of disaster.
Given that this hasn't happened already, I would wager that there are very few, if any, developers out there with these devices so I have a feeling I'm going to be undertaking this project on my own. That's fine, but this is mostly new territory for me and I don't even know if I'll succeed. I realise there are most likely threads related to topics like this already, but none that I could find dated past 2012...
I don't want to over hype this or give anybody false hope. Chances are, this won't work... But from what I can see, all the foundations are there for a solid custom build, there's just been nobody with the necessary skills to do the work. Hell, I'm not even sure I have the necessary skills, I've only ever ported a themed ROM which is nowhere near as much work as this.
The reason for my posting this thread is to gauge community interest in something like this. Personally, I'd love to see it done because I tend to not use my Xoom 2 because of it's old and inefficient software (does anybody else find 4.0.4 laggy and horrible?). I would benefit from this and it would breathe new life into my device... However, if there are others interested it might provide some extra motivation to get stuck into it. Alternatively, if anybody feels they have any talents or skills to add to this project then by all means, you're welcome to apply your talents. I'm going to look into using Git for this once I determine the best software to fork and work on.
N.B. Also, if anybody knows of an active mirror with the "Blur_version.0.268.4.MZ616.Retail.en.AU" fastboot file that I could get a hold of, I'd appreciate having some kind of fall back in case I brick my device attempting this!
