[KERNEL][GPL][Linaro][WiFi/3G] motley b49 2013-02-24 (added dynamic GPU OC)

_motley · Jul 16, 2012

motley kernel for the Nexus 7 and Jellybean

Disclaimer: You know the gig...I am not responsible for damaging your device or voiding your warranty. Play at your own risk!

ROM devs/cooks: If you want to use this kernel in your ROM, I am fine with that, but please include a "thanks" and a link back to this thread. Thanks!

Requirements (please read carefully and visit the other dev threads as necessary)

You must be unlocked and rooted.
You must have custom recovery installed (CWM or TWRP) to install the kernel.
Busybox is required for init.d support.
Do a backup using custom recovery (CWM or TWR) so you can restore your boot.img and ROM if necessary!
Have your ROM zip in /sdcard so you can restore your ROM if necessary.
System Tuner is recommended for tuning the CPU, especially for voltage control.

Main Features

GPL compliant - source is kept up to date at github.com and released at the time the kernel is released to the public for all builds. Ask other devs to do the same!
Asus\Nvidia\Google Linux 3.1.10 base. All stock features are supported (camera, OTG, NFC etc.)
OC to 1.6GHz (optional)
Voltage control - be careful to not save the setting on boot until you are 100% sure!
GPU OC from 416 to 520MHz (default is 446, adjust as you wish up to 520MHz)
Dynamic EDP - allows EDP to remain enabled (safer), but with an added simple temperature throttle switch (based on Asus Prime)
Compiler optimizations (-O2) - using Linaro 4.7 ARM toolchain
I/O schedulers - row (default), SIO, V(R), CFQ, NOOP, and deadline
TCP Congestion Control - default cubic + several different algos to choose from.
ZRAM - must be enabled by a script
Governors - Interactive (default), Performance, OnDemand, PowerSave, Conservative
initramfs - insecure (your ROM must have busybox)
CIFS/UTF8, NFS, NTFS r/w, TUN - built-in, no need for any kernel modules
fsync sysfs enable/disable switch (defaults to fsync enabled)
kexec with hardboot (for supporting Linux/MultiROM)
Many other misc patches and tweaks (see github link below)

Install:

Check the requirements above!
Flash the zip using custom recovery (no need to wipe anything)
See post 2 for performance tweaks and more info

build #249 for Jellybean 4.2.2 - WiFi and 3G 2013-02-24

Added ability to change GPU clock speed at runtime (referenced franco, morific, and metallice git repos)
Added row io scheduler and set as default (Tatyana Brokhman)
Added TCP Congestion Control, several different algos to choose from. Default is cubic (stock).
Added optimized ARM RWSEM (Ezekeel)
Input patch (Henrik Rydberg)

View attachment motley_anykernel_N7_build_249.zip

build #247 for Jellybean 4.2.2 - WiFi and 3G 2013-02-17

Merged 4.2.2 patches
Updated Linaro toolchain to 2012.12

View attachment motley_422_nexus7_anykernel_build_247_446GPU.zip

build #246 for Jellybean 4.2.1 - WiFi and 3G

kexec\MultiROM support

Download from here since I posted in the MultiROM thread

build #244 for Jellybean 4.2 - WiFi and 3G - Recommended for WiFi and 3G on 4.2.x

446 GPU build (stock + 30MHz). Let's see if this fixes touchscreen issues for those having them. My theory is that after the GPU heats up, this starts to affect touchscreen behavior on some devices. This is likely what happened to me on build 234 when I was testing. The GPU definitely gets hot on this device even with normal usage at 484+. At 446 this doesn't happen. IMHO, we are reducing the life of the device by overheating the GPU repeatedly. My Antutu scores actually tested higher after I flashed the 446 build.
Supports Android Jellybean 4.2.x
Reverted some commits from 233
Removed KSM from config, no ROM is using this AFAIK
Panel clock reduced to match Nvida cardhu sources (74180000). Having the panel clock cranked up fakes out scores on some benchmark tests, but adds no real value.

View attachment motley_nexus7_anykernel_build_244_446GPU.zip

Previous builds and release notes

Thanks to:

fordwolden - for his generous donation of a Nexus 7
Google and Asus for releasing a nice, open, and inexpensive tablet for the masses.
drewis (Andrew Sutherland) - for the base kernel on github
paulobrien - thanks for the CWM touch recovery
birdman and FadedLite for their Unlock\Rooting instructions
clemsyn for his ideas and insight

Git repo:
https://github.com/motley-git/Kernel-Nexus7

(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)

_motley · Jul 16, 2012

More info

last_kmsg
Please provide the dmesg output or last_kmsg if you experience any issues (random reboot or crashes) that you think are attributed to the kernel. I ask that you please test with the default/stock kernel first for your rom before you blame the issues on this kernel. Wait for the tab to reboot, or if it doesn't wait long enough so you can capture a good log. If you place this on your /sdcard, it will be easy to capture. Boot into recovery, flash this zip, and then flash a known kernel that works. Then reboot, and go grab the last_kmsg in /sdcard.
View attachment LastKMESG.zip (thanks go to CekMTL, I always keep this handy since you gave it to me!)

Voltage Control

What is voltage control?
It is simply allowing for the cpu voltage to be changed on the fly for each frequency step. CPU voltage is typically lowered (undervolting) for certain frequency steps to conserve power. For an overclocked device, some devices need more juice to be stable than others. Voltage control allows others not to pay this penalty and they can lower the voltage as they see fit for their device and usage needs.

Is undervolting safe?
If the lowered voltage values you enter are stable for the tablet, then absolutely it is safe.

What are the benefits?
Better battery life and less heat

Additional Info on voltage control
Only System Tuner is displaying the DVFS table frequency labels correctly and I recommend that you use this if you want to play with voltage control. SetCPU is showing the scaling frequencies when it displays them in the UI, some of which are for the LP core. This is not correct and is misleading, so it is best not to use it for this kernel.

Since the tools available only allow for tweaking one DVFS table (the high powered G cores), voltage control is not currently possible for the LP core. It is not needed anyhow IMO and setting it too low could result in SOD. There is more battery saving to be had with the G cores anyhow if you are into this sort of tweaking.

The frequencies shown may have two values for one frequency. This is how it came with the factory kernel as well and I have only tweaked the top end of the DVFS table. It may seem weird, but this gives us direct access to the DVFS table. I would recommend keeping it as a staircase, just like Nvidia has it even though some frequencies are listed twice.

The freqs shown in the System Tuner display will match the DVFS table for the cpu_process_id for your tablet (seen in the kernel log at startup). All tablets won't display the same frequencies. There are at least two maybe three or four variants we have found so far for the Nexus 7 with Tegra 3 SoC #7.

Also, some may not know, but the tegra3 kernel also has automatic UV using a "cold" zone in where 50mV undervolting is done automatically when the cpu is cool. Take this into consideration when playing around.

GPU OC
Valid max GPU frequency is 416 - 520 MHz. If you try higher or lower clock speeds, it will fail and remain unchanged.

Examples:

Code:

echo 484 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/gpu_oc

Code:

echo 520 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/gpu_oc

Performance Tweaks
These are a couple of tweaks that many are using for faster benchmarks and better battery performance. Google it and decide for yourself if you like the risk or not. I recommend that you do a full backup in recovery and regularly backup your /data partion or cloud sync if you enable these options. Will many run them daily as I now do, there is some additional risk. These can be added to scripts and automated via init.d or other apps/tools that support them.

To disable fsync for better battery and better disk i/o performance:

Code:

echo 0 > /sys/class/misc/fsynccontrol/fsync_enabled

To enable fsync for better data integrity (default)

Code:

echo 1 > /sys/class/misc/fsynccontrol/fsync_enabled

Faster disk i/o - remount /data partition with noauto_da_alloc option (google it, better battery, less data integrity)

Code:

mount -o remount,noauto_da_alloc /data /data

TCP Congestion Control Algorithms

Only one can be set at a time, so only add one of the lines to your script. Here are some examples:

Code:

echo "reno" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_congestion_control

echo "veno" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_congestion_control

echo "vegas" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_congestion_control

echo "westwood" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_congestion_control

zRAM

What is zRAM?
This is a mainline kernel feature for Compressed RAM block device support (CONFIG_ZRAM)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRam

Like many of the other tweaks done in the Android world, ZRAM is another one of them that is controversial, probably because people only think in terms of immediate performance they can measure easily with benchmarks etc. *Here is my take...think I will add this to the Q&A section as well.

But, will it make my device faster? Will I score higher on benchmarks?
It depends, but for normal usage, the answer is no. zRAM is most useful for those that are configuring Android to be a true multitasking workhorse. For example, if I enable zRAM, open an bunch of apps at one time, and actually start to work towards depleting the memory of the system. *For example, say I open system tuner, a browser with several tabs, a word processing app, a game, and perhaps a picture viewing app or a movie. If I don't formally close out of each one by hitting back and just begin switching between apps and the home screen, you will see zRAM start showing benefits.*

If you tweak the Android memory and swappiness settings, this can also be useful in this type of environment.

How do I know it is initialized and working?
You can type "free" from an command line and see the swap space.

Also, you can look at the disksize to see if it is initialized
cat /sys/block/zram0/disksize

To see how much it is being used in your environment, you can look at the output from:
cat /sys/block/zram0/num_writes
cat /sys/block/zram0/num_reads

So, unless you have a heavy workload as stated above, then it won't be of a lot of use for normal Android users.

How do I enable zram?
It must be enabled by a script. Some ROMs may support activating it. If you need to do it yourself you have two choices.

1) Save this to a file and run the script from terminal, Script Manager or System Tuner.
2) Or better yet, save this to a file called 90zram (or whatever you prefer) in /system/etc/init.d and automate it (The ROM's ramdisk needs to supports init.d)

Code:

#!/system/bin/sh
# auto zram activation init script with busybox search
# by show-p1984

echo "[90ZRAM]: Firing up /system/etc/init.d/90zram";

if [ ! -e /sys/block/zram0/disksize ] ; then
        echo "[90ZRAM]: ERROR unable to find /sys/block/zram0/disksize";
        echo "[90ZRAM]: Is this a ZRAM kernel?";
        echo "[90ZRAM]: ZRAM NOT ACTIVATED. (404)";
else
        #find busybox in /system
        bblocation=$(find /system/ -name 'busybox')
        if [ -n "$bblocation" ] && [ -e "$bblocation" ] ; then
                echo "[90ZRAM]: busybox found in:" $bblocation;
                echo "[90ZRAM]: Setting ZRAM disksize.";
                echo $((100*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram0/disksize

                echo "[90ZRAM]: Starting ZRAM...";
                bblocation=${bblocation%/*}
                cd $bblocation
                ./busybox mkswap /dev/block/zram0
                ./busybox swapon /dev/block/zram0

                echo "[90ZRAM]: ZRAM activated.";
        else
                echo "[90ZRAM]: ERROR! busybox not found!";
                echo "[90ZRAM]: Is busybox installed? Symlinks set?";
                echo "[90ZRAM]: ZRAM NOT ACTIVATED. (404)";
        fi
fi

Clienterror · Jul 16, 2012

Flashed with CWR and it doesn't boot past the Google screen

Is there something special I need to do?

*Edit*
I am on the new 4.1.1 "D" or whatever but right now I'm using the Atlantis "1.5" kernel and it works so I donno.

cwc3 · Jul 16, 2012

Thanks for another addition to the nexus 7 kernel community, love having different kernels to try.

_motley · Jul 16, 2012

Clienterror said:
Flashed with CWR and it doesn't boot past the Google screen Is there something special I need to do?

*Edit*
I am on the new 4.1.1 "D" or whatever but right now I'm using the Atlantis "1.5" kernel and it works so I donno.

Thx, please grab the dmesg output while booting or last_kmsg if you can. Working fine here, but this why I put it out as an alpha. Even if you boot off another kernel, if you can send a dmesg captured right after boot, that would help so I can see your SoC/Process ID numbers. There are two lines written just after boot with the info. On the Prime, we had different CPUs in some models, but it may just be a voltage issue. I have run Antutu and Quadrant several times without issues though. Not sure about the D update...I I have 4.1.1.

Edit: Version 1.0.1 released, please test again and leave feedback when you can. Please let me know when you received your tab. Is it an early IO version? If this doesn't do it, I most likely will need to increase voltages a bit. Hopefully I won't have to do this so we can keep battery life at it's best.

demandarin · Jul 16, 2012

oh s^&*, you developing here also. oh yeah! glad to see you here buddy. so you have your nexus 7 already? now that i see you here also, i will be unlocking my nexus 7, once it arrives, sooner than i thought. welcome aboard...glad to see familiar faces around here

Sobai · Jul 17, 2012

I had the same issue. Couldn't pass the boot screen after flashing. On 4.1.1 latest update as of July 15th

_motley · Jul 17, 2012

Sobai said:
I had the same issue. Couldn't pass the boot screen after flashing. On 4.1.1 latest update as of July 15th

Thanks, I am dying to take a look at a log to see how I am so lucky to have it working! I've added LastKMSG.zip to the OP. If someone with a booting problem can do the following, I would really appreciate it:

1) Put LastKMSG.zip on your /sdcard along with the newest kernel zip
2) Flash the kernel zip
3) Wait for it to boot, give it a few seconds and then hold power down to reboot if it doesn't do it on its own.
4) Go back into recovery and flash LastKMSG.zip
5) Flash another booting kernel or your current rom to recover.
6) Boot and retrieve the file /sdcard/last_kmsg
7) Attach the log here or PM me with a dropbox link or whatever.

Thanks!

_motley · Jul 17, 2012

Just got some good news from a gentleman that didn't have enough posts to share with us here yet, so he PM'ed me and said that I can share the details of his experience.

First report was more of the same, sounded familiar, more bad news...

Flashed your kernel and couldn't boot pasted Google screen. Restarted in to boot and couldn't get into recovery. Was stock rooted on the latest 4.11. Went back to stock. Looking forward to trying again, now I'm on Modaco's latest. I'll let you know how it goes.

Next report was good using the latest version in the OP. Not sure, but this may help others.

Thanks! This kernel is fantastic! Makes this thing a real beast! Sorry I didn't give you the info you asked for! I got it Thursday from GameStop. The problems may have stemmed from the fact that I updated to 4.11 , rooted then side updated the newest little update and then ran a su zip to regain root (Paul o' Brian ROM) . I was also on his first cwm and then updated to his new one after I started from scratch. Loaded up his new ROM, rebooted then applied your 2nd kernel and this thing is hitting 15626 in CF benches!

Not sure what is going on, but I can't explain it. It may be my 2nd version of the kernel that fixes it, but I am not sure since I haven't seen a log yet. I suppose something may be jacked up with the early versions of recovery or roms, but the I was using the the same early versions when I tested just fine....maybe folks are losing recovery and don't realize it? I did the second step to keep recovery that is now automated in r2. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

_motley · Jul 17, 2012

New version released

New version released...see OP. GPU OC to 446MHz (up from stock 416)

Looking for more feedback :cowboy:

danielsf · Jul 17, 2012

_motley said:
New version released...see OP. GPU OC to 446MHz (up from stock 416)

Looking for more feedback

View attachment 1204164

Just out of curiously, would you ever try 520mhz for the gpu, to try to get it to t30 speeds? Or maybe would you consider some kind of app interface like extweeks for the galaxy s2 & s3 to control the GPU clock speed and maybe voltages instead of different kernels. As I would personally love to get the GPU to about 460-500mhz

Anyway when I get my n7 (hopefully in a day or two) I can't wait to try this out

(I am spoilt by the much more powerful 440mhz mali-400mp in the s3, so I would love to try to narrow the power difference between the devices GPU wise)

Clienterror · Jul 17, 2012

Nice man! The new versions fixed everything boots great! Now if we can just figure out how to make the Overclock stick after you turn the screen on/off. I'm not sure how to tell if the GPU OC is sticking.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

_motley · Jul 17, 2012

danielsf said:
Just out of curiously, would you ever try 520mhz for the gpu, to try to get it to t30 speeds? Or maybe would you consider some kind of app interface like extweeks for the galaxy s2 & s3 to control the GPU clock speed and maybe voltages instead of different kernels. As I would personally love to get the GPU to about 460-500mhz Anyway when I get my n7 (hopefully in a day or two) I can't wait to try this out (I am spoilt by the much more powerful 440mhz mali-400mp in the s3, so I would love to try to narrow the power difference between the devices GPU wise)

Sure, we may push the GPU OC version a bit, but I always like to walk before we run to see how things go. I would like to monitor heat output, battery usage etc. and then move forward in steps. I am very happy with it right now, but dynamic configuration would also be cool. Let me know what you think once you have it hand.

Clienterror said:
Nice man! The new versions fixed everything boots great! Now if we can just figure out how to make the Overclock stick after you turn the screen on/off. I'm not sure how to tell if the GPU OC is sticking.

Awesome, glad to hear it! I don't think I see this issue with the OC sticking after you turn the screen off/on, but I will do more checking after work today.

Clienterror · Jul 17, 2012

_motley said:
Awesome, glad to hear it! I don't think I see this issue with the OC sticking after you turn the screen off/on, but I will do more checking after work today.

Thanks a ton! Yea if you go into setcpu and make it 1.6 then turn the screen off then on (unlock) set CPU slider still shows 1.6 but if you read under that the smaller text says its actually set at.1.3 again. It seems to be a problem with the Atlantis kernel also something to do with hardcoded CPU freqs I think. Oh I wanted 5k soooo bad rofl got this twice rofl.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

evonc · Jul 17, 2012

Clienterror said:
Thanks a ton! Yea if you go into setcpu and make it 1.6 then turn the screen off then on (unlock) set CPU slider still shows 1.6 but if you read under that the smaller text says its actually set at.1.3 again. It seems to be a problem with the Atlantis kernel also something to do with hardcoded CPU freqs I think. Oh I wanted 5k soooo bad rofl got this twice rofl.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I've just made profiles that automatically set the clock to 1.5 when the screen turns on again and back to 1.5 when the screen turns off.

Edit*

Just tried the newest version and it failed to boot. Got stuck at the Google Logo. Here is the last_kmsg. Hopefully it helps

(had to put a .txt extension on it btw. Uploader wont let me upload w/o extension)

MrPhilo · Jul 17, 2012

The Nexus 7 GPU is better than the Transformer Prime due to the faster RAM, so more bandwidth? If I'm correct? Thats why we see a higher Nenamark score at a lower clock?

hanthesolo · Jul 17, 2012

This kernel looks very promising, excellent work! How much "play" have you had with upping the voltages, before the battery quits? On my TF, I can only go so far before the battery cannot provide enough juice, and it freezes on me. It would be interesting to know for people who want to OC really high. Does anything above 1.6 GHZ actually boot (heat and battery drainage aside)? It would be nice to OC up to 2.0 GHZ, if only for a proof-of concept. Finally, what are the temps you are getting on the higher clocks? It sounds like overheating may start becoming a real issue, and I was just curious.

Kidromulous · Jul 17, 2012

The ram disk version rendered my tablet unbootable had to flash the Atlantis kernel from fast boot to get it back up and running.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

killer23d · Jul 17, 2012

Good work there, I would suggest adding Smartassv2 as well since it has been a good choice for many dev

parcsalooc · Jul 17, 2012

I for the life of me can't get this kernel to OC. Tried System Tuner, Setcpu etc. Max only reads 1300mhz nothing shows higher beyond 1300. I have no clue what the deal is. I've tried wiping also. Even tried Atlantis' kernel. on his, it won't allow me to set anything. Max shows 0 and Min shows zero. I am running Pauls Modaco Jr3 and even tried it on EOS' new release. I'm beginning to wonder if its something diff internally. Anyone have any guesses?Also showing root as setcpu requests superuser permissions.
This is what my device shows

Board: grouper
Product: nakasi
Model: Nexus 7
Device: grouper
Build: JRO03D (Modaco Custom ROM Jr3)
google/nakasi/grouper:4.1.1/JRO03D?402395:user/release-keys
Manufacturer:asus
Brand:google
CPU ABI: armeabi-v7a

Kernel
Linux version 3.1.10-motley+(cainm@motleyville) (gcc version 4.6.3 (GCC)) #6 SMP
PREEMPT Tue Jul 17 00:52:59 EDT 2012

[KERNEL][GPL][Linaro][WiFi/3G] motley b49 2013-02-24 (added dynamic GPU OC)

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