[KERNEL][3.0.21+][HD video working now on 16Gb NT] Nook Tablet ICS kernel development

THIS IS FOR DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION ONLY -- THERE IS A USER-BASED THREAD IN GENERAL SECTION HERE:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=26931097

I've started porting 3.0.x Android kernel to NookTablet.
CURRENT LOG:
http://pastebin.com/qWXL5LuG

Working /Not working features:
1. external SD card (thanks fattire), internal emmc works!
2. LCD screen (working), back-light(always on as temporary hack). Tested backlight without loading ducati-m3.bin - it works. Thanks to icemank121 in IRC for recommending Hashcode to check the Archos Gen 9 tablet's backlight driver and mik_os for adaptation for NT.
3. Touchscreen (enabled)
4. G-sensor (enabled)
5. Battery driver (enabled)
6. Audio driver (enabled, working). Thanks to chrmhoffmann.
7. WIFI (working).
8. ADB works (test with CWM)
9. Booting without rootfs in RAM. Ready for beta testing Ubuntu/Linux boot. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=23072540&postcount=119
10. power button works in ICS. Poweroff working now. Thanks to Hashcode.
11. Ducati don't work if backlight is working. (Timer 11 conflict)
12. Add USB OTG driver to the kernel / don't have USB OTG cable to test
13. Charger working with USB/wall charger.
14. After software reset SD card don't recognized before shutdown. Fixed by mik_os.
15. NT reboot only when USB cable is connected http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=25749805&postcount=419
Fixed. Tnahks to Rebellos and mik_os (http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=25791963&postcount=426)
16. Deep sleep working, but drain 2-3%/h
17. Skype working for me now! Testing with 2 my skype account.[/COLOR] It working on buildin mic and headset mic too. Headset tested by joelee100. On test branch using of mic cause device reboot.
18. Test HD video on YouTube on 16gb device. It working now. Thanks to HashCode to consulting
Test release CM9 is here http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=26762846&postcount=503


The repositorie is here https://github.com/Kuzma30/kernel3NookTablet
Some features are disabled. I will enable them, one by one.
Help is greatly appreciated!

This is beta version of 3.x kernel. Only for development use (yet)!

Kernel development team: chrmhoffmann, fattire, mik_os, Rebell and hashcode (from KF)

THANKS FOR DONATION TO : lost101 (10$), Aleq (10$), sangahm(15$), old_fart (10$), plantucha (5$), scuffell (10$), angusj (10$)

Special thanks to aludal for his help at the initial stages of this development. Short descriptions of many stages for this project are being published at aludal's blog fineoils.blogspot.com

Special thanks to demetris_I for his help in searching, communicating. He work like a BIG "SEARCH" MACHINE.

What's going on here!

Land Master said:

I guess he's doing good? I have no idea how you guys make heads or tails out of that stuff. Amazing!

Iv'e tried reading up on compiling and such and honestly I'm lost. I consider myself to be above average in the computer world and it's all greek to me.

Any suggestions as to a book or books for NooB's? Can compiling be accomplished without any experience with C++ ?? Does what I'm talking about even apply to the Kernel? In other words is what's going on here considered being "compiled"

TIA

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

So "compiling" as you may know is the process of taking human-readable code (or at least computer-programmer-human readable, it's not like a Steven King story) and converting it into a binary blob of code that can be processed and interpreted by the silicon chips in the computer. That translation is compiling, and there are several steps to it...

What you're looking at in Kuzma's post isn't actual code, but a log of output showing the process of booting the kernel-- the kernel being the most "low-level" program that runs on the nook tablet. The Android kernel, based on the Linux kernel, is in charge of ensuring all the other programs get CPU time to run, and it oversees all the basic systems and all the hardware and everything at the most fundamental level. It's super complex. To use a bizarre analogy-- if a regular app you'd use in Android is as intricate as a shopping mall, I'd say the kernel's inner workings are about as complex as the city of Manhattan.

The Nook Tablet's stock system comes with the 2.6.35 version kernel. However, that kernel is fairly old as kernels go. The newer 3.2.x kernels have been souped up by Texas Instruments (who make the OMAP4 platform upon which the Nook Tablet is based). These OMAP-specific enhancements add things to make the Nook Tablet be able to do super-fast graphic effects, play hardware-accelerated video, and offload processing from the CPU to other chips and save power in other ways. The 3.x kernels also have other improvements that Ice Cream Sandwich depends on for stuff like the network auditing (where you can see how many MB you download in a nice graph and automatically stop it from exceeding a limit).

So for the past few weeks, hashcode, chrmhoffman, nemith, myself, and others have been moving features back from the 3.x kernel to the NT's 2.6.35 kernel because it's generally easier to grab a feature at a time and integrate it back. But going the other way is a much better if not harder way of doing it-- Kuzma's jumping to to the latest version from TI, then then grab all the 2.6.35 NT-specific code (such as touchscreen drivers, and SD cards and other peripherals and settings) and moving them forward into the newest kernel so it's "caught up".

But to do this, you have to more or less work "blind" because you don't have a working screen to even see errors or to know if things are working or not. You just pop in the new kernel file, turn it on, and cross your fingers that everything will work out perfectly.

No not really. That would never work. Instead, you need a way to see what's going on. And so you need to "tap" the physical hardware by connecting up some wires to the NT so it'll send a signal to your computer showing you what's happening with the kernel as you boot it on the NT-- whether the code you've changed is working or not.

That's what the log above represents-- it's the output of the boot process, which shows various parts of the Nook Tablet starting up in the 3.x kernel-- this is the actual output of the kernel when it runs. Normally this output is "hidden" from view-- it's only viewable when you type the "dmesg" command in the shell. But he's tapped the internals of the Nook Tablet and is able to view it and log it and show it to us.

And he's saying that he's having problems with registering the external MMC, also known as the "SD card". And so then he shows the part of the code in the kernel that is producing the error.

The kernel is written in the C language, which is perhaps not the first one I'd recommend if you want to get your feet wet with this stuff. Instead, I'd take a look at python as a language. It's meant to be an easy language to learn, it's available free, it runs on everything from Macs to Linux to Windows to Android. It also happens to be very very very powerful and is used everywhere from NASA to the stock market to writing games. It's not a toy, even though children can learn it quickly.

Which is why I'm going to recommend the book "Hello World" for you to check out. It's a great book written for kids, but I think it's a good place for you to start. I have nothing to do with it, just a fan and I've recommended it to others with good results.

Hope this gives the discussion some context.

I have some very good news.
We may finally have the opportunity to have ducati-m3.bin with GPTimer 9, 10 as WDT.
It will take some days or weeks from now, so be patient.
As i have some more news will post back.
Thats all am allowed to say in time being.
Keep your hope up guys we may finally have video acceleration on ICS!

I am continue working on kernel. If I have a news I'll report.

Pete1612 said:

hey fattire,
I don't wanna mess up your thread with noob questions, but why don't you release CM9 with the 2.6.35 kernel until the 3.x kernel is finished ? (feel free to delete the post after you answered it).

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Would you ask a writer why they dont just release part of their next book? Would you ask a painter to display a 1/2 finished work of art?

This is the right way to do it. Anything else would be a hack. Porting the kernel over gives us a reference point to start with. You can pretty much assume that any custom kernel to come in the future will be based on work that is going on right here, right now.

Please be considerate and do not clutter this thread with "Im impatient and i want somethimg now". Ive got work to do on Ubuntu as soon as this kernel is finished. CM9 will use this kernel when it is finished. Its likely that Barnes & Noble will use this kernel when its finished and will be asking for help and/or hiring those who did most of the work.

Just hold your horses guy. We all want something new. You can build and test... You can research... You can try to understand... But please, dont rush perfection. Have respect for the work being done here and if you must, send a pm with a request. This is true development.