[DISCUSSION] The JBX Kernel settings/configuration discussion and testing thread.

I decided to write a little guide about tuning JBX-Kernel. I think I wil send it to Placca, so he can add it to the Guide if he likes to. Maybe Neo.Ank could add this to the OP here? I guess I shouldn't open up another thread about JBX.



INSTALLATION GUDE


The following post includes my personal usage and settings from Aroma Installer plus additional detailed explanations about the options in Aroma and more. You can just follow the steps one by one and then compare and share your exprience.



SO it is actually my personal setup - just like I use it:


1. We start Aroma Installer now and first we DESELECT EVERYTHING in Aroma.

A little explanation for the following points

A blue star ---> * means: see notes below
All options marked with Select in front of them are the main options I use - the others only partly or sometimes.
All other options marked with [OPTIONAL] * are depending on your setup/kind of usage and/or they have to be tested (as each device is different, dependant on user and usage). See my more detailled notes at the post ending and decide yourself.

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"Init.d"

Don't select any of them, unless maybe:
"Init.d Battery Tweaks" [OPTIONAL] *
(But mostly I don't use this option anymore. Battery Friend also adjusts/injects some of the main parts being set through this script - but without loosing performance or causing instability. If you use this script, please watch out for differences, improvements and/or disadvantages)




"Startup and extra"

• Select "nmi-Watchdog OFF"
• Select "Iw_Config"
• Select "Zipalign apps on boot"
• Select "HDMI OFF by default" [OPTIONAL] *
  

"Settings-App"

• Select "Trickster Mod"
• "Kernel Enhancement" [OPTIONAL] *
• "DSHT Kernel Tweaker" [OPTIONAL] *
• Select "Powertop" [OPTIONAL] *

"Temporary Bugfixes"

• "Xposed Framework" [OPTIONAL] *
• "Motorola 10%-Battery Indicator" [OPTIONAL] *

"Temporary Options"

• "Battery Friend DISABLE" [OPTIONAL] *
• "RIL Tweaks for battery life" [OPTIONAL] *
• "Misc ROM build.prop Tweaks" [OPTIONAL] *

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Click to collapse

* "Explanation notes"

"Init.d Battery Tweaks"
This is a sysctl script file which sets some kernel parameters to be more battery friendly. But it doesn't work fine on all roms. Sometimes it could cause some instability (but this happens very less), but can potentially save some juice - with a slight loss of performance.


"HDMI OFF by default"
If you don't use HDMI most of the time and/or if your phone got the same where it accidently detects a plugged HDMI cable even though no cable is plugged actually - And note: During these times when HDMI is not in use, switch it off via the HDMI_TOGGLE to save some juice.

"Kernel Enhancement" & "DSHT Kernel Tweaker"
Another kernel configuration tools. Trickster Mod doesn't support all features and options which are availbale in JBX-Kernel, so these apps can be used to adjust some more settings which you would have to tweak manually by sysfs/terminal otherwise.
Some of them are:

- Lowmemorykiller tunables and presets (Note: lowmemorykiller is NOT the same like OOM-Killer whose presets you can set in Trickster Mod)
- Some other kernel parameters
- Some sysctl presets (Note: Sysctl Editor is also present in Trickster Mod or also in System tuner (great for presets, NOT included with JBX) - Sysctl can be used to tweak EVERYTHING which exist in the kernel, but be VERY careful when messing with it. Better play with presets, or leave it alone and use generic by app provided options, i.e. Trickster Mod, of you have no idea about Sysctl tuning)
- Some build.prop tweaks

"Powertop"
Powertop is a commandline-based configuration tool only made for power saving, developed by Intel, actually for Linux, but they provide it also for Android / ARM platforms. It incoudes and shows you several cathegories with stats (i.e. CPU stats, frequency stats, memory stats, etc) and one tuning tab where all power eating hw-devices are listed and marked whether with a "GOOD" or "BAD". When seeing an entry marked with "BAD", you can switch it to "GOOD". A short explanation about each entry is directly behind it (i.e. "USB devices suspend", "Power Aware CPU Scheduler", and more).
I use Powertop not for tweaking, because it's a little complicated to make the settings from Powertop stick after reboot, specially because Powertop doesn't show you how it changes the settings and therer is no "on-boot" option available - I use Powertop ONLY for monitoring. Usually I set everything like I want it, then reboot and open Powertop after the device booted up. I just check all the states and if all entries are marked with "GOOD", I close Powertop - because I know that the best power saving options are active and working.
But if I see an entry (or maybe multiple ones) marked with "BAD", then I identify the related option (that's easy, it's all explaned in Powertop, like I mentioned above already) and set it to "GOOD" by use of whether:

- a Kernel settings app (like Trickster Mod)
- Sysfs via initd. scripts or Sysctl (i.e. if no settings app supports tuning of the related feature)
- Terminal or Root Explorer (if I don't need tje related option to stick after next reboot)

"Xposed Framework"
I guess you know what Xposed is - but for those of you who don't:
Xposed Framework is a very powerful Open Source Android tweaking tool (better saying: a whole tweaking framework) which lets you tweak almost everything in Android on-the-fly - means: mostly there's no reboot rerquired to activate the tweaks. Those tweaks can be i.e.:

- Android SystemUI tweaks (colors, outfit, themes, clock style and alignment, battery icon style, many many more)
- Android System tweaks and functions (Auto 2G/3G, POwer related options, performance related stuff, many more)
- Android Hacks (for Apps, for Android system, for Roms, etc, etc)
- etc, etc, etc, etc

It works by loading specific modules directly into the framework. These modules are developed by users, devs and people like us, like you & me, and many others... Everone with some dev skills can create modules for use with Xposed. It's so beloved by devs and users, because it allows a lot of hacks (and kinda such stuff) to be injected into Android without changing or modifying anything on the Rom/System itself. So you don't have to mess with Android source code and you are protected against messing up your system, which means again that you just can disable a module in case of appearing issues instead performing a full wipe and restore your system by backups or reflash.
It's also so genius because it can even apply all these tweaks to running stock roms! So you can tweaks your stock rom with all the famous features only known from custom roms - without the need to use a custom rom. The only thing which cannot be "hacked" by Xposed: The kernel. But therefor you're here now

There are so many modules available, I can't count or list them here.
Just select Xposed Framework in Aroma, flash the kernel and open the Xposed Installer App after booted up. Follow the first steps (just install the actual Xposed FW by one single button tap, then head to the "Download" section (also in the Xposed Installer App) and take your time to scroll through the modules list to find whatever you're looking for, or just browse and I dare you will find something you like. When downloaded and installed some module(s) (the installation of Xposed Modules works like installing a normal App) head to the "Modules" section and enable those modules you like to use (just set a hook in front of them), reboot the phone, profit. But don't forget to open the related module (just open it like an App - assuming the module allows user actions, setting options, etc) and set the feratures you want or and the way you want it to be set.
To give you an example: Android Tuner app - I guess most of you might know it - has support for XPosed too. I remember there are two versions: One for use as Xposed module, and one standalone app. The one for Xposed has some more functions and features. So you just open it and start tweaking the hell out of your phone.

"Motorola 10%-Battery Indicator"
This option will install a modified Ramdisk.img for the kexec kernel which includes another reading path parameter for libhealthd (the lib which shows battd binary where to read/write the charging state, voltages, temperature, etc). The RAZR (and all other Moto OMAP phones) usually use the 10% increment. Why? Simply because these devices don't include a hardware battery meter (also known as "Fuel Gauge Meter"). It has to calculate the charging state by software (battery driver in the kernel & mainly by the battd binary which is part of each Android rom). When using the 1% indication, our phones are calculating the charging state (percentage) based on a "bad value", as there is no hw chip watching the battery voltage, percentage, etc, it uses sth like an algorithm (which is part of battd binary) to calculate the acutal percentage. This algorithm is though very accurate and working fine as long as it uses the common 10% increment - but when switching to the 1% method, it has to kinda "guess" the values between the 10%-Steps, which potentially can lead to wrong calculated values after some time. Therefor you have to keep in mind that in 10% mode the charging state rounds up on each value reaching a "5" (means: when battwery os charged to 35%, the status bar/battery icon will display 40%, and so on..) Now, when using 1%b mod, the percentage can be "confused" and then it tries to correct itself, by jumping down suddenly, i.e. from 60% to 40% or sth (or in less cases even jumping up). usually this stops by itself after next charging cycle, but if it happens on each sycle (still getting drops), a manually calibration must be performed (NOT just wiping battery stats, etc, but read my following post to see how this works). After a calibration process (it takes a few days until it takes full effect) you might want consider using the 10% indication method as it mostly prevents from such bad cases and is just more accurate. You can still use i.e. an app like Battery Indicator Pro (with support for Motorola devices) which shows the battery in 1% steps (or also you could use an Xposed module for that).

NOTE: If you ALWAYS handle your battery the right way (the way you charge, when you charge and how long as well as how often you charge your battery), you shouldn't get too much problems with it, also when using the 1% indication.
But if you see that a full calibration doesn't help anymore, or whatever method you tried else already to get your battery back acting normal again, it's a true sign for your battery is already broken.

Our RAZR includes a Li-Polymer battery - more capacity, better lasting time - compared to common Li-Ion batteries - (because they include a materia and not liquid acid, so they can be formed much thinner in example, and its cells can safe more juice - or at least they can safe the juice more effective), but more sensible against temperature drops (up and down) and also overcharging (Yes, modern batteries/devices usually do include a protection against overcharging, but don't be too sure about that and better try to take care of your battery as much as you can, and it will live AND last long!

How to handle such batteries the right way? GOOGLE!

"Battery Friend DISABLE", "RIL tweaks for battery life" & "MISC Rom build.prop tweaks"
Battery Friend is working fine and helps saving power for sure - but if you want to use features like overclocking, you will have to disable it. But therefor you don't need to use the Aroma option. You can simply switch BF state by Trickster Mod, and also control its tunables (frequencies) there.

The RIL tweaks were doing a great job in D-WiZ Rom 1.0.4 (Stock based) - but so far I couldn't notify any true improvement in KitKat custom roms by using this feature - but also couldn't see any disadvantages. This really needs to be tested by more people, then share your experiences and let's see if this can help to save battery.

The same like above (about RIL tweaks). These tweaks were also working fine in D-WiZ 1.0.4. Just test and report it.

Some last important notes

Trickster Mod supports "On-Boot" feature, so use Trickster for all options which are supported by it, so you can simply have them applied after reboot.

Kernel Tweaker and Kernel Enhancement also support on-boot feature and partly the same settings and optiuons like Trickster Mod is doing. BE CAREFUL when using all three apps at the same time, try to avoid setting the same feature by multiple apps - they can (no, they WILL!) cause conflicts.
But besides thatm Kernel Enhancement and Kernel Tweaker areproviding some great features you won't find in Trickster Mod. That's why I included them into the package.

ALWAYS leave things alone in case you really don't know what they are for. You can have a closer look at the FAQ or the Kernel Guide to get more knowledge about related features and options.

For detailed infos about all Features available in JBX-Kernel, please read whether the FAQ in my JBX-Thread and/or download the GREAT Kernel Guide by Placca (also available in JBX thread) which was specially written for JBX-Kernel, it includes the whole FAQ, but with additional pictures, screenshots and explanations, plus informations about several CPU Governors and IO Schedulers.

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Click to collapse

I am very interested in difference between your and my settings and experiences. You can try my setup if you want, and then after one week of running, please tell me if your settings were better for battery and/or performance.

I hope this helps you a bit. Keep on being a great community!

To force a FULL calibration (I know, not necessary since Android 4.0, blablabla, NO! It IS necvessary as I tested it with sucess!):

1. Use phone until it goes off.
2. Let it charge until 100% and keep it plugged for 30 more minutes (and phone has to stay powered OFF)
3. Pull charger
4. Boot directly into recovery
5. Mount system
6. Use SS Filemanager and navigate into the following locations and delete ALL containing data:

Code:

/data/tmp/battd
/data/battd
/tmp/battd
/data/system/batterystats.bin (ONLY delete this file here!)

7. Boot into rom
8. Check the battery state - and if not fully charged, plug charger again and shut down the phone.
9. Keep it charging for another 30 minutes.
10. Boot into rom, plug charger and let it charge until the rom says 100%.

NOTE: In some cases (when the battery is really discalibrated by software side), after deleting all these entries and charging the phone again (while powered OFF) it will take up to 5 hours (!) until it's being fully charged - don't be scary then, this is normal and necessary then.

AFTER the whiole process, the phone and battery need to settle for a FEW DAYS! Battery life COULD be bad during this period (not a must). After that it will be fine - and battery drops should be gone within a few days (no matter if you use 1% or 10% - I'm using 1% again weith my new battery and everything is fine so far). Just be a little bit patient. If you still get drops after one week - you should consider a new battery.

I found a battery by OTHER manufacturers for our RAZR -

the normal one (1900mAh): http://www.amazon.com/Onite-1900mAh...im_cps_11?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QRYHZQ1SNE150B4G52Q

a bigger one (with about 3400mAh!): http://www.amazon.com/3400mAh-Batte...bs_cps_22?ie=UTF8&refRID=1D51K13NY9TZEKDP4BQM

The last one (X-Longer, made in China) is produced by a manufacturer who proofed to produce quality batteries! They really last long and work just fine (tested on other devices and got some reviews from people using it). The price is great! The first one seems fine too (according to reviews by customers on Amazon). Price is GREAT!

I once ordered a genuine one 3 months ago (EB20) and payed around 30 € (~ 40 $) - next time I would order one of these posted above.
Also a replacement kit for conversion into MAXX would be great - but expensive! A few of the needed parts are only in stock at foreign shops - shipping costs, customs, etc is eating your money in this case. Or you just order a full (ready to use) conversion kit - assuming they have it in stock) for around 100 € - 150 €.

Good luck!

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Click to collapse

First of all, Thanks to @dtrail1 for the amazing kernel and all his hard work for the Razr community. If it was not for him, most of us would've moved on to some other phones.

What is this Thread for.?
This thread is for sharing/discussing your JBX settings/configuration you are running or played with. The only purpose is to have a better idea about the settings and help new users get a hold of it.

The original JBX thread is one of the most replied in the forums and its difficult to keep track of settings related questions, so I felt a need for this.

What its not.!
This is only for settings related questions or discussion. Not about other issues or problems. For those, refer to the original JBX Thread.. It has almost all questions covered and an awesome FAQ/Usage Guide.

When posting your settings.

• Mention your ROM.
• Mention the JBX build/version.
• If possible include screenshots (like battery usage).

1. [KERNEL][3.0.31][FULL HD][HDMI][GUIDE 1.7]JBX-Kernel Hybrid [1,5ghz]
2. Kernel Guide 1.7 PDF
3. Kernel Guide 1.7 CHM

Recommended:Read this before installation.

CLICK here for a detailed Installation Guide


If you like JBX kernel please support the developer and DONATE TO dtrail1

DumbleCore said:

I'm using just main slot, but sometimes my battery lasts the whole day with 5% and sometimes it's completely dead in 6 hours after a full charge
Btw, does stock kernel still take affect?
Switched to art now and Flashed China JB kernel will look into it a few days then try dalvik without xposed...
I also really need to calibrate battery and also one question, is it possible to let kexec roms read battery stats from stock kernel? Maybe with some init scripts?

Tapped from another Dimension

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Nope. That's being handled by libhealthd and battds binary. I.e. we could change the readout path in libhealthd, current one is:


But the userspace entries are being created by the kernel and the actual values are being written to it by battd. As soon as kexec kernel takes over, the whole userspace is being recreated and the stock kernel's sysfs doesn't exist anymore at this point, so there's no alternate path for being watched by libhealthd BUT:

There is absolutely no difference between kexec kernel's battery sysfs path and stock kernel's one. The entries are beuing created by the battery driver, and this driver is exactly the same one like existing in stock kernel - no difference, so it wouldn't make any difference at all when reading from stock kernel (if that would be possible).
SS doesn't create a new battd path for each rom slot - only BMM is doing that - as I know. SS slots are using /tmp/battd or /data/tmp/battd (not sure if i remember right). the batterystats.bin is created by rom - and only contains stats based on kernel entries.
If you have battery drops, think about the possibility of a broken battery or calibrate it via the common way. To force a FULL calibration (I know, not necessary since Android 4.0, blablabla, NO! It IS necvessary as I tested it with sucess!):

1. Use phone until it goes off.
2. Let it charge until 100% and keep it plugged for 30 more minutes (and phone has to stay powered OFF)
3. Pull charger
4. Boot directly into recovery
5. Mount system
6. Use SS Filemanager and navigate into the following locations and delete ALL containing data:


7. Boot into rom
8. Check the battery state - and if not fully charged, plug charger again and shut down the phone.
9. Keep it charging for another 30 minutes.
10. Boot into rom, plug charger and let it charge until the rom says 100%.

NOTE: In some cases (when the battery is really discalibrated by software side), after deleting all these entries and charging the phone again (while powered OFF) it will take up to 5 hours (!) until it's being fully charged - don't be scary then, this is normal and necessary then.

AFTER the whiole process, the phone and battery need to settle for a FEW DAYS! Battery life COULD be bad during this period (not a must). After that it will be fine - and battery drops should be gone within a few days (no matter if you use 1% or 10% - I'm using 1% again weith my new battery and everything is fine so far). Just be a little bit patient. If you still get drops after one week - you should consider a new battery.

I found a battery by OTHER manufacturers for our RAZR -

the normal one (1900mAh): http://www.amazon.com/Onite-1900mAh...im_cps_11?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QRYHZQ1SNE150B4G52Q

a bigger one (with about 3400mAh!): http://www.amazon.com/3400mAh-Batte...bs_cps_22?ie=UTF8&refRID=1D51K13NY9TZEKDP4BQM

The last one (X-Longer, made in China) is produced by a manufacturer who proofed to produce quality batteries! They really last long and work just fine (tested on other devices and got some reviews from people using it). The price is great! The first one seems fine too (according to reviews by customers on Amazon). Price is GREAT!

I once ordered a genuine one 3 months ago (EB20) and payed around 30 € (~ 40 $) - next time I would order one of these posted above.
Also a replacement kit for conversion into MAXX would be great - but expensive! A few of the needed parts are only in stock at foreign shops - shipping costs, customs, etc is eating your money in this case. Or you just order a full (ready to use) conversion kit - assuming they have it in stock) for around 100 € - 150 €.

Good luck!

Here are mine. Haven't changed much.
ROM: SlimKat 4.2
Build: 4/16

TCP Congestion Control : Cubic
Read Ahead Buffer : 2048
Scheduler : vr
Freq Lock : ON
Min: 200000
Max: 1000000
Max scr off: 600000
Min scr on: 200000
Governor : ktoonservative.

Intelli-plug : ON
Multicore power saving: 0
Dynamic FSYNC: OFF (guess it is enabled cause of Battery friend)
Generic Hotplug: OFF
GPU Governor: on3demand
GPU Max freq: 384
Battery Friend: ON

Voltages And others are untouched. HDMI OFF by default.

RESULT:
Battery life is really good.
Performance too. No Issues as of now.

Thank you for opening this thread.

One note about Dynamic Fsync (taken from features list):

* HTC's Asynchronous Fsync and Dynamic Fsync:

Asynchronous fsync (called "afsync" or "async fsync") from HTC is ported into this kernel. By default it's enabled and dynamic fsync is disabled (and as well it isn't needed anymore). But just to test a little bit around to see which one of both features is the better one - for battery & performance. But currently Tricktser Mod doesn't support a toggle for afsync, so I had to find another way to use Trckster. Finally I did it like this:

The dynamic fsync toggle in Trickster Mod is now serving both functions - the dynamic fsync AND the asynchronous fsync! How? By default Dynamic Fsync is disabled, and Afsync is enabled. If you now enable Dynamic fsync using the toggle, Afsync will be automatically disabled, so both functions are not conflicting each other - and this way we have a working toggle for both of them.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse