kexec bootloader bypass coming in a few days

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limaxray

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2008
64
11
Just thought I'd point out that the video decoding abilities of the D3 have nothing to do with the dual ARM *application* cores - video decoding is handled using a separate codec acceleration core and a DSP core, aka in 'hardware'. The OMAP4 has far more than just 2 cores, more like 6 or 7 cores with various specialized tasks.

Personally, if my OG Droid had more RAM and didn't thrash every time I unlocked the screen, this D3 would be sitting in a box some where. I'd much rather have a device that is well supported by the community than having a extra, faster cores.

As for kexec - getting it to load a custom kernel on the D3 now that it's been done elsewhere should be trivial - as far as kexec is concerned, the D3 is identical to every other OMAP4 phone out there. It's building that custom kernel that will be a challenge. More specifically, the software that runs on those other cores (aka 'firmware') is closed source so we can not build it ourselves to function properly with an ICS kernel. It's not an impossible hurdle, it'll just require a bit of effort. Unfortunately, I worry that development for the D3 is stagnant with the market being loaded with more interesting devices...
 

jojo4747

Senior Member
Jul 6, 2010
286
29
Lancaster
True but the software developing has almost been done, hash has already fixed hardware codecs for his kindle fire with his kernels, and that is also a omap 4 processor, so I would imagine once we get this kexec thing ported, hash should have a somewhat easier time making a kernel for our d3

Sent from my DROID3 using XDA
 

redsox985

Senior Member
Aug 30, 2011
688
87
PA
As we sit her talking about this being ported to the D3...who's porting it?? For what I do on a regular basis (talk, text, Facebook, Twitter, tethering, etc.) one core running at 1.3gHz or whatever would be more than enough that two throttled at 1gHz.
 

ssinisterss

Senior Member
Apr 16, 2010
225
19
so. california
it cant be ported yet until its fixed for the CDMA razr, the only way you can get it ported is if you know something kholk and mbm doesnt. i sadly gave in and got a D4 since it should be getting ICS by the summer. i miss my D3 but since we should have ICS by june on the D4 and i can now use the year old LTE this should last me until my upgrade in march. this should be plug and play once the razr issue is fixed since D4/razr are exactly the same. also when making the codecs work hash said something about getting them to work on 512mb ram is near impossible. if you look at his latest tweets he said he found something worth looking into for codecs the other night.
 
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linuxgator

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
351
80
Moto X4
Samsung Galaxy A50
I wonder if the GSM functionality of the D3 could be ported even if the CDMA portion isn't yet. Unfortunately that wouldn't help me, or most D3 users, but I'm sure the GSM users would be happy to have something working before the CDMA people do for once.
 

Willis111

Retired Forum Moderator
Sep 7, 2008
681
82
Ontario
It's building that custom kernel that will be a challenge. More specifically, the software that runs on those other cores (aka 'firmware') is closed source so we can not build it ourselves to function properly with an ICS kernel. It's not an impossible hurdle, it'll just require a bit of effort. Unfortunately, I worry that development for the D3 is stagnant with the market being loaded with more interesting devices...

Actually, as has been pointed out there are already custom kernels that should load on our devices (hash' kindle fire kernel, samsung galaxy 2 lte kernels etc) but maybe not problem free. The source is obviously available and being worked on, compiling and running on "identical" devices. I've been attempting to manually install the kexec files to my d3 making edits where needed (it attempts to mount /dev/block/webptop to /osh, we don't have webtop so I've been trying to use /preinstall instead which just happens to have the same mmc partition number as webtop). I've only really given it one attempt from my phone with minimal troubleshooting but on attempting to run the bypassme.sh or manually invoke the commands all I was getting was "file not found" from the time it tries ti invoke "physicalmem". I haven't sat down at a computer to see exactly what's going on but I imagine even just setting /system/bypassme in $PATH may resolve this problem. Once kexec is confirmed working on our phones custom kernels will start rolling out quickly but again, there are already a few out to test with although they may not run 100% since they're customized for other devices.
 

Dri94

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
2,058
645
Florida
Willis that is awesome. Update what happens as you further play around when you get a chance

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk
 

Willis111

Retired Forum Moderator
Sep 7, 2008
681
82
Ontario
Willis that is awesome. Update what happens as you further play around when you get a chance

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk

Of course, I just haven't had much of a chance to sit at a computer yet and put mine in storage last week until the beginning of may. Hopefully over the next few days we can figure something out to at least get kexec to start loading(even if it fails, it will be progress).

I've run into something odd. Regardless of permissions/file placement etc it seems that I just get file not found (fnf) when running physicalmem/kexec etc. I've tried setting the folder in my patch, dumping the files in /system/bin, linking to xbin, even calling them by name with or without the full path yields these results. I've seen a few posts on the razr forums of users experiencing the same issue on an actual razr but not much in the way of a solution. The files aren't affected by different mount points, that was the first issue I tackled and the eason for the modded zip. Gonna keep poking around (should mention I've tried w/no custom bootstrap, cwm and safestrap but on the original system, installing the .zip manually and setting permissions and installing my modified zip with cwm/safestrap but same results). It could(probably is) that subtle differences between the d3 and razr bootloader code will require bigger tweaks to get this up on our devices.
 
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slvrarrow

Senior Member
Jul 1, 2008
394
47
ill second that. Is there any chance trying to port the original gsm hack rather than the cdma port may be easier?
 

Willis111

Retired Forum Moderator
Sep 7, 2008
681
82
Ontario
If you can get this working I would recommend you get a donation account open. There will be many grateful people on here.

Sounds like a bounty which is probably not really a bad idea. I wad thinking that about the gsm hack but just because I'm holding an xt860, I think that working with the cdma hack will be crucial for verizon users, just have to get my computer out of storage, in the middle of moving but should be setup by ~ tues/wed. Hopefully Rick#2 or someone will be poking around with this a little more as well as time allows and we'll at least see some small steps somewhere. I think an issue I'm running into is not being on stock which seems to have a decent impact judging by the razr thread, it might be easier for a stock xt862 user(vs my 860) to try the edited zip since this would be closer to what's confirmed working.
 

Dri94

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
2,058
645
Florida
What are you using to detect the ugs? And im sure someone here, including me, wouldnt mind testing it for ya lol

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk
 

Pokelover980

Senior Member
Dec 25, 2010
151
22
I do remember reading in the RAZR threads that it should be done/works best over a stock system.

Indeed, they say it fails when not used over a stock system, and anything that interrupts the normal boot process, like, say, how safestrap hijacks the boot, will also cause it to fail. I was also reading some of the newer posts on one of the threads, and a possibility of it not working on CDMA is not just because it's CDMA, it's because there's so much crapware on the phone that there's a possibility that some of that could be affecting it (as apps like System Tuner can apparently muck up the process and cause it to fail, it's possible that bloatware can too).
 

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  • 24
    Right now the new kernel has a display issue that both me and jonpry are working through.

    Situation is like this:
    - We now has a new 3.0 kernel. So it's old PowerVR drivers are out of date and can't be used.
    - Can't use any of the PowerVR drivers on RAZR, Droid 4 or Bionic due to memory allocation changes in the kernel.
    - Texas Instruments provides "stock" PowerVR drivers as binaries and kernel module source for developers working on their "stock" 3.0 kernel.

    Solution:
    - We're altering the Motorola 3.0 kernel to be more like the stock TI kernel so that these binaries will work.

    Takes time. :/

    And obviously w/ JB out, I'm splitting duties.

    Thanks for being patient!
    22
    From my end, I have a very set focus at the moment.

    #1 for me is getting the new kernel merged up to a point where it can use all of the goodies I have for it.

    This is a fairly long process starting with a grueling merge of code that I'm on day #4 of. Then, I get to debug the thing for days/weeks until most the kernels are resolved,. This includes turning back on the rpmsg system and debugging memory allocation issues that we had previously.

    Only after that, do we finally get to see how effective this new ducati runs on the D3, and if it will work with our camera hardware, etc.

    So sound issues aside, I still have several days/weeks before I can see a new bootup of the kernel in what I consider a really usable state.

    #2 Once the new kernel is functional, I can choose 1 of 2 paths:
    A) I could work on kexec binaries to use the new kernel on the other phones. This would be needed before we could test it on the RAZR and compare audio notes.
    B) I could continue to troubleshoot the D3's audio w/o a reference point like the RAZR and see where it goes.

    I'm not sure I would call that "back burner" :p


    Sent from my XT894 using Tapatalk 2
    19
    Quick status update:
    - I have successfully tested video decoding using the new ducati on the Kindle Fire (doesn't have a camera)
    - And I'm now working on the new Moto kernel bringing it up-to-date so it can use the same drivers and ducati as the KFire, and once done it will be easier to update straight from TI. The new kernel version is 4AI.1.6 (3.0.31 mainline) for those that are curious.

    Reading this thread and thinking about it some more, I will continue to do ICS builds as it's ready for the new codecs w/o any additional changes (once the kernel is done). Be nice to see what's going work and what isn't.

    Once ICS is running well, I'll start on JB. Which will need audio changes and a bunch of optimizations.

    Thoughts?

    Sent from my XT894 using Tapatalk 2
    14
    Starting the "big merge" to add the functionality to this kernel that the D3 would need to fully operate under ICS:
    - Stuff like updated PowerVR binaries
    - Update WLAN drivers and firmware
    - Handling for 512MB codecs (may only be HD codecs not camera-- testing will tell)
    - Etc

    You can see the new kernel developing here:
    http://gitorious.org/droid3-kexec/droid3-kexec-kernel/commits/3.0.8-dev

    Right now I'm debugging the rpmsg sub-system which loads the HD codec binary (ducati).
    13
    I have a new version of Safestrap which handles the kexec load as part of the ROM.

    Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk 2