[GT-P6210][KERNEL][UV/OC]garyd9's GT-P6210 kernel (updated 2012-01-23)

I am not installing this kernel on your device. I've even gone out of my way to not give clear directions on how to install it yourself. If you decide to install this kernel, you are assuming all risks involved with it.


WARNING: THIS KERNEL IS NOT FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH THE LA3 FIRMWARE UPDATE. USING THIS KERNEL WITH THE UPDATED VERSION WILL RESULT IN WIRELESS ETHERNET BEING DISABLED.

Welcome to my custom compiled kernel for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 (wifi only.) This kernel will ONLY work for the GT-P6210 model.

The kernel should be compatible with any stock firmware or anything custom that's derived from the stock firmware. (I refuse to call it a ROM. It's not Read Only.)

First, proper credit should go to Entropy512 and his SGH-i777 kernels. It's from that work I was inspired to do this, and from that work where I'm pulling ideas and changes (when compatible.) I'd give some credit to Samsung, but they only bothered to post partial source code, and didn't even bother to post it with the proper config flags.

The idea behind this kernel is and will be to make the device more efficient. Longer battery life while running more smoothly is a Good Thing. I don't care about benchmark scores. In case someone missed that, I DO NOT CARE ABOUT BENCHMARK SCORES. Anyone can tweak a system to get a better benchmark, but that doesn't mean it'll actually work better. Concern #1 is and should always be stability. While some tweaks will be added that allow a user to make the system unstable, they won't be the default.


Differences from stock currently include:

• Very slight speed increase in bootup, possibly in other areas
• Support for init.d script parsing on bootup
• A real busybox (with proper links) installed to /sbin (and therefore available to the system)
• Undervolting and minor overclocking support (via SetCPU)
• android ram_console support (useful for post-mortem of crashes.)
• standard boot animation support
• quicker charging with iphone chargers

Voltage and Clock Adjustments:
If you choose to tinker with the processor voltages and/or clock speeds, there will be no support in this thread. None. Yes, I'm using it myself, but I won't even support myself if I screw things up. If you find an issue with this kernel, BEFORE you post about it here, re-test after reverting all the voltage and clock speeds back to default. If it works with the default clocks/voltages, then don't waste your time or mine by posting about it to this thread. It's not supported. You can destroy your tablet by messing with the voltages and clocks.

You'll need a separate tool for voltage and clock adjustments. The one I see most frequently used is "SetCPU" (http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=505419.) I'm in no way affiliated with the author of that tool. You should be warned that SetCPU does not seem to be fully compatible with our tablets: There seems to be no way to bring up the menu in the program. If the program is "honeycomb compatible", this is likely due to the author making assumptions about screen dimensions on tablet devices (fairly common error.) Don't tell me about it. It's not my program.


ToDo:

• Find source for the ethernet module and replace it (which will also allow adding more generic optimizations to the kernel.)
• ethernet adhoc support (not really kernel specific, but not possible without the ethernet module...)
• Figure out what samsung changed in the LA3 kernel (and didn't publish) so I can get the kernel working with the firmware update.

Known Issues:

• Probably not compatible with stock firmware updates. (won't fix.)
• NOT COMPATIBLE WITH LA3 FIRMWARE UPDATE!!

Flashing Instructions:
This is being released as an installable "update.zip" style installer. Stick the .zip file on your device, reboot into recovery, and install it from there. If this isn't enough information, please search and read the forums before changing your device kernel. (Flashing a .zip in recovery is a very basic skill that should be mastered early.)

Firmware Developers:
If you want to use it, please link to this thread and give clear indication of which version of the kernel you are including.

Legal:
This is based on the linux kernel, and therefore I'm including links to the modified source for the kernel (https://github.com/garyd9/linux_kernel_GT-P6210) and contents of initramfs (https://github.com/garyd9/initramfs_normal_GT-P6210)

PLEASE DO NOT MIRROR THE DOWNLOADS. IF YOU WANT TO REFERENCE THE KERNELS, PLEASE ONLY LINK TO THIS THREAD.

Change Log

20120128:

• Support for iphone charger detection - pull up to 750mA from detected iphone chargers (1500mA from the samsung charger, and 500mA from everything else including a computer USB port.)
• Testing USB "high current" charging. This is currently not enabled by default (and until I'm happy that it's stable and safe, I won't be documenting it.)

20120123: (actually posted on the 24th)

• Minor adjustments related to the MMC and SD card interfaces (which includes the wifi interface)
• Starting to pull in mainline kernel fixes (including fixes for some kernel panics/reboots.)

20120107:

• disable mali state tracking. Doesn't seem to have any actual impact, but should reduce a small amount of overhead
• add support for "reboot bootloader." Actually, the support was already there if the command sent to reboot was "download", but several android tools (such as "Quick Boot") want to send the command as "bootloader." This is only useful if you have a desire to reboot your device into "Download Mode" (aka "ODIN mode")
• Replaced samsung j4fs.ko binary module with one built from sources. No impact other than easier to maintain.

20120105:

• added standard bootanimation support (if bootanimation.zip is found in /system/media, it's used. Otherwise, the default samsung animation is used. Standard samsung music is played either way.)
• It's now possible to tweak the conservative governor sampling rate down to 50,000 (default is still 100,000.) If done, this may make the tablet more responsive in some situations (however, there may also be a negative impact to battery life - everything is a trade-off.)

20120102:

• added android ram_console support. After installing this kernel, if you reboot/crash, it should leave a file in /proc called "last_kmsg" that will show the last several kernel messages from before the reboot/crash.

20120101:

• undervolting and overclocking support (only up to 1.4GHz)

If you decide that you want to overclock or undervolt your tablet, you are 100% on your own. You can easily fry your tablet's processor by messing with voltages and clock speeds. If you have issues with this kernel, remove all overclocking and voltage adjustments before you even bother posting on this thread.

• Use "SetCPU" to change voltages, clocks, and governors. SetCPU can be found on the market and on XDA at the following link: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=505419 (I am in no way affiliated with the author of that program.)

20111231 (initial release):

• build compatible with stock ar6000.ko module
• init.d script support
• busybox in /sbin
• cleanup of kernel config to remove excess debugging (when possible)

Frequently Asked and Anticipated Questions

Q: Will this work with the GT-P6200, GT-P6200L, or SGH-T869?
A: No

Q: Can you make a kernel for the GT-P6200, GT-P6200L, or SGH-T869?
A: I probably could if I had the hardware to test with. Without a sample of hardware, I can't even begin to guess if what I've done already will work, or what it might take to make it work. If you really want me to do one of those devices, please feel free to send me one. (Making a recovery kernel is quite a bit easier as it doesn't have to work with the ethernet, sound, modem or any other drivers.)

Q: Why doesn't this kernel include CWM Recovery?
A: On the GT7+ devices, the recovery boots from a completely seperate partition than the normal boot. When the device boots recovery, the normal boot kernel isn't ever loaded (and vice versa.) Therefore, it doesn't make sense to package them together.

Q: Why is the sky blue?
A: Please refer to: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

reserved for even more future use

mike216 said:

PLEASE IGNORE THE SIGNATURE!

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Click to collapse

Wow, that actually made me laugh out loud. (My wife just ran in to ask if I was alright.) Thank you.

mike216 said:

I'm updating my tab in kies rite now before I flash this kernel. Your kernel should work fine? I know we can't update in kies once clockwork recovery is installed but I was wondering if kies will still recognize that I have a firmware update?

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Click to collapse

Probably, but I didn't try it. Let us know how it works out.

mike216 said:

I see your framework zip wipes the dalvik cache and I was wondering if we have to wipe both caches before flashing the kernel?

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Click to collapse

What framework are you referring to? I try very hard to make the stuff I do "self contained", so if a cache should be wiped, it either gets wiped automatically, or there's a message displayed telling you to do it manually.

In context of this thread, there's no need to wipe any caches before installing this kernel.

Perhaps your question is in reference to something in another thread?