[ROM] Acer AV041 1.31.00 WW GEN1 w/ Root and Busybox [May 18, 2012]

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Rom (Ice Cream Sandwich):

A Near stock image, modified for a clean root, busybox install
ezAcer_AV041_A500_1.31.00_WW_GEN1_RootBusybox_S.zi p
(MD5: 7e9fe5642b6e082fb4382288337d8dfa)

The long overdue update to my previous Honeycomb rom

==~== Requirements ==~==

This rom requires the unlocked ICS bootloader, I also recommend my A500 Public Recovery, however all recoverys patched for the new bootloader ought to allow installation of the rom.

Bootloader install instructions are: here thanks to civato. Note for step 4 simply ensure my update zip above is either in on the device instead of the ones listed. Note instructions below before actually flashing the rom.

Additional information can be found at Skrilax_CZ's bootloader development thread here

And my A500 Public Recovery development thread here

==~== Installing ==~==

Once you have the new bootloader and ICS recovery installed (again preferably the A500 Public Recovery but any ought to work)

1. Cleaning your tablet:
   
   If you are attempting to upgrade the tablet without wiping (and there is no need to wipe if you are currently running my acer7.014.14 rooted image
   
   Select "cleanup tab" in the main menu of the A500 Public Recovery
   
   (If you are using another recovery, select the options for a. Wipe Cache, b. Wipe Dalvik Cache, and c. Fix Permissions)
   
2. Install the rom:
   
   Select "install zip from sdcard" and navigate to ezAcer_AV041_A500_1.31.00_WW_GEN1_RootBusybox_S.zi p

Thats it

==~== Root ==~==

Applications are granted Superuser access from ChainsDD's Superuser.apk as usual (a request asking you will appear when an application requests root, and permissions granted before the upgrade may still be active post upgrade)

adb shell: ADB by default will not have root access here you have the following options:

> if you run 'adb root' all adb operations will have root until reboot (aka 'adb shell' and 'adb remount')
> If you have a non-root 'adb shell' you can switch to root with the 'su' command
> If you wish to restore the permanent adb root on boot add the following line to the build.prop 'service.adb.root=1' this will force the old behavior of root always via adb without using the 'adb root' command.

This change has been made as its a little more secure, (However obviously still lets anyone with access to the USB port access to all the tablets data)

==~== Features ==~==

This rom is intended for users that wish a nearly stock system configuration, however either need root and busybox, or enjoy conducting more advanced tasks at the command line and wish a smooth root experience.

In addition some other small mini-fixes have been applied to the image in hope of a smooth experience.

Here is a list of the features and changes in the rom

• Modified ADB to allow adb root to operate without changing the production build properties
• Kernel patched to allow system remount
• Busybox built from CM9 source tree and integrated into the rom
• runparts (ie /system/etc/init.d functionality)
• GPS lto fix thanks to waydownsouth
• FDUpdater (ie system update) removed to not be prompt for an update you can't install.. if you want it the original app is in the system folder of the update.zip, (FDUpdater.apk) its not odexed so install normally)
• Kernel modules md4.ko sha512_generic.ko and cifs.ko added to the rom (md4/sha512 is loaded on boot via an init.d script, users of cifs need to check the "Load cifs module" option in CifsManager.
• Added Superuser
• DHCP Infinite Lease bugfix (why has google not fixed this) applied as a patch to the framework.odex
• Rom is still odexed (and I re-odexed the one changed odex for the DHCP patch)

Developers wanting more details or the source to anything I changed can see this detailed modification guide: http://pastebin.com/ApUjMDJ7

Note to anyone wishing to make a modification to the rom they are flashing, everything in the system folder of the update.zip is unchanged from the original rom. (when flashed the system is patched and augmented via various files and tools in the custom directory, also the boot image is pre-patched)

==~== Extras and Addons ==~==

** Overclocked test kernel: See my ezT20 kernel here (previously OCTestV3 here
(kernel last updated June 18th 2012)

** Disk IO enhancement: significantly increase diskio scores, and make the table slightly more responsive when reading/writing to flash: On this post
(diskIO last updated June 5th 2012)

==~== Tips and Tricks ==~==

This section is where I try to explain how to get the most of your tablet, and solutions to common complaints due to changes between versions.

-----) Rom "Bloat" (------

First half of what people call rom bloat is not quite true, (there is such a thing, and problems related to it)
Our tablets have 590MB system partition, a 97MB vendor partition, a 1GB cache partition, and the rest of your tablets space in a data partition (mine is 27GB, but if you have a smaller tablet model it will be less) All roms will have currently the same split between the partitions.

Its only that last partition that contains your data, the system/vendor partitions are by default read only, and the cache partition is temporary data.

System apps are on the two read only partitions, thus removing them for the most part will not cause more data to be available to your apps. Also this is storage space so having more "free" will not speed up your device (well as long as we are not too close to full.. and this rom is not)

Most of these apps play nice, they don't run unless you select them thus you can ignore they are on your tablet and all will be just as fast as if they were never installed

There is however one *Problem* Applications pre-installed that run constantly in the background that you the user are not interested in.

Solution: Freezing apps

* Goto Settings-> Apps-> All

* For any of the following that you do not use:
> Photo Browser 3D
> SocialJogger
> Acer Media

Select the app,
Choose Disable
Clear Data

If you use the app, obviously keep it enabled, also you can return to this screen and re-enable the app.

-----) Screen flickering/brightness oddities (------

I have had some brightness issues initially, simple fix was to go into settings->display->brightness uncheck auto bightness, lower the meter, and re-check auto brightness

-----) Sluggish system (------

Make sure on first boot you give the system some time (2h/3h after upgrading or re-installing where there is a large collection of media on the tablet) before measuring speed, as the system may be still sorting/indexing tablet data and will speed up when done.

Also while apps are installing the system may behave slower (if you have many market updates happening in the background)

Otherwise check running processes in settings to see if anything may be slowing down your tablet in the background (Settings -> Apps -> Running)

==~== Credits ==~==

civato - for his guide to installing the new bootloader and some testing of some of the tools I use to patch the rom up
waydownsouth - for the GPS patches (and work on CM9 for our tablets as it helped create some of the utilities in use here)
CyanogenMod and Team - For the idea of the root change, modifications to the bustybox build, and Koush's ClockworkMod recovery
vache - various insight all over XDA on how our device works (and leaks but this build is from the official OTA I recived)
Skrilax_CZ - for the unlocked bootlaoder, without which we couldn't run these roms
And the many others that provide development insight, source code, and examples here on XDA

2nd Post

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reserved for future

Nice and congratulations with your release.
I will ad a link to this rom in the unlocked bootloader guide.

Overclocked kernel [May 23rd 2012]

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(wow I think we can hear crickets in here..)

Anyway using the now released source code from acer, and richardtrip's OC patches from HC I now have an overclocked kernel.
As of V3 I also have the voltage controls patched up from richardtrip's kernel.

AcerOCTestV3_S.zip
MD5: 6907e7585fedf534261cc8ebe23d824a

Instructions are simple: flash from recovery

Links to the github source and other information on the AcerOCTest kernels is in this related notecard

While I've only tested it on this rom, the installer is using koush's anykernel logic (or one of my own flavors of that logic anyway) and thus this ought to cleanly install on any rom based on the stock ICS kernel regardless of the tweaks the rom creator may have added.)

Also I've not had much time to test so let me know if there are issues

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List of all versions:

V3 - AcerOCTestV3_S.zip (md5: 6907e7585fedf534261cc8ebe23d824a) May 23rd 2012
V2 - AcerOCTestV2_S.zip (md5: da01a90dda3916ec55ebb62bbb1164f1) May 22rd 2012
V1 - no public binary (caused reboots on tablet sleep)

Just tried the OC kernel on Civato's latest rom and it does work. Can't go over 1.2ghz without a reboot, but that extra bit of speed is nice.

Originally Posted by Jigga0o7

Just tried the OC kernel on Civato's latest rom and it does work. Can't go over 1.2ghz without a reboot, but that extra bit of speed is nice.

what dosn't work? >1.2ghz or flashing it on Civato's rom

the rom ought to work, it extracts the current boot.img, swaps the zImage (leaves the ramdisk) and swaps the modules in /system/lib/modules.

as for the speed.. your device is intended for 1.0ghz any thing extra is a bonus.. the kernel thus boots at 1.0

edit: although I'll look into it some may be a new verification in the updated kernel. the tegra2 OC logic is much more complicated than the msm logic I'm used to on the HTC dream.. I'm more worried about reboot-on-wake bugs I had in earlier revisions

Originally Posted by ezterry

what dosn't work? >1.2ghz or flashing it on Civato's rom

the rom ought to work, it extracts the current boot.img, swaps the zImage (leaves the ramdisk) and swaps the modules in /system/lib/modules.

as for the speed.. your device is intended for 1.0ghz any thing extra is a bonus.. the kernel thus boots at 1.0

Oh I said that it does work and that the only thing is can't go over 1.2ghz. We've got a nice speed bump here, thanks for your hard work.

Originally Posted by Jigga0o7

Oh I said that it does work and that the only thing is can't go over 1.2ghz. We've got a nice speed bump here, thanks for your hard work.

looking closer its a but..
So now I have two OC tests I've made.. the first one I didn't publish because while it could go > 1.2 it crashed when you put the tab to sleep. (at least when USB wasn't connected)

This one crashes when you go over 1.2.

maybe if a combine them I can get something that works...

Perhaps a slight voltage bump is needed to get beyond 1.2? In either case, 1.2ghz feels leaps and bounds faster than 1ghz using this rom. I'm starting to feel like we don't even need cyanogenmod 9 for the a500.

Originally Posted by Jigga0o7

Perhaps a slight voltage bump is needed to get beyond 1.2? In either case, 1.2ghz feels leaps and bounds faster than 1ghz using this rom. I'm starting to feel like we don't even need cyanogenmod 9 for the a500.

No.. well maybe but you not getting that far.. its a kernel BUG condition, meaning some code found some invalid input and refused to process it, instead triggered a reboot.. looking at the diff of mycode and the code in the CM thread.. no logic is different so i'll need to poke min/max rail voltages. (still sorting out all the voltages and CPU speeds.. the dream had it all in one large table .. here it seems spread out in various places between two files..)

(I'll also try to include the voltage manipulation patches just making sure things are stable first thus 1.2ghz is a better testing speed for me than trying to Max my device)

As for CM..it seems to have many interesting features.. but at some point I'm not sure its direction matches my interests.. (maybe its just become too much of a kitchen sink i don't know, that or too much now in aosp) I'm sure to look at it but probably start an aosp build with cherrypicked features I like.. until then this tweaked ics rom will need to do.