[Q] What specifically needs to happen to have wimax work on evo 4g using ics

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ittsmith

Member
May 29, 2011
13
7
I have a general IT background of 10+ years with basic scripting skills so understand on a general level about drivers but I have been reading for several months trying to understand the EXACT nature of the problem for why i still don't see a ICS rom for the evo4g with working (or semi-working) wimaxx.

Can someone please educate me? Here is my version....

Sprint has retired the evo4g via end of life decision process and so does not have a formal team working on an ICS build of any kind for my phone. I don't agree with this decision, but i understand why Sprint is not providing me with one.

Because Sprint has retired the phone, HTC is not doing any development for the phone and so THEY aren't providing me with any drivers. I'm not sure who of these two made the business decision, Sprint or HTC, probably HTC. Either way, no formal support from either of them. I don't agree, but accept that.

As for developers coming up with their own, this is where I'm expecting magic and so instead of just crying "where are my drivers, where is my rom" i am attempting to learn why they aren't here and am requesting an education on the subject.
From my understanding, AOSP is Googles contribution for free to the world. This is a great operating system for running phones for a variety of reasons. From there, manufacturers take the basic kernel and modify it to work with their equipment. This is where it gets a bit confusing for me.

I think that the manufacturers do two things. One, is that they work with chip manufacturers to obtain proprietary drivers for specific chipsets that integrate into the basic kernel. Two is that phone manufacturers ALSO modify the kernel so as to make a proprietary version of the kernel. So HTC made a propritary version of the kernel and incorporated SENSE (among other things) into that proprietary kernel, and hooked up proprietary drivers that may or may not work with the AOSP kernel to provide services such as video and wimax and sound etc.

I know teamwin some how reverse engineered or manufactured a wimax driver for gingerbread such that the wimax driver was available for the AOSP Gingerbread kernel, but teamwin or nobody else has done that such that a wimax driver is available for the AOSP ICS kernel

I know that HTC has wimax working on some of its phones that have ICS via threads that talk about it being leaked (i.e Nexxus 4g).

So here are some questions... I suspect none of them are accurately asked.

Version1
Does AOSP ICS kernel have the ability to have a wimaxx driver built/interfaced into it?
If so, is it HTC that technically owns this driver or another specific company?

Version2
If AOSP ICS kernel does not, does that mean we currently need both a specific evo4g ICS kernel AND the wimax driver built?
Or are either of these easy to build and we just need one part of them built...meaning the wimax driver is out in the world for developers now and all that needs to happens is for someone to put some "hooks" into a new evo4g kernel such that they would work with the driver.


I apologize in advance if i broke some posting rules. I can't post in developement section yet so i placed in q/a where it says "any question". I did some basic research on the subject so i'm not just whining i don't have my driver. I am trying to get at the specific thing that needs to happen for my evo4g rom to have wimax working on ICS.

My theory is "HTC owns the wimax driver for ICS but won't release the source code as they only want to bring certain wimax devices into the ICS generation. It is proprietary to a specific kernel so if it was released, it would not instantly work with the AOSP kernel and other kernels. It would still need further development (but on which end???). It is illegal and difficult for someone to reverse engineer this ICS WIMAXX driver. It is legal, but still difficult for someone to create a generic ICS WIMAXX driver. Since both are difficult they will not happen soon."

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
 

willfck4beer

Senior Member
Oct 18, 2007
254
42
*DISCLAIMER - everything I say below is based on belief and may be wrong. :)

Believe that the majority of what you said is correct.
Slight thing - nexxus 4g (I believe this is sammy/goog, no?)
While kernel may have specific customizations for sense, believe sense is built on top of OS (ICS) and not IN the kernel itself per se.

(MOST LIKELY SCENARIO): Believe that HTC has to release an update where ICS and Sense crap all play nicely together and sprint has to test it and release it and then xda devs need to fix it to remove bloat, optimize, and ensure no more CIQ-ish kind of crap or htc spy crap or root removal...can't trust any of these bastards. The update will have ICS + Sense + Kernel (including the proprietary or binary blob drivers for things like wimax, camera, screen).

(IDEAL SCENARIO): HTC quit being little Apple-tards, realize that their differentiator is that they ARE NOT a walled garden - that customer enthusiasm is a good thing. They get off their asses and send a working kernel source for ICS AOSP (just the kernel) to team douche/team win/team kang... somebody cool (officially or unofficially) and BAM - everything works great in the AOSP/AOKP world. I mean really - if we are going to be in a walled garden, is not Apple's the best? Why not just buy iphones if HTC's gonna be a giant douche? Turd sandwich or Samsung would be better options.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. This is a learning experience for me too! :)
 

sinnedone

Senior Member
Apr 13, 2010
616
104
Wondering about this as well. It would be nice if the source code for the nexus 4g(wimax) would help us on the EVO front.
 

Papa Smurf151

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2010
5,643
6,741
Atlanta
One of the biggest problems for the ics rom is its not based on the kernel its supposed to be running. The kernel has been frankenkerneled from tiamats gb kernel with the correct settings to run as ics. While I know that the kernel has been updated to somewhat but its not the true ics kernel some of these other phones are running and also while team douche or team win got the wimax working on aosp gb back in the day...they are no longer working on the evo and also wimax back then wasn't a quick fix. It was on the back burner for the longest time. I commend you on wanting to work on the drivers and learn. I would start by contacting prelude drew via twitter and or atyoung the current dev for the mason ics kernel that hes had great success with. Those two could point you in the right direction or bring on board with them on getting everything working especially with your strong IT background it will come in handy.
 

willfck4beer

Senior Member
Oct 18, 2007
254
42
Forgive my fading memory, but wikipedia reports Android supports wimax directly.
I thought I read elsewhere that 2.3 GB or 3 and on was supposed to support wimax natively - thereby obviating team win's wimax "fix."
?So ICS doesn't support wimax (or it does?) but we need a driver from the mfg? Is this a broadcom/qualcomm thing? Proprietary driver? Supplied to HTC as a binary blob rather than source?

Will we likely have a first breakthrough when HTC releases the source to ANY ICS kernel?

Will we similarly have a closer breakthrough when HTC releases source to a phone with wimax by same mfg?

What happened to the leaks? Ninja911? Fxck it seems dev has stagnated on these devices. So much hardware and we can't use any of it! GRRRR Why is anyone still buying HTC when they are cxckblocking us so entirely?

Surely if HTC wanted to they could release an ICS AOSP kernel source with little to no effort that works with AOSP roms right? They don't have to do any of their purported excuse for the delay (i.e. get ICS and Sense to play nice, right?)

As it is ICS AOSP can't use 4G, Netflix, Front Camera, HWA...?
On the E3d there's no 4G, no 3D camera, no 3d display, ...
HDMI/MHI surely won't work, will they?
Basically anything that makes the Evo special above a free android type phone?
Along with other issues.

GOD I'd LOVE a 4G working MIUI ICS, CM9, ... but it will never happen - just HTC's corporate culture? I think we have to vote with our $ and support Samsung or a hungry underdog (like HTC used to be) such as Huawei, LG?

Sorry for the vent. Please correct if I've miss-stated above. Learning experience. :)
 

BeerMit

Senior Member
Aug 25, 2009
93
11
Larry-ville
My sentiments exactly...

I've been curious about this for the past couple months, I just assumed it was because Sprint felt the Evo4G had run its course, had a good life, etc, and it was time to retire it.

And then since Sprint was no longer supporting HTC followed suit by deciding since Sprint was cutting support for it, HTC realized it was kinda pointless for them to upgrade it. It IS almost 2 years old, so I'm not too irked by it, but I'd like to echo the OP's concern about them not just releasing some ICS compatible drivers for those of us with tinkering hands to play with.

*sigh* Guess I'll just have to wait until the LTEVO is released...
 

-EViL-KoNCEPTz-

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2011
6,259
3,471
Tampa Bay area
The evo was classified EOL(end of life) before ICS source was even released by Google, therefore HTC has no ICS drivers for them to release because a) they never built anything ICS for the evo and b) alot of the hardware drivers are proprietary and come from the individual hardware manufacturers and not HTC. HTC simply compiles the drivers into a final build to make each specific device function

Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
 

ittsmith

Member
May 29, 2011
13
7
The evo was classified EOL(end of life) before ICS source was even released by Google, therefore HTC has no ICS drivers for them to release because a) they never built anything ICS for the evo and b) alot of the hardware drivers are proprietary and come from the individual hardware manufacturers and not HTC. HTC simply compiles the drivers into a final build to make each specific device function

Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Ok, so i understand that HTC and Sprint are out of it, but WHO is the manufacturer of my wimax antenna and is this antenna in any device that has ICS running on it? If so, I'm sensing from this post that even if they release this driver, it still won't help cuz the EVO 4g ICS rom's are actually frankensteined gingerbread code? That seems even weirder. Why wouldn't the EVO 4g ICS roms be frankensteined ICS code massaged for the evo from ICS?
Thanks for the term BLOB. I'll research how that interplays with kernel and OS version and driver and see if i can get a better handle on it. It just annoys me that i'm paying for wimax but in order to use it i have to be on older OS. This phone is totally fine for my basic needs and still has plenty of life left in it. They are accellerating the "planned obselecense" way to fast. Sorry for the typos...its late for me. Thanks everyone.
 

Papa Smurf151

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2010
5,643
6,741
Atlanta
Ok, so i understand that HTC and Sprint are out of it, but WHO is the manufacturer of my wimax antenna and is this antenna in any device that has ICS running on it? If so, I'm sensing from this post that even if they release this driver, it still won't help cuz the EVO 4g ICS rom's are actually frankensteined gingerbread code? That seems even weirder. Why wouldn't the EVO 4g ICS roms be frankensteined ICS code massaged for the evo from ICS?
Thanks for the term BLOB. I'll research how that interplays with kernel and OS version and driver and see if i can get a better handle on it. It just annoys me that i'm paying for wimax but in order to use it i have to be on older OS. This phone is totally fine for my basic needs and still has plenty of life left in it. They are accellerating the "planned obselecense" way to fast. Sorry for the typos...its late for me. Thanks everyone.

Its Frankenstein gb code with ics code intertwined cause there are no drivers for ics that'll run the evo so the other kernel was modified to work for ics
 

bjohanso

Member
Mar 15, 2011
26
1
San Mateo, CA
I'm no expert on Android but I do understand operating systems pretty well, so here is my best guess as to what is going on:

1) A kernel is pretty hardware generic (maybe architecture dependent only) and provides various functions to the software that runs on top of it (e.g. the Dalvik VM that runs most Android apps and Android/Sense UI) and it is provided by Google. Each kernel will need to have certain features/capabilities that are specific to a given Android release (i.e. you can't just use a GB kernel with ICS since it will be missing some features expected by the ICS UI and Dalvik VM).

2) Individual manufacturers need to add drivers (kernel modules) in with the generic kernel from Google to support the specific chips on a given phone. So, for our Evo 4g there need to be drivers for the WiMax chip, camera, bluetooth, etc.. These drivers need to be updated for each new Android release kernel. Depending on how a release kernel changes, this could be just a re-compile or it might require somebody to rework the code. If the WiMax code needs more than just a recompile, then it is either a lot of work for an amateur dev team to try and refactor the GB WiMax code to work for an ICS kernel OR HTC needs to do the work and release it for us. Since the latter is unlikely to happen, getting WiMax working would require a lot of work from an amateur developer.

3) It is also possible that some drivers are just released as binary blobs that are loaded by the kernel. In this case, a binary driver that was compatible with a GB kernel may no longer be compatible with the ICS kernel. In this case if HTC doesn't release it, it would require a ground up write of an ICS driver for WiMax, which is unlikely to happen.

The above is my best guess as to what is going on as a general field expert on kernels/drivers. Since I'm not as familiar with Android specifically, I could be off on what is happening here. We'd need somebody who has played around with Android kernel development for the Evo 4g to say for sure.
 

-EViL-KoNCEPTz-

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2011
6,259
3,471
Tampa Bay area
I'm no expert on Android but I do understand operating systems pretty well, so here is my best guess as to what is going on:

1) A kernel is pretty hardware generic (maybe architecture dependent only) and provides various functions to the software that runs on top of it (e.g. the Dalvik VM that runs most Android apps and Android/Sense UI) and it is provided by Google. Each kernel will need to have certain features/capabilities that are specific to a given Android release (i.e. you can't just use a GB kernel with ICS since it will be missing some features expected by the ICS UI and Dalvik VM).

2) Individual manufacturers need to add drivers (kernel modules) in with the generic kernel from Google to support the specific chips on a given phone. So, for our Evo 4g there need to be drivers for the WiMax chip, camera, bluetooth, etc.. These drivers need to be updated for each new Android release kernel. Depending on how a release kernel changes, this could be just a re-compile or it might require somebody to rework the code. If the WiMax code needs more than just a recompile, then it is either a lot of work for an amateur dev team to try and refactor the GB WiMax code to work for an ICS kernel OR HTC needs to do the work and release it for us. Since the latter is unlikely to happen, getting WiMax working would require a lot of work from an amateur developer.

3) It is also possible that some drivers are just released as binary blobs that are loaded by the kernel. In this case, a binary driver that was compatible with a GB kernel may no longer be compatible with the ICS kernel. In this case if HTC doesn't release it, it would require a ground up write of an ICS driver for WiMax, which is unlikely to happen.

The above is my best guess as to what is going on as a general field expert on kernels/drivers. Since I'm not as familiar with Android specifically, I could be off on what is happening here. We'd need somebody who has played around with Android kernel development for the Evo 4g to say for sure.

You're fairly close, the android kernel is essentially the Linux kernel, HTC doesn't build the wimax driver I believe its qualcomm that makes the radios in our devices but I'm not sure they make the wimax radio or just the cdma radio. They make a good amount of the hardware in the evo from radios to gpu to audio control components. Building the drivers isn't an easy task for any single dev without existing source to modify, even someone who does it for a living would have a long, difficult road to building a driver from the ground up with no preexisting source to use as a map I've been working on drivers for ics for a cpl months and its not easy starting with a blank page and starting code from scratch. Even with the existing aosp wimax drivers available for the evo, so much has changed in ics modifying the drivers is basically like starting from scratch cuz so much code needs to be reworked. It will probably be one of the last things to be added just like it was on gb

Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
 
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sinnedone

Senior Member
Apr 13, 2010
616
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What about when they update the EVO3D? Will either the ics update for the 3d or when they release the kernel source for 3d ics help?
 
There is so much awesome going on.. our best bet, would be to grab the EVO design 4g update. That would be as close as we can get.
then someone can port it here
Hopefully HTC will release a source code for the kernel & or RUU. Then we can go from there...
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
 

ittsmith

Member
May 29, 2011
13
7
Thank you, i am learning alot.

Is there a page that discusses the evo 4g specifically and shows what parts are frankensteined and what are not. Ideally, something like

Radio
- wimax - unavailable
- cmda - Use ICS wrapper on Gingerbread kernel driver 2.2. wrapper created by developer abc. Gingerbread kernel driver - HTC Android 2.3 patch - version 12341
Graphics
- something - blob - developer xzy
- something else - blob - developer def
- something else - kernel driver - Standard Android 4.0 patch - version 5.6
Camera
- front - ICS blob - developer pdq
- back - unavailable
Microphone
- standard - ICS Kernel Driver - Standard Android 4.0 patch - version 3.3

etc

I would think that each phone has a "map" of what is available and I would think developers would share. Obviously the first thing I would look at on this map is what did Teamwin do? I can't imagine they created a BLOB, but instead did they use a wrapper on a Froyo wimaxx driver or a wrapper on a gingerbread sense patch or did they write it themselves.
 

ittsmith

Member
May 29, 2011
13
7
Doing some research I've gotten this data...am I on the right track to build my map of the EVO 4g for ICS. Why isn't this public knowledge somewhere. I am trying and not being lazy...well, not super lazy...

I got this from the cm9 thread for evo, thanks people in there for posting details

mason v14sbc ics kernel (Nonfso nonsbc, hwa kernel)

back camera - system/lib/hw/1sd8k.so

Camcorder
libmediaplayerservice.so
libOmxCore.so
libOmxVdec.so
libOmxVidEnc.so
libstagefright.so
libstagefrighthw.so
 

imheroldman

Senior Member
Apr 10, 2011
642
119
Chico
@ittsmith, sounds like you are aiming to be the next kernel genius. With this type of info you will be able to develop on kernels for far more devices than just evo...

Anyhow, I am no developer by any means just getting into programming, but I wanted to lay out my train of thought and see if it stands up or has any insight.

Any manufacturer has to start with AOSP source, and then build for their specific device. So, if theoretically HTC was building an ICS kernel they would begin there, with the latest source from Google. Then they would add in the device tree, much like building a ROM from source only here we are talking core drivers and such for proprietary hardware, and finally build a custom kernel for that device.

Now of course these guys have full access to source and drivers and the like of which we may not have... Though htcdev does have kernel source on their site. So, like you said initially why not take the ICS kernel and make it compatible to EVO? That is exactly what HTC would do, and does for the other devices that are receiving updates...

I remember running gingerbread long before there was an update to the evo, and there were gingerbread kernels... So I am just thinking we don't have the tools and know how to get the job done but all the pieces may be there. I would say petition either toastcfh or even Adam Outler, as these two are pretty damn magical when it comes to Android devices and the linux kernel.
 
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    I have a general IT background of 10+ years with basic scripting skills so understand on a general level about drivers but I have been reading for several months trying to understand the EXACT nature of the problem for why i still don't see a ICS rom for the evo4g with working (or semi-working) wimaxx.

    Can someone please educate me? Here is my version....

    Sprint has retired the evo4g via end of life decision process and so does not have a formal team working on an ICS build of any kind for my phone. I don't agree with this decision, but i understand why Sprint is not providing me with one.

    Because Sprint has retired the phone, HTC is not doing any development for the phone and so THEY aren't providing me with any drivers. I'm not sure who of these two made the business decision, Sprint or HTC, probably HTC. Either way, no formal support from either of them. I don't agree, but accept that.

    As for developers coming up with their own, this is where I'm expecting magic and so instead of just crying "where are my drivers, where is my rom" i am attempting to learn why they aren't here and am requesting an education on the subject.
    From my understanding, AOSP is Googles contribution for free to the world. This is a great operating system for running phones for a variety of reasons. From there, manufacturers take the basic kernel and modify it to work with their equipment. This is where it gets a bit confusing for me.

    I think that the manufacturers do two things. One, is that they work with chip manufacturers to obtain proprietary drivers for specific chipsets that integrate into the basic kernel. Two is that phone manufacturers ALSO modify the kernel so as to make a proprietary version of the kernel. So HTC made a propritary version of the kernel and incorporated SENSE (among other things) into that proprietary kernel, and hooked up proprietary drivers that may or may not work with the AOSP kernel to provide services such as video and wimax and sound etc.

    I know teamwin some how reverse engineered or manufactured a wimax driver for gingerbread such that the wimax driver was available for the AOSP Gingerbread kernel, but teamwin or nobody else has done that such that a wimax driver is available for the AOSP ICS kernel

    I know that HTC has wimax working on some of its phones that have ICS via threads that talk about it being leaked (i.e Nexxus 4g).

    So here are some questions... I suspect none of them are accurately asked.

    Version1
    Does AOSP ICS kernel have the ability to have a wimaxx driver built/interfaced into it?
    If so, is it HTC that technically owns this driver or another specific company?

    Version2
    If AOSP ICS kernel does not, does that mean we currently need both a specific evo4g ICS kernel AND the wimax driver built?
    Or are either of these easy to build and we just need one part of them built...meaning the wimax driver is out in the world for developers now and all that needs to happens is for someone to put some "hooks" into a new evo4g kernel such that they would work with the driver.


    I apologize in advance if i broke some posting rules. I can't post in developement section yet so i placed in q/a where it says "any question". I did some basic research on the subject so i'm not just whining i don't have my driver. I am trying to get at the specific thing that needs to happen for my evo4g rom to have wimax working on ICS.

    My theory is "HTC owns the wimax driver for ICS but won't release the source code as they only want to bring certain wimax devices into the ICS generation. It is proprietary to a specific kernel so if it was released, it would not instantly work with the AOSP kernel and other kernels. It would still need further development (but on which end???). It is illegal and difficult for someone to reverse engineer this ICS WIMAXX driver. It is legal, but still difficult for someone to create a generic ICS WIMAXX driver. Since both are difficult they will not happen soon."

    Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
    2
    *DISCLAIMER - everything I say below is based on belief and may be wrong. :)

    Believe that the majority of what you said is correct.
    Slight thing - nexxus 4g (I believe this is sammy/goog, no?)
    While kernel may have specific customizations for sense, believe sense is built on top of OS (ICS) and not IN the kernel itself per se.

    (MOST LIKELY SCENARIO): Believe that HTC has to release an update where ICS and Sense crap all play nicely together and sprint has to test it and release it and then xda devs need to fix it to remove bloat, optimize, and ensure no more CIQ-ish kind of crap or htc spy crap or root removal...can't trust any of these bastards. The update will have ICS + Sense + Kernel (including the proprietary or binary blob drivers for things like wimax, camera, screen).

    (IDEAL SCENARIO): HTC quit being little Apple-tards, realize that their differentiator is that they ARE NOT a walled garden - that customer enthusiasm is a good thing. They get off their asses and send a working kernel source for ICS AOSP (just the kernel) to team douche/team win/team kang... somebody cool (officially or unofficially) and BAM - everything works great in the AOSP/AOKP world. I mean really - if we are going to be in a walled garden, is not Apple's the best? Why not just buy iphones if HTC's gonna be a giant douche? Turd sandwich or Samsung would be better options.

    Please correct me if I'm wrong. This is a learning experience for me too! :)
    2
    One of the biggest problems for the ics rom is its not based on the kernel its supposed to be running. The kernel has been frankenkerneled from tiamats gb kernel with the correct settings to run as ics. While I know that the kernel has been updated to somewhat but its not the true ics kernel some of these other phones are running and also while team douche or team win got the wimax working on aosp gb back in the day...they are no longer working on the evo and also wimax back then wasn't a quick fix. It was on the back burner for the longest time. I commend you on wanting to work on the drivers and learn. I would start by contacting prelude drew via twitter and or atyoung the current dev for the mason ics kernel that hes had great success with. Those two could point you in the right direction or bring on board with them on getting everything working especially with your strong IT background it will come in handy.
    2
    See the driver isn't my issue I had a base my friend and I can figure it out we are currently trying cm7 drivers as a base

    Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

    Do you really think the more experienced devs haven't already tried that. GB drivers WILL NOT WORK, period. The drivers from GB to ICS changed ENTIRELY they aren't even close to the same. :rolleyes:

    Sent from my SPH-L900 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
    2
    I think that it's important to note that it makes no financial sense for a manufacturer (be it HTC, Samsung, LG...) to continue to develop/support old handsets. They are in the business of selling new phones. If everyone falls in love with their EVO 4Gs, and never have a reason to move to the EVO5G, HTC will go broke. Additionally, carriers like Sprint will stop wanting to do business with that manufacturer because a "support old handsets" policy will encourage people to not buy new phones/sign new contracts, thereby hurting the carrier's bottom line.

    Do I agree with it? No, but it's just business and I can at least accept that. While I'd love to say I have a full native ICS build on my EVO, being limited to GB doesn't actually affect my love of the phone. It is still the same device that won me over, and it still does everything that I need it to do. Getting mad at the manufacturer for not providing upgrades for the handset is sort of like getting mad at Ford for not offering a hybrid drivetrain conversion for my '97 Ranger.


    All that aside, I think the OP and other devs who try to keep the EVO 4G on its feet are some of the coolest people around. I wish you all the best of luck in sorting this mess out.