[ROM][9][2019-12-13] UNOFFICIAL LineageOS 16.0 for ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C(X))

lambdadroid · May 12, 2019 at 4:56 PM

Code:

/*
 * Your warranty is now void.
 *
 * I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
 * thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
 * do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM
 * before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
 * you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
 *
 */

LineageOS is a free, community built, aftermarket firmware distribution of Android 9 (Pie), which is designed to increase performance and reliability over stock Android for your device.

About this project

This is not a regular ROM. Usually, ROMs are based on certain components provided by the vendor (e.g. the heavily modified kernel and certain proprietary components). In contrast, this ROM makes use of a largely unmodified mainline Linux kernel together with many open-source components. Only a tiny bit of firmware is taken from the stock ROM.

This has many advantages for security and maintainability, but also means that certain hardware features (e.g. Camera, GPS) are difficult to implement because they require significant effort and a lot of reverse engineering. Nevertheless, this ROM has reached a state where it is very much usable with the majority of functionality implemented.

(See "Development" in the GitHub README for a more technical introduction...)

New features

Android 9 (LineageOS 16.0) with latest security patches
Linux 4.19 kernel
Meltdown, Spectre, RIDL, Fallout, ... fixes
Vulkan graphics (experimental)
Less/no bloatware
Full backlight control (allows much lower brightness)
F2FS (with a compatible recovery)
Signature spoofing (allows using MicroG instead of proprietary Google Play Services)
WireGuard

Tested features

Display, Backlight control
Graphics (OpenGL etc)
Touchscreen
WiFi, Bluetooth
Audio: Speaker, Headphones, Microphone
Battery, Charging
Sensors: Accelerometer, Magnetometer
Internal Storage/External Storage (SD Card)
USB, USB-OTG
Hardware video accelerated codecs

Planned features (not working yet)

Suspend/Deep sleep states

Not planned

Camera
GPS

FAQ

How is the battery live? Screen-on time is probably similar if not longer, but there is a lot of battery drain in standby mode (even worse than on the ASUS system). I recommend that you turn off the tablet when you're not using it.
How do I obtain root access? There are various ways, but the recommended way for LineageOS is to flash addonsu. (Available below.) However, note that this will break SafetyNet. Use Magisk alternatively.
Can I use Netflix with this ROM? Yes, although you will need to build and flash the Widevine DRM addon manually (see below).

Installation

Preparation

Make sure you are running Android Lollipop (5.0).
You need an unlocked bootloader. LineageOS 16.0 requires me176c-bootstrap 0.3.0, included in me176c-boot 0.3.0. (The old "Intel" bootloader is no longer supported.)
Install TWRP
Make a full backup of the ASUS system. You may want to go back to it.
Do a full factory reset. Wipe data and cache partitions.
Install the main system using the flashable ZIP below.
If needed, install additional addons not included with the main system (see below).

Download

System image (install as ZIP in recovery): lineage-16.0-20191213-UNOFFICIAL-me176c-signed.zip
TWRP recovery image: Available in a separate thread.

Addons

There are various packages you can flash for additional functionality. Most of them are proprietary. All addons persist during LineageOS updates, so you do not need to flash them again after updating.

Google Apps (Google Play Services, Play Store, ...): Use Open GApps (x86, Android 9.0)
Fingerprint (used to pass SafetyNet/Google Play certification): Flash me176c-asus-fingerprint-signed.zip.
- Magisk users: Alternatively, you can use MagiskHide Props Config with the fingerprint asus/WW_K013/K013:5.0/LRX21V/WW_K013-12.10.1.36-20151230:user/release-keys
Root: Flash addonsu-16.0-x86-me176c-signed.zip. Remove using addonsu-remove-16.0-x86-me176c-signed.zip
- This will break SafetyNet. Alternatively, you can use Magisk.
Widevine DRM (used in certain streaming apps like Netflix): Flash widevine-x86-chromeos-12499.66.0_atlas.zip* [see below]
Houdini (used to run ARM apps on x86, may help if an app shows up as incompatible): Flash houdini-x86-chromeos-12499.66.0_atlas.zip* [see below]
Signature Spoofing (for use with microG): Flash me176c-signature-spoofing-signed.zip to enable signature spoofing. Grant permission with caution only.

*Houdini/Widevine: I do not provide pre-built ZIPs for those two addons. (See this post for more information.)
They can be built easily on any Linux distribution using android_vendor_google_chromeos-x86. Takes just a few minutes (depending on your download speed). No development experience or Android source code required.

If you are unable to build it, someone else may share a build with you. In that case, you can verify its integrity using the SHA-1 checksums available in the release notes.

XDA:DevDB Information
Unofficial LineageOS for ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C(X)), ROM for the Asus MeMO Pad 7

Contributors
lambdadroid
Source Code: https://github.com/me176c-dev

ROM OS Version: 9.x Pie
ROM Kernel: Linux 4.x
ROM Firmware Required: me176c-boot(strap) 0.3.0+
Based On: LineageOS

Version Information
Status: Beta

Created 2019-05-12
Last Updated 2019-12-13

lambdadroid · Dec 13, 2019

Version History

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-12-13)

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-09-22)

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-08-19)

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-07-07)

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-06-09)

LineageOS 16.0 (2019-05-12)

moranop · Mar 1, 2013 25 3 0

Great news, I will try today at home! Thanks!!!

dirkp1 · May 13, 2019 at 5:46 PM

I have tested it today. Seems be work without any problems. Thank you.

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

Houdini/WidevineDRM

So far this ROM is working without any problem, The performance is usable, and the battery is OK due to hardware limitations.

I have a problem installing Houdini and Widevine DRM (I Don't have any development experience) yet i don't understand the instructions on how to make a ZIP and how and where i should put the MK files.
If you dont want to provide the flashable ZIP files that is alright, but could you atleast make a guide that we can follow?

Great Job and Thanks for making this unusable tablet usable again.

lambdadroid · May 13, 2019 at 8:03 PM

Bazgir said:
I have a problem installing Houdini and Widevine DRM (I Don't have any development experience) yet i don't understand the instructions on how to make a ZIP and how and where i should put the MK files.
If you dont want to provide the flashable ZIP files that is alright, but could you atleast make a guide that we can follow?

Making a step by step guide is quite difficult because it really depends on the system you are using. I'm guessing that most users will already run into trouble because it can be only built on Linux.
Creating a guide to set up a virtual machine etc., how to get into a terminal etc would require a lot of effort. This is time that I would rather spent in development. I realize this entire situation isn't ideal, but I haven't been able to come up with a better solution.

If you have a working Linux system, building should be pretty simple:

Download and unpack https://github.com/me176c-dev/android_vendor_google_chromeos-x86/archive/11647.154.0_nocturne.tar.gz
Open a terminal and run (in the extracted folder):
Code:
```
$ ./extract-files.sh
$ zip/build.sh
```
Find flashable ZIPs in zip/out.

No development experience needed.
This is also roughly what is already explained in https://github.com/me176c-dev/android_vendor_google_chromeos-x86 although the README has more background information because it is really intended for people that would like to use that project in own projects (e.g. in other ROMs).

Maybe someone else here would like to provide more detailed instructions?

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

Hey, Thanks for the Reply!

I have already setup the Virtual Machine and even tried "Sudo ./extract-files.sh" I'll get the messedge "https://imgur.com/a/Y1lKg5P"
It probebly fail because i don't have the OS for the chromeOS, But then again where should i put the extractions file so that the script can locate and extract the nessecary files?

Am i missing something? a file maybe? or should the script takeout the nessecery files from internet? (i have almost no clue what im talking about

)

I have the ASUS K013 (ME176CX) (1GB RAM) (8GB ROM)

Thanks again!

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

Hello Again,

I managed to create the ZIP files, The only problem i had was that i needed the recovery files for Chromeos (Nocturne),
Ones i had the files i extracted the recovery and got the file named propretary, and build the ZIP.

The link for the "I cant provide it for you because i don't have 10 post"

For other builds: cros-update-service-appspot.com (Try to find the one called nocturne and then 73 (then eddit the url so that u get 154.0 insted of 104.1))

This was a crusial step to understand how to extract the files, u also need to put the zip in to the same directori as extract.build.sh,

I have not yet tried this, so im not sure if it will work. The SHA.1 Matches

Thanks!!

lambdadroid · May 14, 2019 at 3:49 PM

Bazgir said:
I have the ASUS K013 (ME176CX) (1GB RAM) (8GB ROM)

There is really a K013 with only 8 GB internal storage?
I've read this a few times, but haven't seen one before. Good to know that the ROM works fine on it.

Bazgir said:
I have already setup the Virtual Machine and even tried "Sudo ./extract-files.sh" I'll get the messedge "https://imgur.com/a/Y1lKg5P"
It probebly fail because i don't have the OS for the chromeOS, But then again where should i put the extractions file so that the script can locate and extract the nessecary files?

Am i missing something? a file maybe? or should the script takeout the nessecery files from internet? (i have almost no clue what im talking about )

Great! The script downloads everything for you, but it looks like you don't have "curl" installed. On Ubuntu, you can install it using "sudo apt install curl". Then it will probably download the same file you have already downloaded manually.

Bazgir said:
I managed to create the ZIP files, The only problem i had was that i needed the recovery files for Chromeos (Nocturne),
Ones i had the files i extracted the recovery and got the file named propretary, and build the ZIP.

The link for the "I cant provide it for you because i don't have 10 post"

For other builds: cros-update-service-appspot.com (Try to find the one called nocturne and then 73 (then eddit the url so that u get 154.0 insted of 104.1))

This was a crusial step to understand how to extract the files, u also need to put the zip in to the same directori as extract.build.sh,

You can skip this if you have "curl" installed.

Thanks for trying to build it and your feedback! I will try to make the README more clear, especially regarding additional dependencies (e.g. "curl") plus the commands to run.

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

I'm supprised on how the ROM turned out to be, being a x86 platform even tho it's not supported anymore, with Houdini and Widevine.

I was able to play games on the phone such as Old school runescape on the tablet (Not perfect but playable) watch videos on youtube with the sound bug :/

The battery is better but still horrible (it was like this before), Might download somekind of deepsleep app such as Greenify for that.
What magisk module i have downloaded för best possible preformance is NFS-INJECTOR in Magisk.

I don't have any major problem with the 8GB ROM even tho the emmc memory is very very bad (Read 40Mb/s and write 8-10Mb/s) Somehow when i installed old SD card which is R 20Mb/s and 10Mb/s the tablets performance increase even tho it has lover read and write speed.

Is there a way to optimize the performance for the tablet even more? The main problem is RAM and ROM, i feel like the emmc memory and the amount of ram is holding back the CPU/GPU

Thanks!

lambdadroid · May 15, 2019

Bazgir said:
I was able to play games on the phone such as Old school runescape on the tablet (Not perfect but playable) watch videos on youtube with the sound bug :/

Sound bug?

Bazgir said:
I don't have any major problem with the 8GB ROM even tho the emmc memory is very very bad (Read 40Mb/s and write 8-10Mb/s) Somehow when i installed old SD card which is R 20Mb/s and 10Mb/s the tablets performance increase even tho it has lover read and write speed.

Is there a way to optimize the performance for the tablet even more? The main problem is RAM and ROM, i feel like the emmc memory and the amount of ram is holding back the CPU/GPU

Android and most apps raise their requirements each year as new devices are released with higher specs. Many devices come with 6GB+ RAM now.
Altogether, this tablet was already low-end when it was released. The CPU is pretty good compared to low-end ARM processors. But with ~800MB usable RAM this tablet can simply not keep up with apps that require more and more resources.

This tablet would do fine if Android and apps were continuously optimized to use less resources. However, the development actually goes into the opposite direction.
Sooner or later, this tablet will probably no longer manage to boot new Android versions at all, simply because all RAM is taken up by the system.

My point is: If you want to optimize this tablet, you need to go back in time. Not just with the OS (e.g. by downgrading to Android 4.4 KitKat), but with all apps you are using. If you go to ~2015 this tablet will likely do a much better job.

This ROM is definitely less "optimized" for this specific device, simply because it does not have most of the device-specific hacks they had for these Intel tablets back then. But this is the price for being able to keep it up to date with acceptable effort. And if you look back to ASUS's version of Lollipop, it usually didn't feel much better either even though it was technically more "optimized".

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

lambdadroid said:
Sound bug?

Android and most apps raise their requirements each year as new devices are released with higher specs. Many devices come with 6GB+ RAM now.
Altogether, this tablet was already low-end when it was released. The CPU is pretty good compared to low-end ARM processors. But with ~800MB usable RAM this tablet can simply not keep up with apps that require more and more resources.

This tablet would do fine if Android and apps were continuously optimized to use less resources. However, the development actually goes into the opposite direction.
Sooner or later, this tablet will probably no longer manage to boot new Android versions at all, simply because all RAM is taken up by the system.

My point is: If you want to optimize this tablet, you need to go back in time. Not just with the OS (e.g. by downgrading to Android 4.4 KitKat), but with all apps you are using. If you go to ~2015 this tablet will likely do a much better job.

This ROM is definitely less "optimized" for this specific device, simply because it does not have most of the device-specific hacks they had for these Intel tablets back then. But this is the price for being able to keep it up to date with acceptable effort. And if you look back to ASUS's version of Lollipop, it usually didn't feel much better either even though it was technically more "optimized".

Ignore the sound bug, I will just use headphones (small fix).

That's true, om overall pretty happy with the result nevertheless.

Thank you.

lambdadroid · May 15, 2019 at 10:12 AM

Bazgir said:
Ignore the sound bug, I will just use headphones (small fix).

I'm not aware of a "sound bug". If you would like to have it fixed, you will need to explain it a bit further.

Do not hesitate to report minor problems; some of them are really easy to fix and exist only because of an oversight. For all others I will decide if they are worth the effort.

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

lambdadroid said:
I'm not aware of a "sound bug". If you would like to have it fixed, you will need to explain it a bit further.
Do not hesitate to report minor problems; some of them are really easy to fix and exist only because of an oversight. For all others I will decide if they are worth the effort.

It's very hard to explain the sound it makes, but when ever i start a youtube video, it basicly has to encode the video and the sound, The sound syncs upp with the video and there for when the video is a bit choppy it creates those weird sounds.

This is what im talking about "https://vocaroo.com/i/s1s7rSAFCIv0"

Not sure if its a video encoding problem but looks like it.

Thanks

Frisk Dreemurr · May 15, 2019

Bazgir said:
It's very hard to explain the sound it makes, but when ever i start a youtube video, it basicly has to encode the video and the sound, The sound syncs upp with the video and there for when the video is a bit choppy it creates those weird sounds.

This is what im talking about "https://vocaroo.com/i/s1s7rSAFCIv0"

Not sure if its a video encoding problem but looks like it.

Thanks

I had also encounter this problem in LineageOS 14.1 of this tablet... I have noticed that it always happen when multiple sounds are composed by the tablet itself instead of composed by one app. (When it plays notification sound when music (using music player) playing, it sounds laggy for a while, but when a game plays multiple sounds, it's fine.) Also, after not playing any sounds for a while, it will create a loud pop sound right when the first sound is played. (And it hurts my ear when I'm using earphones... :silly: ) I haven't managed to build the Widevine and Houdini pack, so I don't know if the problem still goes the same in 16.1, but it seems that the same problem still exists. Hope that these information helps to fix the bug.

Bazgir · Nov 24, 2016 7 1 0

Frisk Dreemurr said:
I had also encounter this problem in LineageOS 14.1 of this tablet... I have noticed that it always happen when multiple sounds are composed by the tablet itself instead of composed by one app. (When it plays notification sound when music (using music player) playing, it sounds laggy for a while, but when a game plays multiple sounds, it's fine.) Also, after not playing any sounds for a while, it will create a loud pop sound right when the first sound is played. (And it hurts my ear when I'm using earphones... :silly: ) I haven't managed to build the Widevine and Houdini pack, so I don't know if the problem still goes the same in 16.1, but it seems that the same problem still exists. Hope that these information helps to fix the bug.

Here is the link for Houdini: https://mega.nz/#!E9li3QBJ!uN_TVlPjWUu50F5j4FIk6CqapMt9_k7ix5r01GrdyVQ

Here is the link for Widevine: https://mega.nz/#!kxlWlI6Z!u5OqNzys3r1LyMq3U1UOejsxj87GR1-f6f5Bn6u12mI

Not sure if it will work for you, make sure you do a backup

:good:

moranop · Mar 1, 2013 25 3 0

I´ve installed the ROM and it works great! Thanks a lot!

lambdadroid · May 15, 2019 at 6:01 PM

Bazgir said:
It's very hard to explain the sound it makes, but when ever i start a youtube video, it basicly has to encode the video and the sound, The sound syncs upp with the video and there for when the video is a bit choppy it creates those weird sounds.

This is what im talking about "https://vocaroo.com/i/s1s7rSAFCIv0"

Not sure if its a video encoding problem but looks like it.

Frisk Dreemurr said:
I had also encounter this problem in LineageOS 14.1 of this tablet... I have noticed that it always happen when multiple sounds are composed by the tablet itself instead of composed by one app. (When it plays notification sound when music (using music player) playing, it sounds laggy for a while, but when a game plays multiple sounds, it's fine.)

Weird, I've never seen (heard) this issue even though I test video playback quite often. I used to have problems with touch sounds that were usually played high pitched for some reason, but it magically went away with some later 14.1 release.

Frisk Dreemurr said:
Also, after not playing any sounds for a while, it will create a loud pop sound right when the first sound is played. (And it hurts my ear when I'm using earphones... :silly: )

I know about this one. Quite annoying. I suspect that it is due to some kind of energy saving. (The headphones get turned off after unused for a while.) Not sure how to avoid it...

Frisk Dreemurr said:
I haven't managed to build the Widevine and Houdini pack, so I don't know if the problem still goes the same in 16.1

FYI you don't need Widevine/Houdini for most apps. Listening to Music, watching normal YouTube videos works fine without it.
Widevine is mainly needed for paid video streaming (e.g. movies, ...), and Houdini for more uncommon apps and games that are not compiled for x86 (you can install it as soon as you see an app that is displayed as "incompatible" with your device).

Frisk Dreemurr · Aug 25, 2018 28 3 0

Bazgir said:
Here is the link for Houdini: https://mega.nz/#!E9li3QBJ!uN_TVlPjWUu50F5j4FIk6CqapMt9_k7ix5r01GrdyVQ

Here is the link for Widevine: https://mega.nz/#!kxlWlI6Z!u5OqNzys3r1LyMq3U1UOejsxj87GR1-f6f5Bn6u12mI

Not sure if it will work for you, make sure you do a backup :good:

Thanks a lot for offering the files! :good:

But it seems like it's not working on my tablet... :crying: (The SHA-1 of the files I downloaded matches the correct one.) Any ways to solve this problem?

lambdadroid · May 16, 2019

Frisk Dreemurr said:
it seems like it's not working on my tablet... :crying: (The SHA-1 of the files I downloaded matches the correct one.) Any ways to solve this problem?

Weird error. Can you try flashing from internal storage/external SD card or using ADB sideload? Might be related to USB OTG.

[ROM][9][2019-12-13] UNOFFICIAL LineageOS 16.0 for ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C(X))

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