[ROM] Sero 7 Pro (US/UK/AU/DE) - AOSP 5.1.1_r14 DoPa5 v1.3

dolorespark · Jan 28, 2015 at 3:57 AM

** DoPa6 (AOSP - Marshmallow) ** is now available - see this post for details and downloads

DoPa5 v1.3 is a Lollipop ROM for Sero 7 Pro owners worldwide. It focuses on core functionality that must be built-in and relies on 3rd-party apps to provide features that can be added-on. This release also offers a version of TWRP Recovery that is compatible with all models of the S7P.

Key Features

International Support - a single ROM for all Sero 7 Pros sold worldwide (US, UK, Australia, Germany, and elsewhere)
Speed Control - speed when you need it and stock performance when you don't
OTG Charging - charge the tablet while an external device is attached to the USB port
Flexible Formatting - full support for both F2FS and EXT4 on your internal storage, and exFAT/FAT32/NTFS/F2FS/EXT4 support for external storage

Installation

First-time Users
If you're upgrading from a stock ROM (any variety), please click the "show content" button and read the instructions very carefully - they're long but your tablet's continued good health may depend on it!

Upgrades
UK, AU, and DE users must use the DoPa versions of TWRP or Philz Touch to install the ROM because they are the only ones compatible with your tablet. US users can use any SELinux-enabled version of CWM, Philz, or TWRP.

from DoPa5 AOSP Lollipop ROMs - no need to wipe or format anything!
from DoPa AOSP Kitkat ROMs (v1.0-v2.7) - a clean install is recommended but not required
from pre-Kitkat (v4.4.x) or any CM-based ROMs - wipe your /data partition before installing to avoid unnecessary problems.

install sero7pro-aosp511-dopa5-v1.3.zip
- the installer will wipe (but NOT format) /cache and dalvik-cache for you
install your preferred Gapps package
- upgraders: this is required to prevent your downloaded Google apps from crashing
optionally, install the Nexus7 spoof (sero7pro-nexus7spoof-dopa5-v1.3.zip)
reboot (ignore any "fix root" prompt - it's incorrect)

f2fs / ext4 Migration
This DoPa ROM gives you the flexibility to format any of your built-in partitions using either the f2fs or ext4 file systems.
As part of your install - or at any time - you can switch formats without losing any data. Click "show content" for instructions.

Changes since DoPa5 v1.2

Xposed and GravityBox - these staples of the DoPa KitKat ROMs are back and preinstalled to provide all the tweaks you want - and none of the ones you don't
ArchiDroid Optimizations - this version of Android was built using gcc 4.9 and is highly optimized thanks to settings provided by JustArchi. To help ensure stability, the kernel uses standard optimization levels but is better tuned to our Cortex A9 processor due to the use of linaro 4.9 (a version of gcc optimized for ARM processors).
No Odex-ing - odex-ing has been abandoned because Xposed recompiles all apps, making the .odex files redundant. There should now be enough space on the /system partition to install the TK-Gapps Micro package.
Adaptive Brightness - a longstanding bug that could cause the screen to go black has been fixed. Overall brightness levels have been adjusted to provide greater dynamic range in low lighting conditions.

Notes

Xposed - having the Xposed framework installed shouldn't cause any issues, but if you wish to remove it you can do so using the xposed-uninstaller available in the Xposed XDA thread. The Xposed Installer and GravityBox apps will remain but will be inactive - you can use a root-enabled filemanager to remove them if you wish.
Encryption - if you wish to encrypt your /data partition, you must first use Philz Recovery to format it. Using TWRP to format may cause the partition to become un-decrytable, resulting in the complete loss of all your data. This is NOT an issue if you don't plan to use encryption.
WiFi Display - end a WiFi Display session from your television, not the tablet; doing so from the tablet may cause it to lock up. Chromecast is reportedly not subject to this issue.
USB Audio - booting up with a USB audio device attached may result in a bootloop.
Gapps - due to limited space on the /system partition, the TK Gapps's "Mini Modular" and larger packages will not install. I suggest using the "Nano" package, then downloading those apps you really want from PlayStore.

Credits

ziddey
randomblame
davepmer
the CM team

Downloads

sero7pro-aosp511-dopa5-v1.3.zip the full ROM
sero7pro-nexus7spoof-dopa-v1.3.zip identify tablet as a Nexus7 to (possibly) show more apps in PlayStore
sero7pro-twrp287-dopa5-v1.3.zip a customized version of TWRP Recovery v2.8.7 usable on all versions of the Sero 7 Pro
sero7pro-philz6.58.0-dopa-v2.7.zip the final version of Philz Touch CWM-based Recovery v6.58.0 compatible with all models of the Sero 7 Pro
TK Gapps an XDA thread with links to various Gapps packages
sero7pro-format-thirdparty.zip - only needed if you are downgrading from DoPa6 (Marshmallow) to a previous version (i.e. this one)

GPL Notice: the source code for this kernel is available at https://github.com/dolorespark/android_kernel_hisense_m470bsa on the 'master' branch.

XDA:DevDB Information
Sero 7 Pro (US/UK/AU/DE) - DoPa5 AOSP, ROM for the Android General

Contributors
dolorespark
Source Code: https://github.com/dolorespark

ROM OS Version: 5.1.x Lollipop
ROM Kernel: Linux 3.1.x
Based On: AOSP

Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: v1.3
Stable Release Date: 2015-09-26

Created 2015-01-28
Last Updated 2016-01-02

dolorespark · Jan 28, 2015 at 3:57 AM

Reserved

enfermo · Jun 21, 2013 63 18 0

Thx for all your hard work

on these tablet

Thx

alpurl · Jan 28, 2015

ok, so I have a question or several as I remember them...

I noticed in Beta 4 that we were (or at least I was) suffering from the well documented play movies bug that was afflicting a number of 2013 Nexus 7 models.

Has this been fixed yet?
If not, is there a workaround?
If so, what is it?

I also noticed some performance and stability issues when using the performance tab along with apps like 3c Toolbox and System Tuner. Unfortunately, I did not see a way to use performance tab to overclock the gpu and leave the cpu clock stock so that I could tweak the system through the aforementioned apps.

Also, can the cpu be overclocked beyond 1.5 Ghz?
If so, is this already enabled, or is there some magic involved?

I really liked the beta 4 (beta r3) Rom and the way it looked, felt, and ran.

I found it to be better at managing free memory than kitkat in that I had at least 50% more free ram than Kitkat. I believe this contributed to some of the performance increase. But I had a hard time with the Google Play Movies bug. And some people were saying it was a general problem within the os's video subsystem.

Yeungers · Oct 2, 2014 68 20 0

Legend, keep up the great work

impster · Jan 28, 2015 at 9:18 PM

Excellent work! Looking forward to this!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app

dolorespark · Jan 29, 2015 at 12:23 AM

alpurl said:
I noticed in Beta 4 that we were (or at least I was) suffering from the well documented play movies bug that was afflicting a number of 2013 Nexus 7 models. Has this been fixed yet?

I'm sorry I didn't know about this until you mentioned it. I'm too poor/cheap to buy stuff from Google Play Movies, so I'd never have learned about this on my own. Fortunately this was my day off, so I was able to spend the afternoon chasing down this bug. Here's the fix - install it from Recovery:

sero7pro-video-drm-fix-dopa5-v1.0.zip

I'll repackage the main ROM in the near future to include this fix, but first I want to investigate a few possible problems I noticed while getting this fixed.

I also noticed some performance and stability issues when using the performance tab along with apps like 3c Toolbox and System Tuner. Unfortunately, I did not see a way to use performance tab to overclock the gpu and leave the cpu clock stock so that I could tweak the system through the aforementioned apps.

Every time you display the Performance page, it will restore all parameters to the values you set previously. If 'Speed Control' is enabled, it will reset the CPU & GPU speeds, overriding values set by some other app. Your best bet is to turn it off. If neither of the apps you mention knows how to set the GPU speed, you can do so temporarily from a terminal or permanently from an init.d script like so:

Code:

echo -n 1250 > /sys/kernel/tegra_cap/core_cap_level    # "1200" is 448mhz - "1250" is 520mhz
echo -n 1 > /sys/kernel/tegra_cap/core_cap_state

Also, can the cpu be overclocked beyond 1.5 Ghz?

Nope, not without extending the kernel's DVFS table further, then recompiling. Someone had it running at 1700mhz, but I'd consider that ..umm.. ill-advised for a chip that's intended to run at 1200-1300mhz.

AngryManMLS · Jan 29, 2015 at 5:06 AM

Loving the first build. Very silky smooth speed and pretty stable as well as far as Lollipop is concerned at this point. As far as themes are concerned I haven't had too many issues using them on the current CM12 nightly for the Sero 7 Pro despite the DPI difference. Can't wait to see where this goes from here. Thanks for all the hard work! :highfive:

Yeungers · Oct 2, 2014 68 20 0

dolorespark said:
Nope, not without extending the kernel's DVFS table further, then recompiling. Someone had it running at 1700mhz, but I'd consider that ..umm.. ill-advised for a chip that's intended to run at 1200-1300mhz.

Well, on nVidia's page it recommend a maximum of 1.6 GHz, so 1.7 is not too much of an overboard if Hisense had built these units well enough. However, even with 1.5 GHz the chips is already running uncomfortably hot so it would be wise to back off from any higher clock. I do however think that the GPU of this tablet is a lacking a bit of oomph (ironically), is it possible to raise the clocks of the GPU beyond 520MHz? (granted that there would be a possibility of artifacts )

alpurl · Nov 11, 2010 10 1 0

dolorespark said:
I'm sorry I didn't know about this until you mentioned it. I'm too poor/cheap to buy stuff from Google Play Movies, so I'd never have learned about this on my own. Fortunately this was my day off, so I was able to spend the afternoon chasing down this bug.

Being under that magic number of 10 posts, I couldn't post this in that main thread, and when I tried to post in the q&a thread where "reply" sent me, the forums bot catcher tripped me up.

Thanks, that worked like a charm.

Every time you display the Performance page, it will restore all parameters to the values you set previously. If 'Speed Control' is enabled, it will reset the CPU & GPU speeds, overriding values set by some other app. Your best bet is to turn it off.

I did, and had stability. Just didn't know about just gpu o/c.

Code:
If neither of the apps you mention knows how to set the GPU speed, you can do so temporarily from a terminal or permanently from an init.d script like so:

Code:

echo -n 1250 > /sys/kernel/tegra_cap/core_cap_level # "1200" is 448mhz - "1250" is 520mhz echo -n 1 > /sys/kernel/tegra_cap/core_cap_state

To my knowledge, they don't, or at least I haven't figured that part out yet. Haven't figured it out in trickster mod either. I'll try the code. I only remember seeing one init.d file, does it matter where in that file I add the code?

dolorespark · Jan 30, 2015

Yeungers said:
on nVidia's page it recommend a maximum of 1.6 GHz

The Tegra3 is a family of SoCs with models designed for mobile, automotive, and embedded use. Ours is the low-power mobile version. Some variants do have higher maximum clock speeds but they use more power at every frequency step than ours.

I do however think that the GPU of this tablet is a lacking a bit of oomph (ironically), is it possible to raise the clocks of the GPU beyond 520MHz?

Possibly. The original overclock patch just upped the GPU speed to 520mhz without increasing the voltage any - and that seemed to work. When I rewrote the o/c code, I increased the voltage when running at 520mhz for what I considered solid reasons, Since it now has more power, I suspect I could up the speed somewhat without causing problems. However, even at a higher speed, it's still going to be an also-ran in today's market.

alpurl said:
dolorespark said:

If 'Speed Control' is enabled, it will reset the CPU & GPU speeds, overriding values set by some other app. Your best bet is to turn it off.

Click to expand...

I did, and had stability. Just didn't know about just gpu o/c.

Having some other app set the CPU or GPU speeds isn't going to make it any more or less stable than having the built-in facility do it.

Be aware that if you're trying to use one of these apps to set the Interactive Governor's parameters, you're wasting your time. Not only does our Interactive Governor NOT work like you'd think - and not work like other implementations - it's totally ineffective. Every time the kernel brings another core online, it kicks all cores to the maximum allowed speed, totally sabotaging the governor's efforts. If you use Trickster to track the time at each speed, you'll see that the bulk of the time is spent either at very low speed or max speed, with all the intermediate speeds hardly used at all.

I only remember seeing one init.d file, does it matter where in that file I add the code?

Create a new file named, f'rinstance. "02gpuspeed". Put "#!/system/bin/sh" on the first line, then the code I provided on the following lines. The files will be executed in alpha-numeric order: 00banner, 02gpuspeed, 99SuperSUDaemon. Be sure to set its permissions to '755' so it is executable.

alpurl · Jan 30, 2015

I pretty well figured that would be the case, but...

Based on my somewhat limited understanding ,If you have a utility in the Rom trying to manage the cpu speeds, and an app trying to do the same with me "choosing" to use the performance governor, conflicts are bound tio arise. Based on my pc understanding, conflict equals poor performance and instability.

And it was honestly one where I was using performance settings for the gpu, and then one of the other apps for the cpu.

So, I found that if I simply turned off the performance settings and lived with the lower gpu clock, my system ran stable. So I was asking about how to get the higher gpu clock without using the cpu overclock portion of the performance tab.

You pretty well answered that, and I thank you.

Now, do I need to include the bit in the code at the end of the first line where it says 1200 is 448, and 1250 is 520?

Also, I don't understand setting permissions to 755. I understand setting read, write, own, etc, but not 755, if that's the case, then what app do I use for that? I created the file as a blank text document on my tablet directly and input the code there, then rebooted. Or did I screw the pooch on that one?

Sadly, I know nothing about the individual governor settings within each governor configuration. Therefore, I figure that the wisest and safest course of action is to leave it alone. It's easier and safer to work with the stuff I DO know until I can get feedback and advice from someone who DOES know.

I realize that some of this may seem stupid to you, but it's the only way I know to learn.

I will make another post later when I have more time to comment on some other things I keep seeing and would like to know what to do there.

dolorespark · Feb 1, 2015 at 5:10 AM

alpurl said:
If you have a utility in the Rom trying to manage the cpu speeds, and an app trying to do the same with me "choosing" to use the performance governor, conflicts are bound tio arise.

The CPU/GPU settings on the Performance page are set-and-forget values. They simply set the maximum speeds once bootup is done, and again when you display that page. They don't monitor anything - the CPU governor does that, and it is constrained by these settings. The corresponding settings in the other apps you've tried operate the same way.

You should be aware that the "performance" governor is really no governor at all. It simply sets the processor to the maximum permitted speed and never changes it. On the whole, this governor generates more heat than performance.

I found that if I simply turned off the performance settings and lived with the lower gpu clock, my system ran stable.

This strongly suggests that your device really can't handle the higher speed - at least when the CPU is running full-bore at all times. You may want to search for the postings in some of the early S7P threads where people described attaching copper foil to the SoC to dissipate excess heat.

do I need to include the bit in the code at the end of the first line where it says 1200 is 448, and 1250 is 520? Also, I don't understand setting permissions to 755.

Anything after a '#' in a shell script is a comment. As to '755', that's "read/write/execute" for the owner, and "read/execute" for the group and other users. Do a search for the 'chmod' command for more details on setting and interpreting Unix permissions.

alpurl · Nov 11, 2010 10 1 0

Ok, that's fair enough.

Occasionally, I'll boot and get an error that the process called system is not responding and then it wants to know if I want to wait, or close it. It will do this every subsequent boot until I wipe cache and Dalvik (because I end up doing both out of habit) from recovery and then all is well again for several boot cycles where we start up again.

What am I missing here?

kenundrem · Feb 2, 2015 at 3:17 AM

Are we free to discuss RRO theming for the S7P in this thread for now? I have been following BitSyko Development for a week or so and opted into the Layers beta and so on. I will be spending some time this week to figure this all out.

Sent from my XT1034

AngryManMLS · Feb 2, 2015 at 4:53 AM

kenundrem said:
Are we free to discuss RRO theming for the S7P in this thread for now? I have been following BitSyko Development for a week or so and opted into the Layers beta and so on. I will be spending some time this week to figure this all out.

Since I'm not familiar with RRO theming how is this different from the themes released for say CM12 and the like?

dolorespark · Feb 2, 2015 at 7:13 AM

kenundrem said:
Are we free to discuss RRO theming for the S7P in this thread for now? I have been following BitSyko Development for a week or so and opted into the Layers beta and so on.

AngryManMLS said:
Since I'm not familiar with RRO theming how is this different from the themes released for say CM12 and the like?

Of course you're welcome to discuss RRO - especially since it gives me an opening to throw in my 2 cents

Runtime Resource Overlays provides a way to override and/or replace the "resources" (icons, layouts, colors, strings, and fixed values) that are built into an .apk file. Since the resources used by Android itself are packaged into an .apk, you can modify the OS as well as individual applications.

RRO has been around for a long time but no one other than Sony ever used it. BitSyko's greatest contribution has been to make people aware that it's a superior way to do theming which is already built into the OS and is fairly easy to use. Unlike CM's theme engine, no custom code is required.

Beyond that, their contribution is somewhat less revolutionary than their many admirers seem to think. Their efforts are directed primarily at ease of use. The Layers app is essentially a file manager that makes copying themes into place a bit easier. What the app does you can do yourself using ESFileExplorer or ADB (though without some niceties they've added).

Their tweaks to the OS are designed to make life a bit easier for themers by changing hard-coded color values into "symbolic references". In other words, rather than specifying the color for each checkbox, you say each one should be the "checkbox_color", then define what that means somewhere else. That way, rather than having to modify the color of many different checkboxes, you change the definition of "checkbox_color" once and they all become that color.

Now, as to what all this means to the Sero 7 Pro and the DoPa5 v1.0 ROM... I delayed the ROM's release for several days until I could get their patches in place and tested, so this facility is in there and ready for use. The problem is that none of the themes I've seen really support the S7P. Any color changes a theme makes will show up just fine (I'm using someone's orange theme currently). However, all the icons are targeted at higher resolution screens than ours, so the OS ignores them and uses the same ones it has always used. If you can find themes for the Nexus 7, or some of the older Asus or HP tablets that also have a 1280*800 screen (213dpi), they should work just fine.

FYI... if you want to install a theme without using Layers, create an 'overlay' directory in '/system/vendor' (i.e. '/system/vendor/overlay'). Next, get some theme packages from this thread and unzip them. Select the .apk files you want, copy them into the 'overlay' directory, then reboot. If you don't like the result, delete them and reboot again.

AngryManMLS · Feb 2, 2015 at 3:22 PM

Perfect explanation @dolorespark on RRO. I'm hoping eventually some kind of dark holo blue theme is made for RRO as all I really need is the color scheme.

kenundrem · Feb 2, 2015 at 3:47 PM

AngryManMLS said:
Perfect explanation @dolorespark on RRO. I'm hoping eventually some kind of dark holo blue theme is made for RRO as all I really need is the color scheme.

So you want black on holo blue aka 33b5e5? I'm going to make a white/pink themed for my daughter as its her tablet but I will see what I can do for you while I'm at it.

Sent from my XT1034 using XDA Free mobile app

AngryManMLS · Feb 2, 2015 at 6:01 PM

kenundrem said:
So you want black on holo blue aka 33b5e5? I'm going to make a white/pink themed for my daughter as its her tablet but I will see what I can do for you while I'm at it.

That would be amazing if you could. Here is an example of what I mean as well.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/themes/theme-dark-holo-theme-v1-0-01-25-15-t3012227

[ROM] Sero 7 Pro (US/UK/AU/DE) - AOSP 5.1.1_r14 DoPa5 v1.3

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