Finding a better rom

[ldsgja]

Will update periodically

Issue:
BQ voltaire is pretty good, but I have some complaints.

-Its loaded with lots of bloat ware
-There is no way to root it, so you can't do anything about the bloat ware
-Mine seems to become entirley unstable after a week of use
-You cannot backup because there is no root
-I can't get Netflix to work because there is no root
-Android market won't show me more than 10 results ever

SO, I've been looking for a rom/fix that WILL satisfy me, and let the device function as it should.

In my research I've found that roms made for the
-----BQ Voltair or Nextbook Next 2-----------
work on our device as they are nearly identical

Further, some roms technically function, but the display doesn't work correctly as they use a 4:3 aspect ratio.
-----Next3/Prestigio PMP3084B/Odys Genesis---------

Looking for roms:

Positive Results

None

Semi Positive Results

BQ voltair
-------Already talked about
-------http://goo.gl/iH8Wy

Next 2 Nextbook Custom rom
-------This rom is pretty good on the surface. It doesn't have a lot of bloat ware, promises to be rooted, has Android market. The problem is that Root doesn't seem to actually be working. Further, Andorid Market cannot download anything. What a shame.
-------http://goo.gl/45uv4

Krasty by Arctablet
-------THis "firmware" promises to root and market the archos 70b/c. It keeps the ugly interface that came stock. Market is limited, MANY apps are missing, arctablet says they are working on it . . . Appsbrain doesnt seem to function either. Root appears to be there, but in reality it does not work.
-------If arctablet gets the market working properly this may, with Zeam, prove to be better than the BQ voltaire as that has a tendency to crash after a week or so (atleast in my exp). Although something that truly has root would just be fantastic
-------http://goo.gl/9MkqB

Negative Results
Anything for the Next3 or other 8.4" devices.
--------The screen is very mis-calibrated, and large portions of the screen are unviewable. Not a realistic option. However, could be modified to work, perhaps.
--------The benefit is that XDA has 2.3 Gingerbread running on these devices, and supposedly it runs better than 2.1.
--------http://goo.gl/VF2oW


Why such a lack of roms?
I think that a two-fold scenario is causing this . . .
-Until recently, with the debut of the Archos 70c in the US, there hasn't been a lot of people in the US developing a custom rom for it. I beleive that a lot of custom roms are made in the US, and those made outside are difficult for us to find because of language barriers.
-Second is socio-economic. This device costs about $130. The type of people that are capable of getting roms out are likely to be more interested in higher-end devices. Further, that fact that its marketed as an e-reader is going to turn many people away before they do the research to discover what it is.

Conclusion
I will keep updating this periodically. Hopefully a solution comes by. Even better if some Archos forum member made us a rom. Keep your eyes peeled.

Further Reading
Rooting BQ Voltair - No solution - http://www.forotablets.com/showthread.p ... q-voltaire
Krasty Arctablet firmware which doesnt work - http://www.arctablet.com/blog/archos-ta ... t-kasty21/
Discussion of Possible other roms - http://www.forotablets.com/showthread.p ... ibles-roms
XDA forum that points back to arctablet - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr ... ?t=1069977
Zeam Launcher for those who need it - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732524
Next2 discussion - http://tipstir.the-talk.net/t2498-nextb ... lair#24329

[flat5]

Good work. I will try to follow this thread.
Voltair has been stable for me for two weeks, so far.
I did have to install it twice and reset twice.

I have reason to believe it is now rooted because I can run Superuser successfully.

[jefi]

Did you try my rooted BQ Voltaire Rom? http://www.mediafire.com/?nayrcjc3bu07rso
-Market works
-stable
-minimal bloatware (If you want, I remove any stock app)

[tungndtt]

So nice to read this topic and nice to hear that jefi has his own firmware too, I'll try and give feedback soon. Thank you all!


p/s:
@float5: which rom did you tried? My downloaded one is not rooted and so far can't do anything root-related.

[omegaark]

nice topic

HI JEFI!

YOUR CUSTOM ROM I TRY IT,
BUT IT'S STILL CNA'T WORK IN MARET.
WOULD YOU KINDLY UPGARDE THE NEW ONE.
THAT WILL BE GOOD FOR EVERYONE.

THANKS VERY MUCH

BEST REGARDS

KELVIN

[jefi]

Hi Kelvin,
for me market works without problems. Did you try to clear the cache? http://www.technipages.com/android-mark ... r-fix.html

jefi

[tungndtt]

Hi Jefi, today I'm going to try your rom but what do you mean by a working market? is it able to show more than 10 results? try to search for anything and see if it shows more than 10 results or not.
However thank you for your work

[jefi]

The market app will be updated at first start. After update it looks like this:

[tungndtt]

Hi Jef, I installed yours and see the SuperUser run successfully, that means this one is rooted!

On my first run, the market is updated silently so I don't recognized until it restart, and now it's the new appmarket one, that's so great!

I'm running this rom smoothly and thank you Jef so much!


A few questions if you don't mind:
- Can I uninstall any default app ?
- Can I manually reinstall the marketapp update? Cuz it doesn't have the picture slides on top as in your pics, but this is minor and not a problem!

[jefi]

No, you can't uninstall the stock apps, because the filesystem is read only. The only way is to hide them with a launcher like ADW or remove them at image creation.
The slides? Don't know. Maybe a restart will do the work? Or clear the cache of the market app.

Jefi

[tungndtt]

Till now it's nice!

However I'm trying to use App2SD to install apps on my SD card, but it always said:

Code: Select all

Parse Error
There is a problem parsing the package

Then I found Link2SD but it has error :

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Mount script error 
mount script cannot be created. cannot create /system/etc/install-recovery.sh: read-only file system . 

And I'm stuck by this problem, still can't find the solution on net.

Any suggestion please?

Thank you!

[jefi]

I think you get this error because the system partion is read only.

jefi

[tungndtt]

Yes! After spending hours with that I realized the system partition is read only, and so on I can't do anything even with Root Explorer (can't Mount R/W even restarted), or using adb to remount . Try some ways but all failed.
So we can't do anything about that? How can we install apps to SD instead of the internal small (~170MB) memory?

Thanks!

[tungndtt]

So, without R/W permission, it's not fully rooted, and so on doesn't have any value!
I can't use any Link2SD or even flashed to 2.3.5 successfully but can't do anything better, can't change fonts, can't use ROM Manager, etc...
So the problem is how to unlock the NAND/system partition ?

Anybody has a solution?

[jefi]

It is fully rooted. The system partitions filesystem is CRAMFS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CramFS). It is read only. The only way write on it is a special driver called "aufs.ko". Hvdwolf tried it in his Archos 7v2 roms and removed due stability reasons ( http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=46831). You can edit all stock apps, fonts etc before image creation. If you want, I tell you how.

jefi

[Susdiehl]

Jefi. Could you explain how i delete system apps and ad other apps befor flashing? Which programms do i need for Windows?

[tungndtt]

Yes could you please teach us how to do all those and create an image, thank you!

[jefi]

Be careful! Don't blame me for bricked reader .
First you need AFPtool.exe. Copy Afptool.exe and my image in the in the same directory. Open a Command prompt, cd to this directory and type:

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afptool -unpack update.img unpacked

you should now get this output:

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Check file... OK
------- UNPACK ------
HWDEF   0x00000800      0x0000031B
package-file    0x00001000      0x00000216
RK28xxLoader(L).bin     0x00001800      0x00020314
parameter       0x00022000      0x00000207
Image/misc.img  0x00022800      0x0000C000
Image/kernel.img        0x0002E800      0x00519BFA
Image/boot.img  0x00548800      0x00038008
Image/recovery.img      0x00581000      0x0024C004
Image/system.img        0x007CD800      0x06F0B004
SELF    0x00000000      0x076DA004
Skip SELF file.
update-script   0x076D9000      0x000004B5
recover-script  0x076D9800      0x0000010A
Unpack OK!

a sub-directory named "unpacked" was created
Now start newtuxflashtools, open the "system.img" in the dir "/unpacked/image"
the directory structure of the system partition is visible (under cramfs)
The stock apps are stored in the "app" folder. Don't touch the other folders!
Delete unwanted apps.
Now save your system.img (ingnore the error message of the flashtool. They were designed for the dbox settopbox)
Copy rkcrc.exe and cygwin1.dll in the /unpacked/image folder, open command prompt, cd to the image folder and type:

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rkcrc.exe system.img system.s.img

rename "system.img" in "system.unsigned" and "system.s.img" in "system.img"
cd back to the folder the afptool is located and type:

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AFPTool.exe -pack unpacked updatenew.img

Output:

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------ PACKAGE ------
Add file: unpacked/HWDEF
Add file: unpacked/package-file
Add file: unpacked/RK28xxLoader(L).bin
Add file: unpacked/parameter
Add file: unpacked/Image/misc.img
Add file: unpacked/Image/kernel.img
Add file: unpacked/Image/boot.img
Add file: unpacked/Image/recovery.img
Add file: unpacked/Image/system.img
SELF file
Add file: unpacked/update-script
Add file: unpacked/recover-script
Add CRC...
Add CRC32
Pack OK!

If you want to flash it with the reader rename "updatenew.img" in "Update.img" and copy it via USB to the reader. Otherwise you can flash with the rkandroid tools.
Again: Don't blame me

the tools: http://www.mediafire.com/?ooxm53b59uk64z6

jefi

[Susdiehl]

Omg how cool is that?
Thanks Jefi
So, let┬┤s get ready to rumble ^^

Never i would blame you. If something going wrong it┬┤s in 99,9999% the Problem of the user

[tungndtt]

WOW thank you for this great tutorial!
I'm from Vietnam and my 70b reader is $200, double than the one sold oversea, but I knew the risk and so on never blame you dear.
With this our 70b is better than ever !

p/s:
- How to replace the system font with my unicode font?
- How to change language interface of the tuxflash tool?

Thanks!