Root gTablet Honeycomb!!

[Pitamakan]

Just a quick heads up, in case there are gTablet owners here who aren't also following XDA or some of the other developer-centric forums: there are now working alpha versions of Honeycomb available for the gTab! There are a couple of slightly-different versions out there, ports of a Honeycomb build for the Notion Ink, and they're getting to the point where they're pretty usable.

Great news, indeed!

 

[brentstreeter]

This is great news. I've been suffering buyers remorse after seeing the new Asus tablets and so many on the horizon with Honeycomb as the base. Do you have any recommendations for a stable version or would waiting a bit longer be prudent, URLs would be really great. I'm currently running Vegan 5.1.1 and after a software bump a few weeks ago, I having a lot of problems to I'm ready to jump to a new version anytiime.

 

[Pitamakan]

Personally I'm going to wait just a couple more days ... the development has been very fast so far, and I think that pace will continue for a little while. (Most of the work is actually being done on other tablets that use the same chipset, and then ported over to the gTab.) Reportedly, the current version is stable, but has some lag in it, and not all apps work ... but those issues are being resolved fairly fast.

As for URLs ... I'm not sure, but I think there's a rule here against posting links to "competing" Android message boards, so I won't do that. But if you go over to XDA and look in their gTab development section, you'll find a thread discussing something called "Roebeets+Clemsyn's Honeycomb COMBO alpha." That's a great place to start.

Definitely do your research before starting, though ... because the procedure is different and more involved than the original root process was. You can't use Clockwork Mod, for one thing, and you need to get the newer bootloader on your Tab. So reading up on the various threads over there (or elsewhere) is extremely important.

 

[xmr405o]

One big hurdle would be fixing the open GL issue. But I still think its a pretty functional rom. Biggest issue so far is flash doesn't work on the browser but you can dl skyfire for the time being until they fix it.

I'm gonna hang on to the HC rom for a week. I'm hoping for updates on the open gl issue.

 

[Pitamakan]

Yeah, the openGL issue is definitely a big one ... but I'm gonna have to switch to it soon, regardless. It's way too shiny and inviting to ignore.

 

[brad08stanggt]

i can't wait.

I was dying to get on gingerbread but the lack of smooth video support means a no go for me.

honeycomb will be sweet since the netfilx app should work on it.

i will wait for a stable release though.

 

[xmr405o]

i can't wait.

I was dying to get on gingerbread but the lack of smooth video support means a no go for me.

honeycomb will be sweet since the netfilx app should work on it.

i will wait for a stable release though.

When you say lack of smooth video support do you mean 1080p videos or Youtube?

I know that the newer CM7 nightlies and even CM7.0.3 had some of the video issues were resolved like Youtube HD and some 720p video encoding. I believe pershoots kernel fixed some the earlier issues with video. Not sure about Vegan GB though but maybe if you update the kernel with pershoots latest kernel it might help with the video playback.

IMO, unless you are a videophile then Gingerbread should be good to go. I don't consider myself as a videophile so just as long as the video doesn't lag or is blurry then I'm fine with the video playback.

Anyways, the HC port is able to play non HD youtube vids and is not choppy at all. So all the HQ Youtube and standard youtube vids look really nice. I like the new Youtube app for honeycomb. As for other video playback, my DVD rips play fine with Rockplayer actually it's really good. I tested out a 720p vid and it was a no go.

You know what I really really like about HC, it's the Dolby mobile. The audio is finally loud again with the HC port. It seems that audio suffered as the new froyo roms came out.

So far, a thumbs up for HC alpha port. The one thing I don't like is the name Roebeet used for his ROM. haha

 

[brad08stanggt]

When you say lack of smooth video support do you mean 1080p videos or Youtube?

I know that the newer CM7 nightlies and even CM7.0.3 had some of the video issues were resolved like Youtube HD and some 720p video encoding. I believe pershoots kernel fixed some the earlier issues with video. Not sure about Vegan GB though but maybe if you update the kernel with pershoots latest kernel it might help with the video playback.

IMO, unless you are a videophile then Gingerbread should be good to go. I don't consider myself as a videophile so just as long as the video doesn't lag or is blurry then I'm fine with the video playback.

Anyways, the HC port is able to play non HD youtube vids and is not choppy at all. So all the HQ Youtube and standard youtube vids look really nice. I like the new Youtube app for honeycomb. As for other video playback, my DVD rips play fine with Rockplayer actually it's really good. I tested out a 720p vid and it was a no go.

You know what I really really like about HC, it's the Dolby mobile. The audio is finally loud again with the HC port. It seems that audio suffered as the new froyo roms came out.

So far, a thumbs up for HC alpha port. The one thing I don't like is the name Roebeet used for his ROM. haha

I am in no way a videophile, but the main purpose of my g-tab is to play videos.

I am in no way expecting perfect, amazing quality, but i need something with decent quality that quick and easy to use.

Right now for example I am watching some top gear season 15 and 16. AVI, DIVX, and MP4 files. I got them all from BT.

Copy them to the gtab, either SMB with Astro or I pull my 32 micro sd when the device is off and transfer directly. Transfer to my .nomedia folder. Find them on the Device with Astro....boom they play. No issues with codecs, no skipping, volume is not loud but I can hear with headphones in. Quality I would not say is HD, but its doable. It probably wasnt even ripped in full HD. I dont really care either way. It does what I need it to do. Job Done. I dont have the time to waste converting, editing, searching for videos of a specific format or type. I want to DL what I need to in a fairly typical format (avi, divx, xvid, mp4, etc), copy to my device, and play it.

I can view you tube videos in HD and do pretty much everything I need to do with an occasional sleep of death....and I am happy like this.

When I tried Vegan Ginger the first time I was having issues with YouTube HQ skipping. This seems resolved when I tried Vegan Ginger on Friday, but then half my top gear videos would not play. Only one format would play. I was going to try to play them in mobo player but then I realized my wireless was not auto connecting after I join a wireless network and reboot.

Then I flashed CM7 and Pershoots kernel. I was really liking it at first but then again it wouldnt play all my video formats and I had the same issue with the wireless as above.

When I put Vegan 5.1.1 back everything works for me. I am kinda sick of the sleep of doom issues and I am really jonezing to have netflix working, but I dont really watch netflix on the road so i think i can deal with it for now.

I have a feeling I really need to do an NV flash and start over w/ honeycomb or ginger but I think to save time and effort I will just wait for a stable honeycomb to be released.

 

[kimkgk]

When you say lack of smooth video support do you mean 1080p videos or Youtube?

I know that the newer CM7 nightlies and even CM7.0.3 had some of the video issues were resolved like Youtube HD and some 720p video encoding. I believe pershoots kernel fixed some the earlier issues with video. Not sure about Vegan GB though but maybe if you update the kernel with pershoots latest kernel it might help with the video playback.

IMO, unless you are a videophile then Gingerbread should be good to go. I don't consider myself as a videophile so just as long as the video doesn't lag or is blurry then I'm fine with the video playback.

Anyways, the HC port is able to play non HD youtube vids and is not choppy at all. So all the HQ Youtube and standard youtube vids look really nice. I like the new Youtube app for honeycomb. As for other video playback, my DVD rips play fine with Rockplayer actually it's really good. I tested out a 720p vid and it was a no go.

You know what I really really like about HC, it's the Dolby mobile. The audio is finally loud again with the HC port. It seems that audio suffered as the new froyo roms came out.

So far, a thumbs up for HC alpha port. The one thing I don't like is the name Roebeet used for his ROM. haha

You seem up on the vidio end so I thought I'd ask. - I like to use the tv and movie app from the store. It works well unless you pause or fast forward. Then the mouth and sound are out of sync and you can't get then back. I am using tnt lite. Any thoughts?

 

[xmr405o]

I am in no way a videophile, but the main purpose of my g-tab is to play videos.

I am in no way expecting perfect, amazing quality, but i need something with decent quality that quick and easy to use.

Right now for example I am watching some top gear season 15 and 16. AVI, DIVX, and MP4 files. I got them all from BT.

Copy them to the gtab, either SMB with Astro or I pull my 32 micro sd when the device is off and transfer directly. Transfer to my .nomedia folder. Find them on the Device with Astro....boom they play. No issues with codecs, no skipping, volume is not loud but I can hear with headphones in. Quality I would not say is HD, but its doable. It probably wasnt even ripped in full HD. I dont really care either way. It does what I need it to do. Job Done. I dont have the time to waste converting, editing, searching for videos of a specific format or type. I want to DL what I need to in a fairly typical format (avi, divx, xvid, mp4, etc), copy to my device, and play it.

I can view you tube videos in HD and do pretty much everything I need to do with an occasional sleep of death....and I am happy like this.

When I tried Vegan Ginger the first time I was having issues with YouTube HQ skipping. This seems resolved when I tried Vegan Ginger on Friday, but then half my top gear videos would not play. Only one format would play. I was going to try to play them in mobo player but then I realized my wireless was not auto connecting after I join a wireless network and reboot.

Then I flashed CM7 and Pershoots kernel. I was really liking it at first but then again it wouldnt play all my video formats and I had the same issue with the wireless as above.

When I put Vegan 5.1.1 back everything works for me. I am kinda sick of the sleep of doom issues and I am really jonezing to have netflix working, but I dont really watch netflix on the road so i think i can deal with it for now.

I have a feeling I really need to do an NV flash and start over w/ honeycomb or ginger but I think to save time and effort I will just wait for a stable honeycomb to be released.

I feel ya. I don't like having to reformat or re-encode my vids either so I like just being able to drag, drop and play. I haven't tried all of my vids yet but my MP4 and AVI files play fine on Honeycomb and Gingerbread. I wanted to know what file types work on each of the ROMS. That's why I wanted your feedback. So thanks for that.

I don't think I have any divx or xvid files might have to see if I do and then try it out.

 

[xmr405o]

You seem up on the vidio end so I thought I'd ask. - I like to use the tv and movie app from the store. It works well unless you pause or fast forward. Then the mouth and sound are out of sync and you can't get then back. I am using tnt lite. Any thoughts?

What do you mean "tv and movie app from the store." Is it a streaming video? If that's the case, I get that all the time. If I pause with TV show stream, sometimes the audio gets out of sync. I would assume it's a streaming issue.

 

[kimkgk]

What do you mean "tv and movie app from the store." Is it a streaming video? If that's the case, I get that all the time. If I pause with TV show stream, sometimes the audio gets out of sync. I would assume it's a streaming issue.

They are streaming apps. I don't remember which ones I dowloaded (at work). One is for Tv shows the other movies. Links you to a server and streams away.

There is no secret re sync anywhere? Sometimes I'm an hour into the movie and it pops out of sync and no way to get back to where you were accept to start over. Boo

 

[xmr405o]

They are streaming apps. I don't remember which ones I dowloaded (at work). One is for Tv shows the other movies. Links you to a server and streams away.

There is no secret re sync anywhere? Sometimes I'm an hour into the movie and it pops out of sync and no way to get back to where you were accept to start over. Boo

Yeah, sorry to be debbie downer. It might be the app or the servers they use to stream the video content. It even happens on my computer sometimes.