aliasxerog recently posted this over at the droid forums.. "I've been a linux kernel developer for years and recently got a Droid X. The first thing I did was root it and install a pretty unraped froyo ROM I found these forums. I really, really want to install cyanogenmod on the phone because it would be pretty sweet. My idea consists of booting up in to the standard kernel and having a custom init to use kexec(8) to bootstrap the custom kernel. This would completely bypass the whole locked-crazy-omg-efuse-killer thing. Even if the standard kernel doesn't have kexec(8) enabled you can still execute a linux kernel because it is a relocatable elf on most systems. The whole setup isn't ideal but it could get custom kernels running until there is a better solution. EDIT: If the are any android devs that know the system inside and out I would absolutely love your help." "Ok so here's how I want to do this thing. Ideally I don't want to have to mess with anything that will make a phone possibly bricked. So that being said I was thinking possibly a userspace fix ala create a new init. The current init is fired up by the kernel and loads all of your crap that you want running. I want to add a few features and such into the new init that will allow it to load a new kernel on boot. 1. Im going to add the ability to load up kernel modules so that we can load up a module with kexec and later the drivers for the radio hardware in the phone. 2. I also want to make init be able to also function normally so we only need one init. 3. I want to make it have some failsafe code in there to give you a working phone just in case the **** hits the fan. 4. I want to make this fully configurable by the user with a pretty interface that i'm totally not programming because my idea of a pretty interface is ncurses with colour. If you have any questions or comments you can post them here or on my twitter (@aliasxerog). I'm also usually on irc.hak5.org #hak5. If you want to help please please contact me as I would love the help." HERE! You can follow him @aliasxerog on twitter and if anyone can help him out please let him know. edit: he thinks he knows how to get the radio working with his method "Well with the radio thing you just have to compile up some kernel extensions. For it then use modprobe to get them in. I think the cdma drivers are kernel extensions."
Isn't this the same method that Nenolod tried? Forgive me if I'm wrong. I just kinda gave up on the whole bootloader thing.
yeah this is pretty much the same from what I gather. they can't get the phone to actually work as a phone from that point though.
the milestone devs that have been trying to crack the bootloader for a year have done kexec and it work but there is no hardware initialization so no radio. So you basically have a pda. If this guy can get it to work Im all for it but Im not very optimistic.
just because we have sbf does not mean that we can just put any rom we want on our phones the bootloader will not let anything other than a rom built off of the moto base boot because the moto base has a digitalized...key, i guess you could say, and that makes it get past the bootloader. the sbf is just as i see it a restore point but i could totally be wrong here
whats the advantages to cyanogenmod over the roms we currently have now? i guess i just dont understand the point of it all... i mean we have customs ROMs, themes, and OC... what else is there that can be done?
Its similar but he says he knows how to get the radio working "Well with the radio thing you just have to compile up some kernel extensions. For it then use modprobe to get them in. I think the cdma drivers are kernel extensions."
We can't do custom kernals is the problem so we are at motos mercy when we want gingetbread honeycomb ect
Right now are roms are still based on Motorolas build. There are a lot of roms that are mostly AOSP or have AOSP apps but the underlying framework is still based on motorolas blur. Heavier modifications to the roms that have to be done in the source code are not possible right now. Hopefully CVPCS can get it figured out and we can have a real AOSP rom. If that happens then the custom kernel thing isnt as big a deal although its still annoying. Without custom kernels we are still limited to only 4 slots that you can set your clock speed to. Its not a big deal but it was nice being able to step the clock speed down on the D1 through 7 slots it saved a lot of battery. There are also probably some roms that wont run on the stock kernel. Miui comes to mind although someone may find a way to make it work with kernel modules.
If he can get this to work I'll donate 20 dollars to and I'll post a pic of my transaction! (20 dollars is a lot to donate..for me in any case) I'm still skeptic. I stopped giving a f- The only thing I look forward to is Obsidian now a days and from what CVPCS is saying he should have something within the next 2 weeks? idk. Thanks for the heads up though Soap. Good to know someone's keeping their head in it.
The kexec hack does in fact work, but the radio comm is disabled, so until someone can get that figured out, we're still SOL. Edit: Just read the edit of the OP, I see that this has been addressed my bad yo...
I think it would better to let Aliasxerog try his ideas without any input just intially, if it needs more development then sure all hands on deck.
Well Aliasxerog gave an update over in the other thread and i think basically he said it works he just needs someone who knows how to write drivers for the x. "Well I looked at what everyone did with kexec and the thing about getting the drivers running is that they're two different kernels which need two different drivers. Really though I'm not worried about that as much--someone else will figure it out as I have never written a driver in my life. My job right now is just getting a stable way to get a kernel running. kexec(8) can do it and has done it with every kernel update on my computers for the past six months. The thing about my approach is that its extendable with a config file that will load the new module that works with the new kernel (modprobe ftw). The current system works-ish in the sdk emulator except that the module is quite crashy. Radio works with the hack on the emulator. The issue is that we need to get motorola's drivers running on other kernels. So to sum it up: kexec works its just a driver compatability issue."
