[Project] Uboot

Alright,
Let's talk about the most dangerous part in customizing on beloved M8.
Uboot (like the title says ofcourse)

I can not say that we will have it running one day cause I am not trusted with building Uboot nor do I know if there are still some active developers out there for the M8.

Steps to do:
*compile Uboot.
*test Uboot to see if it works.
*flash Uboot over Eboot.
*document all progress.

So that was easier written then done, so let me start with the easiest step:
*document all progress.
check te rewritten wiki page: M8 Development , topic Uboot bootloader.

Ok, next?
Try to avoid hardware mods cause I am not willing to invest money in this project. So what will we need to do?
Avoid using Jtag so I don't need to spend 25 Euros.
*flash Uboot over Eboot.
Boy that was easy !
I found a neat tutorial I documented in our wiki. The source came from here
Reading this tutorial fast I noticed I should need access to Eboot , thus the serial port. So check our wiki on serial access
Ok, next we seem to need some specific commands in eboot .. but that was easy again Check our serial access thread

• set IP or use DHCP? check!
• DOWNLOAD image now ? check!

*test Uboot to see if it works.
Ohoh hard one.
I can't seem to find any documentation on this, it looks like everyone has a perfect match from the beginning, or uses JTAG.
What now?
Well I am still researching this but it seems you might be able to change the Uboot base address (the moutingpoint is default 0).
If this is true one might try to build Uboot, change the base and try to load it from Tinyloader(the loader we use to run Android on M8).
If this doesn't work out, then I don't know ..

*compile Uboot.
Well there are tutorials out there, pre compiled packages for S36410 SOC, a download on pudn from bill, ..
This is the last of our problems I gues..?
The only thing I can see here is on what device we will test this dangerous stuff ?

What if all this works?
Well then we'd need to find a way to burn uboot.bin using Meizu's update system so every M8 user could use this.

Did I forget something?
Well yes, the Meizu OS might render useless, but I am aware that the Uboot can load WinCE, ..


So that's it for now, if & I say if I find time I might try it.
All your help/feedback/.. is welcome ofcourse

sorry, but what is Uboot?
I cannot find something on Google :/

Really what's that for?

I havent 15posts so here is the url, copy it and replace the [.] part

wiki[.]meizume[.]com/Meizu_M8_Uboot
and
en.[]wikipedia[.]org/wiki/Das_U-Boot
and/or
en[.]wikipedia[.]org/wiki/Booting#Boot_loader

so the u-boot is some kind of program that is used as a base to start android?

Originally Posted by nikola92

so the u-boot is some kind of program that is used as a base to start android?

Indeed, Uboot is a bootloader that loads (any) operating system.
We do not really need to have this since we got Tinyloader.

But having it would open some perspectives for the development,
and it might make custom roms smoother etc ..

How far is the developement?
Is that the only Forum, where you ask for help?
maybe the chinese could help aswell in bbs.meizu.com?!

Originally Posted by misi66

How far is the developement?

lol,
not really that far cause for now it's a one man show
& i've got plenty of other stuff 2 do. So it wont go fast .

I know team sepa experimented with it in the past, but they did not really document it.

So if this works we could maybe port WinM 6.5 or even 7 to M8 and some other OS's?

Originally Posted by evow04

*test Uboot to see if it works.

Well I am still researching this but it seems you might be able to change the Uboot base address (the moutingpoint is default 0).
If this is true one might try to build Uboot, change the base and try to load it from Tinyloader(the loader we use to run Android on M8).

code CreateTBin app:

Code:

Usage: CreateTBin <inputfilename> [-a <imgAddress>][-options]
 <inputfilename>   This is an executable rom file (File starts with the first inctruction. File extension required!)
 -a <imgVAddress> Set base address. Default imgAddress is 0x80100000
Options:
 -w               Make WinCE bin
 -l               Make Linux bin
 -q               Make QNX bin
 -j               Make bin without jump-page (e.g. for U-BOOT)
 no option        Make general bin

So we could just use this tool to remap the base address from a uboot.bin file for our m8 then run it from tinyloader:D

Any one recalls the base address for zimage used at tinyloader?

So if this works we could maybe port WinM 6.5 or even 7 to M8 and some other OS's?

indeed

So,
I made little progress;
Found a decent manual for uboot on SMDK6410 devices similar to this one (mine is v2.9, ripped it from a dvd from mini6410)

Went throught the whole uboot code from Bill on pudn, found specific changes made by him, so I am pretty sure it should work (on M8 Fe though).
Will try to run the make script this weekend to see what happens.

Currently I am looking for a copy of the Meizu Eboot bootloader update to run it through IDA Pro Disassembler or EXEcuter to see if i can find specific code.

Also looking for a second hand M8, with or without damage, for a bargain cause it might be an idea to test this on a device that may get broken

So little update again.

I did not yet have the time to check the original eboot bootloader.
BUT, I've managed to make a clean ubuntu install, toolchain installed &
I made a raw uboot binary (uboot.bin) without any errors.

For thos who are interested, I added in the wiki a small tutorial on installing the toolchain
compiling uboot for m8 was rather easy cause bill added a shell script make.sh that you can run by this command:

Code:

sh make.sh

This script runs just few commands to compile uboot

Code:

make mrproper
make smdk6410_config
make

So I think that says enough?

For thos who are still following, I added the smdk6410_config as txt on this post.

ATM I am seeing what base address I need to use so I can build a dualboot: WinCE & Uboot.
I think I will need to use the one we use for android as shown here:

Ohh and I think I came to realize one more benefit.
Even if we can not apply uboot on nand to replace eboot we can build 1 custom rom (dualboot) with uboot.
Then apply some changes so we'd be able to load a zimage from the memory(this can be done).
Meaning that you would not always need to flash xip.bin over to test android builds..!

alright,
I made my first build but since I am not having a USB cable atm (@work) I can not test it.

I wanted to ask if there is a daredevil that wants to try this out for me.
For good use one should have a debug cable, but I have enabled debug on screen so one should see if it loads or not, so debug cable is not required..

this is the download link.
it´s the most recent official xip.bin release from Meizu and my uboot build euhm v0.1

If one wants to try it;
install it like a normal FW, after flashing you will get the tinyloader boot menu, choose android and if all works you should see some startup on screen...
but keep in mind, it´s new, it might be dangerous.

Originally Posted by evow04

alright,
I made my first build but since I am not having a USB cable atm (@work) I can not test it.

I wanted to ask if there is a daredevil that wants to try this out for me.
For good use one should have a debug cable, but I have enabled debug on screen so one should see if it loads or not, so debug cable is not required..

this is the download link.
it´s the most recent official xip.bin release from Meizu and my uboot build euhm v0.1

If one wants to try it;
install it like a normal FW, after flashing you will get the tinyloader boot menu, choose android and if all works you should see some startup on screen...
but keep in mind, it´s new, it might be dangerous.

Oh dear, I want to do it. But I am so afraid :D
is it possible that the phone doesn't work anymore? :-@

Originally Posted by misi66

Oh dear, I want to do it. But I am so afraid :D
is it possible that the phone doesn't work anymore? :-@

well indeed, it might kill the device.
But I highly doubt that it will be the case since i did not touch the base address for now...

but since I am really not trusted with building uboot I can´t say for sure.
I even can´t say it will work :-)

Originally Posted by evow04

well indeed, it might kill the device.
But I highly doubt that it will be the case since i did not touch the base address for now...

but since I am really not trusted with building uboot I can´t say for sure.
I even can´t say it will work :-)

because i really need my phone every day, i think somebody else, who uses it as a second phone or so, shoud try out this stuff

let's assume that it'll work.
What is the next step?

Originally Posted by misi66

because i really need my phone every day, i think somebody else, who uses it as a second phone or so, shoud try out this stuff

np, I notice few people already downloaded it :-)

Originally Posted by misi66

let's assume that it'll work.
What is the next step?

well there are plenty of things we can do. One of the first I would like to do is modify it so we can load zimage from /disk. Then you wont need to reflash every 5 minutes

but let us first see if it does anything :-)

Originally Posted by evow04

np, I notice few people already downloaded it :-)

well there are plenty of things we can do. One of the first I would like to do is modify it so we can load zimage from /disk. Then you wont need to reflash every 5 minutes

but let us first see if it does anything :-)

Yeah fine,
where did you learned these skills to do these things?
I am very interested in that and make even my a-level exam in informatic (IT)
but that's not what we're learning there :D

well most of the skills i´ve learned over the years (about 15 years of them :P).

So I can only advice you to do as much stuff as you can do, don´t hesitate if you don´t know or understand something; just do or try it . Even if you don´t succeed you will have learned something new. :-)

Originally Posted by evow04

well most of the skills i´ve learned over the years (about 15 years of them :P).

So I can only advice you to do as much stuff as you can do, don´t hesitate if you don´t know or understand something; just do or try it . Even if you don´t succeed you will have learned something new. :-)

:**, thats for you :D