Philip, Another interesting point, do you have the kernel source code belonging to this device.
Lots of people tried the same thing but fail because the supplier doesn't provide the kernel code. so agree with Tim on this. Hedwin On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 8:36 PM, Tim Bird <tim.b...@am.sony.com> wrote: > On 08/04/2011 10:59 AM, Philip Rhoades wrote: > > > > I didn't really get an answer to my question though - I HAVE this: > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPed > > > > and I want to update IT . . but I never got any responses about how I > > might go about it . . is it actually possible? I have installed lots of > > Linuxes onto bare metal desktops and laptops etc so I presumed it was a > > similar exercise with a tablet? (as long as a compatible system can be > > booted from a USB stick?). > > I don't know anything about that device. The likelihood that this will > be bootable from a USB is very low. ARM devices have no standard BIOS > which is the same from one device to another. > > Here are some things, IMHO, to look for: > > * a special boot sequence that allows you to enter "fastboot" mode > If the board supports fastboot, then you are in great shape, and > can start modifying the software > * a boot mode that allows you to install upgrades (either from > internal flash or from USB) > > For either of these, you will either need to experiment with the > system, or get information from the product vendor or a community > of people working on it. If you can't find a community of people > working on it, you're on your own. > > Failing either of the above easy solutions, you need to find a way > to jailbreak the device. Since this is a low-budget tablet, > I doubt the vendors have put much effort into preventing jailbreaking, > but you will still have to figure out how to do it. I would recommend > looking at techniques for jailbreaking devices that have been employed > for other devices. Usually, finding where you can connect to a serial > port on the hardware is the first step. Unfortunately, many devices > don't even have serial port hardware any more. > > Does the device run adbd? Can you access the filesystem > as root? Can you 'su root' if you get a shell on the device? If > any of these are true, you may be able to get enough access to the > filesystem to rewrite the partitions and install new software. Obviously > this must be done carefully. > > Good luck. > -- Tim > > > ============================= > Tim Bird > Architecture Group Chair, CE Workgroup of the Linux Foundation > Senior Staff Engineer, Sony Network Entertainment > ============================= > > -- > unsubscribe: android-porting+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > website: http://groups.google.com/group/android-porting > -- unsubscribe: android-porting+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com website: http://groups.google.com/group/android-porting
