[Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Summary:


Contact info:


Links and further project information:
N9 Kernel update project Wiki Page
Chat on IRC connect to #mer and #nemomobile channels
Mer N9 Kernel - Kernel update project for N9 running on Mer


TO DO list for kernel update:

USB networking ------------------------> phdeswert DONE :)
Display drivers -------------------------> jnikula DONE :)
PowerVR 3D drivers missing---------> jnikula DONE :)
Touch driver board configuration----> jnikula DONE :)
WLAN driver fixing---------------------->Tieto DONE :)
CPU frequency tables missing-------->Tieto DONE :)

Nokia H4P bluetooth driver missing-> tieto
Audio driver parts missing------------> free for taking!
CMT (cellular modem) drivers-------> free for taking!
Volume buttons board config--------> free for taking!
RM-680 / RM-696 Board configs / device tree--------> free for taking!
[ There is a LOT of board configs missing, not sure though if we should actually use device tree instead these days. Someone (tm) should investigate. ]
Port needed Mer specific patches from old N950 kernel OBS pack--------> deztructor
[Yes, all 100+ patches there should be checked :P ]

NOTE: Kernel tree moved from bitbucket to github starting 1st of October 2012!


Contributing:
If you would like to contribute in any way please do so through the Wiki or IRC #mer and #nemomobile


I'll update this page with more information and better formatting (I am not responsible for this project, I'll just try to provide latest information to keep everyone up to date) :)

Re: [Anounce] N9/N950 Kernel update project
 

Thanks +1 added :)
We will waiting for news and updates.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project
 

That's really neat. I haven't had time IRL to work on kernel-plus, so this is a start.

Looking at the commit logs, a lot of the work for Harmattan's kernel has been put into mainline, with the obvious exception of the PowerVR driver, which is a massive patch.

EDIT:
Looking at the Nokia Harmattan patch (~16MB in size), there's a lot of board-specific code strewn around that needs to be patched in.

May I suggest simply running patch -p1 < nokia-harmattan.diff and catching the (extremely large) number of rejects?

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project
 

Might also interest some, as it helps show Jolla's interest in being a good open source citizen. And no, sadly, it doesn't mean that Jolla's OS would come to N9 - there are conditions in the licensing of the hardware adaptation bits that make it impossible. But the N9s make great development devices for many.

Check out the e-mail domain used in https://bitbucket.org/kjokinie/mer-n9-kernel commits (hint, starts with j and ends with .com)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project
 

Thank you :) first post updated! Also I would like to inform that on the Wiki Page the link to is not working, givers 404. It Seems like .git at the end is not needed. Just to let you know

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project
 

[Update]
To do List updated. Help with 6 subjects still needed

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Noob question: Will a new kernel make the N9 better? :p

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

these are just a screens from a benchmarks on a PC
http://openbenchmarking.org/embed.ph...152cbf58be&p=1
http://openbenchmarking.org/embed.ph...6f040a0326&p=1

N9 is using 2.6.32 kernel while current stable kernel release is 3.5.4.

A simple answer is yes and no. It all depends on how it's done. It does have a potential of bringing great benefits and even features to N9/950

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

another to do list will be IPtables NAT module without it, is imposible to do pentesting with N9

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

is "# CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES is not set" was that what you asked for? It's actually enabled as module for IPv6, but not for IPv4..

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Looks great! :p
Looking forward to it ;)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

[update:]
Everything should get much easier once USB networking is fully working :)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

[Big update]
Working items

Highest priority now is:

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

we waiting ;)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Well good news the
Is now finally working !!! Only 6 More items left of the list

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Up for one of the most important project.

I admit I'm a noob on these things, so I have to ask, politely.
Will this kernel only be available as OpenMode or will it run as the one provided by Nokia on the device, with Aegis and stuff?

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

The plan as far as I understand is for an fully open kernel No Aegis and ect. But don't quote me on that. This kernel might be used for mer as well.
As MER does not come with kernel and atm various Mer images are based on old 2.6.32 maemo kernel.

If you want more information feel free to visit IRC channel, It's filled with helpful people, they'll be more than happy to answer any question you might have, All links are in the first post :)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

are there any binaries or I need SDK and linux to compile it by myself?

and will it work with harmattan?

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

You might build a kernel that is usable with a hacked version of Harmattan where in addition of the normal aegis-neutering you need to remove quite a lot of stuff from the OS that uses the aegis interfaces in kernel (or you could port back those as dummy interfaces to the 3.x.x kernel... I have not tried that.)

There are precompiled binaries but none of the abovenmentioned stuff of course exists in those so you need to roll your own.

Building the kernel is pretty straighthtforward, on a debian based linux you need to install ARM cross-compilation tools (but no scratchbox et al is needed), for example "apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi"

Then get the source via git pull or download the zips from github.
(https://github.com/nemomobile/kernel-adaptation-n950-n9)

Compiling is fairly simple when you have the source tree correctly set up;

• 1.) do your modifications to source and configuration files
• 2.) configure the options; "make clean; make mrproper; ARCH=arm make rm696_nemo_defconfig" ## this is for the base configuration
• 3.) "ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- make"
• 4.) "ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- make modules_install"
• 5.) copy modules to device, do not forget to "depmod -a <mod_dir>"
• 6.) flash the beast to your device

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Actually, if you're daring enough, Nokia's Aegis is contained entirely in the directory where all the other security frameworks are. Simply copy the directory over and add the appropriate Makefile entry for Aegis.

I don't remember reading about major security API changes over at LKML, so it's worth a try if you want to boot Harmattan with it.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

It should be doable, I have looked at the aegis interfaces from the neutering point-of-view before...
Maybe I will try that at least to see if I can get the device to boot up anywhere near usability :D

/somewhat_off_topic - It would be really helpful if I had another N9 that I dared to hack a serial console to... debugging kernel bootup problems is a real pain when there is no useful console whatsoever. Gutting my prome device is not an option...
It turned out to be nigh impossible to have a correctly working FB console on the device, or at least it would require some major tweaking to work :(

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

so, how to instal on n9??

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Hmm, what do you want to install, exactly?
The updated kernel does not (yet) run Harmattan, so you need Nemo to use it. There are lots of threads about that, jse search :D

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Check out the post by juiceme in the previous page.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

OK, so I did it just out of curiosity, and it was actually not so difficult to backport the aegis interfaces to the Nemo kernel.
Just booted it freshly up to Harmattan, and it seems to run nicely. All functionality except vibration feedback seems to work normally :D

--- edit ----

Yes, it's indeed so that haptic feedback is not working with this kernel. I keep getting this on syslog;

Jan 23 07:53:47 (2013) meegofeedbackd: MfBackendVibra: Impossible to initialize the interface to the Immersion daemon (-4).
Jan 23 07:53:49 (2013) meegofeedbackd: MfBackendBase: Unable to load handles in the current state.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

The kernel seems to be stable on longer testing, I have been using the device whole day with no problems whatsoever. Actually I am now in train writing this on the device itself... :)
The only feature not working (that I have come across at yet anyway) is the haptic feedback.

I also did some timings of the building process and it is significantly faster than 'traditional' Harmattan kernel build. And the nice thing is that scratchbox is not needed, this builds nicely on normal shell using gnuabi cross-compiler :D

Building kernel in scratchbox using -j4 takes about 9 minutes alltogether on my fairly dated T9600@2.8GHz. Building the Nemo variant takes only about 7 minutes!

I have not yet made any performance benchmarking on the actual device so all this is subjective, but it feels pretty responsive. I am running with defaults of harmattan, no system tuning or governor tweaks active.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Yes,of course, the camera is also not working. Didn't really even cross my mind to try it, as I use it so rarely :p

This is what gets tot syslog when I start it:

Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: Setting camera pipeline to running state failed.
Jan 23 16:37:29 (2013) camera[9485]: Camera pipeline error: "Initializing the media controller failed" , "gstbasemcsrc.c(826): gst_basemcsrc_open (): /GstCameraBin2:QCameraCameraBin/GstCameraSrcBin:QCameraVideoSrcWrapper/GstSubdevSrc2:QCameraVideoSrc: system error: No such file or directory" , 7
Jan 23 16:37:31 (2013) camera[9485]: Setting camera pipeline to running state failed.
Jan 23 16:37:31 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:31 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:31 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:31 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Jan 23 16:37:32 (2013) camera[9485]: Camera pipeline error: "Initializing the media controller failed" , "gstbasemcsrc.c(826): gst_basemcsrc_open (): /GstCameraBin2:QCameraCameraBin/GstCameraSrcBin:QCameraVideoSrcWrapper/GstSubdevSrc2:QCameraVideoSrc: system error: No such file or directory" , 7
Jan 23 16:37:49 (2013) applifed[973]: Application 'com.nokia.maemo.CameraService' returned to prestarted state
Jan 23 16:37:50 (2013) camera[9485]: GLIB ERROR ** GThread - file /home/bifh3/cs2009q3-armel/work/glib2.0-2.28.4/./gthread/gthread-posix.c: line 139 (g_mutex_free_posix_impl): error 'Device or resource busy' during 'pthread_mutex_destroy ((pthread_mutex_t *) mutex)' aborting...

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

juiceme Thanks for all of your feedback, Glad to hear your enjoying it :)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

So with camera and vibra fixed this would be a useable alternative kernel for N9?

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Sure. When I have time I might look into those parts.

For the haptic feedback part, I already did some work on that some time back so I kind of have a hunch on what's going on there.
For the camera interface, I have not looked into that yet, so I have not even checked if it uses /dev or /proc to control the camera...

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Hi,
sorry for my lack of knowledge of English and computer science. :p :)
Are you working on a new kernel for the N9, I understand? It will be possible to have the usb host?
I do not want to be offensive, but how the work is progressing?
I unfortunately I can not help my dates just little computer knowledge, but it would be possible to support the project financially?

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

At the moment I am still doing work on ubiboot ( multiboot loader for N9 ) but later when I have time I might also look at the HEN/N9 for USB host functionality, maybe.
I will be doing something related to kernel anyway :D

As far as I remember same people who did host-mode fot N900 have been looking into N9

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

There were some users who actually got it to work but never released it :(

http://forum.meego.com/showthread.php?t=4610

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Yes, I am aware of that.
AFAIK that was because of the potential problems with BME :D

And any development on the kernel update roadmap? :)

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Thank you for your response.
But you're one of the developers? So by the time you are proceeding with the development, but I understand that it is not easy ... right?
I repeat my question: is it possible to help you financially? Not that I have money to burn, but I was glad to help, if only to keep alive the Nokia N9 despite Nokia. :p

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Sorry I took my time to write back to you. I had to think about something there, on how to express myself :D
Of course the following expresses only my views, I cannot speak for others.

For most people doing kernel development this is an addicting hobby, but it's not our day job, it's not the thing we get paid for.
Thus, I look at parts which intrest me for personal reasons, things I can do and tweak to get the device perform the way I want and need it to behave. From time to time I hit some wall that proves to be too difficult to scale for me, at least at that moment. Or it might be I find something more intresting to hack at. At that time, I might well stop working at the current project and start doing something else.

Sometimes, I manage to do something even other people find useful, and that is wonderful. It makes me feel good to see people using my works, and it gives me good karma.
What I make and develop, are freely available to others to use, enjoy, extend and further develop under GPL.

If I accepted financial compensation/benefits from the work I am doing, it could lessen its meaning as a hobby and increase its meaning as work. Thus I would be obliged to work towards the goals I was rewarded for, and it would greatly reduce the freedom I like in my development.

Rather than financial support, I would like to see you too take part in development, learning the skills to create beautiful working software :)
This community is community of developers, we welcome people willing to learn our arts and are happy to share our learnings.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Wow, that is the spirit!

And even I understand your reasons against donations: a small paypala/whatever link does not hurt, and just see it as respecting/acknowledging your work. Not as a burden to push you, especially as you have stated totally clear your standpoint.

Re: [Announce] N9/N950 Kernel update project [Help needed]
 

Hello juiceme,
I thank you again for your response. :)
I state that I did not want to disrespect or offend you or other people who work on this project. And even those who, in their free time, focus on the development of applications and / or operating system in general.
I am a simple teacher of grammar and Italian and Latin literature, so a little far away as curriculum. But I like it and I'm very interested computer science and technology in general.
So when I said that I would like to contribute financially, I said that is my only way to contribute and help.
That's it. :)

Renzo