DevHeads IoT Integration Server•3mo ago

Just for fun [Help welcome] : Install Linux on an old Prestigio PMP5197DULTRA (Allwinner A-10)

Greetings fellow earthlings, in my free time I like to take apart electronic devices and see how they are built and how I can re purpose them. Also I think its a bit like digital archaeology. Its fun. I tried to extract all the information and important things through Android Debug Bridge like: - NANDA dump (/boot): including a .fex file. Sadly Allwinner did not use device tree files (back then). - Kernel module (.ko) files for the peripherals. OEM Firmware: - U-Boot 2011.09-rc1-00013-g3aa33b0-dirty - Android 4.0.3

root@android:/ # getprop
[ro.board.platform]: [exDroid]
[ro.build.description]: [PMP5197DULTRA-eng 4.0.3 IML74K 20120819 test-keys]
[ro.build.fingerprint]: [yftech/mw07/mw07:4.0.3/IML74K/20120819:eng/test-keys]
[ro.build.product]: [mw07]
[ro.hardware]: [sun4i]
[ro.product.board]: [crane]
[ro.product.brand]: [yftech]
[ro.product.cpu.abi]: [armeabi-v7a]

root@android:/ # getprop
[ro.board.platform]: [exDroid]
[ro.build.description]: [PMP5197DULTRA-eng 4.0.3 IML74K 20120819 test-keys]
[ro.build.fingerprint]: [yftech/mw07/mw07:4.0.3/IML74K/20120819:eng/test-keys]
[ro.build.product]: [mw07]
[ro.hardware]: [sun4i]
[ro.product.board]: [crane]
[ro.product.brand]: [yftech]
[ro.product.cpu.abi]: [armeabi-v7a]

sudo sunxi-fel version 
AWUSBFEX soc=00001623(A10) 00000001 ver=0001 44 08 scratchpad=00007e00 00000000 00000000

sudo sunxi-fel version 
AWUSBFEX soc=00001623(A10) 00000001 ver=0001 44 08 scratchpad=00007e00 00000000 00000000

OEM firmware U-Boot output (excerpt): See messages down below. Discord only allows 2000 chars per post. Also I found the debug UART and im able to see U-Boot output and Android startup. GCC Linaro 4.9.4 toolchain installed to compile the Allwinner sun4i kernel. Thats how far I have come. Its the first time working so closely with the kernel and compiling it. How would you tackle this project? What are the big things to watch out for? What are my next steps? What am I unaware of? If you need more detail, logs, pictures just tell me and I will provide it if possible. Thank you! :) PS: My goal is to get Linux running on this tablet with as many functioning peripherals as possible. When done I want to do my first write up of all time and post it on the internet, so that I can give something back to our community. Also I want to support some kind of open source project in the future, as open source is our air and water. I think we were nothing without open source.

10 Replies

techielew•3mo ago

This is great @Flo … @abhishek awasthi can provide insight here

Flo•3mo ago

U-Boot 2011.09-rc1-00013-g3aa33b0-dirty (Dec 22 2011 - 10:33:19) Allwinner Technology 

CPU:   A10
Board: A10-EVB
DRAM:  512 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  2912 MiB
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
--------fastboot partitions--------
-total partitions:10-
-name-        -start-       -size-      
bootloader  : 100000        1000000     
env         : 1100000       200000      
boot        : 1300000       2000000     
system      : 3300000       18000000    
data        : 1b300000      40000000    
misc        : 5b300000      100000      
recovery    : 5b400000      2000000     
cache       : 5d400000      ff00000     
private     : 6d300000      100000      
UDISK       : 6d400000      48c00000    
-----------------------------------
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x1300000, size 0x2000000
 33554432 bytes read: OK

U-Boot 2011.09-rc1-00013-g3aa33b0-dirty (Dec 22 2011 - 10:33:19) Allwinner Technology 

CPU:   A10
Board: A10-EVB
DRAM:  512 MiB
WARNING: Caches not enabled
NAND:  2912 MiB
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
--------fastboot partitions--------
-total partitions:10-
-name-        -start-       -size-      
bootloader  : 100000        1000000     
env         : 1100000       200000      
boot        : 1300000       2000000     
system      : 3300000       18000000    
data        : 1b300000      40000000    
misc        : 5b300000      100000      
recovery    : 5b400000      2000000     
cache       : 5d400000      ff00000     
private     : 6d300000      100000      
UDISK       : 6d400000      48c00000    
-----------------------------------
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 

NAND read: device 0 offset 0x1300000, size 0x2000000
 33554432 bytes read: OK

[    0.000000] Memory: 448MB 512MB = 960MB total

[    0.000000] Memory: 448MB 512MB = 960MB total

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

the project seems great ... so usually the commercial products block their firmware to accept any new piece of firmware as input which could overwrite thier os ... but still you can give a shot ... what you require next is a spi nand flashing tool with its build ... i personally had never tried this kind of over writing but as its a famous soc you might find many resources ...

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

https://elinux.org/Hack_A10_devices

Hack A10 devices

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

you may check this and try with livesuit they have given the image as well .. which you can flash

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knTTme4Ux8o

Click Tech

YouTube

Allwinner A10 A13 A14 Wintouch China Tab Flashing Guide

Allwinner A10 A13 A14 Wintouch China Tab Flashing Guide Allwinner A13 Wintouch China Tab Flashing Allwinner A14 Wintouch China Tab Flashing Allwinner Wintouch China Tab Flashing Guide Wintouch China Tab Flashing

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

please let me know as well if it works .. 😊

Flo•3mo ago

Thank you very much Abhishek! 🙏 I will process all the information you gave me and will get back to you!

abhishek awasthi•3mo ago

sure buddy ... you may please post your journey and results as well on our #projects-and-self-promotion page 🤟 ~HAPPY LEARNING

Flo•3mo ago

I will do so, as soon as I have got some presentable results. 🤟

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Just for fun [Help welcome] : Install Linux on an old Prestigio PMP5197DULTRA (Allwinner A-10)