Sega Megadrive (Genesis) Flashback Mini HD with an USB on internal mother board

[asper]

Would be better indeed, but i am not that deep into Android. Can you test it? i have no stick lying around yet

I will test as soon as my usb adapter will arrive but i need to connect to the console via ADB while the wifi dongle is connected... need to find other usb testpoints...


About the bootlogo it replaces the atgames one and it is an original sonic logo converted, it will be heretical to modify it (anyway it can be done)

Do not attempt to play with the bootlogo without a backup, i got bootloop and semibricks while testing (all recovered with a backup).

 

[MaxiBus]

I will test as soon as my usb adapter will arrive but i need to connect to the console via ADB while the wifi dongle is connected... need to find other usb testpoints...

If the Wifi Stick works, you could activate ADB over IP, so no need to hook up to a PC. Just "adb connect IP"

 

[asper]

If the Wifi Stick works, you could activate ADB over IP, so no need to hook up to a PC. Just "adb connect IP"

Yeah but if it does not work "as is" (I suppose this will happen) it will mandatory to connect using ADB... now working a little more on boot animations and release a quick tutorial

 

[MaxiBus]

Yeah but if it does not work "as is" (I suppose this will happen) it will mandatory to connect using ADB... now working a little more on boot animations and release a quick tutorial

I could setup a Wiki if you want. We should collect our Tuts on a central place

 

[Hekel]

I could setup a Wiki if you want. We should collect our Tuts on a central place

Well im working on a dropbox folder which contains alot of batch files etc. I will give the download link out when its alot more stuff in

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Oh my god.. what a day.. but now im finally at home and ist time to work on the mega drive Flashback. Ok first of all:

@asper Totally amazing work with the boot logo Change. Can you tell me how you made this?
@Steckbecken Im pretty sure we can provide the wlan dongle, check youre pm box.

asper on the way to Change the bootloader you might found the string that tells the System whats the apk Name of the frontent? If yes you could Change the Name to:

com.atgames.menu.sega_multi.apk

and make a dump installer out of it? Cause it would make things easyer it doenst matter if you have a Genesis or Mega Drive Version. And im sure we could make a Multi Version in which you can select what should be loaded. btw. make a selector file.

 

[asper]

I could setup a Wiki if you want. We should collect our Tuts on a central place

I absolutely agree ! This will be great !

I thought another way to test WiFi without another USB connection:

- install some useful apk such as adb shell for Android ! (if someone has one coming from an ARM device please send it to me so I can test it)
- connect an USB hub
- connect an USB mouse to the hub
- connect an USB keyboard to the hub
- connect a WiFi USB dongle to the hub
- play with the Android interface using mouse and a keyboard and try to get the WiFi working !

For what I saw exploring the file system some basic applications got removed but I think drivers are still there so... I think I will try (I am near to become father those days so if my child is born I will have to suspend my research )

Well im working on a dropbox folder which contains alot of batch files etc. I will give the download link out when its alot more stuff in

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
@asper Totally amazing work with the boot logo Change. Can you tell me how you made this?
@Steckbecken Im pretty sure we can provide the wlan dongle, check youre pm box.

asper on the way to Change the bootloader you might found the string that tells the System whats the apk Name of the frontent? If yes you could Change the Name to:

com.atgames.menu.sega_multi.apk

and make a dump installer out of it? Cause it would make things easyer it doenst matter if you have a Genesis or Mega Drive Version. And im sure we could make a Multi Version in which you can select what should be loaded. btw. make a selector file.

You can "safely" remove the main frontend and replace it with the apk you want; if the apk is coded to behave as a launcher (or "dashboard" if you prefere) it will be the dashboard.

About the bootlogo:

1 - the main original animation is stored in /system/bin/bootanimation and it is an .elf (executable) ad you can launch it from adb sending "bootanimation" command (you can break it with CTRL+C); I made some tests on it but i think data inside are coded in some way (probably easy-compressed) so I abandoned the idea of editing that elf file but you can replace it with another .elf containing an animation (you can "browse" the whole rockchip official and unofficial ROM repository here looking for some working apk: I found a working image gallery and youtube apk there);

2 - after abandoning the ".elf way" I had a look at boot.img partition and found that it seemed to support the common Android boot animation format; so I tested the "/system/media/bootanimation.zip" road and it worked flawlessly: you need to create a common Android boot animation, calling it bootanimation.zip and store it in the folder I mentioned. The animation is composed by 2 main things: picture folders and a desc.txt file where you can specify the animation parameters (really easy to understand, try for example to read here); at the end of thre process you put all of the stuff inside a .ZIP file with compression level called STORE ! This is very important because if you use another compression type the animation WILL NOT BE SHOW and the console may hang !

Testing some pre-made animation works fine but some of them made the console in a bootloop state and I needed to reflash the system partition with a previous backup so BE AWARE WHEN PLAYING WITH FOREIGN bootanimation.zip ! More in general BE CAREFUL PLAYING WITH IT ! Problems can be animation size or animation parameters.

3 - It is also possible to add sound but the common Android way seems not to work (specify the file in the desc.txt and/or put the PowerOn.ogg file in /system/media/ or in /system/media/audio/ui seems not to work); .mp3 and .ogg should be supported but no luck in making them playing until now.
The correct path is /system/media/audio/boot.ogg

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

For testing purpose here it is a working bootanimation.zip made by me. There are also some quite cool windows programs to build up boot animations such as Boot Animation Factory but I think google will find some more.

Using custom boot animations makes the USB ADB connection to fail sometime (the ADB connection suddenly disappear and you hear the USB windows disconnection sound), just reboot the console and retry.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Here they are 2 batch scripts, one to automatically install and another to automatically remove the bootanimation. Put them in your adb.exe folder.


IMPORTANT !

If you got a bootloop and you cannot "switch" to USB-Download mode with the flashing software remember that you can enter in that mode connecting the console to the USB port while holding the small button on the PCB !

 

[WD_Gaster]

I am highly interested in the inclusion of network capability. my dash originally supported IP detection code and i attempted to get usb astryx adapters to work to no avail, however... with what Steckbecken posted we may have a breakthrough, if people are willing to work with me on this let me know. I also know that certain things can be patched on the android OS to get it to internally enable ETH0 (ethernet) detection. I also know how to enable apk installation via filemanager (without the need for adb) with a simple patch
On another front, I have now root access on the console itself without the need for ADB.
what this means:

any app that we know run can have escalated access such as directly rebooting the console and we can even send SU commands to the device. However i would like to test this with a few of you guys before revealing a bit more about it

Finally i love the progress in this thread but it be great if discussion could get separated into different topics, its getting hard to track all the stuff happening at once (I know gbatemp has been kind to allow discussion, but i wonder if a place where we could network and separate topics individually could be a good idea.)

 

[fixingmytoys]

I am highly interested in the inclusion of network capability. my dash originally supported IP detection code and i attempted to get usb astryx adapters to work to no avail, however... with what Steckbecken posted we may have a breakthrough, if people are willing to work with me on this let me know. I also know that certain things can be patched on the android OS to get it to internally enable ETH0 (ethernet) detection. I also know how to enable apk installation via filemanager (without the need for adb) with a simple patch
On another front, I have now root access on the console itself without the need for ADB.
what this means:

any app that we know run can have escalated access such as directly rebooting the console and we can even send SU commands to the device. However i would like to test this with a few of you guys before revealing a bit more about it

Finally i love the progress in this thread but it be great if discussion could get separated into different topics, its getting hard to track all the stuff happening at once (I know gbatemp has been kind to allow discussion, but i wonder if a place where we could network and separate topics individually could be a good idea.)

Happy to work with you WD_gaster

 

[asper]

I am highly interested in the inclusion of network capability. my dash originally supported IP detection code and i attempted to get usb astryx adapters to work to no avail, however... with what Steckbecken posted we may have a breakthrough, if people are willing to work with me on this let me know. I also know that certain things can be patched on the android OS to get it to internally enable ETH0 (ethernet) detection. I also know how to enable apk installation via filemanager (without the need for adb) with a simple patch
On another front, I have now root access on the console itself without the need for ADB.
what this means:

any app that we know run can have escalated access such as directly rebooting the console and we can even send SU commands to the device. However i would like to test this with a few of you guys before revealing a bit more about it

Finally i love the progress in this thread but it be great if discussion could get separated into different topics, its getting hard to track all the stuff happening at once (I know gbatemp has been kind to allow discussion, but i wonder if a place where we could network and separate topics individually could be a good idea.)

The previously suggested wiki will be the best option in my opinion. I am here to test @WD_Gaster

 

[asper]

Just found the correct path for the boot audio file: /system/media/audio/boot.ogg it plays now

 

[MaxiBus]

The previously suggested wiki will be the best option in my opinion. I am here to test @WD_Gaster

I will setup a wiki today.
Did anybody progress with the WIFI Stick?

I played around some time with the Flashback/Pi Combo yesterday and managed to access files over Samba Share (Windows Network Folders). Unfortunately theres no way to use USB for tethering and MTP at the same time, so i had to go another way: Setup a Samba Server on the Flashback, mount the Folder on the PI. This way, the Flashback folder is accessible on the local LAN.
Its not really beautiful, but it works for now. Maybe we find a way to directly mount from the Flashback.

Someone with deep knowledge in networks here?

 

[asper]

Just found another USB Mode for the console, the "Recovery Mode":

- in this mode VID is 2207 and PID is 0006;
- it uses the same ADB Drivers as VID 2207 - PID 0011;
- to connect via ADB you need to "adb kill-server" and then "adb start-server" but when connecting no /system/bin/ is found probably because the recovery partition lacks it;
- in this mode there is no MTP-USB support;

To enter this mode execute: "adb shell reboot recovery": the console will reboot and an Android recovery logo will appear with no text:

To exit this mode simply unplug and re-plug the USB cable.

I suppose we can flash a custom recovery there (over "rknand_recovery" partition) !

 

[Hekel]

Just found another USB Mode for the console, the "Recovery Mode":

- in this mode VID is 2207 and PID is 0006;
- it uses the same ADB Drivers as VID 2207 - PID 0011;
- to connect via ADB you need to "adb kill-server" and then "adb start-server" but when connecting no /system/bin/ is found probably because the recovery partition lacks it;
- in this mode there is no MTP-USB support;

To enter this mode execute: "adb shell reboot recovery": the console will reboot and an Android recovery logo will appear with no text:

To exit this mode simply unplug and re-plug the USB cable.

I suppose we can flash a custom recovery there (over "rknand_recovery" partition) !

We definitly make good progress well done!!

 

[WD_Gaster]

i had seen the recovery menu prior. the problem is that its a "DEAD END" you are booting to a different partition, not the android partition itself. like you said, its a recovery partition that lacks a recovery method. LOL.
somebody would need to port a rockchip compatible clockwork like recovery and make it compatible the controller input (that shit would be tough)
also i am now tackling the ethernet challenge again. im a glutton for punishment. I spent already a long time on this back when i started. i even had IP detection code to check if ASIX usb chipsets would return an pingable address on my network. nothing .

although i do have a lead that may lead us to having wifi (just a lead, not much to go by, but... /system/lib/modules... can someone confirm with me on their units that they have a file named "8192cu.ko" on it? if so we may have native compatibility with 8192cu wifi usb chipsets, with any luck, editing the wpa_suplicant file will give us wifi internet but still a long shot.

also Asper congrats on being a future dad.

 

[fixingmytoys]

i had seen the recovery menu prior. the problem is that its a "DEAD END" you are booting to a different partition, not the android partition itself. like you said, its a recovery partition that lacks a recovery method. LOL.
somebody would need to port a rockchip compatible clockwork like recovery and make it compatible the controller input (that shit would be tough)
also i am now tackling the ethernet challenge again. im a glutton for punishment. I spent already a long time on this back when i started. i even had IP detection code to check if ASIX usb chipsets would return an pingable address on my network. nothing .

although i do have a lead that may lead us to having wifi (just a lead, not much to go by, but... /system/lib/modules... can someone confirm with me on their units that they have a file named "8192cu.ko" on it? if so we may have native compatibility with 8192cu wifi usb chipsets, with any luck, editing the wpa_suplicant file will give us wifi internet but still a long shot.



also Asper congrats on being a future dad.

@WD_Gaster yep i have 8192cu.ko right where you said it would be

 

[WD_Gaster]

@WD_Gaster yep i have 8192cu.ko right where you said it would be

great! i still need more folks to confirm, to make sure it was not ommited on some revisions. if this is the case i will try to get a 8192cu chipset later today and try my luck.

 

[MaxiBus]

I saw that .ko yesterday, theres a wlan.ko and rkwifi.ko too if i remember correctly.
If you run dmesg | grep wlan, you get this:

<6>[ 0.478339] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Enter rfkill_wlan_init
<6>[ 0.478495] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Enter rfkill_wlan_probe
<6>[ 0.478520] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: wifi_chip_type = rtkwifi
<6>[ 0.478538] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: enable wifi power control.
<6>[ 0.478555] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: disable wifi io reference voltage control.
<6>[ 0.478572] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: wifi power controled by gpio.
<6>[ 0.478628] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: get property: WIFI,poweren_gpio = 94, flags = 0.
<6>[ 0.478675] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: get property: WIFI,host_wake_irq = 36, flags = 0.
<6>[ 0.478694] [WLAN_RFKILL]: rfkill_wlan_probe: init gpio
<7>[ 0.478712] _gpio_request: gpio-94 (ap6210_wlan_poweren) status -16
<6>[ 0.478721] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Failed to get ap6210_wlan_poweren gpio.
<4>[ 0.478753] wlan-platdata: probe of wireless-wlan.11 failed with error -1

At first, i thought its a deactivated wifi interface, but i think its the wifi for the controllers. I did not get any further with this.

 

[WD_Gaster]

I saw that .ko yesterday, theres a wlan.ko and rkwifi.ko too if i remember correctly.
If you run dmesg | grep wlan, you get this:

<6>[ 0.478339] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Enter rfkill_wlan_init
<6>[ 0.478495] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Enter rfkill_wlan_probe
<6>[ 0.478520] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: wifi_chip_type = rtkwifi
<6>[ 0.478538] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: enable wifi power control.
<6>[ 0.478555] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: disable wifi io reference voltage control.
<6>[ 0.478572] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: wifi power controled by gpio.
<6>[ 0.478628] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: get property: WIFI,poweren_gpio = 94, flags = 0.
<6>[ 0.478675] [WLAN_RFKILL]: wlan_platdata_parse_dt: get property: WIFI,host_wake_irq = 36, flags = 0.
<6>[ 0.478694] [WLAN_RFKILL]: rfkill_wlan_probe: init gpio
<7>[ 0.478712] _gpio_request: gpio-94 (ap6210_wlan_poweren) status -16
<6>[ 0.478721] [WLAN_RFKILL]: Failed to get ap6210_wlan_poweren gpio.
<4>[ 0.478753] wlan-platdata: probe of wireless-wlan.11 failed with error -1

At first, i thought its a deactivated wifi interface, but i think its the wifi for the controllers. I did not get any further with this.

interesting. well one way to find out if my hunch is any good. .
by the way amazing work, good sir, hope you stick around, you brought some rather interesting information to this discussion.

 

[asper]

.ko files can also be added if needed

 

[MaxiBus]

The wiki is online:
https://flashback.steckbecken.at

I just installed, registered account necessary to edit pages. Nothing done with design.

To be honest, i have no experience with wikis, i just took doku wiki for simplicity. We can install a mediawiki too, but its much more complex.

I will go deeper in configuration tomorrow, as i do not have much time today. Admin anyone?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

.ko files can also be added if needed

Yeah , but nothing loaded

Go with:
"cat /proc/modules" at flashback shell:

mali 160550 5 - Live 0x00000000
rk30xxnand_ko 112093 10 - Live 0x00000000 (P)

Nothing more is loaded.
Try to load wlan.ko module:

"busybox insmod /system/lib/modules/wlan.ko"

Result:

insmod: kernel-module version mismatch
/system/lib/modules/wlan.ko was compiled for kernel version ▒᳾
while this kernel is version 3.10.0

So all the modules cannot be loaded, we have to recompile them against the kernel 3.10.0. Maybe i will try that, but i do not think, its the way to go. There are ways much convenienter then that. I prefer the PI way.