Hi,

I am working on a port for the Lenovo Tab M8 HD, and I would like to get some feed back.

Working: Wifi, GPS, sensors, back light, display rotation, ADB, ssh

More testing needed: Bluetooth (can connect to devices), audio (YouTube videos play fine), camera (can take photos with both cameras)

Not tested yet: waydroid, libertine, vpn

Not working: tap to wake

The port is for the TB-8505F model only. Before installing make sure that you can reinstall Android in case something goes wrong. The easiest way is to use the Lenovo Rescue and Smart Assistant, however that tool is only available on Windows.

To install:

• Download latest artifacts.zip from https://gitlab.com/redstar-team/ubports/lenovo-tab-m8/lenovo-tab-m8/-/artifacts, and unpack it
• Unlock bootloader, and enter fastboot mode
• Flash the downloaded files:

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system ubuntu.img
fastboot -w

• Restart into Ubuntu Touch

fastboot reboot

There is no recovery image yet, same with the dtbo image. Detailed install instructions are on my TODO list.

Have fun!
Kai

Greetings from Toronto, ON, Canada!

My name is Kai, and I am a German living and working in Toronto as software developer.

I came across Ubuntu Touch searching for alternative mobile operating systems. I got interested, but I do not own a supported device, so I am currently working on a new port.

Kai

@Lesharoturbo No. I am still working on this port. I think to be able to receive OTA the port must be an official commuinty port. For that I still have to fix some bugs.

@Lesharoturbo No idea. The artefacts are build with Focal, and I never noted missing letters. However, when building for Noble I see a couple of missing characters. I do not have EGL fully working, this could be the cause.

@Moem My user was actually banned. But looks like an admin un-banned it. And yeah, it's really my name.

Hi Tim,

How much experience do you have? If this is your first time porting to a device, then I would suggest to begin using halium-13 first. I work on my first port (another Lenovo tablet), too, and it took me a long time to just get the kernel booting. The Andorid version begins to matter when the device boots so far that you can ssh into it. At that point you can worry about integrating halium 14.

On the other hand, if you are experienced with porting then follow the advice to ask on the telegram channel how to base your port on halium 14 from the beginning.

Kai

One way to debug this is to see what ssh is doing:

GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -v" git clone git@gitlab.com:MyUserName/docs.ubports.com.git

@MrT10001 I added you as developer to the repository. Feel free to change the readme.

I made some progress with the port:

• waydroid is working now
• enabled all kernel configurations for the android container
• disabled rescue mode
• MTP is working
• dtbo.img is now generated

However, I still see some permission issues which needs fixing.

Have fun,
Kai

@MrT10001 Thanks for trying. I also have the 2GB/16GB model, so that should be fine. I think the 3GB/32GB is the model with lte.
One question for me is which display does your model have? E.g. what does

adb shell cat /sys/bootinfo/hardware_info | grep LCD

show? (That should work under Android, too.) I would like to make sure that it finds the display.

Kai

@MrT10001 Thanks. That was just a shot in the dark, but it's the same display as mine. Need to think what is causing your bootloop.

Btw, the 3Gb/32Gb model is the Tab M8 FHD. I have that tablet, too, but did not yet work on a UT port for it.

Kai

@MrT10001 Any chance you could boot into recovery and see if there is a kernel crash message in /proc/last_kmsg or in /sys/fs/pstore?

I also see the fastboot -w message. I am not sure if the message has functional implications. But using an older fastboot version seems not possible, I get an error when I try to flash a partition with older ones.

I discovered the following work around: You download the firmware with the Lenovo RSA tool. When you run fastboot -w in the directory where the files are stored, then the message goes away. I think the command tries to read the image for the userdata partition.

Kai

@MrT10001 Thanks for looking at this. What you are seeing reminds me of my journey getting the kernel boot on my device.
I have a pristine M8 HD and M8 FHD, I will try to install the images there and try to find out what is missing/changed on my development device.

@voodoojaza My plan is to finish the port of the Tab M8 HD, and then try the Tab M8 FHD. I own both tablets, and my main motivation is that with Ubuntu Touch the tablets seem usable. At least the UI reacts fast. Android is a pain on those devices.
Porting without the hardware is not possible, and while I think that it should be easier to get a port for the M8 3rd gen and M8 4th gen after finishing the current port I am not sure that I am willing to spend money for such low end devices.

With the existing ports for the M10 it should be possible to get the other M10 models working rather fast. I looked into the M11 because that tablet is somewhat similar to the M8, however Lenovo did not publish the kernel sources for it. So yeah, not really motivated for that.

@neonmodder123

complains something about not finding device sensors.

I'll check as soon as I get my next kernel change working.

@MrT10001 Waydroid starts. I opened all pre-installed apps, took a selfie, install F-Droid via the browser, installed Fossify Gallery from there, and viewed the photo. At this level, it works.
I did not try any serious Android app. There was a notable delay between pressing the button in the camera app and the photo being taken. I did not run other UT apps parallel. It does not feel like a lot of fun (like Android on this device), but it runs.

Latest build has the following updates:

• Now building Noble
• Waydroid working again
• Fixed some typos in the udev rules

Annoyingly, the missing letters seems to be worse on Noble. I did not yet find a way to fix that.

Have fun,
Kai