CM Epic Touch: 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

CyanogenMod Beta 1 for the Epic 4G Touch

After months of waiting, code changes, debugging and many experimental builds, the moment you all have been waiting for is finally here. Team Epic and CM are proud to announce CyanogenMod 9 Beta 1 for the Samsung Epic 4G Touch.

Release Notes

A lot has changed since our last release, Alpha 6. Since then, our device has undergone many changes to comply with official CM standards.
We now share a common kernel and proprietaries with the rest of the gs2 family. This means that anytime our int'l brothers get a kernel update, so do we. This also helps greatly with getting official CM device status.
Big thanks to UberPinguin for completely rewriting a new RIL for our device. This helps with all things mobile connectivity.

Downloads
Be sure to verify the md5sum to be sure you got the right one.

CM9 Beta 1 [1][2][3]
md5sum 69913fc1b13134b442f8f645aebc7eba
Optional: gapps version 20120429 md5sum 7c524e1e078164f681e0aa6753180b2c

Changelog

Latest CM9 upstream code.
Verified safe recovery. You don't have to worry about bricking when wiping/flashing if you are using the included kernel/recovery with the ROM zip.
The epic4gtouch is now known as the d710 in compliance with other gs2 and samsung device naming conventions.
Opensource sensor hal and lights library.
Reconfigured storage to actually work with swapping and cwm backup.
Our device now uses smdk-common kernel and proprietaries which helps with official CM status.
New RIL by UberPinguin which helps all things mobile connectivity. Read here for more info.
Fixed and overhauled advanced settings (screen, sensors, haptic, and dock settings).
Improved GPS configuration.
Improved touchpanel sensitivity.
Improved battery life and less wake locks.
Improved storage mounting in CWM.
Mostly all features and settings working with only a few quirks.
Closer and closer to official CM device status.

Links

See the CM9 Status page for more details on the ROM, then head over to the CM9 Install Guide to install the ROM. Please check the Epic Touch CM Issue Tracker to see if your bug has been reported, before filing a new issue report. If you have any other questions, feel free to join #ics-dev-e4gt on freenode to come in and chat with us. Also, slickrick is a boss. That is all.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Temporary Stock FF18 from emmc

Utility for CM9 Epic Touch

This is a temporary ROM that boots Samsung's Ice Cream Sandwich FF18 firmware entirely from emmc without making any changes to the ROM currently installed on your phone. When you reboot, you return to recovery where you can re-flash the ROM to return to CM9. This temporary ROM is useful for several purposes.

Settings > About Phone > System updates >

Update Profile.
Update PRL.

Sprint Activation
Dial codes and diagnostic mode
GPS Fix

Install the GPS Status app, go outside with clear view of the sky, enable GPS and run the app.
After you have a GPS fix, GPS should work in CM9 too.

Changelog

v1: August 30th, 2012

Initial release based on Ice Cream Sandwich FF18.

Download

tempboot-FF18.tar.xz [1] [2] [3] [4]

320.6 MB md5sum 19c2292001ea13903b8c31981d472c85

How To Use

Download the tar.xz file.
Download CM9 Beta 1 (gapps not needed. Flash this only if you aren't already on a recent build).
Unpack using 7-Zip (Windows) or Keka (MacOS X) or any other xz capable archive software. Recent versions of Linux can unpack it with tar xfvJ filename.tar.xz.

Do you have a folder named multiboot? If not, try again.

Plug your Epic Touch into your computer and mount as USB storage.

Copy the entire multiboot folder into the base of your emmc (internal storage, not external sdcard). Safely remove the USB storage device from your computer to ensure it wrote everything properly.
Transfer CM9 Beta 1 ROM.zip onto internal storage.

STOP! Did you copy the multiboot folder and CM9 ROM.zip to your internal storage?
Boot into CWM recovery.
Install zip from sdcard > choose zip from internal sdcard > cm-9-20120907-EXPERIMENTAL-d710-Beta1.zip

After it finishes flashing, go to advanced settings and reboot to recovery (only flash this if you aren't already on a recent build).

Install zip from sdcard > choose zip from internal sdcard > multiboot > FF18 > boot_FF18.zip

Did you see "install from sdcard complete"? You failed to follow directions. You must be on a fairly recent CM9 build as the kernel/recovery that comes with older CM9 builds is not kexec enabled.

WAIT. It will eventually boot stock FF18 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Once done using temp boot, just reboot your phone and it will boot back into your current CM9 ROM.

Warnings!

DO NOT MOUNT USB STORAGE ON YOUR COMPUTER WHILE RUNNING TEMPORARY ICS. BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN.
DO NOT USE AS DAILY DRIVER.

Credits

nubercoder - updating temp boot to FF18.
mkasick - kexec port for E4GT.
noobnl - ROM hacking to make this work (with help from wtogami).
chris41g for his kexec enabled kernel.

[XDA Discussion] [Google+ Discussion] [Facebook Discussion]

If you appreciate our work, please consider supporting Team Epic with a tiny contribution.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Progress Towards Offical CM Status for the Epic 4G Touch

After months of waiting and countless leaked builds, literally, Sprint finally decided to push out the official Ice Cream Sandwich OTA for our device. With that official OTA out the bag, Samsung has also since released ICS kernel source. This will allow a couple of things regarding future CM development on our device.

Overall, the FF18 source release from Samsung was a complete mess. Team Epic devs have been working on getting the source cleaned up and booting.
So you may be asking, "What's currently being worked on since source release?" Well..

Team Epic dev mkasick has been working on porting kexec support for the source kernel similar to the Gingerbread based directbootCWM kexec kernel released earlier.

Team Epic dev nubecoder has been working on an FF18 temp boot utility similar to the EL29 temp boot released earlier. This will allow for prl and profile updates, recalibrating sensors, device activations, gps locks, etc, while on a CM build for those who need it.

Team Epic dev chris41g has also been working on getting the source kernel booting and integrating it into the CM build process. He has also updated the custom recovery from CWM5 to Koush's latest, CWM6. Along with that, the emmc brick bug has been patched making it safe to wipe, flash, backup and restore in.

So as you can see, work is done and progress is being made. We hope to have the Epic 4G Touch upgraded to official CM status soon. With that, we will see official CM9 RC releases, official nightlies, and eventually CM10 for our device.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

CM9 alpha6 for Epic 4G Touch Released

After weeks of patches submitted upstream and device bug fixes from Team Epic, we're proud to finally present CM9 alpha6 for the Epic 4G. This will be our final alpha build before we're ready to go into our beta cycle. Even with that, expect a few kinks and issues, as this isn't a Release Candidate or Final version of our product. However, this alpha is based off of RC1 source. With that said, we as Team Epic feel this is monumental enough for a public release. Please, follow us on Google+ and Facebook, for the latest info regarding progress on CM9 for the Sprint Epic 4G Touch. Also, be sure to check the Issue Tracker to see if your issue has been posted.

Release Notes

In alpha5, we decided to get rid of the ability to reboot into recovery. In alpha6, we have decided to add this feature back into the official release. Which brings me to my next point:
As said earlier, this will be our final alpha release before we delve into our beta cycle. With the sure imminent release of ICS for the Epic 4G Touch, there will surely be an imminent release of kernel sources, too. With that, we can patch up the eMMC devastating bug in the kernel, granted it's not already patched up by Samsung.
CM9 RC1 was recently released on a number of devices including the Team Epic maintained Epic 4G. The Epic 4G Touch has not yet reached official status since an official CM9 device must have a source-built kernel. Shortly after this happens, it can become official status, get.cm official nightly builds and stable releases.

Changelog

New Cid bootanimation upon power on. Self explanatory.
Kernel has been updated to FF18. Self explanatory.
Reworking the RIL to better report actual signal strength. Self explanatory.
Streamlined props. This helps keep our builds organized and prevent future problems with GPS, Wimax, 3G, etc.
Based on Release Candidate 1 CM9 source. With that comes upstream bugfixes, patches, and overall smoother experience.
CWM Recovery and the option to reboot into recovery from reboot menu are now back in alpha6 release.
We now have a "safer" recovery thanks to the work of chris41g and Dees_Troy. They have implemented a number of safe measures into CWM recovery to work around the eMMC bricking such as the removal of commands known to cause bricking and the use of a safe gingerbread update-binary when flashing .zips.

Links

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Progress toward CM9 alpha6 for Epic 4G Touch

Clarification: No CM Stable Releases Yet
Epic Touch will not be among the devices that release RC1 with CM9. This device will have alpha releases for now, beta after we have a fully working ICS kernel built from source, then RC/stable releases only after that is proven stable and we have a fully safe CWM recovery that no longer needs the temporary update-binary hack.

News

6/13 CM9 Build (Not Alpha6)

Download Nightly Builds

Read below for changelog. Please test and report back here or on Google+
Notes on 6/13 build

If your internal and external storage switch after flashing the updated build, try settings > storage > settings > storage config > check use internal storage > reboot.
If having trouble with MMS not sending, push mms.apk from alpha 5 to /system/app/, set permissions to rw-r--r-- and reboot.

Changelog since the release of Alpha5

Switch from old skater bootanimation to new Cid bootanimation.
Kernel has been updated to FF11
Reworking the RIL to better report actual signal strength
CWM Recovery and the option to reboot into recovery from reboot menu are now back in CM9.
We now have a "safer" recovery thanks to the work of chris41g and Dees_Troy. They have implemented a number of safe measures into CWM recovery to work around the eMMC bricking such as the removal of commands known to cause bricking and the use of a safe gingerbread update-binary when flashing .zips.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

CM9 alpha5 for Epic 4G Touch Released

After weeks of patches submitted upstream and device bug fixes from Team Epic, we're proud to finally present CM9 alpha5 for the Epic 4G. This build is most likely to be our final alpha build before we're ready to go into our beta cycle. Even with that, expect a few kinks and issues, as this isn't a Release Candidate or Final version of our product. Nonetheless, we as Team Epic feel this is monumental enough for a public release. Please, follow us on Google+ and Facebook, for the latest info regarding progress on CM9 for the Sprint Epic 4G Touch. Also, be sure to check in the Issue Tracker to see if your issue has been posted.

Release Notes

In alpha5, we decided to get rid of the ability to reboot into recovery. Mind you, this is temporary. This decision was based on the user not being able to do anything in the recovery to begin with, with the eMMC bug in our devices' firmware, currently. This ability will be added back in the next public release of Cyanogenmod 9 for the Epic 4G Touch.

Which brings me to my next point:
As said earlier, this will be our final alpha release before we delve into our beta cycle. With the imminent release of ICS for the Epic 4G Touch, there will surely be an imminent release of kernel sources, too. With that, we can patch up the eMMC devastating bug in the kernel, granted it's not already patched up by Samsung.

Changelog

Lockscreen Weather Widget. CM9 users now have the ability to add a widget to the lockscreen to display weather information.
Lockscreen Calendars Widget. CM9 users now are able to display their calendar on the lockscreen.
Apollo Music Player. CM9 now has a completely revamped music player with improved aesthetics and added functionalities. Click the link for more information.
Phantom Voicemail fix now merged in CM9

Non-Sprint carrier users probably will want to enable Phone > Settings > Message Wait Indicator if they use non-visual voicemail.

Calibration fixed in Device Settings. Prior, there was bad logic in the code for actually calibrating the gsensors. That has now been fixed.
Capacitive Lights Settings fixed in Device Settings. Like calibration, the there was an issue in the code for the checkbox preference to actually work. This has been fixed.

How the checkbox is currently set to work is that when checked, the lights will be enabled; they will timeout after 6 seconds. With the checkbox unchecked, you completely turn off the touchkey lights altogether.

Switch to AOSP Charger. Charging when the phone is turned off is now using AOSP code and icons.
Kernel updated to FF02. Pretty self-explanatory.

Links

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Progress toward CM9 alpha5 for Samsung Epic 4G Touch

News

Sbrissen's kernel nearing stability. Even with the imminent Samsung official release, and kernel sources being available, Sbrissen has been putting in much time in getting the 3.0.x kernel working well with our Epic 4G Touch phones. Much progress has been made. To keep up, follow sbrissen on his twitter, or check out his github.
More Epic CM developers with the Epic Touch. Since last alpha's release, we've had the likes of Decad3nce, and noobnl get the Epic Touch. If you've been following the blog, facebook, google+, etc recently, you likely have seen the byproduct of noobnl's and mkasick's efforts in making flashing CM9 on the Epic Touch more simple and safe. To add to that, darchstar has obtained a new Epic Touch, courtesy of Epic CM.
DirectBoot CWM is the preferred method of flashing CM9. In efforts from noobnl, a recovery zImage was created so that you can directly boot into CWM recovery. In the kernel for DirectBoot CWM, there's also kexec support, supplied to us by developer mkasick. For more information, refer to the tools page.
CM9 alpha5-pre1

Download [1] [2]
md5sum 048d41363789fd56da2716a38e7e7e9c
Read the changelog below . Please test, and report here, on google+. Feedback is valuable.

In Progress for CM9 alpha5

These are the issues developers are looking to tackle come the time to actually release alpha5. If you'd like a certain bug fixed by alpha5, please, file a descript issue report to out issue tracker

Epic CM as a whole are working on replicating the signal thresholds of Samsung's ROM, implementable as generic knobs for CM9's CDMA framework. This will be necessary for the Epic Touch to ever achieve "stable" status in CM9 in the future.
nullghost's Phantom Voicemail patch needs further work to be suitable for CM9 inclusion, another requirement for Epic Touch to achieve "stable" status in the future.
Sbrissen continues to work on the 3.0.x kernel.

Changelog

CM9 now has Lockscreen Weather.
CM9 now has Lockscreen Calendars.
CM9 now has the Apollo music app.
Calibration and Cap Lights activation in Advanced Settings work properly now.
Charging icons when powered off are now controlled with aosp source, rather than using stock images.
Recovery has been removed from the zImage.
Kernel has been updated to FE22

Temporary Stock E4GT from emmc

Utility for CM9 Epic Touch
This is a temporary ROM that boots Samsung's Gingerbread EL29 firmware entirely from emmc without making any changes to the ROM currently installed on your phone. When you reboot, you return to recovery where you can re-flash the ROM to return to CM9. This temporary ROM is useful for several purposes.

Settings > About Phone > System updates >

Update Profile.
Update PRL.

Sprint Activation.
Dial codes and diagnostic mode.
GPS Fix

Install the GPS Status app, go outside with clear view of the sky, enable GPS and run the app.
After you have a GPS fix, GPS should work in CM9 too.

Changelog

v1: May 31st, 2012

Initial release based on Gingerbread EL29.

Download

e4gt-el29-emmc-utility-v1.tar.xz [1] [2]

258MB md5sum bb6a67ee2695ca8270afed5538d60068

How To Use

Download the tar.xz file.
Unpack using 7-Zip (Windows) or Keka (MacOS X) or any other xz capable archive software. Recent versions of Linux can unpack it with tar xfvJ filename.tar.xz.

Do you have a folder named multiboot? If not, try again.

Plug your Epic Touch into your computer and mount as USB storage.
Copy the entire multiboot folder into the base of your emmc (internal storage, not sdcard). Safely remove the USB storage device from your computer to ensure it wrote everything properly.
STOP! Did you copy the multiboot folder to your internal storage?
STOP! Do you have your current ROM .zip on your sdcard ready to flash again? You will need it later.
Use Mobile Odin to flash directboot CWM v3. Carefully read the warnings on that page.
Install zip from sdcard > choose zip from internal sdcard > multiboot > EL29 > boot_EL29.zip

Did you see "install from sdcard complete"? You failed to follow directions. Only the above CWM will work.

WAIT. It will eventually boot stock Gingerbread.
Reboot your phone and it will automatically go back into CWM recovery. Reflash your ROM.zip and reboot to return to your ICS ROM.

Warnings!

DO NOT MOUNT USB STORAGE ON YOUR COMPUTER WHILE RUNNING TEMPORARY GB. BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN.
DO NOT USE AS DAILY DRIVER...

Credits

mkasick - kexec port for E4GT.
noobnl - ROM hacking to make this work (with help from wtogami).
slick_rick - QA testing.

[XDA Discussion] [Google+ Discussion]

If you appreciate our work, please consider supporting Team Epic with a tiny contribution.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

CM9 alpha4 for Epic 4G Touch Release Notes

Team Epic is proud to present alpha4 for the Epic 4G Touch. As always, follow us on Google+ and Facebook, for the latest info regarding progress on CM9 for the Sprint Epic 4G Touch. Mind you, this is still alpha, and not yet a release candidate, nor the final product we hope to present in the future. There will be a few bugs and kinks here and there, but it's still deemed stable for us to release an alpha build for the masses. Be sure to check in the Issue Tracker to see if your issue has been posted.

Changelog

Theme Chooser. The ability to customize look and feel of CM9 to user choice using predefined themes or community driven user inspired ideas. Preview the theme before applying to make sure its exactly what your looking for in a theme before applying to the phone.
Lockscreen Shortcuts. Allows you to choose lock screen shortcuts (1-5) anything from browser, Facebook, twitter and messaging, the choice is yours, with customizable icon's.
Camera Save Location. We now have the option to save pictures to either internal or external storage. This previously defaulted to /emmc/.
eMMC/SD Card Swap. /emmc/ is internal storage and /sd card/ is now the SD Card.
Updated kernel to FE16. This is pretty self explanatory.
Notification Light Options. Advanced notification light settings with the ability to set per application.
Improved Signal Bar Reporting.

Release Notes

For lockscreen shortcuts, you have the option to set the default icon rather than stock by clicking on the icon first before saving.
In addition to /emmc/ and /sd card/ being changed, there is a new option to default apps and media to internal rather than the SD Card: Settings > Storage > Menu Button > Storage Configuration.

News

CM9 for Epic Touch has joined forces to become a project of Team Epic.