rom flashing from linux

[Guest z4ziggy]

hi all,

i'd like to upgrade my rom (2.1) to froyo from linux.

ive read and googled, and i learned the only way to do so is by using fastboot, which is not usable yet (no one found the way to enable 'fastboot mode' on Galaxy S), or odin. since i'm a linux user with no windows machines, i can't use odin. so what are my options? any way i can flash a new rom on my phone?

[Guest angel12]

hi all,

i'd like to upgrade my rom (2.1) to froyo from linux.

ive read and googled, and i learned the only way to do so is by using fastboot, which is not usable yet (no one found the way to enable 'fastboot mode' on Galaxy S), or odin. since i'm a linux user with no windows machines, i can't use odin. so what are my options? any way i can flash a new rom on my phone?

look into redbend_ua utility, its fastboot for samsung pretty much from what ive read.

[Guest z4ziggy]

look into redbend_ua utility, its fastboot for samsung pretty much from what ive read.

MANY thanks for the tip. i will google for that.

[Guest irvine]

look into redbend_ua utility, its fastboot for samsung pretty much from what ive read.

Sounds interesting, I might have a look at this too. Let me know if it works z4ziggy - I won't be able to try until Monday :)

I've installed VirtualBox (not the OSE version!) and I'm flashing through there using Odin in XP. USB passthrough is working well, had no troubles so far (since yesterday :P ).

Edited September 10, 2010 by irvine

[Guest z4ziggy]

since i dont have a valid Windows license key, i cant install windows, and i dont plan on using cracked software, so linux is my only valid option.

atm, redbend_ua seems like the answer. i will post more information as i go along.

[Guest z4ziggy]

ok, i found the redbend_ua parameters list here : http://forum.samdroid.net/f49/bml_flash-re...2036/#post35638

i also found a great post regarding the usage of redbend_ua in update.zip file : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767431

combining the information toghther, shades some light on what can we do using redbend_ua :

using JP3.rooted.insecure.clockworkmod.zip as an example, we can see it contains 5 files. one of those files is I9000XXJP3-PDA.rooted.insecure.clockworkmod.tar, which contains the following files:

boot.bin  cache.rfs  dbdata.rfs  factoryfs.rfs  param.lfs  Sbl.bin  zImage

we know that zImage is the kernel, and from the links above we know its destination is /dev/block/bml7, and we can restore it using the following command:

redbend_ua restore zImage /dev/block/bml7

so can we assume that the rest of the files are to be restored too, to their proper partition? if so, we only need to learn which partition consists what.

this is all a guessing game for me atm, so i hope others might provide some more information.

Edited September 11, 2010 by z4ziggy

[Guest z4ziggy]

ok, i found 2 other partitions, im posting them here until we'll get a complete list :

redbend_ua restore boot.bin /dev/block/bml1

redbend_ua restore Sbl.bin /dev/block/bml4

[Guest z4ziggy]

well, apparently everything is documented here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index...amsung_Galaxy_S

bml1	 256 KB	 contain boot.bin (262144 bytes), Primary Boot Loader (low-level hardware initialization)

bml2	 256 KB	 contains PIT file first 512 bytes

bml3	 10240 KB	 /dev/block/stl3 /efs

bml4	 1280 KB	 contain Sbl.bin (1310720 bytes) Secondary Boot Loader (loads the Linux kernel and passes the necessary arguments)

bml5	 1280 KB	 contains Secondary Boot Loader (for recovery, ect)

bml6	 5120 KB	 param.lfs /mnt/.lfs j4fs

bml7	 7680 KB	 contain zImage and initramfs

bml8	 7680 KB	 empty

bml9	 293376 KB	 factoryfs.rfs ( /system RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl9

bml10	 137216 KB	 dbdata.rfs ( /dbdata RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl10

bml11	 35840 KB	 cache.rfs ( /cache RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl11

bml12	 12800 KB	 modem.bin

so all is left todo now, is apply this structure to the redbend_ua and we can flash.

i just a confirmation regarding this method since im just assuming all this... anyone?

[Guest irvine]

Sounds like something ClockworkMod ROM Manager would do as well. Paul mentioned in the JPC thread that he ClockworkMod working and he'll release it soon...

[Guest z4ziggy]

since i promised to update this post, ill continue doing so.

flashing an entire rom using redbend_ua is possible. although atm it breaks my phone...

here are my findings:

- we can ignore the pit file which does NOT contain a new partition-table layout. it contains only the partition list (without sizes) - parition id, partition name, partition dump filename

- we can dump using dd, and flash back using redbend_ua

- we can ignore the duplicate cache.rfs & dbdata.rfs (each located in both PDA and CSC file) - they are not a 'must' for workable system, only contains applications and data which can be later taken care of

more to come soon.

[Guest irvine]

Looks like there is a tool after all. It's called "Heimdal" and is still in alpha stage.You can find it here in this thread at xda.

Haven't tried it myself yet, but I'm glad there's at least something being developed!

EDIT: as it is still in alpha stage, the dev decided not to compile the Linux or Mac version yet. Only Windows version for now, but surely is promising once some people start debugging it. :lol:

Edited September 14, 2010 by irvine

[Guest z4ziggy]

although Heimdall is open source, its windows only atm. (though author haven't released sources yet)

besides, redbend_ua is much more exciting :lol: and i think using the OTA mechanism built-into the SGS should be more straight-forward.

Edited September 14, 2010 by z4ziggy

[Guest youneek]

well, apparently everything is documented here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index...amsung_Galaxy_S

bml1	 256 KB	 contain boot.bin (262144 bytes), Primary Boot Loader (low-level hardware initialization)

bml2	 256 KB	 contains PIT file first 512 bytes

bml3	 10240 KB	 /dev/block/stl3 /efs

bml4	 1280 KB	 contain Sbl.bin (1310720 bytes) Secondary Boot Loader (loads the Linux kernel and passes the necessary arguments)

bml5	 1280 KB	 contains Secondary Boot Loader (for recovery, ect)

bml6	 5120 KB	 param.lfs /mnt/.lfs j4fs

bml7	 7680 KB	 contain zImage and initramfs

bml8	 7680 KB	 empty

bml9	 293376 KB	 factoryfs.rfs ( /system RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl9

bml10	 137216 KB	 dbdata.rfs ( /dbdata RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl10

bml11	 35840 KB	 cache.rfs ( /cache RFS Partition) /dev/block/stl11

bml12	 12800 KB	 modem.bin

so all is left todo now, is apply this structure to the redbend_ua and we can flash.

i just a confirmation regarding this method since im just assuming all this... anyone?

it wasn't a very good idea looking back on it but I dd all of my bml partitions and then made an update.zip to try and flash them back... Caught in a boot loop and took me many many hours to get my phone usable. Still no there yet. There must be a way to use redbend to dump your entire rom and then use that as a flashable rom maybe?

[Guest z4ziggy]

it is possible to execute redbend_ua to flash all partitions in one run.

however, it uses a .delta files which their format is unknown atm (until an official samsung ota will emerge, and we can take a look at the files, anyway). take a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765724