Revision as of 10:01, 6 October 2015

How to flash Kubuntu Phone on Nexus 5

Useful information can be found here:

Prerequisites

The device must be connected to the Linux host with the USB cable all the time, unless told to reconnect. The device must also be unlocked and prepared to be flashed, see this page for details.

Configure the host device

Install Android tools.

On Ubuntu do:

sudo apt-get install android-tools* ubuntu-device-flash phablet-tools

Connect the device and type:

lsusb

an output like this will come out:

Bus 004 Device 010: ID 18d1:4ee1 Google Inc. Nexus 4 / 10

18d1 is the vendor id, 4ee1 is the product id.

Numbers may change with other devices.

Create /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules with:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="18d1", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="4ee1", SYMLINK+="android_adb"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="4ee1", SYMLINK+="android_fastboot"

replace vendor and product identifiers with yours.

Now Reload uev's rules to make these changes effective:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Reconnect your device.

Type:

sudo adb devices

your device will be listed.

Unlock the device

Go to the bootloader:

Power off the phone
Keep volume down and power pressed together until the bootloader is shown (the bootloader has an android with the lid open like this:

)

From the Linux host type:

sudo fastboot oem unlock

Select "Yes" on the phone using volume keys, confirm pressing the power key once.

Now reboot:

sudo fastboot reboot

Since unlocking wipes data, Android will restart the first time wizard. Let the wizard come up, then press Power button to just power off the phone, you will not need to complete the wizard.

Flash the device

Note that : this method will erase the existing Android system installed on your phone, if you want to keep Android and want to dual boot it, then read MultiROM guide.

Then connect the device to the host system via USB and boot into bootloader again by first powering down the phone and then keeping volume down and power pressed together until the bootloader is shown.

Then on the host type:

ubuntu-device-flash --server="http://kubuntu.plasma-mobile.org" touch \
--channel="neon-mobile/devel" --bootstrap --developer-mode \
--password 1234

or, if you want to live on the bleeding edge, flash the latest, untested image with:

ubuntu-device-flash --server="http://kubuntu.plasma-mobile.org" touch \
--channel="neon-mobile/devel-proposed" --bootstrap --developer-mode \
--password 1234

("devel-proposed" instead of just "devel")

This will start downloading the image and load it on the phone. Afterwards the device will show the Ubuntu logo spinning. This takes about 5 minutes, then it reboots, the google logo shows, and shortly thereafter the spinning Ubuntu logo again. After about 1 minute it's done and you should be greeted with Plasma 5.

Basic Device Setup

Install a fresh Ubuntu-phone vivid vervet image, either using multirom or by flashing directly. After installation and enabling developer mode, enable ssh:

Make sure the device is connected through your USB port, then log in to it using

sudo adb shell

Optionally you can make this shell have bigger 'inner' size by running

stty rows 40 cols 160

This is not needed but will make the line not break when entering long commands. Adjust the rows and cols according to your screen/settings.

Writable root

By default, the root filesystem is read-only. Not too useful for developers. A script is run on first boot to make it writable and makes a stamp file ```plasma-phone-devel-setup-run```, check this file exists then run

sudo reboot

and it will boot up with writable root.

The verbose version (so you know what's going on):

sudo touch /userdata/.writable_image
sudo touch /userdata/.adb_onlock
sudo reboot

Resizing the root parition

In order to have enough space available for installing stuff, you should resize the root partition using

sudo resize-root-partition

This resized your root partition to about 6GB

Enable SSH access

After reboot above for writeable root it should then run sshd, it will make the stamp file ```plasma-phone-devel-setup2-run```.

If not run it manually:

sudo ssh-setup

The verbose version (so you know what's going on):

sudo bash
echo manual > /etc/init/ssh.override
echo "exec /usr/sbin/sshd -D -o PasswordAuthentication=yes" >> /etc/init/ssh.override

sudo service ssh start
sudo setprop persist.service.ssh true
sudo reboot

Connect Wifi

We've included a small script which sets up a wifi connection (WPA-PSK) for NetworkManager. This can be run once writeable root is set up (as above).

wifi-setup SSID PASSWORD

If you're using a different security mechanism for your wifi network, it's time to read the nmcli documentation. Look into /usr/bin/wifi-setup for inspiration.

On and on...

Now follow the instructions for your Development Setup to get going.