[Replicant] Aimko AT700 donation

[Chase]

The battery is indeed replaceable, it isnt easily compartmentalized like the galaxies, but taking the back off will allow the battery to be swapped. I grepped through the linux kernel and uboot source code and nothing mentions the tablet by name, and I dont really have the know-how to identify chipsets. As for the 512 mb of RAM, would android go be a suitable solution, is that what replicant 9 will be based off of? Many of your devices are under 2 gigs, so if it's not, it might be worth it to go that route.


Thank you for your time,
-Chase

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Thursday, February 6, 2020 11:11 PM, Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo at cyberdimension.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 04 Feb 2020 02:59:05 +0000
> Chase nicetrynsa at protonmail.ch wrote:
>
> > Hello,
>
> Hi,
>
> > Would the replicant project make any use of a donation of an aimko
> > at700 tablet, or is the project busy with the other current ongoing
> > port efforts?
>
> I found some rough specifications[1] by searching the device name with
> a search engine.
>
> Here are the relevant specifications rearranged:
>
> > CPU Model:Allwinner A33
>
> This is nice. It should be possible to run free software bootloaders on
> it, and both u-boot and upstream Linux should already have good enough
> support for this "CPU".
>
> > RAM:512MB
> > Screen Resolution:1024 x 600
> > Screen Size(inch):7 inch
>
> This is a bit small. I'm not sure how much effort will be required to
> support that on Android 9.
>
> Do you know if there is a website or something with more information
> on this device? Or is some kernel and/or bootloader source code
> published for it?
>
> To add support for it the following would be needed first:
>
> -   Finish porting Replicant to Android 9 and make a Replicant 9 release.
>     This will use a kernel that is very closely based on upstream Linux.
>     Me and other people are already working on that.
>
> -   If there is enough information and source code available for that
>     device: add support in upstream Linux and u-boot. Depending on the
>     number of driver lacking upstream, that might take more or less time.
>
> -   Potentially add support for other devices with 512M of RAM like the
>     GTA04 that have a smaller display in Replicant.
>
> -   Look into optimizing Android to support that device which has 512M of
>     RAM and a big display. Also, as the A33 also doesn't have free
>     software 3D acceleration, we would need to make sure that the
>     graphics are fast enough without 3D. All of the devices we support
>     don't use 3D acceleration (yet).
>
>     Do you also know how hard it is to change the battery?
>
>     Is there someone interested to work on that device?
>
>     Even if we find out that it's too hard to support devices with 512M of
>     RAM, or that the absence of replaceable battery becomes complicated for
>     working on it, it might still be interesting to add support for it in
>     upstream Linux and u-boot.
>
>     References:
>
>
> [1]https://www.ebay.com/itm/AIMKO-7-8GB-Quad-Core-Tablet-Android-4-4-512-RAM-model-AT700-/192918667908
>
> Denis.