Folks interested in trying out Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on the discontinued HP TouchPad are in luck, as a couple of days ago developers working on the TouchDroid project uploaded a comprehensive walkthrough detailing some of the many steps required to install Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on the HP TouchPad. If you’re interested, you can follow the guide after the break.
News of the walkthrough comes from Touch-Droid Forums. Flashing Android on the TouchPad is a bit of a lengthy and risky process. It requires considerable skill with computers to follow and there is great potential that you might brick your TouchPad during the operation.
From Touch-Droid:
ATTENTION NON-DEVS: THIS IS A PRE-ALPHA BUILD, WIFI DOES NOT WORK, WITH ALONG MANY OTHER THINGS, DO NOT INSTALL UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO BUILD FROM THIS IMAGE.
Hello Community!
I have decided to release a system dump from my TouchPad which contains a semi-working build of Android 2.3.5 with working touchscreen on the HP TouchPad. Please use this data and the below steps on installation as you see fit. I hope this release will light a fire under the community to work together on a full working port!
*** I am in no way responsible if this bricks or otherwise damages your TouchPad ***
How To Flash Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on HP TouchPad
DISCLAIMER: Redmond Pie is not to be held responsible for any loss of data as a result of the malfunctioning of your HP TouchPad.
Step 1: Download system.tar.bz and android.uImage from the torrent here [Direct Link].
Step 2: Before proceeding further, you must set up novaterm. For this, you will need to visit this wiki page and follow the instructions for setting up novaterm on your OS (it works on Windows, Mac and Linux).
Be sure to place the two files you downloaded in Step 1 inside the novaterm folder.
Step 3: Connect your HP TouchPad to your PC using a USB cable. (DO NOT MOUNT IT)
Step 4: Open up command prompt/terminal on your PC and type the following:
novaterm
Step 5: In order to install Android, we must first create partitions for it on the TouchPad’s internal memory. Run the following commands in novaterm:
lvm.static lvresize -L -1706M /dev/store/media
lvm.static lvcreate -L 10M -n android-persist store
lvm.static lvcreate -L 32M -n android-etc store
lvm.static lvcreate -L 320M -n android-system store
lvm.static lvcreate -L 320M -n android-cache store
lvm.static lvcreate -L 1024M -n android-data store
Then,
mkfs.ext3 /dev/store/android-cache
mkfs.ext3 /dev/store/android-data
mkfs.ext3 /dev/store/android-etc
mkfs.ext3 /dev/store/android-persist
mkfs.ext3 /dev/store/android-system
Step 6: This partition must then be mounted in tmp/system, using novaterm:
mkdir /tmp/system/
mount -o loop -t ext3 /dev/mapper/store-android–system /tmp/system/
Step 7: Open up a new command prompt/terminal windows run the following:
novacom put file://tmp/system/system.tar.bz < system.tar.bz
Step 8: From novaterm, unzip the system.tar.gz file you downloaded in Step 1 to /tmp/system:
cd /tmp/system/
tar -xvf system.tar.bz
cd system
mv * ../
cd ..
rm -rf system
Step 9: Using novaterm, unmount /tmp/system
cd /
umount /tmp/system
Step 10: You are now required to boot into bootie by running the following command in novaterm:
tellbootie recover
Step 11: Using command prompt/terminal, change to your novaterm folder and run the following:
novacom boot mem:// < android.uImage
By now, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread will be installed on your HP TouchPad. You now need to boot into it.
Step 12: Keep pressing the Volume UP button on your TouchPad until there is a purple line on the right hand side of the TouchPad’s display.
Voila! If you followed the steps correctly, you will now have booted into Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on your HP TouchPad.
Everytime you want to boot into Android, you will need to repeat steps 10 and 11.
Note: If you want to get rid of Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, open up novaterm and run the following commands
lvm.static lvremove store/android-persist
lvm.static lvremove store/android-system
lvm.static lvremove store/android-data
lvm.static lvremove store/android-cache
lvm.static lvremove store/android-etc
lvm.static lvresize -L +1706M /dev/store/media
If you don’t feel like going through the guide for some reason, you can refer to the videos embedded below to make things simpler for yourself:
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