SFOS on Volla Phone with boot manager

Devices
1

Hi
i would like to report a successfull installation of SFOS on Volla Phone.
As you might know you can flash the phone using UBPorts installer.
But that does actually mean that you need to flash it when ever you want to switch.

Now the port is a community port, so there will be now alien dalvik.
So the idea of having an boot manager and switch between SFOS and VollaOS (which is actually ASOP (Android) seems intriguing.

The installation procedure is in fact not too complicated, i was missing 1 or 2 hints.
There are two telegram channels:

  • Android Boot Manager
  • Volla User Community
    and they did help me out.

Link to boot manager:
https://www.wiki.abmanager.tech/index.php/Installation_Tutorial

Link to sailfish subpage:
https://www.wiki.abmanager.tech/index.php/Install_Sailfish_OS

REMARKS:
aLogCat to get logs on android is there in FDroid.

First install TWRP (the aurora store has issues in VollaOS) i had to download it on my experia and transfer it to the device. I did actually download it from here:

https://build.lolinet.com/file/twrp/GS290/android-9.0/

When i do connect VollaOS to Linux i have to go to USB setting and enable file transfer. I had to do it on each connect.

Magisk, now this was the unclear part:

  • download it from here: https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases
  • renamed it to .zip
  • shut down phone
  • vol+ & power to start phone to recovery
  • the screen is tiny, take a picture and zoom in :slight_smile: the first entry is recovery. you can navigate using vol+ and confirm using vol-
  • this should bring you to trwp screen > advanced > adb sideloading usw as decribed here:
    https://radiorocksmyphone.com/58-how-to-install-an-android-rom-using-adb-sideload
    on laptop i did adb sideload path-to-renamed-magisk file
  • now you have magisk installed
  • reboot start magisk, i think it asked me to download and finalize, i said yes, then it required to allow install
    the rest was according to install page:
  • continue with step 3: boot into trwp and wipe
  • download android boot manager rc6 did work for me and follow the install.

the only really tricky thing was to get magisk installed and working.

Thanks to all that helped me in the process !!
And thanks for all the guys that make this possible:

  • porting
  • boot manager
  • etc etc.

btw: phone has A partitions, not A/B just in case ā€¦

What works:

  • camera !
  • finger print !
  • wifi
  • phone
  • gps , navigation with pure maps does work
  • bluetooth (can confirm file transfer)

What does not work:

  • Okboard (unsupported size)
6 Likes
2

congrats :wink:

two hints to ā€œwhat doesnā€™t workā€ (the only two things I experienced):

  1. filesystem encryption is not implemented (?yet?)
  2. you canā€™t have two SFOS installations on one SD-card at the same time. SFOS and UT on SD-Card plus VollaOS on EMMC works fine, though

one more thing you can append on ā€œwhat worksā€: bluetooth connection (to audio)

3 Likes
3

Issue #1: can boot into sailfish but not into vollaos

instead of booting into android partition -> phone goes directly into recovery
seems a recovery bit gets set

currently you have to reflash recovery, maybe even boot

4

Issue #2: ABM complains about #install check 3 failed

reflash lk

fastboot flash lk lk-verified.img
then re-install abm

5

Good Morning

Which Sailfish Install version (a variaty of Sony phones are shown at the download site, but not Volla included) did you use?
YS Andreas

6

the abmanager.tech wiki site is down since 10 days. they did not fix it yet.
and there was a link to sailfish image.
it is a 3.4 yes

it is a 432 MB donwloaded from here: https://www.cloud.abmanager.tech/index.php/s/qXqqbKDwd3TwSAD/download?path=%2F&files=Sailfish3.4_Volla_ABM.zip

wow: their site is really broken. well i can upload the image somewhere if you share a location

7

Wow! I gonna try this

8

howto ā€˜uninstallā€™ abm, or better revert abm:

  • take uninstaller.zip, take twrp, select install, choose the zip and swipe to do the reflash
  • seems you need to reflash lk image using fastboot, see above
9

boot into boot loader, connect phone with computer using usb
then try fastboot devices
if phone is visible, continue

10

Now I bought a Volla Phone with Ubuntu 16.04 (OTA-22) installed, but i would prefer to have SFOS on it.

I donā€™t need dual boot. How can I flash the Volla phone with Sailfish OS? Iā€™m not sure, so before damaging something, I better ask here before doing something. Can someone please help me?

Many thanks in advance!

11

you are becoming a collector :smiley:

i am in the tube, so will do it shortly
i think you need to flash vollaos first, then you can flash sailfish at least this is what i do remember.
all those how to flash you can find on volla or ubtouch pages basically.
for the details on sailfish, the image, chum, waydroid, there is this nice howto:

https://www.piggz.co.uk/sites/pgz/blog/volla-manual-install

i am currently on 4.3.0.12

1 Like
12

In the mean time i searched the internet. It was easy.

Install ubports-installer on computer, boot Volla phone into flashing mode, connect phone via USB, start ubports installer on the computer, select Sailfish OS in ubports-installer, click install.

It downloads SFOS from internet and flashes automatically in one procedure. Works like a charm at the first try! After starting it you only have to wait until itā€™s ready.

Jolla shop, Storeman and Chum also works fine. Iā€™m happy!

The ubports-installer is available here (for Linux):