Volla Installation guide

Hardware Adaptation
1

This thread is intended to contain install guides to the Volla like ports from @piggz. In the main, they cover the basics of using ubports to flash a supported android and the following install of images provided by the buildservice setup on gitlab.

  1. Obtain Ubports UBports Installer • Ubuntu Touch • Linux Phone (0.10.0)
  2. Ensure you have unlocked the OEM bootloader
  3. Follow the instructions in ubports installer to install VollaOS
  4. You can boot VollaOS to test that all systems function (camera, bluetooth, etc)
  • on the Volla22/GS5/Rephone SIM will probably not be recognized, don’t worry
  1. Download the respective installer tarball files from @piggz build setup
  1. unpack the downloads artifacts zip file.
  2. Reboot your phone into fastboot mode (Volume up + power)
  3. run the flash.sh script from the extracted archive.
  4. When prompted, choose encryption for home. It is not actually optional
16 Likes
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if you have strange problems with you partitions after flashing the device (root is filling up with no specific reason)
Boot in recovery…factory reset…format data…
than reflash

When installation was successful, there are some things to take account of:

  • All Wlans show up three times. (No solution a t the moment, but no major impact as well)
  • Hotspot function is not working or just very flaky. It definitely just works, when Wlan is switched off before turning hotspot on.
  • There are other WLan issues. Which leads to some problems with specific applications (for example Sailfish connect). But in general WLan works fine and stable.
  • ringtone volume can’t be changed via buttons. but it can be achieved over setting the volume in the Ambiences. Ringtone volume there is respected. If you want to disable buttons for changing ringtone volume and just use the buttons for media volume, you can achieve this with this command:

dconf write /jolla/sound/force_mediavolume true

  • vibrations for some actions are too short to really be recognized. To change this you have to alter this file (at least on GS5 and rephone): /usr/share/ngfd/plugins.d/50-droid-vibrator.ini after editing it, you have to restart the corresponding service to activate the new settings:

systemctl --user restart ngfd

This are the values I use at the moment (be aware, these values reflecting my personal taste):

drag_start = on=40
release_weak = on=40
drag_fail = on=40
drag_boundary = on=60
touch_weak = on=60
drag_end = on=75
release = on=75
touch = on=100
release_strong = on=100
touch_strong = on=125
short = on=125
strong = on=150
long = on=800
notice = on=125,pause=500,repeat=1
message = on=125,pause=125,repeat=1
attention = on=125,pause=125,repeat=2
alarm = on=1000,pause=500,repeat=forever
ringtone = on=2000,pause=500,repeat=forever
default = on=125

Most of my comments refer to the GS5 and the rephone. I think the network problems are not present on the other Volla devices

5 Likes
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I’ll add that SIM cards may not be recognized. With a single SIM, my solution has been to got to settings PIN Code, toggle the setting (confirm with PIN) and restart (or before shutdown).

1 Like
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Just tested these and they seem reasonable. I usually don’t use feedback, though, but these work nevertheless :slight_smile:

5

Thanks VERY MUCH @poetaster for providing the direct download links to the artifacts files!!! :star_struck: :heart_eyes:

1 Like
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A general method for updating after new releases, for reference:

  1. devel-su
  2. ssu re 4.5.0.19 (substitute new release)
  3. ssu ur
  4. zypper ref
  5. zypper dup
1 Like
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When installing to a Volla22/GS5/Rephone you will very likely encounter a missing SIM issue.

As @jauri.gagarin.II notes at The Volla 22 (Gigaset GS5) Thread - #521 by jauri.gagarin.II

the solution is to disable SIM one, and then activate the PIN which will activate the SIM in turn.

8

Thank you very much @poetaster for this summary

It is probably obvious to everyone but when @Fellfrosch wrote “reflash” in :

Blockquote
if you have strange problems with you partitions after flashing the device (root is filling up with no specific reason)
Boot in recovery…factory reset…format data…
than reflash

It means you have to reboot into fastboot mode, you cannot use the fastboot mode of the recovery mode you have just used to format the data (I made the mistake twice :wink:)

2 Likes
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One further thing regarding Volla 22/GS5/rephone.
Wifi is consuming a tremendous amount of power, so battery lasts just for roughly one day.

A workaround is to install latest situations from here:

Set up a situation where Wifi is switched off whenever the screen is off and one where Wifi is switched on, when the display is on. If you have some sync processes running, which need Wifi (I have that), a further situation makes sense. I have it set to switch Wifi on, when a charger is connected, because I charge my device every night. Of course a time controlled situation is also possible.

This leads to a device with superb stamina. Two days should be no problem, even with quite heavy usage.

4 Likes
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What device do you pick in Ubports Installer 0.10.0? I only get “unknown device” and when I pick Volla 22 the phone is bricked after the flash.

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Which device do you have? The GS5 (NOT lite) and the rephone worked with ubports 0.10 and the Volla22 setting. I’ve done those both several times.

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I did just that, Rephone with ubports 0.10 and oem unlocked. Booted into fast mode, unknown device, then it did the bootloader unlock. I didn’t reboot because it could be flashed directly afterwards with manual selection of Volla 22. After flashing finished I got only a white Led and reboot doesn’t work and it’s just bricked.

13

So, you did boot the rephone android and enable developer, and usb debugging, etc? As with all instruction guides, the one above is probably to brief.

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Yes, I did that. Maybe we can make the documentation better if we find out what went wrong.
Kenada from UBPorts forum mentioned, that the partition layout on GS5 and Rephone are different from Rephone, but I understand the instructions as that the Rephone, the GS5 and the Volla 22 are basically to be installed in the same way, right?

15

You mean different from Volla22, I assume? I don’t believe the partition layout could be the issue since I would have experienced it!

I did rephone and GS5 in exactly the same way. Both I first did a full install of Volla OS to check that all features worked. Then, I erased the user partition with recovery, then I flashed SFOS.

My second rephone I recently went through the whole procedure again to rule out errors. So, flashing VollaOS is definitely possible as I laid out. In total, five devices with the same procedure (1 Volla22, 2 GS5 and 2 Rephones). The phones I’ve bricked where either the wrong phone (GS5 lite once, my son’s backup phone!) or accidents (pulled cord).

16

At what time do you unlock the bootlader? In Android I tapped 7 times on System, then enabled Devmode and OEM as well as USB Debugging. But still, after booting into fastboot mode it reported the bootloader as locked. But it offered to unlock it, wich I chose before I started to flash it in UBPorts installer.

Second question, in UBPorts installer it did not recognize the Rephone right away, I had to select the Volla 22 option to get flashing started. During the flashing I also saw many different messages on the phone screen, but once it finished only the white led and a black screen. If I connect to MTKclient it reports it sits there in BROM Mode.

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Ok, that sounds the same as my last processes. I usuall do a check with fastboot get_unlock_ability and do fastboot oem unlock and co. But I know that with the last two flashing episodes, I just used the ubports installer and the SFOS flash script.

Second point is the same for me, the different messages are the different partitions being written. This was on the VollaOS install, correct?

Could you post the contents of

~/.cache/ubports

please?

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Funky. Inside ~/.cache/ubports I found all the Volla Files inclund the scutterfile for the M6768 under mimameid/firmware. I started up spflashtool5 with root privileges and connected the phone with a USB Hub. Using mtk payload script I was able to send the payload to the phone and then set Option/Connection in Spflash to UART and a proper port. I was able to start flashing it with these files but I got

BROM Exception! ( ERROR : STATUS_TOO_LARGE (-1073479676)

Still, this is moving forward. :slight_smile:

[HINT]:
)((exec,../../../flashtool/Cmd/DADownloadAll.cpp,84))
Connecting to BROM...
BROM connected
Downloading & Connecting to DA...
connect DA end stage: 2, enable DRAM in 1st DA: 0
DA SLA enabled status: Disabled.
Warning: DA SLA Disabled, skip it!
DA Connected
Check Storage Life Cycle: S_DONE(0)
executing DADownloadAll...
Stage:
[0] WRITE TO PARTITION [ preloader ]

Stage:
[7] WRITE TO PARTITION [ vbmeta_a ]

Stage:
[8] WRITE TO PARTITION [ vbmeta_system_a ]

Stage:
[9] WRITE TO PARTITION [ vbmeta_vendor_a ]

Stage:
[21] WRITE TO PARTITION [ md1img_a ]

Stage:
[22] WRITE TO PARTITION [ spmfw_a ]

Stage:
[23] WRITE TO PARTITION [ scp_a ]

Stage:
[24] WRITE TO PARTITION [ sspm_a ]

Stage:
[25] WRITE TO PARTITION [ gz_a ]

Stage:
[26] WRITE TO PARTITION [ lk_a ]

Stage:
[27] WRITE TO PARTITION [ boot_a ]

Stage:
[29] WRITE TO PARTITION [ dtbo_a ]

Stage:
[30] WRITE TO PARTITION [ tee_a ]

Stage:
[34] WRITE TO PARTITION [ logo ]

Stage:
[45] WRITE TO PARTITION [ super ]

Stage:
[46] WRITE TO PARTITION [ userdata ]

Download failed.
Disconnect!
BROM Exception! ( ERROR : STATUS_TOO_LARGE (-1073479676) , MSP ERROE CODE : 0x00.
19

I was able to finish flashing successfully when I unticked “userdata” from the spflash. Now I have a brief Volla Bootscreen when I press power. But nothing more happens…

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Ok, good to know. That’s the correct Volla22 image data. The same data that I flashed with successfully.