Firefly RK3288 'parameter' File Generator

sghazagh · Posted at 7/30/2015 08:37:14

Last edited by sghazagh In 6/6/2016 07:34 Editor

Hi all,
Anyone having the Firefly RK3288 board, here is the tools that you can use to generate the "parameter" file as per your needs for partition sizes.

For those who are new to this file, the "parameter" file is one of the RK3288 flash images which has command that passes to kernel at the time of boot and dictate kernel to make partitions based on the CMDLINE command of the parameter file.

The format is explained in Firefly website and this tiny windows application is an easy to use tool to change the partition sizes and it calculates and generates the "parameter" file for you.

Hope it helps...

Download link (Ver 3.00): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8w4ZQV13bCSUTVOQzUzX1VpT0U
Available at our Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/115488262277361285362
Visit our website: http://www.elar-systems.com

Many thanks,

Release History
------------------------
- Version 3.00 is added with "SD Boot" option and code improvement - 3/6/2016
- Version 2.01 is added with error handling improvements - 3/9/2015
- Version 2.00 is added with few touch up and ability to read the existing 'parameter' file to check the partitions - 5/8/2015
- Version 1.01 is added with few minor fixes - 3/8/2015
- Version 1.00 is added. This is initial release - 31/7/2015

gkmbinh · Posted at 7/31/2015 12:59:23

hi, thank for your tools, but have some bug :
1. the name is "cache" not "cashe"
2. command is wrong, it not work. need to change to "
CMDLINE:console=ttyS2 earlyprintk androidboot.hardware=rk30board androidboot.console=ttyS2 board.ap_has_alsa=0 init=/init ...."

so I have a question, please help if you known.
How to merge all internal storage & external storage to be one partition "Device memory" like all most currents popular devices. eg: nexus 5, LG, sony ...
thanks so much.

sghazagh · Posted at 7/31/2015 19:57:14

Last edited by sghazagh In 7/31/2015 20:26 Editor

Hi,
First of all thanks for using my tool.
Your right, I will fix it in main code , however, you have option to edit the file before you "export" .That's why I put the "Preview" option.
I have used the "parameter" file exist in Firefly Dual boot image as a source.
I'm pretty sure it will be ok if you fix the cache.

To answer to your question,
- You can use "rkflashkit' tools to erease partitions:
for example: $ sudo rkflashkit erase @boot
you can find "rkflashkit" installation instruction from here: https://github.com/linuxerwang/rkflashkit

- I have created an image having "Busybox" and can boot the device from SD.
So you can boot to Linux command and merge or delete partition as usual (I think).
By the way, I think it will be useless because the firmware loaded to loader looks for uboot and uboot looks for Android partition to bootup.
Might be able to change the uboot code to achieve what you want.
I found this device glitchy somehow... At the moment my problem is that I cannot change the "userdata" to something that I want. It only works if the size is 1GB. I don't know why???

sghazagh · Posted at 8/1/2015 15:05:04

Hi All,
The Typo has been fixed and the new version has been uploaded:

Download link (ver. 1.01): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8w4ZQV13bCSUGZYeXNlMkwwV3M

(The download link has been fixed in initial post)

gkmbinh · Posted at 8/3/2015 21:40:38

thank, you fix tool.
did you try remove user partition ?
tomorrow I'll try remove and merge userdata with user partition. hope it work

sghazagh · Posted at 8/4/2015 05:24:10

Last edited by sghazagh In 8/4/2015 05:28 Editor

I just tried to keep the original partitioning available that's why I kept the user partition.
However, as I explained you can remove the parts manually in preview section before you export to 'parameter' file.

I have checked and used the file several times and can confirm that it works like a charm, easy for me to add or remove partitions, resize them and customize as per my requirements.

Please post the result for others to confirm that it's working for you as well.

Thanks,

Tip: If you want to remove the 'user' partition and have the rest of the space for 'linuxroot' partition, just delete the user partition part and put - before @ for 'linuxroot' partition.

gkmbinh · Posted at 8/4/2015 13:08:27

here my param format :

CMDLINE:console=ttyS2 earlyprintk androidboot.hardware=rk30board androidboot.console=ttyS2 board.ap_has_alsa=0 init=/init initrd=0x62000000,0x00800000 mtdparts=rk29xxnand:0x00002000@0x00002000(uboot),0x00002000@0x00004000(misc),0x00008000@0x00006000(resource),0x00008000@0x0000E000(kernel),0x00010000@0x00016000(boot),0x00010000@0x00026000(recovery),0x0001A000@0x00036000(backup),0x00040000@0x00050000(cache),0x00002000@0x00090000(kpanic),0x00180000@0x00092000(system),0x00002000@0x00212000(metadata),-@0x00214000(userdata)

---
I remove linuxroot and user
but when I android loaded , I see Internal store is full 13Gb ( ok). so external storage (NAND FLASH) is still exits and I dont see where to save Download Files and orther user's file.

sghazagh · Posted at 8/5/2015 07:43:51

Last edited by sghazagh In 8/5/2015 07:45 Editor

External Storage is the SD or USB attached to your Firefly.
You removed 'user' partition! The 'user' partition is the place which will be mounted and allowing you to save your downloaded stuff or musics or videos.

My suggestion is, adding 3gb (3136 Mb) for your 'userdata' partition. 'userdata' partition is the place Android use to install your APKs and their relevant resources. So 3GB give you enough space to install several applications (through AppToid or Google Play if you enabled it at the time of compile)
Then make the rest for your 'user' partition. 'user' partition is the place which you can save your stuff. Files, music , videos, downloaded files whatever...
You can remove 'linuxroot' if you do not use it.

Your CMDLINE should be something like this based on what I explained above:

CMDLINE:console=tty0 console=ttyS2 earlyprink androidboot.hardware=rk30board androidboot.console=ttyS2 board.ap_has_alsa=0 root=/dev/block/mtd/by-name/linuxroot rw rootfstype=ext4 init=/sbin/init initrd=0x62000000,0x00800000 mtdparts=rk29xxnand:0x00002000@0x00002000(uboot),0x00002000@0x00004000(misc),0x00008000@0x00006000(resource),0x00008000@0x0000E000(kernel),0x00010000@0x00016000(boot),0x00010000@0x00026000(recovery),0x0001A000@0x00036000(backup),0x00040000@0x00050000(cache),0x00002000@0x00090000(kpanic),0x00180000@0x00092000(system),0x00002000@0x00212000(metadata),0x00620000@0x00214000(userdata),-@0x00834000(user)

gkmbinh · Posted at 8/5/2015 18:11:55

thank four your reply.
so do you know how to make like this ? (nexus 5 device and same other devices)

sghazagh · Posted at 8/6/2015 05:51:59

Hi,
Don't be confused.
These are Android filtered report not partitions.
They are all in 'userdata' partition. Android filter them for report.

Do you see that 4.38GB? That is the size remaind from 'usrdata' partition.
As I mentioned before, the applications and their contents (.APK files) install in 'userdata' partition.
In smartphone the 'userdata' and 'user' partitions have been combined to allow encryption. You only have userdata partition which mount as 'data'.
In Firefly, you still can have 'user' partition on top of having 'userdata'. Consider it as a simmilar to having an SD card.
So the APK and aplication stuff goes into 'userdata' , and the rest of user data like music, audio, video can be be placed in 'user' partition because system doesn't use them and they are only your file. Deleting them doesn't effect system.
Test it by removing all file and folders in 'user' data folder.... Only effect is that for example Muic app does not find any!

To be sure, erase 'user' partiton by rkflashkit... back to Android and see the system works and go to Music app. You see the "internal storage" option is disabled because it cannot find 'user' data which is some sort of SD card for Android.

As a result: What you see in above image in fact is the content of 'userdata' partition which filtered by android report to separate them for better understanding. They are not different partitions!