OESF Portables Forum
Model Specific Forums => Cosmo Communicator => Cosmo Communicator - Hardware => Topic started by: supergadgetman on December 11, 2019, 11:00:21 am
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Hello
First Post here. No longer a lurker since I finally have my Cosmo. Yay!!
Has anyone seen this new firmware update for the Cosmo? It came up in my notifications today after I updated the CODI firmware.
I attached the screenshot here. I'm a little hesitant to pull the plug on this considering the CODI update I just did was flaky at best.
My outer screen is now non responsive every 15 minutes or so and I have to reset it with the CODI app.
Maybe this new firmware fixes this, but there's no changelog so I don't know.
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I went ahead and applied the update. The process was quite fast and uneventful. I did not notice any changes after starting post update either. So far so good
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I updated CODI firmware last night and it was a little squirly but no issues so far. I also ran the firmware update about an hour ago and no issues so far.
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Here is a direct download link to the OTA update, if anybody requires it: https://flare02.iofota.com/EASTAEON_FTPRO16...91209104700.zip (https://flare02.iofota.com/EASTAEON_FTPRO16945_191209104700.zip) (I disabled the updater app on my Cosmo over concerns regarding the inbuilt malware)
Also, here's some Python 3 code that fetches the URL and details for the latest update from the OTA server: https://gist.github.com/Treeki/823ce5e6fafb...dfd61abe2ef557e (https://gist.github.com/Treeki/823ce5e6fafb89afadfd61abe2ef557e)
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You can find the changelog here: http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/L..._Cosmo_Firmware (http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/Latest_Cosmo_Firmware)
Bye for now Fred
PS: update does not complete on my preliminary rooted Cosmo...
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You can find the changelog here: http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/L..._Cosmo_Firmware (http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/Latest_Cosmo_Firmware)
Bye for now Fred
PS: update does not complete on my preliminary rooted Cosmo...
Don't know if it's same on Cosmo, but on Gemini PDA, OTA updates would not install on rooted devices. You had to install updates manually.
HTH,
Mark
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You can find the changelog here: http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/L..._Cosmo_Firmware (http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/Latest_Cosmo_Firmware)
Bye for now Fred
PS: update does not complete on my preliminary rooted Cosmo...
Don't know if it's same on Cosmo, but on Gemini PDA, OTA updates would not install on rooted devices. You had to install updates manually.
HTH,
Mark
Same for me, so it seems so. How to install the update on an rooted device? If we already had the flashable images things would be quite easy...
Mith
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So, this isn't the trailed firmware release with multiboot, TWRP, and Linux installation support baked in, right? (As announced in Indiegogo campaign update 35.)
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Same for me, so it seems so. How to install the update on an rooted device? If we already had the flashable images things would be quite easy...
Mith
Power off
Power on while holding right side of rocker button (fingerprint sensor)
You get to a screen with a dead android and chinese characters (probably: "No command" in chinese)
In that screen press fn - esc - right side of rocker
Now you're in recovery mode and should be able to flash the file via adb or from sd card.
(Can't try it myself because my cosmo's display is broken.)
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Same for me, so it seems so. How to install the update on an rooted device? If we already had the flashable images things would be quite easy...
Mith
Got the update installed on the rooted Cosmo..
1. Flash the original boot image using SP flash tool (Gemini version is outdated and does not work for Cosmo)
2. Perform the OTA update
3. Flash the magisked boot image again
Images come from here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879) (Thanks ZimbiX)
Mith
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I went ahead with the firmware update. Hit restart or reboot, whatever it said. Now I'm stuck in a boot loop that doesn't get past the splash screen to the boot animation. Then powers off, and immediately restarts. One boot/power off cycle takes about 13-14 seconds. Holding any key/button combinations seems to be of no help. Additional information! I was rooted with magisk. Two failed attempts to install the new firmware, so I flashed the original boot image back to the device and rebooted. That went no problem. Tried the OTA update one more time. This time I didn't get an error message at the end of it. Phone restarted, and here I sit 6 hours later, hoping the battery eventually drains so I can try ADBing in. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. Something I'm noticing as I'm typing this, just as the phone powers down, the screen has a glitch-in-the-matrix style flicker. I doubt that really means anything to anyone, but just in case.
A pre-thanks to everyone!
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I went ahead with the firmware update. Hit restart or reboot, whatever it said. Now I'm stuck in a boot loop that doesn't get past the splash screen to the boot animation. Then powers off, and immediately restarts. One boot/power off cycle takes about 13-14 seconds. Holding any key/button combinations seems to be of no help. Additional information! I was rooted with magisk. Two failed attempts to install the new firmware, so I flashed the original boot image back to the device and rebooted. That went no problem. Tried the OTA update one more time. This time I didn't get an error message at the end of it. Phone restarted, and here I sit 6 hours later, hoping the battery eventually drains so I can try ADBing in. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. Something I'm noticing as I'm typing this, just as the phone powers down, the screen has a glitch-in-the-matrix style flicker. I doubt that really means anything to anyone, but just in case.
A pre-thanks to everyone!
Most probably you have already tried:
-Press Esc long (takes about 10 secs at the rotating planets)
-Press Esc+silver button (side) long
-Press Esc+Vol Up/Down (next to the cover display) long
Also had a similar (seemed to be related to a magisk module I am trying to develop...) behavior. For me it helped to "reboot" several times using the Esc long press. Booting works when the blue caps lock led turns off. If it stays on the phone is frozen.
If not faint-hearted you might try to remove the back and pull the battery plug. Once I had to resurrect the Gemini (now it's undead this way. It refused to turn on.
Mith
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I went ahead and applied the update. The process was quite fast and uneventful. I did not notice any changes after starting post update either. So far so good
I just updated. No issues, but I noticed my outer screen was still freezing. Started removing software one by one and reverting settings. I found that when I configured my gmail to sync to my work exchange server just to load my email contacts,
it was causing an abundance of notifications to appear on the outer screen and causing it to freeze. Once I removed that account the freezing stopped. I tried just turning off notifications for that account, but something was still pegging the outer screen
even though it wasn't hitting the main screen. I wasn't even syncing email from that exchange account, just my work contacts so not sure why it was causing an issue, but its working now so all's well.
BTW, here's a shot of the launcher I use for anyone interested its called WinX Launcher. Gives the Cosmo a more of a laptop feel and navigates just like Windows.
Cheers
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Most probably you have already tried:
-Press Esc long (takes about 10 secs at the rotating planets)
-Press Esc+silver button (side) long
-Press Esc+Vol Up/Down (next to the cover display) long
Also had a similar (seemed to be related to a magisk module I am trying to develop...) behavior. For me it helped to "reboot" several times using the Esc long press. Booting works when the blue caps lock led turns off. If it stays on the phone is frozen.
If not faint-hearted you might try to remove the back and pull the battery plug. Once I had to resurrect the Gemini (now it's undead this way. It refused to turn on.
Mith
Thanks Mith! I'll give that a shot tonight. Gotta go have dinner with the in-laws first. I had it apart at work, but that battery connector looked real odd to me. More like it was soldered on. Probably a mix of bad vision + light that are far too bright in my lab. I'm assuming it pulls up, not out? As in away from the keyboard, not towards the other end of the device. Oh! And to be clear, it doesnt make it to the rotating planets. Just the initial PC splash screen.
Thanks again!
-Prof (the NQ means "Not Quite")
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I went ahead and applied the update. The process was quite fast and uneventful. I did not notice any changes after starting post update either. So far so good
I just updated. No issues, but I noticed my outer screen was still freezing. Started removing software one by one and reverting settings. I found that when I configured my gmail to sync to my work exchange server just to load my email contacts,
it was causing an abundance of notifications to appear on the outer screen and causing it to freeze. Once I removed that account the freezing stopped. I tried just turning off notifications for that account, but something was still pegging the outer screen
even though it wasn't hitting the main screen. I wasn't even syncing email from that exchange account, just my work contacts so not sure why it was causing an issue, but its working now so all's well.
Would be good if you file a bug report with Planet regarding the notification freeze issue.
File it here:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/cc92fc88e...923c419ad9321b2 (https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/cc92fc88ec4e469d8923c419ad9321b2)
BTW, here's a shot of the launcher I use for anyone interested its called WinX Launcher. Gives the Cosmo a more of a laptop feel and navigates just like Windows.
Cheers
Launcher looks good on the landscape orientation. Thanks for sharing info and pic.
Mark
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[Thanks Mith! I'll give that a shot tonight. Gotta go have dinner with the in-laws first. I had it apart at work, but that battery connector looked real odd to me. More like it was soldered on. Probably a mix of bad vision + light that are far too bright in my lab. I'm assuming it pulls up, not out? As in away from the keyboard, not towards the other end of the device. Oh! And to be clear, it doesnt make it to the rotating planets. Just the initial PC splash screen.
Thanks again!
-Prof (the NQ means "Not Quite")
Yes, for he Gemini it pulls up. Assuming the Cosmo uses the same battery you should be able to pull the connector upwards. Before one has to remove (for the Gemini, did not open the Cosmo, yet) the black plastic side cover on the connector's side and unscrew a small piece of metal that holds the connector in place. Bu most probably it is the same here.
Mith
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Yes, for he Gemini it pulls up. Assuming the Cosmo uses the same battery you should be able to pull the connector upwards. Before one has to remove (for the Gemini, did not open the Cosmo, yet) the black plastic side cover on the connector's side and unscrew a small piece of metal that holds the connector in place. Bu most probably it is the same here.
Mith
I ended up pulling the battery last night. Let it all sit for a couple hours. Plugged it back in, and the problem continued. Tried using SP Flash tools to re-flash boot.img. Oh, right, to be clear, I'm fortunate enough that SP Flash Tool can still catch the phone during its cycle. The screen wont try coming on anymore, but windows still gives me the connect and disconnect sounds, so I can tell the cycle is still going on, and I can still connect with Flash Tool, so I reckon I'm probably stuck waiting until a full rom is released.
-Prof
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I ended up pulling the battery last night. Let it all sit for a couple hours. Plugged it back in, and the problem continued. Tried using SP Flash tools to re-flash boot.img. Oh, right, to be clear, I'm fortunate enough that SP Flash Tool can still catch the phone during its cycle. The screen wont try coming on anymore, but windows still gives me the connect and disconnect sounds, so I can tell the cycle is still going on, and I can still connect with Flash Tool, so I reckon I'm probably stuck waiting until a full rom is released.
-Prof
I'm wondering, can you successfully boot the Cosmo into the bootloader (Fastboot mode) or into recovery mode? If either of those work fine then that's probably a good sign that you just need to reflash a clean full ROM.
It's slightly frustrating that Planet haven't released factory images yet - I was able to put together images for some of the partitions by dumping them from my Cosmo and then using imgpatchtools to apply the patches from the OTA package, but I would much rather just have the original files available for download.
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I'm wondering, can you successfully boot the Cosmo into the bootloader (Fastboot mode) or into recovery mode? If either of those work fine then that's probably a good sign that you just need to reflash a clean full ROM.
It's slightly frustrating that Planet haven't released factory images yet - I was able to put together images for some of the partitions by dumping them from my Cosmo and then using imgpatchtools to apply the patches from the OTA package, but I would much rather just have the original files available for download.
Unfortunately, neither of those are doable. I can connect with SP Flash Tool, however. TauPan has been helping me a bit. He uploaded his preloader rip for me. Using that, the screen now comes on again during the boot loop! No loop change, though.
Main point there is that I can flash individual partitions. I wonder, if you have an image of the recovery, if flashing that would allow me to boot into recovery. But I fully agree - they need to drop stock images.
Thanks for the help!
-Prof
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I have just looked at the OTA ZIPfile linked here.
The ZIPfile contains binary patches for the boot partition. Patching a binary that has already been modified results in garbage, most likely. This is why booting fails for people who tried to update their rooted Cosmo.
I don't know if the binary patching employed in google's `update-binary` command does any kind of safety checks, but apparently not, otherwise the update would just fail, I guess.
Flashing back the original boot image should work, but then you don't have an updated boot image, so the following leads to a working Cosmo:
Got the update installed on the rooted Cosmo..
1. Flash the original boot image using SP flash tool (Gemini version is outdated and does not work for Cosmo)
2. Perform the OTA update
3. Flash the magisked boot image again
Images come from here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879) (Thanks ZimbiX)
Mith
but the boot image will be outdated (but rooted).
Instead I suggest the following procedure (Step 1. and 2. unmodified):
3. Read back the updated, but unrooted boot image via SP
4. Patch it with magisk
5. SP flash the modified image to the Cosmo
6. Maybe upload it here for additional karma points.
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I have just looked at the OTA ZIPfile linked here.
The ZIPfile contains binary patches for the boot partition. Patching a binary that has already been modified results in garbage, most likely. This is why booting fails for people who tried to update their rooted Cosmo.
I don't know if the binary patching employed in google's `update-binary` command does any kind of safety checks, but apparently not, otherwise the update would just fail, I guess.
Flashing back the original boot image should work, but then you don't have an updated boot image, so the following leads to a working Cosmo:
Got the update installed on the rooted Cosmo..
1. Flash the original boot image using SP flash tool (Gemini version is outdated and does not work for Cosmo)
2. Perform the OTA update
3. Flash the magisked boot image again
Images come from here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35879) (Thanks ZimbiX)
Mith
but the boot image will be outdated (but rooted).
Instead I suggest the following procedure (Step 1. and 2. unmodified):
3. Read back the updated, but unrooted boot image via SP
4. Patch it with magisk
5. SP flash the modified image to the Cosmo
6. Maybe upload it here for additional karma points.
Right, the boot image would be outdated, but I on't think there have been changes to it. From the changelog all seems UI related. If there were a new kernel build, ok, but I don't think so.
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I went ahead and applied the update. The process was quite fast and uneventful. I did not notice any changes after starting post update either. So far so good
BTW, here's a shot of the launcher I use for anyone interested its called WinX Launcher. Gives the Cosmo a more of a laptop feel and navigates just like Windows.
Cheers
Do you have a Play Store link for that app? For some reason a search isn't bringing it up...
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I have just looked at the OTA ZIPfile linked here.
The ZIPfile contains binary patches for the boot partition. Patching a binary that has already been modified results in garbage, most likely. This is why booting fails for people who tried to update their rooted Cosmo.
Right, the boot image would be outdated, but I on't think there have been changes to it. From the changelog all seems UI related. If there were a new kernel build, ok, but I don't think so.
Excuse the repetition: I looked inside the zipfile, which you can do too and there is a binary patch to the boot image, which is the reason why people have been soft bricking their cosmos.
If there were no changes to the boot image, there would be no reason for it to be patched. So there are definitely changes to the boot image in the OTA, we just don't know which.
It could be changes that were too small to be mentioned in the changeloog, such as small bugfixes, or compatibility fixes, or even changes required by the following updates.
Also, if the next OTA update also patches the boot image, you won't be able to fix it by flashing your outdated boot image before, as the next patch will require the updated boot image to work!
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I have just looked at the OTA ZIPfile linked here.
The ZIPfile contains binary patches for the boot partition. Patching a binary that has already been modified results in garbage, most likely. This is why booting fails for people who tried to update their rooted Cosmo.
Right, the boot image would be outdated, but I on't think there have been changes to it. From the changelog all seems UI related. If there were a new kernel build, ok, but I don't think so.
Excuse the repetition: I looked inside the zipfile, which you can do too and there is a binary patch to the boot image, which is the reason why people have been soft bricking their cosmos.
If there were no changes to the boot image, there would be no reason for it to be patched. So there are definitely changes to the boot image in the OTA, we just don't know which.
It could be changes that were too small to be mentioned in the changeloog, such as small bugfixes, or compatibility fixes, or even changes required by the following updates.
Also, if the next OTA update also patches the boot image, you won't be able to fix it by flashing your outdated boot image before, as the next patch will require the updated boot image to work!
Right, so we have to keep in mind there might be changes causing problems. Didn't expect changes to the boot image. Obviously it would be better to "magisk" the patched boot image an keep a backup of the non-magisked version for later updates. Well, I didn't backup this image before flashing the old magisked version again... Since for the time being it seems to work somehow I'll just wait for the flashable images from PC.
The next OTA will fail anyways in that case, no matter if we have the first or the second boot image patched with magisk. The only way to use OTA then would be to have the image patched by the first OTA (which I did not backup).
So the advice should be to at least keep a backup of the original OTA-patched version for later updates or to use the PC supplied images once available. We most probably will be getting a pre-rooted image, so this is the way to go, since we will then be able to lock the bootloader again and get rid of the 5 sec. boot delay.
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Right, so we have to keep in mind there might be changes causing problems. Didn't expect changes to the boot image. Obviously it would be better to "magisk" the patched boot image an keep a backup of the non-magisked version for later updates. Well, I didn't backup this image before flashing the old magisked version again... Since for the time being it seems to work somehow I'll just wait for the flashable images from PC.
The next OTA will fail anyways in that case, no matter if we have the first or the second boot image patched with magisk. The only way to use OTA then would be to have the image patched by the first OTA (which I did not backup).
So the advice should be to at least keep a backup of the original OTA-patched version for later updates or to use the PC supplied images once available. We most probably will be getting a pre-rooted image, so this is the way to go, since we will then be able to lock the bootloader again and get rid of the 5 sec. boot delay.
Completely agree!
There's a backup of the original boot image here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&...st&p=292918 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=35879&view=findpost&p=292918)
I also have one from my device, which I could share but I think that's not necessary.
Also I've learned that it's quite convenient to keep a backup of your seccfg partition before *and* after unlocking the bootloader, as you can just unlock and re-lock your bootloader by flashing either version. I haven't tested the unlocking version personally yet, but locking the bootloader by flashing a locked seccfg definitely works (and I do have a backup of the unlocked seccfg now, so I could test it).
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Completely agree!
There's a backup of the original boot image here: https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&...st&p=292918 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=35879&view=findpost&p=292918)
I also have one from my device, which I could share but I think that's not necessary.
Also I've learned that it's quite convenient to keep a backup of your seccfg partition before *and* after unlocking the bootloader, as you can just unlock and re-lock your bootloader by flashing either version. I haven't tested the unlocking version personally yet, but locking the bootloader by flashing a locked seccfg definitely works (and I do have a backup of the unlocked seccfg now, so I could test it).
This is the original boot image backup (before 1st OTA). Unless I have a wrong understanding of the update process (mostly guessing) , for further updates we will need the one after the 1st update.
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This is the original boot image backup (before 1st OTA). Unless I have a wrong understanding of the update process (mostly guessing) , for further updates we will need the one after the 1st update.
ZimbiX has published his boot images after the first OTA:
https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&...st&p=293538 (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=35879&view=findpost&p=293538)
Thanks!