Android Head Unit Firmware: Modified Hal9k
 

Note: this thread is for Android 2.3 versions of the hardware. There are now new variants of the hardware running Android 4.1, and the firmware described in this thread is not likely to work on that hardware.

This thread is dedicated to the 'Hal9k' firmware, specifically customized for FT86's. All due credit to those that contributed.

This firmware is know to work on:

• T7019a
• TUN21

(Please PM me with details on success with other headunits)

Related Information

• Initial 'Ca-Fi knockoff' thread
• XDA-Developers
• Wiki

Latest

[v4]

Known Issues

Unable to select BT/Wi-Fi OBD2 adapters in Torque Pro (not an issue for Torque Lite)
Workaround: here

Release History

v4 [link]

• Updated with changes that Hal9k made based on 2.20.21[Google Translation of Hal9k's release notes:]
  
  Code:

  ---

  Firmware that lecturing dze , has some changes, so I decided to make another cast.

Phone System version now 2.20.21. Despite such differences, the Chinese have done little.

1. Added app to select boot animation. You can select one of two preset savers, or upload your own as a zip-archive from a memory card or flash drive. A standard format boot-animation.
2. Added component framework com.google.android.maps.jar, without which last firmware did not work the program "My Tracks" from Google.
3. Updated library RIL, which works with 3G modems. Added to the list of supported Alcatel-x220e, Qualcomm-unknown, Huawei-153 and ZTE-mf190. Cases do not rise after the start of 3G radio was clearly less.
4. Many system apk not match the contents of the files from the last firmware. Probably, they also made ​​useful changes.
5. Well, Ruth and all my improvements from past custom ROMs. Google Play updated to version 4.2.9

  ---

• [untested] Added support for cp210x USB to Serial adapters, based on work posted to The Treehouse Blog
• [untested] Added support for USB OBDII support in Torque, based on work posted to The Treehouse Blog
• Recompressed bootanimations to save space, added one of Hal9k's custom boot animations. (Note, device will boot up with default Android animation after reflash, which you currently can't 'reselect' if you choose one of the others)

v3 [link]

• Back out the changes made to ATBluetooth.apk to get Phone working again.

v2 [Broken - link revoked]

• Move /cache to /data/cache (Cache Fixer workaround no longer needed)
• Boot animation defaults to spinning grey 86 (can still be replaced by putting a bootanimation.zip in /data/local)
• Adjusted all internal apps to red theme
• Fixed up broken English warning messages if trying to display video while driving
• Replaced default wallpaper with BRZ/FR-S/86 generic
• Replaced 3 of the selectable built-in wallpapers
• Cleaned up the default layout a bit - removed the music widget from the initial page, removed Settings icon (available via the menu)
• Removed all non-FT86 boot logos to free up some additional space
• Installed Google Car Home - for testing only at this stage. Not sure about keeping it.
• Installed ES File Explorer app - makes it easier to side-load apps without having to set up network connection first
• Installed Terminal app (makes it easier for me to test new images, may/will be removed later on)
• Also contains all the previous changes, like a working Google Maps API framework.

Install Process

1. Download the firmware zip file.
2. Unzip the firmware and extract the files onto the root directory of a microSDHC card (card must be FAT32).
3. *IMPORTANT* Determine whether you have a resistive or capacitive screen. If you have a capacitive screen, delete 'u-boot-skip.bin' and rename 'u-boot-skip.bin.capacitive' to 'u-boot-skip.bin'
4. Insert the microSDHC card into the radio
5. Turn on the radio (turn ignition on)
6. Turn off the radio by pressing the the volume knob
7. Wait 10 seconds
8. While holding down the 'Menu' button, press the volume knob to turn the unit on.
9. The unit will display text indicating that an upgrade is in progress. A line is displayed as each file is written. There is a large delay as the system.img file is completed. The unit will automatically reboot when finished. The screen will briefly appear to have some corruption, and the boot logo may appear a couple of times before the system boots into Android fully.
10. [Unverified, please report if correct] On units with a resistive touch screen, the unit will go through a calibration process with the user.

With previous upgrade instructions, it was suggested that the MCU should be upgraded as well. This is now strongly opposed. There appears to be a version dependency between the MCU version and hardware revision.

Customization / Personalization
 

*Being updated - information in this post may not yet be complete*

Boot Logo - Change to one of the built-in ones

• Press <Home>
• Press <Menu>
• Press <Settings>
• Select 'General'
• Select 'Extra Settings'
• Enter password (123456)
• Select 'LOGO Setting'

Boot Logo - Change to user provided .logo file.

This version of the firmware has had all the non-FT86 logos removed to free up space, and replaced with new BRZ/86/TRD logos. For those still wishing to use any of the orginal logos, they are attached in the original_logos.zip file attached to this post. Note: They are not standard PNG files.

Installing custom .png.logo files

• Copy the .png.logo file to the root of a USB stick (SD card will probably work as well)
• Insert USB stick into head unit
• Open up 'Extra Settings'
• The logo on the USB card should be available to be selected.

Once you have selected a new logo, the storage device is no longer required. However, if you go back into the Logo selection screen, the new logo won't be shown so you may lose your custom image if if you switch back to another logo. You can make the new logo one of the permanent selection, by adding it to the /system/etc/logos directory (root required, with /system mounted with r/w access to be able to copy)

Firmware upgrades do not affect the provisioned image.

Boot Logo - Creating custom logos

The file 'bmp2logo.zip' file contains a logo converter I wrote. It is a Win32 command line tool.

Requirements

• Image dimensions: 360x300
• Image format: 8bpp (palette-based) .bmp file containing 223 colors or less. (In GIMP, select Image->Mode->Indexed->Generate optimum palette and reduce maximum number of colors). When saving/exporting, under Compatibility Options, select 'Do not write color space information'.

Note: I have observed that GIMP has a nasty tendency not to include black, RGB(0,0,0), in the optimized palette. You may need to do some manual tweaking of the image/palette to ensure that the 8bpp bitmaps have proper black levels (otherwise the logo will appear to be in a light grey box).

Usage
Example
will convert carlogo.bmp to carlogo.png.logo

Use the instructions above to install the custom logo. [Feel free to share custom logos with other users by posting results to this thread. I would suggest posting both the original .bmp and resulting .png.logo file]



Boot Animation - Selection/Installation

The boot animation that gets displayed after the boot logo is a standard Android bootanimation.zip file. User animation files can be placed into /data/local. The filename must be 'bootanimation.zip'.

As of v4, the firmware includes a simple tool to automate setting the bootanimation file. It lists all .zip files (note: this will also include any non-animation .zip files) in /system/etc/bootanimation, /sdcard/extsd (root of microSDHC) and /sdcard/udisk (root of USB storage). You can then select which boot animation to install from the menu provided. It wil automatically create a copy called bootanimation.zip in the correct location.

There is a fallback animation that gets displayed if no other boot animations are provided. It is the word 'Android' with a 'shimmering' effect. Some users have asked for this default animation, but it can't generally be selected - just make sure that there is no bootanimation in /data/local (and /system/media). At the boot animation tool can only be used to select a boot animation, not deselect one. The existing one would need to be manually removed.

Boot Animation - Other devices

As the boot animations are standard Android fare, the included FT86 animations have been attached to this post so they can be used on your other Android devices if desired.

FAQ, Hints, Tips
 

[Please PM me with any FAQ entries, tips or hints you know of and think should be included in this section]

FAQ: What is the password for the 'Extra Settings'? A: '123456'

TIP: Set up a push of the right hand knob as 'Brightness'. (Allows you to easily toggle between bright/dim/screen off) - great for driving at night.

• Press <Home>
• Press <Menu>
• Press <Settings>
• Select 'General'
• Select 'Extra Settings'
• Enter password (123456)
• Select Panel Keys
• Click on 'Start' - Background turns yellow & text changes to 'End'
• Click on any 'Reserve' (!) - Pop-up menu appears
• Select 'Brightness'
• Text changes to 'Brightness', background turns yellow
• Press <Right Knob>
• Brightness/Brightness(L) may/will move to another box, but will have lighter grey background.
• Click on 'End'
• Enjoy

TIP: How do I speed up the process of setting up my unit after a firmware upgrade? Make sure that all the required apps are available on your microSDHC card.

Summary
APK files (applications) downloaded from the Play store go into /data/app. With root privs you can copy these files to somewhere that doesn't get deleted during a firmware upgrade - for example the MicroSD card. After the firmware upgrade, simply install each one again by clicking on it with ES File Manager

Step-by-step

• Start ES File Manager
• Press the 'Up arrow' (top left icon) to get to the top folder (screen doesn't change any more)
• Press the 'Menu' button
• Expand 'Tools'
• Scroll down to Root Explorer
• Allow SuperSU to grant root permissions to ES File Explorer, but don't actually use the window that pops up (press 'Back' to close)
• Click on 'data' folder
• Click on 'app' folder
• Click on select button (top right)
• Select apps you want to copy
• Click on Copy (top right)
• Click on Up arrow to root folder (display stops changing)
• Click on the 'sdcard' folder
• Click on 'extsd' (or 'udisk' if usb)
• [Optional] create a folder and enter it
• Click on 'Paste'

After an upgrade you can use ES File Manager to open this folder again and click on each file to install the app.

FAQ: How do I prevent the Radio from automatically playing at startup? A: Hold down the back button for 3 seconds to close the radio app. Thereafter the headunit will boot to the homescreen. (At least until you start the radio app again).

FAQ: Why isn't the audio of my standard Android app not working? Various audio sources (like Radio and DVD) appear to go through a non standard source mixer/switch. Android isn't aware of this and audio from the standard audio subsystem just gets 'dropped'. Try the following: There is a 'The 3rd party application priority' tickbox in Settings->Sounds that you could try selecting.

very noise....with fw v3 ELM327 WiFi transparent blue it runs....with this v4 is not recognized... :(

I'm not aware of any explicit changes to the Wi-Fi subsystem. I verified that I could connect up to my local Wi-Fi AP before releasing v4.

How do you connect to the WiFi ELM327? Do you know if it appears as a AP, or as an Ad-Hoc network?

Edit: Can you provide a link to the specs for your ELM327 device?

Ops...sorry....BT ELM! this one. I'll try another ELM tmw (with On/Off). In add...Car Kit when you press Phone is not operative...(I run iPhone ) but you can manage in menu "Phone"
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4985/ym9m.jpg

I'll check my BT ELM when I get home. Unfortunately there are so many different units that look identical to the one you posted.

Did the phone in the Car Kit work in v3? It wouldn't surprise me if the phone can only be managed using the OEM's 'Phone' app.

No, the phone on home shortcut Car Kit does not operate in v3 (2nd release you cooked on Aug. 3rd) but you can access in OEM applications. About ELM before BT recognize all...now it seems unsupported....
I will try to restore to factory settings , format internal sd and re-install all apk to see what happens.

Hi GreenPants

So, I tried this morning to re-initialize BT. Now BT it's operating and associated with the usual ELM unit.
The only issue is that Torque Pro (now with CAFI logo on bottom left) shows only USB port to choose in 1st option of "settings menu". Thus you cannot choose wifi or BT connection.
Car Kit shows "activity not found" when pressing contacts or phone.

Yeah, I tried it myself. It took a bit of patience, but it finally worked (I always seem to have issues pairing Bluetooth drivers)

Things I tried, which may or may not have helped in the process:

• Rename bluetooth to something that doesn't have a '_' in the name
• Make the device discoverable
• Perform a scan, and then attempt a pair directly afterwards.

It's good that the USB icon appears in Torque - means that part of it is working as expected. Looks like I'll have to fork over some real money to get the pro version of Torque to investigate further, and see if Wi-Fi/BT can't be selected some other way (I've just been tinkering with the lite version). I should have a USB ELM327 cable on its way from China, which will help.

Yeah, the first action for BT it runs without rename, you need only de-activate and re-activate and pairing.
About the second trouble if you wish for testing purpose I send you my Pro.apk. Let me know!

EQ in stock music is just terrible, is that what you guys are using? just stock music app and stock EQ?

What do you mean by 'stock EQ' - the default EQ settings, or the OEM EQ/Tone control app.

I'd agree that the default settings aren't great, but it can be tweaked a bit with the OEM EQ app - or are you after a finer level of control than just tweaking the bass, treble, fade & balance?

A bigger annoyance to me is the car's the pathetic rear speakers - what's the point of those? They're barely audible at the best of times.

Sorry i meant OEM EQ/Tone control app.. it lacks mid-bass area, cant get it to work properly.. I got an aftermarket 6.5" speaker and micro amp but still lacks midbass...