October 30, 2012   Posted by: Dr. Ace Jeangle

Android Jelly Bean running on Pandaboard (ES)

Linaro team made a huge step forward towards an automated kernel and full Android builds. Below are these simple steps I did to get Android JB running on my Pandaboard ES with LG 10″ with touchscreen. Compare it to our old How-to: https://www.chalk-elec.com/?p=1426 and feel the difference 🙂

  1. Go to http://releases.linaro.org/12.10/android/leb-panda/ and proceed with “Binary Image Installation” steps. Windows users can get file pandaboard.img.bz2, unzip it and write to SD card with Windows32DiskImager utility.
  2. Update boot.scr file in boot partition of SD card with correct LCD resolution (1280×800 for LG panel). Ready boot.scr file is here: boot.scr
  3. After step 2 you should get LCD working. You will see Android GUI and can use mouse. Adding touchscreen requires some kernel re-build.
  4. Download file linaro_kernel_build_cmds.sh to your Linux computer, change its attribute (+x) and run it. It will automatically download and re-build kernel for Android. Final kernel is located in ./linaro-kernel/out/arch/arm/boot folder (file uImage)
  5. Now you should update kernel config to include touchscreen support and re-build kernel again. Find file .config in ./linaro-kernel/out folder and uncomment/add options CONFIG_HID_MULTITOUCH=y and CONFIG_HID_NTRIG=y – first option is for old AUO panel, second is for new LG panel. You can add both just in case 🙂
  6. Comment line “mkdir out/modules_for_android” in script linaro_kernel_build_cmds.sh and run it again. Copy final uImage file to boot partition of your SD card. You can also skip these steps and get my final uImage here: uImage
  7. Last step is to configure touchscreen as an internal device to fit with LCD panel size. Download file Vendor_1b96_Product_0007.idc and put it to folder /usr/idc on system partition of SD card.

Final SD card image (4Gb card) is here: Android 4.1.2 for Pandaboard(ES)

Video in action is here: Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2) running on Pandaboard ES with touchscreen LCD

23 comments posted in: How-To
23 comments
  1. Alen
    Nov 01, 2012

    After step 2 its just the word “Android” for some seconds and then just blinking cursor forever. Should I do something more for having LCD functional?

    • Dr. Ace Jeangle
      Nov 03, 2012

      You either missed GFX binaries step, or didn’t issued “sync” command after writing rootfs. Check end of post for final SD card image.

  2. LostHero
    Nov 08, 2012

    Hi, I am having some trouble starting up the whole system.
    I am new to android, and I am not able to put the system on the pandaboard es with the AUO screen.

    I tried the windows method of using win32disk Imager, but when i put the SD card in the pandaboard es (after step 2) and try to boot up, all i get is a dull grey screen, where it is like only the backlight is on. I then tried to use the final image, but that was of no avail either.

    I took the pandaboard es out of the box and tried this, is there anything i have to do to the board for the first initialization?

    Please help,

    thanks in advance

    • Dr. Ace Jeangle
      Nov 09, 2012

      You need to change boot arguments in boot.scr file to fit resolution of AUO LCD. More details are here: https://www.chalk-elec.com/?p=1426 (section: Set correct LCD resolution).

      • LosHero
        Nov 15, 2012

        I am sure that i am missing something now. I burnt the prebuilt image onto the SD card, it creates partitions, but only the boot partition has some information on it, all the other partitions are empty,. (I used an 8GB card and it kept the remaining space as unallocated space). Even after i changed the boot arguments in the boot.scr file, it is still showing a dark screen, without the device booting into android.

        thanks

        • Dr. Ace Jeangle
          Nov 15, 2012

          Then you missed something. Many guys had success with his test image using WIn32DiskImager tool.

  3. Marco Haddad
    Nov 11, 2012

    Hi, I have downloaded the 4GB image and after adjusting the LCD size on boot.scr and including the file to correct the touch screen, it worked well except for one detail: the action buttons are missing! There isn’t that last small strip at the screen bottom, with the back, up and home buttons. It is like if the OS was set to work on some device with hardware buttons, I don’t know… Is it correctable or will I need to wait for a new snap shot? Thanks.

    • Dr. Ace Jeangle
      Nov 11, 2012

      That’s strange because I have these soft buttons. In any case, LCD+touch works, so you can try to build your own Android image.

      • Marco Haddad
        Nov 11, 2012

        I’m still trying to do a full compile but the result so far does not boot.
        My LCD is only 1024×600, could it be the reason why I don’t have the action buttons? May be they are falling out the screen…

        • Dr. Ace Jeangle
          Nov 11, 2012

          Your screen resolution is the reason for missed soft buttons. Your should modify boot.scr file to fit LCD resolution as it is described here: https://www.chalk-elec.com/?p=1426 (see section “Set correct LCD resolution”

          • sk008
            Nov 27, 2012

            I’m also facing the same issue, I have two lcd panels one is 1280 resolution and other 1024. 1280 panel is working fine with jellybean but with 1024, I see action buttons are missing. It seems jellybean supports default 1280 resolution. Can you let me know how to change the jellybean default resolution to file 1024 panel.

          • Dr. Ace Jeangle
            Nov 27, 2012

            Please, read whole thread – I published link to detailed description of making boot.scr file for custom LCD resolution.

          • sk008
            Dec 03, 2012

            I did tried the way mentioned for custom LCD resolution, but no luck.

            Though the animated android logo was centered on the LCD.

          • Dr. Ace Jeangle
            Dec 04, 2012

            Send your boot.scr file to support@chalk-elec.com, I will check it.

  4. Naspc
    Dec 10, 2012

    Sorry for the Dumb question But I’m a noob to this. So I have to do is download the final SD image from the link above and modify the boot.scr and load it up?

    • Dr. Ace Jeangle
      Dec 11, 2012

      Final SD card image has modified boot.scr for 10″ LG panel. You don’t need to change something – just write image to SD card with WIn32DiskImager tool.

  5. Jeff Bendixsen
    Jan 04, 2013

    This is great! This procedure is the only way I was able to get my Pandaboard ES to boot Android.

    I do have a couple of questions though:
    First, your not using the either HDMI ports can you say why?
    Second, Can you suggest settings for the boot.scr to support HDMI? I cannot seem to get the display to not clip the edges.

    Lastly, I get none of the “soft” buttons as well, I don’t think there clipped. Could it be a bug related to the new secondary display capability?

    Thanks for the great post!

  6. Dr. Ace Jeangle
    Jan 17, 2013

    I’m not sure, because hardware is different. I would suggest to get native Pandaboard ICS build and make required modification as per our How-to.

    • Sada
      Feb 09, 2013

      i flashed android_4_1_2_pandaboard.img.­7z on pandaboard es Rev v2. It works great. Connected to my monitor DVI port.

  7. Mikhail Glushenko
    Feb 13, 2013

    works like a charm. but how can I add eGalax touchscreen support built in?

    • Dr. Ace Jeangle
      Feb 17, 2013

      Our bundle doesn’t have eGalax touchscreen. We use N-trig and Cando.

  8. Dr. Ace Jeangle
    Feb 17, 2013

    Just short pins 2 and 4 on CON3 to get max brightness.

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