[ROM] Crystal Clear by fuser-invent

[fuser]

Crystal Clear v2.0 by fuser-invent
--- Hybrid ROM Based on Official Stock 1212 Firmware and CM10 ---

If you have a Ainol Hero, check out my new ROM Anti-Hero v1.4 here.

What is this ROM?

This is a totally stripped down version of the Official Stock 1212 Firmware and some elements of CM10.

Development of this ROM was born out of my curiosity with the Android platform and my drive to fix many of the problems I was having with my Ainol Crystal tablet. I started learning from scratch in December of 2012 and released the first Beta version between Christmas and New Years. This is essentially a repack/kang/hybrid or whatever you want to call it. The core of ROM is the official firmware but I and my team have baked in a lot of fixes/tweaks/mods.

I am not a real developer, just an amateur who learns very quickly. I used to know C++ pretty well about 14 years ago when I was a teenager but have subsequently forgotten almost all of it and I haven't done much coding since with the exception of some website maintenance. With that in mind and the fact that the purpose of this ROM is to keep things light and smooth and mostly bug free, know that I'm not going to add a lot of things back in that I've taken out. Christian Troy's CyanogenMod ports are great and probably have anything that you can't find in my ROM.

Thank You

Thanks to Soulflier, Christian Troy and Fards for all their hard work and getting me started. I wouldn't have been able to make my edits and changes without looking at their work or using their scripts to sign/unpack/re-pack/decompile/compile stuff.

Thanks to tigger-gg for the compatibility zips, extra languages, private beta testing, having someone to bounce ideas off of and just being an awesome person.

Thanks to pierwiastekz2 for early troubleshooting, researching and getting me on the road to developing this ROM as well as the awesome boot animation and default wallpaper designs.

Also thanks to everyone in the community who has found and posted fixes/mods/tweaks in the forums and have made a donation.

The current Crystal Clear ROM team is:

If you'd like to join the team please send me a PM.

• fuser-invent - Development & Beta Testing
• tigger-gg - Development & Beta Testing
• pierwiastekz2 - Beta Testing & Graphic Design
• carnby - Beta Testing & Troubleshooting

I hope you end up enjoying the speed, usability and versatility of this ROM. Please take a minute to leave a comment or hit the thank you button and let me know how you like it.

Before you flash...

Please read everything and don't ask questions that are already answered in these posts unless you are absolutely stuck. Every question that is asked that is already answered here just takes more time away from actual firmware development and improving this ROM.

All the usually warnings about not being responsible for what you do with your device and what my ROM might do to your device apply.

1. Use the CWM or TWRP recovery. Anything you flash must be flashed from one of these recoveries. Batch 3 user's with the chengen.tan kernel must use the special batch 3 TWRP recovery and there is no flashable version of it, see the downloads section for more info. Extract the "uImage_recovery" file and place it on your external SD card to boot into CWM/TWRP instead of the stock recovery.
2. If you have been experiences frequent crashes, forced closed apps or services, lag, etc. then flash the ainol_format_internal_memory.zip to clean your NAND. Don't use this zip if you have a chengen.tan kernel Crystal.
3. If you are coming from another ROM you might want to flash the ainol_factory_reset.zip which is basically the same as selecting wipe data / factory reset in the stock recovery. This is unconfirmed to work on the chengen.tan kernel Crystal, I would suggest if you want to do a factory reset to do it in the stock recovery instead.
4. Flash the Crystal Clear ROM package first.
5. Flash the Compatibility for your Batch. Batch one is 0928 or older, Batch 2 is 1119 and there are two kinds of Batch 3 Crystal's that are 1212, the first has a grady.wang kernel and is really just a Batch 2. The second has a chengen.tan kernel and is the real Batch 3.
6. Flash the Additional Apps package if you want to.
7. Flash the SD card switcher if you want to.
8. Reboot - The first boot can take a minute or two so be patient.

Optionally you can flash the CWM or TWRP recovery packages to overwrite the stock recovery. If you want to just extract the files from the packages and place them on your external SD card that will work. I've provided all versions of flashable and non-flashable CWM/TWRP recoveries in the link below.

Download Links

All the Crystal Clear v2.0 files can be found here.
You can access the folder with all the old Crystal Clear files directly here.
I will be added mirrors soon thanks to mp4 and Android Tablet Firmware's website.

Flashable and non-flashable CWM and TWRP files are located here. Alternatively you can extract the files and just place them on your external SD card if you don't want to overwrite the stock recovery on your NAND partition. You can't flash TWRP to a Batch 3. You can extract the "uImage_recovery" file from the Batch 3 TWRP .rar in the "non-flashable" folder and place it on your external SD card. It needs to stay there to be able to use TWRP and flash CWM/TWRP based zip files.

Below are explanations of the zip files.

Crystal Clear ROM

The ROM package now also contains a light version of the Google Apps package. The full version that works with CM10 will also work with this ROM.

Compatibility Zips

You need know which Batch Crystal you have and flash the correct zip. Flashing the wrong zip could brick your Crystal if you flash the Batch 2 <-> Batch 3 zips to wrong device. Batch 1 <-> Batch 2 zips flashed to the wrong device will mean the g-sensor, camera and wifi won't work.

SD Card Swap Zips

You can use your external card as your internal card or swap it back to normal. This replaces the vold.stab file that tells the tablet where to mount the sd cards. Batch 3 Crystal's have a special SD Card swap zip because they use Christian Troy's Batch 3 Kernel.

Christian Troy's - Internal Memory Format Zip and Factory Reset Zip

The internal memory format zip will format your NAND, so use it at your own risk. The Factory Reset Zip acts like the stock wipe data / factory reset option. Do not use the Internal Memory Format Zip with Batch 3 Crystals.

Re-enable Data // 3G // Ethernet

These options are turned off my default because they kill the battery, cause lags and decrease overall performance. I understand though that some people can only access the internet through a 3G dongle. So to turn these functions back on, flash this zip.

Additional Apps Package

Installs to data/app for easy uninstall or market update. Some apps aren't on the market because they are modded or XDA editions. Includes:

• Amazon App Store
• AnTuTu Benchmark
• BetterBatteryStats - XDA Edition
• Catlog
• Firefox Web Browser
• Humble Indie Bundle Beta
• CPU Stats - JP Takke
• Netflix
• Quadrant Standard Edition
• Skype

Credit where credit is due

This ROM is rooted by SuperSU v1.25

Although this ROM does not actually contain any of the these packages, it does contain init.d scripting ideas from the following:

• CrossBreeder-Entropy Lag Reduce/DNS Speedup
  
• Seeder Entropy Generator
  
• RPEngine&#8482;2

If If you install and enjoy this ROM, please consider a donation, even if it is small it will help!
I will use the donations to pay the monthly file hosting fees and other development costs.

 

[fuser]

Change Log

Crystal Clear v2.0

• Changed default wallpaper and bootanimation
• Updated Comp zips, modules should work now
• Fixed some things that were causing transfers of large files to fail between the device and the computer as well as the external and internal sd card.
• Removed a lot of stuff that just wasn't working
• Cleaned up init.d scripts
• Performance and speed is better.

For this new version of Crystal Clear, please use the v2.0 compatibility zips. The ROM and the Comp zips can be found here.

Crystal Clear v1.9

• Added Extended Power Menu
• Updated Additional Apps package
• Improved some wifi issues

Crystal Clear v1.8

• Bluetooth support attempts have failed and been abandoned.
• Cleaned up a large amount of unused stuff in the ROM package.
• TTS and Voice working?
• Google TalkBack not working.
• Changed default settings on first start; haptic feedback off, display timeout set to 2 minutes instead of 1 minute, allow installation of apps from unknown sources, etc.
• Removed Tapatalk HD Beta from the additional apps package since it's now been officially released as a paid version in the app store. It's way better than the non-tablet version so check it out
• Removed some other apps from the additional apps package that are now working fine when downloaded from the app store, so no need for special versions
• Removed Titanium Backup from additional apps package because it was causing issues
• Added Catlog app to additional apps package
• Moved ROM Toolbox lite to data/app in the ROM package and added ES File Explorer as another root browser option
• Rolled back Terminal app to a working version
• Revised Kernel and Dalvik VM init.d scripts. Better lag reduction and overall performance.
• Added Network tweaks to init.d from RPEngine2.

Crystal Clear v1.7

Crystal Clear v1.7 files can be found here.
All versions of Crystal Clear from now on will be for use in the CWM or TWRP Recovery.
Current v1.5 Compatibility, SD Switcher and Additional App Package Zips work with v1.7.

• Fixed license loop for Gameloft games but some games still crash, like Asphalt 7.
• Root Updated - SuperSU to v1.04.
• Cleaned up all updater-scripts
• Updated Batch2 Comp Zip - Batch1 update, coming soon...
• Play Store Compatibility Fixes
• Updated some apps in Additional Apps package
• New Battery Percentage Icon
• Possibly fixed bluetooth, report back. You need to enable bluetooth in the build.prop. Optional zip coming soon...
• Optional zip to turn data and 3G back on, coming soon...
• Optional zip to revert back to Fake Tablet/Phone UI, coming soon...

Crystal Clear v1.6

Crystal Clear v1.6 files can be found here.
All versions of Crystal Clear from now on will be for use in the CWM or TWRP Recovery.
Current v1.5 Compatibility, SD Switcher and Additional App Package Zips work with v1.6.

• Fixed code in androidpolicy.jar and services.jar for true Tablet UI
• Fixed missing notifications issue
• Replaced stock launcher with Nova Launcher
• Removed Apex Launcher from the Additional Apps Package

NOTES: Ainol's way of adding Tablet UI was to hide the top bar and move all the functions in the top bar to the bottom bar and then force rotation. The Crystal was always actually in Phone mode but appeared to be in Tablet mode. This broke the notifications tray and apps did not recognize the Crystal as a Tablet but as a Phone instead.

I fixed the smali code so that the Crystal is now really in Tablet mode instead of the fake mode that Ainol added. All the notifications now work and apps will recognize the Crystal as a tablet. As an example, if you open YouTube the interface will now look different because YouTube contains both Tablet and Phone UI and will ask the device what mode to launch. All custom Launchers will now work as Tablet UI as well instead of the Phone interface where the app drawer is on the right when you rotate the device into landscape, now they will move to the bottom where they should be.

Ainol also tricked the default launcher into displaying a fake Tablet UI, so I removed it and replaced it with Nova Launcher. Nova is located in data/apps instead of system/apps so that it can be updated easily and you can also install the paid premium app if you want. You can also uninstall Nova Launcher but only if you replace it with a new launcher first. DO NOT uninstall Nova without having another launcher installed to take its place or your tablet will not work. I removed Apex from the additional apps package because it interfered with Nova on first boot but you can download it from the app store and it will prompt you to default to Apex and work perfectly.

Crystal Clear v1.5

Crystal Clear v1.5 files can be found here.
All versions of Crystal Clear from now on will be for use in the CWM or TWRP Recovery.

• Now 100% Compatible with CWM and TWRP
• Changed the way that the ROM and Compatibility patches work
• Compatibility patches for Batch 1, 2 and 3 Crystals - Thanks to Christian Troy, tigger-gg and FLsuperstore!
• Gapps Light is now integrated into the ROM and there will no longer be support for the full Gapps package
• Expanded the Additional Apps package
• Fixed some sound issues
• New Boot Animation and Default Wallpaper - Thanks to pierwiastekz2!
• CWM/TWRP - Format Internal Memory and Factory Reset zips - Thanks to Christian Troy!
• Tweaked some performance enhancements
• Ethernet support should work now
• Connecting to non-broadcasting WiFi networks works much better

Crystal Clear v1.0 through v1.4 has been retired.
You can still find the old files here.
These old versions are for use in the Stock Recovery.

Crystal Clear v1.4

Closed beta testing - Was not officially released

• Fixed some sound issues
• Changed way compatibility zips work
• Tweaked some performance enhancements

Crystal Clear v1.3

Updated Batch 2 Comp zip

Fixed all Fingerprint zips

Init.d Scripts

• Performance2 Governer Tweaks
• Battery Life Tweaks
• Internal SD Card Speed Tweaks
• Overall Performance Tweaks

Build.prop Changes

• Wifi Settings
• Video Settings

Additional Apps Package

Installs to data/app for easy uninstall or market update. Some apps aren't on the market because they are modded or XDA editions.

Other Updates

• Removed AppInstaller and Filebrowser
• Changes to Permissions/Updater-Script and build.prop
• Wifi Config File Changes
• DTS Audio Patch
• Fixed lag in Need For Speed, still no sound fix though
• New Languages/Locales - Thanks to tigger-gg&#8217;s hard work!

Known Bugs

• Notification icons don't show up in the navigation bar
• Still have segmentation fault (freezing) when in settings/apps
• Noise problems in some games
• Sometimes trouble connecting to non-broadcasting SSID networks

Crystal Clear v1.2 - Beta

• Crystal Clear is now a Hybrid ROM that is mostly the 11-19 firmware with some 09-28 & CM10 components
• Thanks to tigger-gg there is now a Batch2 Compatibility zip!

• Low mic volume mod/fix
• Improve picture and video streaming quality
• Battery Percentage Mod
• CPU SOD fix
• Added Modded YouTube app that works great
• Minimal/Lite Gapps package updated to v1.1 to fix some play store issues
• Full Gapps package added if you want everything

Crystal Clear v1.1 - Beta

• I think I fixed the market compatibility errors. Needed to update the gapps package as well.
• I made two zips to flash a Galaxy 3 fingerprint or flash back to a Nexus 7 fingerprint.
• Clocked CPU to 1.2Ghz. Will work on the CPU when I get a chance to look at the Kernel.

Crystal Clear v1.0 - Beta

• Initial Release.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Features and To-Do List - Blue is Completed

Crystal Hybrid ROM - Based on 1212 firmware and CM10

Edits to the build.prop

• Gameloft Compatibility for most games
• Screen Response and Sensitivity Tweaks
• Performance Tweaks
• Wifi Tweaks
• Google Nexus 7 Fingerprint
• Default United States, EST time zone and English
• Hide Android Debug Icon and ADB enabled by default
• Video & JPEG Quality Tweaks

Init.d Scripts

• Performance2 Governor Tweaks
• Battery Life Tweaks
• Internal SD Card Speed Tweaks
• Overall Performance Tweaks

Features

• CWM and TWRP compatible
• True Tablet UI
• Notifications Bug Fixed
• Compatibility patches for Batch 1, 2 and 3
• Rooted
• Installed Light Google Apps Package
• Removed Chinese Apps
• Added In Terminal, Flash Player, YouTube, Skype and Netflix
• Deodoxed Apps and Framework
• Added init.d script support
• Added data/app/ capability
• Made typing on the keyboard not suck so bad
• Improve scrolling and touch sensitivity
• Landscape Mode enabled
• Set-up Wizard & Extended Language Packs
• ZipAlign
• InternalSD <-> microSD switch
• Custom Boot Animation and Default Wallpaper - Thanks to pierwiastekz2!
• Mic Volume Mod/Fix
• Improved picture and video quality
• Battery Percentage display
• Additional Language Support - Thanks to tigger-gg!

Planned Features

• Phablet UI, Hybrid UI option with Settings Toggle
• Custom Settings
• Home button to shortpress Back, longpress Home
• Auto-hide status bar
• Extended Power Menu
• Optional patch for Ad-Hoc WiFi support

Future Development

• Remove 20 pixels "frame" limit from touchscreen's driver
• Add Governer&#8217;s to Kernel
• Fix Settings/Apps freezing

 

[fuser]

Photos & Benchmarks

 

[fuser]

Bug Reports

- Freezing/lag when in the apps section of system settings - Segmentation Fault. Use an app like titanium backup to move apps to SD for now.

User Submitted Mods/Tweaks/Zips

- Any cool user submitted content will be posted here.

To Re-Enable Data such as 3G Dongles
- Thanks to tigger-gg for the suggestion

There is now a flashable zip for this here.

Change in (/system/build.prop)
from:

hw.nophone=true

to:

hw.nophone=false

from:

hw.hasdata=false

to:

#hw.hasdata=false

from:

# Disable phone functions
ro.carrier=wifi-only

to:

# Disable phone functions
#ro.carrier=wifi-only

To Re-Enable Ethernet
- Change the above for Data and also:

Change in (/system/build.prop)
from:

hw.hasethernet=false

to:

hw.hasethernet=true

Some 3G Dongles Kill WiFi
-Thanks to gybemark for figuring this out.

When you plug in the dongle, it adds a row to the 'secure' table in /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db with:

name='wifi_country_code'
value='gb'

If you use sqlite3 to delete this row (which isn't there at all by default in my stock ROM) the Wifi works again.

Getting unsupported 3G Dongles to work

A lot of people have reported success with the PPP Widget app.

Directory Bind for Internal -> External SD Card
- Thanks to tigger-gg for the suggestion

Go to the official page on the XDA forums for more info.

Tigger-gg suggests the DirectoryBind_0.2.0k.apk

 

[pukidukie]

Hey,thanks for your hard work! Followed this rom a while on slatedr... and came over from cm10.1 to cristal clear 1.6. Rom runs smooth,stable and without problems on my batch 1 crystal. I dont give a f.... on benchmarks. So no results. Will stay on Crystal Clear.

 

[fuser]

Hey puikidukie, thanks! The benchmarks were a bit better in the earlier versions but I ended up adding some things to help with play store compatibility and I'm guessing the background processes dropped the benchmarks a bit. I'm working on v1.7 right now and I'm hoping it will be done in a week or two.

Batch 1 and 2 Crystal hardware is super easy to make compatibility patches for but the Batch 3 took a bit of work. I think with the next version of the Batch 3 zip, things should be pretty solid for any of you Batch 3 users out there. There will also be minor updates to the Batch 1 and 2 zips.

I should also have an optional SGS3 fingerprint and an optional fix for some users that were having audio popping/clicking problems. I think the audio problem might be hardware related or something because it only happens to a few people but reportedly DSP and BeatsAudio fixes it.

Anyway, here are the things I'm in the process of updating/testing:

• Root Updated - SuperSU to v1.02.
• Cleaned up all updater-scripts
• Updated all Batch Comp Zips
• Play Store Compatibility Fixes
• Optional Fingerprints - "SGS3 GT-I9300"
• Complete Nexus 7 Crystal Clear default build.prop replacement
• BeatsAudio6.27 and DSP-Manager-v2.0 package for some users experiencing audio problems
• Possibly fixed bluetooth?
• Optional zip to turn data and 3G back on
• Optional zip to revert back to Fake Tablet/Phone UI?
• Updated apps in Additional Apps package

 

[pukidukie]

Hey fuser. I found one compatibility issue. Cant install GTA III. Hope this will be one of the fixed problems in next version.
Another question: Did ainol release the crystal sources allready?.

 

[pukidukie]

Who rated this thread so bad? The rom works very well... is someone envious?
@ fuser: see you @slatedroit, where your work gets appreciated.

 

[fuser]

Well, I drop by here and that other site every day to answer any questions and see whats going on in the world of Ainol. I'm sure once more people try the ROM here and leave a comment letting other users know what they think, the better the thread will be rated. As far as I know there aren't a lot of custom ROM's for the Crystal that work well and are still being supported by the developers.

If it's that you can't install GTA III at all, I'm hoping and pretty confident that will be solved in the next update. But even on v1.6, I'm seeing GTA III as compatible with the Nexus 7 fingerprint, are you not? If it's a problem where you've downloaded a fresh install of the app and it's crashing, like some Gameloft games, I don't think that will be solved by the next update.

Also Ainol didn't release Crystal sources but they are very similar to the ELF2 sources, so it's possible to work with those if you wanted to. My ROM isn't built from source, these newer versions are based mostly on the unreleased 1212 firmware that got pulled off another users Batch 3 tablet, then I added/subtracted/re-coded and other fixed a bunch of known problems.

 

[pukidukie]

The market says this version is not compatible... dont know why. The crystal is marked as nexus 7.

 

[fuser]

The market says this version is not compatible... dont know why. The crystal is marked as nexus 7.

Yeah that's strange but maybe v1.7 will work for you, I'm now able to download several apps that I couldnt download before. There will also be the optional SGS3 fingerprint to try if the Nexus 7 one doesn't work.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Tapatalk HD

 

[fuser]

So, I have a Batch 3 in my possession for a few days that someone sent me to unbrick for them. I'm doing as much testing as I can before I send it back and making some progress on the comp zip. I also found out that you can't flash TWRP to a Batch 3 so I've deleted that zip. You can extract the "uImage_recovery" file from the Batch 3 TWRP .rar in the "non-flashable" folder and place it on your external SD card. It needs to stay there to be able to use TWRP and flash CWM/TWRP based zip files. Hopefully I'll have a Batch 3 zip that works before I send the tablet back.

 

[fuser]

Well hopefully all of that will be resolved in the next release.

For any Batch 3 users (chengnan.tan kernel) I think I finally figured it out! Here is the working Batch 3 Comp Zip. There is an issue with permissions for /Storage which is unrelated, but if you encounter the problem where apps or settings/apps are crashing. Change the permissions of the /Storage folder to 777.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why it's doing that on only Batch 3 Tablets and haven't yet been able to figure out user-friendly way to automatically change it during the installation process. I'll work on it more tomorrow and if anyone has any ideas, please chime in.

 

[fuser]

The Batch 3 /storage permissions have been solved. Here is the newest Batch 3 compatibility zip. It uses a different SD mounting scheme, so the sd_switch and sd_revery zips might not work. I'm pretty sure you could use ones for CM10 though, that uses the same mounting method. So yeah, fully functional Batch 3 compatibility patch, working wifi, working g-sensor, working camera, no /storage permission errors!

 

[lethas]

Waiting for the new version come out for a long time fuser! I got bored
anyways 1.6 is realy good for me everything is working 1.6+batch1.