MarkdownBoot on Top of It: Unlocking the Full Potential of Samsung Galaxy Note II

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is a powerhouse device that boasts impressive hardware specifications. One of its notable features is its display panel, which comes in two variants – S6EVR02 and EA8061. To determine which variant your device has, run the command dmesg | grep 'panel driver' in TWRP or a rooted Android shell.

eMMC

The Note II's eMMC storage partition is divided into multiple partitions, each serving a specific purpose. The exact partition layout may vary depending on the device. To view the partition table, run the command sudo parted /dev/mmcblk2 print.

Model: MMC VTU00M (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/mmcblk2: 15.8GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
 1 4194kB 8389kB 4194kB BOTA0 msftdata
 2 8389kB 12.6MB 4194kB BOTA1 msftdata
 3 12.6MB 33.6MB 21.0MB ext4 EFS msftdata
 4 33.6MB 37.7MB 4194kB m9kefs1 msftdata
 5 37.7MB 41.9MB 4194kB m9kefs2 msftdata
 6 41.9MB 46.1MB 4194kB m9kefs3 msftdata
 7 46.1MB 54.5MB 8389kB PARAM msftdata
 8 54.5MB 62.9MB 8389kB BOOT msftdata
 9 62.9MB 71.3MB 8389kB RECOVERY msftdata
10 71.3MB 164MB 92.3MB ext4 RADIO msftdata
11 164MB 168MB 4194kB TOMBSTONES msftdata
12 168MB 1602MB 1434MB ext4 CACHE msftdata
13 1602MB 3750MB 2147MB ext4 SYSTEM msftdata
14 3750MB 4337MB 587MB HIDDEN msftdata
15 4337MB 4345MB 8389kB OTA msftdata
16 4345MB 15.8GB 11.4GB ext4 USERDATA msftdata

USB

The Note II's USB OTG functionality only works in host mode, which requires modifying the device tree to set dr_mode to "host". This allows the device to be charged while connected to an external power source.

S Pen

To get the S Pen working, add the following lines to /etc/udev/hwdb.d/60-evdev.hwdb:

evdev:name:*e-pen*
EVDEV_ABS_00=::300
EVDEV_ABS_01=::300

Update the hwdb using the command sudo udevadm hwdb --update. Restart the device to apply the changes.

Gallery

The gallery app on the Note II is a great way to view and manage your device's media files.

Other

TWRP

To install TWRP, use Heimdall with the following command:

$ heimdall flash --RECOVERY TWRP.img --no-reboot

Make sure to boot into recovery mode at least once after flashing it to avoid overwriting the default recovery.

Recommendations

Enable SWAP.
Enable binfmt_misc (CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC).

Issues

The display brightness is too high when the display turns on. Solution: Change the brightness to a correct value.
The sound output is distorted. Note: It's based on the CPU load.
USB OTG doesn't switch modes automatically.
Default CPU frequency is only 1.4GHz. Solution: Modify the device tree and add required frequencies. Warning: Do not touch it unless you know what you're doing!

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