Sunday, January 5, 2014

Quick guide to install SailFish in your Nokia N9 with Windows PC


This article helps you flash your N9 to a Dual boot Device with MeeGo and Jolla SailFish. I am using Windows 7 machine, without a Linux Virtual box or Linux installation in my PC

Disclaimer : I am just sharing my experience on Flashing Nokia N9 with Jolla Sailfish. If you follow the steps below correctly, you may get your N9 working fine with Jolla Sailfish and MeeGo in it. Please note, the following steps would tamper your Nokia N9's warranty. I will not be responsible if you fail in some steps or brick your lovely N9. **Do it at your own risk! **

Requirements :
  •         Windows 7 machine with admin rights
  •         Nokia N9 and USB DataCable - Ensure your N9 is not Operator locked
  •         Basic Technical knowledge, handling the Terminal in N9, working with DOS prompt in PC.
  •         Please take back up of all your data in N9
  •         Ensure your N9 is charged 100% and then reset to factory settings (This is important!!)
  •         This guide expects you have a Wifi Internet connection available.
  •         This guide expects you have 7Zip installed in your PC
Step 1:
Update your N9's firmware to MeeGo PR 1.3:
Download your product specific Firmware files here 
Download Flasher here : use only version v3.12.1
Install Flasher on your laptop.
Copy all the downloaded Firmware files to Flasher folder
Open Command Prompt, Navigate to the folder where Flasher is installed

Give command : flasher -i
Now Connect N9 to your laptop / PC
The current firmware version of your phone should appear
Give command : flasher -f -F Firmware_filename.bin  (There should be one file with size above 1GB and file extension .bin use it here)

It will take a while, don’t remove or disconnect your Phone now.
After the process is complete, it will show "Success" message, Restart the phone and confim the firmware is upgraded to the new one ( v40.20xx.xx)

Step 2 :
Download Kernals to Flasher Folder:
Download OpenMode kernel from here 
Download MOSLO kernel from here
Download Ubiboot SailfishOS-preconfigured ubiboot from here

Step 3 :
Download SailFish Image :
Download URL here

Step 4:
Now Go back to command prompt :
Flash the OpenMode kernel and reboot your phone with:

Give command : flasher -i
flasher -a Firmware_filename.bin -k zImage_2.6.32.54-openmode_l2fix --flash-only=kernel -f -R

Step 5 :
Get Ready with Harmattan
You need to get Harmattan load completely and run for a few minutes set your date and time in the N9 and check if its working fine.
Install Developer Mode and all its packages on Harmattan (N9) so Terminal mode is made available as it is required as we are flashing with Windows PC

Step 6 :
Re-partition your handset :
Unzip the MOSLO kernel to Flasher folder
Now back to command prompt
Flash the MOSLO kernel using command :

flasher -k zImage-moslo -n initrd-moslo -l -b

Allow MOSLO to repartition your handset.

Step 7 :
Install Ubiboot :
Unpack ubiboot-02_0.3.5_131213_SFOS.tar using 7Zip 
Copy the extracted ubiboot_035_sailfishos.tar to your device e.g into the "MyDocs" folder by connecting it in Mass Storage Mode.
Go to Terminal on your device, and obtain root access, then extract the archive:

devel-su
cd /home/user/MyDocs/
tar -xvf ubiboot_035_sailfishos.tar -C /

Power off your device and flash it in the usual way:
flasher -a Firmware_filename.bin -k zImage_2.6.32.54-ubiboot-02_301013 --flash-only=kernel -f -R

** If you get a prompt asking you to format the newly mounted partition, DO NOT FORMAT THE PARTITION.

Step 8 :
Install Sailfish:
Rename the downloaded Sailfish image name to sailfish.tar.bz2
In Harmattan, install Developer Mode if you haven't already and install all the packages. Connect the phone to Windows in "USB Mass Storage Mode ".
Copy sailfish.tar.bz2' to the root of your N9 (X:\, where X is the letter of the drive).
Disconnect the phone from the PC and remove the USB cable.
Launch Terminal on Harmattan(N9) and type the following commands:

devel-su
rootme # Or your root password
cd /home/user/MyDocs/
ls # Here, you should see all your MyDocs and sailfish.tar.bz2
mkdir /sailfish
mount /dev/mmcblk0p4 /sailfish
tar --numeric-owner -xvjf sailfish.tar.bz2 -C /sailfish/ # This will take a while as it extracts Sailfish onto the handset, wait till its completed
sync

Step 9 :
Now exit Terminal and reboot the device.
While Phone is booting you can select which OS to boot , Tap on SailFish logo !

Congrats! You are now a proud owner of a SailFish powered device!


Known Issues

  • No text correction engine
  • No Android capability as of present.
  • Camera does not work.
  • Opening browser crashes the device at times
  • Accelerometer does not work. 



Cheers

PS :This is not something I have invented (I am just sharing what I have did!), all credits to :  rzr, souran, Martin Brook, vgrade, coderus, Nad, mikecomputing, TMavica, krnlyng/liar, max83, flotron, juiceme, piratepad and everyone who contributed for this project!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Is there any work around for the PC usb connection? My N9's data USB pins got messed up, I can't transfer data through USB anymore. I can only charge through USB.

Would it work to email the files to self and open them on the N9?

Unknown said...

what are the limitations of the OS on N9?
like camera don't work? or some missing features?

MobiQuil said...

@Mladen Milesic if your USB Data connection is messed up, how will you flash the software ? I have never tried the email route.

@izzi Egwu I have mentioned the known issues :
No text correction engine
No Android capability as of present.
Camera does not work.
Opening browser crashes the device at times
Accelerometer does not work.