sailfish-onda-v820w

Install & upgrade Sailfish OS on Onda V820W V3/V5 tablets.

Credit for the Onda V820W Sailfish port and original upgrade instructions goes to TheKit.
See talk.maemo.org. Thanks to everyone contributing to the thread!

The scripts were created on Onda V820W V5 but should work also on V3. The main difference between the two tablets is the missing sound on V5, see also Known Issues.

Install

• Format a FAT32 USB drive using label USB
• Download the automatic installer image by TheKit
• Unpack the downloaded zip file to the root of the USB drive
• Comment out the line set lang=ru_RU in /EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg, so it looks like # set lang=ru_RU
• Boot the tablet from the USB drive (use a powered hub with keyboard + mouse, press ESC during boot, select Boot Manager and then the USB stick)

Upgrade to 2.0.5.6

• After the first boot, select language, accept the End User Licence, skip Time Setting, skip Connect to the Internet and bypass the Sailfish Tutorial by tapping screen corners clockwise starting from the top left
• The USB stick isn't needed anymore. Now would be a good time to set the tablet to recharge if it isn't already
• Settings->Display disable Adjust automatically for brightness & set Keep the display on while charging
• Also in Settings, allow Untrusted software, make sure Developer mode is on and set the SSH password.
• Add Jolla Account in Accounts, choose Turn on WLAN & connect to the Internet when prompted
• Create new/use existing credentials (speed up the process by unselecting & skipping any installations at this time)
• Settings->Sailfish OS update, switch the check from Automatic to Manual
• Start the Terminal, devel-su, enter password
  get script curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tmikkonen/sailfish-onda-v820w/master/upgrade-2.0.5.6.sh
  make sure it is executable chmod u+x upgrade-2.0.5.6.sh
  run script ./upgrade-2.0.5.6.sh
  the tablet will reboot when finished

Upgrade to 2.2.0.29

(from 2.0.5.6)

• Start the Terminal, devel-su, enter password
  get script curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tmikkonen/sailfish-onda-v820w/master/upgrade-2.2.0.29.sh
  make sure it is executable chmod u+x upgrade-2.2.0.29.sh
  run script ./upgrade-2.2.0.29.sh
• The script probably presents you one or more choices as solutions to problems.
  Answer with the highest number (3 or 2) to break pattern followed by y.
• If installing yabit gives you an error, answer i to ignore.
  Yabit is (just) a tool for Android Bootimages and packaged for too new rpm version–hence the error.
• After reboot, manually fix missing packages (start the Terminal, devel-su, enter password):

pkcon refresh
pkcon install jolla-keyboard-layout-all jolla-settings-system-sideloading

or try zypper

zypper ref -f
zypper in jolla-keyboard-layout-all jolla-settings-system-sideloading

Upgrade to Sailfish 3

• Start the Terminal, devel-su, enter password

ssu re 3.0.0.8
version --dup
reboot

From now on it should be possible to upgrade quite easily e.g.

ssu re 3.2.0.12
version --dup
reboot

GUI updates seem to be also possible based on a succesful test upgrade but take this with a grain of salt, though.

The Sailfish OS update check can now be turned back to Automatic, if preferred.

Check the device settings and adjust to your liking e.g. re-enable Adjust automatically for display brightness. Open the Jolla Store and install the apps you like. Also check out OpenRepos.

Notes

• 2.2.0.29, 3.0.0.8 and 3.2.0.12 are stop releases that must be upgraded in succession - others will probably exist in the future, see the here for details.
• After installing 3.3.0.16 SSH Remote Connection needs to be re-enabled in Settings->Developer tools.
• When/If the SFOS upgrade fails see this for help. Doing the cleanups, setting the release back to the current version and running pkcon refresh, pkcon update & reboot and re-running the upgrade is worth trying.

Known Issues

At least with V5 tablets upgrading past SFOS 3.3.0.16 will most likely result booting to a blank screen. You have been warned!

Connecting to the WLAN can be cranky but should get better once you update to at least 2.2.0.29. The best results were (while WLAN off) first at adding the Jolla Account and afterwards trying to connect to the Jolla Store and following the WLAN prompts. YMMV.

As of now (Feb 2024), the repo http://sfos.scanf.su/onda-v820w-v3/ is down. Therefore, it is not possible to use the script to update to 2.0.5.6. Hopefully, the repo or a mirror of it emerges someday. Until then, DO NOT RESET YOUR WORKING TABLET as you most likely cannot get it back from a scratch without a backup!