- Oct 11, 2009
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You probably heard that the gTablet shipping firmware was, well, crap comes to mind. Not that I want TapnTap to give up, because if they could speed things up, it would be a great OS for a inexpensive family tablet "computer". So good luck fellas.
Enough of that, let's hack this thing.
Root
You can root (and unroot) the gTab with z4root from the market. If all you want is root, just do it. The app is safe, the developer is trustworthy, and it's easy. What's not to love?
Flashing a custom ROM
Next, go to tegratab.com and download a full backup of the shipping software. It's just as easy to go back to the beginning as it is to flash a custom ROM. Keep this file safe, on your computer for when you need it. This is the software out of the box. When you install it, you'll get an update, which is good, because v1 just plain doesn't work.
If you want to skip the update, grab a copy of the updated ROM here at XDA and use it as your backup. I would do this, but if you want the complete stock-from-the-box setup look above.
Got the backups? Good. Next you'll want a custom ROM. You have two ways to go here, I'm going to cover the easy one for now. We'll tackle the other methods elsewhere. The stock recovery image will flash anything you tell it to. That's a good thing indeed. Roebeet over at XDA has worked up a very nice custom ROM, that really does this thing justice. No more goofy, slow GUI, Google Apps all included, rooted with everything you need to customize the gtab. Download it right here.
Flashing it is a breeze. Plug your gtab into your computer, and mount the internal SD storage. We're not going to fool with an external SD card for this, so don't use one. If you do, make sure you are doing this all on the internal storage. Unzip the contents of the ROM zipfile into the root directory on the gtab's storage. There's two items -- "update.zip" and a folder named "Recovery". Drop them right on the card. Safely unmount from your computer, and power the gtab down.
Next, you'll boot back into recovery. This is easy, too. Press and hold the + volume button, then press and hold the power button. When you see the back screen that says ANDROID in gold letters, let go of both. When it finishes and reboots, you're done flashing. Told you it was easy, +1 for unlocked hardware. This is the procedure to flash any ROM with the stock recovery. Place the update.zip and recovery folder on your card, and boot to recovery.
Skip through the setup when it boots. You'll have to set up WiFi before you can set up your Google info. Go ahead and set up WiFi, then open GMail to be prompted to sign in. Go ahead and do that, then give your GMail some time to sync. Next head over to the developer of Titanium Backup's site and download the latest free version. Do this right from your gtab, and install it. Even if you have no plans to use it, you need it to fix the Market.
Open the Market, and hate what you see. But still download any app you can find, we're going to fix that after you're sure the Market works as-is. Once done, back out of the Market and open Titanium backup. If you see (and you will) a pop up for the Superuser app, allow it. Click the Backup/Restore tab in Ti Backup. Scroll through the list until you see Google Services Framework 2.2 in red text. Click on it, and select to wipe data, then close Ti Backup. Open the Market again, you're wanting to see the white screen with the error message again. If you don't, open settings and kill the market process, then do the Ti Backup trick again.
Reboot, enjoy the full Market.
Two last tricks
Plug your gtab into your computer, and mount the storage. You have to do this first.
Go to getjar.com from the gtab browser and download the Angry Birds apk. You know you want this. When it's done downloading, and while the gtab storage is still mounted to the computer, click to install it.
Safely unmount your gtab, play angry birds perfectly.
Back to XDA, and download the Flash 10.1 apk for the folio. It's a .rar file, so extract in on your computer and copy it over to the gtab. Use the included estrongs file explorer to find it, and install it.
Reboot, enjoy Adobe Flash, in the stock gTab browser.
As you can see, the credit for all these individual fixes goes to roebeet from XDA and tegratab.com. Be sure to thank him when you next see him.
Enough of that, let's hack this thing.
Root
You can root (and unroot) the gTab with z4root from the market. If all you want is root, just do it. The app is safe, the developer is trustworthy, and it's easy. What's not to love?
Flashing a custom ROM
Next, go to tegratab.com and download a full backup of the shipping software. It's just as easy to go back to the beginning as it is to flash a custom ROM. Keep this file safe, on your computer for when you need it. This is the software out of the box. When you install it, you'll get an update, which is good, because v1 just plain doesn't work.
If you want to skip the update, grab a copy of the updated ROM here at XDA and use it as your backup. I would do this, but if you want the complete stock-from-the-box setup look above.
Got the backups? Good. Next you'll want a custom ROM. You have two ways to go here, I'm going to cover the easy one for now. We'll tackle the other methods elsewhere. The stock recovery image will flash anything you tell it to. That's a good thing indeed. Roebeet over at XDA has worked up a very nice custom ROM, that really does this thing justice. No more goofy, slow GUI, Google Apps all included, rooted with everything you need to customize the gtab. Download it right here.
Flashing it is a breeze. Plug your gtab into your computer, and mount the internal SD storage. We're not going to fool with an external SD card for this, so don't use one. If you do, make sure you are doing this all on the internal storage. Unzip the contents of the ROM zipfile into the root directory on the gtab's storage. There's two items -- "update.zip" and a folder named "Recovery". Drop them right on the card. Safely unmount from your computer, and power the gtab down.
Next, you'll boot back into recovery. This is easy, too. Press and hold the + volume button, then press and hold the power button. When you see the back screen that says ANDROID in gold letters, let go of both. When it finishes and reboots, you're done flashing. Told you it was easy, +1 for unlocked hardware. This is the procedure to flash any ROM with the stock recovery. Place the update.zip and recovery folder on your card, and boot to recovery.
Skip through the setup when it boots. You'll have to set up WiFi before you can set up your Google info. Go ahead and set up WiFi, then open GMail to be prompted to sign in. Go ahead and do that, then give your GMail some time to sync. Next head over to the developer of Titanium Backup's site and download the latest free version. Do this right from your gtab, and install it. Even if you have no plans to use it, you need it to fix the Market.
Open the Market, and hate what you see. But still download any app you can find, we're going to fix that after you're sure the Market works as-is. Once done, back out of the Market and open Titanium backup. If you see (and you will) a pop up for the Superuser app, allow it. Click the Backup/Restore tab in Ti Backup. Scroll through the list until you see Google Services Framework 2.2 in red text. Click on it, and select to wipe data, then close Ti Backup. Open the Market again, you're wanting to see the white screen with the error message again. If you don't, open settings and kill the market process, then do the Ti Backup trick again.
Reboot, enjoy the full Market.
Two last tricks
Plug your gtab into your computer, and mount the storage. You have to do this first.
Go to getjar.com from the gtab browser and download the Angry Birds apk. You know you want this. When it's done downloading, and while the gtab storage is still mounted to the computer, click to install it.
Safely unmount your gtab, play angry birds perfectly.
Back to XDA, and download the Flash 10.1 apk for the folio. It's a .rar file, so extract in on your computer and copy it over to the gtab. Use the included estrongs file explorer to find it, and install it.
Reboot, enjoy Adobe Flash, in the stock gTab browser.
As you can see, the credit for all these individual fixes goes to roebeet from XDA and tegratab.com. Be sure to thank him when you next see him.
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