Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
Upgrading to CM-10.2.1

Now I'm upgrading the operating system to CyanogenMod 10.2.1 from 10.2.0. A big advantage of CyanogenMod is that you get updates like this, two months after the last one; it wouldn't happen with a carrier image. 10.2.0 was expected to be the last version based on Android-4.3 Super Jelly Bean, but 10.2.1 includes late-breaking bugfixes, and builds for hardware that was not included in 10.2.0. I'm upgrading both the TF700T (Mica) and the Galaxy S III (Selen) in parallel.

I was notified that the new version is out by the builtin updater, which I have set to check once a week. Actually it came out on 2014-02-01, but I have been putting off the update because of a heavy work schedule. Here is the announcement of the general release for CM-10.2.1 posted 2014-02-01 by ciwrl.

As with the jump from 10.1.3 to 10.2.0, it will not be necessary to wipe data. Nonetheless I will make a full backup of both machines before upgrading.

Procedure for Upgrade

• Review the procedure for initially installing CyanogenMod and the upgrade notes for the previous upgrade to 10.2.0.

• I made a directory to store backup and image files: /home/jimc/upgrade/mica/files/cm-10.2.0 and /home/jimc/upgrade/selen/files/cm-10.2.0

• I made backups in TAR format.
  ssh mica "cd /data ; tar czf - app data" > mica-bku-20140317.tgz

  Speed on Mica: about 8.5e5 bytes/sec (compressed), total size 371Mb (compressed), 540Mb (uncompressed). 60% of the material is APK files which are already compressed. Took about 8 minutes.

  Speed on Selen: about 2.36e6 bytes/sec (compressed). Total size 362Mb (compressed), took about 3 minutes.

• I made backups using ADB.
  adb backup -f ./mica-bku-20140317.ab -apk -obb -all -system

  These command line arguments select both app data and APK files. You do not want the -shared option which dumps the SD card also. The tablet goes through several security steps:

  • When you do adb devices it reports unauthorized and the tablet pops a dialog asking if USB debugging should be authorized. Tell it yes.
  • When you do adb backup … it runs an app on the tablet which asks for a password and requests confirmation.
  • On Mica I gave it the standard commercial low security password, probably a bad choice. On Selen I left the password blank.
  • It reports the apps it is backing up, one at a time.
  • On the destination I changed the mode of all four backup files to 600 owned by jimc.

  On Mica, took 6.5 mins; output file size is 331Mb (compressed), speed 8.38e5 bytes/sec (similar to TGZ).

  On Selen, took about 3 minutes. File size is 323Mb (compressed).

• Downloaded Google Apps; you need the version that goes with the upgraded OS version. See http://goo.im/gapps for a link. I got http://goo.im/gapps/gapps-jb-20130813-signed.zip, 91.7Mb; check the page to see if the correct one has been changed. This is the same file that was used for CM-10.2.0.

  And copied it to /sdcard. The same file serves on both devices. Actually, since the identical version of Google apps are already installed on the machine, I'm not going to install them again.

• In the past I've downloaded the CyanogenMod image, saved and checked it, and then installed it. However, this is kind of anally retentive. This time I'm going to do the update directly, using the ChanogenMod installer. This upgrade is within the same major version, so I'm not going to need to wipe the data and cache. KitKat will be another story.

  Exit from shell sessions. Stop Dropbear. Stop any other running apps. Unplug USB.

  Go to Settings - About Tablet - CyanogenMod Updates. For the desired version (cm-10.2.1) click on the download symbol. Watch the progress bar. Took about 4 mins, size 180Mb (compressed), speed about 7.5e5 byte/sec. It ended up in /sdcard/cmupdater/cm-10.2.1-tf700t.zip . When the download finishes it offers to install the image. Tell it Apply Update.

• On Selen it goes directly into ClockworkMod Recovery, installs the image (with rotating icosahedron and progress bar), and reboots, taking longer than usual for each reboot step. Recompiling 154 apps this time.

  On mica, it wasn't as simple as expected. ClockworkMod Recovery says, can't mount /sdcard/0/cmupdater/cm-10.2.1-tf700t.zip, installation aborted. With a picture of a dead Android. Here's what I did:

  • Mounts and Storage - Mount /emmc (hit back button)
  • Install from sdcard - choose zip from internal sdcard - This is actually /emmc. Follow the sequence of containing directories in /emmc/0/cmupdater/ and click on cm-10.2.1-tf700t.zip.
  • Confirm Install - Yes. Now the Android is standing up, but its icosahedron does not rotate on the TF700t. The progress bar moves at an uneven rate; don't panic.
  • It announces, installation complete. At this point you would install Google Apps if it were a new version.
  • Hit Go Back, and Reboot Sytem Now.
  • All the reboot steps take longer than usual. See the previous notes for timings. This time I have 145 APK files to recompile (vs. 128).
  • And we're back at the lock (authentication) screen. Job finished.

  I would not be surprised if the latest version of ClockworkMod Recovery got the mount point correct the first time.

  The kernel on TF700t is 3.1.10. On d2vzw (Galaxy S3) it is 3.4.66.

• Super-quick checkout: Kitchen Timer starts and can play its alarm (both machines).

Application Checkout

(Legend: NT = not tested; NI = not installed; WT = wimpy test.)

So this upgrade appears to be successful.