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Over the past decade I've purchased several Chinese cheapo keypad phones, and they all seem to run a very similar java-based OS. Does anyone have any informatio

Over the past decade I've purchased several Chinese cheapo keypad phones, and they all seem to run a very similar java-based OS. Does anyone have any information on what OS that is exactly, and if it's open source?

jpegqs 4y ago
I recently ordered and researched the cheapest feature phones (and some smartwatches), looks like half of that market is occupied by Unisoc with the SC6531(E/DA) chipset (from the Spreadtrum company they bought). It uses Mocor OS. The second half of this market is occupied by Mediatek MT6260/MT6261 chipsets. I wrote tools to run my code on these chipsets. There are also phones on Mocor5 OS, a little more expensive, it's actually Android 4.4 on the Spreadtrum SC7715 chipset. I didn't find any Java here, but these CPUs have a Jazelle ARM extension to run Java bytecode. P.S.: There's an old project based on reverse engineered MT6260 firmware: https://github.com/xobs/fernly https://github.com/xobs/fernly
- jpegqs 4y ago
  I wanted to run Doom on one of them. So far I have LCD control for SC6531E (with 9306 LCD panel), USB control for SC6531E/SC6531DA and USB control for MT6260/MT6261 (using API from bootloader). I load the code not while the OS is running, but through boot via USB. SC6531DA is similar to SC6531E, but some constants have been changed, so additional research into its firmware is required. I have enough knowledge to run some game on the SC6531E, but a lot of work still needs to be done. Anyone want to cooperate with me?
  - initramfs 4y ago
    I've been curious as to the Unisoc T117 RTOS in the Nokia 225 4G- it is Mocor RTOS, but I have no info on what its origins are. Could it be an EKA2-based Symbian? The UI looks somewhat similar https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/nokia-225-4g https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/nokia-225-4g https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UNISOC_processors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UNISOC_processors -uses only 1 cpu https://web.archive.org/web/20220704160232/https://www.unisoc.com/en_us/home/TGNSJ-T117 https://web.archive.org/web/20220704160232/https://www.uniso...
seba_dos1 4y ago
Symbian is not Java-based.
xobs 4y ago
It's probably Nucleus, which is what Mediatek uses a lot on their low-end phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_RTOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_RTOS It's not open source per se, but the phones themselves tend to have very little modification from the reference EVK, which means if you can find the BSP you can usually build a firmware image that will work on a device.
- jpegqs 4y ago
  I don't know if the Mediatek chips have overridable pins, but the Spreadtrum does. There are also different LCD panels that have slightly different interfaces for which you will need to write a driver (and find it from the original firmware). The button mapping also may vary. So writing firmware that will work on most phones on a particular chipset will not be so easy.
- jpegqs 4y ago
  From the ones I got, I found MAUI in the name of the firmware, and on Wikipedia I found these notes: > MAUI, a feature-phone operating system used with MediaTek-based shanzhai devices, also used on Motorola phones and some Samsung feature phones. > MediaTek developed an embedded operating system named MAUI Runtime Environment which is based on Nucleus RTOS. So it's not raw Nucleus.
- HeckFeck 4y ago
  Nucleus? How's its Weissman score?

jpegqs 4y ago

I recently ordered and researched the cheapest feature phones (and some smartwatches), looks like half of that market is occupied by Unisoc with the SC6531(E/DA) chipset (from the Spreadtrum company they bought). It uses Mocor OS. The second half of this market is occupied by Mediatek MT6260/MT6261 chipsets. I wrote tools to run my code on these chipsets. There are also phones on Mocor5 OS, a little more expensive, it's actually Android 4.4 on the Spreadtrum SC7715 chipset. I didn't find any Java here, but these CPUs have a Jazelle ARM extension to run Java bytecode. P.S.: There's an old project based on reverse engineered MT6260 firmware: https://github.com/xobs/fernly https://github.com/xobs/fernly

jpegqs 4y ago
I wanted to run Doom on one of them. So far I have LCD control for SC6531E (with 9306 LCD panel), USB control for SC6531E/SC6531DA and USB control for MT6260/MT6261 (using API from bootloader). I load the code not while the OS is running, but through boot via USB. SC6531DA is similar to SC6531E, but some constants have been changed, so additional research into its firmware is required. I have enough knowledge to run some game on the SC6531E, but a lot of work still needs to be done. Anyone want to cooperate with me?
- initramfs 4y ago
  I've been curious as to the Unisoc T117 RTOS in the Nokia 225 4G- it is Mocor RTOS, but I have no info on what its origins are. Could it be an EKA2-based Symbian? The UI looks somewhat similar https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/nokia-225-4g https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/nokia-225-4g https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UNISOC_processors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UNISOC_processors -uses only 1 cpu https://web.archive.org/web/20220704160232/https://www.unisoc.com/en_us/home/TGNSJ-T117 https://web.archive.org/web/20220704160232/https://www.uniso...

seba_dos1 4y ago

Symbian is not Java-based.

xobs 4y ago

It's probably Nucleus, which is what Mediatek uses a lot on their low-end phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_RTOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_RTOS It's not open source per se, but the phones themselves tend to have very little modification from the reference EVK, which means if you can find the BSP you can usually build a firmware image that will work on a device.

jpegqs 4y ago
I don't know if the Mediatek chips have overridable pins, but the Spreadtrum does. There are also different LCD panels that have slightly different interfaces for which you will need to write a driver (and find it from the original firmware). The button mapping also may vary. So writing firmware that will work on most phones on a particular chipset will not be so easy.
jpegqs 4y ago
From the ones I got, I found MAUI in the name of the firmware, and on Wikipedia I found these notes: > MAUI, a feature-phone operating system used with MediaTek-based shanzhai devices, also used on Motorola phones and some Samsung feature phones. > MediaTek developed an embedded operating system named MAUI Runtime Environment which is based on Nucleus RTOS. So it's not raw Nucleus.
HeckFeck 4y ago
Nucleus? How's its Weissman score?