thanks - wasn’t sure that was the stock firmware, then I’ll just store that as a backup and go on with flashing my last device!
No, I just get the store.
Yes, I never expected an easy to install, finished product. As experienced as I am with Ubuntu, I know absolutely nothing about Android. I didn’t even know what an adb command was until Post 57.
Challenge accepted.
I am still reading through the posts trying to figure out how to get Home Assistant on the device. Installing HA from the store only gives me a page full of errors.
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EDIT
I restarted the device and Home Assistant was on the home page. It is working despite the page of errors that came with the install from the Aurora store.
I picked up a couple of these and was able to flash them both (with a little bit of back and forth) on my MacBook Pro. However once booted adb is not detecting the device (it doesn’t show in System Information as best I can tell either so I don’t think it’s even exposing itself as a USB device). I’ve tried a number of different high quality USB-C cables as well as using a USB-C to USB-A cable in an adapter, all no dice.
To add insult to injury, going into Settings → System → About phone and clicking repeatedly on the build number does nothing to enable developer mode.
Any ideas? I assume I just need developer mode enabled to be able to enable adb but I’m kind of stuck.
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I picked up a couple of these and was able to flash them both (with a little bit of back and forth) on my MacBook Pro. However once booted adb is not detecting the device (it doesn’t show in System Information as best I can tell either so I don’t think it’s even exposing itself as a USB device). I’ve tried a number of different high quality USB-C cables as well as using a USB-C to USB-A cable in an adapter, all no dice.
To add insult to injury, going into Settings → System → About phone and clicking repeatedly on the build number does nothing to enable developer mode.
Any ideas? I assume I just need developer mode enabled to be able to enable adb but I’m kind of stuck.
I used a MacBook Pro as well, and this is exactly the problem I was stuck with after flashing one over my Christmas break. Both the not being detected by the Macbook after getting the hacked rom running, and the “no developer mode” symptom. I have minimal Android experience, but have added dev mode to some google tv/chromecast sticks and tvs, so I’m at least familiar with that part.
I got very sick right after and haven’t had time to pick this project back up since recovering. I’m planning on starting over later this weekend and will share any results (success or otherwise), but if anyone else has any suggestions in the meantime, I’d be most appreciative!
I never needed to go into the “Developer Mode”, for my installation but tapping the build number a few times put me into the developer mode.
Out of curiosity what does your build number say?
I’m having the same issue. I did notice that as the tablet boots, I get a popup on my mac asking to connect, but it disappears rapidly. Once the computer won’t connect. I also can’t seem to enable developer mode.
My build number is Lenono_Kingston_OS_PV_191011_V0.0.35-userdebug-PIN-Test
I’ll have to look tomorrow night or sunday, everything’s put away right now and I have an event tomorrow morning/afternoon. But as I recall, the Home Assistant logo showed on boot, and the Aurora store app was available. It seemed like everything worked (other than the aforementioned issues you, I and nhadler9 all have seen). BTW, nhadler9, I also saw the connection popup flash and disappear almost immediately (too fast to even attempt to click on).
I’ll say mine is the same, everything seems functional but without either the nav bar or the ability to run ADB commands it seems very easy to get trapped in an app and be forced to reboot (unless there’s something I’m missing)
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I have not yet, hoping to have some time this weekend to get my 2 new ones setup and see if I can’t get the audio issue sorted.
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All you Mac users having issues with ADB; please try adding the Vendor ID to ~/.android/adb_usb.ini and then restarting adb.
The rom is a userdebug variant, so has usb debugging enabled by default, you do not need to enable it.
If you can’t see the device after flashing, the most likely cause is misconfiguration of host software.
Dev mode can’t be enabled prior to sending the provisioning commands.
I kinda feel like this is the answer. The webview I included in this rom was lifted from here, but probably isn’t well optimized for this device.
I know, building chromium is a pain.
Will update the rom image and give a spot in the credits if you make it work!
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…could it RUN Home Assistant?
Could it? Sure.
Should it? Probably not.
(At least for me)
Single usb port, 8gb emmc, and lack of Ethernet might make it pretty painful to actually use as a HA server.
Not trying to discourage you, please do share if you make it work 
Great answer with lots of patience.
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Bought a handful in December based on this thread. Thank you very much for the great work and the instructions, that I find sufficient.
The form factor of the device is great for my children’s rooms. I am running Fully Kiosk browser with the Lovelace-Wallpanelsolution for limiting access to dashboard, removing the top menu and for the screen saver feature making the device act as a digital photo frame when not in use. Furthermore I have installed Spotify and a few other apps, that I specifically have allowed (in Fully) my children to opening with intent link from the Home Assistant dashboard.
They also work great as dedicated home control panel screen.
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This was my plan when Amazon delivers. Glad to know I am on a working plan 
This post is kind of a comparison of the similar, but smaller, Lenovo Smart Clock 2.
I got a couple of the Smart Clocks a year ago for around $30/ea after seeing a reddit post about them. I built a dashboard for them I was quite pleased with, but after a few months realized I never used it. Partially because of the screen size and you had to kind of hold it while tapping.
They eventually found their niche at my desktop as an info display and in the bathroom to show weather, a countdown when to leave for work, and a camera monitor.
I got a ThinkSmart View when it was $22 off Amazon a week ago. Took me about three hours to flash it on MacOS, mostly because I had trouble getting ADB to work (had to install it from Terminal).
So far I haven’t figured out a use case or dashboard for it, but with how sturdy, responsive, and large it is compared to the Smart Clock it seems ideal as a device to interact with. It also handles camera streams much better with only about a second of a delay compared to 4-6s. I do miss the integrated Google Assistant though like the Smart Clock.
For now, I just have it showing my mobile dashboard for quick access to stuff. Hoping someone is able to figure out a way to leverage the mic and speaker for HA Assist, or at least to use as a media player for announcements.
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I am feeling a bit dumb here, but I can’t figure out how to get this into EDL mode when booting.
I am holding both the up and down volume buttons, and plugging in the power, and it just boots normally. Should I be seeing something different? It just comes up to the Teams setup/sign in screen.
I am on Firmware CD-18781Y.210507.111
I can hold the Volume Up and get to the boot menu.
Thanks, I know this is user error… but … help ?
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I think this may be USB related or something specific to the device–I don’t even see any indication that the device is connected (apart from looking at the connected cables). It doesn’t show in any system tools that list/display USB devices at all. And since the only way I know of to get the vendor ID is to inspect these tools, I’m not sure what I could put in here to test (unless someone else can provide the value)
To clarify, I bought two of these devices and have run this process on both and they both behave this way, so I don’t think it’s a device defect.
One thing to note is that similar to someone else who mentioned this, it appears to BRIEFLY connect on device boot but then disconnects within a second or two. I’ve found that by spamming “adb devices” while it starts up I can catch it listed for a second or so before it disappears
List of devices attached
HUA0BS8H device
If this is a name similar to what others see normally then I could try just spamming the two initialization/provisioning commands in a script to see if they can apply during boot unless that seems like a bad idea (I’m not familiar with android development so I don’t know if there’s a separate boot “device” like this that I shouldn’t screw around with).
One thing to note is that after flashing (on the Mac) I have similar experiences with ADB across:
- MacBook Pro booted into OS X
- MacBook Pro booted into Windows
- Surface Laptop Studio
Not sure if it matters, but my edl execution also mentioned two missing libraries (I believe it’s the same two mentioned by another poster but I have since rebooted and no longer have the logs) but seemed to flash correctly. It did complain of a couple of missing files during the flash process but I took that to mean that it was looking for files in the flash/ folder that didn’t exist. It did successfully flash all of the files that were within the flash/ directory.
First, use a switched power strip. It’s a lot easier than trying to plug in the PSU while holding the buttons. Make sure you hold the buttons for a few seconds after power up, and the screen should be blank.