Hello /e/ developers,
After some testing - again with that pretty old Samsung S4 - I have come to the conclusion that you presumably can do everything with the very latest version of Odin. It seems to me that there is no need for choosing a specific version of Odin for your Samsung model, since I used Odin v3.14.4 (the very latest version found on Sammobile.com) to flash BL, CP and CSC on that old Samsung S4, all with just 1 click on Odin’s Start button.
But I could not flash /e/ in that single step because Odin does not consume .zip files, only .tar or .tar.md5. So I bricked the S4 a little bit into bootloop, and after some struggle got it back in recovery mode (TWRP was correctly installed in that first step), and sideloaded /e/ with ADB. Then the phone worked again.
Now if /e/OS would be available also in .TAR format, I think Windows users could have a far much easier job to install TWRP together with /e/OS, and at their wish also update the CP (modem) and more to get the best out of their /e/ phone.
If I look inside the Samsung official full firmware (.tar) file, it contains clearly 4 compressed files: AP, BL, CP and CSC. Inside the AP file though, there are just 4 files. On the other hand, inside the /e/OS .zip file there is a much more complex structure of directories and files, which is maybe dedicated to ADB.
So my request is:
Is it possible to deliver /e/OS in a .tar format, that Odin can handle, and a structure inside just like the official AP_xxx.tar?
That would make life a whole lot easier, especially with a brand new tool form xda-developers with the name Samsung Firmware Downloader, which allows for an extremely easy way to get latest official firmware, out of which you can pick your CP update, and also the official Android OS for repair purposes if needed. Of course, one does not even need the official Samsung firmware, if the CP is already up to date. (Can the CP be OTA updated automatically? I don’t know.)
If /e/OS as a .tar file is possible, I will test it, and if succesful, I will write the complete and clear instructions for Windows/Samsung users. It will have no need for ABD, and I believe there is no need for USB Debug mode either.
Best regards