What is MultiROM?
MultiROM (XDA Thread) is one-of-a-kind multi-boot mod for Nexus 7. It can boot any Android ROM available for that device as well as other systems like Ubuntu Touch, Plasma Active, Bohdi Linux or WebOS port. Besides booting from device's internal memory, MultiROM can boot from USB drive connected to the device via OTG cable.
The main part of MultiROM is a boot manager, which appears every time your device starts and lets you choose ROM to boot. You can see how it looks on the left image below and in gallery.
ROMs are installed and managed via modified TeamWin Recovery Project. You can use standard ZIP files to install secondary Android ROMs, daily prebuilt image files to install Ubuntu Touch and MultiROM even has its own installer system, which can be used to ship other Linux-based systems.
![Multirom - boot manager and recovery Multirom - boot manager and recovery]()
It is already done and working...
...but for different device. MultiROM for older version of Nexus 7 (2012) is working like a charm, and already has hundreds of users. Feel free to browse the XDA thread or YouTube for all the MultiROM videos. It is even mentioned on the official wiki page for Ubuntu Core on Nexus 7. And Linux Journal has an article about it!
However, this is only one device. I would love to continue improving MultiROM and port it to other devices, which is why this campaign exists.
What is this funding for?
This campaign is only to buy test devices, the first one being the new Nexus 7 (2013). I love to work with Android devices and I want MultiROM to support multiple devices, so countless hours spent developing the project aren't covered by this campaign, but the devices are unfortunatelly a bit too expensive for me as a student.
MultiROM will be ported to all devices funded by this campaign and they will be used to further improve not only MultiROM, but also TWRP and some other projects - for example new Nexus 7 needs somebody to port and maintain Ubuntu Touch, I could probably do that.
$500 target* is for second generation Nexus 7 device and it's shipping to Czech Republic. If this campaign raises more money, it will be used to buy another test devices - which ones depends on the total amount of money and I suppose some kind of survey would be appropriate.
This campaign is using fixed funding - if it doesn't reach the target, you'll get full refund within 5 days.
*Indiegogo's minimal target is $500.
When it will be ready?
If this campaign gets funded and everything goes okay, MultiROM for second-gen N7 should be ready in about a month after I receive the device. If any other devices are funded, their versions should follow shortly after.
What needs to be done?
While the code is working for 1st-gen Nexus 7, there are some parts which need to be modified, namely screen drawing code and storage-related parts. The modified TWRP recovery will probably also need a lot of work, since that wasn't made with multiple devices in mind.
My goal is to have shared codebase for all devices MultiROM supports, the same way TWRP does it. This would potentially enable easy porting to different devices.
Who am I?
My name is Vojtěch Boček, I'm 18 years old and I live in Brno, Czech Republic. I'm middle-school student and a young programmer who likes to play with small devices carrying any type of processor, be it ARM phone and tablets or small robots which play chess.
You can find all my projects on my github page or my website, these are the most important:
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MultiROM for Nexus 7
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Lorris Toolbox - very useful development tool for anybody who works with robots or any other microchip applications
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VNote - simple, but surprisingly widely adopted note application which can open .vnt files used by older dumbphones.
- I also contribute to TeamWin Recovery Project. For example scrollbars in file manager and highlights after button press are my work. I ported TWRP 2.6 to LG Optimus One, too.
Support and questions
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You can use...
- Send me an e-mail to vbocek(-)gmail.com, subject: MultiROM Indiegogo question
- Use discussion here on Indiegogo
- Use this Reddit thread
- Find me on IRC - freenode.net, #multirom or #twrp, my nick is tassadar_. I'm in GMT+2. Webchat
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