Bootloader interfaces

Device Bootloader cmdline from boot.img cmdline from bootloader environment Compatible with upstream Linux Flashing protocols Image formats filesystems Loads a TrustZone OS
N/A upstream u-boot ? Yes Yes * DFU
* Fastboot
* Thor1
* Other?
* Android Boot.img files
* U-boot uImages
* RAW / zImage
* Other
Yes, various Not on 32bit ARM
N/A upstream Barebox ? Yes Yes * DFU
* FAstboot
* Other?
* Android Boot.img files ?
* U-boot uImages
* RAW / zImage
* Other
Yes, various Not on 32bit ARM
Galaxy S (GT-I9000) GTI9000Bootloader ? * Thor1 * RAW / zImage RAW, KERNEL partition only Probably not
Galaxy SII (GT-I9100) GTI9100Bootloader Probably not * Thor1 * RAW / zImage RAW, ? partition only Probably not
Galaxy SII (GT-I9100G_CHN_CHN) GTI9100GBootloader ? * Very unreliable2 Thor1 ? RAW, KERNEL partition only ?
Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9250) I9250Bootloader used ignored ? * Reliable3 Thor1
* Fastboot
* boot.img boot and recovery partitions only ?
Galaxy SIII (GT-I9300)
Galaxy SIII 4G (GT-I9305)
Galaxy Note II (GT-N7100)
Galaxy Note II 4G (GT-N7105)
MidasBootloader ignored used No * Somewhat reliable4 Thor1 * boot.img RAW, BOOT and RECOVERY partitions only
GT-N5100Bootloader Yes, And the OS is nonfree and signed!
Galaxy Note (GT-N7000) GTIN7000Bootloader ? * Thor1 * RAW / zImage RAW, KERNEL partition only ?
Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 GSM (GT-P3100) ignored * Thor1 * boot.img RAW, KERNEL and RECOVERY partitions only ?
PinePhone v1.1 Braveheart (stock?[5]) u-boot PinePhoneBraveheartBootloader ? Yes Yes (u-boot) ? ? ? Probably (arm64), fully free software

1 Thor is the protocol used by Heimdall, Odin, u-boot and several nonfree bootloaders. u-boot has a free software

2 It didn't work on GNUtoo desktop computer at all, while it worked fine on his laptop. With the stock Android 2.6.3 bootloader you could also end up stuck on the PC screen without a computer where heimdall works fine.

3 Under IO (disk or SSD) load, a computer can easily flash SYSTEM or even DATA partitions with heimdall.

4 Under IO (disk or SSD) load, a computer typically fails at flashing SYSTEM or big DATA partitions with heimdall. Boot and recovery partitions are typically fine though.

5 Someone lent me a Pinephone Braveheart and beside testing many distributions, nothing low level was attempted when I got it.

See also