Flash Samsung Galaxy S (GT -I9000) with Cyanogenmod 9 on Linux

I had an old Samsung Galaxy S which was still on stock ROM hence it only ever got to gingerbread and then Samsung just decided not to upgrade and I upgraded the phone so this little gadget was till yesterday destined to live with the old gingerbread. Then yesterday, I just decided to play around with it and started reading so I know what are my options. Now wiki guide on Cyanogenmod site is quite nicely written but there were one or two steps here and there which had me confused for a little while so here is my usual step-by-step guide on how to go about it.

UPDATE

Uploaded all the files to mediafire as requested in one of the comments below. These can be downloaded from this link.

Step 1:

  1. Download Heimdall Suite 1.3.2 Command-line Binary for your OS from here ; for Linux Mint you can use the Ubuntu link and install the downloaded 'heimdall_1.3.2_i386.deb' file.
  2. Download hardcore's Kernel with the ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5 here. This will download a file named 'hardcore-speedmod.tar'. I am assuming that it will be saved in 'Downloads' directory but if you have a different location, please replace 'Downloads' with appropriate directory.

Step 2: Just to avoid any confusion, make a new directory in Downloads and name it 'Galaxy_S'.

Step 3: Copy the downloaded file (from 1-b) 'hardcore-speedmod.tar' into the new directory 'Galaxy_S'

Step 4: Now right-click on 'hardcore-speedmod.tar' and select extract here as shown. This will extract the file zImage into the directory Galaxy_S.

Fig-1

Step 5: Connect microUSB cable to your computer but not the phone.

Step 6: Power off the Samsung Galaxy S.

Step 7: Connect the microUSB cable to Samsung Galaxy S.

Step 8: Boot the phone in download mode by holding 'HOME+Volume Down+POWER' buttons.

Step 9: Open the terminal and type following commands:

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cd Downloads/Galaxy_S
sudo heimdall flash --kernel zImage

A blue transfer bar will appear on the phone showing the kernel being transferred. Once completed, the device will reboot automatically. Step 10: Disconnect the phone from microUSB cable, switch it on and connect to your computer using the microUSB cable as mass storage.

Tip

You may need to go to phone settings and change USB connection settings to be able to connect the phone as mass storage.

Step 11: Download the latest Cyanogenmod ROM from here.

Fig-2

Step 12: Follow this link to land at above page and then download the latest version of Google Apps.

Fig-3

Step 13: You will now have following two zip files in your 'Downloads' directory:

  1. cm-9.1.0-galaxysmtd.zip from Step 11.
  2. gapps-ics-20120317-signed.zip from Step 12

Copy these two files into the root directory of the Samsung Galaxy S.

Step 14: Now, disconnect the phone from microUSB and switch it off.

Step 15: Boot the phone in Recovery mode by holding 'HOME+Volume Up+POWER' buttons. You will be presented with various recovery options such as reboot phone etc.

Step 17: Now use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to navigate options. Use Volume Down button to reach the option to Wipe data/factory reset and press POWER button to select this option.

Step 18: Once done, Use Volume Down button to reach the option to wipe cache partition and press POWER button to select this option.

Step 19: Next select 'Install zip from sdcard' which will present another set of options where you should select 'Choose zip from sdcard'

Step 20: Now you will see the list of files on your SD Cards root directory. Select the file 'cm-9.1.0-galaxysmtd.zip' and on following screen of options select 'Yes'.

Step 21: Once installed, select +++++Go Back+++++ and again select 'Install zip from sdcard' which will present another set of options where you should select 'Choose zip from sdcard'

Step 22: This time select the file 'gapps-ics-20120317-signed.zip' and on following screen of options select 'Yes'.

Step 23: Once installed, select +++++Go Back+++++ to return to main menu.

Step 24: On main menu select 'Reboot System now' option.

Step 25: If all has gone as above, your phone will restart and after a while you will see cyanogenmod flash screen. This screen will be there for a good 1 to 2 minutes. Don't panic and dont mess. Let system do it's work and in some time you would have given a fresh lease of life to your old dieing Samsung Galaxy S.