ViewSonic released its 10.1-inch ViewPad 10 couple of months back with dual booting functionality letting users to dual boot the tablet with Windows 7 and Android. But the problem is that it has been delivered with an out-dated Android 1.6 Donut OS. Though ViewSonic has recently announced the Android 2.2 Froyo release and shipping the tablets with Froyo, the customers who have already purchased it with Android 1.6 will feel relieved to know that the update can be installed on their tablets. It is a bit weird to know that ViewPad 10 doesn’t support OTA (Over-The-Air) update and according to the guide published on the company’s website I’m sure it is geeky enough to confuse most of its owners. You need to have a 1GB USB thumb drive and a USB keyboard to get started. And you will also need to download a small program called UNetbootin (4.5 MB). Do a quick format on the USB stick and keep it ready before proceeding to the actual steps.
How To Update ViewPad 10 From Android 1.6 to Android 2.2:
1. Download the ViewPad 10 Android 2.2 ISO file (289 MB).
2. Insert the USB stick and run the UNetbootin program.
3. In the application window, select ‘Diskimage’, browse the ISO file downloaded in the first step.
4. If the program detects your USB stick, its drive letter would be entered automatically else select the correct drive letter from the dropdown menu.
5. Click OK and wait until the program makes your USB device bootable.
6. When the process is complete, connect the USB stick and USB keyboard to the tablet while keeping the tablet connected to a power source.
7. Turn on the tablet and press F11 immediately after the splash screen appears.
8. In the next boot device selection menu, select your USB stick and press Enter.
9. When you enter the Android install screen, select the last option ‘Install to Hard Drive’ and then select SDA1 Linux and select format EXT3.
10. Select Yes for all the forth prompts and reboot the tablet when the whole process gets finished.
[Via ViewSonic]