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How to install experimental in Debian with apt-get?

I know this is a bit lame, but I'm an opensuse and redhat guy (well I was before opensuse). And I only use Ubuntu on a couple machines...
So, I want to switch apt-get to some other version of Xorg code I found that may fix the framebuffer issues (or at least I can compile the latest version and use it to debug the problems).
I grabbed just one X driver from packages.debian.org and of course it doesn't work with the currently installed Xorg that I grabbed with a simple apt-get the other day.
Can anyone point me at the quick tips on how I can switch all my Xorg stuff to some other version using apt-get?

I fail to see how this relates to the G1. May be you should try the Debian forums?

I did say it was a bit lame didn't I?
As for how it relates to the G1, some people figured out how to get Debian onto the G1 and they talk about how to use apt-get to install programs. And all that works.
I just wondered, since some of them hang out around here and obviously know how it works, if any of them would answer my question on how to modify the Debian setup on the G1 to include other versions of installable apps.
And since they haven't (which is fine) I will probably poke around some Debian howtos tonight or next week when I have time.

Hardware Key VPN

I've tried to search around to see if any apps are being developed in this area. In specific we use Checkpoint VPN-1 to connect to work, which uses a hardware key token as authentication. I'm not sure if this protocol is fairly standard and therefore a generic app could be used? Or if it has to be made specially.
I know they have a windows mobile application here: http://www.checkpoint.com/downloads/quicklinks/downloads_sr.html#scmobile
I'm sure porting it would be no easy straight-forward task, but if it is I hope to try once I receive my G1.
If something like this exists already please post too!

It looks like using debian on the G1 will allow a vpn connection, is there anything else to know about using a hardware key like this one? Sounds very promising...

I also need a VPN client on Android
I install vpnc on debian,but that doesn't make sense
at least there should be a proxy setting for all the applications

Found this as well:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=447230
Using openVPN and stunnel
Unfortunately for me, I don't think I can use static config settings as the connection password continually changes and is supplied by the hardware key.

Bump,
Any other ideas on using hardware tokens with the G1?

Guess it's a slim hope, but checking back to see if anyone knows of any solutions for me here. Just got my G1 and looking for a way onto my work network from it.

You know when you're being worked to death when you're so busy that you need to be able to VPN into your work computer from your phone. Tell your boss he can wait until you get home when you aren't at work!

Haha! Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately I'm on call...laptops and other computers work fine, but having access right on the cell would be amazing and convenient
I've been playing with the other solutions, but still not working for me, VPN-1 isn't the most compatible thing in the world...even no support for vista x64 (virtual machines to the rescue!)
Anyway, keep up the good work on development guys. Through just the sticky posts I've been able to unlock, register, root and install JF33 all within a couple hours and without a t-mobile sim. Phone was brand new right out of the box.

Mer linux for kaiser.

EDIT:
Magister2k7 said:
Please update first post of a thread, as Mer should run X with a latest kernel from git.
You just need to disable FB_MSM_DOUBLE_BUFFER ("Enable MSM Framebuffer double buffering") and enable framebuffer refresh thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I kinda doomed myself from the start with how I structured this post. I'll restructure it later to be more able to show you good information.
Old start:
Mer is a more community-led version of the Maemo phone and internet tablet operating system. See http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/ .
I was in contact with a member of that project (Stskeeps on freenode#mer), who gave me some information about porting this to phones such as the kaiser. He and I thought it would be a great way to benefit both communities (we get a good, not google-owned linux-based os for our phones, they get developers helping them make mer better). We also agreed that it would take a bit of effort.
First of all, Mer is completely designed for landscape-only, 800x480 phones at this point. It has been run well at 640x480, but that's still 4 times our native resolution, and 2 times what we can fake without crashes. The resolution problem is easily fixed by skilled theme-makers. The landscape/portrait problem should be fixed soon, given that the upcoming n900 will be a portrait/landscape phone. He said wait for the maemo conference for more on that.
The other problems we might hit basically are just the standard problems of molding the userspace around the kernel (get a phone app working, get the modem to work, etc.).
If you are serious about helping, please come to #mer and/or #htc-linux on freenode. At this point, the mer folks are probably more help to what we need to do.
INSTRUCTIONS:
At this point, quite literally nothing works, but it all almost works. Here's what I did to get that far:
1. Partition your sd card into two partitions, and make the second one ext2.
2. Unpack (with the -p option of tar) the rootfs (http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/Releases/0.16testing , pick the q5 rootfs) to the ext2 partition. Make sure that it's not in any subfolders, but as the root of the drive.
3. Grab a zImage (or build your own) using the instructions we had in place from android. Put it on the fat side.
4. Set up HaRET on the fat side - Use a default.txt from android, get rid of the initrd, get rid of your ppp stuff (for now), and add "root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait" to the kernel cmdline.
5. mknod /dev/fb0 c 29 0 (this was my number, check using the terminal in android, cat /proc/devices for the major, and /proc/fb for the minor). Also make sure that it's within the root, not on your disk .
That should boot, giving you a ton of messages about an "incorrect resolution png" or something - that's the splash screen unable to load. Simply rename /lib/init/splash-* (two files) to something else. Once you get a terminal later, there's an actual package to remove, but this lets it go a bit further.
You also need to keep X from starting at this point - all it does is hang. I have not yet done this myself, but it should be an initscript that you just un-link.
EDIT: It wasn't X that caused the issues. It was the combination of failed splashes and consolefont. Comment out the lines with "splash" in them in /etc/init.d/check{fs,root}.sh, and re-run.
I do not know if X actually fails - doing that test now.
EDIT: hitting framebuffer issues... no X yet.
So, if you're adventurous, and preferably a dev at this point (this is completely useless to users), please try this out and make it better!
Okay, just a note: the password is "rootme".

First reply!
this is relevant to my interests. I'll take a look. I remember seeing that Maemo was made on top of Gnome. Do you know if there's a chance to get Debian apps on here? That's the big thing for me to get me working on it-- some type of desktop compatibility. Having an X-server is perfect. Looks like you're saying the resolution issue is purely theme based? How open are the devs for it for suggestions and feedback?

2nd reply
This does sound cool

already made some read about this in the new nokia n900..
its cool.. it free.. but i dont like the ui :\
lets see where this goes.. but.. for now.. for me... android (L)

Ok, just saw it's Jaunty based which is what I've been looking for in a phone.
Is there a list of features/bugs/issues and what's been developed so far? Seems like if the kernel brought to us in part by dzo will work maybe it won't be so hard to get wifi and other features working. A list is good.

I'll admit I haven't put much effort into it, but at this point X won't work, for one thing - probably have to change the resolution in a config somewhere.
Indeed, most of the hardware should be fine - I imagine, for example, once we are able to load the firmware, wifi should be good. Some code will have to change (a few things are built android-specific in the kernel), and some of the RIL stuff especially (phone, data, etc.) will have to be ported by someone who has that code and some time.
Indeed, Mer is Ubuntu-based, and so, according to their site, 95% of ubuntu apps should work perfectly. This is really nice for getting software on (aren't just limited to any applications in an app store or market.).
At this point, all we need to do is everything .
I'm going to try now to disable X and see if I can't get a few more things working.
EDIT: in response to your question about how open the mer-folk are to suggestions? The idea that I got from talking to them was that they are more than happy to get this extra help, and since they are trying to bring this to more devices, they are willing to put up with our requirements, to make this more readily available in general.

Alright, as I edited, I got some more success.
By removing the splash calls and the X starting, I can get a terminal. I edited the /etc/shadow file to have a password that I knew for root. Now, I can log in as root on the console (/dev/tty1).
I tried to start X, and I'm getting some strange framebuffer errors.
I'll keep you posted.

Wow, if we could get this working, it'd be sick! Thanks for posting, formatting now.

with all the hard work already done for the Android port, seeing devs being interested in Mer is REALLY PROMISING! Waiting for Google to open up Android even more, is frustrating...
Porting Mer and thus having a REAL linux (kernel+software stack) is what we need to leverage the dev capacity of the great XDA community. At least, this is what I feel like .
Owning both a Kaiser and 2 N800s, I'll probably try out the stuff posted here... I was keeping an eye on Mer for my N800s anyway, but using it on the Kaiser is more triggering
so devs, have courage and good luck!

Frame Buffer and X server
Unfortunately I've been quite busy lately and haven't been following the Android development as closely as I would like. (I don't think I've updated my git repo for months)
If I remember correctly, the frame buffer code in the kernel wasn't finished. That would prevent X from running. Can anyone say whether that was completed? I just wanted to mention this in order to avoid people wasting their time if it is in fact the problem.
It would be great to *eventually* see X running with hardware acceleration, can anyone point me to info about how DZO got that working? Was it reverse engineered, or did he figure out how to make some binary blob happy?
It will be nice to have some choice of Linux based distros the Kaiser and Vogue. Keep up the good work everybody, I appreciate it!
-Mysteryvortex

I've been looking at the n900 for quite some time just waiting for its release to the US next month. I know nothing about developing but I am very excited about this one, and I hope that there is a quick start to the apps that are put out for it. I was curious myself as well at how this would port to the kaiser so I could get a good hands on before I went and bought one. I would be more than happy to be a tester. I bought an iphone cause cause the little green guy is really starting to piss me off and my tilt's about to give up the ghost. I quickly gave it to my wife as the signal strength and battery life just sucks so I hope this maemo can give me what I want

mysteryvortex, Android does not use an X server at all. This was my disappointment when issues arose trying to run Ubuntu in a chroot. This is different though. We should be looking at troubleshooting the X server as top priority I think. The rest should flow. Bear in mind the kernel for Android, like I said, has nothing to do with X compatibility since Android uses its own display so the kernel should need some serious work.
poly, is the build you linked to hardware specific? Looks like a generic one. If so, then the only outstanding difference should be the kernel and if that's the case we should be able to use this on any phone we happen to have a kernel for right?

enatefox said:
mysteryvortex, Android does not use an X server at all. This was my disappointment when issues arose trying to run Ubuntu in a chroot. This is different though. We should be looking at troubleshooting the X server as top priority I think. The rest should flow. Bear in mind the kernel for Android, like I said, has nothing to do with X compatibility since Android uses its own display so the kernel should need some serious work.
poly, is the build you linked to hardware specific? Looks like a generic one. If so, then the only outstanding difference should be the kernel and if that's the case we should be able to use this on any phone we happen to have a kernel for right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The build has a kernel and stuff, but don't use it. Use the regular stuff from android (or build yourself from htc-vogue).
mdrobnak from irc got mer up on his raph - thanks to the vga screen, with a quick kernel patch and some xorg.conf modification, he got X working great.
Within the next few days, I'll do some tests of the data connection and such.

enatefox said:
mysteryvortex, Android does not use an X server at all. This was my disappointment when issues arose trying to run Ubuntu in a chroot. This is different though. We should be looking at troubleshooting the X server as top priority I think. The rest should flow. Bear in mind the kernel for Android, like I said, has nothing to do with X compatibility since Android uses its own display so the kernel should need some serious work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's correct. Android doesn't use X. Many, many months ago, it was mentioned that the framebuffer in the Vouge/Kaiser kernel (which X will use) was broken. Nobody was planning to fix it since Android doesn't need it. I was just trying to point people who have time to work on supporting our phones in the right direction.
poly_poly-man: Looks like the Raphael kernel is being developed on another branch, but it sounds like the FB patch helps us?
-Mysteryvortex

poly_poly-man,
I have setup my second partition of sdcard to 512MB and extracted there Mer preserving permissions.
What I did also is to modify the x config and change resolution and also resize the Mer-logo.jpg so it fits.
After I tried to boot I went successfully through all steps (at least I think so) and a blank screen appeared to me.
Can you tell me what was the parameter to output the Haret boot sequence to a file, so I can check what passes and what fails?
Another question: The following "mknod /dev/fb0 c 29" have to be performed on root of second permission, right? If so I think the command should be ""mknod ./dev/fb0 c 29", am I correct?
Regards,
Borkata

Borkata81 said:
Another question: The following "mknod /dev/fb0 c 29" have to be performed on root of second permission, right? If so I think the command should be ""mknod ./dev/fb0 c 29", am I correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'./dev/fb0 c 29' does only work if you are in "/" (root of the filesystem) otherwise (and in all other cases) 'mknod /dev/fb0 c 29' is correct.
bye...

Borkata81 said:
poly_poly-man,
I have setup my second partition of sdcard to 512MB and extracted there Mer preserving permissions.
What I did also is to modify the x config and change resolution and also resize the Mer-logo.jpg so it fits.
After I tried to boot I went successfully through all steps (at least I think so) and a blank screen appeared to me.
Can you tell me what was the parameter to output the Haret boot sequence to a file, so I can check what passes and what fails?
Another question: The following "mknod /dev/fb0 c 29" have to be performed on root of second permission, right? If so I think the command should be ""mknod ./dev/fb0 c 29", am I correct?
Regards,
Borkata
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that even set to the right resolution, our fb does not work with X. Needs more patching than just the patches I got from the other branch. We may need to move up to the other branch, I'm not sure.
the /dev/fb0 should be replaced with /path/to/sdcard/root/dev/fb0, of course. And it's better to just get rid of all the splash references - that way, you don't get the blank screen issue.

toasty_ said:
'./dev/fb0 c 29' does only work if you are in "/" (root of the filesystem) otherwise (and in all other cases) 'mknod /dev/fb0 c 29' is correct.
bye...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but poly has written that user have to be in root so that was what I have asked
Question: our fb driver is msm_fb?
poly can you share which patches you tried from raph branch?

Borkata81 said:
Yes, but poly has written that user have to be in root so that was what I have asked
Question: our fb driver is msm_fb?
poly can you share which patches you tried from raph branch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, you're right. I should first read the full post before answering questions that havn't been asked

Borkata81 said:
Yes, but poly has written that user have to be in root so that was what I have asked
Question: our fb driver is msm_fb?
poly can you share which patches you tried from raph branch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://people.openezx.org/tmzt/
the msmts and vres patch. Didn't work, because there are more problems in our older kernel.
I'm interested in finding out why we aren't on 2.6.27 already...

Connect to adhoc Wifi network

Hi,
I need the captivate to be able to connect to a adhoc wifi network created using my laptop. However, android doesn't seem to be supporting it, just access point networks. Has anyone tried this, any success?
Searching revealed one thread where a guy modified some code on an htc phone, and got it to work, but seemed a little dated. Not sure if that would work with the android 2.1 and the Samsung phone.
Help appreciated.

The Captivate can connect to ad-hoc networks, but not through the native GUI interface. I tested mine via adb shell issuing some iwconfig commands via script to connect to a MyWi router on a friend's iPad. It's buggy, to say the least..

agentdr8 said:
The Captivate can connect to ad-hoc networks, but not through the native GUI interface. I tested mine via adb shell issuing some iwconfig commands via script to connect to a MyWi router on a friend's iPad. It's buggy, to say the least..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agentdr8,
Thanks for the reply.
Care to share details on the commands you ran? Or are you saying it's not worth it because it's so buggy?
thanks

To avoid a hard lockup, start with the wifi turned off. I tested it numerous times with it already on, and it resulted in a battery pull.
You'll need busybox 1.7x (maybe 1.8x will work too?). You'll also need a working iwconfig binary (I symlinked mine from the WifiTether app dir: /data/ext2data/data/android.tether/bin to /system/xbin)
With an adb shell, try something like this:
$ su
# /system/xbin/ifconfig eth0 up
# /system/xbin/iwconfig eth0 mode ad-hoc
# /system/xbin/iwconfig eth0 essid YourEssidHere
# /system/xbin/iwconfig eth0 key WEPkeyhere
Now with wifi turned off, these commands will all error since the interface is down/off (eth0 is the wifi, at least on my Cap). Turn your wifi on and rerun the same commands, followed by:
# netcfg eth0 dhcp
This may or may not error out, but ultimately, you should see a dhcp address for eth0 as handed out by your dhcp server/mywi device.
You may need to also manually add the ad-hoc network in the GUI with its key. I can't remember if I needed that or not, but with it I can see the connection status and when it's grabbing the IP. Even shows connected and signal strength once it does connect (assuming it doesn't lockup).

agent can you help me pls. Im a newbie still.
Do i run all those commands in windows when my phone is connected or do i run it through something like terminal emulator an app on the phone??

You can either use adb shell on your Windows machine (part of the Android SDK), or you can use a terminal on the device itself (ConnectBot is my preferred). Your phone needs to be rooted if it isn't already.

Okay, I'll try out the connectbot. Can you tell me how to do this part then if it's needed??
"You'll also need a working iwconfig binary (I symlinked mine from the WifiTether app dir: /data/ext2data/data/android.tether/bin to /system/xbin)"
how do you do this symlinked part?? I don't really understand it.
I tried ur commands without doing the symlinked part....everything just returned a "not found" message.
Maybe you could give me a dumbed down step by step way of doing this hahahaha??? Im rooted and i have busybox 1.7x, just missing the working iwconfig because im not really sure what it is.

If you're not too familiar with linux commands, it would be best to wait for someone to build a widget/GUI app around this, as poking around in a root shell on your phone is never a good idea if you're not aware of the potential consequences of blindly running commands.
It's possible that with the Froyo update adhoc connections may just work as intended, not that I've read anything that suggests that.

The portal had a write up on how to connect an android device to an adhoc network a couple days ago.
Sent from my AOSP on XDANDROID MSM using XDA App

boborone said:
The portal had a write up on how to connect an android device to an adhoc network a couple days ago.
Sent from my AOSP on XDANDROID MSM using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, i'll go look for it though a link would help.
Maybe i'll just wait until something like Cyanogens ROM comes, i hear it usually comes with ad-hoc connectivity.

Try this: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-ad-hoc-wireless-network-support/
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App

only problem is it's compiled for froyo and i think geared towards the Desire according to the replies.
I feel like it might mess up my captivate

Well if you're computer is windows7 you can use a program called conectify.
It makes win7's adhoc networks work as real hotspots
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App

Wanted to enable ad-hoc so I could tether the captivate to my iPhone

Yes I woild also know on a workaround , would love to tether my unlimited data from my iphone to my captivate

pewpewbangbang said:
Wanted to enable ad-hoc so I could tether the captivate to my iPhone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you do that? Do you prefer safari over android browser or something?
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

cowballz69 said:
Yes I woild also know on a workaround , would love to tether my unlimited data from my iphone to my captivate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then You need to jailbreak your iphone and get a tethering app

boborone said:
Then You need to jailbreak your iphone and get a tethering app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Issue isn't on iPhone-end, nor wpa-supplicant end (as the wpa-supplicant binary included in the android wireless tether app has this ability).
The problem is the GUI end of things (i.e., settings.apk) ALSO filters the results.
So it goes beyond simpy modifying the wpa-applicant (yes; this is sufficient for the basic-functionality), but is very crude & diffcult to do on the go from the tiny terminal emulator, etc.
What I've personally been looking for, is an update that modifies the neceasary files, and enables this extewmely useful function.
Something similar to the update package posted for the froyo-build, but instead for the ECLAIR-2.1 build of the captivate.
If anyone knows of anything availible like I'm describing (a GUI-centered mod that will remove ALL the STUPID damn (pardon language lol) IBSS filtration form the settings.apk, wpa-supplicant, wireless configuration files, etc for the ECLAIR-2.1 build of the Captivate so that it JUST WORKS lol -- this way we can SEE and CONNECT via our native GUI .
I've gotten this to work through running command line / configuration file hacks, but it's very messy/annoying AND to make things MORE annoying, once you've put it into Ad-hoc mode and have it all setup very nicely, guess what? The settings.apk application (which is needed to load the device into kernel), will actually COMPLETELY UNDO all the tedious command line efforts you've just made, and takes the wifi chip out of Ad-hoc mode every x amount of minutes! ARGH!! LOL!
Anyway, I've gone through the source code and patch diff's myself and it really doesn't seem very involved. I actually was planning on compiling the necessary modded binary (making a nice update.zip for all the frustrated captivate owners like myself lol), but I simply haven't had the time to setup the build environment for it at the moment (have several other build environments I'm juggling as it is with work).
Anyway, I apologize for the rant lol -- I just wanted to clarify exactly what is needed and point out it really wouldn't be much work (and would be VERY much appreciated!!!!) if someone with the skill, time, and a build environment for the galaxy s (captivate, speifically lol , could post an eclair mod for us -- you would receive AN ENORMOUS amount of praise & thanks lol .
OR -- if someone who has a little time, could simply modify the android wireless-tether-app to have one extra feature, 'connect to ad-hoc network' lol . This would also be ideal, as it already fully supports the initialization & loading of the captivate wireless driver properly, and can fully manage the interface & connections while running in the background (independent of settings.apk). PLUS -- it even already has full ad-hoc support built into it's own pre-packaged wpa-supplicant. Basically, all the hard work has already been done with the wireless-tether-app, just need a few extra functions to handle scanning for networks and connecting to them (relatively simple, considering they've already done ALL the hard work..lol)..
Okay, my rant is officially done! Lol! I just hope this helps those who have the capability to help, give a clear picture of all that's required. It's late, so some of this stuff may have already been mentioned and I missed it! Shoot, maybe someone just finished doing exactly what I just went on & on about? Lol.
In any case, if anyone is willing to help out -- or already knows of a solution already out there I've missed -- PLEASE let me' know! This functionality would truly help a great deal in my day to day work with my captivate! Thanks in advance!!!

holy need a bump batman!
i would really like this too!

I found this post last night, but I couldn't get it to work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16632147&postcount=7758

[Q]Installing Debian/Ubuntu Server on OTT Tv Box M8

I have the ott tv box m8, which is the square variant, which I don't really use any more. Since people are converting their Raspberry Pi into a server, I thought I'd give it a go on the android box.
I managed to root the device, downloaded the Debian iso image file, but have no idea how to proceed from here.
Anyone kind enough to point me in the right direction to install it?

You won't be able to completely remove Android, but you can run Linux off of its kernel.
Is your device rooted? If so Linux Deploy can do the trick.
What would you use this server for? Chances are there's an app for it. You may want to check out Servers Ultimate Pro.

jerbear294 said:
You won't be able to completely remove Android, but you can run Linux off of its kernel.
Is your device rooted? If so Linux Deploy can do the trick.
What would you use this server for? Chances are there's an app for it. You may want to check out Servers Ultimate Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personal sites mostly, nothing heavy. I'd like to access them over the Internet though.
I do have root access, unfortunately the app you suggested is not free. Is there another alternative?
I'm also not very experienced when it comes to flashing on Android hardware. What's the reason for not being able to remove Android and install Debian/Ubuntu on it?

ScarfaceMT said:
Personal sites mostly, nothing heavy. I'd like to access them over the Internet though.
I do have root access, unfortunately the app you suggested is not free. Is there another alternative?
I'm also not very experienced when it comes to flashing on Android hardware. What's the reason for not being able to remove Android and install Debian/Ubuntu on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bootloader is not made for booting Ubuntu. It boots a modified Linux kernel that launches Android.
There is a lite version of Servers Ultimate. I'm not aware of what the restrictions are.
Amazon has deals on Servers Ultimate Pro a lot. I got it when it was free a couple weeks ago.