Database Info

feeling dumb.. but whats the +1mb ram trick for wm6

so i read somewhere in one of the threads theres some hack/regedit or something like that to gain +1mb of ram ..i feel noobish asking but i cant find it lol. i think it had something to do w/ intitray if im right

jacob-mda said:
so i read somewhere in one of the threads theres some hack/regedit or something like that to gain +1mb of ram ..i feel noobish asking but i cant find it lol. i think it had something to do w/ intitray if im right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are having problems with WiFi there is one tweak to make it work
Something HTC preloadstatus=dword:1 & another one or something
That will preload WiFi at boot.
But it costs you ~1 MB of ram. It's not enabled in Core 2.0

ah ok thats how u got so much free ram. i just installed 2.0 final liking it so far

jacob-mda said:
ah ok thats how u got so much free ram. i just installed 2.0 final liking it so far
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deleting init_tray will give you another 0,5 MB

Gaining additional RAM is more tricky, than just removing inits, etc.
My way for making any sys better with more RAM:
- turning off unused sounds,
- DELETING today plugins that i never use(registry cuts, even system plugins),
- keyboards removal,
- fatfs cache = 0, filterscache =0 ,
- unmapping all button assing that i never use,
- windows live SERVICE removal(wlmservice, sktools can remove whole damn thing),
- memory saving GUI customisation( minimalism),
- smart methods for TSK making = optimised images, etc,
- some other...things, like trayinit, poutlook removal, and more.
effect: 195 mhz omap runs like 300 mhz xscale on wm03, max 33.5 mb mem free with complete today on WAD, 2 x wm5newmenu, smartskeys, inclose mobile, todayagenda, and 2 custom fullscreen images as wallpaper.
clean boot gave me:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
need to check, if i am able to run 256 mbit GBA roms now.

what happens if i remove poutlook i thought that was for txtin and such

I've already posted this in the other thread, but so it doesn't get buried....
Ho do you disable the "Preload wifi on startup" and still get the bloody thing to turn on on first push?

jacob-mda said:
what happens if i remove poutlook i thought that was for txtin and such
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think its just preloader..yup?
i am just not using 3/4 of things in wizard so... heh, it works fine.

well if i use the palm threaded sms app i could delete poutlook right?

use a 3rd party app
I accomplish the feat by _not_ using comm manager in the first place. I use the latest BattStatusBeta which has a great wifi on/off item. I've also used WifiFoFum 2. The damn commmanager is just the pits in wm6! But, as this is a thread for increasing mem, I could see why not adding a 3rd party app might not be the best solution...I'd love to hear how to FIX CommManager WM6 1ce and 4all !
jwzg said:
I've already posted this in the other thread, but so it doesn't get buried....
Ho do you disable the "Preload wifi on startup" and still get the bloody thing to turn on on first push?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

i am amazed , that You understimate things like apps by Vijay555...
http://www.vijay555.com/?Releases
few shortcuts..and:
do i need some goddamn fullscreen apps(i.e.comm manager onscreen..)?

You still lose the memory when Wifi starts so it's not like you're gaining a whole lot by not preloading. I still have 27 mb on startup, so it's not like I'm hurting for ROM.

nothin said:
Gaining additional RAM is more tricky, than just removing inits, etc.
My way for making any sys better with more RAM:
- turning off unused sounds,
- DELETING today plugins that i never use(registry cuts, even system plugins),
- keyboards removal,
- fatfs cache = 0, filterscache =0 ,
- unmapping all button assing that i never use,
- windows live SERVICE removal(wlmservice, sktools can remove whole damn thing),
- memory saving GUI customisation( minimalism),
- smart methods for TSK making = optimised images, etc,
- some other...things, like trayinit, poutlook removal, and more.
effect: 195 mhz omap runs like 300 mhz xscale on wm03, max 33.5 mb mem free with complete today on WAD, 2 x wm5newmenu, smartskeys, inclose mobile, todayagenda, and 2 custom fullscreen images as wallpaper.
clean boot gave me:
need to check, if i am able to run 256 mbit GBA roms now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want "your" version of this ROM or at least a tutorial!! Please? When I remove poutlook tmail... etc I get error messages when connecting activesync......

yes hows about a tutorial or specs on what u have changed

I've got a hunch on the Wifi thing. The comm manager for some reason doesn't load the driver on the first push. I ran a registry comparison yesterday with the wlan button off and wifi preload disabled in the registry (dword:0), and the first push of the wlan button. What I found was that the first push only enabled the SDIO driver, but didn't turn on the wifi. The second push actually turned on the wifi. When you do a hard reset by pushing the stylus-hole button, the wifi driver will remain activated on reset even though the "preload wifi" option is turned off in the registry. Now when you tap the wifi button on the comm manager, wifi will come on without the second push. HOWEVER, when you turn off the wifi and then soft reset by holding down the power button, the driver will be unloaded and you will have to push the wlan button twice.
I think this has to do with the key in the 10 button comm manager you have to delete to get the wifi to turn on at all using the button. I haven't figured out how to do this yet, but something tells me that if you change that key, you can turn on wifi without having to preload the driver and get your RAM back when you turn it off. I'll need a couple of days to track this down, but if someone wants to get started, be my guest.

this 10 button manager is a mess! i want the 8 button one back!

jacob-mda said:
yes hows about a tutorial or specs on what u have changed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i will think about it...

Setting up Win95, and other OSes with games

as the other thread got a bit complicated, I think its good idea to have a clear thread on how to setup easily, this is not my work, but I am simply providing an easy way for new user to install and get up to date.
Credit to people are given in their quotes:
setting up:
aszu said:
I created simple compilation with the latest QEMU WM port I could find.
All the credit for this goes to mamaich (excellent work!)
Links:
http://niuki.net/files/QEMU_WM.7z - emulator main files
http://niuki.net/files/Heroes2POL.7z - specially prepared version of HoMM2
http://niuki.net/files/Win95osr2.7z - Win95 image
Instructions:
1. Extract QEMU_WM.7z to the root folder on your SD card.
2. Extract additional packages (Win95 or Homm2) to 'emul' directory in QEMU folder.
3. Use qemu_launcher from QEMU folder to start selected VM.
Note: QEMU must be placed in '\Storage Card\QEMU\' directory, otherwise you have to edit 'cmdline.txt' etc files accordingly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mouse Usage:
kilrah said:
When it's grey (default), a tap on the screen will do a left click. So a tap&drag will do a left click and drag, i.e selection, moving stuff, etc, which is why it looks weird to you. Tap the button, it turns to black, and now a tap&drag on the screen moves the cursor without clicking, like a laptop touchpad. The button on the left marked "rb" does the same as grey but with right mouse button.
So you need to turn the thing black, move the cursor where you want, tap it to grey, tap or double tap to single/double click, tap it to black, move to some other place, etc, toggling the button each time between movements and clicks. Not very convenient, but works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Improve graphics:
miko3d said:
guys, make sure you have installed the cirrus graphic drivers properly, it makes big difference,win95 works really fast in 16 bits with those drivers,win98 needs more memory, make sure you have given plenty of it in the qemu settings, Qemu has some issues at accesing and writing data, it seem to stall,
there are great apps and games to try, as I already wrote before Starcraft Broodwars runs on it,with the full units, missions packs etc... and the speed is surprisingly good ingame, the biggest issue is the clunky interface for the keyboard and the mouse, really needs to be developed for the HD2 multitouch.
i have also tried civilization 2 and theme hospital with good speed.
but there are plenty more that comes to my mind like c&c red alert, total anihilation,settler2 etc... basically any game of around mid 90s, maybe even newer....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Setting up Dos Image:
aszu said:
Instructions are in one of my previous posts.
It is fixed 512MB image with DOS 7.1 - this should give plenty of space for any dos-based programs. I tweaked DOS RAM configuration, so there is ample of conventional memory + XMS + EMS memory available, it should be able to handle everything you throw at it It also has mouse support.
I placed on it some useful applicators as well:
- Volkov Commander - excellent clone of Norton Commander, makes navigation with 'mouse' much easier!
- Bytemark Nbench - simple but very useful benchmark, according to it QEMU on HD2 achieves almost 100% speed of Pentium 90Mhz in fixed-point and about 30% in floating point operations.
- A few old classic games. Legend of Kyrandia is fully and easily playable with current controls. Others like Settlers 2, Albion (best RPG ever!) or C&C would be perfectly fine if not clumsy mouse control.. Sadly, Betrayal at Krondor doesn't go past the loading screen
Obviously you can quickly add new applications to this image using Winimage (that is the whole point anyway).
Just extract files in archive to 'emul' directory in QEMU folder.
DOS image (+ tools) for QEMU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
confirmatin of windows 98:
NoSecks said:
windows 98 working fine and perfect on my HD2 too
(not only win95)
but u clearly can see how much bigger (longer loading time) win98 takes xD
its even able to run in Brochs'emu w/o any problems. (not only in QEMU)
greez
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
video in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK-vwCsFwvE
thanks erikvario
mac os running:
kilrah said:
And one next step... I just found that image in my archives:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
OK, this one is pretty much unuseable, but it works (it's 2-step emulation! PPC emulated on x86 by Fusion, which is emulated on ARM by QEMU....)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
andriod \ moblin or newer version of windows had not been successfull.
other info:
fullscreen with the little key that has 4 expanding arrows in the toolbar
-m parameter tell qemu how much memory to give to the image file.
more info:
http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...refox-a&hs=mrY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
Thing to be done\Hacked:
change the keyboard
use the screen as touch pad (ie tapping=clicking, tap and drag= click&drag).
better drivers for running sound?

might need the space for adding more stuff later
for now you can ask or add feedback to enhance this thread

maybe you can add my vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK-vwCsFwvE

erikvario said:
maybe you can add my vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK-vwCsFwvE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
done my friend,
although it will be nice if you can upload video with calibrated touch screen.

works great but how do u get it to work in landscape mode?

colinp said:
works great but how do u get it to work in landscape mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when lunching qemu launcher, you can specify what orientation you want

Humm ive tryed all 4 options but none make any diffrence

Thanks for the thread! I was waiting for a package to be put together before I started playing! Now to get some DOS working!

do u have a link for the win98 img?

colinp said:
Humm ive tryed all 4 options but none make any diffrence
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it works for me, but the screen is not perfect, you could try BSB tweaks to rotate
smeddy said:
Thanks for the thread! I was waiting for a package to be put together before I started playing! Now to get some DOS working!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your welcome, share your experience and useful tips
mEMBER83 said:
do u have a link for the win98 img?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not really sorry

so is there any use for this (such as emulating games) or is the emulation laggy just with OS load?

you can run games at good speeds,
it runs like Pentium 1 speed, which is ok for win 95 stuff

I was thinking of a game like fallout 1 or somthing like that. Downloading to give it a try
Just set this up. I can run HOMM (landscape option does not seem to work for me either and the win95 does not boot at all for me.
Going to make sure that I did everything correct.

is there a possibility to install 3rd-party software under WIN95? If yes, how can I include external files so they can be found in my ( C: )-drive for example?

mEMBER83 said:
is there a possibility to install 3rd-party software under WIN95? If yes, how can I include external files so they can be found in my ( C: )-drive for example?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need to add it to the image file.

can u tell me a tool which allows me to do that? Thx a lot 4 your help

got win95 booting now
was my mistake of course
now just working on rotating the screen as the options do not seem to work
I would also like to know how to add apps to the os

mEMBER83 said:
can u tell me a tool which allows me to do that? Thx a lot 4 your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just found out that you mount the image on your pc and add the folders you want like that.
I have not tried yet but software like magic iso might be what we are after?
even if you extract all folders of the image and create new img (including all files/folders) from orig image might work
Will try tonight adding a game and will let you know

tonycosta said:
got win95 booting now
was my mistake of course
now just working on rotating the screen as the options do not seem to work
I would also like to know how to add apps to the os
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive also got the same problem , maby its a rom issue , what are you using?

I was using miri v8 & v9 both had issue. Tested with touchx rom and working perfectly.
So yes it must be rom issue, Going to test duttys rom with this as i played some of that game under win95 and was pretty impressed. Going to be great for turn based games. Just got to figure out how to set the games up

[FAQ] Why You Shouldn't Be Using a Task Killer with Android

CREDIT: http://is.gd/7JpR2c
I see this come up over and over again. People saying that a task is running in the background and they think it is killing their battery or hogging all of their memory. So their natural reaction is to download a program made to kill tasks. Here’s the thing… you are likely doing more harm than good by killing tasks that aren’t ready to end. I was the same way when I first got my CDMA Hero. There were tons of things running that I didn’t want so I just kept killing them. After a few weeks I realized that if I stopped using a task killer (and totally uninstalled it in fact) my phone actually began to run better! The applications would close themselves and things just seemed to be running better. I get that there may be short term benefits from clearing a task, but you should still take the time to read through this.
Here is some information directly from Android’s developer page. I have put the important parts in bold. This is quite a lengthy read but honestly I think it’s important.
By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application’s code needs to be executed, and shuts down the process when it’s no longer needed and system resources are required by other applications.
A content provider is active only while it’s responding to a request from a ContentResolver. And a broadcast receiver is active only while it’s responding to a broadcast message. So there’s no need to explicitly shut down these components.
Activities, on the other hand, provide the user interface. They’re in a long-running conversation with the user and may remain active, even when idle, as long as the conversation continues. Similarly, services may also remain running for a long time. So Android has methods to shut down activities and services in an orderly way:
An activity can be shut down by calling its finish() method. One activity can shut down another activity (one it started with startActivityForResult()) by calling finishActivity().
A service can be stopped by calling its stopSelf() method, or by calling Context.stopService().
Components might also be shut down by the system when they are no longer being used or when Android must reclaim memory for more active components.
If the user leaves a task for a long time, the system clears the task of all activities except the root activity. When the user returns to the task again, it’s as the user left it, except that only the initial activity is present. The idea is that, after a time, users will likely have abandoned what they were doing before and are returning to the task to begin something new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Activity lifecycle
An activity has essentially three states:
It is active or running when it is in the foreground of the screen (at the top of the activity stack for the current task). This is the activity that is the focus for the user’s actions.
It is paused if it has lost focus but is still visible to the user. That is, another activity lies on top of it and that activity either is transparent or doesn’t cover the full screen, so some of the paused activity can show through. A paused activity is completely alive (it maintains all state and member information and remains attached to the window manager), but can be killed by the system in extreme low memory situations.
It is stopped if it is completely obscured by another activity. It still retains all state and member information. However, it is no longer visible to the user so its window is hidden and it will often be killed by the system when memory is needed elsewhere.
If an activity is paused or stopped, the system can drop it from memory either by asking it to finish (calling its finish() method), or simply killing its process. When it is displayed again to the user, it must be completely restarted and restored to its previous state.
The foreground lifetime of an activity happens between a call to onResume() until a corresponding call to onPause(). During this time, the activity is in front of all other activities on screen and is interacting with the user. An activity can frequently transition between the resumed and paused states — for example, onPause() is called when the device goes to sleep or when a new activity is started, onResume() is called when an activity result or a new intent is delivered. Therefore, the code in these two methods should be fairly lightweight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The following diagram illustrates these loops and the paths an activity may take between states. The colored ovals are major states the activity can be in. The square rectangles represent the callback methods you can implement to perform operations when the activity transitions between states
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
So… the TL;DNR Version:
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.
Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.
A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.
Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.
The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.
Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.
Questions? Concerns? Feel that I’m wrong? Comment below and let’s discuss!
Addendum:
One thing that I forgot to even address here is that memory works a bit differently in linux than it does in Windows. In general the way memory works is you really only need as much as you plan on using. So if your combined running programs use 100mb of memory, 150mb is more than enough. There is no need to clear what’s running in memory before you hit that 150mb cap. Now in Windows it seems that the system performs a bit better when you have less stuff in memory, even if it’s not full. No doubt those who have been on computers for a while will remember there used to be programs that could clear your memory in Windows also.
Linux however isn’t generally affected by this. While I admit that I don’t know the architecture and reason for this… linux will run the same regardless of if you have 20mb free memory or 200mb. And as I outlined above, Android will automatically start to kill applications if you do get low on memory! Stealing a quote from Chris Johnston, “Buffers and cache in RAM being cleared is silly. Imagine a professor, who rather than writing all the way across the chalkboard, finishes a sentence and immediately erases and starts writing in the upper left corner AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN OR imagine you like a song. You record it to the beginning of a cassette tape. When you want a new song, do you re-record over the first song or record after it?”
I have also seen people incorrectly assume that the more memory in use, the faster their battery will die. This would actually be more attributed to the amount of processor cycles (CPU %) going on and not the amount of memory being taken up by a certain program. However, that does lead to a good point! When can a task manager be a good thing? To help you determine what IS slowing down your phone; what may actually be draining your battery faster. While an item using up memory isn’t going to hurt things, an item chewing through your CPU absolutely will. Now I still don’t suggest using a task killer to kill a program that is using up your processor (unless of course it is a zombie process that is going crazy, but you should probably just reboot in that case). But it can help you see what’s going on with your phone. A Task Killer will not ever help you're battery life unless it is killing a poorly-coded app that is always running and eating CPU Cycles, and in that case, you should uninstall that app!
I hope this has helped someone. With all of that said… I always encourage experimenting. It is your phone, and you can do with it what you please. If you swear that a task killer makes your phone amazing, then by all means use it, but know that you're lying to yourself!
Thanks for reading.

Good post, thanks. It's about time people realised that the paradigm has changed and Task-Killers are a part of the problem, not the solution.

Excellent Post ! Glad I am not the only one beating the drum on task killers being pointless. What is interesting a lot of devs will preload them in their roms....... and Then I have to delete them 1st thing.
Thanks, for the post

What about certain apps like Skype, where its not possible to sign out of the app, it keeps running once started!

much thanks, [inserting generic cop compliment] you're a real credit to the force!

icebuck said:
What about certain apps like Skype, where its not possible to sign out of the app, it keeps running once started!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same thing. What you have to do is click the My Info tab, then under where it says Status is should say Online - Change Status. Click that. Then click Sign Out. This will log you out, then you can exit Skype.
There you go!

thats good ! thank you for image !

Thanks for the post. Great information. Good to know.

What about the Battery Drainage though? The more Apps Running, the Faster the Battery Dies... I get the part about phone memory but that Wouldn't Control the Battery Life Would it? Correct me if I'm Wrong!
*Sent on My*
Fast as its Ever Been....
"Sprint" Hero.... Running My, *ExEnHeroC* Rom, w/Kifno's Twist, Also The XDA-BLUE.apk!! "Page 10" of My Thread!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=957867
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WTMLMK6M
http://www.mediafire.com/?bb1axugm0bw7oro
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/profile?user=PMGRANDS

Use auto killer, case dismissed.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Wife was complaining about HTC Incredible acting stupid. Removed task killer and she hasn't complained since.

I have the same question as others, but what about the battery issue? If a task is running in the background and is for some reason CPU intensive, it wastes battery and I don't want it to.

jamtown85 said:
I have the same question as others, but what about the battery issue? If a task is running in the background and is for some reason CPU intensive, it wastes battery and I don't want it to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would think that either one of two things is happening:
1) The CPU-intensive app is doing something you want, so you don't want to kill it.
2) The CPU-intensive app is doing something completely useless, so you either should just disactivate the mode that chews up CPU resources or just delete the app altogether.
Having to use an app-killer because an app is burning up the CPU means that you need to manage your apps better or get better apps that are more suited for use on an energy-frugal mobile platform.
FYI, I'm using JuiceDefender to help conserve battery life. It does things like intelligently toggling off and on wifi and 3G receivers, adjusting the brightness, etc. It doesn't kill apps. If you really want battery extender, get something like this.

will try JuiceDefender

The programs staying in memory won't use CPU when they are in background, but when the Task Killer kills these processes it does utilize CPU, hence battery. So that's a valid point. Good post.

PMGRANDS said:
What about the Battery Drainage though? The more Apps Running, the Faster the Battery Dies... I get the part about phone memory but that Wouldn't Control the Battery Life Would it? Correct me if I'm Wrong!
*Sent on My*
Fast as its Ever Been....
"Sprint" Hero.... Running My, *ExEnHeroC* Rom, w/Kifno's Twist, Also The XDA-BLUE.apk!! "Page 10" of My Thread!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=957867
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WTMLMK6M
http://www.mediafire.com/?bb1axugm0bw7oro
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/profile?user=PMGRANDS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You see, most applications (except for crappily coded ones), even if running in the background, will not use any CPU cycles, therefore, not using any battery.

Linux guy buys first android device

Hi folks,
I'm relatively new to XDA and similarly new to smartphones. My old dumbphone broke down and finally got an android device, samsung galaxy note, I really liked the huge screen.
I've been using linux for 2 decades now and chose an android device because everyone was telling me how it is linux-based which sounded like a good selling point. I'm quite pleased actually but have a few questions all of them related to my expectations that the OS will be linux-like:
1. I've been reading about rooting the phone and the like, but nobody explained the basics: why is it a special procedure to root the phone, why isn't it simply multi-user like any desktop linux? You could log in like a normal user or like root and that would be it. I guess there are serious reasons for the current design but it certainly doesn't seem natural at all.
2. In linux I can always figure out what the UI does in terms of the command line, so for instance if I use something on the UI (click an icon or bring up a menu) I can almost always do the same from the command line. This way I really know what's going on and if needed I can customize things. Case in point: right now I have to tap the phone a couple of times until I get to the broadband data transfer ON/OFF switch. It would be really neat to have an icon on the home screen that would do this. But I can't figure out what "command" needs to get executed to bring up the data transfer ON/OFF switch, so I really don't know how to create such an icon. This is just an example, I could come up with others easily, stuff I'd like to do, but can't figure out what happens under the hood. And it seems people create all sorts of simple trivial apps for these kinds of simple trivial tasks, when it should be possible to hack something up really fast. Any pointers on how to see what a UI interaction does and how to replicate it in a slightly different context? For example the broadband data transfer ON/OFF switch on the home screen?
3. I'm missing bash and top, ping, kill, cat, ls, etc, etc, Is there such a thing? (I already found connectbot but it would be nice to have scp and ssh inside a shell).
4. On my linux notebook I have a bunch of ad servers in /etc/hosts redirected somewhere else so they don't consume my bandwidth and don't clutter the webpage I'm trying to read. Can I have something similar on the phone? Is there something like an editor? I normally use vi, would be great to have that on the phone.
5. What controls the startup applications on boot? There are a bunch of stuff I bet I don't need but can't tell the phone to not start them. I guess I need to "root" the phone for this, but see question 1 Something related, I heard it's not possible to delete the factory installed bloatware without "rooting" the phone, is that true?
I guess that's it if anyone would make me feel as at home on the android phone as I feel at home on a linux desktop/notebook/etc I would be really grateful!
Cheers,
Daniel

1) Because the phone manufacturers lock Avg. Joe out of the system files to keep them from doing potential harm to the software. It saves your carrier millions per year in technical support costs.
2) Hold your finger down on an open section of the homescreen to open up a menu that will allow you to create shortcuts to important commands. You may also wish to install a custom Launcher that has more customizable features compared to whatever stock Launcher your carrier put on it.
Addendum: Root your phone, then install "Terminal Emulator" from the Play Store. Type in "su" and you'll then have superuser access to your phone's command line. From that point, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Linux.
3) See Addendum to 2.
4) You could do it yourself, or let others do it for you. Root your phone, then install "AdFree" from the Play Store. Set up AdFree to automatically update and you're good to go.
5) 2 ways to get rid of bloatware, either root and use the Terminal to delete it yourself, or root and install a custom ROM that already has it removed. I highly, highly suggest rooting and switching to Cyanogenmod 9 as soon as possible. Go to your phone's specific forum on this site for instructions for practically everything you could ever want to do with your phone.
Note to 5: Your carrier sticks its bloatware into your system files, instead of in your user accessible app data. To change system files in any way, you'll need root access to your phone.
Here's a link to the development section for the Galaxy Note, please read all the rules and very thoroughly read all instructions before actually doing anything to change your device in any way:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1349

sreza said:
1) Because the phone manufacturers lock Avg. Joe out of the system files to keep them from doing potential harm to the software. It saves your carrier millions per year in technical support costs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, makes some sense for them, but I'm wondering if Microsoft can afford to have an Administrator account exist on Windows, why can't android be shipped that way (rhetorical question).
Addendum: Root your phone, then install "Terminal Emulator" from the Play Store. Type in "su" and you'll then have superuser access to your phone's command line. From that point, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like this is what I have to do
I highly, highly suggest rooting and switching to Cyanogenmod 9 as soon as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the cyanogenmod website I don't see samsung galaxy note listed as a supported device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1349
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this is very helpful.
Another n00b question: how the hell does one quit the default browser? It looks like there is no way to close the last remaining window.

fetchinson said:
I see, makes some sense for them, but I'm wondering if Microsoft can afford to have an Administrator account exist on Windows, why can't android be shipped that way (rhetorical question)
On the cyanogenmod website I don't see samsung galaxy note listed as a supported device.
Another n00b question: how the hell does one quit the default browser? It looks like there is no way to close the last remaining window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Windows can't afford to alienate power users by locking down their system. If they did, they'd be Apple. Also, remember that it's not Google that's locking you out of root, it's the phone manufacturer/carrier; which aren't exactly known for being bastions of ethics...
Windows is actually starting to lock you out of functions with Windows 8, the ARM version of Win8 can't sideload applications.
Cyanogenmod might not be officially supported for the Note, but there's probably a few devs on the Note's forum that are unofficially making a port. Try this ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552554
There is a way to close the final window if you go into the browser menu and close it, but it's really not necessary. Android will auto-close old background tasks if you start to run low on memory. You may also want to look into downloading a different browser from the Play Store. I've never bothered, but I've heard good words about Opera Mobile. Dolphin HD is absurdly popular, but at it's heart it's basically the stock browser reskined, which offends my sensibilities, lol.
Also, if you're on ATT, you may want to check out these instructions on how to get unlimited data on smartphones for $15 per month:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1446373

Thanks for all the useful info!
While looking further around on the phone I stumbled upon another thing which would be quite trivial on ordinary linux: how do I see the creation/acces/modification times for any file? I've installed Terminal Emulator from github, "ls" works, but not "ls -al".
Also, how do I check if there is any network access at all or if an application tries to access the network or not? On linux I would run the program though strace and that would show me all system calls so I would see what the application is up to. For instance the S Note application (it's a samsung note taking application for the Note) takes a long time when I save a note, which makes me think maybe it wants to sync the file to a samsung cloud service or something like that. How do I check what takes so long for this app, in particular if it wants to access the network or just plain slow?

fetchinson said:
Thanks for all the useful info!
While looking further around on the phone I stumbled upon another thing which would be quite trivial on ordinary linux: how do I see the creation/acces/modification times for any file? I've installed Terminal Emulator from github, "ls" works, but not "ls -al".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the terminal, I'm not sure, but you could download one of many file managers from the Play Store and view the files' properties through that.
Edit: I have Terminal Emulator from the Play Store, and "ls -al" works fine for me (see screenshot). I'm also using Bash for my shell, so that could be it. Also, see about Busybox below.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Also, how do I check if there is any network access at all or if an application tries to access the network or not? On linux I would run the program though strace and that would show me all system calls so I would see what the application is up to. For instance the S Note application (it's a samsung note taking application for the Note) takes a long time when I save a note, which makes me think maybe it wants to sync the file to a samsung cloud service or something like that. How do I check what takes so long for this app, in particular if it wants to access the network or just plain slow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can probably find an app in the Play Store with that functionality. Wireshark is in there, so I'm sure something like strace has been done.
Also, look into installing Busybox from the Play Store. It provides a lot of the normal Linux terminal commands you might be missing.

EndlessDissent said:
Edit: I have Terminal Emulator from the Play Store, and "ls -al" works fine for me (see screenshot). I'm also using Bash for my shell, so that could be it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet! So how did you get Bash? Is it something working together with Terminal Emulator or a separate application (whatever the appropriate android lingo is )? If I search the play store for "bash" I don't really get anything resembling a shell, but probably I'm just overlooking something obvious. Installing this would be a great start.
EndlessDissent said:
Also, look into installing Busybox from the Play Store. It provides a lot of the normal Linux terminal commands you might be missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this looks great too!

Going the Other way
Hi
Android and it UI's is not like any X11 based desktop, but buying an android devices is what got me into using linux as my main desktop and I tend to think as them as one and them same at a command line level at least.
If you comfortable with building from source you can cross compile any tools you are missing.
They numerous time saving widgets and the like on google play. i.e wifi toggling which sit right on your main screen.
You'll find that most utilities and useful stuff has been ported to android.
If you want to use vim I would download "terminal ide" which is an IDE which runs on android, if your familiar with java you can create application directly on the devices
it also contains bash, busybox and more.
Busybox is a multicall binary. Androids native one is called toolbox and can be found in /system/bin. If you want to port your favourite bash scripts over then there's script managers which will run scripts at startup etc.
Obviously with these optimized binary all the help and in the case of android toolbox, any command not need by the system is general left out. It's not meant for as a general purpose shell.
Trivia: splitting up you parameters when using toolbox can sometime help e.g "ls -l -a" works where as "ls -al" didn't
You can remount the root and /system as read writable, a man of twenty years linux doesn't need the dangers of that explaining.
There's a plethora of Root tools for removing system packages and general tweaking, google play is you friend in this case.
If the android UI really does not live up to your expectations than you always install Ubuntu.
When you rooted your device and unlocked you bootloader and basically voided any manufacturers warrenty (not something I care about, but I t seems important to some people ) that came with the device you just got a computer with a different cpu architecture, so the opportunities are limitless with what you can do with it
Have Fun!
T

[PORT] [CALCULATOR] - Android on the TI nSpire CX

Android running on the TI nSpire CX Graphing Calculator
About:
The nSpire CX is a color-screen graphing calculator produced my Texas Instruments powered by an 150Mhz ARM-based SoC and 64MB of RAM. Unlike previous calculator models from TI, users, by default, are unable to create native homebrew applications for the device. Luckily, however, the TI community found a way to "jailbreak" the nSpire CX and CX CAS, allowing third-party developers to create apps for their calculators. One of the most notable community contributions, started by tangrs, was a port of Linux to the device, giving users and tinkerers full access to GNU userspace. This is my attempt to contribute back to the community, by porting Android userspace to the nSpire CX and CX CAS model calculators.
TL;DR
You can now run Android on a graphing calculator
Why?
Nowadays. there seems to be a misconception that Android can only run on fast smartphones. The latest Android release at the time of writing is Lollipop, a release Google claims can run on smartphones "with as little as 512MB of ram." Certainly a good start, But I was convinced *some* version of Android could run on *extremely* low end hardware. So, after a bit of searching, I found the best suitable Android release to run on the lowest-end Linux capable hardware I could think of: my calculator. That release is the obsolete, but venerable, Android Donut (1.6). After a bit of porting work, I managed to get a full Android stack up and running on my calculator and slowly began to iron out the major bugs. I've been playing with it for a while now and figured it was finally *decent* enough to release to the general public. However, it should be noted that a lot of functionality is still missing, partially due to bugs, and partially due to the age of Android 1.6. However, I do believe it has exceeded it's goal as a PoC port to help me learn more about what is involved porting Android to legacy hardware. As it turns out, it's even rather usable.
Status:
* Working:
Android Core
Most Android 1.6 Apps
Terminal Emulator
Keyboard
* Buggy:
Wifi (warning, extremely broken and may kill your cat. External dongle needed)
Bluetooth (Not actually sure whether this works or not as I don't have a BT dongle)
USB
* Not Working:
Touchpad (Using the touchpad dtb seems to break a lot of stuff like PMIC, so I disabled it _for now_)
Battery Status (Status is emulated using test_battery kernel driver)
FAQ:
* Q: Why are you using 1.6?! That's like, really old!
A: Android 1.6 was the only feasible version of Android version I could run with an 150Mhz ARM processor and less than 64MB of usable RAM
* Q: What do I need to run android on my nSpire CX (CAS)?
A: The bare minimum is (1) Calculator running OS 3.9 or less and (1) Mini-USB-OTG cable
* Q: What's the point of this?
A: I have no idea, but it sure makes me laugh when I think about it
* Q: Will this help students cheat by putting this on their calculator?
A: I very much doubt it
* Q: Can you run a calculator emulator on Android on the Calculator?!?!
A: Yes, yes you can
* How's performance?
A: Surprisingly, pretty decent, considering... I can even play some 2D games on it
* Can you port Android to *my* calculator? It's a (insert calculator using a z80 here)
A: No
* Will this. Run Crysis?
A: Good luck
* Where's the sources?
A: See the bottom of this post.
Installing nDroid on your calculator:
Prerequisites:
1) USB thumb drive, 1GB or greater
1) TI nSpire CX or CX CAS running OS 3.9 (Important! [It seems OS 3.6 breaks it, I'm using v3.9.1.38] (Thanks ViiperzRecon))
1) USB-OTG cable that fits the nSpire CX (mini-usb to host-usb)
Recommended) A powered USB hub (Without it your calculator might not have enough power to write to the USB drive and CRASH)
1) Computer running Linux or BSD
Step 1: Jailbreak your calculator
I won't explain how to do this are there are already an abundance of articles on how to do this. Take a look at http://ndless.me for details.
Step 2: Format the USB drive correctly
(It should already be known that doing this will destroy any and all data on the thumb drive)
Open up the partitioner of your choice (my favorite is gparted), and create the following partitions as described:
Partition 1: (System partition) ext4 (> 100MB recommended)
Partition 2: (Userdata partition) ext4 (> 500MB recommended)
Partition 3 (optional): (Cache partition) ext4 (> 50MB recommended)
Partition 4 (optional): (SD card partition) FAT (> 100MB recommended)
Example image:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Step 3: Download files
Boot.img.tns [LINK]
System.tar.gz [LINK]
nspire-cx.dtb.tns [LINK]
nDroidLoader.tns [LINK]
startndroid.ll2.tns [LINK]
Step 4: Install TiLP and create directories
You should have already installed this when jailbreaking your calculator in step 1, if not, install it now if you're using Linux, or use the TI software if you're using Windows now.
When you launch TiLP, connect your calculator and create a directory called "Android". Copy over nspire-cx.tns, Boot.img.tns, nDroidLoad.tns, and startndroid.ll2.tns. After that, download ndless.cfg.tns in ndless/, open it with a text editor, and add the following line:
ext.ll2=ndroidloader
Step 5: Extract system to USB drive
Now that the USB drive has been partitioned, mount the first partition somewhere on your computer and place System.tar.gz in the root directory of said partition. Open up a terminal in that location and type:
sudo tar -xpf System.tar.gz
rm System.tar.gz
After that, you should have some shiny new files and directories on your USB drive!
Step 6: Starting it up
After the files have synced to the USB drive, remove it and place it in the USB-OTG cable. When that's done, plug the small end of the cord into the top of the nSpire CX. Open "documents" on the device, click on the Android folder, and then click on startndroid.ll2.tns. A window should appear and shortly after you should see a framebuffer console. Congratulations, you should now be running Android on your nSpire!
Step 7: Boot up and finish
After about 10 minutes or so (boot ups are shorter on subsequent launches), you should be greeted with the stock 1.6 launcher. Feel free to hack away on your new Android-powered calculator. [NOTE: Until the touchpad is working, the "/" button is up, the "x^2" button is down, the "e^x" button is left, the "10^x button is right, "menu" is menu, "doc" is home, "esc" is back, and "save" is power].
Video:
Unofficial Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3awptt
XDA:DevDB Information
nDroid, ROM for all devices (see above for details)
Contributors
joshumax
Source Code: https://github.com/nDroidProject
ROM OS Version: 2.3.x Gingerbread
ROM Kernel: Linux 3.10.x
Based On: AOSP
Version Information
Status: Testing
Current Beta Version: nDroid-1.6
Created 2015-06-26
Last Updated 2015-12-02

I was surprised when I saw Linux on this thing. (Okay Doom was impressive too.) But Android! This is amazing! I hope you get the touchpad working, then this will be even more amazing than it already is. Thank you for making this! Keep up the good work.

something similar on a Nook Simple Touch?
I know very little about programing but am good with hardware, any chance your skills could be applicable to getting a NST running android (well)
I currently have 2 and find them great for unobtrusive access to data, but as it sits it only is selectively usable.
A killer app for me would be the ability to be able to use it for live navigation (with a standard android app) think hiking, or dash mounted on a motorcycle.
So far I rooted it (several times) and have been able to get individual pieces to work following USB otg, fast refresh, various stand alone functions, but it never works together.
wish list'
OTG+fast refresh option working seamlessly
bluetooth somehow without OTG
a root option with pre-installed play store, USB OTG, fast refresh, and and usual option i'm forgetting
any help would be appreciated

overclocking?
Since it is possible to overclock your ti-nspire cx/cas, do you think it would be possible to run higher versions of android on it?

strubelz said:
Since it is possible to overclock your ti-nspire cx/cas, do you think it would be possible to run higher versions of android on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The constraint really isn't the clock speed, but instead how little RAM it has. No matter how high you overclock it, whether it's 300 Mhz or 3000 Mhz, it will still only have ~60MB of usable memory. While I _might_ be able to get Eclair running, I doubt I'd be able to get something like KitKat or Lollipop running on it in any usable state.

Awesome! Great work
Plus it's running 4.0 Kernel!

Holy ****! I am testing this right now!

Henriquefeira said:
Holy ****! I am testing this right now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! Let me know if you run into any major bugs while running it!

Henriquefeira said:
Holy ****! I am testing this right now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
joshumax said:
Great! Let me know if you run into any major bugs while running it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some bugs: random reboots, a bit of lag, sistem ui crashing and just stoped working on my calculator so any advice in reinstalling the original firmware?

Henriquefeira said:
Some bugs: random reboots, a bit of lag, sistem ui crashing and just stoped working on my calculator so any advice in reinstalling the original firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you write logcat data to a file and upload it somewhere before it reboots? Also, nDroid shouldn't have done anything to the original firmware and should go away after a reboot or reset button press...can you specify exactly what happened to the calculator firmware after loading nDroid?

joshumax said:
Can you write logcat data to a file and upload it somewhere before it reboots? Also, nDroid shouldn't have done anything to the original firmware and should go away after a reboot or reset button press...can you specify exactly what happened to the calculator firmware after loading nDroid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the delayed answer, but now it okay

Doesn't seem to work, throws errors like some error -110 and keeps saying it can't enumerate the USB device.

gnmmarechal said:
Doesn't seem to work, throws errors like some error -110 and keeps saying it can't enumerate the USB device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please attach a dump of the kernel log and/or a screenshot of the boot process up to this point?

joshumax said:
Can you please attach a dump of the kernel log and/or a screenshot of the boot process up to this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've formatted my drive since then, but I'll try again and record it.

Well... it seems now that I got another Mini USB OTG adapter, it still doesn't work. I'm on a 3.1 CX right now. I'll try on my 4.2 as well... Last time it didn't work, and I've since then updated it from 3.9 to 4.2... Here's hoping it works somehow.
On 3.1, it goes Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS:Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(1,0)
4.2 goes Kernel Panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b
The 3.1 one is dualbooting 3.1 and 3.1 CAS. It's a model D, by the way. The other is a more recent model T, with 4.2 and Ndless.

Could this Work in OS 4.5?
Could the nDroid loader work on Nspire OS 4.5?

pattex16 said:
Could the nDroid loader work on Nspire OS 4.5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it works fine on 4.5 (I tested -- or, currently am testing it myself). Though, if you press any button other than "esc" or "enter", the launcher crashes. Maybe it's fixable with a reboot.
Also, why would you bump a two year old thread?

@joshumax
I know this is a very old thread, but can you go back to this project one more time. A swap partition would fix everything, just like how it does on the HTC HD2. Sure it will be slow, but it would result in way better compatibility with apps. 192MB should be enough.
Also, is the official wireless adapter good enough for wifi, as buggy as it may be? Can it, at least, show the Google homepage?
The touchpad with mouse compatibility would be quite nice, but d-pad only is good enough too.
Like, if you have time or want to do this, it would be srsly more than appreciated by the whole community.
Overclocking, especially around 300MHz (maybe on Android is a bit more stable than on the Nspire OS) would help a lot. And the AHB overclocked too.
Instead of using an USB stick, a tiny SD Card adapter would probably work just fine, especially if the SD is rated as (10)U1. Why? Because it would slot quite nicely on the hole of the Wifi Adapter. It would look like it was intended to be like that. I know the SD speed will be slowed down by the USB speed, but it doesn't hurt to have a faster SD anyway.
Android 9 GO would be really cool to see running on this.

Myrmeko said:
@joshumax
I know this is a very old thread, but can you go back to this project one more time. A swap partition would fix everything, just like how it does on the HTC HD2. Sure it will be slow, but it would result in way better compatibility with apps. 192MB should be enough.
Also, is the official wireless adapter good enough for wifi, as buggy as it may be? Can it, at least, show the Google homepage?
The touchpad with mouse compatibility would be quite nice, but d-pad only is good enough too.
Like, if you have time or want to do this, it would be srsly more than appreciated by the whole community.
Overclocking, especially around 300MHz (maybe on Android is a bit more stable than on the Nspire OS) would help a lot. And the AHB overclocked too.
Instead of using an USB stick, a tiny SD Card adapter would probably work just fine, especially if the SD is rated as (10)U1. Why? Because it would slot quite nicely on the hole of the Wifi Adapter. It would look like it was intended to be like that. I know the SD speed will be slowed down by the USB speed, but it doesn't hurt to have a faster SD anyway.
Android 9 GO would be really cool to see running on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Joshumax hasn't been online on XDA since 2016.
It's very unlikely the official wireless adapter is ever going to work with Linux on the Nspire, much less Android, as it would require difficult amounts of reverse engineering and drivers written from the ground up. I'm not even sure it has the potential to work as a traditional wireless adapter at all.
Overclocking your calculator to 300MHz is probably going to kill it; I think around 196MHz is the highest "safe" overclock value. The stability of overclocking isn't dependant on the software, it's dependant on the hardware; overclocking using Android instead of the TI-Nspire OS wouldn't make a difference.
Using an SD card instead of a USB drive wouldn't be faster, as the miniUSB port on the Nspire is limited to USB 1.1 speeds, if I recall correctly.
The minimum RAM requirement from Android GO was 512MB, last I checked. This is quite a bit higher than the TI-Nspire CX's 64MB, and I doubt it would run well on a 132MHz (or 196MHz) processor. Does Android still even support ARM9 CPUs?

What can it run?
Hi,
Which android apps it can't run?
Can it run all the built-in apps?
Can I download apk files?
Thank you a lot.