Okay, so this blog is morphing (for the time being) into a log of my dramas and achievements in Android developing. Today I added a VIM wrapper to Eclipse, to allow VIM-like editing in the text editor in Eclipse. It's a little button that you can toggle on and off (also accessible under the Edit menu). You can get it from http://vrapper.sourceforge.net/update-site/stable/
*like* :)
Monday, 28 February 2011
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Hello World!!
Yep, I have arrived in the Android "programming" world!! Click on the title of this blog to download my first Android app :)
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Flashing Samsung Galaxy S to 2.2.1
Okay, this will be very boring for most people, but I bought a new android phone (Samsung Galaxy S), which I love, and here's how I went about flashing it from 2.1 Eclair to 2.2.1 Froyo, from the point-of-view of someone who feels tough typing things in VIM :p
1.
I firstly followed instructions on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785201 to fix the 3-button combo to be able to enter download and recovery modes. This is crucial, cos while you can enter download mode using software, if the phone hangs, you need another way to get the hell out of there!!
## copied from that forum:
Preparations: Make sure you have the drivers installed (i.e Kies is recognizing the phone), adb [android development something] available and "USB Debugging" turned on in "Settings -> Applications -> Development" menu. Type *#0228# in the dialer and check Voltage value (without USB plugged in) is at least 3800(mV).
1. Unplug the phone from the computer (if connected)
2. Kill all Kies related software (tray agent, etc)
3. Start Odin3 v1.3 Downloader
4. Plug in the phone to the computer
5. Start a new command prompt and navigate to the folder / drive where adb is located.
If you haven't downloaded adb yet, get it here.
6. Type "adb reboot download" to the command prompt and press enter.
7. Move to Odin3 v1.3 downloader and select the "Aries_P-SBL.tar.md5" as PDA file. Make sure "Phone Bootloader Update" is ticked and re-partition is unticked. Do not select any other files but "Aries_P-SBL.tar.md5".
8. Press "Start" button to launch the update process. It will take around three seconds to complete. After the update phone will reboot automatically.
Download the fix: GT-I9000_P-SBL_RCVDL_FIX_ODIN.7z
##
That all worked a dream, was very exciting to see the yellow men-at-work triangle appear finally on the volumedown-home-power hold combo! :)
2.
Then I used the JPO_JPO_U_JPP.tar file on second flashing, in order to update OS to froyo (2.2). I followed instructions on http://www.pathikshah.com/blog/install-android-2-2-froyo-galaxy-s/ but not completely - I actually only flashed the PDA (ie the Os), not the PHONE (ie wireless chipset) nor the CSC (customer specific customisation), because I read on some forums that these would probably work with each other, and I was scared of messing with my phone and wifi etc which all seemed to be working perfectly. But this was a very bad idea, it turns out, don't do this! Instead, just follow all of these instructions, cos they work :) (ie, do follow step 2 instructions properly, else you'll land in the quagmire of step 3 like I did, which was NOT fun).
##
How to Install/Upgrade To Android 2.2 Froyo on Samsung Galaxy S: Instructions
1. Remove the battery, SIM card and MicroSD card from your phone and reinsert the battery.
2. Hold down the Home + Volume Down buttons and press the Power On button.
3. You should now see a download screen
4. Open Odin 3 v1.0
5. Click on the PIT button and load the “s1_odin_20100512.pit” file
6. Click on the PDA button and load the “I9000XXJP2-REV03-PDA-CL464213.tar” inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
7. Click on the PHONE button and load the “MODEM_I9000XXJP2.tar”inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
8. Click on the CSC button and load the “GT-I9000-CSC-MULTI-OXAJP2.tar”inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
9. Click on the “Re-Partition” checkbox
10. Connect your Galaxy S to your PC with the USB cable and set USB Debugging On (System > Applications > Development > USB Debugging.)
11. Click on the Start button in Odin and your Galaxy S will be upgraded to Android 2.2 Froyo.
##
Not happy Jan! It seems that I do need to do it all - I thought my phone and GPS settings etc wouldn't be stuffed with if I didn't flash PHONE, but it's all gone to shit :( Lots of processes don't run, everything takes aaaages to respond, and I managed to make a single phone call to Luce only - it was pretty stressful. I actually put my sim back in belle, in case toby took days to recover.
Not happy at the mo! And it looks like I'm dl'ing I9000XXJPU.rar again, which I thought was the 2.2.1 kernel. Hmm...
3.
Faffed about a bit, got cocky thinking I could just reflash with the 512 pit or something, dunno really what I did. But whatever it was, it did NOT work! I managed to get stuck on 'Downloading... Do not turn off Target!!!' screen for bloody ages, closed Odin, and was still stuck. Freaked out a bit, did some restarts, then got stuck on a phone - ! - computer little icon. Reconnected to jason, but no cigar. Started to freak out, people with this problem on forums were being advised to send the phone back to Samsung - nei!! But then someone said 'no problem, just do the volumedown-home-power combo anyway, and lo and behold, it worked!
4.
So now I have just flashed following instructions on http://www.pathikshah.com/blog/install-android-2-2-froyo-galaxy-s/ this time using all of the files to flash the PDA, the PHONE and the CSC. Toby is playing Samsung music to me as I type this! :D Odin is giving me the green 'pass' light :) Just reinserted sim and sd card again. Toby wasn't impressed with how I did it, and asked me to remove the battery to insert the sim. I removed the battery, and waited for a bit. Then long-pressed the power button again and toby rebooted.
And oooh! New background picture - wow, where the hell is that, Venice? And SOOOO responsive!! WOW! Let's hope this is the new toby, and those few hours of unpleasantness will have been worth it! Yes, I love the world! :D
5.
Yes, so in the midst of all the celebrations, I thought I'd see if I could use MiniDiary again. Couldn't seem to find the backup using MyFiles on toby, but when I usb'ed in to jason, I found it as a .gz file (easier to see on the bigger screen - hahaha, jason has a bigger screen than another device!!!). So I knew it was there, but toby had 'no program to open the file'. It *finally* clicked that I needed to restore the MD stuff with Titanium Backup, ie the program that made the backup in the first place. No worries, except TB needs su access, and flashing to 2.2.1 unrooted toby. I'd been reading that 2.2 was hard to root, but those messages are a few months old. Finally found SuperOneClick, that supposedly works with all kinds of phones, cos it's based on the ADB rather than some other thingy. Anyhow, people reported successful roots with it, so I gave it a burl. Had to do a bit of USB debugging/undebugging/debugging, which meant I had to unplug toby from jason and reconnect them several times, but it worked! Well, I thought it did, until I went to open TB and it couldn't get root access! D'oh! But then I remembered that I hadn't restarted toby, so I did that, and ta-daa :) Opened TB, restored MD files (it deleted the entry I made today, but that's fine), and I'm good to go :D
I AM all-powerful, I AM superuser! >:)
5a. So, must-have apps, once the phone is rooted: Titanium Backup, AdFree Android, ShootMe for screenshots >:) , Universal Password Manager,
Other apps I think I like: Skype, facebook (while the hell not?!), Note Everything, OI Shopping for lists, Multiling keyboard and Icelandic language pack, SlideIT demo keyboard and Norwegian language pack, BOM weather from the guy at monash.
6. NEXT: þarf að færa swype fyrir norsku á toby - passa á að ég sé búin að gera það rétt!
1.
I firstly followed instructions on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785201 to fix the 3-button combo to be able to enter download and recovery modes. This is crucial, cos while you can enter download mode using software, if the phone hangs, you need another way to get the hell out of there!!
## copied from that forum:
Preparations: Make sure you have the drivers installed (i.e Kies is recognizing the phone), adb [android development something] available and "USB Debugging" turned on in "Settings -> Applications -> Development" menu. Type *#0228# in the dialer and check Voltage value (without USB plugged in) is at least 3800(mV).
1. Unplug the phone from the computer (if connected)
2. Kill all Kies related software (tray agent, etc)
3. Start Odin3 v1.3 Downloader
4. Plug in the phone to the computer
5. Start a new command prompt and navigate to the folder / drive where adb is located.
If you haven't downloaded adb yet, get it here.
6. Type "adb reboot download" to the command prompt and press enter.
7. Move to Odin3 v1.3 downloader and select the "Aries_P-SBL.tar.md5" as PDA file. Make sure "Phone Bootloader Update" is ticked and re-partition is unticked. Do not select any other files but "Aries_P-SBL.tar.md5".
8. Press "Start" button to launch the update process. It will take around three seconds to complete. After the update phone will reboot automatically.
Download the fix: GT-I9000_P-SBL_RCVDL_FIX_ODIN.7z
##
That all worked a dream, was very exciting to see the yellow men-at-work triangle appear finally on the volumedown-home-power hold combo! :)
2.
Then I used the JPO_JPO_U_JPP.tar file on second flashing, in order to update OS to froyo (2.2). I followed instructions on http://www.pathikshah.com/blog/install-android-2-2-froyo-galaxy-s/ but not completely - I actually only flashed the PDA (ie the Os), not the PHONE (ie wireless chipset) nor the CSC (customer specific customisation), because I read on some forums that these would probably work with each other, and I was scared of messing with my phone and wifi etc which all seemed to be working perfectly. But this was a very bad idea, it turns out, don't do this! Instead, just follow all of these instructions, cos they work :) (ie, do follow step 2 instructions properly, else you'll land in the quagmire of step 3 like I did, which was NOT fun).
##
How to Install/Upgrade To Android 2.2 Froyo on Samsung Galaxy S: Instructions
1. Remove the battery, SIM card and MicroSD card from your phone and reinsert the battery.
2. Hold down the Home + Volume Down buttons and press the Power On button.
3. You should now see a download screen
4. Open Odin 3 v1.0
5. Click on the PIT button and load the “s1_odin_20100512.pit” file
6. Click on the PDA button and load the “I9000XXJP2-REV03-PDA-CL464213.tar” inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
7. Click on the PHONE button and load the “MODEM_I9000XXJP2.tar”inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
8. Click on the CSC button and load the “GT-I9000-CSC-MULTI-OXAJP2.tar”inside the I9000XXJP2 RAR file.
9. Click on the “Re-Partition” checkbox
10. Connect your Galaxy S to your PC with the USB cable and set USB Debugging On (System > Applications > Development > USB Debugging.)
11. Click on the Start button in Odin and your Galaxy S will be upgraded to Android 2.2 Froyo.
##
Not happy Jan! It seems that I do need to do it all - I thought my phone and GPS settings etc wouldn't be stuffed with if I didn't flash PHONE, but it's all gone to shit :( Lots of processes don't run, everything takes aaaages to respond, and I managed to make a single phone call to Luce only - it was pretty stressful. I actually put my sim back in belle, in case toby took days to recover.
Not happy at the mo! And it looks like I'm dl'ing I9000XXJPU.rar again, which I thought was the 2.2.1 kernel. Hmm...
3.
Faffed about a bit, got cocky thinking I could just reflash with the 512 pit or something, dunno really what I did. But whatever it was, it did NOT work! I managed to get stuck on 'Downloading... Do not turn off Target!!!' screen for bloody ages, closed Odin, and was still stuck. Freaked out a bit, did some restarts, then got stuck on a phone - ! - computer little icon. Reconnected to jason, but no cigar. Started to freak out, people with this problem on forums were being advised to send the phone back to Samsung - nei!! But then someone said 'no problem, just do the volumedown-home-power combo anyway, and lo and behold, it worked!
4.
So now I have just flashed following instructions on http://www.pathikshah.com/blog/install-android-2-2-froyo-galaxy-s/ this time using all of the files to flash the PDA, the PHONE and the CSC. Toby is playing Samsung music to me as I type this! :D Odin is giving me the green 'pass' light :) Just reinserted sim and sd card again. Toby wasn't impressed with how I did it, and asked me to remove the battery to insert the sim. I removed the battery, and waited for a bit. Then long-pressed the power button again and toby rebooted.
And oooh! New background picture - wow, where the hell is that, Venice? And SOOOO responsive!! WOW! Let's hope this is the new toby, and those few hours of unpleasantness will have been worth it! Yes, I love the world! :D
5.
Yes, so in the midst of all the celebrations, I thought I'd see if I could use MiniDiary again. Couldn't seem to find the backup using MyFiles on toby, but when I usb'ed in to jason, I found it as a .gz file (easier to see on the bigger screen - hahaha, jason has a bigger screen than another device!!!). So I knew it was there, but toby had 'no program to open the file'. It *finally* clicked that I needed to restore the MD stuff with Titanium Backup, ie the program that made the backup in the first place. No worries, except TB needs su access, and flashing to 2.2.1 unrooted toby. I'd been reading that 2.2 was hard to root, but those messages are a few months old. Finally found SuperOneClick, that supposedly works with all kinds of phones, cos it's based on the ADB rather than some other thingy. Anyhow, people reported successful roots with it, so I gave it a burl. Had to do a bit of USB debugging/undebugging/debugging, which meant I had to unplug toby from jason and reconnect them several times, but it worked! Well, I thought it did, until I went to open TB and it couldn't get root access! D'oh! But then I remembered that I hadn't restarted toby, so I did that, and ta-daa :) Opened TB, restored MD files (it deleted the entry I made today, but that's fine), and I'm good to go :D
I AM all-powerful, I AM superuser! >:)
5a. So, must-have apps, once the phone is rooted: Titanium Backup, AdFree Android, ShootMe for screenshots >:) , Universal Password Manager,
Other apps I think I like: Skype, facebook (while the hell not?!), Note Everything, OI Shopping for lists, Multiling keyboard and Icelandic language pack, SlideIT demo keyboard and Norwegian language pack, BOM weather from the guy at monash.
6. NEXT: þarf að færa swype fyrir norsku á toby - passa á að ég sé búin að gera það rétt!
Monday, 7 February 2011
melbourne
Yep, it's been quite a while. Did a lot of dancing and travelling in Iceland, and am now back in Melbourne. Have a massive backlog of photos from May 2010 onwards still to process, but am in the process of finding a job, so may not have oodles of time to do this too rapidly. Am enjoying the warmth of summer again, although one does run rather more slowly in the heat than in the cool air of Reykavík!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
