yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Questions and Answers] fetchinson:
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
[General Questions and Answers] sreza:
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://xdaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1349
[General Questions and Answers] fetchinson:
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).

Looks like this is what I have to do :)

On the cyanogenmod website I don't see samsung galaxy note listed as a supported device.

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.
[General Questions and Answers] sreza:
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://xdaforums.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://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1446373
[General Questions and Answers] fetchinson:
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?
[General Questions and Answers] EndlessDissent:
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.

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.
[General Questions and Answers] fetchinson:
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.

Thanks, this looks great too!
[General Questions and Answers] trevd:
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
[TouchPad Themes and Apps] forrest89sei:
I just wanted to share some Touchpad Wallpapers I've been working on with my Brother.

Blue

Orange

Green

More to come and a couple Moboot themes will be coming soon

Enjoy!
[TouchPad Themes and Apps] Sw339:
Awesome. Would it be at all possible to get the blue (first one) without the tablet and android in the centre? I just love the blue android background.
[TouchPad Themes and Apps] forrest89sei:
Heres one with the HP Logo in the Center, I'll be working on all the Others with the HP Logo, then all of them without any logo.

I'm also in progress on a Moboot Theme
[TouchPad Themes and Apps] MindSplit:
Nice work!

Really creative on the Touchpad skinned Android.

Looking forward to your creations.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] smokestorm:
Can anyone suggest me a good radio for GSM Galaxy Nexus?

I live in Asia and am not sure if I need to use American or European radios. I haven't seen any radios specifically for Asian regions.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] msedek:
Even if so it does not matters, go to radios thread in general section, download them all and flash via fastboot until you find something thats good for you.

Im from south América and north american radios wont work for me, i dont see any south american radio either and even if so, theres many Carriers over here and they are all different, in my case only xxkl1 (european) radio works, rest are either slow or wont get data at all
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zephiK:
Doesn't matter what radio you use. Try the latest radios and find the one that best suites you. Just because irs good for one person doesn't mean that you will get the same Results.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] starstremr:
Have they changed the way book come up on the kindle fire with 3.6.1 i have the hunger games books and now there gone but when i connect the kindle it says the files are still there.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] veeman:
Make sure they are in the correct format.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] starstremr:
I could see them before they were in .mobi format
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akalostangel:
Click on an app called "Kindle" and your books should be there (after signing in with your Amazon account.

Additionally, if you sign into Amazon.com after you've done the above, you should see that you have now registered an android device for reading, which is also your kindle.

If you delete the app from your kindle your books should return to their "normal" place on your bookshelf.

I also deleted my android device from my kindle account.

Just curious if anyone knows if this is because I have rooted my kindle?
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] starstremr:
I am trying to find the books i transferred to the documents folder they are there but do not show up on the book shelf. they used to be on the book shelf but not any more.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akalostangel:
I get that. This happened to me yesterday. I turned on my Kindle and had a message that there was something called Kindle that had been installed. I thought it was another update, but when I went to device, the update was still 6.3.1, which I had already because I had to rerun KFU to root. My personal documents that I had put on the Kindle, a book I purchased from Amazon AND the items included with the Kindle (dictionary) were no longer on my shelf.

They were in my Kindle though, but I didn't know how to get them back on my shelf. I then noticed a new app called "Kindle" which I clicked to open and discovered it was similar to the app you download to read kindle books on your computer. After entering my email address and password for Amazon, the app opened and all of my books were listed there. When I went to Amazon.com, afterward, I noticed there was a new device registered to me called Kindle Android. Now I have two devices registered to me on Amazon. The Kindle Fire and the Kindle Android. I am assuming because I had rooted my device, the Kindle was being recognized somehow by Amazon to be an Android device.

I deregistered my Android Device (NOT the Kindle Fire.) and went back to the Fire and deleted the new Kindle app. After a message telling me I could delete the app and go back to the old way of reading on my Kindle, I said uninstall app and now my books are back on my shelf in their original place, although my reading percentage on them has been set back to 0%.

I am guessing that somehow Amazon has figured out a way to 'know' that I have rooted my device.

I am sorry if this is not the answer to your question. If it doesn't help you, perhaps you can give a few more details of your situation so that someone more knowledgeable can assist you.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DontHaveACLue:
Do you have the Google Play Store installed? If so make sure you didn't install the kindle app from there.

If you did, you can remove it by going to My Apps in the play store selecting the Kindle app and choosing to uninstall updates.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] soupmagnet:
The books you have downloaded should be under /sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files. Stock devices may use a different folder but it should still be com.amazon.whatever.

There will be two different file extensions for each filename, .mbp & .prc. I'm not sure what the .mbp is, but its not important. What is important are the .prc files. They will be named something like "B003XDUCIG_EBOK.prc"

Take all of the files and place them in a new folder, then one at a time place them in your "kindle" (Kindle app) or "Books" (stock reader) folder. Open the reader to see which books show up and go back and rename them accordingly.

If you leave your books in the com.amazon.kindle folder, they will be deleted every time you switch accounts or uninstall the Kindle app.

Yay, Amazon!
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] starstremr:
you guys are awesome it was the kindle thing through go play thank you my wife also thanks you guys.
[Nokia Lumia 800] Briefcase:
Hi there,

Just checked nokia firmware repository with navifirm+ and found the 1750.805.8773.12140 firmware to be available for the Nokia Lumia 800 (RM-801). Currently only chinese unbranded versions (so called Country Variant) are released but I guess other versions can't be far away now.

There is no official changelog available at the time of writing, but it is highly likely this firmware:

* Brings Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh (code named TANGO) [judging by the 8773 version number]

* Brings Internet Sharing (tethering) capabilities (rumours)

* Fixes all known audio bugs

* Fixes/improves camera (overall image quality/panorama mode)

Someone cares enough to try this out? :-)

Edit:

* Firmware may contain local substitutes for Facebook and Twitter, avoid if you rely heavily on these services

* Filter on '800' in Navifirm+ to see RM-801 firmwares in the list

* How to flash?!? => See this video on youtube AND (recommended) read this thread to get a better understanding.

Edit2:

* XDA user surya467 has tried the new ROM, his findings so far:

Edit3:

another XDA user 'Sirstoner ' tested the firmware; his conclusions:

Facebook/Twitter

Languages

Internet Sharing (tethering/WLAN hotspot)

Edit4:

Some news sites report this firmware as being Chinese lumia 800 specific. The weird thing is that this is not true. While the rom itself is targeted for China (due to the language and fb/twitter leftout), the targetted device is the 'International' version of the Lumia 800 (RM-801). There is also a chinese version of the lumia 800, this is referred to as Lumia 800C (RM-802) in the repository. Last we have the US version of the Lumia 800 (RM-819).

Both the 800C (RM-802) and 800 'International' (RM-801) have the 12140 firmware available in the repository, while the RM-819 has not. Before today only the 800C had the socalled 12120 firmware, while the 800 'International' was left at 12070. Either way, for better world-wide support (fb/twitter/more languges) we have to wait for nokia to release 12140 firmware for other continents. My guess is this will be soon.

Last, updating this ROM with previous language packs works, but only for old functionality. Obviously these language packs (of firmware <= 12072) miss translations for new created sections such as the WiFi Hotspot menu.

Edit5:

The c in 800c could also stand for CDMA as suggested by xda user nikatnight.
[Nokia Lumia 800] *Detection*:
I don't see the RM-801 listed
[Nokia Lumia 800] ChrisKringel:
Its named Lumia 800. You can either scroll the list or use the filters to search for it.
[Nokia Lumia 800] Czechnolog:
I would try it, I am curious about Internet Sharing - otherwise Lumia 800 is useless for me.

Do you think I can install this FW on carrier-branded phone (Polkom)?

Thanks.
[Nokia Lumia 800] ChrisKringel:
Of course you can install it. But I'd suggest you wait an international version. The chinese ones have major downsides. For instance you cannot use Facebook or Twitter...
[Nokia Lumia 800] *Detection*:
Nope
[Nokia Lumia 800] koconborz:
Search for Nokia 800
[Nokia Lumia 800] *Detection*:
Ah I see it now, Why they no call it Lumia ?
[Nokia Lumia 800] Briefcase:
Updated opening post with info.
[Nokia Lumia 800] Briefcase:
Updated opening post to reflect this info, thanks!
[Nokia Lumia 800] sapphire88:
what about languages included?
[Nokia Lumia 800] Czechnolog:
Lumia 800 with a current FW 12072 to the newest one 12140 via Navifirm Plus

Guys,

I would ask you if I can flash my Lumia 800 with a current FW 12072 to the newest one 12140 via Navifirm Plus?

I found a tutorial "tutorial-flashing-your-nokia-lumia-710-800-with-official-custom-firmware".

My Lumia:

- does NOT have Qualcomm ROM,

- has carrier info in About menu: "Plus PL SW Variant ID544 v.01".

I would flash it to this FW:

059N711: Nokia 800 RM-819 Vodafone Australia AU Matt Black V2

Can I?

Thank you very much.

Jerry
[Nokia Lumia 800] alberto23:
The new icon is the location awareness icon:
[Nokia Lumia 800] surya467:
These are the screen shots! : )

hope someone has a better feeling for the locked bootloader on 800
[Nokia Lumia 800] alberto23:
According to NokiaPowerUser (i can't post links):

In what seems like an unconfirmed tip from our reader ”Amit”, in a program organised yesterday, Nokia has probably demoed the Tango/wp 7.5 refresh update and the changes that it brings obviously include internet sharing/Tethering but the details of other changes are really interesting.

- Marketplace now being named as Nokia market place with Nokia store’s logo.

- Improved battery performance.

- Nokia is about to release an App which allows bluetooth file transfer for Lumia phones.

Bluetooth file transfer is something for which windows phone OS has been criticised severely by Symbian users, and in a recent discussion CEO Elop has confirmed that it will be coming soon to Lumia devices.
[Nokia Lumia 800] Briefcase:
firmware mentioned in this thread is an official signed firmware by nokia, therefor qualcomm loader is NOT required to flash. Just rename the firmware files to include your product id. For instructions see starting post. Please note this is RM-801 (international version) not RM-819 (US Version)
[Nokia Lumia 800] Marvin_S:
Does anybody know if the Lumias can be flashed with Win8, I have tried to do so but it did not work for me as it could not connect. Everytime I powered up while holding vol up, I heard the short buzz but after a few sec it would just reboot and disconnect.
[Nokia Lumia 800] Gorki247:
I'm don't quite understand why Nokia would be renaming the marketplace and branding it with their store's logo as it isn't really their marketplace, unless your talking about the 'Nokia collection' area? Or is there something more to this rebranding?
[Nokia Lumia 800] Czechnolog:
1. Can I then go back to my original firmware?

2. Can anybody confirm that this FW does NOT include Facebook and Twitter?

THANK YOU BRIEFCASE :-).
[Nokia Lumia 800] ChrisKringel:
Hey,

Thanks for the screenshots. Can you try the flip to mute feature? Set the phone to loud and place it somewhere with the display facing upwards. Now call yourself and when the phone rings turn it so that the display points down.

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
[HTC Desire S] Deleted member 4123551:
Hi there!

I'm trying to compile ics from source (AOSP), but i'm having some problems, hope some people can help me out.

I'm on Ubuntu 10.04, i have sun-java6-jdk and all the neccesairy packages installed. And of course, I want to compile for our nice Desire S.

i'm running into two issues.

1. i've been searching GitHub for device files, but i only found CM9 ones (which i can't use because they are for compiling cm9), and ics saga proprietary files, thanks to koush.

2. when i try and build for any device (for example here maguro), i get the message:

make: *** No rule to make target '/lib/tools.jar', needed by 'out/target/common/docs/doc-comment-check-timestamp'. Stop.

Can you guys help me out? :cool:

FIXING THE ISSUES

Issue 1

- pulled files from m-deejay his git.

Issue 2

I fixed the 2nd problem by throwing the command:

export ANDROID_JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME

Issue 3

See 3rd post in this thread.
[HTC Desire S] dan-fish:
The device tree from nexx's github is your best bet. The only other one there is for the desire s can be found on m-deejay's github but it's quite old. You can get the proprietary files by running the extract-files.sh found in the device folder while your phone is connected with adb.