yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
its definitly not going to be that easy as other android devices were :( but would it be so interesting if it wouldn't be so hard to root? :D
[Gen8 Android Development] Hexidecimal:
While that's true, it will make it a bigger triumph when it is finally rooted, the tinkerer in me is dying to mess with roms on this device and see what it can really do once it's cracked open. Keep up the great work guys, I'm following with baited breath. :)
[Gen8 Android Development] zelch:
Write to stage1 appears to exist, and indeed looking at /proc/mounts /mnt/rawfs is mounted rw. Looking at the kernel source, write support should Just Work.

So, looking through /mnt/rawfs avboot is clearly the boot loader which verifies stuff, but we lack source for it.

I have absolutely no knowledge of ARM asm, and screwing this up will absolutely brick your device, quite possibly beyond repair. (And I wouldn't bet on ArchOS being willing to replace it either, I sure wouldn't.)

So, anyone with the right background willing to step in here? :)

I'll keep digging, perhaps we can still find the answers.

Note: avboot has some strings which reference a development kernel, this bears some additional hunting.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
I still haven't got my A101, but its finally on its way to my home.

can you please upload these files and give me kind of a tree of the folder structure? :cool:
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
just a note of caution, if you write a bad key store or a bad bootloader, you will brick this device permanently. I would advice you to wait for the gen8 "SDE" release that will allow you to run your own kernel and userspace without risk of bricking. SDE should be out in a few days.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
so with SDE we could run perm. root with the Archos' Froyo or even Googles Android 2.3 / 3.0 release and do whatever we want? (e.g. custom rootfs / custom kernel)

what are the borderlines of SDE?
[Gen8 Android Development] mothy:
nz: If I'm wrong let me know but you work for Archos right?
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
Yep. Confirmed in another thread. :D

I really like the sound of the SDE. Can't wait to see it.
[Gen8 Android Development] mothy:
thats what I thought but is it dangerous to the root development to have a company rep seeing what we are doing? I dont know just wondering?
[Gen8 Android Development] thefunkygibbon:
you really dont think that google/htc/microsoft etc dont use these forums? i know for a fact microsoft have been for many years when these guys were hacking up wm5 roms

its just a shame that they dont take positive actions from what they must learn (i'm positive that some people on here are much better devs than what some companies have in their dev teams!)
[Gen8 Android Development] mothy:
Yeah true!
[Gen8 Android Development] Hexidecimal:
If I'm mistaken please let me know but the SDE looks like the environment that lets you install Angstrom linux. How will that be helpful in loading a rooted android image onto the device? Will it give us the ability to see the encryption on these flash chips so we can build new ROMs without fear of bricking? Just curious. Thanks!
[Gen8 Android Development] czesiu:
there is some info for older devices at the bottom of this page:

http://www.archos.com/support/support_tech/updates.html

:(
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
Not really a surprise. Most of the stuff we do usually voids the warranty.
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
SDE lets you install a kernel and a user space file system. Angstrom is just a demo, it is not limited to angstrom.
[Gen8 Android Development] czesiu:
What if the screen dies or other non software related problem occurs - could Archos look at the watermark and say that warranty is void?
[Gen8 Android Development] fzelle:
yes.

And they have any right to do so.

Just see it that way, when all those modders have ported 2.3 or 3.0 to the device so that the normal user can use it, warrenty will already be over.
[Gen8 Android Development] N23:
this depends on the country - so no clear answer!

but keep up the good work, can't wait to see 2.3 running (and i mean running, not crawling like 2.2) :)
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
some informations about SDE (for gen7): http://archos.g3nius.org/index.php?...cial_Developer_Edition_firmware_means_to_you?

so we have to wait for gen8 SDE to make some big steps forward

@nz excuse me for asking you this kind of "unfriendly" question: does "in a few days" mean within next (two) week(s) or before new year or next year? it would make it a lot easier for me to plan my vacations ;)
[Gen8 Android Development] cajl:
the sde for gen 8 will be not the same
[Gen8 Android Development] zelch:
Thank you _nz_, the information about the coming SDE is quite helpful.

Are you able to answer specific questions regarding as of yet unreleased firmware, or does ArchOS require that everything come via official press releases?

Thank you.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
what is different between gen7 sde and gen8 sde? please tell me
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
Yep, they sure could. If your worried about it then I would not use the SDE.
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
What is the difference?
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
I will not answer questions about unreleased firmwares
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
I was told it should get out on monday
[Gen8 Android Development] MoonPhantasm:
Great. Based on last generation SDE info, that means full access to and for the new OS, and OS/apps will be in the data partitions without silly 300MB app limit. Plus the recovery will still be there in case something goes wrong as recovery and boots sectors are locked.

There shouldn't be any need to get to those boot/recovery sectors anymore once that happens, unless I'm wrong.

I guess we'll lose access to DRM contents though, which is fortunately not something I care about.

Can't wait for it. :)
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
can't we just backup DRM and restore it later manually as these sectors are only locked in SDE mode?
[Gen8 Android Development] MoonPhantasm:
That might be a very good idea to do first if possible, before we erase and lose our DRM keys. I haven't really had time to mess any with the file system, other than reading what people have done, and seeing the mounted partitions.

I would assume that might require the ability to write to stage 1 without breaking the system though. Otherwise they can probably verify the DRM keys condition (and block restoring the keys). Though there might be a run around with remounting and other methods...

ps: Gen 8 is going to be different to the gen 7 too. We'll just have to see what we have when it get released.
[Gen8 Android Development] needabottle:
Havent got a clue what you guys are talking about but it sounds great :) unfortunately im of the vintage of Z80 assembly so my coding days went down with the titanic. Any idiots guides to android os out there. Ill never be able to help but im sure interested.
[Gen8 Android Development] needabottle:
Just looked at the info on the link above and the last paragraph says this....

The good news is that you will be able to revert to a normal firmware, at which point you will be able to perform a downgrade and switch to one of our patched firmwares.

So does that mean that by running SDE it is possible to go to 2.1 for instance.
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
It might be but I won't say it's 100% possible yet.
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
gen8 has no DRM keys.
[Gen8 Android Development] blazingwolf:
One less reason to worry about using the SDE. :D
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
yay!!! :D:D
[Gen8 Android Development] MoonPhantasm:
Wow, that's great to hear. :D

I guess I should have expected that based on what others have learnt with the partitions and such.

This is going to be so amazing after we have SDE.
[Gen8 Android Development] zelch:
Aside from potential warranty issues, are you aware of any drawbacks to using the SDE with Android compared with the stock firmware?
[Gen8 Android Development] thefunkygibbon:
exactly my question from another thread. will be be still able to use the (rather awesome) video player? if not it will be a bit of hard decision whether to use a custom rom since no other players i have come across will play the amount of content as smoothly as the archos one does.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
why should we throw the player away by making a custom rom?
[Gen8 Android Development] thefunkygibbon:
well given that sense roms you couldnt take the sense apps out of them to put in to a AOP rom at all. its not completely outrageous to think that maybe archos have tied in their apps to their own roms.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
ummm.. okay. so let's wait and see :D
[Gen8 Android Development] bbop:
For the Archos 5IT (gen 7) around 60mb of the 256 mb RAM is always dedicated to the AVOS archos media player, leaving only ~196 for the android OS. I don't have a gen8 product yet, but i would be surprised if there was any difference here (anyone can confirm?). A clean android build would thus allow you to use the full 256 mb of RAM for your android experience.

Also, because of all the hard work archos has done integrating their media player into the OS, it might be easier and quicker for a 3rd party to come up with an AVOS-free gingbread or honeycombe release than for Archos to release an official one themselves. It is also possible that omitting Archos' media player might allow for a less buggy an snappier OS which would make better use of the hardware and provide a better android experience.

Finally, with a multiboot situation (which is currently possible with the gen 7's) you would not need to throw away the player as the original OS remains intact and available. However, I would agree that there might be little benefit of a home-made pure gingerbread release over an AVOS enabled froyo release by archos (i would personally not be bothered here but can see that someone else might).

Meego however.... :)

bbop

tl;dr

why lose archos media player for a custom ROM?

More ram

Better pure android experience

no need to throw away archos media player anyway with a multiboot setup.

to see what has been done with gen7's you can read up on openaos.org
[Gen8 Android Development] czesiu:
'free' command returns ~244 of total ram on archos 70

what was that on 5IT?
[Gen8 Android Development] _nz_:
it's way less in gen8, the video display grabs around 11M at boot...
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
@_nz_ Hi there

Excuse me for asking you but what's the issue with Gen8 SDE?
[Gen8 Android Development] MoonPhantasm:
Just be patient. Probably last minute issues or something. It would be nice if they release it when they seemed to mean to, but I'd rather have a good working SDE than them rushing it. I don't want to get my system bricked.
[Gen8 Android Development] chrulri:
Definitly true, I'm sorry. :)
[Gen8 Android Development] faldiin:
In the USA this cant void your warranty per the Library of Congress. This came down 2 months ago over Jail breaking Apple's Iphone.

Did the Library of Congress just add a DCMA exception for Jailbreaking? Why yes they did:

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

Engagdet lays out what it means and — more importantly — what it doesn’t:

you should know that this in no way requires Apple to jailbreak your phone for you, or lay down its arms in this ongoing fight. Basically, they just can’t sue you for the specific act of breaking their protections, but there’s nothing stopping from putting those protections in there in the first place, or for suing you for an infringement not covered in this exception — like using Apple code in a non-Apple-approved way, or installing illegal software. Not that any of you jailbreakers would ever do that.

Rooting Android is also covered, and both firmware and software are now in the language.

Faldiin
[Gen8 Android Development] followinginsanity:
SDE Firmware is up @ http://www.archos.com/support/support_tech/updates.html?lang=en
[Gen8 Android Development] bbop:
free cmd reads 192444 total on my A5IT....

Good news then for the gen 8's though this means less reason to bother with a home cooked android ROM... Hopefully archos will make their ROM stable enough so that modders will be more motivated by something different like meego or ubuntu.

While i would love to have things like iptables support on gen8 android I'm not sure having two android OS's on the one device is worth the hassle... especially if you would have to reboot just to access archos' media player and then reboot once again if you wanted to go back to your default android apps... though who knows? maybe this setup would work very well - you could load the archos FW with alll their widgets and your own android with everything else so that both sides run as smoothly as possible.

I get the impression archos' own rom is not going to be easily replaced or modded with their current SDE framework (fingers crossed for permanent root though) as they seem intent on protecting their software(fair enough really). However, if archos does a good job with their ROM, i could really see the benefit of having a different OS in a dual boot (especially since archos has made the multiboot so much easier with this SDE's new recovery options).

Bbop

PS. using the free command, the reported used and free memory are way off what any android apps are displaying (the free value is <1/3rd what i would expect). Any explanations for this?
[Gen8 Android Development] $aur0n:
If threat "free" command as a normal Linux cmd ;)

"used" - memory used for any kind of data

"free" - real _unused_ memory

but from user point of view - on Linux systems there is (usually) much more free memory, since there are caches and buffers - and they can be flushed out, if there is such a need. If you want to know exactly how memory is occupied

"cat /proc/meminfo"

Anyway - Archos made a really bad decision putting only 256MB in Gen8 - in my opinion that's sucks most in this device.

ps. Anyone already opened Gen8 device? Since 8gb storage is reported as mmc/sd card - perhaps it's easy to clone it outside the box - just in case ;)
[Gen8 Android Development] N23:
nope - everything is soldered - nothing exchangeable!

there where pics in a french forum from a guy who who opened the device...
[Gen8 Android Development] waz000000:
It's on the top left side of the board, and it "does" look like an MICROSD card to be honest (I should of taken pics)

Haven't tried taking it out though as I was sorting out the touch screen getting rid of dead spots.

at the time I undid it though i was looking at that and thinking "oh i could just upgrade the mem then"
[Gen8 Android Development] Harfainx:
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=42806

My teardown of the A101. All parts are soldered on. There is no removable microSD inside of the unit.
[Gen8 Android Development] bbop:
Thanks for the info... i've spent some time looking into it and now i understand much better how android is dealing with apps and how to use different approaches to get the most out of the system. Forinstance i would always home button out of an app but now i undersand there are times when its better to back out of an app. This has been crucial to making the experience really work for me.

Frankly with this firmware and with extremely frugal settings on my behalf, I have had no lag and no crashes. My A5IT would stutter and pause for 5 seconds with the same frugal settings once the reported free memory dropped to around 25-30 mb (after opening 3 or 4 apps) wheras my 43 IT always floats arund 50mb and i never kill anything (except the browser occasionally). The real free RAM (revealed in the free and cat commands) is actually close to zero almost all the time but this seems to work great.

I was worried about losing the ability to swap but in practice i would have no use for it as it could not run any faster than it does now and farting around with temprooting would just end up being too much of a hassle.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wau808:
I am thinking about getting a vibrant and have been reading about a lack of notification LED. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but i was curious if there was a way to get the capacitive keys to blink to act as a notifier? Thank you for your time.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] OuncE718:
Or you

Or you can go to the market and download an app called NO LED. No led turns the Vibrant's screen into a notifier. Its a very cool and useful app. People are often amazed when they see my phone's screen light up with icons instead of the traditional notification led.

www.goteamfriday.com
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scpieps:
You can also download a kernel that allows you to enable backlight notification through Clockwork. For example, if you're on 2.2, you can flash one of Eugene373's kernels available here: http://eb-productions.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=samsungsgs&action=display&thread=28. This allows you to use the capacitative keys as a notifier. They will not blink, though; they just stay lit.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] OuncE718:
I honestly wouldn't recommend the capacitive keys as the notifier if they do not blink because it well eventually kill the battery and bulb/led. I personally recommend NO LED since it blinks and also the notifier/led icon jumps all across the screen instead of lighting up in one spot so it doesn't burn out the pixel/led. I hope I've made some sort of sense. Sometimes I can confuse others.

www.goteamfriday.com
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wau808:
Thanks for the quick responses. I had seen NoLed only as a colored dot, but after looking up some more videos and what not, this looks like a great app, even better than a flashing light at the top corner of the phone. I will definitely picking up a vibrant or a nexus s within a couple weeks. Thank you
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] OuncE718:
Your welcome sir.

www.goteamfriday.com
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] brian_v3ntura:
pretty much the only known way to use the capacitative keys to act as a notifier is flashing the ULF kernel or eugenes(im sure some of eugenes kernels are based off ULF). personally i wouldnt use ULF as it has poor coding and does corrupt RFS overtime. im waiting for supercurio to code a voodoo kernel that uses the button notifier as he seems like a more experienced dev and avid debugger
[Wildfire General] rim23:
hi all

it seems my phone has been bricked, i can use any other providers simcards at all to make and receive calls, i have the limited connection icon coming up and the reception bars with an X on it.

is there any way i can unbrick my phone please?
[Wildfire General] bassmonkey:
That's not bricked. It won't even turn on if its bricked. Is mobile networks turned on? Has the apn list been wiped/corrupted?

I'm no expert @ this stuff but it sounds fixable. Try flashing the ruu again?
[Wildfire General] rim23:
hi

i can see all the networks, i think i need an IMEI repair as it looks it has been blocked because the simards work perfectly on other phones.

is there anyway i can fix this please?
[Wildfire General] bassmonkey:
I'm @ work n have rubbish signal so can't provide links, search the forum, there's sure to be something. I would seriously try reflash the ruu tho. What Rom r u using?
[Wildfire General] rim23:
no worries, i def dont think its the forum, i think the phone has been blocked by network, so the only way i think is IMEI repair but i could be wrong and its using the latest rom.

i,m searching for a way to change the imei number, if you know someone or someway of doing this it will be greatly appreciated.

thanks
[Wildfire General] Deep-Knight:
IMO the IMEI cannot be change. If the phone is really blocked by your provider, ask there for unlocking. Maybe there is a stolen phone with nearly the same IMEI, and the did a mistake by entering the code ?

Otherwise return the phone back to shop.
[Wildfire General] rim23:
its very strong possability thats the case, if its that difficult then no probs guys, i just though there is a way to do it?
[Wildfire General] Skye Menjou:
Nope.

Not possible.
[Wildfire General] BTaylor927:
So, erm, you have a stolen wildfire which has been simblocked and you want to know how to change the IMEI? Naughty!
[Wildfire General] rim23:
thanks a lot for everyone who tried to help, the handset is back to normal this morning, i contacted the provider and i was told it was accidentaly blocked due to a mistake.

all i wanted is to have a working phone, and help to get it to work not crap and abuse, for those users with less kind words all i have to say you let this site down.
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] orangestrawberry:
Finally the SOD issue is fixed.

My 4 trials:

1. with no facebook auto update active, TP2 gets no SOD

2. with facebook auto update active, TP2 gets loads of SOD every day

3. download people application update from HTC and trial with no facebook update - no SOD's at all

4. switch on facebook update - since people application update installed - no SOD's at all!!!! and this has been running for quite a few weeks

NOT a single SOD at all. Fixed. Looks like SOD was related to memory issue consumption with facebook. Try it out.

Apart from a few speaker issues with Sense 2.5, my TP2 is pretty good for a slow phone compared to todays standard!
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] ronh:
Too bad I don't use the facebook update.

I'm using the standard WM6.5 WWE Rom from HTC.

That has no update feature for facebook, but does have the SOD problems... a lot :(
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] orangestrawberry:
Strange, only ever had sods with sense 2.5. And now they are completely gone. Memory usage is normal with the occasional crashes that comes with the underpowered tp2 but no black screen of deaths
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] pilik:
I've never used facebooke, I disabled it in settings and still get SODs. In fact, much less after systemboard replacement...
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] SYNProductionz:
Tried it all and still having the issue.

The problem for my device seems to be backlight related. I have noticed that I can not adjust the backlight settings at all...It always seems to be at 100 % no matter what I do. Tried Lumos and other backlight adjustment apps to no available solution. Tried even downgrading from wm6.5 go 6.1 stock rom and nadda. I wish there was a sound fix for everyone posted somewhere!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. When I boot into android...the sleep button will turn the screen on and off fine so the hardware button is working but I also notice in Android that the backlight is still lit even with the screen off. Backlight sensor works as when I answer a call it turns off but this dam SOD will never allow it to come back on unless a reset is done.

Telus CDMA TP2 with Sharkie Rom wm6.5 running.... Android Froyo 2.2 build as my work around but battery drains like crazy because the backlight never turns off! PLS HELP!

Thank you in advance, Kind Regards,
[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] Nuno_Viegas:
Hi.

Which ROM are u using?

I have the same problem and i'm 100% sure too that it's the facebook update. When is turned off don't get any SOD. But if i try to update manually and the phone goes to standby it won't wake up.

Today i installed the people application update but no luck. Its getting SOD's every time i try to update. Dammmm

It's this www[.]htc[.]com/pt/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=250&cat=0&dl_id=1061 the update that you say, wright?

I'm using the ROM 2.07.410.1 (80303) PTG.

Can we see anywuere in the phone that the update is installed?

Thanks

Nuno Viegas