Intex Cloud FX: Turn Debugging On

…and the tinkering shall begin!

Well it doesn’t work out-of-the-box and this post will help other developers get their hands dirty quickly.

One can debug either by using the “adb tools” by Google or “app-manager” by Mozilla.

#1: Enable Debugging on the phone

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Debugging/Developer_settings

On your phone go to: Settings -> Device Information -> More Information -> Developer

Set: ‘Remote debugging’ to ‘ADB and Devtools’

#2: Find out the USB Vendor ID

http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html

$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 1782:5d04 Spreadtrum Communications Inc.

From above we found out that the VendorID=0x1782 (running `lsusb -v` gives a verbose output and prints values in Hexadecimal)

#3: Tell adb to look at this new device of ours

A) UDEV

Log in as root and create this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules.

$ sudo cat >> /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
# Paste:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1782", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
# CTRL+D to save the file

B) Restart UDEV

$ sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart

C) adb_usb.ini

$ cat >> ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
# Paste
# 1 USB VENDOR ID PER LINE.
0x1782

(You need to have adb installed before we move ahead: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Debugging/Installing_ADB)

#4: Tinkering shall begin

$ sudo adb devices

Will show you your device.

if you see something like

List of devices attached
????????????    no permissions

then

$ sudo adb kill-server
# now try adb devices again

$ adb shell
# enter the device

All well! 🙂

Intex Cloud FX:
OS Version: Intex_Cloud_FX_V07
Hardware revision: sp8810
Platform version: 28.1
Update Channel: release-spreadtrum
Buy: for INR1999/- on Snapdeal.com

Using the App Manager:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Using_the_App_Manager

Sources:
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html
http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17763728/getting-manufacturer-vendor-id-for-adb
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6484279/detecting-device-for-debugging-adb-does-not-work

Getting back to Sony Xperia SL: LT26ii: nozomi: 4.1.2

I spent the previous night getting Xperia SL back to stock 4.1.2 (Build Number 6.2.B.1.96)! That absolutely deserves recognition and some documentation.

After spending countless hours (experimenting with the ROMs) over the past year, I have realized that Stock Jellybean 4.1.2 is adequately stable (=something you would want to use on a daily basis) – and anything else isn’t just good enough! The developers are trying very hard to support it but lets face it – its ancient and now even the developers do not own it.

So that’s what I wanted to do – go back to the pavilion.

Notes:

• Xperia SL is supposed to be an improvement over Xperia S. Didn’t quite become a hit.
• Most ROMs would only be found for “Xperia S” and would require changing the install script to either omit the device check or modify it. Therefore, the hardware capabilities also get limited to that of Xperia S – which feels somewhat frustrating.
• “Sony PC Companion” wouldn’t touch your device if your bootloader is unlocked.

Noteworthy ROMs:

1. ParanoidAndroid/SlimBean: Nifty features. But highly experimental. (~Dec, 2013)
2. Cyanogenmod 9.1.0: The last official stable release for the device.
3. OpenSemc: (beta) Incredible effort by devs to get Kitkat 4.4.2 on SL (built on top of unofficial Cyanogenmod 11).
4. MIUI v5: I couldn’t try this one on. #4.4.4 #ClosedSource

Getting Back to Stock

Things we need:

• flashtool: using Flashtool (available on unix/windows/mac), Stock FTF images can be flashed on the device without much ado. Locking/unlocking bootloader.
• Xperia SL LT26ii_6.2.B.1.96 Firmware FTF – firmware for India (but I don’t want to not be a cynic; so lets override this later)
• Sony PC Companion – your device, automatically suggests to install it – once you connect it to the PC (over USB)
• Emma: Official Flash Tool for Xperia devices. Meant to be used by developers for devices with unlocked bootloader. Doesn’t work with Xperia SL but works with Xperia S.

 

#1 Install and set Flashtool up

Put the LT26ii_6.2.B.1.96_Generic.ftf inside the firmware directory inside the installation. Run as admin. Click on the Bolt button on the left – “flash” > select “flashmode”

#2 Connect the device is flash mode

After step #1, the tool will request you to turn off the device and insert the USB wire while pressing volume down key – to go to the “flashmode”.

#3 Once the procedure completes, disconnect the USB and turn on the device. Ensure that all is well.

#4 Lock the bootloader now:

Turn off the device and hit BLU button (not blue) on flashtool. Connect the device in flashmode. Relock!

#5 Turn on the device and start Sony PC Companion. 

Now the companion would recognize the device. Click on the device status. In the popup click on repair.

(Steps #3 – #5 are optional; Blame the security)

 

 

Now the big question is that what am I gonna do with the device now that its back to normal. Well I may have thought of something 🙂

 

Break something, struggle with it and then get that fixed. That does raise the value of the Object.

 

Source:

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_nozomi

http://xperiafirmware.com/8-firmware/13-sony-xperia-s-lt26

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2245327

 

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 55,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Quickly create a bootable USB in Linux

Yes – Everything I do – I do it for you (more like IN you; Ahem! You = Linux BTW)!

Alright without wasting any time lets quickly get on with it.

This post is about saving your DVD and DVD tray; This post is about installing the OS at a superior speed; This post is about saving time.

What we want to achieve:

We want to install an OS using a bootable USB drive instead of a DVD (it has a lot of hassles – you need to buy one – you need to sit and wait for burning to complete – it may fail – you need to go to the shop and buy another one – as it runs from a DVD the installation will be slower – BLAH BLAH BLAH!)

How we are doing it?

For Ubuntu and other more recognized Operating Systems, we already have Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator, or that.

But it requires software installation and doesn’t work with all the Operating Systems.

So we are going to use the tools which come bundled with all the Linux distros and we are going to make our USB disk imitate a DVD.

What to do:

Make sure you have the ISO of the operating system downloaded already. Lets put it in the $HOME directory and let’s call it OS.iso

$ sudo dd if=$HOME/OS.iso of=/dev/sdx oflag=direct  bs=1048576

Where:

bs stands for bytes. 1048576 = 1024 * 1024 bytes = 1Mb.

‘/dev/sdx‘ is the target USB drive. If your system doesn’t support ‘oflag=direct’, you can just leave it out as it is simply intended to speed up the process a bit.

If you don’t know about the target USB drive path, run this command and figure out your destination drive.

$ sudo fdisk -l

Warning: Please make sure you have the correct value for x – or it can be catastrophic for you running environment.

Remember, don’t include an integer for the USB drive, e.g. ‘/dev/sdx1’, as it would refer to the existing partition on that drive and not the drive itself.
When the USB has been properly created by ‘dd’, there should be an output similar to this:

706+1 records in
706+1 records out
740601856 bytes (741 MB) copied, 91.7024 s, 8.1 MB/s

Happy Hacking!

Source: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/744

 

Switch to Colemak/Dvorak

Its true! I can touch type without even looking at the monitor, with an average WPM of 60+ (most people can! Are you most people?), but then sometimes LOVE is not enough.

 

#1 Why?

QWERTY wasn’t designed with the user in mind (typewriter wins). More info: here & here

User productivity increases. Less fatigue – don’t have to worry about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury

Colemak etc are less prone to typos.

& for the sheer thrill in doing something new & rare (btw eight years ago I moved to Linux. No analogy! *Wink*)

 

#2 How?

Ideally all you need is an OS that understands the layout. All modern operating systems do.

That’s how you can switch layouts in Windows Ubuntu etc (just google).

 

Optionally, if you are like me – feedback is vital.

• Let’s buy that keyboard?

• Maybe those glowing stickers?

• Ah! Just get me a screw driver X(

Pop the keys out and rearrange!

The red “i” has landed on the home row. Good stuff. Please don’t do that to your laptop. USB keyboard is pretty easy to acquire.

Downside: F & J have moved (if you know what I mean). #anchor #bump #ridges

 

#3 Next Steps

Learn

 

Q. All said and done – Why is QWERTY still in production?

A. I don’t have to answer that as we all know what will happen if you go to your manager/boss and ask him to sponsor this migration. For him all that’s expected out of you is that you ‘deliver’ – which you are already capable of.

 

Happy hacking!

 

PS: WPM has significantly gone down. But do not worry. #FreshStart

PPS: Yes! I used Colemak to write this post.

more stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin-script_non-QWERTY_keyboards

 

Update (20130812):

Q. How to Switch in Android?

A. Google Keyboard is the answer. Get the app.

Settings — Language & Input — Google Keyboard — Advanced settings — Custom Input Styles — Add style (Currently it supports 6 layouts)

This is definitely cool. Gesture typing is fun.

Android-Colemak

PPTP VPN on Linux. Spotify on Linux. VPN on Android

What is VPN (source: Wikipedia)

A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network and the resources contained in the network across public networks like the Internet. It enables a host computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were a private network with all the functionality, security and management policies of the private network. This is done by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, encryption, or a combination of the two.

VPN on Linux Mint

Just follow the screenshots –

under the VPN tab you specify the server details.

( Free Servers are available at http://www.vpnbook.com/#pricing )

For troubleshooting:

$ tail -f /var/log/syslog

 

 

Additionally …

#1

Install Spotify on Linux

https://www.spotify.com/int/download/previews/

(Works just great! Much better than using WINE to make it work!)

#2

Use Extended Google Play (+install Spotify application) on Android

Recently Google Books have been launched on Google Play in India.

(Running OpenVPN in this snapshot; You might not be able to buy a lot of stuff. I haven’t tried!)

Make sure you connect to a US VPN server when you register for Spotify & the Spotify Radio shall be available for you.

Switch accounts on Google Play. And you would finally see the world.

#3

Run VPN on Android

Fairly straightforward.

Android Settings – Wireless and networks – VPN – Add VPN network

 

Cheers!

(Android SGS2 I9100G running ICS; Indian demographic)

Citrix Receiver on Linux x86_64

Of late I have been on an OS installation spree; For some reason I didn’t like 12.10 too much.

To WFH and that too from some derivative of Linux, I had to each time make sure that Citrix worked. I have successfully installed it on Ubuntu, Slackware and Linux Mint (few minutes back).

#Step 1

Go to Citrix.com and download Receiver for Linux in .deb

The package:

Even though we have downloaded it from the 64-bit section, as the name suggests it still is a 32-bit package.

#Step 2

To make sure that the 32-bit binaries work on your 64-bit machine please install:

$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

#Step 3

Installation is as simple as a double click (for Debian and derivatives). For others please convert it to the required format using the tools available on your current system.

#Step 4

Open web browser (Chrome works best). Login etc.

And when the browser downloads the .ICA file then advise the Browser to use

/opt/Citrix/ICAClient/wfica

Known Issues:

Installation Fails:

You are happily waiting for the installation to complete but it fails at the final post-install steps, even after getting successfully installed.

Now each time you try to install a new software this post-install will be retried and would leave your machines in a mess.

The work around is pretty simple. The script is looking for x86 as the desired architecture when it actually is x86_64 (you can validate that by typing `uname -m` in the terminal)

#StepA Open the postinstall file
$ sudo gedit /var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst

#StepB
# replace
# echo $Arch|grep "i[0-9]86" >/dev/null
# with
# echo $Arch|grep -E "i[0-9]86|x86_64" > /dev/null

#StepC tell dpkg to configure icaclient
$ sudo dpkg --configure icaclient

If it still doesn’t work for you then open the terminal and try this:

/opt/Citrix/ICAClient/wfica PATH_TO_ICA_FILE

This way you can find out details and try to troubleshoot.

Additionally you may check this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo.

Happy Hacking.