Software on the Wiki - About xda-developers.com

Hi,
There seems to be a lot on the wiki regarding the handsets, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of information on software for the handsets.
There's the "Must have tools" page, but I personally would appreciate a page listing software by category.
I am therefore proposing to produce a page called "Software" with a list of categories such as
Diary/Calendar
Contacts
File Managers
Games
GUI Enhancement
Instant Messaging/Chat
System Tools
Today
etc.....
Then, each of these pages would have a list of sub categories with software titles listed underneath, so for example "Instant Messaging" would have IM+, Skype, Pocket IRC etc... under it and each of these would then have it's own page on which to include features, details of compatibility with handsets and WM versions and links with where to get them from (possibly even links to related forum topics).
Obviously I will start from my Wizard/Hemes and the software I have used, so I shall apologise for that in advance, but if I start adding this will anyone complain?
Or would it be appreciated?
Any thoughts, comments or ideas (and things I have overlooked, like this existing) are appreciated.

mikechannon said:
One question for you would be whether the software section would be a cross device section or under a specific device eg Hermes or Wizard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cross device, totally.
The way I look at it is that most of the software is written to work on "Any" WM device so it should therefore be written generically. I'd then try to include a compatibility list of "This software is confirmed (not) working on..." for people to add their devices to as well as notes on how to get it working if their may be trouble.
For example, Skype works on most, but not so well on a Hermes unless you use the beta.
Just wish I knew more about the advanced features on the wiki software xda-devs uses....

Had a play the other day and at least one other person has linked something into it so far...
Games and Emulators page.
Guess we will see how it goes....

I'd love to help, but I'm mainly a MediaWiki guy, is there a list of basic editing procedures and stuff for the software xda-developer wiki uses?

Related

Welcome to the improved XDA-developers forum

First of all: don't worry. Everything you are used to is still here. Your username still exists, all the messages are still here, and we're all still here.
There are a few changes though:
You can set a country flag, as well as which device(s) you have and a home GSM-provider. These will be displayed in icon form with your messages. It's completely uncomplicated and much more fun if everyone participates. So please use the 'Profile' button in the menu above to set these things for you. They help others help you by knowing what device you have and what provider you are using.
Topics now have an extra property, which defines whether they are relevant for the original XDA, for the XDA II or for both. A small icon shows with each message. You can set this property when you start a new topic.
The separate XDAII board is gone. All messages there have been moved to the forum where they are most appropriate (see below). The fact that the messages were originally posted in XDAII now shows with an icon.
We now allow attachments, both in forum postings and in Private Messages, sized up to 50MB (!).
The boards have new names, and are slightly re-organized:
[list:42f131921e]
General
Current events, news, etc.
Using it
messages formerly in 'PocketPC' go here.
Not too technical, about use and peculiarities.
Unlocking it
formerly called 'Unlocking'
Networking it
formerly called 'GPRS/WAP settings'
Stocking up for it
formerly called 'Accessories'
Upgrading and modifying it
formerly 'ROM updates'
Hacking it
formerly 'Programmers corner' and 'Other techie stuff'
Anything but it
formerly called 'Off-topic'
[/list:u:42f131921e]
We currently use the plain-vanilla 'subSilver' phpBB style. Expect further changes to the way things look over the next few days. Please let me know by clicking 'PM' under this message if anything that used to work for you all of a sudden isn't working anymore.
Hope you like it...
New look
Sexy!
Wow ! well done ! :wink: certainly a lot of work ...thanks
Sure does and it looks good too! 8)
But found the following to be missing:
no USA T-Mobile listed under GSM Provider
no AT&T radio stacks listed under Radio Version.
Qman said:
no USA T-Mobile listed under GSM Provider
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops. Fixed.
no AT&T radio stacks listed under Radio Version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're still confused about all these Radio Stack Upgrade numbers. And if we are confused, imagine what that means for the poor folks out there. But I will include some more numbers tomorrow...
A couple of suggestions:
In the ROM Version setting of the profile, there should be a "kitchen" option for 4.00.16, since this is on at least one kitchen (perhaps "kitchen" ought to be a check box?)
I don't know that I would have chosen to have a merged 'update it' forum for XDAI and XDAII. Most readers are interested in info for one device and dont care about the other.
pdhenry said:
A couple of suggestions:
In the ROM Version setting of the profile, there should be a "kitchen" option for 4.00.16, since this is on at least one kitchen (perhaps "kitchen" ought to be a check box?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done. I might make it a checkbox later on.
I don't know that I would have chosen to have a merged 'update it' forum for XDAI and XDAII. Most readers are interested in info for one device and dont care about the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was planning to create a one-click filter option for 'viewforum.php'.
Why damn, this blob-thing is ... growing.
As you may have seen the forum now has it's own hostname: forum.xda-developers.com. All existing links (/forum and /phpBB) will redirect to the correct thread or post on the new hostname (using a rewrite rule and sending HTTP 'Moved Permanently').
The uncompressed database for the forum is now 40 MB, the entire site is sending and receiving a few GigaBytes per day, to and from over 2500 unique IP-numbers each day.
Congradulation!
Hello
Well done and great work, keep it up.
thanks with best regards.
Othman
looks alrite but i miss the yellowy colour scheme now looks like every other forum on the web lol :roll:
how strange ...
the DB is only 40Mb ... this fits on 10% of my stamp size SD card ...
and yet, with just 2500 db-access (and how many posts? probably 100kb)
we get Giga bytes of traffic....
Just think how wasteful we're with current technology....
This goes double for a Pocket PC with two wireless communications,
100's of Mb of data, 400Mhz cpu ... and all that it does is displaying
who is calling your phone
Hmmm ....
[this is not a flame of the site or the PPC.... just a note on the status of the information/software age of the 21st century in general]
Looks
gazzaman2k said:
looks alrite but i miss the yellowy colour scheme now looks like every other forum on the web lol :roll:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries: this is temporary. There will be some proper design-work done on the entire site.
This is a good opportunity to say "Thank you" to Mario Giambanco, whose ideas and kind offer to work on the site prompted me to do some cleanup first, which resulted in the changes you see. Between him, myself, and hopefully some other volunteers we can now start to do a major overhaul concerning the looks and stale content of the main site.
The new 'main site' is going to be database-generated (from the phpBB database), and will have at least 'News' and 'FAQ' pages, pointing to topics on the forum. This will mean the 'main site' will be much more of an up-to-date tribute to the collective work of all of you on the forum, instead of a somewhat stale collection of some cool stuff we did way back. Creating layout in the way we did it before is just too much work.
Welcome to our new face
It looks very nice :lol:
But maybe we need added section: download & upgrade hardware ???
:wink:
very nice
Simply An excellent job
I preferred the old one. bah humbug
Thank You!
Thanks! For all the hard work it is much appreciated :wink:
Keep burning the midnight oil, it can only get better! ( like the XDA II )
Kind Regards, StayLucky Jim.
Hacking it ?
I written quite a few custom applications for the XDA and your site has some interesting infomation that has helped me.
I have replied a couple of times too with some code snipits.
All was very professional.
Now the Programmers Corner is under Hacking it, so I must of now become a Hacker. An interesting term, that I will have to add to my CV and see if it effects my future software appointments.
At last! Your decision to migrate to 2.0.6 is very welcome
If you interested - I can suggest two mobile adaptations for phpbb:
- read only version optimized for using as Mobile Favorites/Avantgo channels
and
- fully functional version for using from mobile devices.
These versions were developed and tested for one of the mostly visited (264,100 messages currently) PDA-related site in Russia http://www.handy.ru/board Unfortunately, all of the site is on Russian, but you may look though the following links just to smell it:
Mobile Favorites/AvantGo version:
Setup channels (Controls translation: forum name; timeframe; pictures (all/smiles only/none); link conversion mode; signatures on/off)
Ready-to-synchronize channel link (two days plus vacations, smiles only, links converted to text, without signatures).
Online mobile version: (banners should be visible from desktop PC only)
Forum index
Forum page
Topic discussion
All security is the same as in desktop phpbb version. Almost all functionality is implemented except site administration, advanced moderation panel (topic joining/splitting/mass deletes) and profile changing/private messaging.
These forum versions not include support for skins or language resources (sorry, but I develop them as fast as I can). So translation to English and slight adaptation to your mods (if any) needed. But I'm ready for this job.
The only main forum changes needed are:
- adding 4 lines to template variables array initialization;
- modifying 4 template files to add links to mobile versions;
Re: Hacking it ?
vangelderp said:
Now the Programmers Corner is under Hacking it, so I must of now become a Hacker. An interesting term, that I will have to add to my CV and see if it effects my future software appointments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seemed like a logical term to combine 'Programmers corner' and the little used 'Other techie stuff'. We think of the term 'hacker' as meaning a benign and very advanced programmer or techie, and not in any negative media-sensationalist terms. (Even though some of us do smile when we take the SIMlock off.)
Ofcourse if you think the rest of the world would see this differently, you're welcome to say 'Programmers corner' in future job applications.
I sincerely hope this linguistic issue will not keep you from continuing to benefit and contribute in the future.

Newbiw, got a little bit confused!? Anyone please help!

HI,I have new for the XDA family.
but,I cant see the exactly meaning for
ROM
Ext ROM
Radio
Protocol
RAM
FLASH RAM
any similar compared with the PC?
Thanks in advance
cheers
Simply put:
ROM is the software that comes pre-installed on the phone. This is normally not editable, but it may be swapped for a new version if you know what you are doing.
Radio is any kind of wireless communication, e.g. GSM, GPRS, WAP, WiFi etc
RAM stands for random access memory, and is in the case of the XDA, its main storage facility. In computers however, RAM is not used for storage (since it is wiped if it loses power, a common problem in the XDA series!)
Thanks,RICHARD
is that mean keep update the RADIO is very important for connection?
Exec: if you need any further info on this kind of stuff, you might want to check out the xda developer's wiki (top left of your browser screen), and the wikipedia for some of these terms. But ask if you need more details!
V
Thanks
I will check out
btw, whats the WIKI stand for?
WIKI is a system whereby a knowledge base may be created and maintained by its users. The biggest use of it is wikipedia. Wikipedia says:
#########
Wiki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Wiki (disambiguation).
Wikibooks
Wikibooks has more about this subject:
Wiki Science
A wiki (IPA: [ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪk.iː] <wick-ey> (according to Ward Cunningham) is a type of website that allows users to add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative authoring.
The term wiki also sometimes refers to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website (see wiki software).
In essence, a wiki is a simplification of the process of creating HTML pages combined with a system that records each individual change that occurs over time, so that at any time, a page can be reverted to any of its previous states. A wiki system may also provide various tools that allow the user community to easily monitor the constantly changing state of the wiki and discuss the issues that emerge in trying to achieve a consensus about the wiki content.
cool,man!
very useful
:wink:

Medical Apps for the Touch HD and others

I know several of us here are in the medical field and I thought I would start a thread, where we can share information of how our phones can be useful to us in our field. My goal is to spread the word as to what tools are available to us, regardless of what branch of the medical field we are all in.
If anyone has used some good programs or if you simply want to confirm that an application works well with the resolution of the HD, then please share with the rest of us.
Just as a reminder to everyone, XDA is not a place to share illegal content, so please don't post links to cracks etc...
I'll start with links to several web pages where you can find a lot of apps.
Medical Wizards. They have a lot of nice solid apps.
Skyscape has a lot of apps both for desktop PC and PPC.
Mobipocket has a section for medical ebooks. You might find some useful. The nice thing here is that you can install the reader on your PC and your PPC so you can view their ebooks on either one.
Handy Patients (from Handylife.com). I think the graphics need major improvement, but it seems to have excellent features for patient management.
PDA-Medicus: Although the website is in German, many of the links are to English apps. You can use Google translation to translate paragraphs in the pda-medicus site that might interest you.
And for any German speakers...
Mobipocket in German has some good ebooks - readable on PC and PPC.
PDA-Medicus (mentioned above) has a well organized list of links both in German and in English - freeware as well as shareware.
Reserved space in case it's needed in the future.
Are there any good ones for dentists?
itsallshots said:
Are there any good ones for dentists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a quick search and found these for dentists:
PDA Resources for dentists
LexiComp PDA Software for dentists: The first three on that list (as of today) are for iPhone only. But starting with the Lexi-Dental-Suite and below, they are also offered for PPC.
Skyscape ebooks for dentists: you'll have to see which ones are for PPC. That link will show you a lot books, but some are also for general health care knowledge.
Maybe someone else can recommend other ones too.

[res] A repository/guide just for you, AT&T Tilt 2 owners.

Hi!
You may know me as the guy who made blownfuze.org. I've done it again (I'm doing it, rather) and the address is tilt2.blownfuze.org. Basically it's a good place to unleash your phone, beginners to vets, while hiding from ad banners, thread chaos and rapidshare links.
The site, targeted specifically at the AT&T crowd but useful for all TP2 owners, is divided into a dozen chapters including how to flash a rom and my reflections on the various existing roms, the usual stuff to install (like flash, mortscript, MSCF and MSVC), a collection of Opera builds and other browsers and RSS readers, tweaking tools (advanced config, hd tweak), email guidance, GPS stuff, multimedia (players, tones), recreational stuff (dopewars, facebook), expert stuff (vpn client, packet sniffing) and perhaps most importantly what you need to get your phone back to its out-of-the-box stock condition (the software at least) for warranty compliance if you have ever flashed anything. It's the kind of site you might bookmark.
I only recently started this thing and though it is a little premature to post it publicly like this (it will get better over time..) the important sections like installing hardspl, flashing roms and warranty issues, they're good to go and I got some fresh cabs lined up for you too so c'mon down to tilt2.blownfuze.org.
In addition to plugging my site (thanks xda mods), the purpose of this thread is to invite suggestions from you (for example this part is good or that sucks or you should add this and remove that or cite this developer for that cab) so please do that, I will listen, or you can contact me in the contact form thingy at the bottom of my site.
Yours, Doug
Thanks Doug. Your sites are AWESOME and very useful! I don't have a fuze but I've found some sweet programs on your site for my tilt. I look forward to the new site.
Looking good, thank you!
great site, great infos. many thanks.
Looks very good actually, bookmarked it and having a good flick through now. Some very very usefull stuff on there!
Id be tempted to suggest trying to improve the GUI a bit though, theres an awfull lotta text sitting there.
Im Feelin it
This is perfect, Everything works and enhances the phone. Cant complain
thx for the repo guide
NB: Your ZoomAdds thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=572270 -- linked to in section 5) has been superseded by this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=578420 -- the earleir one is a version that can't be uninstalled.

[REQ][XDA WIKI]: Feature request thread

Request 1: Add HTML Tidy to the xda wiki stack
Template:Navbox @ Wikipedia said:
Using this template on other wikis requires HTML Tidy to be turned on. A version that does not require Tidy can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Transwiki/Template:Navbox. (That version generally shouldn't be used here on the English Wikipedia.) More detailed information on copying {{Navbox}} to other wikis can be found on the talk page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing a LOT of work adding stuff to the xda wiki, but I've hit an impasse, some of the most complex templates used on Wikipedia depend on it being 'scripted' with HTML instead of pure wikimarkup.
The main example is Template:Navbox. While this specific template does have a pupre wikimarkup equivilent (if it even is an equivilent, it's not maintained at the level of the normal one). The other templates I wish to use dont have equivilents.
Template:Navbox subgroup is the one (among others) that I wish to add in but cant because it depends on HTML Tidy. The Template itself is already on the xda wiki, but if you attempt to use it it's completely broken.
I cant say it's as simple as "install on server and turn it on" but the fact of the matter is that without it most of the fun/magic stuff on wikipedia cant be brought over to the xda wiki.
Some examples of recent stuff i've made (for reference):
Samsung Galaxy S Series Navbox
Samsung Galaxy S II Series Navbox
New Samsung Portal on Main page
Entirety of Dell devices page
If you look at the several navboxes I've made they have hacks in the code to get around the fact that I'm just a normal level editor.
Request 2: We need MOAR editors!
Also this doubles as a request for more editors on the wiki: XDA is the largest android development based site on the internet, yet here we are weeks after the release of the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note and the pages didnt even exist until I made stubs for them.
As of this past quarter I've generated more edits then possibly nearly every other user combined, but there's only so much I can do at this point by my self. (With my primary style being to organize page layouts and tidying stuff up vs writing new content for devices)
[Edit count itself is a bad metric, but edits that arnt mine only number in the dozens a month]
Sure it's reasonable for minor devices and varients to be stubs, but the Note has sold over a million units and yet not a single person has even bothered to make as much as a scribble on the wiki about the device. That's just an example, but ultimately if this were wikipedia, the amount of pages rated 'good' or higher would only number in the dozens. (There's also the fact that my belief is that it's a bad idea to add anything intensive for a device you dont own, standard fare on one device can super-brick another due to quirks)
It's a rather sad state of affairs that for such a large web site with 22000 active users at any one time that there's not a single good consistant repeat editor besides me.
Edit: changed wording to not be inflammatory
Request 3: Turn on Subpages on the main namespace
Mediawiki:Subpages are by default enabled on the template and user namespaces, but not on the main namespace. I believe it's done this way because of editor policy and not technical reasons.
The xda wiki would HEAVILY benefit from having it enabled since it already currently manually uses them, the previous example of:
Samsung <Series>/<model number>/article has long existed this way but without the automatically generated anchors.
The majority of pages are already ready to accept it, it might simply need to be turned on.
XDA Wiki
TheManii said:
there's not a single good editor besides me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO that is a rather sweeping statement and is likely to put off anyone from editing the Wiki. I would dispute even your claim as a good editor would not make sweeping changes to categories without discussion on the pages involved. Should I just "undo" them?
XDA has a problem with repetitive questions leading to user dissatisfaction with overlong forums and the loss of good developers such as AdamG.
One solution may be to create a FAQ Wiki for any thread over a certain size (for example 1,000 posts) and automatically link to that thread at the top of every page and above the reply box.
Cheers
Tom
It is sweeping, but the fact is there arent many repeat editors, many devices havnt not seen edits in months because a great deal of the changes dones are a one-time batch job with a single theme.
I'm not at all saying that the other editors are bad, though yes that what the impression was (and perhaps I should have worded it better). I'm saying that few wish to stay with it for the long-haul.
There's few editors that consistantly return to add/update/expand artitles for their own devices or other devices. That's my main issue. I actively want to be proven wrong in this regard, I'm inviting other to prove me wrong. I myself am somewhat guilty of this myself, I primarly concentrate on the dell devices, but I've kept them very up to date for the previous year.
One example I have issue with is: Acer A500 -xda wiki the entire page are just forum links. I have no issue at all with the contents of the posts (just as much my opinion on them is irrelevent) but the fact they are just links and not part of the article. The fact it's not on the wiki means that other editors cannot make changes themselves, which rather defeats the point of the wiki, which leads to,
The other issue is, unless the OP is excellent at keeping the thread organizied, you often have to wade though the entire thread to keep up to date. With a thread with +200 posts even if you wanted to it's a huge effort to do that. Even in the most complex of topics, they can be broken down a couple bullet points and approx a paragraph each to elaborate. There's also 'bad' advise that doesnt get edited away on topics ('bad' as in it may simply be the case that it was the right thing at the moment but there was eventually a more 'correct' method discovered later and the original 'bad' one is still reposted for whatever reason)
I could copy the posts onto the wiki verbaitm, but you really should have the poster's permission, what if the poster isnt active? It would be a bad idea to paraphrase advise/guides without context, what if you remove an important small detail. The right way to be to frequent the device and get context, but that triples the amount of work to do so properly.
It's no secret that there's always users that refuse to read topics and simply skip straight to posting repeat questions. Short pages with clear instructions are much easier to recommend then having them read though dozens and dozens of posts (which they skipped as they posted without reading in the first place)
Discussions dont really work on a wiki, esp one without consistant-repeat (or even repeat) editors. There's a fair amount of edits for various devices, but there are obviously more devices then editors. Lets walk though it: I want to make an edit, do I post it on the topic's talk page? Short of doing so on wikipiedia proper on a popular change, you wont recieve much feedback.
Do you make a post on each of their device's forums? XDA has sub-forums for each device, but not really a sub-forum for the family itself (back to the SGS/SGS2, there's the main device's subforum and each varient's subforum but none for the entire family, i think) That means making dozens of posts to talk about each major change.
What if it's an old device such as the winmo devices? The HTC HD2 is the only one left on the active part of the xda forums, because it's obviously not just a winmo device now. You're going to have to wait a very long time as they naturally only get a couple posts a month now.
Just as much, unless a mod/admin states to the contrary, you can always assume Wikipedia:Be Bold is implied to apply. I honestly have no issue if my edits are reverted if they are constructive reverts, as that's how wikis work.
If anyone has a issue with the edits I make, you're welcome to discuss it with me and hopefully we'll find a middle road.
Also I've made a reply on User_talkaveShaw#Page Name & Categories (as a fun note: & is translated to _.26_ in links while / isnt, though mediawiki has no issue with either of them, though you cannot directly use & in page names while you can use /) You should read it if the critisim is directed towards me.
tl;dr prove me wrong, Be Bold, help make the wiki better
Edit: HTC_HD2 - NexusHD2 ICS CM9 FAQ is an excellent example of why things should be on the wiki as articles instead of just merely links to a thread. It's about 3 pages of topic points and contains the majority of the topic points instead of having to read 225 (currently) pages to get the same info. (Also, just as much if I inadvertently remove valid content, revert/add it back! That was not my intention, everyone makes mistakes. The xda wiki is pretty well off in that it has little/no intentional vanadalism, you can always assume an edit is in good faith, I dont recall more then 1-2 legitamitely bad edits in nearly a year)
I've asked someone to look at Request 1.
I'm not sure what can be done about Request 2, if people don't want to maintain it, we can't make then
Thanks!
I dont really expect req 2 to be fullfilled in any real manner. Just pointing it out.
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
TheManii said:
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our server admin has told me this has been done.
Dave
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
TheManii said:
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Dave

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