Develop Bugs

Complete Guide To Hacking, Tweaks & Mods For PDAs

Hi
I have been on this forum for awhile since I got my first PDA (XDA II) about 2 years ago but only a few months ago did I register when I got tired of waiting for other people to ask questions for the answers that I wanted.
Now I have an XDA Orbit, and all of these new terms are popping up... such as USPL, CID, etc.
Because I took a long break from the forums I need to catch up with everything, and thats very difficult since its hard to make out what people are talking about and referring to when talking on the forums. I can't really comprehend what people are saying because they are talking about things that I dont know (lol). I have looked through the wiki and it doesnt explain everything, and the acronyms section doesnt contain much.
Although the WiKi is a fantastic place where people can share their ideas as a community, I was hoping that someone could maybe upload a guide such as a text file explaining everything, including terms, what certain things are used for, etc.
One thing that confuses me is that someone managed to get a leaked WM5 rom that 02 use to unbrick devices. From what I've heard dumped ROMs are exactly the same except they cannot bypass the bootloader.. could someone explain why this is? What would be the point of the dumped ROM if it cannot bypass the bootloader - surely you wouldn't be able to flash the ROM?
This is just one of many questions I have - but by having everything explained I hope to work out answers for myself using the knowledge gained from learning all these technical terms.
Thanks for your time.

Well, as much as I know...
CID = Country ID and is used to 'lock' the device to a certain country/vendor id so that any other ROM downloaded to the device would render it useless, sometimes this screws up the bootloader and 'bricks' the device... much like a sim-lock with other carriers, but more serious.
USPL = A program used to circumvent the CID lock by providing a temporary SuperCID, so that other ROMs can be flashed without the aforementioned bricking. It has to be flashed to the device before any 'exterior' ROM download.
These terms have all probably come about after the release of B&B4 ROM by tom coden, which I must say is brill!
Hope this helps,
Pete

Thanks for the info, CID locks I assume are being put on newer PDAs since the XDA II or XDA IIs didnt have these measures?

I would guess so, although I haven't added cooked ROMs to any other device as yet...

Sorry to scrutinise every answer (lol) but does 'cooked' mean that the extended ROM has been edited? or is that baked ROM?

Not being the expert on this I assume a cooked ROM to be one that has been put together, more likely meaning one that is not from the original vendor.
E.g. HTC cooked a ROM in the first place, then O2 edited it and cooked their own etc...
Anyone? Am I right?

well from how i have seen it used over the last few days since i joined, i was assuming "cooked" meant hand made or modified by someone other than the device vendor/manufacturer/Microsoft

Yeah pretty much!

Come on everyone to organize wiki
I agree that it is very hard to get into this... I have been studying for hours these late days...
I just read the 2 necessary steps for begginers:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=FAQ
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=BlueAngel_For_Beginners
I strongly recommend them!
back to the wiki... I think that we should be writting more there and try to be more organized and cross-linked.
Some kind of tree structure would help a lot.
Besides some topics (like the one for BA above) should be generalized to give basic ideas for all devices.
I am quite new to wikis but I feel that we should exploit/collaborate more this resource.
Regards.

Thanks for those links, they are very helpful! I managed to get a read of a few useful links aswell - they were in the Himalaya section...
Also, does anyone know how I can get rid of the notification that displays your balance after making/receiving a call?
e.g. Receive a call, talk or whatever, close the call, then the message: 'Your Balance Is £283.39' (lol just an example im not really that rich hehe) comes up. I was thinking I would have to tweak the registry to remove that..it must autodial the number that displays balance automatically after making a call.
Thanks

Backing Up Everything

Apologies if this appears elsewhere but I have looked without success. If it does then a link to the solution would be great.
Basically I found this site a few weeks ago and since then have been tinkering with my phone. I've tried various roms, added different programs, played about with the settings and so on. Today I have finally got it just how I want it. It is overclocked to run quickly but safely. The today screen is perfect. It contains everything I need including my huge list of contacts. And my theme is spot-on. However usually in life when everything is right something big and hairy appears out of nowhere and dumps on you. Its got to the point where I panic every time I turn it on just in case it crashes and I need to start all over again.
My question therefore is if anyone knows of a utility (or can give detailed instructions) to completely back up the phone. Right down to the user settings, theme and contacts. If possible maybe even to create a rom image of my phone so that if it does ever crash I can reinstall the whole thing from one simple file. I assume this sort of thing must be possible because Kavana and Ricky produce such wonderful roms with various programs, etc pre-installed.
Can it be done? And if so - can it be done by an enthusiastic amateur or do you need to be a tech guru? I should add I don't mind paying if I need to buy a piece of commercial software to achieve this.
GS

Did you even bother to search google for "smartphone backup" ? The very first link that comes up, takes you right to the software you say you need. I apologize for being harsh, but I hate the lack of common sense...

An option
Not sure about the cooked 6.1 Roms. Maybe someone else might know or have tried.
http://www.spritesoftware.com/
I use this and it's well worth it.

if u just mean the saved registry values and what not u can always export the registry so that way if u have to hard reset the phone or if a new amazingly wowlike rom is released and u NEED to flash u can always import the registry values of the chomes and it'll be the way u left it (thats what I do for my myfaves and my programs)

OrganicM said:
Did you even bother to search google for "smartphone backup" ? The very first link that comes up, takes you right to the software you say you need. I apologize for being harsh, but I hate the lack of common sense...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, and you are entitled to your opinion. however its replies like that which stop people making posts to forums like this. Everyone has to start somewhere, and one man's obvious "common sense" answer is another man's dilemma.
As for using google... yep I could have done that but google links to hundreds of pages, some owned by people trying to sell software which obviously means they won't be objective. Others have methods which could damage a phone and because I don't know the writers how do I know which methods to trust? Ergo I decided to come to site I know, with people whose technical knowhow I trust, and to search the forum and then ask them for advice. To me, that is common sense. Isn't that one of the reasons that places like this exist? So non techheads can ask guys like you for help?
No offence intended and, for what its worth, you are one of the guys whose advice on this forum has helped me countless times. So thank you for that no matter what. Without your posts I'd never have got this far in the first place! I mean that.
As for the other replies... thanks guys. I will look into the registry stuff. And I will certainly check out the software link. If I do find some info on google, I hope you folks will help me pick the best method to use and avoid bad advice.
Thanks again.
GS

Okay the Sprite software is perfect. And now I've checked it out maybe my question was a stupid one. Still, its nice to have a recommendation from an independent source. I've been burnt in the past by bad google advice.
Sorry if I've wasted anyone's time.
GS

explain please :)

Hi guys.
A noob here. Please be patient and just look trough my simple request.
I've got no clue on what spl, unsigned, signed, etc. word means.
I'm getting the diamond touch and wants it running as smooth as possible, but there are tons of different updates here which all says, do this spl, dont use unsigned, etc. So many different technical words that i have no clue on.
Is there a thread with some short explanations?
I'm not stupid so i should be able to read my way trough it and understand it. I just really want a fair chance of getting an update that suits my phone perfectly.

Suneee said:
Hi guys.
A noob here. Please be patient and just look trough my simple request.
I've got no clue on what spl, unsigned, signed, etc. word means.
I'm getting the diamond touch and wants it running as smooth as possible, but there are tons of different updates here which all says, do this spl, dont use unsigned, etc. So many different technical words that i have no clue on.
Is there a thread with some short explanations?
I'm not stupid so i should be able to read my way trough it and understand it. I just really want a fair chance of getting an update that suits my phone perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're happy with your device's performance then you don't really need to worry about what any of these things means
You should also use a more descriptive name for your post next time!!

Hi,
Also a noob... but I found all my answers here.
There you go:
http://modmydiamond.info/
From that simple tutorial you can take advantage from what the friends here do... =)

Thanks
Thanks for the url, will be checking it out.
I'm a noob to the mobile dev world, i'm used to code on windows. Just needed a quick intro.
Like people have been saying the accelerometer, was slow. Therefore interested in increasing the speed.

Advantages to rooting phone?

Hello all,
just wondering what the tangible advantages to rooting the Hero are...
Although theres much talk and joy regarding it, not much concrete information on what it actually allows you to do!
Cheers.

I, for example, needed root for installing HTC_CIME so I can use kanji recognition.

Maybe this thread is what you are looking for - lots of Info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=543940
Should maybe get stickied
Dayzz

dayzee.....
you wish is my command
and this thread is now closed

Learning ROM Development - Where to even begin??

So I’ve been a member here since the Droid X days and I’ve learned a lot over the years with each device I’ve had but I never really looked into creating ROMs (I always wanted to learn but never got to it).
I know it’s going to be a learning process that takes some time but I’m looking for help on where I should start. Before anyone posts a whole bunch of random looks I’ll say right now that I am a complete beginner when it comes to this stuff. I’ve looked at a bunch on threads and it’s so overwhelming being completely new so I don’t know what’s relevant and what’s not.
From the research I’ve done today I learned about a program called Android Kitchen which from my understanding was used to create and compile ROMs. From what I found it looks like the original dev stopped updating it back in 2013. In the ChefCentral>Android forum it looks like someone else took over and maintains it for Linux. I also came across a variant there called “Assayyed_Kitchen”. Is this the same program just made by someone else? I don’t know you tell me? lol
I also plan to learn some Java in the coming months and Android App development. I don’t have a huge interest in making apps right now but who knows maybe I will down the road. I just figured learning Java can only help with learning to make ROMs? Do I even need to know any of it for this kind of stuff?
So basically I’m looking for some guidance on where to start as a complete beginner in learning ROM development. Even someone taking the time to type out a few basic steps explains what the whole process even involves from start to finish would help a lot. For example..
1. Download source
2. Open in this program and blah blah
3. Do your magic and customize this and that
4. Do some more magic and pack it back up and flash
Just understanding the steps would make a huge difference because then I know what to research and what to learn. Hoping this thread gets some good info in it and maybe at some point I can create a complete noob friendly guide in the OP to help others like me who don’t know where to begin. To anyone that takes the time to reply and help out.. THANK YOU!

aholeinthewor1d said:
So I’ve been a member here since the Droid X days and I’ve learned a lot over the years with each device I’ve had but I never really looked into creating ROMs (I always wanted to learn but never got to it).
I know it’s going to be a learning process that takes some time but I’m looking for help on where I should start. Before anyone posts a whole bunch of random looks I’ll say right now that I am a complete beginner when it comes to this stuff. I’ve looked at a bunch on threads and it’s so overwhelming being completely new so I don’t know what’s relevant and what’s not.
From the research I’ve done today I learned about a program called Android Kitchen which from my understanding was used to create and compile ROMs. From what I found it looks like the original dev stopped updating it back in 2013. In the ChefCentral>Android forum it looks like someone else took over and maintains it for Linux. I also came across a variant there called “Assayyed_Kitchen”. Is this the same program just made by someone else? I don’t know you tell me? lol
I also plan to learn some Java in the coming months and Android App development. I don’t have a huge interest in making apps right now but who knows maybe I will down the road. I just figured learning Java can only help with learning to make ROMs? Do I even need to know any of it for this kind of stuff?
So basically I’m looking for some guidance on where to start as a complete beginner in learning ROM development. Even someone taking the time to type out a few basic steps explains what the whole process even involves from start to finish would help a lot. For example..
1. Download source
2. Open in this program and blah blah
3. Do your magic and customize this and that
4. Do some more magic and pack it back up and flash
Just understanding the steps would make a huge difference because then I know what to research and what to learn. Hoping this thread gets some good info in it and maybe at some point I can create a complete noob friendly guide in the OP to help others like me who don’t know where to begin. To anyone that takes the time to reply and help out.. THANK YOU!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is my blog on the topic. I've also got some interesting* Android Security Research on there that acts as a good Segway into reverse engineering, etc.
The one I am linking is for 6.0.x, and I'll be updating it to 7.x soon, though, the only real difference is the branch you checkout (you should understand what this means after reading my guide), and you'll need to install OpenJDK8 instead of the linked 7 (as 7.x requires this).
http://odste.blogspot.com/2016/04/guide-to-compiling-android-on-ubuntu.html