I am developing with the Nexus S, and would like to know if there is a way I can access\modify the drivers on this device? I may be looking into building my own device, however if there is a way I can use an existing phone first to try this out would be helpful.
Yes, there is a non-hack official method by which you can unlock the Nexus S bootloader to install your own build from AOSP sources, or from one of the community-developed roms.
I'd suggest installing something built from unmodified sources to verify that you have the process down before you change anything. You will also want that as a snapshot to go back to if your break something in your changes.
You may not need to replace the entire ROM; depending on what you want to change you might be able to just install a custom kernel and/or add some loadable modules and change a few related startup scripts using root access (which you would presumably achieve somewhere along the way).
Google and Samsung made the kernel for the Nexus S available a while back: https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/samsung
Not sure what exactly you're looking for, but the drivers directory should get you started.
Related
I have an old Android Wiko Ufeel, which I use as as a secondary tablet.
The hardware and battery are still usable, but most of the apps
don't support Marshmallow any more.
I have tried to follow how to upgrade manually by following the links below, but I cannot follow them. They are not clear for me.
https://www.alphr.com/google/google-android/1001643/how-to-upgrade-from-android-lollipop-to-android-6-marshmallow/
https://www.easeus.com/android-data-recovery/upgrade-android-os-from-lollipop-to-6.0-marshmallow.html
Can I upgrade this with the Android studio by installing the standard Android?
Is there a link which tells how?
I cannot find with google.
I am not sure if you are on the right stack.
If I understood well, you're looking to upgrade the Firmware of your mobile phone.
Well, first of all, it is not possible to do that through Android Studio.
To uprgade a phone there is 3 ways to do that :
The more secure one, as written on the website you linked : the OTA (Over The Air) updates :
This method checks the compatible firmware with the actual one and tries to install the new Android version without deleting your data.
It is possible to do that by going through "Settings => Phone Informations => Check for updates"
If no update found, you may need to go to the 2nd option or 3rd option.
Warning : For the next methods, you loose the warranty, and once the new OS installed, all old data would be erased
A less secure one (may damage the phone) : is to download manually an official firmware from a website who can provide the latest firmware Android version for your device.
To do so, you may need to activate first developers option from the phone :
Go to Phone informations
Tap multiple times on the "Version Number", some phone they may need you to tap on the "Kernel version". You can check websites for that, and can see anyway a popup saying "need only 3 Taps to go"
Go to Settings again and activate developers options.
Enable the "OEM Unlock"
After that, with a USB cable, activate the download mode on your phone, and (I may be old fashioned) I used Odin. You can follow the tutorial of the website who provides you the firmware on how to put it on Odin.
The last method very insecure and instable one, is to look for a customized firmware. As reference, I used a lot LineageOS.
For this method, you will need also to activate the OEM unlock (no need to say all the steps again), download the firmware, same thing about Odin, but the most difference is you will probably need to install the gapps (google apps) package manually (they are also in the tutorials).
So as the titles suggests, I have a device whos bootloader is unlocked and adb has root access. Running android 7.0.
Custom recovery isnt an option as there is no TWRP for this android device so I am looking to both root the OS as well as flashing gapps and cant figure it out.
Does anyone have any suggestons on how I can install and update su and install gapps over adb shell?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You did not say what device you're using, but the following approach should be universal to all devices. Note that i do not take responsibility of what you do with your phone. Flashing wrong images can result in soft- or hard-bricks, so take care. But on the other hand, this method is rather popular and works for a lot of people, so i would suggest to try it out.
First of all, there were files which were called cf-auto-root files. With them you can easily root your phone.
Since the cf-auto-root provider has beeen superseded by firmware.mobi this method has become even easier. So if you visit https://desktop.firmware.mobi/, you can select your device, select the proper firmware and then configure a package which contains the firmware and the auto-root file. Now just donwload this file.
I could explain how you have to go on from this point, but the .zip archive contains literally everything you need. Just follow the steps inside the README.txt.
Once you got your phone rooted, there are several approaches to flash things like gapps without the need of a custom recovery. Just google for apps with such options, e.g. "Flashify" or "FlashFire". Just take the app which fits your needs best.
If you actually don't know where you can get flashable gapps archives, visit http://opengapps.org/.
Last tip: If you got your phone bricked, just try to flash your firmware agian via ODIN (without auto-root i would suggest), to restore everything to "default".
I want to be able to develop and immediately run android apps on my device. I've played with sl4a and a bluetooth keyboard, but the app and ide weren't designed for what I want to do with them. what are my options?
clarification: I want a mobile dev env that doesn't involve any computer (other than my android device). I'd like a simple code editor, like emacs or scite ideally, and some kind of complete interpreter or compiler for the full android api that runs on the device. I'm dreaming, clearly, but how close can I get to that today?
I've gotten Vim working really well in ConnectBot on my Milestone. I needed root privileges because of where I put the files, but you might be able to find a work around without it.
See this link:
Native Vim for Android
See also my comment after the post. I've got $HOME setup on my sdcard, and a bunch of Python plugins and colorschemes in ~/.vim/ and everything just works.
Of course this requires you to be comfortable working in Vim... I've gone back and forth with it several times in the past. It is very strange, but once you pick up a few habits and figure out its odd vocabulary it is very nice to use!
I got a pure python version of Mercurial working on Android too. It was a pain, but now I can push and pull code from my repositories and keep my /sdcard/sl4a/scripts/ folders in sync with my latest changes. I documented some of what was necessary in a bug report to py4a.
Canonical just announced that they will be bringing Ubuntu to android devices. Hopefully this will help....
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/21/ubuntus-full-desktop-os-coming-to-multi-core-android-devices/
Like FrinkTheBrave said, you can use an ide (Eclipse is perfect, because of the Android Development Tools, but you could use any other program.
If you work on Windows, and after installing the USB driver, you only need to plug your phone to the usb and hit Run (or debug), and Eclipse will copy the apk into your Android and start running. It takes less than 5 seconds.
If you work on a Mac, you don't need to install anything, just plug in the phone and it works =D.
Well, in Linux it is a bit more complicated (though not impossible, I actually work with Linux), but you can still develop there =).
Cheers
BIG BIG EDIT
I've seen today just what you asked few time ago. Here, take it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui It's obviously hard to type on a smartphone, but it could do the trick on an EEEPad transformer. Have a good day
I'm not sure about developing on Android, but you can use one of the sdks available to write your code, then copy the apk onto the device via usb and install and run it.
It takes less than a minute from saving the source code to running on the target hardware.
I use the sdk at developer.android.com and eclipse on windows xp, and use AndroZip on my phone to install the sdk. simples ;-)
I've not looked into using usb debugging, but that could be even better.
I am looking generally in to Android development.
I keep seeing information on root however I am unclear how this relates to general android app development.
I understand that there is an emulator however when I get to actually test the software on a phone does that phone have to be a rooted device or is this only required if you wish to edit the core features of the os?
Finally are there are any development disadvantages to rooting the device such as that is no longer behaves like other android phones I may deploy too?
Thank you
You don't need root to develop for Android.
The easiest setup is to run Eclipse with the Android Development Tools installed. Then, you can debug your application in the emulator, or register your phone with the SDK and debug directly on your phone. The only thing you need to do on your phone is check the development mode under Settings -> Applications
I can understand the allure of having a rooted device, but I can't really see a reason for changing the bootloader or os binaries. You can, however, change most of the default applications (including the Home application) with other applications available on the Market. For instance, OpenHome is about $5 and allows you to replace the home app, add themes, and replace many of the core apps (e.g. clock).
Rooting is only required, if you want to play around with advanced features or update your firmware, etc.
If you develop your software using the Android SDK you will be able to use it on your phone regularly (as long as you have the corresponding version). No rooting needed.
I have never heard of any problems according to your concerns. But I cannot deny that there are none. Though I personally don't expect that there are any problems with rooted phones.
On the Nexus S running Android 2.3, the /data folder is not visible in the DDMS File Explorer or the ADB shell, but it is visible in the emulator. This occurred with debug turned on in both the manifest and on the phone. I confirmed that debug mode was properly enabled by successfully stepping through the app using breakpoints and also by receiving messages from logcat.
Not being able to see the /data folder means that you will not be able to get your application's private data.
Where do I copy the apk file on the Motorola Droid? Which directory? Are there any possible issues I need to be careful of, it's also my personal phone...
To install an apk file, you need to execute
adb install /path/to/file.apk
While the droid is connected. I would avoid using any programs other an adb to install your application. adb will definitely follow the rules and you should be able to clean things up, etc if something goes wrong. That may not be the case with other programs.
I should note, this is assuming you are writing the program yourself. adb is a program that comes with the Android development kit (I assumed you are using this as this is a programming related site. If you are not referring to this and you are simply trying to install a program on your phone, this question would probably be better on superuser.com)
Edit To address your comment. When you select "run" from eclipse, and you have your droid plugged in, it should give you the option to select which device you want to execute the code on. Double clicking on your droid will automatically install and launch the app. You may need to enable the development settings within the Settings menu though for it to be recognized. To confirm that eclipse (really it's adb) can see your droid, launch a terminal or command prompt and type adb devices while the droid is connected. If it's listed there, you're good to go.
I guess I was making it way more complicated than it needed to be. If you have eclipse with the Android plug-in, all you need to do is go into the settings of the phone, then applications, then development. Set the Debug mode to on. when you compile the app with eclipse I guess it looks for an actual phone first, if it detects it, then it loads the app on it. If no phone is detected and you have the ADV set up right it loads it there. Easy... There is a setting about unsigned apps in the application menu, I set it to accept and turned it off after, my apps are still on the phone and work... I am not sure if it was needed at all.
I don't know whether this is how you're supposed to do it, but get Astro File Manager, and you can install your app wherever you place it.
There shouldn't be anything you need to be careful of if it isn't rooted. Programs are pretty well contained and can't do much outside of their own little Dalvik machine.