Howto: Encode Video for the Android G1 with Avidemux using Windows/Ubuntu/Linux/MacOSX

Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Filed under Convert video to Android G1, Howto, Video Encoding | 3 Comments

Well I searched all over for a solution on encoding video on the G1, everything I ran across was for the windows platform which I really dont care for any more since im a Ubuntu Guru, see ubuntu-unleashed.com
Within a debian/ubuntu distro simply:
apt-get install avidemux
Or For other linux distro's, Windows, MacOSX click here for Avidemux for your specific os

Open any video you want to encode for you G1 Via "Open"

Video Configuration:
Anyways Install Avidemux, then click on the video dropdown on the left and select MPEG-4 ASP (lavc)
Then Click Configure->Encoding Mode->Single Pass - Bitrate
Enter in any bitrate up to 384 to be safe, then click ok.
Now click Filters->MPlayer Resize->Double Click on it->
Width:480
Height:270
Click Ok, then close.

Audio Configuration:
Ok I heard that mp3/lame worked but i tried and it failed with the "Video Player" app, so what works is this:
Click Audio->AAC (FAAC)
Configure->Bitrate 96

Now Click Format->MP4

Click Save and specify a name.mp4 for your video, then once its done encoding, plug in your G1 via USB and transfer the video to your G1, I made a folder called "Videos", the name doesn't matter.

Anyways I hope this works for you, I would suggest downloading a sample xvid video and experimenting, let me know how things go!

Howto: Tether your Android G1 phone with iptables (no proxy needed)

Filed under Howto, Tether your android G1 phone | 4 Comments

First grab the iptables binary for you G1:
Download Here
Then push the binary to your android G1 device:
./adb push iptables /data/local/iptables
Now lets mount /system read/write and copy iptables to /system/bin/iptables
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cat /data/local/iptables >/system/bin/iptables
chmod 4755 /system/bin/iptables

Now Disable wifi menu->settings->Wireless Control's Then Uncheck wifi

Either use ./adb Shell or telnet or Terminal Emulator to issue these commands, it is preferrable to use a telnet shell or ./adb with the SDK because you can copy/paste faster:

insmod /system/lib/modules/wlan.ko

wlan_loader -f /system/etc/wifi/Fw1251r1c.bin -e /proc/calibration -i /system/etc/wifi/tiwlan.ini

cd /data/local/tmp
wpa_supplicant -f -Dtiwlan0 -itiwlan0 -c/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf &

sleep 5
ifconfig tiwlan0 192.168.2.30 netmask 255.255.255.0
ifconfig tiwlan0 up

We just used a static ip, so make sure to change your ip to a ip in your lan:

Now lets enable/configure ip forwarding
iptables -I FORWARD -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -I FORWARD -s 192.168.2.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD DROP

iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING -s 192.168.2.0/24 -j MASQUERADE

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Howto: Prevent Future OTA Updates on Your Android G1

Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008
Filed under Hacking The Android G1, Howto | Leave a Comment

First Get r00t
Then Follow these directions
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Then move the otakeys.zip file which prevents the update:
mv /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip.nothankyou
That one line will move the otakeys to a location the updater can't
check for it - and once the OTA update is downloaded, it will be unable
to apply.

Howto: Install the Latest Mod RC30 Update!

Filed under Hacking The Android G1, Howto, RC30, Root Android G1 | 5 Comments

Well Google/T-Mobile is sending out a brand new RC30 update and you will be screwed out of root access if you install it, here is step by step directions to keep your r00t access to your G1:

First…. You need to install a google android usb driver so you can use the adb program. (It lets you push and pull files to/from the phone, and you can open up a shell with it to).

(you dont need to do this if your in linux)

Download the driver file (http://dl.google.com/android/android_usb_windows.zip) and
unzip it to the desktop.

On ur G1… Go menu > Settings > Applications > Development then enable the
USB debugging button.

Then connect your Android device via USB. When the Found New Hardware Wizard
appears, you'll be asked if you'd like Windows Update to search for software,
select No, not this time and click Next. Select Install from a list or specified location
and click Next. Select Search for the best driver in these locations. Browse and
select the unzipped file (android usb windows.zip). Click Finish.



Second…. Setting up the SDK

Go to http://code.google.com/android/download_list.html and download the
SDK

Make a folder called SDK on the desktop

Unzip the files to the folder SDK

Open your command prompt (Windows Key and R)

Type “cmd” (Without the quotations)

Then “cd sdk”

Next “cd tools”

Now type “adb devices

After that it should say some thing like… List of devices attached HT845GZ21370
Device. If u see this abd sees your device.


Third…. Writing JesusFreke’s Recovery image

Download the zip file from this thread... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=443041)

Unzip the files to the SDK tools folder

Now, in the command window, type
"adb push recovery_testkeys.img /data/local/recovery.img"
(This will copy the recovery image files to the phone)


Fourth…. Get Root working on ur G1

Download the Android Telnet Client from the Market or get it here…
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/11/...et-client.html

Turn on your phone's WiFi. This gives your phone an IP you can reach it at.

Restart your phone

Once restarted type telnetd at the home screen and press enter – Yes….. it will
start up a Contact search, do not worry about this, just type “telnetd” and press
enter (the enter button on the keypad).

Now press connect to localhost……. (You now have root!)

Now put in this command….
“mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system”

Then “cd /system”

Then “cat /data/local/recovery.img > recovery.img”

Finally “flash_image recovery recovery.img” (Your Recovery Image is no writen)

*To make sure your Recovery Image was written…. Reboot your phone in Recovery
mode and press Alt+L. At the top it should say "using test keys" If so its written. Go
ahead and Reboot your phone by pressing the Home and Back buttons.*

Fifth…Apply JesusFreke’s modified RC30

Go here http://rapidshare.com/files/162035634/update-RC30-fullupdate-modified-testkeys-v1.1.zip and Download the ZIP

Now once the ZIP is downloaded rename it to “UPDATE”

Put it on the storage card

Last but not least Reboot you phone in recovery

Press Alt+L (to turn on text)

Press Alt+S (to update)

And Bam you have yourself a modded RC30 G1 !!!!!!!!

Complements to usmc2k for writing this howto

Friendfeed Iphone and Real-Time Works in the g1 Browser

Posted on Sunday, November 9, 2008
Filed under Apps, Friendfeed on your Android G1, Howto | Leave a Comment

I love friendfeed, as you see I have an embeded widget on the sidebar of my site, im so glade I can keep up with friendfeed via the iphone interface and also view the realtime ajax feed, here is how:

Open these links within your browser, bookmark them for future use:
Friendfeed iphone iface

Friendfeed Realtime feed

Howto: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Client On your Android G1 phone!

Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008
Filed under androird irc client, Apps, Howto, irc on android | Leave a Comment

w00t just figured this out, now we don't have to wait for a android g1 irc client, just head over to www.mibbit.com and login to any irc network from there! Or you can Bookmark this post with your g1 for a better optimized client for your g1 screen!

Howto: Reboot your Android G1

Filed under Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

To reboot simply press the Green Call Button + Menu + Off (Red) Key

Howto: Prevent OTA Update for the G1 Phone to retain Root access

Posted on Friday, November 7, 2008
Filed under Hacking, Howto | 3 Comments

OTA updates are all cryptographically signed to prevent you from spoofing the update and installing something on your phone that you shouldn't. Ironically, this signature checking makes it relatively easy for you to prevent OTA updates from being applied once you have gotten root access on your phone.

To prevent OTA updates, you can simply move the otakeys.zip file from the expected location to another location on your device.

mv /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip.nothankyou

That one line will move the otakeys to a location the updater can't check for it - and once the OTA update is downloaded, it will be unable to apply.

Note, however, the OTA update will say "failed" and then immediately restart downloading it once the signature check fails - so this fix is less than ideal but will at least prevent you from waking up one day to a phone that doesn't love you as much as it did the day before.

It should also be noted that the "recovery mode" of the phone does NOT use the otakeys.zip to check for the signature - currently it uses a compiled-in list of signatures to check for - so moving the otakeys.zip has no effect at all on doing an SD Card update.

Original content for this was originally found here

Tether Your Android G1 to Your Laptop or PC with Tetherbot

Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2008
Filed under Tethering, Tips and Tricks | 2 Comments

This is an experimental SOCKS proxy and Port Bouncer that should allow you to connect your laptop to the internet using the internet connection (EDGE, 3G or Wifi) of your T-Mobile G1 Cellphone.

Installation

Read the bit above about no warranty again. This shouldn't damage your phone, but if it does, it's your own fault!

• Install the app on your android phone, by clicking here (from your phone browser of course)
  You might have to change your settings to permit apps that don't come from the Google Market by going to your home screen and choosing MENU > Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources.
• Turn USB debugging on on your phone
  On your G1 go to the home screen, press MENU > Settings > Applications > Development, then enable USB debugging.
• Follow the instructions here to install the Android driver - you'll need to do this on Windows & Linux but apparently not on the Mac.
• Download and install the Android SDK for your computer platform. Alternatively if you are on Windows and don't want a 100 meg download, just get the ADB utility from here
• Plug your phone into your computer

Using the Socks Proxy

The SOCKS proxy will let you connect things like firefox to the internet

• Choose Tetherbot from your phone's menu
• Press the "Start Socks" button on your phone
• Move to the directory that has the adb utility, using inside the Sdk Tools folder and run

  Windows: adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080
  Linux/Mac: ./adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080
  

• Now you should have a socks proxy running on port 1080 that you can use to configure firefox
• Set your firefox proxy : Options > Advanced > Network > Manual Proxy Configuration

  Socks Proxy: localhost
  Port: 1080
  

  Leave the others blank
• Remember to disable your proxy settings in firefox if you want to stop using your phone.

Using the Port Bouncer

The port bouncer will let you connect to a single port on a remote host. This works well if you need to establish an SSH tunnel to your home machine.

This should work for TCP only vpns (openvpn can be configured in this mode) but it wont work for Microsoft PPTP (because it's GRE based) or most typical openvpn setups (because they are UDP based).

• Choose Tetherbot from your phone's menu
• Enter the hostname of the server you wish to connect to on your phone
• Enter the port you wish to use
• Press the "Start Tunnel" button on your phone
• Move to the directory that has the adb utility, using inside the Sdk Tools folder and run

  Windows: adb forward tcp:4444 localabstract:Tunnel
  Linux/Mac: ./adb forward tcp:4444 localabstract:Tunnel
  

• Now you should have a tunnel connecting from port 4444 on your local host to the port on the host of your choice
• To establish an ssh connection, type something like

  ssh -p 4444 user@localhost
  

  and you should be routed through to the server in question

Howto: Install Non-Market (.apk) Apps on your Android G1

Filed under Apps, Howto, Tips and Tricks | 7 Comments

Steps:

1. Download and install the Google Android SDK. The tool you need is adb.exe. Just typing adb in a command shell will display all the options. I'm not going to cover adb in detail, it's the SDK tool you use to install applications and interface with the device.

http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html

2. Download the USB driver for Windows. You need it for adb to inteface with an actual device using the included USB cable. Install it later after connecting the G1 to your computer using the USB cable.

http://dl.google.com/android/android_usb_windows.zip

3. Go to Settings/SD card & phone storage and disable Use for USB storage. You can enable it again later after you installed your third-party application.

4. Go to Settings/Application settings and enable Unknown sources.

5. Connect the G1 to your computer using the USB cable and install the driver you downloaded in step 2. After installing the driver you should see ADB Inteface in Windows Device Manager.

6. If you made it this far, download the APK file to a local folder on your computer, something like C:\MyAPKs will work fine and install it using ADB. The command would be adb install c:\myapks\ and that's about it.

Android G1 iTunes Remote Control

Filed under Apps | Leave a Comment

The Digital Audio Control Protocol (DACP) was recently introduced by Apple, and is built into all recent iTunes™ versions. DACP is the protocol used by the Remote app on the iPhone/iPod Touch to remote control your desktop or laptop iTunes player.

DACP is similar to the well-known DAAP, using Bonjour MDNS to find libraries, then using HTTP requests with binary responses to transfer data. After a few days in front of packet dumps, I have most of DACP decoded.

With the protocol now reverse engineered, I wrote an Android client in about a week. Now you can remote control your iTunes from your new Android phone when it arrives later this year. This works out of the box without installing any extra software on your PC or Mac. Here's a quick video in action on the emulator:

Android iTunes Remote Control from Jeffrey Sharkey on Vimeo.

The Android app uses the MjDNS Java library for all Bonjour handshaking, and the icon is a mashup of several icons from the Tango Desktop Project. Here are some still screenshots:

MobiLogger - Mobile Blogging tool for your Android G1

Filed under Apps | 4 Comments

MobiLogger is a mobile blogging tool for the Android platform. It's main design principles are:

* Do one thing (mobile blogging) and do it well
* No matter where your blog is hosted, it'll be editable with MobiLogger
* Simpler is better

Basically, you just install MobiLogger, configure your blog(s) to MobiLogger and start writing. Currently, MobiLogger is in it's first public release so don't expect it to do eveything. But it's constantly improving!


Release 2008.2 feature highlights:

* Supported blog interfaces or services:
o Blogger/Blogspot
o Wordpress weblogs
o Metaweblog api (Drupal and various other CMSs)
o LiveJournal
* Basic yet capable rich text editing features
* Save entries locally and post when connected
* Easy to use

Download to your phone from here

MobiLogger Readme
Follow the project and submit bug reports here

Howto: Install Android Apps(.apk) Via your Android G1 Browser

Filed under Apps, Howto | Leave a Comment

Here is a nice Youtube Video that shows you how to download/install non-market apps on your G1:

ConnectBot SSH (Secure Shell) client for your G1

Filed under Apps | Leave a Comment

ConnectBot is a Secure Shell program for the Android platform. Its ultimate goal is to create a secure connection through which you can use a shell on a remote machine and transfer files back and forth to your phone.

Available in Android Market

The latest stable version of ConnectBot is available in the Android Market. If you want to run the development versions, you can follow these quick steps to getting ConnectBot working on your new G1 Android phone:

1. Enable outside-of-Market applications. Go into Settings, Applications, and enable the "Unknown sources" option.

2. Uninstall any old versions. Go into Settings, Applications, Manage Applications. Look through the list for ConnectBot and uninstall if it's there. or From from your desktop console, type ./adb -d uninstall org.connectbot

3. Install the new version. Open your G1 browser to this page and download one of the APKs shown on the right. Tap on the download when it's done and follow the instructions to install the app. or From your desktop console, download an APK and type ./adb -d install [filename].apk

Here is the current development version as of the date of this post

For Developer Updates/Bug reports check here

Some Command Line Apps for your Android G1

Filed under Apps, Hacking The Android G1 | Leave a Comment

Here are some statically linked android apps for your Android G1 that work in the command line once you get root access.

If you dont already have root access click here

Once root and your /system is writable via the instructions on the above link you can download these files to your /system directory

Bash Borne Again Shell
BusyBox Busy Box
GdbServer
SSH Client
SSH Server

Make sure you then chmod the files once in /system:
chmod 4755

MultiReader - PDF and Word Viewer for Your Android G1

Filed under Apps, g1 pdf reader, pdf reader, pdf viewer | 7 Comments

*update* HTC's Pdf Viewer and HTC QuickOffice is added to dudeoflife's latest roms which is much better than any other pdf viewer, more info on flashing roms can be found here

This application can read for you Word, PDF, text document (more formats to come : RTF format currently in dev.) Once TTS (text to speach) will be available on Android, I wil enable speach in the application

Why use MultiReader ?
- Can be used in cars/plain/plane to prepare for business presentation,...
- Can be used in assimilating information, ie. foreign languages, training techniques.
- Can be used in place of lengthy books.
- Can be used in public transportation. Instead of wasting your time, you could learn something. Without bringing big, heavy books / reading on small PDA screens.
- Can be used simultaneously with routine household tasks, such as cooking.
- Can be used to review for an exam.

In general : Use it as you would read a book.

Download Here with your G1

Root your Android G1 Phone and install Busybox on it!

Posted on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Filed under Apps, Hack the G1, Hacking | 3 Comments

As you seen before this post I have managed to gain root on the G1 phone, in the mean time their has been easier steps on getting root, and installing busybox...

Here are the steps you can take:

1. Download and install a terminal emulator on your phone. (Click here for Term.apk)
2. Make sure your phone is not connected to your PC and open up the Terminal Emulator and run 'telnetd'
3. Now telnet into your phone from your PC (run 'netstat' in the terminal emulator to get the phone's IP)
4. In the telnet terminal you are now root!

5. (optional) To permanently enable root access you can create an "su" command in /system/bin (Warning: creating su on your system could make you vulnerable to malicious software. You could name it something besides su, but you could still be vulnerable):

Now once that is all done download http://www.billrocks.org/android_libs/bin/busybox to the sdcard, then do:

cat /sdcard/busybox >/system/bin/busybox

chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox, now you can execute hundreds of busybox commands like a full linux shell!

Howto: Get ROOT on your Android G1 and Telnet to your phone!

Posted on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Filed under Hacking, Hacking The Android G1, Tips and Tricks | 7 Comments

Grab pTerminal from the market, reboot your phone, open pterminal quickly, cd to /system/bin/
then enter telnetd 2 or 3 times, then type telnet "your phone ip"

Take a look:
kyle@ion:~$ telnet 192.168.0.88
Trying 192.168.0.88...
Connected to 192.168.0.88.
Escape character is '^]'.
# id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root)
# cd proc
# cat version
Linux version 2.6.25-01843-gfea26b0 (android-build@apa27.mtv.corp.google.com) (gcc version 4.2.1) #6 PREEMPT Mon Oct 6 14:13:36 PDT 2008

Howto: Get Command Line on your G1, kill processes and more!

Posted on Monday, November 3, 2008
Filed under Apps, command line | 3 Comments

First grab pTerminal via the app market, then run "ps" without the quotes, then you can issue the standard kill command like so:
kill 797

Note: 797 is a test process identifier, so you'll need to see the pid with the ps command.

So far I have been able to use these commands:
# cd /system/bin
# ls
rmdir
dmesg
renice
dumpcrash
rm
reboot
printenv
dd
ps
date
notify
cmp
netstat
chmod
mv
cat
mount
wipe
mkdosfs
watchprops
mkdir
wpa_supplicant
wpa_cli
wlan_loader
toolbox
telnetd
vmstat
system_server
svc
surfaceflinger
ssltest
lsmod
sh
servicemanager
service
sdutil
sdptool
rild
umount
radiooptions
qemud
pm
playmp3
ls
ping
netcfg
mountd
monkey
mediaserver
logwrapper
top
logcat
linker
itr
installd
log
input
htclogkernel
hostapd_cli
hostapd
hcid
hciattach
sync
flash_image
fillup
dvz
dumpsys
ln
dumpstate
dhcpcd
dexopt
debuggerd
debug_tool
dbus-daemon
stop
dalvikvm
app_process
am
akmd
kill
start
ioctl
smd
insmod
sleep
iftop
setprop
ifconfig
setconsole
id
sendevent
hd
schedtop
getprop
route
getevent
rmmod
df

Android J2ME MIDP RUNNER (Beta V1.2) is Officially OUT

Filed under Apps | Leave a Comment

Now you can run Opera Mini on your G1! w00t, not only that but you will be able to run jmirc a j2me irc client.

Either open the App Market and find j2me runner or download here

Developers site here

Howto: Tether Your G1 to your PC or laptop

Filed under Apps, Howto, Tethering | 7 Comments

What is this?

Updated howto: here

This is a HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL proxy application that should allow you to browse the web via a USB connected T-Mobile G1.

Use at your own risk!

This does seem to be pretty slow when relaying the EDGE data network, however i think T-Mobile are having issues in my neighborhood tonight. I've done most of my testing on Wifi. There's no 3G network here yet, but there's no reason why it won't work.

What is this not?

It's not really a "tethering" app. Right now it only allows web access, you can't use it as a general purpose internet tool

I do think I can use this approach to tunnel SSH and maybe VPN traffic - so if you have your own server somewhere then it could come in pretty handy

Ok, I've read all the caveats above

Really..?

Yes... where do i start

• Install the app on your android phone, by clicking here (from your phone browser of course)
  You might have to change your settings to permit apps that don't come from the Google Market by going to your home screen and choosing MENU > Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources.
• Turn USB debugging on on your phone
  On your G1 go to the home screen, press MENU > Settings > Applications > Development, then enable USB debugging.
• Follow the instructions here to install the Android driver - you'll need to do this on Windows & Linux but apparently not on the Mac.
• Download and install the Android SDK for your computer platform. Alternatively if you are on Windows and don't want a 100 meg download, just get the ADB utility from here
• Plug your phone into your computer
• Choose Proxy App from your phone's menu
• Press the "Start Proxy" button on your phone
• Move to the directory that has the adb utility, using inside the Sdk Tools folder and run

  Windows: adb forward tcp:8080 localabstract:Proxy
  Linux/Mac: ./adb forward tcp:8080 localabstract:Proxy
  

• Now you should have a proxy server running on port 8080 of your own computer that will relay the information over the Android Debug Bridge to the Proxy App which will relay it on to the internet.
• Set your firefox proxy : Options > Advanced > Network > Manual Proxy Configuration

  HTTP Proxy: localhost
  Port: 8080
  

  Leave the others blank
• Enjoy the slow slow EDGE network, or let me know if you have glorious fast 3g coverage!
• Remember to disable your proxy settings in firefox if you want to stop using your phone.