Rooting and installing CWM on Xperia mini pro ICS v4.0.4

I, nor any devs, whose work we are going to use, are responsible if anything goes wrong. Continue at your own risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This procedure is for sony xperia mini pro updated with official ICS v4.0.4. and is for people who dont want to unlock their bootloaders.

Before you start install PC companion and check whether the phone is detected by the sony pc companion. If it is detected then u already have the necessary drivers. You should not proceed if the phone is not detected.

1. Head here and follow the procedure step by step. Read the requirements and preparations very carefully any mistake here may definitely brick your phone. It is a great post and self contained. All the downloads required are excellently linked. Thanks to the dev for highlighting the procedure beatifully with illustrations. At the end of this procedure you have rooted the phone without unlocking the bootloader.

2. Now to the next default step after rooting any phone. Installing Clockworkmod Recovery. This is a part of the ROM manager. This gives you a recovery console, form where you can backup the current rom(Which you should be the first thing after installing CWM), Install custom ROMs(Google is your friend), Install great mods(These are minor modifications to the already installed roms, official or custom roms). Here is the tool you are going to use to install CWM on your rooted xperia mini pro. The tool is windows only and requires .net framework 3.5. Download the zip, extract it and run the .exe in the folder. You get a window as shown in the post. Click the 'select option' drop down box and choose 'clockwork mod....' and click on the install button. Read the instructions very carefully and meet all the requirement specified. Now you have CWM without unlocking the bootloader.

Thats it. Now you have entered the infinite area of customization of your phone just head here to find out the zillion things you can do with your rooted mini pro. Just observe the passion with which the devs give out their hardwork for the general public so that the utility of the device people have bought is maximised.

Thanks to all the devs and users at XDA, MIUI, AOKP and other Android modding communities for unleashing the real power of android phones and bringing this power to the masses.

Thanks to google for keeping the OS open(would love to see it GPL'd so that we could label it GNU/Android)

Enlightenment, aka E17 on Debian GNU/Linux testing

Its been  long time since I tried any other window manager. I gave a thought towards awesome, since it was recommended by the Debian leader himself. But I though it was too minimal to my taste and ability. I came across enlightenment being lightweight and with lots of eye candy. I am typing this in an e17 session on iceweasal. Let me share the problems and solutions to get this light weight DM started.

First things first. e17 is lightening. Within 2 seconds I am in the desktop. That is awesome. BTW, I also want to declare that I am a big fan of G3, which u might recognize by the other posts which I have made. But, the startup time taken by G3 with this version 3.2 on Debian GNU/Linux testing is eternity. So I decided to experiment with other DM's until G3 comes up to its G2.* capabilities. The screen shots of e17 really caught my attention.

Let us get to the installing part

1. E17 is in Debian GNU/Linux testing repositories. Fire up synaptic, select e17 and all the associated dependencies.
2. Create a new user, (prefereably)
3. Logout, select the new user and choose enlightenment in the session drop down box.
3.a. Once you login for the first time, You will be taken through 3 steps to configure e17. You will get a screen wherein you can choose the shortcuts to be placed on the desktop in the shelf.
4. Login and u will be given ur desktop in under 2 seconds.

After login

1. You get three icons on the desktop Home, Root and the temp folder
2. You also get a shelf at the bottom centre. I deleted the entire thing. It was taking up too much real estate on my 12" screen
3. My lappy's touchpad was not working. I used synclient to configure and enable it. create a shell script startup17.sh in your home folder. with the following

synclient tapbutton1=1
synclient vertedgescroll=1

Now create startupe17.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications/
with the following content

Desktop Entry]
Hidden=false
Exec=/bin/sh /home/nishi/Documents/startupe17.sh
Name[es_AR]=startupe17
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
Version=1,
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Name=startupe17



Now, edit ~/.e/e/applications/startup/.order and add this entry

startupe17.desktop

Since there are no shortcuts on the desktop to save real estate, in comes my favorite tool, synapse. Click anywhere on the desktop to get the menu. Here select settings-settings-panel-apps-startup choose synapse from the list(If installed previously, otherwise fireup synaptic and install synapse from the repos). This action will add synapse.desktop entry to ~/.e/e/applications/startup/.order

Now, the most interesting part, Network. If you have a working Gnome desktop(which i had), it is very easy. Loging to your Gnome session, open network manager choose your wifi connection and click on edit. Here at the bottom of the window, click on "Available to all users". Login back to your enlightenment session and add this entry to ~/.e/e/applications/startup/.order

nm-applet.desktop

Logout and login once more. Thats it. You now have a basic "working" E17, lightweight environment. Thanx again E17, G3, Debian GNU/Linux devs, contributors and users.

UPDATE: You are mesmerized with the quality and quantity of themes available for e, hmmm.... No surprises here. I would suggest you to install the bodhi theme pack. Bodhi GNU/Linux has done a great job by combining the best themes available for e, floating over the internet into one beautiful jumbo package. Thanx Bodhi GNU/Linux team for this gorgeous collection. Bodhi has made e look very very fashinable. Download the entire pack and you will end up with this pack "bodhi theme pack.bod" Now extract the entire contents of this megapack by running

./bodhi-theme-pack.bod --keep --noexec

You will have a directory with the name "bodhi theme pack". change into this directory and as root run

dpkg -i *.deb

You may end up with some broken dependencies. study the output of the above command and install the few dependencies manually after downloading the specific .deb's from bodhi repos. Or u can completely forget about the broken dependency error and start choosing from the great themes already installed.

I am enlightened for sure.

Debian GNU/Linux testing Gnome3 on a Dell lappy with ATI Graphics

This is for people having trouble having Gnome3 with its full glory without being dropped to the standby mode which is neither G3 nor G2 and very ugly. Try first installing the proprietory drivers offered by amd on their ati website. Please chose "gnome" while logging in. If not working, go ahead and try the proprietory bundle prepared by the Debian Gnu/Linux devs. For me the Debian GNU/Linux propreitory bundle worked flawlessly.  Through synaptic just search for "fgrlx" and select all the other dependencies to install. Reboot.

So, All Debian Gnu/Linux lovers, go ahead and feel the G3 goodness. G3 is very beautiful and unobtrusive. If you are interested in a little G2 way, like menus, a task bar at the bottom, then I would suggest you the official plugins hosted by the G3 devs. And installing the extension is a breeze. Just remember to open the website with a firefox(iceweasal) based browser. And one more thing, disable any other composting manager you had installed. It will conflict with the composting which is a part of G3.

Thanx to the Debian GNU/linux devs for packaging the ati propreitory drivers in a workable package. And thanx go to the G3 devs and the community for an excellent DE with the added luxury of extensions which is growing day by day.

Tivoization and freedom

What is Tivoisation. I would direct you to websearch for indepth explanation or the text of GPL V3 would be more suitable if you are reallllllly interested in this topic.

As a layman's explanation, Tivoisation is the situation where a hardware vendor though is in compliance with GPL v2(That is, the source code for the GPL'd code used in the hardware is released back to the community in the same license, you could call it the "firmware") does not allow the users or buyers of the hardware to flash the hardware with modified firmware compiled from the modified firmware source.

Let us say, U have bought a dvd player, whose firmware is built up completely of GPL'd software. Now, U download the source published by the dvd player manufacturer and put some programming effort in adding additional functions/capabilities to the existing ones. Yes, U have done a great job. Now u have to flash the device with this additional capability. But, stop, U cant do it. The manufacturer will not allow this and probably if you go ahead you will lose your warranty.

Now, there is one more side to this. A rival company wants to manufacture a similar dvd player. He gets the hardware pieces which are similar form standard vendors. He will take this improved/updated firmware created by the individual and flash his device with this. So, You have a dvd player with additional capability in the market for the same price.

Is this desirable. Yes. It is very much desirable. If the initial manufacturer had a broader view of the word "freedom" he would have accepted the changes and incorporated in all the dvd players and provide a free update to all the existing users. The world is an excellent place to live in. If he doesnt want to do it himself he should allow the programmer to flash his improvements on to the hardware. The user payed for the hardware also. He has all the rights to get the last drop of performance from his device. The manufacturer should not lock the device down for further improvements. The customer should have the right to modify/improve the device he has bought. The customer should be "free" to incorporate the improvements and also share the same with his friends and in turn upgrading his device also.

I am against Tivoization. I understand my device better. I know its capabilities. I know how its use can be extended. If I dont know my friend knows. I want to incorporate his improvements on my device. Its my device. I should be free to use it and improve it. Damn the warranty. I liked the way, RMS thought about the whole issue of tivoization. I know Linus torvalds doesnt like this. He wants the Linux kernel on the majority of platforms/devices. Time is the only answer to these disparity of views. I am happy that RMS detected these issues and added corrections in GPL v3.

"init: Id "co" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes" error in Debian GNU/Linux testing

I think many of the Debian GNU/Linux testing installations are getting this message. This is visible if your are using the terminal and gets repeated every 5 minutes. I have resolved this issue by commenting the line as shown below. As usual, i dont take credit for this. It is just a result of lot of googling of online forums

co:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty hvc0 9600 linux

search for the above line in /etc/inittab and comment it as

#co:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty hvc0 9600 linux

There you go. You will not recieve the message again.


P.S -> I have not seen any side effects as of now(been using my lappy with this change for the past two days). I will update if any issues are found. I would be happy to know if others do have an issue. Thanx to all the Debian GNU/Linux devs and users for a fantastic OS.

Gnome 3.2 extensions on Debian GNU/Linux testng

It is old news now that Gnome 3.2.2 is available for Debian GNU/Linux testing users. If you have not installed reload ur package manager and upgrade to version 3.2.2. So, what are the things you will like in this release

1. The response from the shell is lightning. It is very quick. Once you log into the shell, the responses to mouse clicks and keyboard short cuts is amazing.

2. Installation of extensions is now childs play with Gnome 3.2.2. It is as easy as 1-2-3. GO to https://extensions.gnome.org/  and click on your favorite extension. On this page and to the left of the title of the extension you have an ON/OFF switch. Just slide the button to ON and accept to install the extension in the pop up dialog. Thats it!!. The extension is installed. Repeat this step for all the extensions you would like to install. Then log out and re-login. You should be now running all the extensions you have installed. As a guide for the best extensions, I would point you to  http://justinstories.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/five-most-downloaded-extensions-of-awesome-gnome-shell/   

Thanx to the G3 devs for acknowledging the requirement of the community and supporting the extensions within their main framework and many thanx to all the devs of the awesome G3 extensions.


PS: The user theme extension is somehow disabled for 3.2.2. As per the G3 website it will be available in 3.3 and later. I, for one will wait.

Freedom of Expression, suppressed.

So, what is an objectionable content? How are we going to define the word "objectionable" A search on google gave out "Arousing distaste or opposition; unpleasant or offensive" as meaning. Was that objectionable to post meaning of this particular word since people(kids, adults alike and irrespective of gender) would know about it and start debating.

I have never used that particular word this much in my past. I am now seeing it and hearing it everywhere. They tell we should stop "users" from posting objectionable content about other "users" and ofcourse, the government. Now, what or who is "government" Government consists of the "users" and their representatives who are themselves once again, users .

It is like the hedge is trying to gobble up the farm. The reps are elected to see to it that the freedom of the "users" are intact and in fact, taken to the next level. Not bringing it to an inferior level. When the goverment is talking about objetionable content or "A" user is talking about objectionable content, what is the percentage of the entire population of the world which are asking this?

The governments "represent" the users but are not "all" the users. People form governments and in reality they are users. In this context they are "users" of the public network. The public network is entirely based on "complete and un-adulterated democracy" which is impossible to visualize in the physical world. We users have to stand up to protect this deomcracy. The virtual world crosses all boundaries and unites the whole world as one "monster user base".

Google and related public service providers would not like this because, their model thrives on this philosophy of democracy of the virtual world crossing the frontiers of countries and continents, united by purpose, education, hobbies and many other things which are beyond my comprehension. The public network is based on the true principle of democracy "Of the people, by the people and for the people"

Let us see the stakeholders in this hue and cry about objectionable content

1. Large enterprises
2. Governments run by the large enterprises
3. One particular insatance of  large enterprises consisting of Media conglomerates.

1. Why do large enterprises objet to "objectionable" content.
   The answer lies in the open standards adopted in the public networks. People can cross the strongest firewalls and circumvent them if they are that much interested in coming out with the truth. And does it travel at speed over the public network. In no time, the value of the enterprise changes. If it is a positive news it will escalate otherwise ........  So, if they are given rights of filtering objectionable content, it will be removed in the first instance and the world will never know about it.

2. Goverments run by large enterprises are pawns of the humongous enterprises with more cash than all the money collected if all people pay their taxes properly. The explanation of the previous paragraph holds good. The goverments are PROs for these enterprises. They find it difficult to adjust to the changing times and technology. They are in no mood of learning. They will decide what the public will learn. With the public network enabling knowledge to the general public at their finger tips, they are now face to face with an educated public.

3. The way the public accesses media has changed the time napster clicked with the general public. The democratic network showed the media companies, the model in which they would like the media to be served. The public is bored of putting a CD into the reader just to listen to 7 songs. We dont want to go to the stores and rumagage to come out with our favorite music or movie or books. We still love our movies to be king size(Theatres will never go out of style). But if we want entertainment in our house we want it in the digital form served over the pubbic network, searchable, indexable and what not. Do we want it on CD/DVD/Blue ray/.../.../... NO. We want it served as a media file. But wait, serving movies would work only in the developed countries where the public is not happy with "4G". It will not work in countries where network speeds are pathetic. How do we like it there? We would like it to be provided with bit-torrent tech, so that we donload it and then watch it. Do we want it to be DRM'd, NO. We want it to share with our friends, my sister, my brother, my neighbour, my watchman etc.. Do we want to arrange and index the physical discs, NO. We want u to do it for us. Will we pay for the content, YES. But if u charge exhorbitantly then the public will find means to circumvent this also. With this attitude we are back to square one.

THERE IS NO OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT ON THE PUBLIC NETWORK. THE CONTENT IS WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS. IT IS DEMOCRATIC AND PEOPLE HAVE THE FREEDOM TO "COMMENT". WE REQUEST ALL OUR REPS THROUGHT THE WORLD TO ALLOW THE PUBLIC NETWORK FREE OF "CENSORSHIP"