Database Develop

How to filter ads on your G1

You can find the latest version of this app on the slideme app store.
http://slideme.org/application/adfree
This is the old thread, I started a new thread in the general section => http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40759351
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Spoiled by ad free browsing on my normal desktop computer it became increasingly annoying seeing all the ads on my phone. However it's really easy to make them disappear, although you most likely will need root on the phone.
Download the hosts.txt file from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt, you may need to run dos2unix over the file to remote \r characters, rename the file hosts and copy it to /system/etc on your phone and say goodbye to most ads.
You may find the list to be imperfect, for example some feedburner URLs are "blocked" as a result which can screw with RSS feeds, although it's annoying giving too much info to Google but like everything else in life some things are a trade off.
If you want to root your phone, try this article.

Thanks for this!
As soon as I read the topic title I realised what you were doing and I never thought of it myself.
My hosts file was /etc/hosts though, not /system/etc/hosts

Dark X Dragon said:
As soon as I read the topic title I realised what you were doing and I never thought of it myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using this technique for a bit, just didn't think to post about it before did a quick search and noticed no one else had so thought I might as well
My hosts file was /etc/hosts though, not /system/etc/hosts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't seem to matter, I just checked the /etc dir and it has the same hosts file.

Actually, /etc is a symbolic link to /system/etc, so your hosts file is really at /system/etc -- however, accessing the file through either path is equivalent.

Ha ha hosts exists on android!? I had no idea. I'm also a spoiled ad-less pc user. This is great. Thanks.
If you can't download the file above (it appears as text in browser), replace .txt with .zip at the end of the url. This will download the zip file which u can later unzip with an unzip app in the market.
Ok. I can't paste over the original hosts file using the phone? Astro and lynda file managers don't do it for me. And yes I am rooted, running 1.5 dudes build. Can this be done only from a PC?

ShatBag1105 said:
Ok. I can't paste over the original hosts file using the phone? Astro and lynda file managers don't do it for me. And yes I am rooted, running 1.5 dudes build. Can this be done only from a PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a couple of options, you can download the terminal app from the market and use it, or you can use ADB to shell into the phone, or wait for someone to code an app to do it all for you.
For the time being go with installing terminal, then type 'su' to become root. That is unless you have a copy of adb handy, if you can 'adb shell' the following commands are the same, except you can copy and paste.
Then remount the system partition read-write.
Code:
mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Then you go into the etc dir
Code:
cd /system/etc
Then you can rm the hosts file
Code:
rm hosts
Then grab the hosts.txt file
Code:
wget http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt -O hosts
Always more than one way to skin a cat, but the above works for me(tm)

lbcoder said:
Actually, /etc is a symbolic link to /system/etc, so your hosts file is really at /system/etc -- however, accessing the file through either path is equivalent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ugghh, I read that ages ago but really didn't commit it to memory. It is now. =)
There's a fair chance I won't get around to it but I'm tempted to take this ad blocking further. Namely an automatic app but there might be more to add to it.

Thanks for the help delta. I figured it had to be done in terminal. And you know, this would definitely become very popular as an app.

I'm a dummy its etc not ect

delta_foxtrot2 said:
Then grab the hosts.txt file
Code:
wget http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt -O hosts
Always more than one way to skin a cat, but the above works for me(tm)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(I am using the terminal program on the phone)
Until the above step, no problems
After typing in the above I get the following message:
"bad address "www.mvps.org"
I checked for typing errors, tried it 3 times but get the same error message
Any suggestions please?
thanks

nyayo99 said:
(I am using the terminal program on the phone)
Until the above step, no problems
After typing in the above I get the following message:
"bad address "www.mvps.org"
I checked for typing errors, tried it 3 times but get the same error message
Any suggestions please?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try it without the http://www. It might work like that. This is a lot harder than it should be lol. The g1 is putting up a fight!

ShatBag1105 said:
Try it without the http://www. It might work like that. This is a lot harder than it should be lol. The g1 is putting up a fight!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but this didn't work either.
Some googling indicated a possible DNS issue.
So I looked up the IP address (209.68.48.119), substituted that into your instructions and presto, everything worked!
Many thanks for the ad killer option for the G1

Aah beautiful work. Just to clarify for newbs like me. The last line is (# wget http://209.68.48.119/winhelp2002/hosts.txt -O hosts). Make sure that -O hosts is a captialized O.

ShatBag1105 said:
Aah beautiful work. Just to clarify for newbs like me. The last line is (# wget http://209.68.48.119/winhelp2002/hosts.txt -O hosts). Make sure that -O hosts is a captialized O.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, capital letter o, lower case o stores the output of wget into the file which isn't the desired outcome

I plan on suggesting the following URLs to the hosts.txt guy to block admob ads in apps
p.admob.com
analytics.admob.com
r.admob.com
In the mean time you can manually add it to the hosts file yourself, just copy and past from another line.
After updating the hosts file you may need to reboot or wait for the hostname to expire from the internal lookup cache, unless someone knows a quick way to flush the cache to speed up the process that is.

Thanks for this. Worked great for me. Very helpful tutorial.

Just uploaded "AdFree" to android market, this does all the steps I laid out manually at the touch of a button.

Its funny how
127.0.0.1 localhost
is the only thing blocked in the /system/etc/hosts file. lol.

andonnguyen said:
Its funny how
127.0.0.1 localhost
is the only thing blocked in the /system/etc/hosts file. lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't "blocked" and in fact nothing gets blocked by the hosts file it just points hostnames to the local system, which usually has no web server running so the connection fails immediately.
However you MUST have localhost listed or various things will fail and cause all sorts of issues.

New version of AdFree is now up, I have the app adding the admob hostnames to the bottom of the list.

what is the command line to push a app using terminal?

thank you. tried to search.

in recovery console, have apk on root of sdcard.
Code:
mount /sdcard
mount /system
cp /sdcard/xxxx.apk /system/sd/ (for regular apps)
cp /sdcard/xxxx.apk /system/app/xxxx.apk (for core apps)
if the cp command does not work try mv

hiroots said:
thank you. tried to search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
talofa man
copy the app that you want to the root of your sd card
then run either:
Code:
cp -r /sdcard/NAME_OF_APP.apk /system/app
if you want it as a system app or
Code:
cp -r /sdcard/NAME_OF_APP.apk /data/app
if you want it as a regular app
from what i know, a system app cannot be removed with a regular uninstaller and can only be removed through adb/terminal .. but dont quote me on that
i bu lela
-JD
(i have a roommate who's hawaiian, but dont know correct spellings )
EDIT: damn david, you beat me to the punch

xidominicanoix said:
EDIT: damn david, you beat me to the punch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but you get +1 for knowing another language lol.

thanks guys,

How to replace fonts without USB?

I like to use Helvetica, so every time I flash a new cyanogen ROM, I find myself having to hook up USB and copying over the ttf files from my desktop.
Code:
adb remount
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans.ttf system/fonts
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans-Bold.ttf system/fonts
adb shell reboot
Can someone help me figure out how to do this directly on the phone?
I have the ttf files on my SD card, but I can't figure out how to copy them over to /system/fonts.
I tried using Better Terminal Emulator (a) but it's a pain to type it all, and (b) it doesn't allow it.
Is there a way to create a script to do this?
Can the script be made into an app/icon on my home screen?
It would be great if someone wrote up an app that could change fonts in general.
Thanks!

d0g said:
I like to use Helvetica, so every time I flash a new cyanogen ROM, I find myself having to hook up USB and copying over the ttf files from my desktop.
Code:
adb remount
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans.ttf system/fonts
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans-Bold.ttf system/fonts
adb shell reboot
Can someone help me figure out how to do this directly on the phone?
I have the ttf files on my SD card, but I can't figure out how to copy them over to /system/fonts.
I tried using Better Terminal Emulator (a) but it's a pain to type it all, and (b) it doesn't allow it.
Is there a way to create a script to do this?
Can the script be made into an app/icon on my home screen?
It would be great if someone wrote up an app that could change fonts in general.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to post in the correct section?
Anyways, have them on the root of your sdcard and
Code:
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cp /sdcard/*.ttf /system/fonts
reboot
That should change the fonts.

Gscript
d0g said:
I like to use Helvetica, so every time I flash a new cyanogen ROM, I find myself having to hook up USB and copying over the ttf files from my desktop.
Code:
adb remount
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans.ttf system/fonts
adb push ~/android/fonts/Helvetica/DroidSans-Bold.ttf system/fonts
adb shell reboot
Can someone help me figure out how to do this directly on the phone?
I have the ttf files on my SD card, but I can't figure out how to copy them over to /system/fonts.
I tried using Better Terminal Emulator (a) but it's a pain to type it all, and (b) it doesn't allow it.
Is there a way to create a script to do this?
Can the script be made into an app/icon on my home screen?
It would be great if someone wrote up an app that could change fonts in general.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ever heard of "gscript" .. it's pretty simple to create a script to do whatever you want it to do .. ie. "cp /sdcard/*.ttf /system/fonts" .. no USB needed .. come to think of it i don't use a USB connection for any of my G1 needs

Thanks! That worked!
I found this handy app -- GScripts (on the market) -- that let me set up the script to run with one click.
PS: I'm sorry -- which section should this go in? Regular Q&A?

HOWTO: Custom boot animations on NON-ROOTED phones.

You need adb working.
Download http://www.multiupload.com/SVHPN9AINF into your tools dir of your sdk (/home/jcase/android-sdk/tools/ - c:\android-sdk\tools\ something like that)
go to command line, and change your dir to the tools dir of your sdk
cd /home/jcase/android-sdk/tools - or something like that
run adb push
adb push bootanimation.zip /data/local/
reboot phone. This will override the boot animation in /system/media
Enjoy.
-jcase

yay! first post
and install. works. +1 rep.

Thanks Jcase will try when I get home

Any way to backup the original incase I would like to go back?

adb shell rm /data/local/bootanimation.zip will do it.
the boot process looks in /data/local/ THEN in /system/media. So, if you remove the one you put in /data/local, the original is STILL in /system/media, and is displayed.

Would this work for the Nexus boot animation as long as we change the name of the zip to bootanimation.zip ?
here's the link to the nexus one: sendspace.com/file/0qwx4v

why is it that enevthough I am rooted i get this error when attempting to copy to /system/media?
C:\Users\Derek\Documents\Droid root\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb push bootanimation.zip /system/media
failed to copy 'bootanimation.zip' to '/system/media/bootanimation.zip': Read-on
ly file system

mattoxic,
if its in the right format it should
derekm2j,
mount it as read/write
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
or push to data/local

jcase said:
mattoxic,
if its in the right format it should
derekm2j,
mount it as read/write
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
or push to data/local
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks a million my linux is a little rusty. now why would it say no space left on device? I know I dont have to do it this way but the blasted thing is telling me no. Therefore, i want to do it this way.

Ok, this must be for 2.1. Cause I am on 1.5 and it will not work. I keep getting the same boot screen.

Chev, not rooted yet?

Nope, just a little chicken$hit. If there was a way to go back I would.

I have a way back to 1.5 if needed, but it doesnt replace the bootloader.

jcase said:
I have a way back to 1.5 if needed, but it doesnt replace the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have my attention .

I will post details

Where can I get different boot animations? I'm not sure if i like the Nexus one boot animation much.

Thank you! Works for me!
Question-
Can something like this be done for the Lockscreen?

Chevelle1768 said:
Any way to backup the original incase I would like to go back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The original bootanimation.zip is under /system/media. You dont really need to back it up if you are doing this the non-root way. Just delete /data/local/bootanimation.zip to revert to the original boot animation.

jadesdan said:
Thank you! Works for me!
Question-
Can something like this be done for the Lockscreen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Need r/w access to /system for that. Need root.

here's a great site with a ton of boot animations for this way
droidboots.com/downloads/boot-animations/
I'm using the nexus one now and it works great.

Request for help: Setting write permission for pppd-ril.options file

Hello,
I need some help with permission setting. Im trying to edit the pppd-ril.options file in system/etc/ppp/peers/ but it is not write enabled.
Using rooted file explorers still brings no avail to setting the write permission.
Tried to use chmod 777 using terminal emulator but it says the system is read only
Also tried exploring with QPST, but can't see the system folder at all.
I need to edit this file as it contains 3G settings I need to adjust.
Help would be much appreciated!

From the terminal
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

You seem can read chinese
haha

Thanks much! I edited the file and can finally enjoy China Telecom 3G on western ROM!

mvp3 said:
You seem can read chinese
haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations!

Hashcode said:
Congratulations!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just transfered work