[Q] Logging & graphing process CPU usage research - Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Having a look at this article:
http://android.appstorm.net/roundup...nitor-usage-stats-and-tweak-system-utilities/
and also the ActivityManager API:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/ActivityManager.html
It should be a simple thing to log which processes are using CPU.
Yet there appears to be no app that does it.
I could run a looped 'ps' command writing output to the SD card but graphing and sorting the results would be a lot of work for me to figure out how to do.
Just to clarify, another way to put it is that it's like I want to log the output of the top command.
I'm sure there must be an app out there, this should be the most asked question ever but there are so many battery monitoring apps out there that don't do this and instead only log overall CPU use.
This is important because I have done this manually and found the following apps to be coming out of background, using CPU, requesting location on the GPS and transmitting when you wouldn't expect them to be doing so:
Code:
1) Google Maps
2) Talk
3) Skype
4) Fring
5) Ebay
6) Eggdrop
7) APG (that was a suprise)
8) Google Goggles
Some of these apps like Goggles and Maps really you wouldn't expect to be draining battery in this way. I'd like to know what Maps is doing with my location data. I haven't seen them holding wakelocks and preventing the phone from sleeping again - that's another matter. Programs like cSipSimple and Kmail are a problem there.
Now I want to do more research to find what else misbehaves like this. But staring at the Astro task manager screen to spot them coming out of background is a real bore and it's easy to miss! In particular I want to compare Tasker to ActionsPro.
What's the best way to do this?

Related

Autostarts (Must HAVE)

Hi fellow XDA'rs.
As most you probably know, the way android and most os's works, every time you start up your device some/many apps startup with it.
This certainly bogs things down on startup but also in the long run when they stay resident idling in mem.
Android allows apps to register for events that are then started whenever triggered.
For example, on my phone prior to getting this app, everytime I pressed the camera button Camera, SMS commander (WTF), ChompSMS (WTFF), and Snaphotopro ran code. I could even see it happening in a task manager.
Sometimes apps stay in memory indefinitely after doing something irrelevant to their function like clicking camera/downloading something .
So I disabled everything except my main camera and everything still works the same, but ONLY SnapPhoto runs code and uses memory.
The real place i think autostarts shines is that it not only allows you to selectively disable what starts on boot, but also control what happens on every event.
It's on the market for like 98cents or some crap, and I REALLY think we should support the dev for this top-notch app.
It does way more for me than overclocking etc.. and i'm not advertising LOL.
What do you guys think??
Stock Apps that May Be Unsafe To Disable
Messaging (Disabling Is Known To Hinder SMS-Retrieval)
Google Talk (Disabling Is Known To Cause Trouble with the Market)
Stock Apps That Appears to be Safe to Disable
Maps (Disabled on startup without issues)
Clock (Disabled on start without any issues thus far)
Camera (Disabled Stock camera from running when camera button is pressed without issue)
Pico TTS (A text-to-speech thing that runs code every time an app is installed Disabled without issue)
MP3 Store (Runs code whenever an app is replaced, disabled, no issues)
i used it before, but i noticed that if you disable some apps on startup, it will make those apps not function anymore. for example, i remember i disabled the default message app and a bunch of other "normal" apps, and then i would not get any SMS anymore or some of my apps stopped loading. also even after you uninstall the app, it would not return to normal. they listed this as a bug for the version i tried so i couldnt restore the apps i disabled.
right now i just use advance task manager and put the one click widget on my home screen. so after every event i get in the habit of just clickin that widget and it iwll close all apps. and everything works fine.
That's true. Disabling messaging will prevent you from getting sms's even if you have chompsms, chomp's main functionality is as a front-end to the messaging app, not the core. This is not the apps fault
The reason I made this post is so we could compile a list of apps that are okay to disable and aren't. I forget to mention that in the OP .
I will edit the first post with the list but I need input from the community.
So far..
Messaging (Disabling Is Known To Hinder SMS-Retrieval)
Google Talk (Disabling Is Known To Cause Trouble with the Market)
For the most part disabling stock apps isn't the brightest idea.
Autostarts will warn you when you try to disable a stock component.
Also you can view only non-stock apps, if you don't want to mess with the settings.
Some can be disabled without any apparent trouble.
In my case..
Maps (Disabled on startup without issues)
Clock (Disabled on start without any issues thus far)
Camera (Disabled Stock camera from running when camera button is pressed without issue)
Pico TTS (A text-to-speech thing that runs code every time an app is installed Disabled without issue)
MP3 Store (Runs code whenever an app is replaced, disabled, no issues)
There are several more instances of the same apps that are disabled.
So far no FC's or problems. I've reduced the amount of times I need to end all apps by about 90%
Feel free to help add to the list!
I don't disable any stock apps as they seem to die by themselves after a while. Meanwhile I disable pretty much all 3rd party apps (except things like Sim Checker).
This app is amazing!
By the way, if you disable "Widget updating" it also removes unwanted widgets (I tend not to use any).
Glad it's working well for ya Karolis.
Thanks for the tip!
I havent actually tried it, but i'll remember that if I ever have too many widgets in the list.
Another tip is to check out Menu -> View.
You can enable the unknown's and have more options to disable
Is anyone else annoyed by devs who don't allow their apps to be purchased through your T-Mobile account? Something about putting $0.99 on my credit card annoys me. No biggie, but it would be nice if that option was available for this app.
TeeJay3800 said:
Is anyone else annoyed by devs who don't allow their apps to be purchased through your T-Mobile account? Something about putting $0.99 on my credit card annoys me. No biggie, but it would be nice if that option was available for this app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what can we do except take it
I use Startup Auditor, works pretty well, compared to Autostarts. I also believe it doesn't list anything that would damage your bootup.
tehseano said:
I use Startup Auditor, works pretty well, compared to Autostarts. I also believe it doesn't list anything that would damage your bootup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't heard of Startup Auditor either, but after reading about it, it seems a little more appealing than Autostarts. Especially the part about not disabling anything important from starting. Thanks!
Startup auditor isn't bad.
It doesn't have even a third of the options as autostarts though.
I tried it and although the GUI was nice, and it worked, the lack of choices made me uninstall it in a matter of minutes.
Also, if you're worried about messing up your phone with autostarts just go to Menu -> View -> Hide System Apps and its pretty much the same thing as startup auditor.
I just purchased Startup Auditor and it seems like a nice app. However, I disabled a few apps and then rebooted. When the reboot finished, some of the apps that I had just disabled were still running! I've e-mailed the dev and will post if I get a response. Has anyone else experienced this with Startup Auditor or any other startup app?
I've been using Autostarts for a while and I really notice the difference on boot up time. Before Autostarts it would take forever to boot up the system, then it would be super sluggish. Now since it doesn't start nearly half the apps on boot, it's much faster.
Some apps I question on why it's doing what it's doing. Like Tunewiki for instance. Why does it need to start when an application is replaced or removed? Cleared those out and everything is much speedier!
A lot of them are triggered by strange things.
Like you said, tunewiki when adding or replacing an app.
I think this is their way of staying in the background, which speeds up opening tunewiki but at the cost of slowing everything else down.
I hate developers that do this..
How does the system determine which apps to run at boot?
Whenever i try to disable the amazon mp3 autostart the program tells me to wait and gets stuck on the please wait screen... Any clue if this is normal operation?
amazon mp3 does not seem to want to be disabled.
edit: i think i figured out the problem with amazon mp3. you have to disable it in two places, once in the after startup but also in the connectivity changed section. also i was having trouble with other programs but i forgot i those had widgets. i think for apps that have widgets will cause those apps to load on start up. if you want to disable them you have to do so in the widgets section. just dont do it for widgets you actually have in use.
Does this app not work on latest superd? i get fc everytime on g1.
Anyone know where there are two (2) Messanger apps AND two (2) Handcent apps listed for after startup?
Seems like I should be able to disable messanger, but from these posts perhaps not.... can I disable handcent with no issues... seems like a text received would trigger it to open with no problems.
Why (and can I stop) is Voice Dialer involved with all changes to applications (installed/removed)?
s15274n said:
Anyone know where there are two (2) Messanger apps AND two (2) Handcent apps listed for after startup?
Seems like I should be able to disable messanger, but from these posts perhaps not.... can I disable handcent with no issues... seems like a text received would trigger it to open with no problems.
Why (and can I stop) is Voice Dialer involved with all changes to applications (installed/removed)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering this too. Maybe it starts to read the app names so it can "read" the filename so if you call it through Voice Search it knows what app to call up. Not sure.
Imho, this app is absolutely amazing.
I had the problem, that although i am using Handcent only, still every text was shown as new in the message application as well (and the icon on the homescreen shows one new message). Now i have removed message completely - only my handcent widget shows any test infos
Besides that, i could disable a lot of useless or at least strange applications starts triggered by certain events.
In this point of view, it's very useful, for Galaxy S as well!

Apps starting randomly?

Why do several apps randomly start up?
It feels like I constantly have to open task killer and kill over a dozen apps even when my phone hasn't been touched since the last time I killed almost the exact same list of apps.
Att Navigator, stocks, countdown, etc. seem to be the regular culprits. Any help with this situation would be awesome.
I've noticed the same thing on my Aria. AT&T Navigator always restarts by itself and I've never even used it. So I just set ATK to auto kill.
Look at the sync settings and you can disable things you dont need (News, stocks etc)
A "Running" app behaves differently on android. The app may be "Running" but it is also "Sleeping" which means that it may not be using any resources (battery, cpu, etc).
Using a task killer may actually be hurting your performance and battery life.
http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/
I just check the running apps on my Aria and I understand why every single one is running. AT&T Nav is NOT running. You should check all the widgets you are using, having the widget on the home screen start app automatically.
If you're rooted....
I can't tell you why it does it, but I can tell you how to stop it. If you're rooted, spend the $.89 (approx.) for Autostarts. One of the best programs I've installed.
I was having the same issue, I use AT&T Nav, but it always seemed to show up on the task list even when I hadn't started it. For whatever reason, it's set to start whenever you get a text message! With Autostarts I was able to stop it (along with many other things).
Best of luck to you!
armyengineer51 said:
I can't tell you why it does it, but I can tell you how to stop it. If you're rooted, spend the $.89 (approx.) for Autostarts. One of the best programs I've installed.
I was having the same issue, I use AT&T Nav, but it always seemed to show up on the task list even when I hadn't started it. For whatever reason, it's set to start whenever you get a text message! With Autostarts I was able to stop it (along with many other things).
Best of luck to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One caveat to this, BE CAREFUL. This is a powerful program and it will let you stop just about any service/program on your phone. You could really do some damage if you don't watch it.

Directions for Best Android Experience :)

Ok, so we all want the best of the best of experiences for our DX superphone. Well, I am here to tell you how I have my setup.
The goals of the ultimate setup are to:
1. Keep as much privacy as possible
2. Ensure the best performance
3. Ensure best method to extend battery life
4. Ensure best feel
5. Ensure HAPPINESS!
NUMBER ONE:
First things first; we need to install the absolute best ROM right now. The ROM is called FISSION 1.1 by Team DeFuse. You will most likely have to re-root the phone after installing though. It is worth the hassle.
Known issues with Fission 1.1 but I'm sure will be fixed:
1. Compass Calibration
2. No custom battery profiles
NUMBER TWO:
We need to install all of our applications.
NUMBER THREE:
If you don't have them already, download the paid version of Titanium Backup and the application called AUTOSTARTS and very very importantly, DROID WALL, SetCPU, CacheMate and also very importantly, Advanced Task Killer
NUMBER FOUR:
Restart phone. Upon reboot, we will first open up Droid Wall and give it root privileges. Then, we are going to fill in both boxes with checkmarks next to only the applications which you use a lot and need internet access! It is good practice to look at what all apps need access to when installing applications. If an app like Notepad for instance needs Internet Access, we know there is a problem. It is apps like these, we don't want to have access to the internet.
You will also have to have checkmarks next to "Media Server", "Browser", "Calender", "Calender Storage", "Email", "Google Search", "Maps", "Market", "Messaging", "Street View", and "Visual VM". Those are the ones which need to be allowed in order to not cripple your Android experience. Obviously, the remaining apps are UP TO YOU.
You should manually disable and re-enable the firewall after every reboot! You then want to kill Droid Wall and the other showing apps with Advanced Task Killer. Once Droid Wall sets the firewall rules, they stick regardless if the app is running or not. There is no need to leave it running.
NUMBER FIVE:
Now, we are going to open up the program AUTOSTARTS! It will take awhile to load all of the apps of your system. This app makes it so you can actually reliably use ADVANCED TASK KILLER without the apps you kill AUTOMATICALLY restarting and thus wasting precious battery.
You want to disable all your 3rd-party user apps in EVERY CATEGORY except for the Widget Categories at the bottom. For the first app you disable from starting, you will have to give AUTOSTARTS root privileges.
Don't disable "Google Voice", "Visual VM", "Dialer", "usb", "Dialer Storage", "Battery Manager", "Battery Manager (Power Profile Receiver)", "Google Partner Setup", "Google Services Framework", "Voice Dialer" (If you use it), "Email" (If you use it), "Messaging", "Bluetooth Share" (If you use Bluetooth), "Contacts Storage", "Droid Wall", "SetCPU", "ADW Launcher" (If use it), "Launcher Prof" (If use it) or "Launcher" (If use the stock launcher)
Everything else should be clicked on and disabled except for apps which are your widgets on your homescreens and in the Widget Categories!
You are going to notice a crazy increase in speed from this!!!!
NUMBER SIX:
We need to reboot. Upon reboot, open up ADVANCED TASK KILLER. We now need to put some apps on the ignore list.
The apps I have on my ignore list are:
SetCPU, Messaging, Music, Google Search, Market, Visual VM, Beautiful Widgets, Voice Search, K-9 Mail and Google Voice
You would also want to put any apps which are related to any widgets you have on your homescreens on the ignore list too!
This will effectively make it so any app we close, IS CLOSED FOR GOOD until we ourselves initiate it MANUALLY.
NUMBER SEVEN:
My phone is a dud; well at least the CPU is. It won't go over 1100mhz and be stable regardless of how much voltage I crank into 'er. So, for my phone, I modified the 1.1Ghz .zip folder which is installed in the Fission folder of your SDCard when you install Fission. I modified the setscaling.sh in text editor and changed the following values:
Changed the 800mhz to 900mhz. You may or may not have to raise the voltages that they have pre-set for the 800mhz and 1100mhz settings. If you are not stable, just give each of them a couple notches of increase.
NUMBER EIGHT:
Upon reboot, we need to setup SetCPU. We are going to create 3 profiles
1. Screen off --> 300min / 600max --> OnDemand
2. Charging AC/FULL --> 300min / 600max --> OnDemand
3. Charging USB/FULL --> 300min/ 600max --> OnDemand
We then go back to the homescreen "of SetCPU" and change our values of what we want the phone to do whenever the screen is on and it is not charging. Here we want to put 900mhz for the min and 1100mhz for the max.
For some reason, even if SetCPU is not disabled in AUTOSTARTS, it doesn't load the values upon reboot. You will have to manually open up SetCPU just one time for each reboot.
IMPORTANT: If you want to OC higher or maybe not even at all, have at it. However, I still think SetCPU and the profiles I listed above would be great for you.
NUMBER NINE:
This may not be an option for some of you, but I like to disable remembering form data, cookies, cache, passwords, and history on my browsers.
The best browser to use "IMHO" is the new XSCOPES version 6.
If you like some other browser, just change the privacy settings to those of above to be safe. If you can't live without, then just don't worry about it.
NUMBER TEN:
Install CacheMate for Root Users.
In the settings we want to have checked:
1. Clear TA Utility Caches
2. Close CacheMate on Close
3. Clear Admob and Google
4. Clear Flash Cache
5. Clear Temporary Cache
Then, we want to have everything checked in Data Experimental and SDCard which is Relevant to our phone. For any app you don't have, don't put a check next to it. If you use apps like APMobile (Associated Press), you want to uncheck that and apps like it so you don't have to set it up every time you open the app.
I don't really like letting CacheMate run all the time being set to automatically clear on intervals. I didn't mention it, but I NEVER leave ADVANCED TASK KILLER run all the time either.
Uncheck power clear on the main screen and clear the cache ever day or two.
NUMBER ELEVEN:
Install ADW Launcher. It is by far better than LauncherPro. Only continue to use LauncherPro if you can't live without its widgets.
In ADW Launcher, we want certain settings done.
1. In Screen Preferences, we want to have both Desktop Scrolling Speed and Desktop Overshoot set to "0"
2. In Drawer Settings, we want animated drawer check, show app labels checked, fade app labels checked and for background color, I like to use a dark color with some transparency!
For Zoom Effect speed, set it to its lowest setting of 300ms
3. Under System Preferences, we want to check Wallpaper Hack and set Scrolling Cache to "Auto". Obviously, if you have widgets, you will want to check scrollable widget support.
4. In UI Settings, I check everything besides:
Dockbar, Closing folder, Secondary ActionButtons and Show Desktop Indicator.
I have AB Scale Factor set to "5".
After you get your homescreens all set up EXACTLY how you want them, backup both the desktop configuration and backup ADW settings. Also, make sure to do another backup in Titanium so when you restore ADW Launcher after installing a new ROM, it is exactly how you had it before.
NUMBER TWELVE:
Open up the program which is already installed called Spare Parts. It will be in your App Drawer. Don't install it again from the market unless you for some reason don't already have it in your app drawer.
1. I have haptic feedback and compatibility mode checked.
2. Set the "Window Animations" and "Transition Animations" to FAST
NUMBER THIRTEEN:
Do a Titanium Backup via Batch operation.
1. There are only 2 options in the batch operation options which you should ever need to use!!! They are:
A) RUN - Backup all new apps & newer versions
B) RUN - Restore Missing Apps with data
Run the backup every once in awhile to keep the backup of your apps up to date.
IMPORTANT:
When restoring apps, UNCHECK ALL SYSTEM APPS FROM BEING RESTORED!
The paid version gives you HyperShell which means you don't have to manually click each app when it is restoring. It makes the process very simple.
You also want to uninstall the older version of Flash Player and get the newer one from the market.
I have followed this guide for Titanium and have installed numerous ROMS for the Droid 1, HTC Droid Incredible and now the Droid X WITHOUT EVER HAVING ISSUES!!!
NUMBER FOURTEEN:
Go into ROM Manager and install the AOSP Keyboard under /Download ROM/Drod2169/CHANGE OPTIONS-Focused-1.0/AOSP KEYBOARD
You will automatically have to check FIXED 8MP AOSP Camera as well. That is the camera installed by default on Fission 1.1 so it won't hurt anything. Don't check backup data or wipe data/cache!
Also, I would install both QuickOffice and DX_Music.zip under the SDCard/Fission/Add-Ons directory. You obviously have to do this in Recovery!!!
The Music player will be 100% identical to the one that comes installed by default on Fission 1.1, but it gives you the option to pause play and seek tracks from the lockscreen!
NUMBER FIFTEEN:
Install any themes or mods which are compatible with your ROM and set up your sounds and everything else you like to do and enjoy your android device to its fullest
I know I probably missed a couple things but will update when I remember.
VIVA LA ANDROID
EDIT: I had Fission 1.0 for some reason. I meant Fission 1.1. I'd also like to point out that Rubix 1.0 is the same exact thing as Fission but with more optimizations and tweaks. I ran them both but slightly prefer Fission 1.1
reserved...
Nice post!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Sleuth255 said:
Nice post!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot! That's all derived from months of obsessive learning along with trial and error
How dare you recommend Advanced Task Killer. You need to have your Android License revoke immediately.
Since we're talking about rooted phones and memory management, use Autokiller. It does what android already does natively, only better.
Nice write up, but do yourself a favor and get rid of ATK!
LexusBrian400 said:
How dare you recommend Advanced Task Killer. You need to have your Android License revoke immediately.
Since we're talking about rooted phones and memory management, use Autokiller. It does what android already does natively, only better.
Nice write up, but do yourself a favor and get rid of ATK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't get caught up on the ATK thing. I don't want this thread turning into a pro or con ATK. One will however say that ATK without AUTOSTARTS is pointless. Due to AUTOSTARTS, ATK is once again relevant and really beneficial.
If the app AUTOSTARTS or anything like it wasn't available, I wouldn't tell anyone to install ATK. With my setup, any app we kill with ATK will not be automatically restarting thus wasted battery. That was the biggest issue with ATK before AUTOSTARTS was available. Now, anything we kill are only apps we ourselves initiated.
Apps left running do still use CPU resources. The latest privacy study of Androids apps show that 50% or so of the tested apps sent private information to advertisers in the background.
When the Android system only has like ~40mb of free system RAM available, the system will no matter what bog down somewhat. We can get rid of this from ever happening.
Just put the little green ATK widget on your main homescreen and one tap and your done. The ATK widget takes the same amount of space as an icon. It is simple and easy.
Doing it like this ensure at no point EVER is the Android system going to lag.
Sleuth255 said:
Nice post!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well was I happy seeing those post when did you get a Droid X.
-McMex
A few weeks ago. Excellent device too. I'm confident that the locked BL will be defeated. I'm running through some of luv2increase's mods now... I like the idea of being able to defeat autostart and place strict control over the apps I allow to run.
Sleuth255 said:
A few weeks ago. Excellent device too. I'm confident that the locked BL will be defeated. I'm running through some of luv2increase's mods now... I like the idea of being able to defeat autostart and place strict control over the apps I allow to run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is an excellent device just today I posted on Twitter I have all the high end Android phones and the Motorola implementation of the Droid X is by far the best nice polish too. I been playing a lot with SetCpu profiles (removing bloatware via adb) and power saving settings and can get over 18 hours of heavy usage. Just starting to try these other ROMs out. As always if you need a tester or I can help you with something let me know I have been on Android a while now and have a lot of experience and a ton of apps.
A lot of you guys have no idea the asset that Sleuth is having a Droid X.
-McMex
Alot of great tips in the OP. I actually run with almost this exact setup. I am using Rubix 1.0, though. Great rom. These tips will help tremendously with performance and battery life. Thanks for passing this along.

[[Speed Improvements]] Brainstorming & Testing Thread!!

Hey guys,
Seems there's a lot of ways you can improve the speed of Android in general. Some seem to be snakeoil... others, work quite well and there's proof to back it up.
I'm only interested in discussing the latter .
A lot of people have helped me gather a better understanding of Android (hyc, stinebd to name a few) in addition to a lot of Google searching. I am going to compile a list of what I have done, I would like to hear what you guys have done! Most app killer apps / app control will already be addressed, so those tools need not apply... I'm looking for real, permanent fixes here without adding more apps!
I am also trying to have topics that are easy working up to advanced. Obviously the more advanced topics are going to be harder to do. You've been warned.
So here's the disclaimer.
****DISCLAIMER****
Speed is as always relative. That basically means I don't want arguments about which build is faster. I want to argue about how to make every build faster .
Also, these tips should apply to any build, any device... they are pretty generic tips, but are obviously specific to Android, with some idiosyncrasies that apply to our port that wouldn't apply to native Android devices. Some is common sense, others are real ways to tear into the system. Hope you enjoy it!
Topic 1
Difficulty Easy - Apps/Widgets​
I've noticed the number of widgets i have on my screens, or the number of apps that I have installed/are running in the background to greatly effect performance, in an obviously negative way.
Once I removed all the widgets (I only have the basic analog clock widget & the Google search widget on one desktop...) this seemed to improve general speed. One minor thing to check is if apps are set to auto/background sync. Only enable the ones you really want syncing, others just check manually.
On this same topic, replacing the launcher (the stock launcher in Android, Launcher2 is quite slow) can help immensely. I like ADW, but I've used LauncherPro in the past and it is good. Zeam also seems like a good launcher. I haven't used Go Launcher EX, I've heard good and bad things about it. Use what works best for you, try 'em all!
The last thing on this topic I would like to mention is animations. Settings -> Display -> Animation -> No animations can make the phone feel quite a bit snappier, obviously at the expense of the look/feel of the OS.
Topic 2​
Difficulty Easy - Controlling app 'net Access​
This leads me into the next topic, DroidWall. I've noticed that blocking apps from accessing the internet has been a very good thing - it's not so much a performance booster (although it probably does provide a little bump) it's mostly about battery life. Just be warned, if you block an app that is set to background sync, it will probably have very negative effects. Only disable an app's access to the internet with DroidWall after you've checked that app's background sync feature is disabled. I have a few apps allowed in DroidWall, and the rest are blocked. You can "whitelist" everything and check apps you want to block, or "blacklist" everything and check the apps you want to allow. It's a little annoying to remember to enable/disable DroidWall (I use the DroidWall widget to enable/disable it globally) but if you do, it is much better - you have complete control over how apps access the 'net on your device. It is available on the Market.
Topic 3​
Difficulty Moderate - SD cache/readahead tweaking​
The only reason I'm calling this one 'moderate' is the number of choices you have for settings for this... It's basically telling the SD card how much to hold on to or... read "ahead" if you will . This was turned way up in FRX07, (from 256kb to 2048kb or 2mb...) and I think this might be the source of a lot of the complaints of 'mini-resets' if you will where the boot animation is suddenly seen after a long system hang...
So some cards will work better with a larger setting - I've heard some with spankin new C6 cards that said 3072kb or 3mb was a good setting. Others have found a sweet spot at 256kb or 1024kb (1mb).
There are two ways of doing this - you can hack the init in the rootfs and adjust the setting manually, or be lazy like me and use SD Booster (from the Market). Adjusts the same settings, and they are applied immediately!
I would like to find a "sweet spot" - a good default if you will. Can folks test out 512kb and 1024kb, see if you have any more mini-resets within Android or any other slowness, etc... Obviously this isn't a cure-all for the slowness or the mini-resets, what we're looking to do is mitigate the effects. So let's focus on that, thanks!
Topic 4​
Difficulty Moderate - Overclocking​
Overclocking is obviously one relatively easy way to improve the speed of Android. In your startup.txt, add a line
Code:
acpuclock.oc_freq_khz=710400
for example to overclock to 710.4mhz. How did I find this value? I actually put in 714000, but if you look at dmesg near the beginning you'll see "ACPU running at ..." - that's what clock is the actual maximum. It goes in 19.2khz increments.
Feel free to experiment with how high your phone can go, just be warned that the higher you go the potential for failure goes up as well . Phone shouldn't blow up, but it might not work correctly or at all. Rebooting and scaling it back will fix it.
Here's the full *example* startup.txt:
Code:
set ramsize 0x10000000
set ramaddr 0x10000000
set mtype 2292
set KERNEL zImage
set initrd initrd.gz
set cmdline "lcd.density=240 msmvkeyb_toggle=off gsensor_axis=2,1,3 pm.sleep_mode=1 physkeyboard=rhod400 acpuclock.oc_freq_khz=710400"
boot
You can put the command anywhere in the cmdline section, just make sure it's between the quotes and at least one space between each command.
Topic 5​
Difficulty Advanced - How Android Manages Memory/apps​
Ok, I'm going to take two approaches to this. The first, is the full explanation on how Android manages memory.
Please feel free to read the post I originally read that inspired me to start looking at this stuff - How to configure Android's *internal* taskkiller. It was very helpful for me to grasp how Android manages applications. This is the reason why application killers are not a good thing...
If you want to do it manually, Starfox suggests:
Code:
echo "1536,3072,8192,10240,12288,20480" > /sys/module/lowmemorykiller/parameters/minfree
To try to do these commands, adb is very useful. Once you get adb shell working, then you just need to "su" (provides 'super user' privileges (root)) and put in the echo command above ^^.
I had another user (thanks icevapor) suggest this script -
[Script] V6 SuperCharger! HTK & BulletProof Launchers! The ONLY Android MEMORY FIXER!
I tried it myself, and it works very well. This thread is a little overwhelming, but the jist of it is this:
Install Script Manager (on the Market)
Run the V6 SuperCharger script. I use "Aggressive 1 Settings" (#2) and then I use the OOM Grouping Fixes & "Hard to Kill" launcher (#17)
Point Script Manager to run /data/99SuperCharger.sh to run as root & on boot. This will ensure the tweaks are reapplied after a reboot.
Topic 6​
Difficulty Advanced - Managing Apps that auto-start on boot​
This is one of the most annoying things in Android. When you have no apps installed, it seems very fast. Then you install apps, and you never seem to get that original speed back... Now you can!
This is kind of difficult to do, I am still getting the hang of it... but here goes. All credit goes to hyc, his original post.
The basic idea here is you run a logcat (adb logcat is easiest here, or you can use GetLogs to pull logcat...) Look in this log for "for broadcast" and find apps that start on boot. For example,
Code:
Line 41: I/ActivityManager( 1394): Start proc nextapp.systempanel for broadcast nextapp.systempanel/.monitorservice.BootReceiver: pid=1752 uid=10060 gids={3003, 1015}
Notice there are two sides of the "for broadcast". The name of the package (nextapp.systempanel) and the name of the service, "nextapp.systempanel/.monitorservice.BootReceive". I made the mistake of disabling the app (the left side). Do not do this, you want to disable the right side!
So in the shell,
Code:
pm disable nextapp.systempanel/.monitorservice.BootReceive
This will be persistent across boots, it will go with your data.img.
Obviously this was just one example of an app to disable. So long as you disable the right side (after the 'for broadcast') you shouldn't disable anything that will cause a serious problem. The apps should still work, but for example if you disable Google Voice you won't get messages until you open the app. So think about that... You disable Titanium Backup schedules.BootReceiver, the schedules for Titanium Backup (if you have any) won't run. Stuff like that. Disable calendar, you won't get calendar events... Disable clock no alarms. Get it? Good. I have been rebooting several times, and I keep checking what is set to start on boot. I'm not quite happy with it yet, but there's some things I'm leery of disabling. Just be wary, if you do disable something and don't like it - just pm enable <whatever you disabled>.
Now experiment away! The one caveat is if you do break something with pm disable (and it's serious) you might get a failure to boot. It really depends on how bad you mess up. If you make a copy of your data.img before you start making these changes, you can revert to that data.img and start back there.
Alright guys. Going to use this thread as a way to brainstorm about ways to improve the speed. Read up what I've posted, let me know if I did anything wrong... Also let me know what you guys do to improve speed!
Don't care about what build you're running, this thread isn't about what build is fastest - this is a how do I make every build faster thread.
I also realize I posted this in the Rhodium section - I want to see if there's any TOPAa-specific tweaks that others should be made aware of!
Update to this - I changed around how topic 4 is done. Feel free to re-read that section.
Thanks arrrghhh, but for startup stuff, there are some apps doing the job, like Startup Manager or Startup Cleaner pro (found in Market), honestly haven't tried them yet but from rating, some of them has got 4.1/5.. What do you think mate?
metho88 said:
Thanks arrrghhh, but for startup stuff, there are some apps doing the job, like Startup Manager or Startup Cleaner pro (found in Market), honestly haven't tried them yet but from rating, some of them has got 4.1/5.. What do you think mate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the pm disable stuff? If you find an app that does it, more power to you. I want to control Android directly, hence the reason I went with a script that utilizes that concept. The pm disable stuff is obnoxious I know - so if you do find an app that'll do it for you, have at it. I didn't want to add any more apps into the mix if it wasn't necessary .
Rhod400 in startup.txt
Does physkeyboard=rhod400 cahnge the keyboard layout when texting?Does it make it bigger or what is that cmdline for?
1edge1 said:
Does physkeyboard=rhod400 cahnge the keyboard layout when texting?Does it make it bigger or what is that cmdline for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, that part is completely irrelevant to TOPA. It is for a RHOD400, sets up the physical keyboard. You were only supposed to look at the acpu clock command, as it fits in the startup.txt... lol.
Use the startup for your device, I'm just showing you how the line should appear in the startup.txt...
arrrghhh said:
Sorry, that part is completely irrelevant to TOPA. It is for a RHOD400, sets up the physical keyboard. You were only supposed to look at the acpu clock command, as it fits in the startup.txt... lol.
Use the startup for your device, I'm just showing you how the line should appear in the startup.txt...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i do use the startup for topaz. Was just wondering. haha. thanx for clearing it up

[Q] Couple of days in - a couple of Qs...

So after some great help by gregbradley and others, I have a rooted T and now have an OTA 195 update.
However I have a couple of questions (apart from my continued quest to find a way to get the phone to save camera output in less compressed fashion.
1) Is it usual for mediaserver to be the 2nd great drain on battery after the screen and ahead of android system?
(there appear to be many web discussions on this, but I could not find a definitive answer. Mine has always been like this even before I tinkered with it, or before I put the sim in (I didn't put the sim in until after I had rooted and updated. I do not have an SD card in there yet (64Gb on order) and I have not added any new pics or movies to the stock provided ones.
2) Can you change where apps are installed? Can this be changed for Google Play apps (like xda) Is the default to install to "phone memory" rather than "internal storage". Given that "phone memory" is only ~ 2Gb, it would be good to install to "internal storage"
3) Are apps on the home screens (eg Walkman) always running, even when not in use (the walkman example is the app 4x1 icons wide and has basic controls on it)?
Many thanks as always!
icstm
some clarification I should have added yesterday...
1) quite simply I would be keen to know what type of apps call on the mediaserver process
2) I know that from the "apps" in settings" some apps can be moved, but that appears limited and no default can be set
3) when I say apps, I mean widgets and the like, not the simply shortcut icons
icstm said:
some clarification I should have added yesterday...
1) quite simply I would be keen to know what type of apps call on the mediaserver process
2) I know that from the "apps" in settings" some apps can be moved, but that appears limited and no default can be set
3) when I say apps, I mean widgets and the like, not the simply shortcut icons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Anything that needs to scan the sdcards for contents will call on the media server. After a fresh flash many apps will be collating their cache so the mediaserver may have a high battery drain, you should never worry about battery drain untill you have run a ROm for at least 3-4 days to let it settle
2) Yes, use apps such as link2sd or app2sd, free in the market. However I have not yet felt the need to do this with a 16gb internal memory
3) Thos e widgets are just shortcuts, e.g. I have a weather app set to refresh every 2 hours...it will be woring in the background whether or not the homescreen widget is on the homescreen or not.
However, do not worry about task killers, since android 2.1 the best task killer is the one that comes with the OS. The only other exception is if you install init.d scripts and supercharge scripts etc, but you may want to leave that for a bit and get used to the phone first.
So I am on the xda app, much better way to view the site than mobile browser .
However, I cannot see what you wrote when I reply.
But it relates to your last point on making customisations. And not just keyboard which prefers US spellings over UK ones .
I am thinking of tinkering with the OS files as I am very upset with the compression of photos. So I am keen by what you say just below number 3.
Sent from my LT30p using xda app-developers app
AW: [Q] Couple of days in - a couple of Qs...
Change your keyboard or even better your whole phone to UK in language and keyboard setting and it'll propose BE instead of USE.
Greg is correct, the media server goes nuts the first two to three days after (re)flashing or taking up a device. You can improve the situation by keeping your folder structure clean and neat and trash out left over files, old garbage and file system junk.
Thanks for your posts in both threads.
As for mediaserver, yes all is quiet now.
Not sure about which system files to delete at this stage, but I sure do keep a neat folder structure for my content.

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