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Can we make this a sticky post where the end status of the Kaiser Video driver development stands?
Where does it stand? Has anyone started work on it? How do we get ahold of the information required for developing the driver? Can we determine if the development for this driver is even possible? (Is the hardware completely set up to handle it? Maybe there are hardware design hurdles which makes it impossible to be done - that HTC knows about but cannot or will not currently tell us? Even if the chipset is up to it, maybe there is some other piece of hardware missing like an additional circuit left out? How can we determine this for sure and get the work on this started?
Let's make this a sticky post and only those with specific information should post here...
What pieces of hardware are required for a developer to work on this driver development issue? I am willing to part with my older units (for a price, I was going to sell them) if that would help the effort: (O2 XDA/O2 XDA II/Cingular 8525) - what specific models support this chipset so we know what hardware can be used for the development effort?
There are three sticky posts on the subject of video drivers already - are these needs not met by the Video driver project thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=355345 ?
But not the current status
But not the current status in one place that is easy to find. Maybe there should be a sticky post with only one postingvand only updated - not added to - from time to time - only by the forum admin...
Developing new drivers from the ground up won't happen anytime soon. It's a massive undertaking and I bet much too much even for the fine people here.
Even "stealing" drivers from similair hardware has proven very difficult, though it's most probably possible.
I think our best chance would be if HTC releases a device with MSM 7200/7500 and they deliver it with drivers, then it would probably be a fairly easy task.
As for the hardware the only two things that come to mind would be if HTC bought cost reduced chipsets with non-functional Imageon hardware (if for an example there's a problem with yields and Qualcomm has a stock of partially broken chipsets) or if Qualcomm has different SKUs of the same chipset which they artificially handicap by disbling certain hardware (and thus ell them cheaper).
None of the two theories above are that far fetched actually.
Hardware manufacturers often artificially create multiple SKUs by disabling features in a high end product. (Perfect sample would be CD/DVD burners that are firmware capped to a lower speed that the hardware can actually manage.)
Sma ething happens with videocards. When Radeon 9500 was launched the chip on those boards were actually 9700 chips but with non-functional hardware units (and when ATi were out of those they actually started capping 9700 chips that were 100 % operational).
As for the exact current status I believe the only person who really gave this a try was Chainfire who tried to make the LG KS20 drivers work on a Kaiser without any luck. SO I guess the status is still att 0 % so to speak.
KruseLudsMobile said:
But not the current status in one place that is easy to find. Maybe there should be a sticky post with only one postingvand only updated - not added to - from time to time - only by the forum admin...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, thats a good idea.
Really there are way too many threads dealing with these issues. Two or three new ones at least pop up every day. As far as I know, there is currently nobody actually working on the drivers. I was, but after putting about a 100 hours in porting the LG KS20 drivers, ultimately without success, I focussed my efforts towards the website. Porting these drivers is most likely not impossible, but it's not an easy task and I personally only know of one person here on XDA who may possibly pull it off and this person does not have one of the affected devices, and even if she did, it might still take a long time to do.
In the meantime, progress is being made with the website, news coverage everywhere, and a lot going on behind the scenes that we honestly cannot say 'out loud'.
Let's first see what the update HTC keeps telling us about brings. And if you need to get rid of bounty money, I would say giving a fair part of it to those of us who have put all this effort and time into making it happen would not be unfair
Chainfire said:
Really there are way too many threads dealing with these issues. Two or three new ones at least pop up every day. As far as I know, there is currently nobody actually working on the drivers. I was, but after putting about a 100 hours in porting the LG KS20 drivers, ultimately without success, I focussed my efforts towards the website. Porting these drivers is most likely not impossible, but it's not an easy task and I personally only know of one person here on XDA who may possibly pull it off and this person does not have one of the affected devices, and even if she did, it might still take a long time to do.
In the meantime, progress is being made with the website, news coverage everywhere, and a lot going on behind the scenes that we honestly cannot say 'out loud'.
Let's first see what the update HTC keeps telling us about brings. And if you need to get rid of bounty money, I would say giving a fair part of it to those of us who have put all this effort and time into making it happen would not be unfair
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not enough threads IMO
Guys, I can make this thread sticky too if you promise it'll be a catch-all thread, eferring to all the other, referred threads.
Hi all
I am reasonably versed in computers, having read Electronic Engineering at uni, but haven't dabbled with unix (Andriod's base O/S?) since - a decade ago.
This is also my first smartphone, as my aging work BB is no good for personal email etc.
I therefore have a range of questions, that I could not find the answer to in the main thread that gregbradley runs or on the next 5 pages of threads. These questions range from the very basic, so please forgive me!
how do you stop free apps installing their advertising engines, or at least access the same information that you permit the app to access (I remember reading privacy issues related to this)
apart from allowing you to tinker with the phone what is the benefit of rooting (which I assme means gaining admin access df. unix)
what are the additional features on the xperia t of the popular customer ROMS and do they alway require rooting to apply?
If you have to apply an earlier firmware to be able to root the phone, what are you loosing (does Sony publish a changelog?) and sure firmware updates tend to be a good thing, so isn't this a problem?
So firstly, is there some documentation I should be reading:
a) about basic good practice on an andriod phone?
b) about the benefits of custom roms
c) about the benefits of rooting, apart from being about to install custom roms?
d) about what are the most common alternative settings ppl make to a stock Xperia T?
many thanks,
icstm
icstm said:
Hi all
I am reasonably versed in computers, having read Electronic Engineering at uni, but haven't dabbled with unix (Andriod's base O/S?) since - a decade ago.
This is also my first smartphone, as my aging work BB is no good for personal email etc.
I therefore have a range of questions, that I could not find the answer to in the main thread that gregbradley runs or on the next 5 pages of threads. These questions range from the very basic, so please forgive me!
how do you stop free apps installing their advertising engines, or at least access the same information that you permit the app to access (I remember reading privacy issues related to this)
apart from allowing you to tinker with the phone what is the benefit of rooting (which I assme means gaining admin access df. unix)
what are the additional features on the xperia t of the popular customer ROMS and do they alway require rooting to apply?
If you have to apply an earlier firmware to be able to root the phone, what are you loosing (does Sony publish a changelog?) and sure firmware updates tend to be a good thing, so isn't this a problem?
So firstly, is there some documentation I should be reading:
a) about basic good practice on an andriod phone?
b) about the benefits of custom roms
c) about the benefits of rooting, apart from being about to install custom roms?
d) about what are the most common alternative settings ppl make to a stock Xperia T?
many thanks,
icstm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) You must root the phone and install an add blocker
2) A vast amount of extra access that allows you to uninstall unwanted bloatware and generally customise your phone as you want.
3) Custom roms need at least root privilage and a recovery installed. Some roms require an unlocked bootloader as they need a custom kernel to work.
4) After downgrading to root, you can upgrade and keep root, there are plenty of threads about it
The best place to start reading is the all in one thread, its the very first thread in the Q&A section. Posts 2 and 3 explain all you need to know. If you need any further questions answering please ask in that thread.
Greg
EDIT, Just read that you have already seen my thread. Please feel free to ask in that thread if anything is not clear, however, you can also use the search function in order to find answers. Its nice to see new users and people here will be happy to help, especially as you seem to know to ask questions in the Q&A thread, unlike many others
Mental (and virtual) note: post excessive answer tomorrow after a good nights sleep and clear things up which greg did not fully answer, as I think.
Piece of cake.
@schaggo
looking forward to it! :fingers-crossed:
icstm said:
...unix (Andriod's base O/S?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel (and some ported tools) only, but of course the philosophy behind the thing. Yes.
how do you stop free apps installing their advertising engines, or at least access the same information that you permit the app to access (I remember reading privacy issues related to this)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Theres a couple of ad providers which apps use to display in-app ads. If there's no free version as in freely free, that's the distribution model a dev choses. Either pay and give the dev a compensation, or use the free ad-supported version from where the dev gets compensation. If you're not ok with either of the latter two, then most common ad providers can be blocked by using a modified hosts file, redirecting server requests for known ad-providers servers to the local loop. You need root access to your device to do that though. More on that later.
apart from allowing you to tinker with the phone what is the benefit of rooting (which I assme means gaining admin access df. unix)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting your device is not strictly comparable in running your desktop box with root. Yes, it's running (certain) stuff with superuser rights, but that's not exactly the point. Rooting basically means - among other things - obtaining write access to the otherwise user-inaccessible system partitions (/system, /data et al.) and mess around with them. This is needed for certain things a user might wants to do, sneaking in a modified hosts file, for example. I don't know what you'd describe as "tinker" but I guess yes, tinker it is.
what are the additional features on the xperia t of the popular customer ROMS and do they alway require rooting to apply?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's usually the same as with every other device: basically theres modified stock ROMs or "real" custom ROMs. The first being for example slimmed down ROMs, with "useless" manufacturer or telco provider added junk-/crap-/adware and -services. Then theres "enhanced" stock based ROMs with added or modified stuff. Instead of 5 notification area toggles you can have up to 14, freely modifiable toggles. Or skin and theme the user interface, or use modified kernels with support for additional services or so. And then there's the "real" custom ROMs which you'll find under "Original Android Development". This is user generated code which you'll find in AOSP or Cyanogenmod ROMs. These kind of ROMs do not base on stock code at all, except for the parts which are highly device specific as closed-source device driver blobs etc, but the system as such is completely open source, comparable to how the Linux/Unix universe works. The benefit of such ROMs is usually that they are quite "barebones" and as such perform much better in terms of interface fluidity etc. But you may miss out on cool manufacturer added stuff specifically tailored for the device at hand, if theres no compatible open source alternative. A great example for this is the Samsung Galaxy Note: the S-Pen is supported in Cyanogenmod, but there's cool S-Pen features CM cant offer, you'll only find them in Samsungs stock ROM. You may find a comparable analogy for the Xperia T, or any other device.
If you have to apply an earlier firmware to be able to root the phone, what are you loosing (does Sony publish a changelog?) and sure firmware updates tend to be a good thing, so isn't this a problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no detailed changelog for stock firmware updates. This is the case for most if not all manufacturers. Samsung doesn't release a changelog at all, for example. And updates can be a good thing, or a bad thing. A good thing is added functionality, a bad thing is closing an exploit to root the device, for example. You get the idea.
For the device at hand: there's no big differences between .3.195 and 3.223 or even the "old" .1.303 (or so) so in case you want root but not unlock your device, go ahead, you won't lose much especially if you don't know about it
d) about what are the most common alternative settings ppl make to a stock Xperia T?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, modern mobile operating systems offer a ton of settings to play around with, you'll find [number of users]*[number of features]^(numbers of features) of recommendations regarding best settings. Basically it's always the same: the more you do, the more you try to get out of your device, the higher the energy consumption will be, the shorter your battery time will be. Apply some common sense and you'll find your own best settings. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but, well, that's the way it works
Just curious who saw these posts on Google+ the other day. Lets discuss.
Steve Kondik - 22 hours ago
The Death of Root
Android 4.3 introduces some new and much needed security features which not only restrict setuid binaries on the system partition (su), but also limit the capabilities of processes. In the current architecture, even if you could get elevated privileges, you can't do anything out of the ordinary. Root in the shell via ADB is all I use, and it still works just fine.
This isn't a problem for me, since I use CM. When there is a situation that I'd need root, I just modify the system to accomodate what I'm trying to accomplish in a secure way. I can understand the desire to have full root on stock ROMs, since you're severely limited in what you can do and there is no provision for making any sort of real changes or improving the architecture.
+Koushik Dutta and +Chainfire are working hard to permit root in some way on 4.3, but I feel that anything done at this point might severely compromise the security of the system and we should start considering better options. Going forward, I'm interested in building framework extensions and APIs into CM to continue to abolish the root requirement.
A few good use cases for root are:
* Firewalls and network software, potentially requiring raw sockets.
* Managing the DNS resolver
* Tweaking various sysfs nodes to control the kernel
All of these can be done without exposing root, and they can be done in a very secure way.
If you're using CM or another custom ROM, what do you actually use root for?
Brought to you by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
Steve Kondik - 21 hours ago
An example to go with my previous post on root..
Let's say that I wanted to write an application that would let me block or rate limit network access for other applications. Seems easy, just run "iptables" as root and add some firewall rules. Calling "su iptables ...." and managing the list is easy. The harder, but much better way would be to extend the framework. This also has the side effect of opening this up for other developers to use.
To do this, you need two things:
1. A way to add the rules (which requires root)
2. An API to add the rules
3. Access control to this API
All Android systems run a daemon, "netd", which runs as root and manages various aspects of the network such as tethering and traffic shaping. The framework has a service, appropriately named "NetworkManagementService" which communicates with netd using a simple protocol over a socket. Applications with the right permissions can get a handle to this service using Binder, and control the network without actually needing root.
So to build a firewall API, it's really easy. You put the pieces that require elevated privileges into netd, then add a few methods to the NMS such as "addRule", "deleteRule", and "listRules". You can create and enforce a new permission, "android.permission.MODIFY_FIREWALL_STATE" that applications would require. You can even pop up a "scary" dialog similar to the newish VPNService when something needs it.
Then of course you upload your patches to the CM Gerrit, we iterate a bit, and ship it. If it turns out to be insanely useful, maybe it will go to Android proper.
Now you can write your app and a whole new class of applications that you couldn't do without using the root sledgehammer before. Yeah, it's harder, and you need to learn the system architecture a bit, but the result is much better and more importantly it's not a gaping security hole.
Of course it's possible to write malware that mirrors all of your packets to a remote site without your knowledge using this API, but Android's VPNService is actually more suited to this and it's already part of the framework
I might be exploiting this as an opportunity to sell the ideas behind CM, but I think it's a powerful concept. If your app needs to do something that normally can't be done, you can easily bend the system to your will and do it right.
If it not more root on 4,3 we keep what we got and add
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2376881
I have a nexus 7 and the 4.3 update has already been rooted
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Did you guys read the article or just the title.
Brought to you by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
Why? Are the two not related? Or is the title misleading?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Probably because the title says AFTER 4.3
I'm no dev, but I have very little attachment to root. I am required to have it if I want to be able to flash ROM's or custom recoveries or mods or what-have-you, but if all of those things could be accomplished without root, I would do it. The reason its so exploited in the dev community is that there is no other framework to do the things they want to do.
If however they were to work with major devs (like Kondik mentions CM) on expanding frameworks to make ROM's and whatnot take without needing root, I would have no problem with it. Hell, I'd welcome losing the step on every new phone of having to master a new rooting technique. It would also make me contemplate trying an HTC phone, as rooting the EVO 3D put an inordinately bad taste in my mouth.
mattkane21 said:
would also make me contemplate trying an HTC phone, as rooting the EVO 3D put an inordinately bad taste in my mouth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. That phone was such an unbelievable pain in the a$$. The whole process took forever, with the HTC dev unlock and ridiculous "wire trick" to achieve s-off in order to flash custom kernels. Then, once that crap was all done, always having to think about what hboot you're using with what rom. Especially for someone like me who's constantly switching between stock and AOSP, having to flash another hboot all the time is such a freaking hassle. The ironic part is that there are tons of great roms for that phone.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
So jn essence what this is saying is after 4.3 there will be no need for root yet we will still have all the benefits of root?
Am I reading this correctly?
shawn1224 said:
So jn essence what this is saying is after 4.3 there will be no need for root yet we will still have all the benefits of root?
Am I reading this correctly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes in a way. It is kind of looking at a different integration of what is possible without needing root, or why would we really need root when running something like CM. And with the new security features rooting might make your device unsecured.
Brought to you by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
Ok cool but would this also pertain to standalone mods/extension or are you talkin code baked into CM only
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
shawn1224 said:
Ok cool but would this also pertain to standalone mods/extension or are you talkin code baked into CM only
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it would work for pretty much any ROM,or could. He is the founder of CM so he talks about it. Many ROMs use CM as a base and build off it though, almost all AOSP ROMs do.
Brought to you by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
Hi, I'm wondering if its possible. So far from my 1950's PI themed google searches, all I've discovered is forums stating that isn't possible (Majority of them were dated circa 2013). I have came into a decent sum of money (by no means am I a millionaire, just a quarter of the way to it). I'm wanting to possibly build my own smartphones and possibly launch my own brand. I'm not wanting to directly compete with the flagship manufacturers, but to instead develop phones for specific markets. I'm wanting to create concepts of proof I guess before dumping all my resources into this wild dream. Examples of what I'm wanting to make are:
-Smartphones with limited features to help keep costs down while maintaining quality.
-Minimalist phones.
-Phones tailored to needs (Gaming phones, Business/Work phones, Average phones, Etc.)
-Phones that reach and fulfill the needs of the consumers.
Basically, I want to create quality phones without all the extra bloated hardware/software. I don't want to create a phones that just have slapped on features just to boast about being cutting edge. Is this at all possible, or am I just dreaming?
Side Notes:
I'm open to offering rooted phones, Custom mods, etc. I truly want to develop things for every consumer aspect. This vision/idea steams from being broke at one point and time wanting a phone with certain features but not being able to purchase it due to its price inflation due to "added features". I want to make phones like the "Ulefone Power".
need to find out this for purchase
Probably not
Gunnerabsek said:
need to find out this for purchase
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so
Because Samsung only provides 2 android updates
Note 8 already got oreo and pie update so forget it.
Maybe in future someone can possibly cook a android q custom rom compatible with our note 8.
Trex888 said:
I don't think so
Because Samsung only provides 2 android updates
Note 8 already got oreo and pie update so forget it.
Maybe in future someone can possibly cook a android q custom rom compatible with our note 8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was Treble just an 8.1 thing then? Never had one of those devices and haven't had any of the newer samsung's until recently. I imagine we can't use it because of some signature check on the system partition that doesn't allow a generic AP? Because I thought 9.0 was supposed to be even more compatible with treble, or maybe I haven't looked into it in awhile.
I imagine we are really just at the tip of the iceberg still on using Safestrap to customize Stock 9.0 to it's fullest potential. I haven't gotten that far yet as far as Using Safestrap on Stock Pie. I'm trying to up my exploit game somehow. I understand the PoC's and the high level descriptions, and thus how things could maybe be chained together, but I'm not a low enough level coder yet. My Linux game is still a little weak sauce. By the time I'm done with Rev 5 Nougat root I might understand the environment enough to implement my ideas a little bit though.
But if we can use Safestrap to install a Stock 9.0 Build that also includes Safestrap then that does mean we should have quite a bit of leeway to get Q Roms backported, even if they aren't rooted. Didn't we do this for the Galaxy S5? I'm just saying, the security bulletins posted in the last 8-9 months do seem to show a path towards root through something like a User Controlled C&C Platform. It wouldn't be a stereotypical full root everyone thinks of, but it would get the foot in the door like dirtycow did.
To start though, we like to use busybox for a lot of things, but our devices natively use toybox, and toolbox. Samsung hasn't used busybox for anything, so us putting it there and usurping control from toybox is an automatic red flag. The device recognizes and accepts toybox over busybox naturally. I feel like we have a better chance of getting a modified or user controlled version of toybox onto the device than we do busybox or standard supersu. I don't think Pie was planned for in the code before CF left us. Because didn't we have to change over to sbin for a lot of things in Oreo? Maybe we actually just need a new path altogether. System Root seems to have had the best success in recent generations, but what elliwigy did on the Note9 is a good concept to start with I think.
Maybe I'm just crazy a bit, but we've seen that traditional root method keep getting harder and harder to use and new methods are very few and far between anymore. I just keep putting the concepts out in hopes others can put some dots together.