getting started on tablet hacking

[Joe Born]

There are obviously many well developed tutorials, guides and books
for developing for Android, but I'm looking for information on getting
started as a "super user" so to speak, and particularly on our
tablets.

So for example, I have no understanding of what Roger and Jeremy are
doing, what code we have access to, what these scripts, etc are doing,
and I would like to start documenting this stuff for others. This
seems to be outside the scope of most development tutorials since the
HW details are assumed abstracted away.

In addition, as I do this, I can work with the factory and suppliers
to get more information about the hardware released, while I
understand the fun of reverse engineering, I can make our lives easier
by getting more information about the hardware right from them, which
will be another asset.

Thoughts? Where should I start?

Joe

[Tim Cusack]

I would argue that all should start with concise list of what the manufacturer claims is present in hardware.

Not, 300Mhz proc, but Via bla bla number number cpu.

then we can take Jeremy's excellent work with the SW side of things to do SW inventory to match up.

Kernel versions, versions of apps, etc.

Tim

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[Roger Calver]

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The HW specs are well known now for the M002 and I will dig them up.
If your looking at taking a go at dev work my advice to start with is
find what rubbish you dont need and removing it from the ROM.
You do this be using 7zip and opening (and not extracting) either the
android_fs.tar & data.tar files, it then a case of going to the app
directory and deleting the apk files.
After that you start to learn how to root and add swap to the script and
then its a case of learning what the code can do.

Rog.

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[Joe Born]

> The HW specs are well known now for the M002 and I will dig them up.

That would be great, of particuliar interest is the pinout on the 30
pin connector and/or if there are any places to connect a remote
either internal or external to the device (presumably to emulate the
wired headset controls)

[Roger Calver]

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Im trying to find any details about the pin layout and trying to get
some pictures, Im not a HW man.

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[Jeremy Coleman]

I have some pictures (not the greatest from tearing mine down I just haven't put them up anywhere yet.  I know Angus over at project gus has some pretty in depth information from his teardown.  He has wired up a serial wire for tty0 to get boot/debug messages.  There are also some threads on slatedroid about the 30 pin and how it can be used for usb devices.

[Roger Calver]

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Jeremy, as you have opened the M002 how much space is there for extra's
in there, or is is tight like the M001 and so would require a new chassis ?

Rog.

On 30/09/2010 19:38, Jeremy Coleman wrote:
> I have some pictures (not the greatest from tearing mine down I just haven't
> put them up anywhere yet. I know Angus over at project gus has some pretty
> in depth information from his teardown. He has wired up a serial wire for
> tty0 to get boot/debug messages. There are also some threads on slatedroid
> about the 30 pin and how it can be used for usb devices.
>
> On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 12:23 PM, Roger Calver <rogerc...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> Im trying to find any details about the pin layout and trying to get
> some pictures, Im not a HW man.
>
> On 30/09/2010 18:59, Joe Born wrote:
>>>>> The HW specs are well known now for the M002 and I will dig them up.
>>>>
>>>> That would be great, of particuliar interest is the pinout on the 30
>>>> pin connector and/or if there are any places to connect a remote
>>>> either internal or external to the device (presumably to emulate the
>>>> wired headset controls)
>>>>
>>

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[Jeremy Coleman]

It's fairly cramped inside.  What sort of extras were you thinking?

[Roger Calver]

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A larger capacity battery and a wifi aerial for starters, USB port (or
does the M002 have one ?)
And for giggles what about a little socket for SD cards and a stylus :)

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[Tim Cusack]

Oh, btw...speaking about that...I was able to hook the EKEN up to my BoomBox with ipod connector...worked like a charm...

Tim

[Jeremy Coleman]

About editing android_fs.tar and data.tar:

 

Actually Rog it's even easier than that if you're using linux!  You don't have to deal with all of the drag and drop via 7-zip garbage.  Just un-tar the files wherever you want, make the changes and tar them back up again.  You should be able to do the same with 7-zip on windows assuming it has the capability to create tar files without adding gzip or bzip compression.  The only files I know of that you need to "edit" without un-packing are apk files because you would have to re-sign them.  The tar files are unpacked directly by the update.sh script and don't rhave anything special android related going on.

[Roger Calver]

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Yeah I heard someone doing this as well.

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[Trent The Thief]

I'd agree on the wifi antenna. That's a great idea. My eeepc netbook can connect from anywhere in my house. The wireless router is in the basement. I can't get a connection with the m002 except in the room above the network room.

[Roger Calver]

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Well if it was an option I would actually go with a new wifi adapter as
well with say b/g & n !

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[Roger Calver]

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Signing apk files is why I use Windows and 7zip as you dont need to
resign them when you have them open :)
Onced its opened you can simply drop files in and then close and your done.
I suppose its what your used to but the end result is all the same, now
should we really confuse Joeand tell him how we edit the framework ;)

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[Jeremy Coleman]

Tim - Good to hear!

 

Rog - It's batteries actually, two of them.  You might be able to fit something a little thicker, but most likely you'd need to find something the same thickness and a little larger footprint (not too much larger).  The thing with batteries is that you wind up with all sorts of things to deal with if you change them.  First you have to make sure you get a balanced set that match the current set(no biggie), then you have to make sure your charging circuit handles them correctly, and finally you have some confiugration to do to get Android to report the status correctly.

 

It may be cramped, but with a little ingenuity I believe you could fit some sort of wifi antenna.  The current module operates with no antenna at all.  Somebody on slatedroid had a writeup on using a psp antenna. If nothing else it would be easy enough to add a connector to use any standard micro antenna.

 

You can definitely wire up something for USB, but I think the problem comes in that you would probably need to fit a hub for it to be really useful.  I think the easiest route would be taking a look at the usb host cable posts in the forum although I admit I'm not sure if it is easily useful or you end up making the 30-pin connector useless for everything else.

 

There are archive managers on linux that will let you edit the apks without having to sign them again, but for the tar files I prefer to just unpack them and work freely with everything.  For now I think editing the framework is outside the scope.  I was looking at the idea of making a build using the resources from DropTheme.  I have it on my Moto Droid and it is excellent.

[Roger Calver]

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Yep it is at all possible then it would be a bonus, I know from a person
I built a custom firmware for that he could get the manufactures to
change parts and make a larger chassis so its an option, its of course
the cost that would be the issue and then Via chip is so underpowered
really.
Joe, have you considered a different tablet at all ?

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[Jeremy Coleman]

The main reason for going with the m002 is the lower cost.  The idea behind it is primarily for this to be a control device that can be used with the Neuros LINK HTPC.

[Roger Calver]

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Yep costing is the vital part just wondering.

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[luka]

IMHO, to be useful as control device it has to have better battery
life.

On Sep 30, 12:39 pm, Jeremy Coleman <jeremy.d.cole...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> The main reason for going with the m002 is the lower cost.  The idea behind
> it is primarily for this to be a control device that can be used with the
> Neuros LINK HTPC.
>

> > > On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 1:09 PM, Tim Cusack <thagrassho...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
>
> > >> Oh, btw...speaking about that...I was able to hook the EKEN up to my
> > >> BoomBox with ipod connector...worked like a charm...
>
> > >> Tim
>

> > >> On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:07 PM, Roger Calver <rogercalv...@gmail.com

> > >wrote:
>
> > >>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > >>> Hash: SHA1
>
> > >>> A larger capacity battery and a wifi aerial for starters, USB port (or
> > >>> does the M002 have one ?)
> > >>> And for giggles what about a little socket for SD cards and a stylus :)
>
> > >>> On 30/09/2010 20:02, Jeremy Coleman wrote:
> > >>>> It's fairly cramped inside.  What sort of extras were you thinking?
>
> > >>>> On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 12:45 PM, Roger Calver <

> > rogercalv...@gmail.com

> > >>>> wrote:
>
> > >>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > >>>>> Hash: SHA1
>
> > >>>>> Jeremy, as you have opened the M002 how much space is there for
> > extra's
> > >>>>> in there, or is is tight like the M001 and so would require a new
> > >>> chassis ?
>
> > >>>>> Rog.
>
> > >>>>> On 30/09/2010 19:38, Jeremy Coleman wrote:
> > >>>>>> I have some pictures (not the greatest from tearing mine down I just
> > >>>>> haven't
> > >>>>>> put them up anywhere yet.  I know Angus over at project gus has some
> > >>>>> pretty
> > >>>>>> in depth information from his teardown.  He has wired up a serial
> > wire
> > >>>>> for
> > >>>>>> tty0 to get boot/debug messages.  There are also some threads on
> > >>>>> slatedroid
> > >>>>>> about the 30 pin and how it can be used for usb devices.
>
> > >>>>>> On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 12:23 PM, Roger Calver <

> > >>> rogercalv...@gmail.com

> > >>>>>> wrote:
>
> > >>>>>> Im trying to find any details about the pin layout and trying to get
> > >>>>>> some pictures, Im not a HW man.
>
> > >>>>>> On 30/09/2010 18:59, Joe Born wrote:
> > >>>>>>>>>> The HW specs are well known now for the M002 and I will dig them
> > >>> up.
>
> > >>>>>>>>> That would be great, of particuliar interest is the pinout on the
> > >>> 30
> > >>>>>>>>> pin connector and/or if there are any places to connect a remote
> > >>>>>>>>> either internal or external to the device (presumably to emulate
> > >>> the
> > >>>>>>>>> wired headset controls)
>
> > >>>>> - --
> > >>>>> FOR REALTIME DISCUSSION GO TO IRC #neuros on freenode
>
> > >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Neuros"
> > >>> group.
> > >>>>> To post to this group, send email to Neu...@googlegroups.com
> > >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > >>>>> Neuros-un...@googlegroups.com
> > >>>>> For more options, visit this group at
> > >>>>>http://groups.google.com/group/Neuros
>
> > >>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > >>>>> Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (MingW32)

> > >>>>> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla -http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

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> > >>>>> =FF3W
> > >>>>>  -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> > >>>>> --
> > >>>>> FOR REALTIME DISCUSSION GO TO IRC #neuros on freenode
>
> > >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Neuros"
> > >>> group.
> > >>>>> To post to this group, send email to Neu...@googlegroups.com
> > >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > >>>>> Neuros-un...@googlegroups.com
> > >>>>> For more options, visit this group at
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>
> > >>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > >>> Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (MingW32)

> > >>> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla -http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

> > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla -http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

[Joe Born]

> Joe, have you considered a different tablet at all ?

Sure, we're by no means wedded to the VIA solution, but as others have
said, something targeting around $100 is pretty attractive and fairly
important here I think. $100 is a big big squeeze as it is with this
device and basically rules out retail distribution at this point. If
the performance isn't there then, I'd rather have a $149 device that
performs well, but I do think its a shame.

[Joe Born]

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:09 PM, Tim Cusack <thagra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh, btw...speaking about that...I was able to hook the EKEN up to my BoomBox
> with ipod connector...worked like a charm...

Can you control it with the boombox controls (FF and Rew) or does it
not have those?

[Ugo Riboni]

> IMHO, to be useful as control device it has to have better battery
> life.

+1
For what it's worth I totally second that.

Or at least some dock that makes it easier to recharge it without
having to fight with the annoyingly short power cable and the lack of
USB charging (which is really a big mistake from whoever designed the
hardware).
--
nero

[Joe Born]

On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 3:13 PM, Ugo Riboni <neroc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> IMHO, to be useful as control device it has to have better battery

entered: http://bugzilla.neurostechnology.com/show_bug.cgi?id=4958