I have done some basic programming in the past, but what knowledge is needed to jump into custom developing, I am not interested in developing apps per say, I am more interested in developing like Cyanogen Group and many of the awesome Devs on here making Kernals, and Custom Roms, etc. I tend to have some free time on my hands lately, and I figure, instead of waiting for everyone else to do the work, maybe I can do some work and contribute.
If you have any information, please point me in the right direction, with tips, advice, videos, and warnings.
Thank you in advance. :good:
Hey man, i too am interested in developing i use eclipse and can do quite a bit of java and im ok with debugging, if you ever have a project you want to start i would be interested in helping. watch videos on steve kondik. cm has quite a few urls. but from what ive been told is get a rom and import it into eclipse and make some changes and put your own stuff up on xda.
check out this screen shot, has the cm urls on it and the video of steve kondik who talks through tips of building cm and how to start and what it takes hope it helps
twayneo said:
Hey man, i too am interested in developing i use eclipse and can do quite a bit of java and im ok with debugging, if you ever have a project you want to start i would be interested in helping. watch videos on steve kondik. cm has quite a few urls. but from what ive been told is get a rom and import it into eclipse and make some changes and put your own stuff up on xda.
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Click to collapse
twayneo said:
check out this screen shot, has the cm urls on it and the video of steve kondik who talks through tips of building cm and how to start and what it takes hope it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I will check those out. I realize this maybe way over my head, and by the time I can actually program something worthwhile on Android, there will be a Samsung S8 ... lol, but you have to start somewhere, I would like tips by those who have progressed.
I like the idea of simply editing a already made rom, this would be more like tweaking, but at least I could see some action.
maybe you can try to gather a group of 8 more developers, or people who want to learn, and you guys can all create a "circle" on google plus, and do a Google hangout where you can verbally talk with each other, ask questions, and share your desktop so others can see you working/creating a rom, so that way, all 9 of you future devs will have a visual and audio learning experience. that's the fastest/best way to learn and progress. so if you're interested, post your google plus profiles and people who are interested can post their profiles and everyone who is interested in doing this can add each other and make it happen. i personally have no interest in developing/creating roms. just throwing this great tool out there for those who are interested. Maybe a new pioneering team, will form out of this? maybe a cyanogenmod equivalent, or a team kang equivalent.
My suggestion is to learn to theme first. Theme something that isn't dependant on 9.pngs cause those are a bit more complicated. Building custom Roms is fun, but very detailed and time consuming. After you get the theming down, cut a stock Rom up a bit and theme it and presto, custom Rom. I learned from a thread by theimpaler. I think it was called, "so you want to learn to theme".
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
Related
so i would like to learn how to do things for my phone and possibly help with the dev community. but i know practically nothing about linux or how to do anything useful. i am looking for links or other useful information to help me get started. i have lots of time on my hands and learn pretty quick. i assume i would start with the sdk (would i use the 1.5 one since thats what our phones are currently running on, or is the 2.0 out yet? and would i try from there), but other than that have no idea what else would be useful.
so.... yeah. helpful link to good info or any good e books, or anything like that that will get me going. thanks in advance
i would use the newest SDK, 2.0.1, and make sure that it will function on the emulators for both 1.5 and 2.0.1, frankly if you arent already proficient with linux or java, this wont be a easy thing to get into. However I WILL point out how threads like this are terribly pointless... you arent helping anyone out, and frankly you're asking for information that is quite available.
thanks for nothing. other than making me feel stupid.
Some help, maybe.
ix3u said:
thanks for nothing. other than making me feel stupid.
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Click to collapse
I've been spending quite a bit of time on the threads here, I too am in search of more information specific to the android. I don't know that I'll ever be able to contribute too much to the devs, but at least I can understand my phone better, and help out with answering questions on the forums.
I would think that starting with something like creating a theme would be a good place to start, and would get you a little more familiar with the ways of android. Then I would move up into other things, and before you know it you will be much more proficient. It's all about starting somewhere. (and having a good backup)
Here's some posts / links that I have collected that i thought might aid me when i create some time to start the same endeavor...
* Ratcom's guide to creating Theme's
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=574167
* An Android Developers Guide (with tutorials, and tons of info)
http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html
* How-to's regarding android application development:
http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/google-android/topics/guides.aspx
* Tutorials and exercises
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-11-19-n27.html
I haven't looked at most of those, but hopefully they will be a good start. I look forward to the day when I start looking at them too.
Hopefully that's helpful, it's all I can offer.
Good luck, and godspeed
-AndyS-
thanks., that is more like what i was looking for
jmhalder said:
i would use the newest SDK, 2.0.1, and make sure that it will function on the emulators for both 1.5 and 2.0.1, frankly if you arent already proficient with linux or java, this wont be a easy thing to get into. However I WILL point out how threads like this are terribly pointless... you arent helping anyone out, and frankly you're asking for information that is quite available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. So much for helping someone out who at least has the desire to learn and grow to be more. Communist much? or just a Liberal Democrat? I applaud him for trying. Who knows more about where to get the information other than XDA? Hell a google search on this stuff turns up mostly useless garbage anyways. Why spend hours digging it up when someone else may know a good resource.
Lets refrain from flames/rebuttals please.
I have a few FAQ's and tutorials on my site. Also checking things like my release notes and mind map (linked in v1.0 release) will help. There aren't any full on tutorials but it's just a good place for general info.
Check my sig.
As flipz stated, there's no good centralized place for organized information. The best advice is truly to search this site, and search with google. It's an uphill battle getting that base of knowledge built up to get you going. I know, I'm still working my way up the hill. I thought about putting a site together to organize and share information but that would take away too much from what little time I have to spend on rom developement.
I doub't that is really the answer you were hoping to get but unfortunately thats the grim reality of things. Perhaps someone with a lot more free time than I, will put together a site of their own and compile and organize all kinds of good information in a central place. It would truly be a boon to the android community.
obelisk79 said:
As flipz stated, there's no good centralized place for organized information. The best advice is truly to search this site, and search with google. It's an uphill battle getting that base of knowledge built up to get you going. I know, I'm still working my way up the hill. I thought about putting a site together to organize and share information but that would take away too much from what little time I have to spend on rom developement.
I doub't that is really the answer you were hoping to get but unfortunately thats the grim reality of things. Perhaps someone with a lot more free time than I, will put together a site of their own and compile and organize all kinds of good information in a central place. It would truly be a boon to the android community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd be happy to bring some writers on to my site or to host some tutorials or anything that others have written. My job offers me a lot of flexibility and free time, however like you I am spending all of it developing right now. This kitchen is kicking my butt.
Edit: We'll see if I get any hits. http://geekfor.me/news/wanted-writers-for-faq-tutorial-help/
I may be able to help. My freetime seems to come and go, but I’ve always been pretty good at making How-To’s.
What format would be best?
html,pdf,etc…
ix3u said:
so i would like to learn how to do things for my phone and possibly help with the dev community. but i know practically nothing about linux or how to do anything useful. i am looking for links or other useful information to help me get started. i have lots of time on my hands and learn pretty quick. i assume i would start with the sdk (would i use the 1.5 one since thats what our phones are currently running on, or is the 2.0 out yet? and would i try from there), but other than that have no idea what else would be useful.
so.... yeah. helpful link to good info or any good e books, or anything like that that will get me going. thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good thread, thanks for starting it.
I'm in a pretty similar spot. 2 weeks ago I had zero exposure to or knowledge about Android or Linux. I'm proficient with Windows. In the last 2 weeks I've rooted, flashed RA 123, 151 & then 152. I backed up, ran an optimizer .zip file, restored, flashed fresh 1.0 and learned some very cool stuff. I'm comfortable in the terminal but I'm getting to where I'm not sure what I should or want to learn next. Also, although I've done these things easily half of it was just copying instructions from one of the fantastically helpful posts on this forum. Before I learn what to do next I'd like to understand the system better. I checked out wiki and ended up bookmarking a page that explains kernal computing, and a few others, lots of reading ahead
As a noob I have tried to learn without getting in the way too much. I'm glad you admitted your noobness and asked for some direction, you're not the only one who could use it!
obelisk79 said:
As flipz stated, there's no good centralized place for organized information. The best advice is truly to search this site, and search with google. It's an uphill battle getting that base of knowledge built up to get you going. I know, I'm still working my way up the hill. I thought about putting a site together to organize and share information but that would take away too much from what little time I have to spend on rom developement.
I doub't that is really the answer you were hoping to get but unfortunately thats the grim reality of things. Perhaps someone with a lot more free time than I, will put together a site of their own and compile and organize all kinds of good information in a central place. It would truly be a boon to the android community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like what the original replyee said but said much more tact.
I'm hoping that was a compliment in a round about way.
THIS is an amazing resource. I've stopped in there before but wasn't ready to poke around too much.
I'll see you guys/gals in the spring!
I'd like to offer some insight, but there's really not much more I could add than what's already stated and linked above. Everything you need to know can be found (usually) easily on the android developer site, or in a google search. The hard part is putting those pieces together to know what needs to be done in order to accomplish what. That's not an easy task: check out cyanogen's github projects (http://github.com/cyanogen). He's made modifications to the kernel, Android applications, core frameworks, configurations, recovery images, packaged resources/images, and more. It's not just one piece that goes into these builds.
Most of what you see around here (and this is certainly not to take away from all the great work I'm referring to, because this is just as important as everything else), are people modifying what was already done somewhere else, and making it work for their own phone. And really that's all it takes to move progress forward.
You don't have to be a linux whiz or a Java programmer to be able to make progress with your phone- you just need to understand how each particular piece works in order to make progress on that piece. If you want to make a theme, you need to know what jar or apk files contain the resources, and how to replace those images and styles. If you want to add support for the camera you need to know what linux driver it should use, and how Android expects to interact with that driver. Same for supporting accelerometer sensors, etc.
There's no definitive checklist of things you have to know before you can help development, it just depends on what what you want to help with, and your willingness to research how that particular piece works and what it would take to make the necessary changes.
maejrep,
Informative and encouraging. Thanks!
EDIT, 12/12/10:
It looks like there is a ton of desire here and drive to get some major work accomplished. I just spoke with ferman via PM regarding the future of this project. I wanted to throw the idea out there, and I want to be a part of it, but I am (obviously) in no way equipped to lead such an effort. As I told him, I am much more the monkey-behind-the-keyboard writing code than the project manager at this point, and would happily contribute to any group that desires to further the Captivate's development.
So, without further ado, I hand the reins over to ferman and anyone else that congeals together as communal guidance. I'll be happy just to contribute code.
I thank everyone for their patience while I haven't been here to answer anyone's questions or even acknowledge everyone's involvement. Once I am done with release season at work, I only hope there's still room on the team for another monkey behind a keyboard!
I struggled with whether to post this in "General" or "Development" - I settled on "Development" as it is regarding, well...development.
If enough people are interested, I'd like to start the group development of a ROM, tentatively named "QAM". Cornerstones of QAM? No donations accepted, except for git submissions ("Free and In the Clear" - get it?); group development with specialization based on the team members' skill sets; widely accesible code with an emphasis on sound open source development practices; and clearly documented, well tested changes and updates.
With all of the drama here recently, especially regarding Axura, I think it's time that some of us try to steer this place back to what it used to be.
I'm an enterprise dev in my nine to five. As many have voiced, I have no doubts about my ability to develop a nice ROM for my own personal use. But I value my time, recognize that I am not as efficient in some areas (UI and UX, for instance), and understand from my professional life how much better of a result can be achieved when you've got a diversified team developing together.
Anyone that is a fan of Agile Development Practices will know where I am coming from. If anyone is interested in working together, let's start a dialogue here and now. If you're merely interested in flaming and thread crapping, move along - this isn't the thread you're looking for.
[EDIT - 12/06/10, 8:51PM] Posted an update within the thread. I didn't anticipate this much interest, but I'm glad it's there. I'm going to go through the thread tonight and start assembling names, etc.
i'm interested, but i dont really have any skills in relation to creating a rom or anything of the like. but if can help let me know!
Intresting...
hansmrtn said:
Intresting...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very.
i will gladly help where i can. i think this is a great concept and definitely brings us back to the roots of OpenSource Development.
lets please get this going. what do you need?
Nice
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
hansmrtn said:
Intresting...
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I would like to offer my services. I loved supporting the Axura users and would love to support yours. I have a little programming experience, I mainly deal with ISS day in and day out though. Let me know what you think. I really think this could turn into something great!
vbhines said:
I struggled with whether to post this in "General" or "Development" - I settled on "Development" as it is regarding, well...development.
If enough people are interested, I'd like to start the group development of a ROM, tentatively named "QAM". Cornerstones of QAM? No donations accepted, except for git submissions ("Free and In the Clear" - get it?); group development with specialization based on the team members' skill sets; widely accesible code with an emphasis on sound open source development practices; and clearly documented, well tested changes and updates.
With all of the drama here recently, especially regarding Axura, I think it's time that some of us try to steer this place back to what it used to be.
I'm an enterprise dev in my nine to five. As many have voiced, I have no doubts about my ability to develop a nice ROM for my own personal use. But I value my time, recognize that I am not as efficient in some areas (UI and UX, for instance), and understand from my professional life how much better of a result can be achieved when you've got a diversified team developing together.
Anyone that is a fan of Agile Development Practices will know where I am coming from. If anyone is interested in working together, let's start a dialogue here and now. If you're merely interested in flaming and thread crapping, move along - this isn't the thread you're looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds great. Even though I font know much about development myself, I would love yo help somehow(maybe I could be one of those highly cautious/thorough testers you were talking about).
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Sounds interesting. I'm interested in at least testing for you guys. I'd love to start coding for Android (BSc in Computer Science, but enjoy coding every once in a blue moon), but never got around to learning. I'll def keep my eye on this thread though, and help where I can
@OP:
Think this is an amazing idea! Definitely can see a lot come from this.
Idea though: you should maybe put up some slots to be filled so we can get some development teams, focused on their own individual part of the rom, together, so we know for sure that this will be great.
The most I can help with is being the app-writer-assistant XD.
I have yet to see a rom with its own app(s)(not counting DG's lbs launch) and I would love to see one with its own music player,notes,messaging, etc. I'm not experienced at all, i just know some java and I'm still learning android developtment(i got 3 big books next to me right now).
In fact I wouldn't be offended at all if you just say "no, thank you". I just really like the idea and I thought that if i proposed this it would at least give some initiative to develop custom apps with the custom roms and make this project that much more...unique
i'd like to see and participate in some REAL developement. A lot of these "devs" (especially the ones complaining) arent doing much developement and instead are just piecing together different things REAL devs have created into these roms and then trying to extort "donations" out of people. There's a select few developers frontlining the kernel developement that are doing real, good work.
imagine if we had multiple people creating roms like cyanogenmod on here...
I would be interested. I have done some android programming as well as some Other stuff. Never did any rom development but would like to give it a shot
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I can do 'modem testing'.. I travel for a living and encounter the various Freq's, EDGE, 3G, and believe it or not the pre EDGE network (cant think of the name at the moment, long day) almost every day.
Hey I wouldn't be much help in terms of development but I am willing to test anything you guys build
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whitesox311 said:
i'd like to see and participate in some REAL developement. A lot of these "devs" (especially the ones complaining) arent doing much developement and instead are just piecing together different things REAL devs have created into these roms and then trying to extort "donations" out of people. There's a select few developers frontlining the kernel developement that are doing real, good work.
imagine if we had multiple people creating roms like cyanogenmod on here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly the sort of thing this thread and concept will help avoid. The Rom builders that are causing drama do alot of work. And we all benefit. Even if they are getting more traffic and donations than the ones doing the kernel and other mods and making them available for the Rom and kernel builders.
I don't mind seeing a little competition in the thread titles. And each dev has an opinion as to what's best and thus we have several different roms. But the bickering I've seen is ridiculous. But understandable. There are no rules in place. No required donation. No licensing on much of what's up. Its a bit of a mess.
Id love to see what a captivate oriented community effort will produce. Team whisky is great but not all that works on the vibrant works on the captivate.
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is this like the android syndicate in epic4G threads lol?
I'm in, PM me
i'm willing to flash as many iterations of this as you may develop. no technical expertise on my end though ...
I can test and am willing to learn any thing that will help with developing. I have strong computer background. Just new to android.
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im in for testing
With the newly deodexed honeycomb I have gotten the itch to start looking into how to create/develop my own rom.
What is the best way to start learning, is there a good starting point, I have been doing some reading but it just seems so overwhelming.
I do have basic Linux knowledge and can whip up a linux VM in no time to get crackin. I have been modding my EVO for the last year so i know how to be a "user" and have tinkered with the xoom but have only scratched the surface.
So my question is just this, Where to start??
any input would be helpful.
+1!
need a little walkthrough too :S!!
and someone can say what files NEVER EDIT to not brick the xoom!!
i too would be highly interested in learning what steps to take.
bossjeeves said:
With the newly deodexed honeycomb I have gotten the itch to start looking into how to create/develop my own rom.
What is the best way to start learning, is there a good starting point, I have been doing some reading but it just seems so overwhelming.
I do have basic Linux knowledge and can whip up a linux VM in no time to get crackin. I have been modding my EVO for the last year so i know how to be a "user" and have tinkered with the xoom but have only scratched the surface.
So my question is just this, Where to start??
any input would be helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get that VM set up, and get your environment set up so you can build AOSP.
Look through the source so you know what parts of Android are found where in the tree.
Learn a little about the platform, what does what...
Basically, just get your hands dirty.
ydaraishy said:
Get that VM set up, and get your environment set up so you can build AOSP.
Look through the source so you know what parts of Android are found where in the tree.
Learn a little about the platform, what does what...
Basically, just get your hands dirty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so this is kind of what I expected for an answer but I would like a little more if you dont mind.
Like maybe a couple of links pointing in the right direction, like what does the environment need for tools etc.
ydaraishy said:
Get that VM set up, and get your environment set up so you can build AOSP.
Look through the source so you know what parts of Android are found where in the tree.
Learn a little about the platform, what does what...
Basically, just get your hands dirty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's like saying jump in a lions den and see what ticks him off. Can we get more details please? I want to get into theming and want to know the ideal OS to do it on. I was hoping on doing it in Linux but want advice from themers.
IV been playing hippie for a couple of weeks so I don't know if I missed something but, unless the full AOSP source has been released, a deodex rom will help with nothing but theming.
You can't do much to customise a ready built rom, and you would be wasting your time to try anything but the simplest of mods.
That being said, if you're happy to play with smali you might achieve a little more.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
alias_neo said:
IV been playing hippie for a couple of weeks so I don't know if I missed something but, unless the full AOSP source has been released, a deodex rom will help with nothing but theming.
You can't do much to customise a ready built rom, and you would be wasting your time to try anything but the simplest of mods.
That being said, if you're happy to play with smali you might achieve a little more.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is exactly what I am talking about here, This is kind of why I brought it up in the xoom forum, since we dont have source and we do have a deodexed rom wouldnt playing with that be a great place to start? if so like what would be the best place to start, you say play with smali, now I know I can google and get tons of answers but I am asking to explain a little more because I trust the feedback from here and I think others might benefit also
bossjeeves said:
this is exactly what I am talking about here, This is kind of why I brought it up in the xoom forum, since we dont have source and we do have a deodexed rom wouldnt playing with that be a great place to start? if so like what would be the best place to start, you say play with smali, now I know I can google and get tons of answers but I am asking to explain a little more because I trust the feedback from here and I think others might benefit also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smali is a tool that will reverse engineer (baksmali) dalvik byte code into (barely) human readable code. If you can learn to understand this you can reverse and modify stuff with it. If i remember right, brut.all is the guy responsible, have a read around, but i warn you, its not for the feint of heart.
Macbots drool as I XOOM through the Galaxy to my hearts Desire.
bossjeeves said:
this is exactly what I am talking about here, This is kind of why I brought it up in the xoom forum, since we dont have source and we do have a deodexed rom wouldnt playing with that be a great place to start? if so like what would be the best place to start, you say play with smali, now I know I can google and get tons of answers but I am asking to explain a little more because I trust the feedback from here and I think others might benefit also
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is one of the best sources I've found....... made by cyanogen himself, tonnes of info here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667298
I did come across this link http://simply-android.wikia.com/wiki/ROM_Development
looks like something that would be a helpful start. thoughts?
ps thanks for the replys
I think the best way to learn anything is just to read a lot, and to search for any questions you have. There are a thousand ways to learn to hack, but they all require the initiative to find answers on your own.
Sorry if this sounds patronizing. I always hated it when I get on a board and ask for something, and some curmudgeon geek tells me "Google is your friend". But it's true. You get better answers faster, as you can avail from the entire Internet, as opposed to the small number of people who reply to your query.
Thanks to the dude who linked to the Cyan advice post. My takeaway is this one line:
"There is a *ton* of information out there but any kind of "step-by-step rom cooking guide" is going to be a complete fail- it's too broad of a subject."
IMO if you are serious about ROM hacking, you need a dedicated linux environment. Cygwin is OK for run-time stuff, but too limited for anything else. If you only want to run basic bash commands, a simpler solution is win-bash (http://win-bash.sourceforge.net).
I'm kinda in the same shoes you are. Android interests me, although I don't have a Xoom or an Android tablet for that matter. Was gonna get a HC tab to tinker, but HC is still too green, so decided on a Nook Color for educational purposes. It's been out a while, and has many hacks already done that I can peruse. That, and it'll be useful for my "read a lot" mantra above.
I've been reading and watching YouTube videos describing building android roms and kernels from source but they are really confusing. Just wondering if one of you experienced developers could do a step by step tutorial on building roms and kernels from source for our beloved A500. A substantial donation would be in your future. I think this would be a great resource for people that want to make their own roms and kernels instead of relying on other peoples releases.
Thanks for reading..
I mentioned this in another thread earlier.I think it would be best for you to start if you have not already.
developer.android.com.
also go to nvidia.c om and follow there development for tegra 2 . it would be one very long step by step tutorial.
I was wondering about that myself. I compiled my share of linux kernels back in the day. I'd like to be able to contribute to making ICS on Iconia better.
Thanks for the references.
Jim
can someoone help me too??
you might be surprised to know that devs WILL help so long as your not asking hey what is a kernel or something goofy like that. I've gotten help through pm's from devs before on theming and things like that. My advice would be to get ad far as you can on your own and when you've hut the wall and absolutely cent get any further, reach out to a dev for guidance
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
well i thought i'd get this up before source for JB (4.1) drops... I'm looking for a dev willing to let me watch them as they build a ROM and make changes to that ROM... no i don't need to come over your house to do this... I was thinking of a live video stream of your screen as you do the work... if you're willing to allow me to watch and maybe answer a few questions in between, i'm willing to learn!!
i learn really fast if i'm watching someone do it which is why i'm taking this approach rather than trying to read through a bunch of threads on this topic... that stuff basically looks like a foreign language to me... especially when they talk linux stuff lol... i can catch on quickly but i need to SEE IT BEING DONE... not reading and having my brain decode what i just read...
so please pass this thread along... the site i'm looking to use is join.me and it can be viewed by more than one person... so if someone else is willing to jump in on the fun and the dev is cool with it... we all can watch as they work their magic...
preferably someone that's gonna be building on crespo/crespo4g... but i'll take whoever is willing to teach!!
disclaimer: i'm not even looking for a real "expert" on the subject... just someone to do the basic work so i can take notes and then do the stuff myself!!
PM me if you're a dev and willing to help out!! what do you have to lose? nothing really... you're just gonna load the program and let it stream as you do the stuff you normall would do...
sn: it doesn't have to be Jelly Bean... but seeing as source is coming out soon... i figured someone will want to start fresh and build from aosp... that's really where i'd like to start from!!
I'd love to watch too
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Click here for custom mods for your E4GT
umm. the best way to do it is to just follow the step by step guides online. doesnt get much easier than that. you watching isn't going to help when they already have all the software installed
derekwilkinson said:
umm. the best way to do it is to just follow the step by step guides online. doesnt get much easier than that. you watching isn't going to help when they already have all the software installed
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thanks but i have everything i need to build a ROM installed and have already built one from CM9 source... i'm talking about all the other edits and things they do... ie: adding in or removing features of a ROM...
and if you re-read my OP... i said reading this stuff is like learning another language... i'm a visual learner... i need to SEE these things then do them... not read them and try to decode whatever i just read...
the1dynasty said:
thanks but i have everything i need to build a ROM installed and have already built one from CM9 source... i'm talking about all the other edits and things they do... ie: adding in or removing features of a ROM...
and if you re-read my OP... i said reading this stuff is like learning another language... i'm a visual learner... i need to SEE these things then do them... not read them and try to decode whatever i just read...
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I just happen to work for a company the makes tools to help visual learners.
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Yea I'm willing too. I got a few things going here. Along with ubuntu, sdk, java6, android kitchen. I'm more of a visual learner. I've been constantly researching to point where my brain hurts to think android. I need a break. But I'm willing as well. Some devs out there no even respond to help needed. I would love to watch Fergie716 at work tho.
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My video will be up tomorrow (today) in my MIUI thread. I have everything ready for it. I just had a bit too much to drink tonight (its 450am)
Tomorrow afternoon it'll be up
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I also like to watch.
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I agree with the OP, one thing I think is missing (or at least in my experience hard to find) in the Android ROM community is a set of guides on how to properly do things (branch with repo to make a mod, apply patches from other trees, add prebuilt apks, add source provided apps, integrate su, busybox, creating your own vendor, device, adding your kernel, etc)
It's all scattered all over the net, sure you can figure some of it out but if you lower the barrier of entry people will be able to focus their energy on doing better work somewhere else.
gparent said:
I agree with the OP, one thing I think is missing (or at least in my experience hard to find) in the Android ROM community is a set of guides on how to properly do things (branch with repo to make a mod, apply patches from other trees, add prebuilt apks, add source provided apps, integrate su, busybox, creating your own vendor, device, adding your kernel, etc)
It's all scattered all over the net, sure you can figure some of it out but if you lower the barrier of entry people will be able to focus their energy on doing better work somewhere else.
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i really couldn't have said it any better!!
i know Fergie usually puts out some great tutorials... i used his stuff when i was learning to theme... so hopefully he delivers on this as well... i would still like to do a live "webinar-type" of training tho if any dev is up for that!!
we can get a time going so that everyone can login at the same time and see what's being done...
I'd also like to see how its done, I would love to be able to cook up some things and then release a ROM to the public. I'm sure it's not easy but I'm willing to take a wack at it
Btw are you guys using pretty powerful computers for building ROMS? Or would you say they're average spec?
stellar said:
I'd also like to see how its done, I would love to be able to cook up some things and then release a ROM to the public. I'm sure it's not easy but I'm willing to take a wack at it
Btw are you guys using pretty powerful computers for building ROMS? Or would you say they're average spec?
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mine isn't that great tbh... but it manages to put out something... once your setup is correct and you do your first build... the second build of that ROM is usually a lot faster...
i think average would be around quad core with 8GB RAM... that's my guess based on a few devs i've heard from...
the1dynasty said:
mine isn't that great tbh... but it manages to put out something... once your setup is correct and you do your first build... the second build of that ROM is usually a lot faster...
i think average would be around quad core with 8GB RAM... that's my guess based on a few devs i've heard from...
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I like to learn too. But my pc is just dual core 3.0ghz 4gig ram what do you think?
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mixtapes08 said:
I like to learn too. But my pc is just dual core 3.0ghz 4gig ram what do you think?
Sent from my Nexus S™
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it will take longer than some other PC's... but that will still work... i'd guess a few hrs to build a ROM... mine is around those specs and it takes a few hrs on the initial build lol
There should also be a thread for porting, kinda like "chef central" where users could get support on certain issues with their ports.. Over there in chef central the people seem to only help people that are building from source.. there's not too much support for people doing ports which is unfortunate because not everyone is skilled enough to build from source and having ports is what keeps some devices alive... In this thread there would be threads where you could post your logcat if your not getting boot and some of the more experienced porters (like fergie for example) could take a look and point you in the right direction. Also there could be guides and tutorials as how to get certain aspects of the ROM working like HWA, WiMax, MMS/SMS so on and so forth... I think that it would really bring a lot of new life to some devices that don't get the support that they should..
Anyone else agree on that or is just me?
evol4g said:
there's not too much support for people doing ports which is unfortunate because not everyone is skilled enough to build from source and having ports is what keeps some devices alive...
Anyone else agree on that or is just me?
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I agree with the whole sentiment "more people should build things", but not with "aosp is too hard so we should help people do ports". Unless a port is the only way to get a device working, we definitely should focus on making aosp easier to learn if that's part of a problem the porting people are having.
Anyway, I started my own ROM yesterday and might end up making a wiki to document a bunch of things I'm doing. It's a very stock-ish ROM though, so I won't spend much time writing about adding mods other than a few basic ones.
-IF- I do get around to making the wiki, I will post here about it.
As for the computer, I am using a i7 930 (2.8GHz) with 24GB of RAM.
gparent said:
I agree with the whole sentiment "more people should build things", but not with "aosp is too hard so we should help people do ports". Unless a port is the only way to get a device working, we definitely should focus on making aosp easier to learn if that's part of a problem the porting people are having.
Anyway, I started my own ROM yesterday and might end up making a wiki to document a bunch of things I'm doing. It's a very stock-ish ROM though, so I won't spend much time writing about adding mods other than a few basic ones.
-IF- I do get around to making the wiki, I will post here about it.
As for the computer, I am using a i7 930 (2.8GHz) with 24GB of RAM.
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id like to ask.. is making a rom really difficult.. how much java language knowledge would a person need to have to build from source...?
ferozfero said:
id like to ask.. is making a rom really difficult.. how much java language knowledge would a person need to have to build from source...?
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Well, one of the fun things about being a maintainer rather than a developer is that you really don't -need- much knowledge at all.
Everything helps, though. Yesterday I fixed a gcc compilation issue from knowledge of C++ that I acquired over a number of years. It wasn't a hard bug to fix and I could've asked a friend about it instead, but being a programmer lets me get away with fixing mistakes I see in AOSP when it's necessary (it rarely is).
Later, in my kernel compile, I turned on a compilation flag because I knew that a warning (that failed the build due to -Werror) was completely inaccurate. Good luck doing this if you don't know what's a compilation flag, and good luck doing it safely if you're not sure what the warning means and if it is really safe to override it (it often isn't).
If you want to make a ROM and be efficient about it, I think the two most important skills (in order of importance) are the ability to use git and to solve problems. Without a minimum of source control ease, it will be a pain in the ass to add features to your mods or to keep track of changes efficiently (especially when it comes the time to branch off releases and what not). Problem solving is what you do whenever stuff that should work doesn't work. And it's always hard because if it wasn't hard it would be documented already so you wouldn't have the problem.
If you want to build FEATURES for a mod (that is, not repack what others have written), then yes you will need programming knowledge. Java, C and probably C++. Mostly Java for user facing stuff.
great post gparent... that was a wonderful breakdown of how ROM making works... if it's all true (which it sounds like it), then this might be a bit more than i can chew lol... i'm still willing to see someone in action do these things so i have a better understanding of how to put things together and maybe one day i'll take a stab at building my own ROM!!
gparent said:
24GB of RAM.
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:what: wow, lol
If any other devs come by I'd love to know what setups you guys use for developing too.
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