Database Users

Ventrilo on Android - Let's make it happen!

Greetings!
My name is Daniel Sloof and together with a group of volunteers we have recently been working on a project called Mangler: a Ventrilo compatible client for linux. Mangler is driven by a C library called libventrilo3 and over the past couple of weeks I have been working on making this library compile with the Android-NDK. I am currently succesfully able to build libventrilo3 as a native library that can be used in Android applications. The JNI wrappers are a little lackluster, but they are being worked on.
The main reason for me posting on this forum (amongst others) is because I am looking for skilled Android/Java developers to assist us in working on this open-source project. We're mostly C programmers that have very little Android experience. I expect we could have something functional up within the month, most of the work has already been done: we're pretty much just writing a GUI for an existing backend (and some audio stuff, which is just feeding PCM to one of the native functions).
Thanks for reading! If by this point you're interested in participating or have any specific questions you can just post them here or drop by on IRC. You can find me on freenode #mangler (alias: danslo).

Im so excited for this project! I hope this goes well.

Time for an update and a quick *bump*.
More progress has been made making libventrilo suitable for Android usage. This primarily involves audio stuff, such as upsampling to rates that Android's AudioRecord doesn't support. Buffering in the Android App is still required but this can be done with minimal effort. Of course all of this (and future) progress can be found on our website.
There have also been some android developers peaking around in the IRC channel but no active developer has yet been found, feel free to drop by.
(PS: To moderators: I am cross-posting this on several Android Forums. If this is considered spam, please feel free to take appropriate measures.)

What is your website, I'd like to track your progress.

tridge said:
What is your website, I'd like to track your progress.
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You can find us at mangler (dot) org though

<-- so happy to see this!~!!

*bump* - still looking for developers

Bump & small update!
I've just managed to record audio on my android device and send it to our ventrilo test server. Even with just 8khz quality (for testing purposes) the transmission sounds loud and clear on my ventrilo client! There is a small bit of delay but that doesn't seem to be caused by either the connection or the speed of the device (HTC Magic); it can probably be fixed with relative ease.
That being said, looks like we've found an Android developer willing to work on the project, but nothing is for certain so we're still looking for decent Java/Android developers to help out.

And up up we go!
Current revision in our repository can now play received audio transmissions! Once that is worked out nicely, all we'll really need is a decent GUI and some minor modifications (process more library events, etc) and we're good to go.
That spot for Android/Java developer is still available

danslo said:
And up up we go!
Current revision in our repository can now play received audio transmissions! Once that is worked out nicely, all we'll really need is a decent GUI and some minor modifications (process more library events, etc) and we're good to go.
That spot for Android/Java developer is still available
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Way to go keep up the good work, can't wait to give it a whirl.

People dont seem to understand the potential of this, what a shame. there should be 100 guys clamoring to do this. if i coded i would be all over this.

Looking forward to seeing what comes of this!

xanaviarai said:
People dont seem to understand the potential of this, what a shame. there should be 100 guys clamoring to do this. if i coded i would be all over this.
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Unfortunately those are the responses we get most of the time Thanks for the support!

I noticed on your website that you recommend Mumble, which I've been a huge fan and contributor since 2007. Any reason not to make Mumble for Android? It's my #1 most wanted app (I've got money on it) and I've heard from quite a few other people who want it, but hardly anyone with the skills/resources to make it happen. Then again it looks like you're in a similar situation, yet still the most qualified.

Pilot_51 said:
I noticed on your website that you recommend Mumble, which I've been a huge fan and contributor since 2007. Any reason not to make Mumble for Android? It's my #1 most wanted app (I've got money on it) and I've heard from quite a few other people who want it, but hardly anyone with the skills/resources to make it happen. Then again it looks like you're in a similar situation, yet still the most qualified.
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Several reasons:
1) I've never worked on Mumble. (I am very familiar with the ventrilo protocol and written quite a chunk of our ventrilo library)
2) It's written in C++, which is not by default supported by the Android NDK. (unlike libventrilo3 which is written in plain C)
3) Mangler seperates a ventrilo library from its GUI interface, which makes it easy to write seperate interfaces to the same library. As far as I know this is not the case with Mumble.
Don't get me wrong, I (we?) think that Mumble is one of the better alternatives for desktop environments.. but Android places some restrictions that are difficult to overcome with the way Mumble was designed.
I hope that answers your question.

Fair enough. I will continue my search.
As I hear from some developers in the Mumble community, the main limitation is the lack of Qt support for Android, but there may be a way to work around the need for Qt. I'm not a programmer (I hope eventually), so I wouldn't know how difficult such a task would be by any standard.

Pilot_51 said:
Fair enough. I will continue my search.
As I hear from some developers in the Mumble community, the main limitation is the lack of Qt support for Android, but there may be a way to work around the need for Qt. I'm not a programmer (I hope eventually), so I wouldn't know how difficult such a task would be by any standard.
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There's pretty much a lack of any GUI toolkit on Android (that includes Qt, but also Gtk, wxWidgets, etc). You are pretty much confined to writing it in Java with the Android SDK. Which isn't really a big issue; you want your stuff to feel like -actual- android apps anyway. The real problem with Mumble integration is the Android NDK's lack of proper (official) C++ support and a way of interfacing with the Mumble network protocol without touching any of the audio/gui stuff.

Pilot_51 said:
Fair enough. I will continue my search.
As I hear from some developers in the Mumble community, the main limitation is the lack of Qt support for Android, but there may be a way to work around the need for Qt. I'm not a programmer (I hope eventually), so I wouldn't know how difficult such a task would be by any standard.
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There is a Qt port for Android underway, so this might help the port once it gets completed.

I've gone off-topic for long enough, but couldn't resist to post. Some dude named pcgod in our mangler IRC channel is working on a Mumble port for Android.. Git repository can be found here:
http://github.com/pcgod/mumble-android
In regards to Mangler... only thing we really still need is a GUI.

Checking out the svn of the project it seems that some work has already been done. Do you only need the GUI now? or the audio stuff too like you wrote in your first post?
EDIT: I just tried it, it manages to login and I can see that there are some users in the test server but how do I start a conversation?

[MOD] [THINKTANK] Building TaintDroid in a ZTE Blade Kernel

It would be great if TaintDroid could also be integrated in a Blade ROM.
ZTE Blade users, please show you're support if you also wish to see TaintDroid implemented in Custom ROM for your device.
webstas said:
A project for our Kernel devs maybe? i found this in the I9000 Forums and though i might keep it going over here in the Vibrant quadrant of XDA.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=812879
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vasra said:
Most people don't yet know that many Android software leak all sorts of information to the internet with only scant user acknowledgement (basically what you accept when you install the app).
Due to this and the fact that there are already privacy information harvesting apps for Android on the marketplace - a team of security experts have created TaintDroid:
What is TaintDroid?
From the project's web page: "A realtime monitoring service called TaintDroid that precisely analyses how private information is obtained and released by applications "downloaded" to consumer phones."
From: http://appanalysis.org/index.html
How can I install TaintDroid?
As TaintDroid is currently compiled into the kernel, you cannot easily install it, but you have to cook your own kernel. Instructions (for Nexus 1) are available at the project web site: http://appanalysis.org/download.html
How does TaintDroid work?
Here's a video demonstrating how TaintDroid works once it is installed and configured:
http://appanalysis.org/demo/index.html
Why would you want to install this?
There can be many reasons for installint TaintDroid:
- You want to learn about privacy features and play with Android kernel
- As it is currently impossible to differentiate between innocent and sneaky Android apps based only on what access rights they request, you may want to dig in deeper
- You are worried about what apps are doing behind your back and you want to know which apps to uninstall
- You want to help create Android a more secure and privacy-protected platform, instead of the swiss cheese it currently is
What can you do?
As compiling kernels is mostly beyond the reach of mere mortals currently, consider cooking TaintDroid into your kernel, if you are cooking one yourself and offering it available for others to try and use.
Hopefully increased awareness and usage will bring this program eventually into other modders and perhaps even Google's attention and something more easily accessible is offered for the public at large.
BTW, I'm just a user, interested in getting TaintDroid on my own Galaxy S. I'm not affiliated with the research program, but I like what they are doing. This information is purely FYI.
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ps: Sorry for replication but as this suggestion/request is taken up specifically for the ZTE Blade device, I thought it would be appropriate to duplicate the previous posts.

[App][Project][WiP] OpenDroidApps

Hey guys,
I've been developing for Android as a kernel developer from around a year, and one thing I like about it is that it is open. It helps in getting patches from other developers, and implement new features.
Recently I've started learning Application Development, and I feel there is one thing that is missing with it. The Openness like the AOSP android source and ROM's...
So here, I am to kick-start a project to develop Open Source Android Applications. We can have a collection of different apps, and update them on the market for the whole world to use.
OpenDroidApps​
Different Apps Planned:
Launcher
Messaging
Contacts
Dialer
Music Player
And Many More...
So, this is a request to all the app developers out there, to come join me in developing a collection of different apps with excellent features and options.
Required:
App Developers
Sources to start of the apps
Website

nice idea
specially the music player one

fire_kid2003 said:
nice idea
specially the music player one
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Thanks
Shouldb start working on the project today...
sources will be from the android 4.0.4 r1.2...
And any developer wanting to contribute to the project let me know...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

I am confused whether I can use the android open source code provided by google as the base to build the apps ? Will it be violating and licence ? Can anyone clear my doubts ?

Read the licence, for the most part, if your code stays open, you are safe in forking a project. As long as you dont sell the code as your own and keep it opensource. That way improvements cant be submitted upstream, which is the core of FOSS, enhancing projects, fixing bugs and building better software

cornelha said:
Read the licence, for the most part, if your code stays open, you are safe in forking a project. As long as you dont sell the code as your own and keep it opensource. That way improvements cant be submitted upstream, which is the core of FOSS, enhancing projects, fixing bugs and building better software
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But i will be changing the package names initially itself...coz i dont think you can upload an app to the market with the package com.android.... So is this allowed?
Sent from my GT-I9100

Dharam_Maniar said:
But i will be changing the package names initially itself...coz i dont think you can upload an app to the market with the package com.android.... So is this allowed?
Sent from my GT-I9100
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Wouldn't be allowed most probably, you'll need to change the package name and possibly add a note starting that you used sources from blah and blah.
Even if the same package name was allowed, you'ld be signing your apps with your own key, and the original apps on the device would be signed by the OEM's key, but with the package name being the same, Play Store would show it as an update, but installing it won't work, and that'ld cause issues.
So, as long as you name it anything other than the default name, and provide source code to public, and keep the apps free, it won't cause any problem.
Read through the Play Store ToS once if you're in doubt, or contact the staff if you still have doubts

I am interested. Just started with app development a couple of months back

Also intersted ill help with anythong....
Sent from my VS910 4G using xda premium

I would also help, if needed
Add Clock to the app list: Most proprietary clock apps provide timer and stopwatch but aosp does not - so it should be added
I think it is not needed to do another launcher - there are enough aut there.
And the license thing: nearly everything in android is Apache licensed, which means that you only need to mention original source in the app - it is not needed to publish the source code, however i would like to say that i would not work on a project that is licensed proprietary or pseudo-free (GPL)
MaR-V-iN

suhas_sm said:
I am interested. Just started with app development a couple of months back
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motodroidfreak said:
Also intersted ill help with anythong....
Sent from my VS910 4G using xda premium
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MaR-V-iN said:
I would also help, if needed
Add Clock to the app list: Most proprietary clock apps provide timer and stopwatch but aosp does not - so it should be added
MaR-V-iN
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Thanks for the interest guys...
I was waiting for a reply on the licence issue...Seems there shouldn't by any problems...
So we can start off with the project...
I'll try to setup everything soon and we can then work on the apps

Dharam_Maniar said:
I was waiting for a reply on the licence issue...Seems there shouldn't by any problems...
So we can start off with the project...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my post - i wasnt fast enough in editing

MaR-V-iN said:
See my post - i wasnt fast enough in editing
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I didn't understand. The project will have all the apps on the market for everyone to download, and the source code will be hosted on github so that we can improve the code be providing patches...So you are interested or no ?

For web i can help you
Let me know
Sent from my Xperia Play using Tapatalk 2

Dharam_Maniar said:
I didn't understand. The project will have all the apps on the market for everyone to download, and the source code will be hosted on github so that we can improve the code be providing patches...So you are interested or no ?
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Just saying it is open source does not make clear which license to use - i would suggest Apache License as it is my favourite one and i would not like GPL as i hate how they force developers to make everything opensource what is really **** for business developers...
Just say it will be Apache License and you got me in
MaR-V-iN

MaR-V-iN said:
Just saying it is open source does not make clear which license to use - i would suggest Apache License as it is my favourite one and i would not like GPL as i hate how they force developers to make everything opensource what is really **** for business developers...
Just say it will be Apache License and you got me in
MaR-V-iN
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Actually speaking, I don;t understand most of the license stuff...
But If we see the source of the apps provided by google in AOSP, it says
/*
* Copyright (C) 2007 The Android Open Source Project
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
So, I guess it will be Apache Licence...But I would like to tell you, that these apps will be complete open source...Its not a project for business but for developing great apps for the community, by the community...Anyone and everyone can help in improving these apps.

I'm no dev but if I'm understanding correctly you will set up the environment on github ,everyone can just push in code and from time to time u publish the latest apks to the market right?
Sent from my SGS2 powered by cm9 love

bartoloandre98 said:
I'm no dev but if I'm understanding correctly you will set up the environment on github ,everyone can just push in code and from time to time u publish the latest apks to the market right?
Sent from my SGS2 powered by cm9 love
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Yes... You understand correct...

Dharam_Maniar said:
Yes... You understand correct...
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Make an org on github, would be the best way
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA

cdesai said:
Make an org on github, would be the best way
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA
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did that long back
Just busy with my other project also...i.e. the DarkKnight Kernel for CheckROM ICS (Galaxy S2)

[Q] Some essential documentation badly needed

I read @Entropy512 write somewhere "we are more in need of developers than of testers at the moment"
To that effect I want to make an appeal to @maxwen @XpLoDWilD @Entropy512 @pulser_g2 and all other people who started the initiative to properly document out a few things
1. If a device maintainer wants to get his device added to omni ROM what should the steps be ?
2. To set up a omni ROM - compliant device tree what are the prerequisites. As in omniROM trees have been seen to be using a format of aosp.mk+custom.mk device makefiles where aosp.mk makes it AOSP-compliant and custom.mk is the omni additions. How custom.mk is to be made (a template maybe ?) should be be documented. In fact I would go out to say a device/custom/sample tree should be made as an example
3. Are there any guidelines as to how much the hardware side codes can be hacked with to make the devices supported ? (Many groups of developers have forks of hardware/qcom/* repos that are pretty liberally spread with #ifdef's and makes them break CTS/CDD in a huge way). How much will these hacks be supported ?
4. Obvious point, what are the fields in which you need help most badly as of now. That is to say ril/telephony experts are highly needed right now or are features the topmost priority or is the highest concern to make the hardware repos tip-top so that devices are completely stable
Also publishing some guides on how to get sources and build the ROM would be good too, but since you are looking for "Developers" right now, it can be assumed that they will figure that much out on their own at least

This documentation will be done.
Actually one of the key goals of omni is to properly document things.
Bear in mind exactly how early this is in the process - it was only yesterday we even made the links available for github...
Documentation will be a large part of going forward and it has been ongoing for a while. Currently that's the biggest task actually, much moreso than the actual development.
Developers don't only write code, they also write docs
To that effect, http://docs.omnirom.org is going to be the home

Among other things I want to do is a "patches for a given feature" document so it's easier to find out how a given feature (such as status bar brightness) was implemented.
I really want to do it before I have too many patches to put in there, but I also have tons of stuff to fix!

Entropy512 said:
Among other things I want to do is a "patches for a given feature" document so it's easier to find out how a given feature (such as status bar brightness) was implemented.
I really want to do it before I have too many patches to put in there, but I also have tons of stuff to fix!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you think about this idea? These common kernel patches could also fit into that document.

pulser_g2 said:
This documentation will be done.
Actually one of the key goals of omni is to properly document things.
Bear in mind exactly how early this is in the process - it was only yesterday we even made the links available for github...
Documentation will be a large part of going forward and it has been ongoing for a while. Currently that's the biggest task actually, much moreso than the actual development.
Developers don't only write code, they also write docs
To that effect, http://docs.omnirom.org is going to be the home
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if I can be of any help let me know,
I would love to see this project start off right from the beginning with proper documentation about EVERYTHING
also +100 to @Entropy512 's idea. documenting each feature and how it has been added is really important
I strongly urge that submissions via gerrit should be enforced to have a well written description in the commit message too. (it is so much easier now with gerrit 2.7+ we can do it right inside our browser after the patch has been uploaded too)

championswimmer said:
if I can be of any help let me know,
I would love to see this project start off right from the beginning with proper documentation about EVERYTHING
also +100 to @Entropy512 's idea. documenting each feature and how it has been added is really important
I strongly urge that submissions via gerrit should be enforced to have a well written description in the commit message too. (it is so much easier now with gerrit 2.7+ we can do it right inside our browser after the patch has been uploaded too)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I've always tried to have a detailed commit message in anything I create, but I think we may need to start enforcing it so everyone does it.

Is there any kind of current features / bugs / patches list on the official build? Or even just a changelog?

orangekid said:
Is there any kind of current features / bugs / patches list on the official build? Or even just a changelog?
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There are no official builds yet. Too early for that.
so much work to do.

Entropy512 said:
There are no official builds yet. Too early for that.
so much work to do.
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Click to collapse
Oh, I was under the impression there was a compiled "official" version for the N4, N7, etc...
No worries, in due time I'm sure. Be looking forward to the Nexus 5 build..

orangekid said:
No worries, in due time I'm sure. Be looking forward to the Nexus 5 build..
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give us the device first

I follow Omni for the Nexus 5. Nightlies have started since Monday so I'd like to know if there's a general Omni changelog now or a specific one for each device.

I'm a developer without much ROM/Android development. I'd love to give a hand wherever possible, but like @championswimmer said, it's kind of overwhelming to jump in and help. I'm totally cool to be relegated to documenting things if that helps, but I also understand the interruption that it would cause for you guys to slow down long enough to explain what I need to know.
What I do have experience with:
Java
Jenkins
Minimal app development
Other crap that might or might not be helpful

[Q] Mindstorms Intergration

Hello all,
During my studies I am designing a project involving a LEGO Mindstorms "Robot" and an accompanying Android app. I would like to send commands to the Mindstorms unit using Bluetooth. I know this is possible as while trialing some ideas in the MIT App Inventor I discovered Mindstorms command blocks.
I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place. I did do some searching around Google for a way to do this, yet I found nothing as of yet. I do not need a full script, just a link to the API/API Commands.
Many Thanks,
-James

You could have a look at the Catroid project. It's an open-source Scratch port for Android which allows you to enable NXT support in the settings.
Maybe you can find some useful information in its code.
Github: https://github.com/catrobat/catroid
Especially this part of the repo might be interesting: https://github.com/Catrobat/Catroid/tree/master/catroid/src/org/catrobat/catroid/legonxt

nikwen said:
You could have a look at the Catroid project. It's an open-source Scratch port for Android which allows you to enable NXT support in the settings.
Maybe you can find some useful information in its code.
Github: https://github.com/catrobat/catroid
Especially this part of the repo might be interesting: https://github.com/Catrobat/Catroid/tree/master/catroid/src/org/catrobat/catroid/legonxt
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Thanks for the info. Currently reading through the source code now. Does show how much of java I have forgotten though.
Off topic but you have another supporter for your petition
-James

deadwarrior63 said:
Thanks for the info. Currently reading through the source code now. Does show how much of java I have forgotten though.
Off topic but you have another supporter for your petition
-James
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Welcome and thanks.