Database Users

Wanted - help beta testing my browser game

Hello fellow XDAers!
I have ported a WinMobile game to Silverlight and I am really desperate for some beta testers – having been immersed in the project now for over 500 hours it's getting hard to see the wood for the trees.
If you're keen, the URL is www.squarepeggame.com
As an (attempt at an) incentive, I will reward useful beta testers with free copies of the game when it's released. Currently, things I would really like to know are:
- Does it load and run on your machine / browser?
- Are you able to create an account, and is your level position saved when you re-start?
- The Level Designer (this'll be the first time anybody has used it, go easy on me) what do you think?
- Comments on useability and interface.
- General bug reports (please be as specific as possible)
- Anyone have access to an Intel-based Mac? Does it run on that?
There are separate forums on the game site to post any questions/bugs, I am of course happy to reply here in this thread too, providing it doesn't get too cluttered.
Thank you in advance!
Carlos
PS: I'll soon be on the look out for paid level designers as well, if this is something that interests you, just sign up in-game as a developer (see the website for more info)
PPS: You might need Silverlight 2, but it only takes 30secs to download & install the plugin

- Does it load and run on your machine / browser?
Yes
- Are you able to create an account,
haven't tried (was not required
and is your level position saved when you re-start?
When I clicked the x i restarted, but when I clicked the x again the screen stayed white, nothing happened
- Comments on useability and interface.
I though the pregame pointers (in training mode) disapeared a bit too quickly
- General bug reports (please be as specific as possible)
see my 2nd comment

Mr_Gee said:
- Does it load and run on your machine / browser?
Yes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there
Thanks very much for this, I'm nearly ready to release it - anybody else fancy giving it a go? http://www.squarepeggame.com
What would be very helpful would be if somebody wanted to use the level designer to make their own level for the game - doesn't have to be anything complex - and let me know how you get on?
C

I will try right now

hmm seems like ppc has a new level to achieve ... will try
quite heavy on my memory eats up a lot of ram; was nice to play it and as been said was able to play without using my email address

Frickin' level 7....AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Now you have done it. I'll be at this for hours.http://forum.xda-developers.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Runs well on Firefox 3 with Silverlight 2 for me. It allowed me to create an account and login. Haven't tested saving yet. Will do in a moment. Likewise with the level designer. The only thing that could do with altering is that on my 1920 x 1200 monitor (24 inch) the game is as far to the left of the browser as it will go. Would be better in the middle.

Yes, it did save my level when I went back. Just had the signup email. Might be worth obscuring some of the password in it . And volume controls for SFX and music would be good rather than just on or off. Level 9 of the tutorial has a spelling error, Giong instead of Going.

- Does it load and run on your machine / browser?
It runs, I am using my bro's core2duo laptop with firefox 3.0.5
- Are you able to create an account, and is your level position saved when you re-start?
Yes, I used red_hanks also and it says I am logged in with that name. Still waiting for the game to start for 15minutes now, it says "please wait" with a square spinning around. It is not my internet connection because I have a high-speed broadband. Silverlight was installed also and system is up to date with Windows Update.
- The Level Designer (this'll be the first time anybody has used it, go easy on me) what do you think?
Looks clean, like in nurserys... (just the first page where it says START, INSTRUCTIONS...)
- Comments on useability and interface.
None at the moment
- General bug reports (please be as specific as possible)
It is not loading???
Oh it's loading now...Playing it...nice game...hit thr back arrow button and it went back to the first page...playing again...hit the x button and nothin happens..hit it again and everything just went white...

Hmmm... the level editor crashes Firefox for me as soon as I click in the email box. Also happens in IEtab and Internet Explorer 7. My machine is Vista Ultimate with a Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2gb RAM. I've also had it go to a blank screen in the menus but I see this is a listed bug on your forum.

character said:
eats up a lot of ram.. was nice to play it and as been said was able to play without using my email address
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll look into any ways of further minimising RAM usage, although could be a browser thing too. Lots of sounds and pics to cache too, but will definitely investigate.
ahuskins said:
Frickin' level 7....AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Now you have done it. I'll be at this for hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Level 7, really??! The one on the tutorial is really easy, so maybe you're talking about the actual "first hundred" playlist? Hope you cracked it! Let me know if you can't get there and want me to developer-enable your account so that you can try out the level designer.
Prof. Yaffle said:
The only thing that could do with altering is that on my 1920 x 1200 monitor (24 inch) the game is as far to the left of the browser as it will go. Would be better in the middle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an interesting comment - I will try to get it to centre in the browser rather than left-aligning. It's funny as I had just assumed that people would move or resize the window rather than maximising it! But I want it to be as helpful as possible to the user so you're right, it should align to the middle of large browser windows.
Prof. Yaffle said:
Yes, it did save my level when I went back. Just had the signup email. Might be worth obscuring some of the password in it . And volume controls for SFX and music would be good rather than just on or off. Level 9 of the tutorial has a spelling error, Giong instead of Going.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are all excellent suggestions, thank you - and typo now fixed. (the joy of all the levels coming from a SQL server is that this was a relatively trivial thing to do - if you've ever tried deploying and staging an Azure server site you'll know how long it can take...)
The volume controls might not make it into the beta release but will definitely be added later.
red_hanks said:
Hit the x button and nothin happens..hit it again and everything just went white...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this, red_hanks. Can't replicate the error but could easily have been the webserver being down. Calls to WCF services from Silverlight are a little tricky and I think I need more error handling for when they don't work. I don't think you have tested the level designer by the way, just the game, in answer to your comment.
Thanks everyone! As I said before, if anyone fancies trying to design their own level using the level designer and wants to let me know the name, etc, I'd be interested to (1) play your level and (2) hear how you got on with the level designer!
There's forums over at www.squarepeggame.com too if you need help, tutorials still being made but some are there.
Carlos

Any idea what could cause the level editor to crash in IE7 and Firefox? I've tried Run As Administrator as well but still the same. As soon as I click any of the boxes (including the tickbox) it crashes.

Prof. Yaffle said:
Any idea what could cause the level editor to crash in IE7 and Firefox? I've tried Run As Administrator as well but still the same. As soon as I click any of the boxes (including the tickbox) it crashes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm okay it would certainly be good to get this solved!
When it crashes, does it just white-screen or is there an error message? Can you try (in Firefox), after it's crashed, going to Tools -> Error Console and seeing if there were any error messages?
C
PS: I'm assuming you're running Silverlight v2 and not some earlier beta or something. Perhaps you could try uninstalling and re-installing Silverlight for me as well, making sure of course that all browsers are closed during installation.

Great, but a few issues
It runs along fine with very few issues on my Sony Laptop (Model VGN-CR240E with Windows Vista/7 partitions, 2 gb RAM, 2 gigahertz Centrino Duo, and a 1280x800 LCD screen. I have not actually tried it on Vista, only on Windows 7 and it works wonderfully except when you enter a level and hit the "X" button in the top corner, which crashes IE8 Beta It doesn't crash under those circumstances on FireFox (Windows 7) though. However, these issues could also be attributed to the fact it is a beta OS running a beta Browser. The game seems more stable on FireFox. I will try it on Vista later, and see if that makes a difference using IE7. As for the UI, it's fine but if you added a way to go back to the main menu after you choose the green "Start" button, that would make it even better. Accounts work fine as far as I've used them. And I have not noticed any RAM issues with the game, according to Process Explorer. The game is amazing overall, and you'll have yourself a real winner when this is done. Good luck with the game
Dave

Does it load and run on your machine / browser?
It works fine on my HP laptop. I'm running Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 and using IE 8 Beta 2
Are you able to create an account, and is your level position saved when you re-start?
Yes. I created an account and the level position was saved
The Level Designer (this'll be the first time anybody has used it, go easy on me) what do you think?
I haven't been able to login to it.
Comments on useability and interface.
Nice UI. It's simple and intuitive
General bug reports (please be as specific as possible)
Problem logging into the level designer. It says I need to complete the tutorial though I've finished it.
How did it run on an Intel iMac?
Once I get to my newspaper class 2 days from now, I'll update my post.
Since I couldn't login to the dev portal, I'm just saying: I'm a Silverlight developer and I would be interested in designing levels/improving the code of the game.

Hello,
The game runs well on my Mac Book Pro with Firefox.
I was able to create an account with no issues.
UI is simple. Makes the games easy to learn.
Crashed to a white screen on level 9 of the tutorial after several moves. Was able to restart from the beginning. This was prior to creating a login. After creating a login and then finishing level 8 of the tutorial I got a pleas wait icon. It then crashed to a white screen after about 30 seconds.
Do you want us to post in the squarepeg forum instead of here?

carlosp_uk said:
Hmm okay it would certainly be good to get this solved!
When it crashes, does it just white-screen or is there an error message? Can you try (in Firefox), after it's crashed, going to Tools -> Error Console and seeing if there were any error messages?
C
PS: I'm assuming you're running Silverlight v2 and not some earlier beta or something. Perhaps you could try uninstalling and re-installing Silverlight for me as well, making sure of course that all browsers are closed during installation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it crashes it actually kills Firefox and I get the Mozilla Crash Reporter asking if I wish to report details of what I was doing. I've tried several times looking in the Error Console and there's nothing other than a couple of dead RSS feeds. If I clear it still nothing at all related. I have V2 of Silverlight installed but have just tried rebooting, removing it, rebooting again, re-installing it and still the same.

Had to d/l silverlight- plays just fine
Created account and didnt have to log in as it remembered me and where I was
Nice game, looks good and is easy to use, though the levels get tough
No bugs that I have found
Using this on my HP 17" laptop running Windows XP
Thanks for this

Everything works perfectly using Silverlight 2 on an (intel) Macbook. The levels are tough, most definitely.

DaveTheTytnIIGuy said:
On Windows 7 and it works wonderfully except when you enter a level and hit the "X" button in the top corner, which crashes IE8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Dave, and also for your kind comments / feeback on the game - all noted. I have not been able to reproduce this bug (IE8 beta 1 or 2?) so I'm going to put it down as a win7/ie8 quirk for now, unless I get multiple reports. How did you get on with Vista?
ND4SPD said:
Problem logging into the level designer. It says I need to complete the tutorial though I've finished it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks this worries me as if the game is not correctly developer-enabling accounts at all times we're in trouble. Did anything happen when you completed the tutorial? Any sort of message at all? I cannot reproduce the error as when I complete the tutorial on my machine a message box appears telling me "Congratulations!..." and my account is upgraded to developer status.
ND4SPD said:
Since I couldn't login to the dev portal, I'm just saying: I'm a Silverlight developer and I would be interested in designing levels/improving the code of the game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, that sounds very interesting, if we can't get this problem sorted quickly let me know and I can manually developer-enable your account so you can have a crack at the level designer. In the next phase of the launch, we (ie me) will be paying out cash for levels as well.
blazingwolf said:
Crashed to a white screen on level 9 of the tutorial after several moves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this - this sounds like an error in code rather than comms. Can you remember what moves you made in the level? If you're able to reproduce this error and then (in firefox) go to Tools -> Error Console, hopefully there will be an error message that could help me to fix this bug. The other error you mention is a known comms exception that I'll be looking at.
Prof. Yaffle said:
When it crashes it actually kills Firefox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Whoa! And this happens when you click anything in the login screen of the level designer, right? (I'm assuming you got the logo and login textboxes appearing with no issues) Does the Mozilla crash reporter give you any additional info that you could send me about the crash?
Thanks so much for re-installing, by the way, sorry this didn't help. This doesn't sound like it's something that's going to be easy to diagnose, in fact I already have a headache just thinking about it. Possibly a silverlight bug, a browser bug, or both. Do you have javascript enabled in Firefox, by the way? And have you tried logging in with Internet Explorer, does that work?
blazingwolf said:
Do you want us to post in the squarepeg forum instead of here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know people, as we're now discussing multiple issues, and I don't want to abuse the charity of xda-developers for hosting this discussion, it might actually be better to gradually move things to the squarepeg forums. (http://forums.squarepeggame.com) I'll disable email account activation for a few days to make it quicker for you to set up accounts.
Of course if people would prefer to post here, that's understandable, I'll still gladly answer posts in this thread.
On a general note, thanks for all the testing so far (eg stanglifemike) - and I'm really pleased that the general impression of the game itself seems to be a good one... ...oh, and @elazullizard - thanks for the feedback... are the levels really that tough? Are you talking about "The First Hundred" or the tutorial?.. ..if it's the tutorial I'm now worried that I've made it too hard!
Carlos

ROM for juniors?

Hi,
I got a few spare androids' and i'm considering giving them to my kids (11 and 12) to play around with it and enjoy the android experience. however I don't want them being able to put 3rd party applications. how do i go about removing the option of "unknown sources" and maybe wifi from the settings.apk.
I'm not new to java and xml but sort of new to android development, I've tried several ways to remove it from the apk only (ark, ddx, baksmali, apksign) I did it in so many ways that i can't remember them all. I've also tried to decode the apk with apktool, ddx, baksmali, and creating a new project from existing source in eclipse, and I couldn't figure out what parts I have to modify to get it working (i kept on getting errors in eclipse so i wasn't even able to compile and test it in DDMS-eclipse).
Also i would like to know if maybe it is necessary to port the whole kernel source into eclipse?
I've searched all over the internet for a information for this specific thing and I couldn't find anything.
Btw, I'm using nix lucid.
Thanks In advance.
any help would be appreciated!

how about flash the supere rom without the google apps? that way they wont be able to access the market..

lagu805 said:
how about flash the supere rom without the google apps? that way they wont be able to access the market..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, the problem is not the market, i can pull it out from the phone with adb in a second w/o superE, but they can still install stuff on it with a sd card, and I would hate to not put in a file browser on the phone.
I think it would be a good idea to make a rom that's made for kids, for playing games and stuff without me worrying about it.
I'm sure that they will try to figure out a way to get around the "no market on the phone" and I should not underestimate a kid (even a 12 year old). I've seen him getting around lots of technological obstacle's.
I think that the world could use a kid's version of android, you know, get them hooked when they're young. The last thing i would like to hear from my kids is talking about iPhone or Windows. We're all linux in our house

Interesting. I too gave Magics to my 11 & 12 yr olds, one without a data plan and the other without a SIM at all. I think the right way might be multiuser like we already do on the desktops. Sudo would be a nice touch but I'd be happy to login as admin to install or whatnot.
Multiuser is something I'd like to see anyway with most or some settings on a per user basis. Or at least just for security, normal login can't do critical tasks that might cause issues. I think we'll hear about this again once we hear about some seriously dangerous apps/scams/viri on the phones.
In the meantime your best bet is education and rules about what can and can't be done. Then once per week or so you take the phone and check things out, update as needed, etc. So far my kids have little interest in breaking the rules and are happy browsing the market for fun things.

I think the only way to achieve this is to download the AOSP, edit the sources to remove the options and then compile your own ROM.

3rdcoast said:
Interesting. I too gave Magics to my 11 & 12 yr olds, one without a data plan and the other without a SIM at all. I think the right way might be multiuser like we already do on the desktops. Sudo would be a nice touch but I'd be happy to login as admin to install or whatnot.
Multiuser is something I'd like to see anyway with most or some settings on a per user basis. Or at least just for security, normal login can't do critical tasks that might cause issues. I think we'll hear about this again once we hear about some seriously dangerous apps/scams/viri on the phones.
In the meantime your best bet is education and rules about what can and can't be done. Then once per week or so you take the phone and check things out, update as needed, etc. So far my kids have little interest in breaking the rules and are happy browsing the market for fun things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, it is just a nix and SUDO should be possible, but setting this up is a quite a project and I don't think this is a one day project.
As for educating, I think they know right from wrong and I don't think that they will willingly break the rules, the market however is full of apps that are not meant for young kids..... what do you think they're going to do when they bump in to one of those apps? .
Actually what i wanted to do is to give them a phone with a line and no data plan so they can play games or watch movies, If the kids want to use the internet, there are more than enough boxes at home they can use. This phone is strictly for voice text and games.
What I want to accomplish in general, is having a child safe phone, and have the other parents here who want their kids to have to have an android, enjoy it. My way of giving back to the community.
But to have a phone that will be suitable for the purpose (not just for my kids) the data has to be completely disabled, and wifi is going to be the issue. putting on an encryption on wifi is a joke, ever heard of aircrack? I'm sure there are lots of determined horny 15 year olds that will get around that. (am i paranoid?)
Case_ said:
I think the only way to achieve this is to download the AOSP, edit the sources to remove the options and then compile your own ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what i want to do. The question is how do I do it?
Again, I'm not a complete noob, I just never played around with android as an OS. so if I can have the first push here here what I'm supposed to do to start this I would really appreciate it.
As I've said in my first post, I tried a few things and i couldn't get it right. what part of this don't i get??
Thanks a lot.

well your not even going in the right direction..
do you have an IDE with compiler and the android SDK all set up? then you can check on dferrera post on how to compile android from source... its listed in this forum.. please search
if your not a programmer or have no idea what classes - functions etc are then this might now be an option for you that is something you can be instructed on
you are going to need to learn to compile android from source and modify it, this is a very big task mate - be prepared, and no one can answer all the questions for u

alan090 said:
well your not even going in the right direction..
do you have an IDE with compiler and the android SDK all set up? then you can check on dferrera post on how to compile android from source... its listed in this forum.. please search
if your not a programmer or have no idea what classes - functions etc are then this might now be an option for you that is something you can be instructed on
you are going to need to learn to compile android from source and modify it, this is a very big task mate - be prepared, and no one can answer all the questions for u
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, but i can't seem to get java5 working on 10.04 (the 10.04 repos have only java6 but i did add the old repos and ran in to some issues), I had it working on 9.04 though. anyone made it run on 10.04? or should I downgrade (or run it in VB) to 9.04/.10?

k50aker said:
Thanks for the reply, but i can't seem to get java5 working on 10.04 (the 10.04 repos have only java6 but i did add the old repos and ran in to some issues), I had it working on 9.04 though. anyone made it run on 10.04? or should I downgrade (or run it in VB) to 9.04/.10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Add these 2 lines to the end of /etc/apt/sources.list file
Code:
deb http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
then do:
Code:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk

@k50aker
Hiding Wifi and other things should be quite easy task, but... how do you want to protect against system reinstallation? They could download any ROM from internet and install it in just 10 minutes. Backuping is easy too, so they could have 2 systems installed and switch between them when their dad comes home.
Android phones aren't desktops. You can't have root and don't give it to other users of a device.

Mod. edit: not dev related, moved to general

I wouldn't want to hide WiFI, the device is useless without connectivity, much cheaper toys out there for that if I wanted stand alone.
My two children each have a Magic and this is my experience, none of the worries that many parents seem to fear. They are well behaved and so far no problems and they are ready for 2.1 since 1.5 is just too confining even for them. Education goes a long way.
The best choice I made was to not put a SIM in one of the phones. WiFI is ideal since she is nearly always in a zone. This has gotten her used to IM instead of texting. Same effect but costs nothing. A SIP app works almost as well as SIM voice. Someday I'll do a data only SIM so she has total coverage, she'll understand that heavy data is to be done over WiFI and cell data is for VoIP and for times when it is really needed and can't wait.
However it would be nice if there was a limited setting requiring admin password for certain functions. But really, there hasn't been any problems but my kids might be grateful enough to not abuse the rights I give them. Best advice besides education if they are very young is to not SIM until after they get into the alternatives and not be addicted to texting. The older one has learned to watch her usage patterns and has to pay if she goes over budget.

Switch33 said:
Add these 2 lines to the end of /etc/apt/sources.list file
Code:
deb http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
then do:
Code:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those ropes are for jaunty not for lucid, and I have tried that before anyway and this is what i get:
Code:
desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
sun-java5-jdk is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libwv2-4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 11 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up sun-java5-doc (1.5.0-19-0ubuntu0.9.04) ...
This package is an installer package, it does not actually contain the
J2SDK documentation. You will need to go download one of the
archives:
jdk-1_5_0-doc.zip jdk-1_5_0-doc-ja.zip
(choose the non-update version if this is the first installation).
Please visit
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html
now and download. The file should be owned by root.root and be copied
to /tmp.
[Press RETURN to try again, 'no' + RETURN to abort] no
Abort installation of J2SDK documentation
dpkg: error processing sun-java5-doc (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
sun-java5-doc
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Brut.all said:
@k50aker
Hiding Wifi and other things should be quite easy task, but... how do you want to protect against system reinstallation? They could download any ROM from internet and install it in just 10 minutes. Backuping is easy too, so they could have 2 systems installed and switch between them when their dad comes home.
Android phones aren't desktops. You can't have root and don't give it to other users of a device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, but one of the later steps I thought about would be a custom boot and custom or no recovery. But I will figure that out later in the project.
But i will probably change my direction on this (wifi etc.) based on what you guys say.

Linux?

Is ubuntu possible on our u8800?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN4c61ETCWg maybe, try it

Without having seen the youtube vid that d3xtr0 linked, I'll post this link:
http://androlinux.com/android-ubuntu-development/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-android/

sebgus said:
Without having seen the youtube vid that d3xtr0 linked, I'll post this link:
http://androlinux.com/android-ubuntu-development/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-android/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lit's the same source

It will probably work if this device supports "loop devices" whatever that is? anyone know or tried it succsessfully?

skifyr123 said:
It will probably work if this device supports "loop devices" whatever that is? anyone know or tried it succsessfully?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no time to try it, maybe later in the week.

skifyr123 said:
It will probably work if this device supports "loop devices" whatever that is? anyone know or tried it succsessfully?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It supports loop device. I just tried to mount a loop device with a loop image and it worked.
EDIT: With flibblesan's r5 kernel but it should be supported by stock kernel anyway

You are aware that ubuntu has no proper support for touchscreens; even if it runs you won't gain anything by doing that. When I installed a linux a few months ago on another device it worked, then I was fascinated about one minute and then I decided that there is no use for it an deleted it eventually.
I just do not understand why it is so important to get a desktop-os running on a smartphone. Battery drains fast, no support for the radio etc.

XphX said:
You are aware that ubuntu has no proper support for touchscreens; even if it runs you won't gain anything by doing that. When I installed a linux a few months ago on another device it worked, then I was fascinated about one minute and then I decided that there is no use for it an deleted it eventually.
I just do not understand why it is so important to get a desktop-os running on a smartphone. Battery drains fast, no support for the radio etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not important, but funny and cool if it works (on this device). How did you do it?

Until recently I still had my old samsung-omnia-winmo6.5-phone. There was an app for linux available; you just had to install an imagefile to the sd-card. The fun did last for a minute and then I realized I cannot do anything with this small screen and that it was pretty much useless.
I think that a lot of people here will just read the topic and think "omg this is amazing, now I can have my desktop-os on the phone, great" and later they realize how much time they just wasted.
If it really is fun for you guys, I won't try and stop you

How about using linux programs? i think that it may be quite useful sometimes... Put honestly... it is just for funright now... but it may be helpful if we could dual boot.... maybe in the future

I got this working, it isn't that slow as you could imagine, firefox takes around 30 sec to start and load the front page. That said, the keyboard works but is way off and impossible to use (I push "d" and "f" shows up and so on).
if anyone understand this the keyboard will be fixed:
In VNC’s xstartup file: $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
You have to add the line export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1 before
/etc/X11/Xsession or gnome-session (in case you use GNOME)
Screenshot actually taken with an ubuntu tool, I have set the resolution to 1200*800 in the virtual enviriment.
Here is a video with Huawei Ideos X5 running Ubuntu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SaoneDtNqA&feature=BFp&list=WL01C152CD7D31A7C8&index=1

Will try this later tonight and let you guys know if it works. Just have to work first >.<

The significance of linux running is to have a backup operating system to use on the phone if the Oracle / Google dispute over Java begins to really disrupt the market.
Think also freedombox.org, your own personal, secure and anonymous cloud system as a refuge if a dictatorship emerges or particularly nasty rise of corporatism occurs.
At heart, our U8800's can easily be linux box server with up to 32Gb of onboard storage with wi-fi AND gsm network connections. Being battery operated, if the thought police decend upon your community, you could take it to another place, unknown to the nasty guys, and re-establish mesh network connection to get reports of civil rights abuses out to the rest of the world.
Reason enough to have the capability to run Ubuntu Server edition (or any other Linux Server flavour)?
If you're interested to see what's already possible, even within Android (Linux will deliver more power), install "File Expert" from the market to get your very own web file server, right there in your phone.

-- wrong post just ignore --

XphX said:
Until recently I still had my old samsung-omnia-winmo6.5-phone. There was an app for linux available; you just had to install an imagefile to the sd-card. The fun did last for a minute and then I realized I cannot do anything with this small screen and that it was pretty much useless.
I think that a lot of people here will just read the topic and think "omg this is amazing, now I can have my desktop-os on the phone, great" and later they realize how much time they just wasted.
If it really is fun for you guys, I won't try and stop you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't Found a better ubuntu boot-file, x5 faster, keyboard works, WIFI, pre-installed with many programs ( Open Office for work.. etc) easy to use with touch screen. here is how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUG9aC_tH5s
And the files/instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=962023

WP8: change marketplaces (glitch found) ?

Possable hack or glitch, that is why I am posting here.
According to a few sites, a glitch has been discovered by setting a proxy, you can make your non-nokia phone be able install apps from Nokia's apps.
Sites for info...
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/...n&a=http://www.wpdang.com/archives/98835.html
http://www.wpdang.com/archives/98835.html
http://www.wpcentral.com/glitch-spotted-windows-phone-store-lumia-apps
Does anyone have clear directions on this so everyone knows how to do it?
Also, I am hoping this would allow us to get to the point of a Marketplace Changer like we used to have for WP7 devices.. I personally would like some HTC apps on my Nokia...and a LG app too.
Figured this would be a great place to start a discussion on this.

The basic "hack" is dead simple, actually. In a way, this is easier than the old Marketplace Switching apps; those worked by changing some configuration files on the phone; this works by editing the communication between the phone and the Marketplace servers *as if* those files had been changed.
It's probably worth the time to write up a small utility to do this yourself, rather than relying on a third party proxy (never a good plan if you don't have to do it). It might even be possible to make the proxy run as an app on the phone itself (it would need to be sideloaded, since there's no way MS would permit such a thing, and you'd probably still need to be on WiFi, but it might be possible).

DavidinCT said:
Possable hack or glitch, that is why I am posting here.
According to a few sites, a glitch has been discovered by setting a proxy, you can make your non-nokia phone be able install apps from Nokia's apps.
Sites for info...
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/...n&a=http://www.wpdang.com/archives/98835.html
http://www.wpdang.com/archives/98835.html
http://www.wpcentral.com/glitch-spotted-windows-phone-store-lumia-apps
Does anyone have clear directions on this so everyone knows how to do it?
Also, I am hoping this would allow us to get to the point of a Marketplace Changer like we used to have for WP7 devices.. I personally would like some HTC apps on my Nokia...and a LG app too.
Figured this would be a great place to start a discussion on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guyz, I've tried this on my Huawei W1 but its says, cannot connect,,,,,,,,,, ive also tried changing the region but nothing happens, does anyone tried this already, and successfully installed those nokia exclusive apps?
Thank you,

jakelq said:
Guyz, I've tried this on my Huawei W1 but its says, cannot connect,,,,,,,,,, ive also tried changing the region but nothing happens, does anyone tried this already, and successfully installed those nokia exclusive apps?
Thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is time based. I mean, sometimes it happens. sometime it doesnt. keep trying is all I can say.

GH0ST DR0NE said:
it is time based. I mean, sometimes it happens. sometime it doesnt. keep trying is all I can say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, i tried this at home and it worked..
It runs smooth with huawei w1 and i dont experience any missed swipes.
Why does it wasnt released for 512 mb ram?
tnx.

GoodDayToDie said:
The basic "hack" is dead simple, actually. In a way, this is easier than the old Marketplace Switching apps; those worked by changing some configuration files on the phone; this works by editing the communication between the phone and the Marketplace servers *as if* those files had been changed.
It's probably worth the time to write up a small utility to do this yourself, rather than relying on a third party proxy (never a good plan if you don't have to do it). It might even be possible to make the proxy run as an app on the phone itself (it would need to be sideloaded, since there's no way MS would permit such a thing, and you'd probably still need to be on WiFi, but it might be possible).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would gladly test (I am dev unlocked) anything you can come up with here.
Anything that could help progress towards a hack on WP8, even if it's a marketplace changer of some type
aclegg2011 said:
Man, we really need to find a way to dev unlock our phones. :/
Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same process (dreamspark EDU account, etc) that worked for WP7 works on WP8 but, the limits of 3 apps are still there... So I can sideload 3 apps..

DavidinCT said:
The same process (dreamspark EDU account, etc) that worked for WP7 works on WP8 but, the limits of 3 apps are still there... So I can sideload 3 apps..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an edu account activated since december 2011. I had on my Omnia W (WP 7.5) only the possibility to sideload 3 apps, but now on my lumia 820 i DONT have this limit of 3 apps..

gipfelgoas said:
I have an edu account activated since december 2011. I had on my Omnia W (WP 7.5) only the possibility to sideload 3 apps, but now on my lumia 820 i dont have this limit of 3 apps..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Lumia 928, and I dev unlocked it(got one of those free EDU accounts that was going around, I log in 2 times a year), I put on 3 apps and it gives me an error if I try to add more.
I would like to add more but, No biggie because there is not 3rd party tools or hacks for WP8....YET.

DavidinCT said:
I have a Lumia 928, and I dev unlocked it(got one of those free EDU accounts that was going around, I log in 2 times a year), I put on 3 apps and it gives me an error if I try to add more.
I would like to add more but, No biggie because there is not 3rd party tools or hacks for WP8....YET.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont mind but it seems that my account has a bug..?!?

GoodDayToDie said:
The basic "hack" is dead simple, actually. In a way, this is easier than the old Marketplace Switching apps; those worked by changing some configuration files on the phone; this works by editing the communication between the phone and the Marketplace servers *as if* those files had been changed.
It's probably worth the time to write up a small utility to do this yourself, rather than relying on a third party proxy (never a good plan if you don't have to do it). It might even be possible to make the proxy run as an app on the phone itself (it would need to be sideloaded, since there's no way MS would permit such a thing, and you'd probably still need to be on WiFi, but it might be possible).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a question on this. Is there a list of "proxies" for different carriers/OEMS ? I could not find anything besides this one. Do you know how I can access HTC, Samsung, LG, etc list ?
How does one access the marketplace of another OEM than Nokia ? (I have a Nokia so that is not an issue for me)

It's just a matter of changing the ID string for the phone when it's talking to the Marketplace servers. I'll look into writing a tool to do it.

GoodDayToDie said:
It's just a matter of changing the ID string for the phone when it's talking to the Marketplace servers. I'll look into writing a tool to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awsome, I look forward to something ! Thanks !

GoodDayToDie said:
It's just a matter of changing the ID string for the phone when it's talking to the Marketplace servers. I'll look into writing a tool to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ,GoodDayToDie
Try fiddler2 to modify the request send by the phone when talking to the Marketplace servers.
I have made some research and it's intresting.....

@Mattemoller90: Yes, but I can't promise that the app will install correctly afterward. Apps identify, in their manifests, the resolutions they support. If the app requires resolution that the phone doesn't have, the phone will most likely simply refuse to install it.

@GoodDayToDie
How can I cheat the Marketplace with Fiddler2 (for change the resolution) I want try
You are the best

Eh, I'm not going to write a full tutorial right now. Short version is install Fiddler, set it to proxy external connections (will need to be let through your firewall), set your phone to use your PC's IP address and Fiddler's listening port as the proxy, set Fiddler to intercept requests, and then open the Marketplace. You'll see an HTTP GET request from the phone to Microsoft's servers, and the URL will contain a bunch of details about your phone (manufacturer, model, version info, region, etc.) including resolution. Replace the resolution string with the one you want to pretend to have, then have Fiddler "Run to completion".
Note: You'll probably have to do this multiple times. It's OK to not do it for things like partial searches, but you'll of course need to do it for the final search query. It can be scripted, but that's outside the scope of what I'm going to tell you to do here. Look at how @xdevilium does it in his app: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2362165

Can fiddler be used for other things? Like seeing where server updates are coming from, and how are phones interacts with developer registration?
Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

In theory, yes it can (or any other HTTP/HTTPS proxy; there are several of them available). However, the functions you describe use HTTPS. To intercept SSL traffic, the proxy needs to forge certificates for the sites you connect to (unless it somehow got ahold of the site's private key). To have your phone trust the forged certificates, the proxy (including Fiddler, if you choose to enable it) can sign the forged certificates using its own private key; if the corresponding public key is trusted by the phone (which can be done just by sending the public key to the phone using email or bluetooth or something, and installing it) then the forged signatures will be trusted.
However, that's only true for the general case. For specific OS functionality, Microsoft (and all the other big mobile vendors) use a technique called "certificate pinning" where the SSL certificate must either exactly match a known certifiacte, or must be signed by an exact match. In this case, it doesn't work to install your proxy's certificate and have it be trusted; a feature using cert pinning doesn't even check the OS's trust store. Therefore, we can't intercept those specific communications.
It's frustrating.

I've never scripted Fiddler, I just re-wrote the requests by hand. It's easy enough; there aren't very many. I could tell you how to do it in a couple other proxy programs.

GoodDayToDie said:
I could tell you how to do it in a couple other proxy programs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Really Appreciate That

Possibility of sideloading gapps in the future?

First off, you'll have to forgive me. I've still yet to spend any great deal of time with a windows phone.
That said...
MS has announced that it will be possible to use android apps I'm windows 10, provided they are written in a certain language.
Should google choose not to officially start offering their apps in windows store, what are the chances there will be a way to sideload them?

Now what I was thinking is that since MS is going to give devs an easier way to port apps to Win 10 mobile, why won't we be able to take an apk, run it through and see what comes out on the other side ourselves? If you are still a Insider, you can still load apps for testing, so it might work.

feherneoh said:
You need source code, not the already built .apk
Xperia Z3 Compact - What will I port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhhh....

hack14u said:
Ahhhh....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bigger problem is that you can only port the open source part of android, and I am sure Google uses a fair amount of their own closed source work. Also, you may not have to get the source code, IIRC Joe Belfiore said that you could package an existing apk. The problem is the only way to tell if it works is through trial and error, or looking at the source....