tutorials

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on How to Root Mele X1000 (Telechips TCC8935)

How to Root Mele X1000 (Telechips TCC8935)

Yesterday, I’ve explained to how update firmware on Telechips TCC8935 Android TV boxes, Mele X1000 more exactly. Today I’ll show how to root the device. The method uses Vroot, a Windows-only tool, that appears to be popular recently, as it is the same tool that’s used to root Amlogic S802 based devices. Let’s get started in a Windows PC or virtual machine: Download and install Vroot Start Mele X1000, and go to Settings->Android Settings, then in Developer options, enable USB debugging Connect a micro USB to USB cable between Mele X1000 and your Windows PC Start Vroot,. It should detect your device, download and install drivers and a daemion. Check root access in your device, and a Windows in your default language may pop up in Mele X1000. Accept. You should now see “Mele X1000 is connected. No root permissions” in Vroot, click on the green Root button to start […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on How to Update Firmware on Mele X1000 (Telechips TCC8935)

How to Update Firmware on Mele X1000 (Telechips TCC8935)

Mele X1000 is a Android Blu-Ray Navigation media player powered by Telechips TCC8935 dual cortex Cortex A9 SoC. I’ve already reviewed the device, and I had received an updated firmware a short while, after my review. I won’t do a full test again, but I’ll just document how to perform a firmware update on Mele X1000, and the method should be similar with other Telechips TCC893x devices. This method requires a computer running Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7. I’m not sure if it supports Windows 8.x. I’ve tried the method in VirtualBox running Windows 7 guest OS, and a netbook running Windows XP. In theory, it should also work in VirtualBox, but my computer running Ubuntu 14.04 failed to recognize the required USB connection. Let’s start by downloading MeLE_X1000_V4_00.20140305.19.zip, the latest firmware for Mele X1000 with the following Changelog: Solved bug: X1000 crashes when loading Hebrew subtitle for the movie. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Techniques to Get more Space for Apps in Android

Techniques to Get more Space for Apps in Android

Many devices now have a single internal partition for apps and data on the internal NAND / eMMC flash, but some companies are still providing firmware with the flash partitioned with an “internal storage” partition for apps and systems, and another partition either called “phone storage” or “internal SD card” to order to store data. In the first case, no problem, but in the second, you may have issues where you have plenty of total space, but the device keeps telling you there is no space, leading to error messages such “email service has stopped”,  app updates which can not complete, and app update downloads occurring in loops and draining the battery. I’ve experienced this issue with my phone (ThL W200) which features a mere 0.91 GB internal storage out of an 8GB NAND flash. Internal storage was 0.91 GB (94% full), phone storage 5.73 GB(3% full), and my micro […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Embedded Linux Conference 2014 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference 2014 Schedule

The Tenth Embedded Linux Conference (ELC 2014) will take place on April 29 – May 1, 2014 at the San Jose Marriott in San Jose, California. The event will feature 90+ sessions on embedded Linux, Android and IoT with over 450 attendees expected to attend. It will also be co-located with Android Builders Summit and the AllSeen Alliance Hackfest. Even if you can’t attend it’s still interesting to see what will be discussed at the event to get a grasp of on-going developments, learn a few things about different optimization techniques, and so on. So I’ve gone through the sessions’ description, and I’ve designed my own virtual schedule with sessions that could be of interest. April 29 9:00 – 9:30 – Keynote: The Paradox of embedded and Open Source by Tim Bird, Sony Mobile Linux has taken the embedded world by storm.  Billions (with a ‘B’) of devices have now shipped […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained Board Unboxing and Quick Start Guide

Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained Board Unboxing and Quick Start Guide

Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained is an evaluation board running Linux powered by SAMA5D36 ARM Cortex A5 micro-processor with 256 MB DDR2, 256 MB flash, two Ethernet ports, 3 USB connectors, and more. This embedded board targets industrial automation, networks, robotics, control panels and wearable applications. The only video output is an LCD connector so it is reserved for headless or flat panel based applications. You can check full specs on my Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained announcement post. The company kindly sent me a sample, so that I can share my experience with the board. I’ll first post some unboxing pictures, show how to get started with the pre-installed image, and build my own Linux image. The board can be purchased for $79 from Atmel e-Store, as well as several distributors (P/N: ATSAMA5D3-XPLD). Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained Unboxing I’ve been sent the board via DHL in the following package, which gives  a short desscription […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - Comments Off on Linux Command Line Guides

Linux Command Line Guides

I’ve found and reshared two interesting graphical resources about the Linux command line via Google+ Linux Community, and I thought I’d also write about it here to reach a wider audience. The first graphic shows which tools to use to monitor or analyze specifics parts that may run in Linux. The command I personally run the most in the list above are iotop for disk write/read throughput, top or htop to check overall and current processes CPU usage, as well as memory usage. Ping is also an all time favorite to check network connectivity. although I sometime use mii-tool, not listed above, to check Ethernet link status. Strace can be very useful to debug binaries, but I don’t use it that often. The next picture, called “Linux Commands Cheat Sheet” is less specific, and can be interesting if you are not familiar with the Linux command line. If the resolution […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Linux Kernel Upstreaming How-To – Linaro Connect Asia 2014

Linux Kernel Upstreaming How-To – Linaro Connect Asia 2014

I’ve already written a post about submitting kernel patches to mainline based on a 2011 presentation by Greg Kroah-Hartman, but Matt Porter, Broadcom Landing Team (LT) Technical Lead at Linaro, has given two updated talks entitled “Upstreaming 101” and “Upstreaming 201” at Linaro Connect Asia 2014. There are many planned talked during LCA 2014, and you can get the list as well as links to presentation and videos, as they become available on LCA 14 resources page. The first session “Upstream 101” starts with some definitions such as “upstreaming” (basically getting your code to  kernel.org), “mainline”, etc, explains how to get information about the (912) maintainers (tip: it’s in the MAINTAINERS file), how to deal with the 2-week merge windows occurring every 10 weeks or so, but the bulk of the talk detailing the work flow required to upstream code to the Linux kernel. There are basically 5 steps: Preparation – Read […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Flappy Bird Sucks, Let’s Play Flappy Tux Instead! Or How to Modify APK Files

Flappy Bird Sucks, Let’s Play Flappy Tux Instead! Or How to Modify APK Files

Flappy Bird is a ridiculous fad, and I promised myself not to write about this silly game. I managed to resist when somebody showed off their Arduino powered real-life Flappy Bird, but then XDA developers mentioned one of their member posted instructions to customize Flappy Bird game. I thought it might be fun to personalize the game with pictures of friends or family members, and at the same time, learn how to hack apk files. Instead of real persons, I’ve replaced the original bird, by Tux, the official Linux mascot, flapping wings not included. The instructions in XDA dev forums are mainly for Windows, but I’ve adapted them to Linux, and “created” “Flappy Tux” from Ubuntu 13.10. I’ll assume you’ve already installed OpenJDK and the Android SDK and have a working Android app development environment. I think we just need adb and aapt from android-sdk-linux/platform-tools/bin to be in the path. […]