Related
Ok. Short story of what I want to do and why.
I am a developer and I feel that I don't contribute enough to this fantastic site and its users. After the recent unpleasantness I went away and thought about what it is that I could do to try and fix this. My idea is a site or section of the wiki built specifically to track bugs and issues in new roms (I was specifically thinking WMXL but there is no reason this can't be used for all of them).
I am currently working on my own XML based site with PHP5 driving and if people think it will be useful I'd write and host this service before I continued with my own site (hopefully before WMXL 0.30 is released).
I want to try and restrict the way people enter and search the information relating to problems with new roms and try to cut out the background noise. I was thinking about having fields such as ROM version (drop down list), radio version (text box), boot loader (drop down list), main program affected (text box), extent of interference (drop down list), description of problem (text area), how to reproduce error (mandatory text area!).
This will hopefully encourage more people to think about what might be causing the problem rather than just posting what they cant do and expecting someone else to work everything out. Forcing a description of how to recreate the problem will hopefully find most users not needing to post after they work it out, and if the recreation steps dont work then the post will be closed. Hopefully people will think enough that I will be able to moderate this forum (type thing) myself and maybe someone in another timezone (closer to the UK) can take care of it while im asleep.
No one can stop n00bs posting silly questions but hopefully we can reduce the amount this annoys everyone else.
Sorry it took so long to describe my idea.
Maz
UPDATE: STARTED!
I got started as soon as I'd got a couple of replies but I still need you all.
For the chef's and other brilliant people:
1. What info do you need with each ticket to try solve them?
2. Do you want to be the only one to close tickets? Or should the submitter be able to?
3. What info do you want to store for the roms to filter to the smallest pool of specific tickets?
For the users:
1. How do you want to be able to search this?
I DON'T ASK FOR DONATIONS! ALL I ASK IS THAT PEOPLE SEARCH BEFORE SUBMITTING!
---------------
http://maz.net.au/
Bugzilla? yes please
This is a very good idea. In fact, I think that we need too a place to store the temporary fixes generated after each ROM publishing. It will be a good place for this too.
Good Idea.
It Would Help A Lot, Sounds Like Finding Answers Would Be Easier And Should Cut Down On The Hostile Atmosphere.
Cheers
Yes, very good idea.
This become easyest forum for everyone.
If it would be of any use, i can host this on one of our UK servers so we get very good speeds? I know 'iammaz' has said he can host it but he is in Australia so for the UK guys it might be a tad slow.
If not then no worries, but just trying to do my bit!
jaso2005 said:
If it would be of any use, i can host this on one of our UK servers so we get very good speeds? I know 'iammaz' has said he can host it but he is in Australia so for the UK guys it might be a tad slow.
If not then no worries, but just trying to do my bit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers and I'm sure everyone appreciates the offer. My site is hosted in the US. At the moment this is being built as a module to my current CMS. Whether or not this adds too much overhead I won't know until I try. The problem will be if I use too much cpu time im sure it's against the ToS with my hosting company and they will shut me down.
I hope that I will have it built as a stand alone object by then and anyone else can take this and run this on php5 hosting or in fact I could run it as web services from my personal server at home.
Progress goes well. Just working on possible searching and indexing algorithms to make searching fast and useful.
Maz
-------------------
I can't believe I forget to type this.
http://maz.net.au/
Great idea
It's 2am. I'm piking for the night. I'm expecting a phone call at 7am tomorrow so will be back into it then for 5 or 6 hours. Hopefully will be almost done by the end of that.
I need to work out how you want to have logins work. I don't think i can make it authenticate against this forum (i havent tried integrating with vBulletin before). Do I allow open registration? do I try make it force you to register the same name but PM'ing the password to that username here? do i manually add people as they ask and restrict the group?
let me know in the next 6 hours or so.
Maz
----------------------
Badly styled CMS can be seen here. (new version looks so much better )
http://maz.net.au/
Open registration, but obviously grant privileges to those of us who classify as developers.
Olipro said:
Open registration, but obviously grant privileges to those of us who classify as developers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And super-user privileges for the chef's for bug tickets that apply to their cooked roms.
Maz
----------------
hard at work again at http://maz.net.au/
I was just wondering would anyone be interested in free file hosting for your ROM/s. What i ask in return is...well...donations...i may ask for a favour in return at a later date or something?
I'm giving chefs and application developers this as a way of saying thanks for all their hard work. That, plus im sick of the slow transfers of dodgy file share/hosting sites like rapid$hare and [email protected]
What you get:
-Free FTP account so you can upload your files with UNLIMITED storage/data transfers.
What you need to do:
Visit www.intertubes.info and read the front cover and shoot me an e-mail or PM on here and let me know why you deserve an account, and it will all be set up for you and i'll e-mail/PM you back with how to get started
At this stage i'll start with a limited number of seats.
lasterato said:
I was just wondering would anyone be interested in free file hosting for your ROM/s. What i ask in return is...well...donations...i may ask for a favour in return at a later date or something?
I'm giving chefs and application developers this as a way of saying thanks for all their hard work. That, plus im sick of the slow transfers of dodgy file share/hosting sites like rapid$hare and [email protected]
What you get:
-Free FTP account so you can upload your files with UNLIMITED storage/data transfers.
What you need to do:
Visit www.intertubes.info and read the front cover and shoot me an e-mail or PM on here and let me know why you deserve an account, and it will all be set up for you and i'll e-mail/PM you back with how to get started
At this stage i'll start with a limited number of seats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lasterato
Thinks is a very good offer which I really appreciate however bl0w is doing exactly the same thing at the moment and is doing a fantastic job of this. I'm not sure wether there will be a demand for this as we are very happy with bl0w's services.
See what the other chef's say anyway. I guess you can't have enough mirrors!
Regards
Shaks
shaks1979 said:
Lasterato
Thinks is a very good offer which I really appreciate however bl0w is doing exactly the same thing at the moment and is doing a fantastic job of this. I'm not sure wether there will be a demand for this as we are very happy with bl0w's services.
See what the other chef's say anyway. I guess you can't have enough mirrors!
Regards
Shaks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm willing to work side by side with bl0w, presuming that they're happy to do so...i haven't seen enough non-rapid$hare type links to be satisfied
Just thought I would say thanks to lasterato, also is this server based in Australia cause that would be tops for us aussies haha, also im with you on the NO CLEAN FILTER!!
Thanks again for your contribution!
luckyluke1137 said:
Just thought I would say thanks to lasterato, also is this server based in Australia cause that would be tops for us aussies haha, also im with you on the NO CLEAN FILTER!!
Thanks again for your contribution!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly no...they're like millions per month. I basically just had the site for some file-storage stuff, and though i'm not going to use it all. I usually get awesome speeds off it anyways. So it's a win win situation i say!
lasterato said:
Sadly no...they're like millions per month. I basically just had the site for some file-storage stuff, and though i'm not going to use it all. I usually get awesome speeds off it anyways. So it's a win win situation i say!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can offer 100Mbit hosting, yet there's no point in it since someone else is already doing a very good job at it.
My suggestion: You can always contat bl0w in order to rsync his server to yours, and that would be exactly this: mirroring.
Then again, what's the point in this, or even load balancing?
It's not like he gets overloads.
A.
adwinp said:
I can offer 100Mbit hosting, yet there's no point in it since someone else is already doing a very good job at it.
My suggestion: You can always contat bl0w in order to rsync his server to yours, and that would be exactly this: mirroring.
Then again, what's the point in this, or even load balancing?
It's not like he gets overloads.
A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true...meh, will see if anything results from it
i can help to
Hello!
Dear friends, developers, programmers, ideological comrades!
This resource I have introduced to support you.
Yes, it’s not super-hosting, not terabytes of space for all your files … But everything here is — is provided to you free of charge.
Limited speed of traffic IN to 820 kilobytes \ s. OUT - 100mb\s
You are given, depending on the size of the project, 10GB \ 50GB \ 100GB package on the resource.
DataBase MariaDB \ php5 ZenoCacheEngine \ nginx + apache2-minded bunch.
For your domain name (if you want to move), there are two NS servers, the ability to manage DNS zone.
Available hosting control panel VESTA CONTROL PANEL.
FTP support and control include.
Each participant can carry out its project page on the main site.
=
Please write here - what candidate to hosting place or mirror you wanna see?
Whose have interesting kernel, or rom \ script \ app \ and need mirror for files without difficult access to share file service?
i would love to see a website specifically for g1 themes. with images of all themes, all linking back to the developer. as well as all themes and other downloads being hosted on local server, instead of having to use FTP services like megashares etc.
if anyone with web development/programming experience would be interested in assisting me it would be appreciated, and i think a site of this nature would benefit the android global community as a whole.
may i also state that i have a server with enough bandwidth and server space to handle the high traffic volume that follows a site like this.
i see some great possibilities with this, but in order to get it off the ground i will need some help.
I would love to say yes but my web dev skills have never been used in a real environment.
I would like to see something like this get off the ground. Its such a great idea.
although i do not have a crazy lot of time i do have an extra website that i currently do not use. Its good for a little less than a year and i "could" use iWeb or something to put a site together since it would take crazy less time. Its unlimited everything so i could host the .zip files right on it and just have people download from there. If enough people would use it though. I would def have to have everyone's permission though as i am not getting in trouble with people over something like this. if its something some of these Theme devs would enjoy i could use my current site on DreamHost and allow the download straight from the site with Pictures. Could have a page for each one of them too. Let me know as i would be willing to do this so it would be 100% easier to find things.
Email me at [email protected]
I would be willing to put the time in too since i could add an Ad at the top for some income towards the renew cost if necessary. And i do know what i am doing but it would def have to be a use site not just something 10 people use. www.edgewoodcma.org is my newest site i got up and running for a church.
thats pretty much the idea, it doenst really matter which server is used, however i do have a little over 2 years on mine, but it is unlimited just as yours is. however i do not think a page made in iWeb or something will work quite as nicely as something designed for dynamic updating by many devs.
im looking into a PHP CMS engine that will allow devs to name their .zip files and upload with a thumbnail of the theme. and have the site automatically post the new theme with the naming convention used in the .zip and show the thumbnail as a link to the direct download from the server.
i wanted to try and stay away from another forum site, as well. this is the forum site for android pretty much, we may have a discussion area in the theme site, however the downloads and updates will be on another portion of the page as to eliminate the need to sift through threads to find the themes you want.
The reason i posted that i would be willing to make and update the site is so that useless things will be kept out. I would be willing to accept all photos and .zip files in my email then post onto the site so that duplicates and useless things are kept to a minimum. I would also make multiple sections showing what update you are running (i.e. RC33, ADP 1.5, Dude, ect) and a complete breakdown so that it is as easily as possible to do things. The reason i would use iWeb is because of its simplicity. You could update a site within 2minutes for whatever is needed. I could update anywhere in a matter of minutes which would mean more thing up and running. Just an idea though as i too am wishing it was far easier to locate things instead of sifting through hundreds of posts to find the one decent theme out off 100.
that sounds great, will iWeb allow you to create dynamic websites for the dev to upload his work? or will you manage the whole thing as a static database (updated when devs send you their work)?
if you wish to create this, then please do. i shall continue to look for a permanent, maintenance free*, catalogue of themes. but until an engine is created for that purpose your offer sounds perfect. the android community desperately needs someplace organized to find these themes.
thank you for your offer, if you would like any sort of graphic help just let me know and ill do my best.
Dynamic sounds best, you could accept members (ie theme creators) and only have have control over posting themes and updates to their own themes?
We are actually working on this right now. Just purchased themesdroid.com a couple days ago.
We have a dedicated server we are going to be running it on. We are actively developing the site now. Perhaps we should combine our efforts.
awesome, let me know if you need any help, or any server space etc.
id love to help in any way i can.
--peace
It does seem like a good idea, although I have read in the past something about "why have many resources in many places"...one central location for it all is great, so it would have to have many advantages for it to work. I know instant thumbnails would be 1 (forums it doesnt work like that). Local files is another. Purchasable is probably something considerable.
Ive built for big corps before, and know a lot about that stuff. If you guys need help with doing anything I know almost any solution. Something like "if you donate you get extras" or something, and only those that did donate can get certain things. Helps the developers for their time and effort (like the apps, makes sense).
We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
kronarq said:
We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you looking for in this CMS/DMS system?
well php-fusion is always a safe choice, there was something new... what was it.. http://expressionengine.com/
Ive always found Joomla to be the most flexible system to date, complicated but it will do 'everything' your looking it to do. It has great theme support as well (great flexibility for customizablity). Very secure too.
@malaeus, sorry to say but php-anything is almost always a bad choice, they have many loops/hackable holes.
Xoops is good too. Drupal is good. Or if you have a M$ server (asp), dot net nuke is good, has many add-ons for great flexibility.
Just some suggestions for you guys (btw, all those are free [opensource like android ]
I've been building Drupal sites for years now... if you guys need help, let me know.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6613/demo1z.png
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3173/demo2.jpg
Started it 3 hours ago, thats how quick and easy it is. Its just a demo to show you what you can do with it. If you like cool, if not I at least recommend you check out joomla, thats what I created that with (there is no "starting from ground up" with it, its just there to "put the stuff in"). That template is free too (there are plenty out there, I also make my own which takes time). Just threw it together because I had the last three hours off from work and wanted to play with it again.
Drupals good, but I just dont think it has the best of plugins, they are ....awkward or something I dont know.
@kdf2883: Something geared towards downloads. Something preferably lightweight compared to Joomla/Drupal etc
@theslam08: I currently have a test of Joomla + DocMan I have been playing with, but Joomla seems like overkill for what we are doing. It doesn't all our needs so we would still have to modify it yet it does a bunch of junk we don't need. Then there's the usual update every week or get hacked bit...
We are leaning towards just doing everything from scratch. I could have a Joomla site up in a day or two or we can give it a couple weeks to build our own system from the ground up. What do you guys think?
for something like this, we may want to try something as simple as wordpress. each post would be a new theme, images and text would include server direct download link. its at least one of the most compatible backbones i can think of.
i have little to no experience in drupal and joomla etc. however when it comes to the design aspect of the website, thats closing in on my specialty.
@slam nice job on that layout btw. especially considering time spent.
Look at the Lock 2.0 themes site. They use WordPress and in my opinion it's a mess.
Hi, I'm Trent and I co-created AppThwack, a service for on-demand automated testing of Android apps on real devices. Basically, you upload an apk and a couple minutes later you get screenshots and logcat dumps from actual phones and tablets we host.
Beta Users Needed
We're currently looking for devs to join our private beta. You can message me or sign up on our website and I'll get a beta code to you shortly. We're trying to stress the system and make additions/adjustments so the service is as useful as possible for developers.
Current Features
Real phones and tablets: About 20 high- and low-end devices and we add a few more every week.
Fast: See results in real time. Full test runs on all devices takes a minute or two to complete.
Selectable default tests: Install, launch, UI Monkey, Cleanup
Configurable tests: For example, specify the number of UI Monkey events and seed the randomizer
JUnit including Robotium support via uploaded test packages
Screenshots in portrait and landscape on all devices
Logcat and filterable logcat viewer
High-level results sortable by device or test
Full stack-traces for any exception that occurs
Future
We're working on adding more test frameworks like monkeyrunner and more default tests, particularly performance tests that measure battery consumption, CPU usage, etc. We're also adding more data visualization and charting so it's easy to see what some of the gathered statistics mean.
We plan to launch soon, but the beta program will remain in effect even after that. The service will follow a freemium model. Again, the beta is free and we're going to keep it in place even after we eventually launch.
Inter-device automation
Our back-end supports device-to-device automation, so if you have an app or scenario that you'd like to test that involves multiple devices or interaction with other devices, even non-Android devices, let me know. We're looking for people to help us develop how this service will be exposed.
Edit: I can't post links, but if you search for "appthwack" you'll find it. Btw, I've apparently lurked since October, 2008. Yikes.
Just wondering will this support of testing apps that require root?
Also any chance we can see like a live pic of the device when it installs the app and opens it?
Sent from my VS910 4G using xda premium
motodroidfreak said:
Just wondering will this support of testing apps that require root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now it does not and all of our phones are as close to stock as possible. I'll look into making it an option so we automatically root before your app installs and then un-root after the tests are complete. Root opens up some new possibilities, both good and bad, so I'll need to think about it.
motodroidfreak said:
Also any chance we can see like a live pic of the device when it installs the app and opens it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! The launch test takes a screenshot in both landscape and portrait. You can see all screenshots sorted by device by clicking "By Device" or "By Test" and clicking the "Screenshots" link in the blue box at the top.
Screenshots also show up in each launch test log so you can see the context as the shot was captured. Logcat dumps show up in the same place (Link from the blue box at the top will open a filterable and highlighted log viewer).
Alright thanks I'll try it out tonight
Sent from my VS910 4G using xda premium
Holy cow. Didn't realize such web service existed.
I just signed up and currently having a look around. Is it possible for me to join the beta? Thanks!
Is it possible for a "free" upgrade for my account? Heh just asking
EDIT : Created a new project. Then I'm stuck. The "Runs" tab is empty.
EDIT again : Oh.. uploading had error previously. Uploading again.
Very interesting project. Good luck to your team and I hope I can be a good beta tester
Realy interesting, for us, almost of our apps needs root access, so please think about adding root to your service
Test on my Sensation
Will test on my sensation
test
nullFactory said:
Hi, I'm Trent and I co-created AppThwack, a service for on-demand automated testing of Android apps on real devices. Basically, you upload an apk and a couple minutes later you get screenshots and logcat dumps from actual phones and tablets we host.
Beta Users Needed
We're currently looking for devs to join our private beta. You can message me or sign up on our website and I'll get a beta code to you shortly. We're trying to stress the system and make additions/adjustments so the service is as useful as possible for developers.
Current Features
Real phones and tablets: About 20 high- and low-end devices and we add a few more every week.
Fast: See results in real time. Full test runs on all devices takes a minute or two to complete.
Selectable default tests: Install, launch, UI Monkey, Cleanup
Configurable tests: For example, specify the number of UI Monkey events and seed the randomizer
JUnit including Robotium support via uploaded test packages
Screenshots in portrait and landscape on all devices
Logcat and filterable logcat viewer
High-level results sortable by device or test
Full stack-traces for any exception that occurs
Future
We're working on adding more test frameworks like monkeyrunner and more default tests, particularly performance tests that measure battery consumption, CPU usage, etc. We're also adding more data visualization and charting so it's easy to see what some of the gathered statistics mean.
We plan to launch soon, but the beta program will remain in effect even after that. The service will follow a freemium model. Again, the beta is free and we're going to keep it in place even after we eventually launch.
Inter-device automation
Our back-end supports device-to-device automation, so if you have an app or scenario that you'd like to test that involves multiple devices or interaction with other devices, even non-Android devices, let me know. We're looking for people to help us develop how this service will be exposed.
Edit: I can't post links, but if you search for "appthwack" you'll find it. Btw, I've apparently lurked since October, 2008. Yikes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to test the tool, can you share with me..
Tested
Tested the tool, seems too good..
Suggestion : In-case if you want to reach maximum number of developer. Allow developer to use has free.
IDEA : You can request developer to post about you're tool on there app page, website & play store... As you're giving the tool as free you will get enough number of people to view & use the tool.. if the developer agree then you will allow him to use the tool for free of cost..
As a developer am ready to use the tool & post about you in my app & other places too...
This is a great tool, just uploaded an apk of my app that's in my signature and it worked, with a couple of NullPointers from the Play Store's licence service. That shouldn't happen, and doesn't on any of my devices, so I suspect it's an issue on your end. Any idea why?
HTML:
java.lang.NullPointerException at com.google.android.vending.licensing.LicenseValidator.verify(LicenseValidator.java:99) at com.google.android.vending.licensing.LicenseChecker$ResultListener$2.run(LicenseChecker.java:228) at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:605) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137) at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:60)
HTML:
FATAL EXCEPTION: background thread java.lang.NullPointerException at com.google.android.vending.licensing.LicenseValidator.verify(LicenseValidator.java:99) at com.google.android.vending.licensing.LicenseChecker$ResultListener$2.run(LicenseChecker.java:228) at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:608) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:156) at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:60)
Borland
We are using Silk Mobile for end to end applications testing. Do you ever used this tool?
What an interesting service! I'll look into this from work tomorrow.
Not having used this at all, the first things which do spring to mind are:
-streaming realtime logcat
-a (skype?) connection with live streaming video of the app running, so you can see layouts/animations etc.
Anyway, I'm going to check this out tomorrow!
Quinny899 said:
This is a great tool, just uploaded an apk of my app that's in my signature and it worked, with a couple of NullPointers from the Play Store's licence service. That shouldn't happen, and doesn't on any of my devices, so I suspect it's an issue on your end. Any idea why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for checking out the service. My immediate guess it that this is caused by the absence of a default Play account. Many devices have no account as one of our supported frameworks, calabash, removes accounts upon cleanup after script completion. On the plus-side, if you were to write scripts you should be able to add a temporary account from the test itself.
Highly unlikely you'd hit this bug in a real world situation, but it is a bug nonetheless.
Really awesome service! Can't test it for the moment as it doesn't support root apps, but this is really a great concept :good:
Maybe you could build a superuser permissions manager which would grant root access but makes sure to keep /system mounted as read-only, this way no harm could be done to the devices and us root apps devs could use your awesome service.
I actually got quite a few ideas, you could delete the mount binary in /system/xbin and use it in an internal appthwack app's private data, so that it's the only app able to call this binary and thus to mount /system.
I'd definitely subscribe to AppThwack if it had root support.
If you want help with developing this kind of secure root environment for the testing, I'd gladly contribute.
EDIT : Strangely enough, I just tested it with my app (which asks for root in the launcher activity, so I really didn't expect it to work) and had 0 failures, 75 pass.
How comes ? Have you already added root support ?^^
Either way this is really cool, I'm going to spread the words and most likely subscribe a paid account :good:
Is there somewhere we can see pictures of your device lab? Gotta be one hell of a device museum you got over there^^
Androguide.fr said:
Really awesome service! Can't test it for the moment as it doesn't support root apps, but this is really a great concept :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for the kind words!
EDIT : Strangely enough, I just tested it with my app (which asks for root in the launcher activity, so I really didn't expect it to work) and had 0 failures, 75 pass.
How comes ? Have you already added root support ?^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is pretty interesting. The only two rooted devices are a couple running CM. I'll look into this further, and if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them as well.
Either way this is really cool, I'm going to spread the words and most likely subscribe a paid account :good:
Is there somewhere we can see pictures of your device lab? Gotta be one hell of a device museum you got over there^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet, I really appreciate it. As soon as I have the number of posts to do so I'll post a pic of the lab.
Some things can not be automated, like scanning a QR code or reading/writing to an NFC tag. Do you plan on adding "manual tests" for a fee?
This would be really great to test apps on specific hardware.
worldtiki said:
Some things can not be automated, like scanning a QR code or reading/writing to an NFC tag. Do you plan on adding "manual tests" for a fee?
This would be really great to test apps on specific hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the question! Our primary focus is on automation. There are existing test houses and services that will execute manual tests like those you describe, but of course because of the manual component they're slow and expensive.
We often push folks to break their testing down into more granular chunks. For instance, verify you can take a picture and deal with the image, even if it's not the QR code or whatever your app usually consumes. This will find problems with simply using the camera and resulting image location. Now, have a separate test that processes a photo of a QR code, but feed the image in as part of the test. This removes the camera component from the analysis part, meaning it's now possible to benchmark the image analysis algorithm on all devices.
With a combination of a service like ours where you test very, very quickly on tons of devices, you can now do some more UX/end-to-end tests on a handful of devices yourself. This hybrid approach is great for finding the vast majority of issues before release.
nice post
Realy interesting, for us
Awesome tool !
No Developer can test his/her app on many devices. But your tool ... A W E S O M E ! ... I Used it yesterday to test two of my new apps ... Found some error is my app on certain devices which i'd have never found without AppThwack .. :good: :good:
Hi all, I have finally had enough of Apple (and planned obsolescence!). I have never used Android before, got myself a Galaxy Tab S and once I learn how to use it well, I will be dumping my faulty iPhone in favour of a Galaxy phone as well.
I bought a used Tab S with 4G in lovely condition. Just turned it on and it says Insert Sim. I skipped that and it said "Many features will not work without an active Sim".
Therefore the first question I have is how much to read into that message?! Do I believe it? I don\'t plan on using a data Sim, only want to use WiFi. Will the Tab S work just fine without a cellular SIM or is it going to give me constant errors and problems? If the latter I may have to sell it in favour of a non SIM version. Any advice appreciated. I quite like the idea of being ABLE to use a data SIM if I want to some time, hence why I bought it.
Second question is I DESPISE Google and all the tracking stuff. I use a VPN much of the time. A friend of mine has a Galaxy Tab and said I should "root" the device. Can anyone tell me the main benefits of doing so? I am trying to work out how necessary is it (as I am short of time so won't do it unless it will give me benefits). I intend to use VPN and try my best to prevent google tracking what I watch on youtube, what searches I do, and just about anything else I can. I also notice that for Earth and Maps to work, I obviously need to let it know my location (which I don't generally like doing but understand the trade off and will do it in this case). Is there a way (perhaps via rooting) to enable GPS location sharing without feeding GOOGLE my whereabouts (i.e. using other map software instead of Google's)?
I am blown away by the quality of this device. thanks for anyone who has time to offer their thoughts on the above. Thanks
Welcome to the real world, Neo!
SIM Card allows having such things like mobile data (this works just the same as the iPad LTE) and voice calls from a tablet (this feature is unique to Android - you can make voice calls just like it is a big phone, using either built-in mic and speakers or via Bluetooth headset). If the SIM is not inserted, there will be no problems - you can safely dismiss the warning.
Regarding the Google-free experience and rooting. Rooting is direct equivalent to iOS jailbreak. Both result in getting root shell (# or uid 0).
To root the Tab, you must flash the CF-Autoroot via Odin: https://www.theandroidsoul.com/root...10-5-lte-sm-t805-one-click-cf-auto-root-tool/ This is for 10.5 LTE aka SM-T805, for 8.4 LTE aka SM-T705 the instruction is similar: https://www.theandroidsoul.com/root...-8-4-lte-sm-t705-one-click-cf-auto-root-tool/
Also it is good to flash the TWRP recovery after you get root to get a rich recovery environment helping you to backup and restore your device, flash custom ROMs etc.nMore info here: https://twrp.me/FAQ/
Dont hesitate to ask questions once they arise.
---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
Ph, and forgot to mention Google free experience. Once you get root, you can debloat your stock ROM but I'd advise flashing a LineageOS ROM for newer Android version and latest security patches. Also, Google services are not present by default in LineageOs but can be flashed separately. However, I am already more than a year without Google services and apps.
For example, I use K-9 Mail + OpenKeychain from F-Droid open-source app market to use GMail with OpenPGP support.
F-Droid is the primary marketplace app having opensource applications. For closed-source apps available on Google Play, the open-source Google Play client app named Yalp Store offers the same functionality as play market but not requiring Google services.
Youtube client I use is Newpipe, opensource app available in F-Droid. There are other clients too, like SkyTube.
Google Maps can be replaced by OsmAnd+ - an opensource client for OpenStreetMap infrastructure, again available from F-Droid app store.
Office application suite I recommend is Hancom Office - it is free for Samsung devices, and it processes documents faster than Office365.
Also, I made it work on LineageOS and other custom ROMs.
I use Brave Browser as a primary Web browser, as it is opensource app based on Google Chromium code but heavily de-Googled and having some cool features like embedded ad-blocker.
Hope this helps you a bit.
gellmar said:
Welcome to the real world, Neo!
SIM Card allows having such things like mobile data (this works just the same as the iPad LTE) and voice calls from a tablet (this feature is unique to Android - you can make voice calls just like it is a big phone, using either built-in mic and speakers or via Bluetooth headset). If the SIM is not inserted, there will be no problems - you can safely dismiss the warning.
Regarding the Google-free experience and rooting. Rooting is direct equivalent to iOS jailbreak. Both result in getting root shell (# or uid 0).
To root the Tab, you must flash the CF-Autoroot via Odin: https://www.theandroidsoul.com/root...10-5-lte-sm-t805-one-click-cf-auto-root-tool/ This is for 10.5 LTE aka SM-T805, for 8.4 LTE aka SM-T705 the instruction is similar: https://www.theandroidsoul.com/root...-8-4-lte-sm-t705-one-click-cf-auto-root-tool/
Also it is good to flash the TWRP recovery after you get root to get a rich recovery environment helping you to backup and restore your device, flash custom ROMs etc.nMore info here: https://twrp.me/FAQ/
Dont hesitate to ask questions once they arise.
---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
Ph, and forgot to mention Google free experience. Once you get root, you can debloat your stock ROM but I'd advise flashing a LineageOS ROM for newer Android version and latest security patches. Also, Google services are not present by default in LineageOs but can be flashed separately. However, I am already more than a year without Google services and apps.
For example, I use K-9 Mail + OpenKeychain from F-Droid open-source app market to use GMail with OpenPGP support.
F-Droid is the primary marketplace app having opensource applications. For closed-source apps available on Google Play, the open-source Google Play client app named Yalp Store offers the same functionality as play market but not requiring Google services.
Youtube client I use is Newpipe, opensource app available in F-Droid. There are other clients too, like SkyTube.
Google Maps can be replaced by OsmAnd+ - an opensource client for OpenStreetMap infrastructure, again available from F-Droid app store.
Office application suite I recommend is Hancom Office - it is free for Samsung devices, and it processes documents faster than Office365.
Also, I made it work on LineageOS and other custom ROMs.
I use Brave Browser as a primary Web browser, as it is opensource app based on Google Chromium code but heavily de-Googled and having some cool features like embedded ad-blocker.
Hope this helps you a bit.
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Click to collapse
Crikey!! Can't thank you enough for the time and effort there, what a great welcome to the other side
I confess most of what you said went straight over my head, ROMS and such like, but I will learn as there are clearly some great tips in this post.
So - fine without SIM, cool thanks.
Flashing - gonna take some time to learn but I think the link you posted is what I need, I have the SM-T800
So Lineage is an OS, is that right? And it comes free of Google bloatware/spyware?
I can't believe there are ways to view youtube and maps etc without giving Google your retinal scan. JUST what I hope to do!
Brave Browser - not heard of that, was gonna look for Firefox or Waterfox and set it up myself with RTC discabled, Ublockorigin etc etc (if poss) but maybe don't need to now as Brave sounds built to do what I want already.
Thanks again, great post
marrteee said:
Crikey!! Can't thank you enough for the time and effort there, what a great welcome to the other side
I confess most of what you said went straight over my head, ROMS and such like, but I will learn as there are clearly some great tips in this post.
So - fine without SIM, cool thanks.
Flashing - gonna take some time to learn but I think the link you posted is what I need, I have the SM-T800
So Lineage is an OS, is that right? And it comes free of Google bloatware/spyware?
I can't believe there are ways to view youtube and maps etc without giving Google your retinal scan. JUST what I hope to do!
Brave Browser - not heard of that, was gonna look for Firefox or Waterfox and set it up myself with RTC discabled, Ublockorigin etc etc (if poss) but maybe don't need to now as Brave sounds built to do what I want already.
Thanks again, great post
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Click to collapse
Strange the T800 has no dedicated SIM slot, it is WiFi only. T805 does have a SIM card though. You can check it opening Settings - Phone info. Also you can use the dialer to enter a magic code *#1234# to get info about your firmware (pay attention to PDA and CSC values). Would be good if you provide these here before you start any flashing.
LineageOS is a community built distribution of Android OS (like Ubuntu or Debian are GNU/Linux distributions) with some additional tweaks like Privacy Guard (a framework giving you control about permissions application ask, like a consent or denial to read contacts, GPS location, phone number etc). Full disclosure: I am an official maintainer of LineageOS for SM-T805 and I belong to the team creating LineageOS for other devices on the same chipset, like SM-T800, SM-T705, SM-T700, SM-P600 etc. There are also ResurrectionRemix ROM based on LineageOS and also there are de-bloated stock ROMs based on latest available Android 6.0.1 official factory OS. The official LineageOS is based on Android 7.1.2, and there is a (not very stable) 8.1.0.
I was a long-term fan of Firefox on Android (and I still am on PC!), but Chromium engine is twice as fast on our tablet (90.08 for Brave vs 45.04 for Firefox in browser benchmark)
SORRY! The seller called it a T800 but I checked and yes it's a T805.
I am SO busy at the moment with work and family stuff, not sure when I can get round to this and it looks like I have a lot of learning to come which I am dreading a bit with my schedule as it is! Don't suppose there is any chance someone (if not yourself) on this forum offers any kind of service? By that I mean, I post the Tab with cash to cover the job, and someone roots it and does the things you have mentioned then post it back? Probably a bit too much wishful thinking, but if you don't ask.......
marrteee said:
SORRY! The seller called it a T800 but I checked and yes it's a T805.
I am SO busy at the moment with work and family stuff, not sure when I can get round to this and it looks like I have a lot of learning to come which I am dreading a bit with my schedule as it is! Don't suppose there is any chance someone (if not yourself) on this forum offers any kind of service? By that I mean, I post the Tab with cash to cover the job, and someone roots it and does the things you have mentioned then post it back? Probably a bit too much wishful thinking, but if you don't ask.......
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Click to collapse
This can be done remotely via TeamViewer - you can be around and follow my commands like press home button etc. The rest is done via ADB on PC side. But write me in PM next week - I have some things to do that I promised before.
That's too kind of you. Not sure if you mean Teamviewer with the actual device or another computer. I am in no hurry at all. My device is factory stock right now, been reset and I am not doing anything with it for now.
Thanks again
I don't suppose (given your knowledge of privacy issues etc) you know of a secure alternative to Skype? I am talking mainly about a desktop app. I have researched many times over the past year and it seems to me that every time something decent gets going, they get shut down or just close down without much explanation. Sure seems suspicious in some cases. Best I could find was ViPole, which is good although has some weaknesses. I can't believe nobody has made something that can do the basic stuff Skype can do! (text, video/voice, screenshare and file share). It's so simple by today's standards! Of course plenty of options until you get to P2P or encryption, then there seems to be nothing which actually works very well at all! Just in case you know of anything?
marrteee said:
I don't suppose (given your knowledge of privacy issues etc) you know of a secure alternative to Skype? I am talking mainly about a desktop app. I have researched many times over the past year and it seems to me that every time something decent gets going, they get shut down or just close down without much explanation. Sure seems suspicious in some cases. Best I could find was ViPole, which is good although has some weaknesses. I can't believe nobody has made something that can do the basic stuff Skype can do! (text, video/voice, screenshare and file share). It's so simple by today's standards! Of course plenty of options until you get to P2P or encryption, then there seems to be nothing which actually works very well at all! Just in case you know of anything?
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Look for Signal and qTox.
Thanks. Tried and still use Signal, although it's got some flaws and not at all sure I trust the privacy side. I really need screenshare too which it doesn't have.
qtox and utox i have tried, tried all the tox chat programs. Completely buggy and unusable. Nice and secure though , which makes it a shame they can't make the software work properly! notifications dont work, cam, calls completely broken. unusable.
I looked at variuos others but it's all going over to apps for smartphones and tabs now, I want a desktop app. Maybe Skype through VPN would help a bit, but not ideal!
Thanks again
marrteee said:
Thanks. Tried and still use Signal, although it's got some flaws and not at all sure I trust the privacy side. I really need screenshare too which it doesn't have.
qtox and utox i have tried, tried all the tox chat programs. Completely buggy and unusable. Nice and secure though , which makes it a shame they can't make the software work properly! notifications dont work, cam, calls completely broken. unusable.
I looked at variuos others but it's all going over to apps for smartphones and tabs now, I want a desktop app. Maybe Skype through VPN would help a bit, but not ideal!
Thanks again
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To accelerate the process of bringing up the quality of opensource projects, one must at least report the bugs timely. Have you filed a feature request? We all donate either our money, or our time to the community. Some of us donate both
Ha, yes I do make reports whenever I spot anything. I am talking to one of the developers about it but I don't see it getting fixed as the impetus seems to have gone and no way they will add screenshare I dont think. I will try though yes, least I can do in the hope that someone produces something useful but not "in bed" with the government!