[Q] Understanding System Structure, SGH-I257M - Galaxy S 4 Mini Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am wanting to get a clear understanding of the structure of the Android phone - hardware, firmware and software - in particular, relating to the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, Canadian edition SGH-I257M.
I have been a computer bum since the mid-60s. I have extensive experience with machine and assembly languages, microcomputers and microcontrollers, programming "to the metal" [as we used to say], as well as C and high level languages, and a little UNIX knowledge via QNX from the century gone by. But i have been retired from all that for 15+ years and am entirely new to smartphones and Android.
So i have some questions.
But first, i have read and read and read. Too much hi-tech info the "get it" all at once. In particular i have found these threads specific to the SGH-I257M ...
Galaxy S4 Mini Archive
http://www.s4miniarchive.com/2013/12/How-to-unroot-and-unbrick-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Mini-SGH-I257M.html
Root new S4 mini model SGH-I257M
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2470173
STOCK and ROOTED SGH-I257M
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2520299
and several others on rooting various specific-only versions of the S4 mini, CyanogenMod, flashing firmwares, etc. But no complete, tested process for rooting this specific model, or for installing CyanogenMod on it, etc.
And a little history ...
Back in the mid 60s a visiting professor at the University gave a talk entitled "Hardware, Software and Underwear". The title was of course, intentionally provocative. It was a bit mysterious to us at the time, but the idea was to encode low level software in hardware to make it run faster, among other reasons. The term underwear did not stick. Instead we have firmware, and in particular on microcomputers, the BIOS - Basic Input Output System.
Question #1: with regard to Android, my guess is the the BIOS is the interface between the physical hardware and the Linux Kernel. Is this concept of the system structure correct? ...
hardware <-> BIOS <-> Linux Kernel <-> Android System
Question #2: I am not clear on the various categories of memory. The S4 mini has a SIM card, either 8 or 16 gb memory [mine has 16], and may optionally have up to an additional 64 gb memory via a microSD card installed by the owner. Is the BIOS on a separate chip like in microcomputers? Any other memory types? [I have a feeling that i am missing something].
Question #3: Which physical memory contains each of the BIOS, the Linux Kernel and the Android system?
Question #4: I am thinking that CyanogenMod is a replacement for what i have labelled Android System in my simple structure diagram in question #1 above. Is this correct?
Question #5: The idea of rooting the phone is clear to me. I know what is the root directory on a computer hard drive and that the rooting process gives the user access to both that directory and permissions to do anything [delete, rename, replace, install, uninstall, whatever]. And that doing this voids the warranty.
When spring/summer comes along [and they will, even in this cold and frozen Canada!] i expect to be off on my motorcycle [vintage IronHead] for extended periods. I will want to do whatever to extend the battery life of my phone. So i am anticipating rooting the phone by then and perhaps installing CyanogenMod. I have not yet seen a clear process for rooting for the Canadian S4 mini SGH-I257M including making appropriate backups of the system software, or for installing CyanogenMod, but i am looking. Any pointers to this i would appreciate.
Question #5: Any books on this topic of Android system structure, especially wrt Samsung smart phones? I know, books are so last century; so maybe a website, forum thread, or whatever.
TIA! More ?s later.
Mick

OK, i got some answers on another forum, and these answers have been very helpful. So as i understand things now, ...
The BootLoader is in a rewriteable ROM, an actual physical chip
The 1.5 gb RAM is what i have been missing. This is where currently running programs are stored, temporarily, until both they are no longer running and the system needs the RAM to run another process
The 16 gb storage is equivalent to the hard drive on a PC. All software - Android system and apps - are stored here, and are loaded into the RAM when they need to run. The storage is divided into partitions.
I can see what programs are currently in RAM by Settings | more | app manager | running
I can see what programs are in storage by Settings | more | storage
As mentioned, the common use of the word ROM does not refer to an actual physical ROM chip or to software that might be loaded into one. Rather is is a generally accepted but misused term for replacing the whole [or perhaps part of the] operating system.
So now i have two more questions/thoughts ...
What about these partitions? Are these really partitions like on a PC hard drive? or are these really sub-directories of the root? There would be certain partitions, standard with the Android setup, each with a specific purpose. It would be helpful to know at least a few of these.
In my running apps list i see S Voice. Hhmmmm, i thought i deleted this app. I know i did. I do not need it to be in there, taking up space and CPU cycles. I expect that it is OK to Stop it, and that it will re-start itself next time i power off/up. I'll have to go down that list and see what else i can "put a stop to".
TIA. More ?s later.
Mick

Got some more info from the other forum, including this excellent link to an explanation of the partitions, so things are moving along ....
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/android-partitions-explained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/
Looks like the "partitions" are "directories", using the old MS-DOS and UNIX terminology. So once rooted, ...
cd / goes the the root directory, or
cd /recovery goes to the recovery directory
and ...
ls
would list the contents of whatever is the current directory.
Mick

Related

Android on X50v (and maybe others in future)

Yes, I've decided to take on a mammoth task, welcome to "ROSS"... "Replacment Operating System Structure" for Mobile phones & PDA's =]
The website is located here!
Yeah, you all think i'm crazy "hang on, you can't port Android to X50v!"
Well, not YET, but with help It will be done.
What is android you may ask?
Android is google's open source platform for Mobile phones and PDA's =]
So yes, I plan to create a operating system for X50v to replace WM6 with and allow users to develop/change bits of the operating system they don't like.
There will be a few "flavours"
Lite: Basics, very Basics, just Wifi/bluetooth support, a simple GUI and No applications (just a few settings). This free's up a LOT of RAM + ROM
Medium: The one "hopefully" most people will use, This is the standard one, basic office applications (replacing all the standard WM6 ones) a few games, decent GUI etc.
Heavy: The one that leaves least RAM and ROM available, the one with the most applications + usability, although it may lag a little.
Of course, we're going to build a "super-lite" version first, just to make sure it's flashable to the X50v =]
Maglite_RUS & Football may be willing to help, maybe not, we hope for his help + support throught this project
but first we need a team!!!
If you have any experience in making ROMS for X50v (ONLY, we will work on others after the X50v is done) or developing operating systems (various Linux distro's included) and Java (what the majority is coded in) then please please sign up. I plan to help develop the applications rather than the operating system myself, but I will work on ALL aspects of the project of course
If you're interested, and have found this link of google or something, then don't hesitate to email me here
Feel free to discuss =]
Hi Obsidiandesire...
This could be a great project!
It's very nice to see you're a PPC enthusiast like me...
I'm a PC software developer (not PPC) with quite experience but to start this project we need some black belt coders...
Another Linux project was already started here
http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/DellAximX50 but the developing speed was not so fast...
Another issue would surely be the ROM compaction problem that will kick in also on a different OS.
The only thing that could solve this on x50v would be to hack the bootloader in a way to load OS from SD or CF , so all data will be written on a fast write NAND device... By the way this would mean loosing the internal ROM!
But your approach seems to be the most sensible one, as one would never lose the possibility to startup the phone's default os (windows mobile).
It seems quite an interesting project, i have to admit i have a strong will to help you out, as i am also a professional programmer, however i am not a java, or C developer (long time i do not do anything in C), so i guess i am more of a designer myself
Well, i will keep up with this post and maybe we will colaborate in the future, i feel it's time to have our own software in the mobile's, i hate the microsoft's approach to the os handling.
Glad to see we're getting some interest in this project!!!
Hopefully, soon we could set up a website and start developing =]
who knows, we may be the lucky winners of the google competition and get $10 million! (not much use to me because im british lol)
So, you're Idea would be basically multi-boot?
sounds good, but we'd need to modify the bootloader (maybe hold enter, power + reset to switch to ROSS-Mobile?)
Sounds good! and i've just started learning Java too, so this project could take a while, hopefully, if it starts getting quite a bit of attention, we could move it to other platforms (HTC touch etc) which would make us Gods within the PDA community
I do like the posibilities of Android as it looks like it could make good use of the graphics chip in the X50v and it wouldn't have Windows Mobile lagging it down
How much RAM does it have again? It would be as powerfull as an old PC if you overclock it slightly (700mhz, 32MB RAM, 16MB graphics or something like that) and slap on a minimal OS and you could have your own [email protected] Pocket version! lol
Sorry if i've gone off on a tangent, i'm really excited about Android and it's possibilities.
First steps though, how would you get the DEFAULT android software to boot on the X50v? I think this should be our goal before starting on the project itself
this is cool. if anyone gets this to work i would be happy to be a tester. i don't know much about programming but have flash other devices with Linux.
A bit a info i picked up on flashing Linux on ipaqs is that you had to flash a new bootloader that would boot both wince and Linux. don't know why both but maybe to return to wince because to flash the boot loader you did it with a app that ran on wince and after that you would boot the bootloader and make a serial connection so that you could send the linux distro and erase wince.
Thanks for the info, more help on how to do this would be great! (I could try this on my X50v for testing purposes)
would it not be actually possible to boot the android/linux directly from a storage card? so as to effectively allow users to 'dual' boot?
duke_stix said:
would it not be actually possible to boot the android/linux directly from a storage card? so as to effectively allow users to 'dual' boot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each time you would boot a os you would erase saved data (hard reset) because you would need the memory were the settings are for each os. but thats is what i think i haven't flash a device for a long time so im out of date on this as far as if they gotten a doul boot win ce and linux but i assume that this will be a problem with win ce and android dual boot.
You would have to put both os in the flash mamory(were the os goes) and find a way to save the settings from a os and store them so that it can load the settings for the other os and vice versa
but you could do it like linux on a palm zire72. i have linux on my zire but linux is on the memory card when i reset the device it will reboot onto the palm os, so no flashing happens just load the bootloader through the palm os and linux kernel loads, but at the same time palm os is hard reseted, this is palm but same linux that is used on ppc. You would need to find a way too load a bootloader during win ce but dont see that this is possible. only one os at a time.
And Obsidiandesire i will try to get an old friend that used to work on porting linux to ppc he might help on the bootloader part but haven't herd from him for a long time but will try hard on finding him. but as long as we get many people this might be possible. i will post later if i find him.(good luck on your leg)
or, the flash memory card from which you 'boot' the android/linux from could actually hold a partition which served as a flash drive/storage drive aswell? so effectively it would mean you would require something like a 1gb or 512mb card, splitting that to allow you RAM and ROM space but i cant see why that would be too difficult. it would just be a matter of tricking the linux to thinking the local on-drive storage is its 'root' drive and the default drive to save to and to completely and totally NOT access any of the WM stuff on the flash memory that is hard-soldered onto the handset.
not sure if this helps, just bandying ideas around at the mo!
duke_stix said:
or, the flash memory card from which you 'boot' the android/linux from could actually hold a partition which served as a flash drive/storage drive aswell? so effectively it would mean you would require something like a 1gb or 512mb card, splitting that to allow you RAM and ROM space but i cant see why that would be too difficult. it would just be a matter of tricking the linux to thinking the local on-drive storage is its 'root' drive and the default drive to save to and to completely and totally NOT access any of the WM stuff on the flash memory that is hard-soldered onto the handset.
not sure if this helps, just bandying ideas around at the mo!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see what you mean, but then the card might not be recognised in windows =/
However, denying the operating system access to writing the rom (and store everything in RAM) might work, but all settings would have to be stored on the SD card which could lead to a slow application.
The SDK (with the sample apps) itself is around 100MB, but Methinks that the final OS will be around 30MB (Without any apps)
Expanding on the partition Idea, what about partitioning the ROM itself? This might require a special WM6/5/CE ROM but one flash compared to many (everytime the device boots) could be worth it, and it could get round the setttings loss if we restrict each one to not write over the other?
My leg is getting better thankyou, seems like a severe muscle strain (The doctor said) so i should be back in school tomorrow.... great
i see what you mean by the card not being recognised by windows and offer a simple solution:
have a DEDICATED card for android and a seperate card for storage under WM.
to be completely honest with you, theres people on here spending hundreds and hundreds of pounds to have the latest device (and im one of them) im sure they wouldnt mind spending an extra few pounds for another memory card which would allow amazing functionality without actually jeapordising their current WM install (so they can have an install of WM6 to fall back onto)
what i propose is the following system:
1) MEMORY card formatted and partitioned to allow more or less the same sort of structure of memory/ram as the onboard memory does
2) INSTALL the actual android/linux to the memory card utilising the space as you would the hard-soldered memory on the phone without actually modifying the handset itself in any way whatsoever.
3) THIS method allows people to effectively dual-boot android/WM6/5 without the danger of them actually ruining their WM6 install, effectively using the android/linux platform to play about with whilst having the original WM6 to fall back onto for day-to-day usage.
shouldnt be too difficult to accomplish, im sure a modified bootloader would do the job pretty well, cant see why without the help of Olipro and Pof this cant be done!
LETS GET THE BALL ROLLING!
Seems good, but what, have the SD card for storage and CF for the OS? 'cos you obviously can't have 2 SD cards in the X50v (unless there's a CF-SD card adapter lying around somewhere on the web or on a shelf)
But as far as getting the ball rolling, yeah!!
Work on having the vanilla build of android (one included in the SDK) running before starting from scratch!
Obsidiandesire said:
Seems good, but what, have the SD card for storage and CF for the OS? 'cos you obviously can't have 2 SD cards in the X50v (unless there's a CF-SD card adapter lying around somewhere on the web or on a shelf)
But as far as getting the ball rolling, yeah!!
Work on having the vanilla build of android (one included in the SDK) running before starting from scratch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
another problem would be on getting the bootloader to see the cf card and that maybe a problem, we would need to add one of the slots(sd or cf) to the bootloader and let us choose what os to boot or what memory to boot(sd,cf, or rom mem).
the other way if we don't want to modify anything would be loading a bootloader during winidows mobile.
i hate this time difference
i cant see why you cant actually have the android on the SD card and stick to having the CF card as storage for both WM and Linux
that way, it would mean a sort of 'standardising' for people to port over to other phones which use SD based memory cards.rather than making it bespoke to CF capable devices (of which there arent many!)
Yes, the problems will be a rebuild of the bootloader to recognise both SD + CF cards.
And loading the bootloader under Windows mobile could be good, but you'd then have to terminate WM (which could be a problem)
And which part of the USA do you live in? There's probably an 8 or 9 hour time difference :-(
@dude_stix
well, even so, you'd need both SD + CF storage, which AGAIN could be a problem. But (in my experience) CF is more expensive, and considering Android will take up less space, It seems a more viable option (in my example, a 32MB CF card would be useless if I installed Android on a 2GB SD card and nullified the rest of the space for use (which could happen))
I think the easier option would be to modify the bootloader to look for images on both cards and install on the one with the image on it.
What about drivers etc? Obviously these would be needed for most things.
drivers????
thats all i got but it would not be hard if htc releases its android devices soon so we can get ideas from them. still today linux devices have problems with bluetooth, wifi, backlight, sd, etc...
posted on 5:23 pm here in south central US (Texas)
That's a 6 hour time differance :/
The Drivers being the things (mainly DLL's in WM) that controll the wifi/bluetooth etc.
This is why Linux has problems with them, i think they have to rebuild their own or something, which could pose a problem.
Do you think we should set a website & Forums up, or is it too early at the moment?
ultraprimeomega said:
drivers????
thats all i got but it would not be hard if htc releases its android devices soon so we can get ideas from them. still today linux devices have problems with bluetooth, wifi, backlight, sd, etc...
posted on 5:23 pm here in south central US (Texas)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah... ...Drivers!!
This will be the hard one...
With WM6 cooked rom it was easy... We could reuse WM5 drivers written specifically for that device (x50v and x51v needed a specific driver for the 2700G chipset).... So if there won't be any Smartphone with such chipset with Android pre-installed it would be very hard to write that drivers from scratch... By the way somewhere I remeber I found a PowerVR driver source code for Linux that could be useful to do the job...
Cheers
Antineutrino said:
Yeah... ...Drivers!!
This will be the hard one...
...
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't the drivers' job what the linux kernel is supposed to do? Why don't you go grab the kernel from the gpe/opie project and add the android image to it, partition the sd card with a windows and a linux partition like the other linux guys do, load the ramdisk like they do and see if it works. At least they have a start on the drivers for the Axim.
wovens said:
Isn't the drivers' job what the linux kernel is supposed to do? Why don't you go grab the kernel from the gpe/opie project and add the android image to it, partition the sd card with a windows and a linux partition like the other linux guys do, load the ramdisk like they do and see if it works. At least they have a start on the drivers for the Axim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, this could be a start indeed, now how do we get android actually ON the x50v??

Why is my HTC Desire have 139 of ram ?

Hi to all i have buy the HTC Desire from http://www.clove.co.uk and my device have only 139 of ram ?
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
It's normal, every Desire has around 140mb free for apps. I think Android takes some and Sense takes some, and some is reserved probably for whatever reason. Leaving you with 140mb. Google has announced that it will be possible to install apps on the SD Card in the near future. Don't worry about it.
Everyone has the same amount of memory as yours, The rest of the memory is used by Operating system, If you want to install more apps then go for "root" and install A2SD. you can find loads of topics here and at modaco. Go through the desire sections properly and u will find all the answers to your questions.
it's rom not ram *sigh*
oh thanks for all
i always use this very simple explanation
Let's say you have some land and would like to build a parking on it.
The size of your land is 100 square meters
Each car needs 10 square meters....but in the end you can't park ten cars on the your land , because you have to deducted the white lines etc....this is the same thing with Hard drives etc .......some KBytes are needed for the root system etc.....
crypta said:
it's rom not ram *sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong, it's RAM.
ToxicWasted said:
Wrong, it's RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong to all that are saying to install app2sd. OS and applications are installed in the ROM, but launched in the RAM.
ROM = Read Only Memory
RAM = Random Access Memory
All of the application memory in the phone is non-volatile RAM.
Traditionally a ROM can only be written by flashing it offline. This is to say that runtime read/write access is atypical.
Proceeding from this premise, the only real ROM(s) in the phone are the radio and boot images. The rest of the memory holds a normal rw file system.
In theory, all of the "ROM's" here are not really ROM's at all, they're operating systems... much like Windows is an OS, not a ROM.
so I am interested in your suggestion fpr normal forum talk, to sort these things out.
in the technical explanation you are mostly right.
so how you would call the storage and the working memory in one simple term?
crypta said:
so I am interested in your suggestion fpr normal forum talk, to sort these things out.
in the technical explanation you are mostly right.
so how you would call the storage and the working memory in one simple term?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
v-ram (volatile ram = working space)
nv-ram (non-volatile ram = storage space)
- In pure engineering terms this isn't true but the paradigm is to treat memory allocation as volatile.
But then, it does become semantic very quickly. It used to be that the only thing many people ever flashed were roms... this was because traditionally the only type of nv solid state storage that the average person had access to was a rom - never needed to flash ram because it was (mostly) volatile (yes, there are exceptions). The point being that people associated "flashing" with "roms" when "flashing" should really be associated with "solid state memory" (of any description).
So, the correct term is "flashing" yes, but we've incorrectly incorporated/encompassed the term "rom" in the extended definition.
If you flash a boot image you're doing a rom flash
If you flash a radio image you're doing a rom flash
If you "flash" a CyanogenMod "ROM" (for example) you're actually just copying an archive to a file system, expending it and executing it.
And all rather pointless because we all know what everyone means when they say "I flashed my phone"
funny to see this threads next to each other:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=675703
and clearly, theres no ROM like in commodore time (c64 / amiga), but it is called so, even in the specs of many devices.
crypta said:
so I am interested in your suggestion fpr normal forum talk, to sort these things out.
in the technical explanation you are mostly right.
so how you would call the storage and the working memory in one simple term?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HDD hard disk drive - where user files such as images, videos, music are stored
ROM read only memory - where the system lies (normally can not be written to)
RAM random access memory - memory in which applications are launched and remain until ended (for example anti-virus software will stay in the RAM)

[Android ROM Dictionary] Newbe Friendly

I TOOK IT HERE
Android ROM and rooting dictionary: all the terms explained​
Android is a Linux-based operating system, and in Linux, there is something called root access. When you root your Android phone, you will get superuser access. It’s sort of like a special user account for system administration.
With root access, you have complete control over your phone’s operating system. It will let you install lots of great system apps, such as backup tools, that only are available to root users, and you’ll have the option to flash themes and custom Android ROMs. You can look at custom ROMs as different editions of the Android platform, and when you flash a new ROM, you install someone’s vision of Android.
For example, when I bought the HTC Desire in April 2010, I initially used the stock HTC firmware for a couple of months, which basically is HTC’s customized version of Android. Then I got bored with it, and I started using a ROM called MIUI by a group of Chinese developers. It added a lot of functionality and had a unique UI design. Then I got curious of HTC’s new device Desire HD, and I flashed a custom ROM that was based on the firmware of that phone. And when Android 2.3 Gingerbread arrived, I started using a virtually unmodified version of Android – Google’s vision of it.
In other words, when you have root access, you can use your phone as a hardware shell that you simply can put new versions of the Android operating system into. This post won’t discuss how to get root access, but it will try to explain all the funny words that you will encounter when reading about custom ROMs in forums such as xda-developers. There is an entire terminology surrounding Android ROMs and rooting, and these words sound like complete gibberish when you’re not used to them.
So I’ve tried to write a rooting dictionary that explains the most common superuser and Android ROM terms. I’m no expert, so please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong, and feel free to suggest additional words to include in this root access and ROM dictionary.
Android ROM and rooting dictionary
A2SD+​
A2SD+ is an extension of Android 2.2 Froyo’s native support for installing apps on the SD card, but it virtually installs every app to the external storage. You can more or less expand your internal storage with the size of the partition you create on your memory card — because you need to partition your SD card to use A2SD+. It’s great if your Android phone has a limited amount of internal storage space. Most Android ROMs have built-in support for A2SD+.
AOSP​
AOSP is short for Android Open Source Project, and when the term is used in ROM descriptions, it usually indicates that the ROM in question is based on the Android source code provided by Google itself, and not on some other ROM project or a company’s firmware.
Bootloader​
The bootloader executes code before any operating system is launched. On Android devices, the bootloader is usually locked because manufacturers want you to use the version of Android they’ve provided. With a locked bootloader on Android phones, custom ROMs cannot be flashed.
BusyBox​
BusyBox is an app on your phone that will give you access to additional Linux/Unix based commands. You may need BusyBox installed to perform some root level tasks, and some other apps that require root access may need BusyBox installed as well. BusyBox is self-dubbed “The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux.”
ClockworkMod Recovery​
I won’t get very technical here, because I can’t, but you can think of the Recovery Mode as Android’s equivalent of the BIOS on your computer. Not quite, since Hboot may be more similar to your PC’s BIOS, but you get the picture. It’s a boot menu that is shown without Android being loaded, and it gives you access to certain features such as doing complete backups of your phone (Nandroid backups) and installing custom ROMs. ClockworkMod is the most popular Recovery Mode, and it’s installed with the app ROM Manager.
CyanogenMod or CM​
CyanogenMod, often abbreviated CM, is a custom version of vanilla (more or less unmodified) Android. It’s the most popular custom ROM for Android – a community effort, and many other ROMs are based on CyanogenMod. Among other things, it adds a bunch of extra customization features and options.
Dalvik & Dalvik cache​
Dalvik is the cryptic name of the virtual machine (VM) in Android, and it’s the basis for running apps (with the .apk filename extension) on the platform. Before Android apps are launched, they’re converted into the compact Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, which is designed to be suitable for systems that are constrained in terms of memory and processor speed. Dalvik was originally written by Dan Bornstein, who named it after the fishing village of Dalvík in Eyjafjörður, Iceland, where some of his ancestors lived.
The Dalvik cache is a simply the cache used by Dalvik, and it’s the result of Dalvik doing optimizations of running apps. Some Android ROMs allow you to move the Dalvik cache to your SD card, in order to free up internal storage.
Data2SD / D2EXT / D2SD​
If a ROM supports data2SD, D2EXT, or simply D2SD, it means that the /data folder on your Android phone’s internal storage can be moved to your memory card instead. That’s a good thing, because it will free up precious internal megabytes and leave more room for apps and games. Some say that having the data stored on your SD card is slightly slower, though.
D2ext is a short way of saying “data to the extended file system”. It requires that you have created a partition on your SD card.
Deodexed​
The term “deodexed” has been mocking me ever since I rooted my first Android phone. What the frak does it mean, exactly? Well, it’s probably the hardest term to explain in this rooting dictionary, but I’ll do my best.
Apparently, when a ROM has been deodexed, it means that its apps have been prepared so they can be modified. Deodexed ROMs feature apps that have been repackaged in a certain way. Android applications, .APKs, contain .odex files that devs supposedly use to save space. These .odex files are extracted from the application packages and put in the /system/ folder on your phone, to speed up boot processes and to allow parts of applications to be preloaded.
However, this makes hacking and modifying those apps difficult because parts of the apps have been extracted to another location. Deodexing means that all pieces of an application package are put back together into one file, and it makes sure that a modified .APK won’t conflict with some separate odexed parts located somewhere else. Developers of custom ROMs choose to deodex their ROM packages, since it lets them modify various .APKs, and it also makes theming possible after the ROMs have been installed.
DSPManager​
This is an equalizer app that Android devs like to include in their ROMs.
EXT2/3/4​
This refers to ext2, ext3, and ext4 partitions on your SD card. They’re extended file systems for Linux that can be used by Android, usually in order to preserve internal storage space. Many custom Android ROMs require that you have an ext2, ext3 or ext4 partition on your memory card. Ext2 is the oldest type of extended file system, and ext4 is the newest. Some say that ext4 will put an unnecessary strain on your memory card, because it writes to it so much, and I think the ext3 file system currently is most common. To use one of these file systems, you need to create a special partition on your SD card with ROM Manager or GParted.
So what exactly is a partition? It’s a part of a hard disk, or a SD card in this case, that’s separated from the other parts. Think of partitioning as dividing your SD card into two sections that have different purposes.
Fastboot​
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but fastboot is essentially a boot menu that you can do stuff from before Android is launched. On the HTC Desire, you can access it by turning off the device and simultaneously pressing the Power button and the Volume down button. From this menu, you can choose to boot into Recovery Mode, and more. I’ve also seen this technical (and likely more accurate) explanation: “Fastboot is a protocol used to directly update the flash file system in Android devices from a host over USB.”
Firmware​
A phone’s firmware is basically its operating system. A “firmware update” means that the operating system, the software that controls the phone, is updated. “Stock firmware” means that the firmware is unmodified: it’s the version of the operating system the phone’s manufacturer delivers.
Flash and flashing​
To flash a custom ROM, or a firmware, simply means that you install it. So, flashing is the process of installing a new version of the Android operating system, or just parts of it, like the radio. Flashing new ROMs is done via the Recovery Mode, usually with ClockworkMod Recovery.
HBoot​
HBoot is loaded immediately when your phone is switched on, and it’s mainly responsible for checking and initializing the hardware and starting the phone’s software. It can also be used for flashing official software releases, as well as a few other things. HBoot can be compared to the BIOS on a computer.
IME​
Input Method Editor (soft keyboard)
[Thanks to Hayden4018]
IMEI​
International Mobile Equipment Identity. which you can get by by typing *#06# (works for Galaxy S)
[Thanks to turnado]
Kernel​
The kernel is the central component of most operating systems: it’s a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The Linux kernel was initially created by legendary Finnish computer science student Linus Torvalds in 1991. Android kernels are often customized, optimized and modified for different purposes, such as over-clocking the processor or extending the battery life. Custom ROMs usually include a new kernel.
Linux​
Linux refers to the family of Unix-like computer operating systems that use the Linux kernel. The name “Linux” comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Android is a Linux-based mobile operating system.
MIUI ROM​
MIUI is a heavily customized version of Android 2.2 from a team of Chinese developers, and it made a splash in the Android blogosphere back in September 2010. MIUI takes the best parts of Froyo, Samsung’s TouchWiz interface and iOS, and transforms the various elements into something quite unique that has managed to make many people excited. A lot of developers have released their own versions of MIUI, and the ROM is available for many different devices. Besides the official website (in Chinese), there’s a forum dedicated to MIUI at miui-dev.com.
NANDroid & NANDroid backups​
NANDroid will let anyone with root access make a complete system backup. It lets you create a backup of every piece of information on your phone, and it can be restored later whenever you want. NANDroid backups are usually performed before flashing a new ROM, in case anything goes wrong, or if you want to return to your previous setup later. NANDroid backups are created from the Recovery Mode, often with ClockworkMod Recovery.
Odexed​
See deodexed.
Radio​
OK, so this is not the radio you’re listening to your favorite stations with. It’s the radio on your phone that handles communication, the radio that sends and receives voice and data. Flashing (installing) a new radio can improve your reception, and bring other benefits. A radio is flashed via Recovery Mode, just as a full Android ROM.
Radio interface layer (RIL)​
Android provides a Radio Interface Layer (RIL) between Android’s telephony services and the radio hardware. Developers and enthusiasts enjoy messing around with every part of Android, and some of them modify the RIL, just like Android itself, the kernel and the radio, to make it better.
RC1, RC2 et cetera​
When it comes to Android ROMs, RC means Release Candidate. It’s a candidate for the final release of a ROM, and they can be considered ROM betas.
Recovery Mode​
As explained under ClockworkMod, the Recovery Mode is a menu that you can boot into that lets you perform complete backups of your phone (Nandroid backups), install custom ROMs and more. ClockworkMod is a very popular Recovery Mode, and you can get it via the app ROM Manager below.
ROM Manager​
ROM Manager is an immensely popular app for root users, and it lets you flash ClockworkMod Recovery, install ROMs from your SD card, perform backups and even download new ROMs over-the-air.
Root​
When someone mentions root, it usually just refers to having root access on an Android phone – also called being a root user, or a superuser. Root access is explained under superuser, and in the introduction to this dictionary.
S-OFF (security off)​
On the HTC Desire and several other HTC Android phones, the company has implemented a form of “security.” It’s called @secuflag, and it controls whether your phone has its NAND or flash unlocked. S-ON (security on) will read-lock your /system and /recovery partitions, blocking you from performing certain root level actions directly from Android.
You can disable this security measure with S-OFF (security off), although you risk bricking your phone in the process (worst case scenario).
SetCPU​
This is a popular application for overclocking or underclocking your phone’s processor, making it faster or slower. It may require a special kernel in order to work.
SuperUser​
Android is a Linux-based operating system, and in Linux, there is something called root access. When you root your Android phone, you will get superuser access. The superuser, or root user, is sort of a special user account for system administration. SuperUser is also the name of an app, which lets you grant or deny superuser privileges to other apps.
Terminal and Terminal Emulator​
Terminal Emulator, sometimes just referred to as Terminal, is an app that lets users access Android’s built-in Linux command line shell. The application emulates a Digital Equipment Corporation VT-100 terminal, and it’s mostly useful for programmers and for those with root access. For example, typing this in Terminal Emulator when a2sd is installed will move the Dalvik cache to the SD card:
su (gives the app SuperUser access)
a2sd cachesd (moves the Dalvik cache to the SD card)
Titanium Backup​
Titanium Backup is the best backup tool for root users, since it allows you to backup all your applications as well as their data.
Zipaligned​
Zipalign is a tool that optimizes the way an Android app (.APK) is packaged. It enables Android to interact with the application more efficiently, and in doing so, it has the potential to make the app and the entire Android system much faster. Zipaligned applications are launched more quickly, and they use less amounts of RAM. So, thumbs up for zipaligned Android ROMs.
WWE​
WWE means “World Wide English”, and usually tells that an Android ROM is based on WWE, or World Wide English, firmware.
Thank you very much paul-ac. Very much appreciate your effort in creating this dictionary for helping newbies like me.
Wow, very nice writeup!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
thanks a lot it was very helpful
and for IME is it the same as (International Mobile Equipment Identity). which we can get by by typing *#06# on your standby screen.? or not
Nice one. thank you
turnado said:
thanks a lot it was very helpful
and for IME is it the same as (International Mobile Equipment Identity). which we can get by by typing *#06# on your standby screen.? or not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the IMEI, IME if I'm not mistakin' is Input Method Editor.
Very nice post, thank you. It would have been very useful when I buyed my first android phone.
really nice
Very cool, please keep this updated
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Nice copy-paste
galaxysdev said:
Nice copy-paste
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is!
xxxxxxxxxx
I just like to ask what WIP means? ive seen it on other forums but i havent found any extraordinary about the rom or something
thanks in advance
fulii said:
I just like to ask what WIP means? ive seen it on other forums but i havent found any extraordinary about the rom or something
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
work in progress
finally i know what deodexed means
please add modem. thx
BoKKeR said:
please add modem. thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Radio=modem.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
What is ETA mean?.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
THX !

Still only Android virtual roms possible for TP2 within Windows ?

It's been a while since i've been here, still work with the old Energy Rom in WM6.5 from June
Last time I visited this forum, they mentionned the TP2 would never be able to run Android.
Now I see there is an Android section here and I tested the latest Thunderbolt_V1 but that's a rom that runs into windows with a virtual machine.
Isn't it still possible to boot a 100% Android rom?
Somebody must find some tweaks and tricks, even if it's to heavy maybe a light-Android
No one is running android in a virtual machine on their TP2. Winmo is used to initialize hardware before xdandroid boots (don't know anything about thunderbolt, but I haven't heard good things about tiad, so maybe that wasn't your best bet for a first run). I hear there are some super unobtrusive light-weight winmo roms that will boot up without loading all the interface stuff and then auto boot to xdandroid. But it's still going to be kind of slow because it's a hack running off the sd card and optimization is a trial and error sort of thing by generous volunteers here.
As far as a real nand build, some folks are working on it, I mostly see activity at ppcgeeks. I hear it's not ready for primetime. It's possible it might never be, though I wouldn't want to discourage the kind souls plugging away at it. Best way to get it IMO is to hit some donate links for the people working on it.
Hi,
android doesn't run off a virtual machine, HaRET is a program that kicks winmo from memory, and initializes linux. Any changes you make in android are saved on real partitions, not containers or such, as is used in virtual machines, and changes are also permanent. Basically your external sd card's 3 ext2 partitions mimic the setup that is inside a normal android phone.
Thunderbolt v1 so far is a great rom for me (the first fully functioning one; because of that, android now my daily os), and its installed on your SD card. If you want an internal android os, try tiad8's NAND builds on his website, he has one or two versions (at your own risk, they're VERY experimental AFAIK).
waltibaba said:
Hi,
android doesn't run off a virtual machine, HaRET is a program that kicks winmo from memory, and initializes linux. Any changes you make in android are saved on real partitions, not containers or such, as is used in virtual machines, and changes are also permanent. Basically your external sd card's 3 ext2 partitions mimic the setup that is inside a normal android phone.
Thunderbolt v1 so far is a great rom for me (the first fully functioning one; because of that, android now my daily os), and its installed on your SD card. If you want an internal android os, try tiad8's NAND builds on his website, he has one or two versions (at your own risk, they're VERY experimental AFAIK).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't direct people to other websites. NAND development started here on the TP2. He's only stolen the work of the brilliant devs here, and branded it as his own.
Did you somehow miss this thread?
NAND Testing - 05-25 Update: New LK, Recovery.img, Kernel Updates through Recovery
tiad8 is a hack and a fraud, there is the proof.
andriod for tp2 isn,t virtual it,s real and i advise you not to install it on your phone as you don't know that it is virtual and then you come and say xda briked my phone

is it possible to root s4 mini when phone and exsd card are encoded (crypted)

Hello i´m brand new here and wonder if my question is too easy or too seldom to be answered but i am stuck with this probleme as i don´t know how things are working.
i rooted my s4 mini gt i 9195 4.4.2, that wasn´t a too big deal.
thereafter i wanted to secure all my data and used the standard 4.4.2 cryption (encoding) tool for both the phone and the exsd card.
since then i do not have anymore root rights.
is it so that root rises everytime a phone is booted but a crypted can´t as the phone can´t acess any memory in the boot mode ?
i´m sorry if this question is too oversimple but i´m fully stuck and can´t find how to root the device and same time have it fully crypted phone and exsd card.
maybe someone there to help me with this problem ?
thank you very much in advance !
wannert said:
Hello i´m brand new here and wonder if my question is too easy or too seldom to be answered but i am stuck with this probleme as i don´t know how things are working.
i rooted my s4 mini gt i 9195 4.4.2, that wasn´t a too big deal.
thereafter i wanted to secure all my data and used the standard 4.4.2 cryption (encoding) tool for both the phone and the exsd card.
since then i do not have anymore root rights.
is it so that root rises everytime a phone is booted but a crypted can´t as the phone can´t acess any memory in the boot mode ?
i´m sorry if this question is too oversimple but i´m fully stuck and can´t find how to root the device and same time have it fully crypted phone and exsd card.
maybe someone there to help me with this problem ?
thank you very much in advance !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's a very long time ago I thought of stock fimware, but it should be possible to have root and encryption. But I think you might have to unroot, encrypt & then reroot. (but it may also depend on the rooting method and/or the version of the root package you are using).
If you tell us which root method you are using and the version maybe someone else will be able to help who rooted stock ver 4.
Personally I'd say you should update to to a newer custom rom which is more secure and will have more support here on forums (through you will lose the Samsung apps like s-memo etc but there are plenty of apps to replace them). Also I think the open source root addon package from Linage OS (only works on Linage rom) is best as many of the root packages have questions over trust & access by governments from the source country, if not out right malware, in my opinion.
Eg Kingroot, though they are not the only ones,
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/kingroot-malware-adware-root-t3563090
thank you...
... very much for your answer, i will start the process all over, i was thinking that an other, particular a newer then stockrom might become slower, but i have also been thinking already about the linage os, but i haven´t been checking enough yet to be able to make decision. i anyhow wanted to use root also for deleting basically all bloatware and system apps i won´t use or replace them by open source, but my limited knowlegde in general about the android system didn´t let me come to a good and fully useful system yet which fullfills my requirements of fully crypted including sd card and same time having the power of deleting apps and being able if needed to move all apps which i want to the sd card and withdraw rights of apps. i will now investigate linage more, but somehow i had in mind it´s not existing for every phone i.e. my samsung gti9195.
do you know if there is anything what can use truecrypt in opensource for mounting and creating containers under android ?
wannert said:
... very much for your answer, i will start the process all over, i was thinking that an other, particular a newer then stockrom might become slower, but i have also been thinking already about the linage os, but i haven´t been checking enough yet to be able to make decision. i anyhow wanted to use root also for deleting basically all bloatware and system apps i won´t use or replace them by open source, but my limited knowlegde in general about the android system didn´t let me come to a good and fully useful system yet which fullfills my requirements of fully crypted including sd card and same time having the power of deleting apps and being able if needed to move all apps which i want to the sd card and withdraw rights of apps. i will now investigate linage more, but somehow i had in mind it´s not existing for every phone i.e. my samsung gti9195.
do you know if there is anything what can use truecrypt in opensource for mounting and creating containers under android ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you want people to see your answer/repy make sure you use the quote button or @username so hey get a notification.
No Android doesn't get slower and slower like Windows did as out works differently, newer versions have even better memory management.
If you have the normal international I9195 phone (no other letters after it) then there is a linage rom for it, that's what I have.
No you can't use Truecrypt, Veracrypt or similar on Android, as far as I know. There are apps that allow you to open Truecrypt containers but I had my doubts about almost all of them, though I didn't fully research as I don't really need it. Android built in encryption is regarded as good enough, ..... though as the key is stored in memory (on our model, & most Android phones) it could be recovered on our phones by a sophisticated attacker with personal access to a powered up phone using for example direct chip probing, freezing etc. (BTW Truecrypt is also known to have weaknesses now)
9195
IronRoo said:
if you want people to see your answer/repy make sure you use the quote button or @username so hey get a notification.
No Android doesn't get slower and slower like Windows did as out works differently, newer versions have even better memory management.
If you have the normal international I9195 phone (no other letters after it) then there is a linage rom for it, that's what I have.
No you can't use Truecrypt, Veracrypt or similar on Android, as far as I know. There are apps that allow you to open Truecrypt containers but I had my doubts about almost all of them, though I didn't fully research as I don't really need it. Android built in encryption is regarded as good enough, ..... though as the key is stored in memory (on our model, & most Android phones) it could be recovered on our phones by a sophisticated attacker with personal access to a powered up phone using for example direct chip probing, freezing etc. (BTW Truecrypt is also known to have weaknesses now)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
------------
i downloaded now the linage s4mini lte version, mine is basic gti9195 with no extras, but hadn´t yet the time to give it a try. first i´ll have to decrypt the 200gb sd card i´m using, for that longperiod it´s taking for backdecrytion i´ll have to be home, which is in 3 days.
first i didn´t want to try linage as i understood that google was somehow buying cynagenmod some time ago. of course a stock rom is anyhow by google so it would make no difference if google would be involved in linage by part owning it.
the crypted containers would help to use the sd card flexible also in the case u want to swap it around for the purpose of sharing files with other systems or phones fast, like a portable hdd, with a crypted card you are locked to your phone, and i also don´t know if it would work after it´s removed once from the phone and used after another has been inserted.
i investigated some time ago those apps which were cabable to open true and veracrypt containers, but i didn´t manage to use them, same time i also had doubts about them in general as you did.
i personally still trust true crypt most as it was born as far i understood independently, the slight risks it has concerning those mentioned hack methodes are as i see only if the device is physically out of hand, with this risk i can live as it needs some effort to be hacked.
but it looks like for a phone, which i´m actioally not using as a phone(mine is an old nokia) but as an small perfect mainly offline computer which has all offline to hand, wikipedia, mapsme, general helpful apps and own data without storing it in a cloud etc i will now go the complet cryption for both the phone and the sd card as containers don´t work, and it´s nice to have all privat data like lifetime pictures and videos with you without fearing too loose them. i wonder if the phone can crypt more than one sdcard and use it when changing , so it would be easy to have some tens of terabyte of data behind the cover.
i will tell you when linage works, it might take still some time and new questions from that arise, as i´m still fully novice with this whole android thema as i haven´t been working with linux systems yet in general.

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