[lawman]

Someone was working on altering the 7-24 update so they could flash a working alternate launcher on. Nate has a black and wants to hack it, but can't because ADB is off and the settings won't let him turn it on. Was anyone ever able to get the altered flash working? I'd love to give him pandahome so he can get adb working and hack the black up.

 

[roebeet]

I created one with the 7/24 firmware base + the keyboard hack + the Google home launcher and GE built-in:http://www.slatedroid.com/pandigita...irmware-created-market-volume-hack-built.htmlBtw, the fact that ADB is disabled on the black one is not a very good sign. I wonder if we'll see the same thing on future firmware updates for the white Novel. EDIT: If PDN tries to do this with future white PDN firmware, i already have a workaround. No worries.

 

[lawman]

My thoughts exactly. That's why I'd like nate to get it hacked...

 

[clockworx]

I was just in the middle of doing this.....oh wellUnfortunately, adbd is in the ramdisk, so he'd have to flash that too to get adb. He won't get it with just the package roebeet made. Flashing Ramdisk could break it, depending on if they've made any significat changes. I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible.EDIT: I just realized roebeet added the entire system image. That could also potentially cause issues (as robeet noted in the dev thread)Here's an update zip that adds only stock launcher and keyboard hack. That might be safer.install_home_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.zip

 

[roebeet]

Agree with clockworx on this one - we have no idea what Pandigital changed with the black device, so the less changes the better. But keep in mind that even with his ZIP, the black PDN could be bricked. Nate should use with extreme caution.

 

[lawman]

I so advised him. Not happy about it, but you people are probably right.;-o

 

[clockworx]

That zip only pushes over Launcher and the keyhack. If it doesn't work, I can make another one reversing it....though maybe just launcher would be safer until we know the keylaout is the same. He can use 7zip to delete the gpio-keys file from the zip befor flashing.

 

[stoic]

Maybe I missed it, but is the black recognized properly by Windows (assuming Nate is using Windows). Could it be that the android_winusb.inf weve been using does not have the proper hw ids (new usb chip perhaps) for the black and not recognized as an android device by adb?

 

[roebeet]

EDITED POST, SOLUTION FOUND: This worked on the white PDN, with the default firmware and not using ADB at all. Perhaps this will work on the black one.

Instructions:
1- Put your launcher apk of choice on an SD Card (ie. the root of the card, so easy to get to). For this test, I'll assume it's called "launcher.apk", on the root of the SD card.
2- Open the PDN web browser and type:file:///sdcard/launcher.apkThe "unknown sources" message will pop up, and will direct you to the settings area to enable Unknown Sources (which you want to enable). At this point, you have to reboot because there's no back button.
3- After the reboot, go back into the browser and type the same command. This time, you can install the apk, and again reboot when done. After the reboot, you'll get the "Complete Action Using" launcher screen, choose the new launcher and you are in. From there, you could install other apk's the same way, or maybe add a terminal app, file browser, and of course USB Debugging.

 

[clockworx]

Wow, cool find

 

[Slaterman]

So wait a minute can you use this to run apps from your SD? I mean this isn't elegant or anything but for example create a html doc with links to all the apks you want in a file /sdcard/MyApps, open that html in a browser and choose away? If that works it's a very low tech way for app hungry folks to store the apps they don't frequently use outside of the internal memory.This sounds really nice.Slaterman

 

[enjoys1]

You could also try this:Go to:Settings --> Applications --> Unknown sources (click to enable it) Then in that window click on "Development" --> USB debugging option (click it to enable it).

 

[roebeet]

The problem is that the PDN firmware blocks all the standard Android apps, so there's no way to get to the settings. Nate needs a workaround for that, and my solution should (hopefully) work.

 

[Nate the great1]

EDITED POST SOLUTION FOUND: This worked on the white PDN, with the default firmware and not using ADB at all. Perhaps this will work on the black one.

Instructions:
1- Put your launcher apk of choice on an SD Card (ie. the root of the card, so easy to get to). For this test, I'll assume it's called "launcher.apk", on the root of the SD card.
2- Open the PDN web browser and type:file:///sdcard/launcher.apkThe "unknown sources" message will pop up, and will direct you to the settings area to enable Unknown Sources (which you want to enable). At this point, you have to reboot because there's no back button.
3- After the reboot, go back into the browser and type the same command. This time, you can install the apk, and again reboot when done. After the reboot, you'll get the "Complete Action Using" launcher screen, choose the new launcher and you are in. From there, you could install other apk's the same way, or maybe add a terminal app, file browser, and of course USB Debugging.

It said the requested file not found.What else might they be calling the SD card?

 

[davidr]

Nate..can't you look at it with USB hook-up and see what it is called?

 

[clockworx]

Did you put the launcher.apk on the card? Also, it may be case sensitive, so make sure case matches, so "file:///sdcard/Launcher.apk" (not 100% sure about the case sensitivity, but you may as well just to eliminate it as a possible point of failure)

 

[roebeet]

x2 on what clockworx mentioned - it's Linux based, so case matters. Also, make sure it's three forward slashes.Basically the breakdown is this: "file://" is the file system, "/sdcard" is the sdcard slot mount point (at least on the white PDN) and then the apk name off the root of the card.

 

[geebekazoo]

x2 on what clockworx mentioned - it's Linux based so case matters. Also, make sure it's three forward slashes.Basically the breakdown is this: "file://" is the file system, "/sdcard" is the sdcard slot mount point (at least on the white PDN) and then the apk name off the root of the card.

Exactly.........

 

[Robert Komisar]

Hey Gman-Can you tell us what the new,8-11,apks you posted actually do??

 

[Nate the great1]

Did you put the launcher.apk on the card? Also it may be case sensitive, so make sure case matches, so "file:///sdcard/Launcher.apk" (not 100% sure about the case sensitivity, but you may as well just to eliminate it as a possible point of failure)

I already checked the case. And the slashes.