[CLOSED] Cyanogenmod, Legend, FM Radio & MONEY [MODS PLEASE CLOSE THREAD]

qzem said:

@mikereidis

Hey man, I hope you didn't give up already!

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Absolutely not ! Just may not post much when deep in "the machine".

I KNOW this will work when the audio routing mystery is solved, so I've gone ahead and started on a radio app. It's minimal at present but it:

- controls power on or off
- changes and displays volume
- changes and displays frequency
- scans up or down
- shows RSSI (signal level) as expected when a station is tuned in and the antenna is moved

Sooner or later the audio routing will be solved, and I hope to have an app ready to go at that time. At present it requires a few kluges that require root access. The app development is giving me a nice break from racking my brains over audio routing.


A few days ago I started a "monster" thread in the general Android development section documenting what I've learned about the TI FM Radio and asking for some technical assistance.

So far not a single response to my 10 monster posts of technical info. But that's OK cause I'd prefer to clean up some of that before the thread gets too much notice. And please note, developer type posts only on that thread. I've seen several other threads for different devices using the TI FM Radio, so I think a cross-device thread is appropriate for devs to share info.

And yes, I want my app to be usable on many other devices, whether they use a compatible TI chip, or the even more popular broadcom line.

So far I haven't tried reverse engineering using one of the stock ROMs mostly because I have just the one phone and it's really handy to keep it in operating condition. I'm mostly been "forward engineering" searching for datasheets and assembling all the info I can find from various internet sources. But I also examine binaries on my CM7 ROM and those I can find on the internet.


I also need to get some bluetooth devices. Some of the TI code indicates the FM radio may be capable of internally transferring audio to and from (for Tx!) bluetooth from and to the radio. So the audio data might never leave the chip, meaning that just standard chip commands might be able to do the routing.


I'm putting over 12 hours per day, 7 days per week into this project. I hope to find a way to make at least a meager income from this over the next 3-6 months, so I can continue. Suggestions on that front are welcome, but I think it'd be via sales in the Android app marketplace(s).

I DO feel I see massive benefits in making apps open source. It's one way I think the lone developer can stand a chance in a marketplace full of larger entities than a single person. Biggest question with open source, though, is how to make money.

But I guess even with open source, one can still place a non-free App in the marketplace, and people might pay and download either because: (a) they want to support the project, (b) they want ad-free or (c) enhanced versions or (d) latest updates or (e) support or (f) they might not even know an APK is downloadable somewhere..


Currently, the GUI of the app is built with Android App Inventor, a somewhat Visual Basic like visual development tool. Unfortunately AppInv has serious limitations at present, but so far I've managed to work around them with scripts and an extender. If the AppInv "Source" (really, a diagram, LOL) was made open I think it could be interesting to see what other people make from it. I could supply the scripts/API, documentation, investigation, support, etc.

So, so far I REALLY like the easy GUI design and end-user (non dev) modifiability of App Inventor. But so far there are very few paid apps out there built with AppInv.

TheLamma said:

Well it sounds like you're making some awesome progress. I eagerly await. [=

Sent from my Legend using XDA App

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Now I'M stoked ! 5.5 days from old AI app to new Java app, with credit due to CodeAurora and a few lines of code credited to MIUI and/or CM Most of that time was spent learning more about the Android SDK and learning the Aurora code.

Here's a "sneak peek" at version 2:

Direct:
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B7UP...Tg4YjYtYzkyODg2MDdiMDhj&export=download&hl=en

Page:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7UP2cIqyQXGYTY3ZDQ2MDEtYzk4ZC00Yjc2LTg4YjYtYzkyODg2MDdiMDhj&hl=en


It's "hot off the presses", so who knows what strange bugs it might have on your phone. But it seems to be working nicely on mine.

It shouldn't need any of the previous files, but they shouldn't interfere. Due to the shared lineage with the CM app, it's possible there might be some conflict in naming or somesuch.

As before, it requires a working hcitool. No "daemon mode", but I'll be investigating the dbus APIs for direct bluetooth access. But hcitool works fine for now. It will create a file named "cmdout" in the /sdcard directory; this is used to read FM registers.

It needs SU (root) only to run the speaker/headset switching code, due to the bug in my older CM ROM.

You MUST switch bluetooth on manually before starting. When it starts, it should power up, go to speaker and tune to 98.1.

Note: The app has some code to handle muting during phone calls. I haven't tested to see if it works yet. If someone would like to test incoming/outgoing to see what happens, please let me know. I don't use this phone as a phone anymore, LOL.

For some reason, this app doesn't show up in the "recent applications" list. It can be returned to by (re)launching via home screen or whatever.

------------------
Instructions:
Click on "98.1" and get a dialog to enter a new frequency. Click to left/right and go down/up one channel. Long press on either to seek to next channel with an RSSI of 24 or greater.

Hardware volume control buttons should work. Turn up if you hear no sound. Hit speaker at lower left to mute, again to unmute. Power button should go off and on.

Find a favourite station and long press one of the 5 preset buttons to set etc.

Menu button gives some non-working options like scan. "Start recording" creates file(s) on the SD card, but I haven't seen if an actual recording can be made (it can't as of now I think). "Disable Speaker" switches audio to headset. "Enable Speaker" goes back to speaker.

Under "Settings", the mono/stereo switch should work. The "Regional Band" may partly work for other areas, but I have some code fixed to North America at the moment. Revert to factory defaults should work.

There should be multiple preset lists configurable but I haven't checked that much.

The display should reconfigure between landscape and portrait.

Please report back here...

I'd consider doing development on this. I was wondering why there was no FM Radio app on CM7, LOL.

At the very least I can commit to finding all the info I can gather on this issue. I have no (satisfactory) employment at present and want to break into the Android specific field.

I have 14 years experience in embedded Linux development, including lots of low level kernel stuff. In a previous life (more decades ago than I dare admit) I did electronics engineering stuff, and I still love the low level nuts and bolts.

I'm pretty new to Android however, got my first cellphone (ever!) 17 days ago, first Android phone 15 days ago, and my Legend yesterday.

I think I can learn quick, I'm CM7 nightly, S-Off, new radio one day after getting it, LOL.


So my point is I, and this project, could use help in areas of Android specific knowledge.

Does anyone know if the normal FM radio app I've used before is proprietary Google code ?

Are there any generic FM radio apps that would work if standard drivers existed ?

My quick research on this is that only a driver might be needed. A V4L (video 4 linux) driver, which I have already had some experience with.

But there DOES seem to be a V4L driver already for Linux for the TI WL1273 chip apparently used in the Legend, and apparently a number of other phones. So in theory, this job might be as easy as integrating an already written driver in to the CM kernel, as a kernel module or 2. There MIGHT be some copyright issues with any chip firmware though.

Alas, some comments indicate using such a driver might interfere with Bluetooth functionality.

Interesting stuff about the 1273 chip is that it may support an FM transmitter, and it supposedly supports WiFi N. But who knows if needed hardware support might not be on the PCBs.

maxq1 said:

^ wow! where have you been all our android lives, bro? link on the post above yours answers some, if not of all, of your questions & covers a lot, i guess. cheers!

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Cheers...

I've been reading that there IS an FM Radio app integrated into CM now. It comes from MIUI, a chinese group of some sort that also makes an Android ROM.

The app apparently uses /dev/radio* which is the standard V4L radio interface. I have these also on my Hauuppage PVR boards I used for HTPC before I went completely digital for movies, tv, etc.

So yes, what we need is integration of a driver into CM kernel, but coding may be needed to fix bluetooth driver interference etc. And of course who knows what else might be needed.

I'm reading that FM is much more important to those without data to stream. Not all of us live in wireless data dense cities and countries.

Would be interesting to see what frequency range can be received and maybe transmitted.


Would be MOST cool to stream from video camera to transmitter for local "pirate TV" type functionality, LOL. Actually can't imagine ATSC or even NTSC (or PAL etc.) encoding possible, but wireless streaming will do the job...

mikereidis said:

Thanks.

Please feel free to close this thread; it served it's purpose 4 years ago and there is probably nothing meaningful to say at this point, about FM on the now ancient HTC Legend.

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Sure.

And good luck with android auto i saw you made some significant advancements