ASUS P525 Customized (cooked) ROM

[sorg]

Ok, after more than week of exploring official ROM updates and dumps i finally finished to cook my ROM

while i'm uploading files i want tell some info about present situation with P525 ROMs.

currently, i know 4 versions of ROMs with different languages and different release versions: Taiwan, HongKong, English and Russian.

Taiwan:
Last known version is 3.32. Update available on official ASUS download site. Traditional Chinese Language. ROM has 2 parts: OS itself and Extended ROM (3+ MB). Extended ROM contains only ome CAB file - KKBOX. It can be called as taiwanese version of iTunes. Actually, very crap software and service. There is 20 days of free service for P525 customers when you can download music (mostly Taiwanese) for freehttp://rapidshare.de/files/36662961/ASUS_P525_v3.29.customized.build.01.zip.html. Application uses his own file format for files not compatible with any other players and content protected, so even after pay to download music you will not able to playback it on any other computer than on which you downloaded it. Realy crap software only wasting 3MB+ of storage memory + 3MB in extended ROM, so, totaly 6MB of garbage included for Taiwanese customers!
Main ROM size is (not including extended ROM) 52MB.

HongKong:
Last known version is 3.32. Actually, ROM is absolutely the same as Taiwan's one. Only one difference - Extended ROM is empty. but anyway is present. So, 3MB of inner storage just wasting for hidden partition. Update available on ASUS site as well.
Thus HongKong users are lucky by 3MB
Main ROM size (not including extended ROM) is 52MB.

World Wide English:
Last known version is 3.20. No updates available on ASUS site. Relatively old version, although english version appeared on market only in beginning of september. I think ASUS should ship english devices with more recent version. Main ROM size is 43MB.

Russian
Last known version is 3.29. No updates available on ASUS site. This is most funny version of ROM. Actually it is NOT Russian! It's WWE version with only two russified apps - Voice Commander and Business Card Recognizer. Everything else are in pure english! Russian version also has Extended ROM wich size is around 6MB. In extended ROM you may find Leng Russificator. After hard reset you will be asked install this app. If you will decline - your device will remain english. If you will accept - it will be converted to russian by copying russian resources (of course occupying user storage space!). So, after installing it you will lost 6+ MB of your inner storage. I have no idea why ASUS ignored official Windows Mobile 5 Russian version and used some 3rd party user interface crappy software which requires 12MB (in total) of storage space. Well, anyway.. Russian customers have to say bay bay to 12MB of very important storage space. Thank you, ASUS!
Main ROM size (not including extended ROM) is 45MB. In system information this version stated as WWE4 (not RUS of course!). I don't know what is WWE4. Any comments about is is welcome!

Interesting thing: ASUS regularily publish updates for Traditional Chinese ROMs while no any updates for other languages published. Weird.. Looks like ASUS care only about chinese users.
I compared files in all ROMS and found no big difference. It's hard to compare Voice Commander and Business Card recognizer software because all ROMs have different language of these applications. These apps have integrated language resources in their libraries/executables unlike other apps containing resources in separate mui files. All other windows components the same exept one - bluetooth module. BlueTooth module is constantly changing, but as far as i remember there is no difference between v3.29 ("Russian" WWE) and chinese 3.32. There are changes in BT from 3.20 to 3.29 (and ASUS didn't release official update!) - i see that 3.29 supports BT HID profile while 3.20 has no any mention about this profile. I'm not fun of BT - so i didn't test it much. I need BT only for my GPS receiver

So, now about ROM i cooked:
I've got v3.29 from Russian release and just replaced Voice Commader and Busines Card Recognizer from english release 3.20. Anyway, although i'm russian i don't like quality of recognition voice/text in russian version of these apps. Quality of recognition affects even to english recognition, even after selecting english language in settings. Anyway, i replaced them by versions from official english release.

now about what i added/changed:

INPUT/OUTPUT LOCALIZATIONS:

- Russian T9. Seems i found at last good russian module which has all required symbols.
- Russian handwritting recognition through standard Transcriber!
- Russian on-screen keyboard.
- Chinese T9: Pinyin+Stroke for Simplified Chinese, Zhuyin(BoPoMoFo)+Stroke for Traditional Chinese. Unfortunately i couldn't make Pinyin to work with TRaditional Chinese module. If someone know how to make it work - please leave comment. Fortunately, seems Simplified Chinese module also contains traditional chinese words but need scroll more. So, T9 CHT Pinyin is still needed. Does anyone know any WM5 smartphone with T9 CHT Pinyin?
- Traditional/Simplified SIPs: Pinyin (CHT/CHS), Handwritting, Word Search (you can draw strokes one by one till right word appear - very useful to study chinese!).
- Traditional/Simplified Chinese font and wince.nls. Now you can read any chinese documents! By the way, having wince.nls with chinese support still unclear for me. Without special wince.nls i also can read and type chinese. Anybody know what's the reason of having exactly chinese version? Chinese wince.nls is very large and by removing this file (actually replace by standard small wince.nls) i will free a big space for other usefull apps. So, advice here needed!


APPLICATIONS:

- Agile Messenger: the best (IMHO) client for ICQ, MSN, YAHOO, JABBER
- Standard dummy Calculator has been replaced by more featured one
- HaaliReader: The best Text reader for people who like to read books from PDA.
- WM5 NewMenu. Today Extension. Allow you lunch apps and do many actions very quickly! I preprogrammed it to left softkey by default. If you want to look into Call History (assigned to softkey before) then just press left
softkey and then joistick action (i placed Call History as first item of menu). So, only one more button press required with giving you much more flexibility!
You can customize it from Start->Settings->System->New Menu
- PM Recorder. Not as good as expected but it's small and has automatic conversation recordings. Worth to have! I recommend to unmark automatic upload in settings to make it whole standalone. May be i will integrate registry patch in future releases to make it default.
- Skype. No comments here
- SPB Backup. Since all users of P525 have free license of this great tool then why don't include it by default?
- SpeedDial. Very handy addon for standard dialler. Just start type any part of name in today screen and you will see standard dialler with additional window with list of found contacts. You need to type word like in T9 mode. Then choose by jostick required contact and press action. Or just press action if you entered digits instead contact name. So, old functionality not lost as well!
- Manual CAB Installer. Allows you to install CAB to any directory.
- CloseApps + FreeRAM - two tiny apps to help you free RAM.
- Device List.
- Password Generator. Sometimes this tiny utility is handy.
- System Snap. Allows you make snapshot of system - registry + file list. Sometimes useful if you need install some app for short time then delete completely. Or just to study what is going on after install application.
- Task Manager. Very usefull utility. It allowns you manage not only tasks/processes/services but also has registry editor!
- Show Space (WhereIsMyRAM?) - utility to show how much space ocuppied by some directory. Handy, when you cleanning system.
- Magic Button. Many people found this application useful. It's some sort of task manager. It places icons af all running apps in title bar where you can easily switch them by simple clickin on icons. Personally, i don't think it's nice way to manage tasks, but anyway I included it. It's not activated by default. It also has good battery indicator (as thin white stripe on the top of screen).
- T9 user words database editors: \Windows\T9CUDBEditor.exe and \Windows\T9MyWord.exe. Also some settings can be tweaked by \Windows\T9Settings.exe. I didn't include shortcut to these apps since they will be used very seldom. Use File Manager to open these apps.
- SMClose: tiny utility to make close button realy close applications. I also wrote control panel applet to switch this functionality on/off. By default it turned off.
- AE Button Plus: helps you to remap almost every hardware buttons and much more!

TWEAKS:

- removed stylus using lessons and password setting after hard reset.
- battery indicator replaced by clock. Now, you can not only free today screen from clock but also have ability to call "Run.." dialog where you can enter normal command line! Just press long time action key and while not releasing it long-tap on clock. Remove stilus and release key. You will see Run dialog! Anyway, standard battery indicator is really crap - only 3 levels: 100%, 60% and empty. Who needs this bullshit?


OFFICIAL ASUS UPDATES:

- Bluetooth patch from 2006/09/21

 

[sorg]

here is the Customized P525 ROM based on ROM v3.32 WWE. Build 06:
http://rapidshare.com/files/4612627/ASUS_P525_v3.32.WWE.customized.build.06.zip.html

INSTRUCTIONS TO UPDATE:
1) extract archive to the root of MiniSD. so, you will get on MiniSD files galaxy.cap, ASUS unlock utility and 2577 folder with file Autorun.exe.
2) insert MiniSD to device. Autorun wil start automatically. If it will not start then run it manually.
3) follow on-screen instructions (Press "yes" on message box, press left softkey and in menu choose "update ROM", press left softkey again) and update process will start. If utility will report that update ROM language is not compatible with your device then quit it and run ASUS language unlock utility. Then repeat process from step 2.


History:

BUILD 06

* Agile has been removed due to trojan nature of this application. Standard MSN re-added.
* (new) mChat. Client for ICQ and some other protocols.
* fixed problem with e-mail client: not all russian enconigs have been supported. Now KOI8-R/U available.
* PocketMusic has been removed. I had a lot of problems with this buggy app. And finally, i found that already included TCPMP handles everything much better. Just need to configure hotkeys! I added config for TCPMP. So it's more ready to use without additional settings.
* (new) Button on headset now starts/stops playback (in TCPMP) when you're not talking by phone. If TCPMP doesn't run currently, then it will b launched. Thus you can activate playback at any time very quickly.
* Fixed some bugs in PocketPlus
* (new) SmartPhone mode. I think, many users of P525 found that while you talking by phone, you can suddenly press some controls on screen by face. I wrote this addon to fix ASUS's bug. Now, when you're in phone application, TouchScreen is disabled, so you don't need to worry about touching screen by face. You have to use hardware keyboard to navigate in phone application. Of course, you can disable this feature by clicking on "SmartPhone Mode" icon in programs.
* (new) Installer of Customization. It acts similar to extended ROM installer, but uses SD card. It will be launched only once after hard-reset. You need to create Folder "Custom" on your SD card and put there special script with required files. I included example of such script to demonstrate functionality.



here is the Customized P525 ROM based on ROM v3.32 WWE. Build 05:
http://rapidshare.com/files/2718169/ASUS_P525_v3.32.WWE.customized.build.05.zip.html

build 05
* phoneAlarm downgraded to 1.55.1 version. later versions have ugly way to control brightness.
i wrote small utility to make brightness control in PA to work correctly. don't forget to set it in "Run Application" property in all required profiles (\windows\setbrightness.exe).
by the way, if you will put this utility in some profile then brightness will not change which can be looked as new functionality. For example "mute" profile doesn't require to control brightness.
the same with flight mode.
* Skype downgraded to previous used version. New version is too big and looks like have worse sound quality.
Anyway, i didn't find any new useful feature to keep so fat version.
* (new) PocketAlarm - nice app for one-time alarms with repeats and snooze features! Don't mess it with dummy task/calendar integrated apps.
There is one bad bug - vibration in PocketAlarm doesn't work on P525. So, i wrote one addon to fix it. To have vibration, make sure you marked checkbox in used preset.
I made pulse vibration i'm missing such vibration in incomming calls so much.. May be one day i will find how to add pulse vibration to any alarm.
* (new) PocketPlus.. Some people don't like it, but i think it's the best app in it's class. If you don't like it then simple disable pocketplus today plugin.
* magic button has been removed.
* HaaliReader has been added again. Previous book reader is also included.
* timezone settings removed from welcome screen. Since there is no way to enable time setting in AKU2.x, timezone setup looks stupid..
* some small fixes and tweaks in included apps.

here is the Customized P525 ROM based on ROM v3.32 WWE. Build 04:
http://rapidshare.com/files/1235755/ASUS_P525_v3.32.WWE.customized.build.04.zip.html

build04
* Task Manager updated to v2.2
* Skype updated to 2.1.0.65. this Skype release is more than 1.5 times (4.7MB instead 3MB) bigger than previous!! do we really need so fat skype with seems only one really new feature - animated smilies?
i'm seriously thinking about fall back to previous version to free up space for other apps...
* PhoneAlarm updated to 1.56.1 (some important fixes for P525)
* SmartDialing plugin updated to v2.5 + some my own patches(*). new features incudes:
1) Now you can see phonenumber while pointing to desired contact.
2) options are working now
3) (*) in options you can choose to expand contact list to full screen height or as before.
4) (*) increased contact list width in portrait mode
5) (*) if you have russian contacts then search will include it as well.
6) since options are available now, you may disable smartdialing at all if you dont like it
* default keyboard/block recognizer/letter recognizer has been disabled. If you still need one of these input methods then you may enable it in Settings->System->Pocket Tweaks
* MMS Templates/additional ASUS skins/music/graphics have been deleted.
Some new/updated apps requires more space, so i had to do so. Anyway, most users preffer to use his/her own music/graphics and default are just wasting space.
* CompIME (word autcompletion IME) has been deleted because anyway it couldn't be used before (ASUS just forgot to delete it) because P525 contains T9 IME.
* HaaliReader has been replaced with other reader which has multilanguage and more formats support.
* Some tweaks in inpit methods - now english language is default everywhere.
* Added SafeMode. If you will reboot P525 within 1 minute after last reboot then you will be have choice to boot into safe mode in case if you're encountering problem.
* dummy BSwitch has been replaced by more convenient Task Switcher.
* Button, originally assigned to VoiceCommander now have "Torch" function. Have you ever dreamed about using P525 as torch?
* Wellcome picture has been replace with one from WM5 ACU3.. I've bored of AKU2.3 pic...
I don't think ASUS will release AKU3 update for P525(there are firmwares for P535 with AKU3 while latest test firmware for P525 is basen on AKU2.3)... so, let's pretend at least

here is the Customized P525 ROM based on ROM v3.32 WWE. Build 03:
http://rapidshare.com/files/139194/ASUS_P525_v3.32.WWE.customized.build.03.zip.html

BUILD03
* from now ROM v3.32 has been used as main template.
* MSN has been Removed. Use included Agile instead.
* Pocket PowerPoint has been removed. Presentation on PPC? looks redundant.
* Additional themes from ASUS has been deleted to free up some more space.
* VoiceCommander has been removed. This toy is just for couple days to play and forget.
* (new) TCPMP player. Simple the best video player for PocketPC!
* (new) PocketMusic player. i think is the best audio player for PPC.
* (new) Resco Explorer
* Russian Keyboard SIP has been replaced by multilanguage Resco Keyboard
* (new) MultiIE
* (new) PhoneAlarm

i think, current application set is enough for this ROM. Anyway, almost no free space remained.
Future builds will be mostly targeted to tweaks, fixes, ASUS updates or updates of included components
(if it will be really important). In general case, applications included in ROM don't require updates
since already stable enough and do well what they supposed to do.
Anyway, if someone has any proposal to include very important apps then leave comment.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
here is official english ROM v3.20:
http://rapidshare.de/files/36662960/ASUS_P525_v3.20.official.WWE.zip.html

how to program this ROM:

1) Unpack ROM to MiniSD card's root folder. In P525 file manager it should appear here: \MiniSD Card\ROMGalaxy.nb0
It's better to format MiniSD card on dektop computer in FAT (not FAT32) before put ROM there. I found that bootloader sometimes fail to read file from SD. May be due to my SD had been formatted in FAT32 or been fragmented to much. Anyway, it's better to format to FAT before put ROM there.

2) Insert MiniSD to P525 and plug USB. It's better to plug to computer intead to AC adapter because computer provides more clean DC supply. Some users reported that flashing failed when they connect to AC adapter, while computer USB works fine.

3) press "camera" key fully (it has to levels of pressing!) and while holding down this key press an release "reset" by stylus. When you will see bootloader flasher dialog - release "camera" key. Upgrading will start automatically. Follow instructions on screen. If everything will be finished without error then you'll done. If you will get error "Language incorrect" then follow to step 4.

4) Press reset and boot your device as usuall.
In ROM archive you've downloaded you will find ASUS language unlock utility.
Copy it to P525 and run. You will see message something like this: "ROM Language ID:404. Now Unlocking..." and then quit. After that repeat everything from step 2.

I posted unmodified v3.20 in case if you will get "Update fail!" at the end of updating procedure without any error description. In my earlier cooked ROMs i've got such message as I guess due to incorrect partition info in ROM. Actually, i corrected it and tested several times - no more such error so far.
But if you will get this error - don't panic! just program v3.20 i posted above and then report in this topic to let me know.

 

[sorg]

I'm also interesting in opinions about what software you would like to see in ROM and what software in standard ROM you think is redundant.

i think MSN messenger with all its MSN services is really crap. Especially, since it's possible to use Agile messenger for MSN.

Not all applications can be added into ROM. Some apps are too large. Some apps have subfolders which is not good. Any files copied into folders different from \Windows (including windows subfolders!) will be copied to user space! So, apps without subfolders are preffered.

 

[Ingvarr]

Please, can you share the modules for russian T9 only?

I want to install the Russian T9, but I dont want to change the whole ROM yet...

 

[solardo]

Well done. Am I right that updating to your ROM I will get Chinese T9 along with Russian one as well?

Please explain about extended rom. I have russian version, that is 6M extra.
How to get rid of it?

thnx

 

[sorg]

solardo,
yes, both chinese and russian available at any time by switching through T9 menu.
After update to my ROM you will loose extended ROM and everything there will be lost. So, if you want save ExtROM content then you need backup it first.
please read IXBT forum's topic from this post: http://forum.ixbt.com/topic.cgi?id=45:9657-10#303
i explained there about how to backup ExtendedROM on ASUS P525.

Ingvarr, you may download my ROM and using imgfs_tools utilities you can extract everything from there.

 

[sorg]

By the way, i guess someone can ask: "Why i need to put all this to ROM instead just install it as applications?"

well, there are some advantages:
1) All these handy utilities are ready for use after hard reset
2) files in ROM are compressed, thus required less space than if they have copied to user storage space. for example in that aditional 10MB of ROM i placed 22MB of files. more than 50% of compression! Even if you will use UPX to compress executables/libraries you will not able to compress data files! also not all applications survive after UPXing them..

 

[Ingvarr]

Ingvarr, you may download my ROM and using imgfs_tools utilities you can extract everything from there.

I know, however:

a) I dont know which files will be sufficient for russian T9 support. You must've already figured it out, so thats why Iam asking you
b) its hard for me to download 50Mb just to get, like, 200k of actually needed files

Thats why Iam asking for your help.

 

[Buch070]

Hi Sorg, thank you very muvh for you updated ROM. I have installed it and noticed two bugs for the time being:
- if Agile Messanger is not swithched on and I try to start it from a Today screen, it shows a mistake. I am swithcing it via a program menu and after that it works perfectly.
- all new email accounts in messanger after a soft reset disappear.

Keep on testing it further.

 

[sorg]

Buch070, please tell me which language version of ROM you had before program my ROM. i need this for statistic.

1) i'll check agile messenger's launcher. Actually i preffer don't use this launcher since i'm using messenger not so often. Also, i forgot to mention that i removed automatic wakeup of Agile through scheduler to reduce power consumption. May be this is source of problem.
May be it's better to remove Agile Today plugin at all?

2) which messenger you mean? Agile or MSN? I don't remember e-mail feature in Agile.

thanks for feedback!

 

[Buch070]

I before installation of this ROM I had an english version, the phone was ordered in Malaysia.

Agile is good program. Those who don't need it can uncheck it from Today's screen. Just, pls., cechk the feature to start it from today's screen. IMHO you can delete MSN.

Abt emails: I am using "Messaging" on PDA and all the new accounts being deleted from it after softreset.

 

[sorg]

I didn't touch messaging system. You just need to know that WM5 has some write delay between changes in application and actual wriing to such files as rigistry and databases. To perform soft reset it's better to use power button. long press - turn device off, then long press again to turm it on.
If you press "reset" button, you leave no chance for windows to close files properly.

 

[solardo]

Question to Sorg

- Russian T9. Seems i found at last good russian module which has all required symbols.
- Russian handwritting recognition through standard Transcriber!

if it's not the secret, pls explain- russian T9 is from WM5 or LEng?
and about Russian handwritting recognition- regular russian version in P525 hasn't- what is the source?

thnx

 

[sorg]

I didn't use anything from paragon's Leng.

 

[sorg]

i just made update in my second post accordind the process of updating.

 

[xmlee]

How to return to Trad. Chinese Version

Sir,
After the OS was flashed to WWE version, I found that it is not easy to rsturn to previous OS.

The steps of the CHN ROM flashing is not the same as WWE.

Could you advise me?

THanks

 

[sorg]

download official CHT update from ASUS site and replace autorun.exe by version u will find bellow in this post.
before update run language unlock utility.

both utilities here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/36855101/ASUS.update_utils.ZIP.html

 

[Buch070]

With reference to my previous posts here, I confirm to my suprise that it looks like WM5 is writting the changes to its register with a delay. Because now, when doing softreset, the changes which I made in a messaging program stays there, not disappering.
I finally managed to connect my P525 to my car via bluetooth. I don't know whether a "cooked" ROM helped or I did something wrong before, with a previous version I failed, even though I updated the bluetooth in the phone immy I after I got it.

In the Smart Dialing program which is in the ROM, there is a missing function: when it shows contacts, you cannot push a joystick as "enter" and check the phone number. It starts dialing immy. Maybe it is a function of later versions of Smart Dialing. I had it at HTC TyTn.

 

[sorg]

Buch070, i found source of agile problem you mentioned. Already fixed. I'm thinking about release fixed and slightly updated ROM now or wait a little. One friend told that he will get true english v3.29 soon. So, may be wait for this version and cook ROM based on it..

About that feature of smart dialer - i didn't see it. Looks like it's some kind of new version which i haven't. Actually, when you press action it supposed to call. that's why it called "speed dealer" If you will dig through dialogs it will be not speed dialer already

 

[sorg]

by the way, if some contact has several numbers then you can switch it by joystick left-right.