[ROM][BL1.1][BL1.2] GtabComb beta 3.3 (updated 7/27/2011) Gtablet\Zpad T2

[akman]

Awesome, found it..
So? Do I just edit out all 22,7xx entries and save it??

Yes.
Those entries force those hostnames to all resolve to the corresponding IP address. So whenever the system tries to reach those hostnames (ie to retrieve an ad), it makes a request to that IP address and receives a 404 error. So no ads.
If the system tries to reach a host not listed in the hosts file, it goes to DNS for resolution (and should get a real IP address).
So if you want to see a specific ad, you can delete it's corresponding entry from the hosts file. Or if you want all the ads, delete everything below the 127.0.0.1 entry.

 

[akman]

Possible privacy issue with ad blocker

This isn't meant to scare anyone, and it probably isn't a big deal, but...

I noticed that the hosts file resolves all ad hostnames to 208.82.100.156. The hosts files provided here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt
http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?showintro=0;hostformat=hosts
... resolve all hostnames to 127.0.0.1 (localhost).

So, what is 208.82.100.156? All web requests to it return a 404, which is great. But, whoever is running that web server *could* be logging all your web requests (which ads are your gtabs trying to get) and your IP address. Again, probably not a big deal for most of you, but I don't like it.

It's possible that there's a good (ad-blocking related) reason for the hosts file to point to a bogus IP address that is not 127.0.0.1. But I don't know what the reason is. So I'm going to switch my hosts file to point to 127.0.0.1. I'll let you all know if I experience bad results.

 

[raywaldo]

Lockups

After editing the sleep time to 10 and setting Wifi to off with screen blank, it has been better.
I experienced two lockups - both while the device was active. Once on the homepage and once in the native browser. Both required a reboot.
Anyone else with this issue?

 

[akman]

After editing the sleep time to 10 and setting Wifi to off with screen blank, it has been better.
I experienced two lockups - both while the device was active. Once on the homepage and once in the native browser. Both required a reboot.
Anyone else with this issue?

I'm using sleep 10 and it seems to have improved responsiveness when waking up. I use Never for my wifi disconnect policy. I don't remember ever getting a lockup on this rom.

 

[tekrhino]

Yes.
Those entries force those hostnames to all resolve to the corresponding IP address. So whenever the system tries to reach those hostnames (ie to retrieve an ad), it makes a request to that IP address and receives a 404 error. So no ads.
If the system tries to reach a host not listed in the hosts file, it goes to DNS for resolution (and should get a real IP address).
So if you want to see a specific ad, you can delete it's corresponding entry from the hosts file. Or if you want all the ads, delete everything below the 127.0.0.1 entry.

Ok so, after all that messing around it still didn't fix the adobe flash issue. So does anyone else have flash working? Specifically on sites like CNN videos and NYTimes video? I'malmost sure I read this thread from start to finish with mine being the only mention of adobe...

I restored original host file...

 

[raywaldo]

APP Issues

I have found two app issues:

• QuickOffice PRO (paid) which I was using on my GTab with CM7 will no longer install on HC. You have to buy their tablet-enabled version "HD". I sent an email to support asking if they will honor my previous payment. OPEN
• Cordy: I do not do a lot of games but this is a very popular game. It installs on my GTab but often will exit during initial execution. Mostly, it will come up the second time. However, twice, I have experienced a lockup while it was loading.

 

[raywaldo]

Widgets

Both Facebook and My6sense had scrollable widgets in earlier versions of android. Both widgets are totally absent in Honeycomb. Anyone know a way to bring them back?

 

[akman]

Ok so, after all that messing around it still didn't fix the adobe flash issue. So does anyone else have flash working? Specifically on sites like CNN videos and NYTimes video? I'malmost sure I read this thread from start to finish with mine being the only mention of adobe...

I restored original host file...

Are you trying to get flash videos to play in the web browser?
Did you try Opera Mobile? Did you install adobe flash 10.3 from the market? Did you set the user agent to Desktop in opera?
Afaik this is the only way in hc right now.
Nytimes video seems to play alright (but the quality didn't look great), CNN video doesn't seem to work that well. Youtube is OK.

 

[luvduchovny]

Are you trying to get flash videos to play in the web browser?
Did you try Opera Mobile? Did you install adobe flash 10.3 from the market? Did you set the user agent to Desktop in opera?
Afaik this is the only way in hc right now.
Nytimes video seems to play alright (but the quality didn't look great), CNN video doesn't seem to work that well. Youtube is OK.

CNN app or android phone plays the videos I've found. CNN app for tablets won't play videos but their widget works fine on he desktop.

For flash videos to play properly, you need to have Opera mobile (not opera mini) or Puffin browser (0.99 cent in market). Puffin seems flakier than Opera though.

 

[tekrhino]

Are you trying to get flash videos to play in the web browser?

Did you try Opera Mobile? Did you install adobe flash 10.3 from the market? Did you set the user agent to Desktop in opera?
Afaik this is the only way in hc right now.
Nytimes video seems to play alright (but the quality didn't look great), CNN video doesn't seem to work that well. Youtube is OK.

Yeah, Tried all that... I know not to expect greatness out of beta...
Decided to go back to CM 7.0.3 for now..

Thanks anyway!..

 

[cmart4]

anyone know how to disable the capitative buttons? i hate those buggers

 

[akman]

anyone know how to disable the capitative buttons? i hate those buggers

I used the info here to only disable my back button:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1177174

 

[aasoror]

Are you having gallery fc issues?

twice at each reboot.

 

[akman]

Bug in init.rc

$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$dmesg |grep init.rc
[ 13.541108] init: /init.rc: 180: invalid option 'import'
[ 13.546805] init: /init.rc: 301: invalid option 'import'
$

 

[zyhong]

$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$dmesg |grep init.rc
[ 13.541108] init: /init.rc: 180: invalid option 'import'
[ 13.546805] init: /init.rc: 301: invalid option 'import'
$

good finding, akman. thanks.
ye, i realize that the init at this rom does not support "import" right after i publish b3.2 and i did not bother to fix it yet since it won't affect anything for gtab user (It will affect zpad user, but I am only aware of one zapd user). those import are just for some disabled initialization of 3g, gps, etc, which are not available for gtab user. I have hoped with that, zpad or some gtab users with 3g or gps accessory could easily configured the rom to enable those features, while the majority does not need to pay a price on it (3g daemon suck quite some power and contribute a lot of on battery life improvement at b3.2 after disabling it)

Anyway, this bug is something that I would like it to work, but it won't affect anything for gtab user. Let me know if anyone know/find a solution on this. I really want it to work in this way.

And this is really a good news for the users of this rom. We now have more and more power users and devs (e.g. akman, assoror, agapeman, and much much more that i could not recall) spending time to dig into the rom and polish it. Together, we could make this rom one of the best available for gtab/zpad users.

Thanks again, guys.

 

[akman]

good finding, akman. thanks.
ye, i realize that the init at this rom does not support "import" right after i publish b3.2

The rules for init.rc are described well here:
http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/system/core.git;a=blob;f=init/readme.txt;hb=HEAD

I think that the problem is that the imports are being interpreted to be Options of services, but import is a Command that should be in an Action.

Actions and Services implicitly declare a new section. All commands
or options belong to the section most recently declared. Commands
or options before the first section are ignored.

So try putting another "on boot" statement right before each import.

Except that the readme also says this:

Actions and Services have unique names. If a second Action or Service
is declared with the same name as an existing one, it is ignored as
an error. (??? should we override instead)

So you can't have multiple "on boot" sections? Except that you do. And I think the commands in all of them are being run (I just did a spot check of permissions on /dev/nvrm, /dev/knvrm, /dev/ttyHS2, all are set as per init.rc). Maybe the readme is wrong. Where is the Action's "name"?

Anyway, try it and see. I'm still pretty new, haven't made a custom boot.img yet. I'll have to figure that out soon.

 

[raywaldo]

Big THANK YOU to Zyhong!

We now have more and more power users and devs (e.g. akman, assoror, agapeman, and much much more that i could not recall) spending time to dig into the rom and polish it. Together, we could make this rom one of the best available for gtab/zpad users.

Thanks again, guys.

Thank YOU Zyhong! I trust that EVERYONE on this thread has hit the "Thank You" button for Zyhong - several times?

Almost anyone - who was willing to spend the time and effort - could build a ROM. We don't build them because people like you are so much better at it.

This is an amazing ROM. It has challenges but it is also a CHAMPION! I can show off my GTab to ANYONE and they are blown away. The iPad does not compare!!

I am better at translating the "tech talk" into easy-to-follow guides. That is the purpose of my site. Being retired, I have the time to try different approaches and test alternatives. Better I do that and leave the "heavy lifting" the the younger guys!

 

[akman]

delete this

 

[rajeevvp]

I noticed that the hosts file resolves all ad hostnames to 208.82.100.56. The hosts files provided here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt
http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?showintro=0;hostformat=hosts
... resolve all hostnames to 127.0.0.1 (localhost).

I didn't notice this silent change. Wonder why it was made? I don't see any difference after changing all the addresses back to 127.0.0.1.

Using 127.0.0.1 will result in a "Connection refused" error when TCP connections are attempted and a "Port unreachable" ICMP error when using UDP. This is quicker that actually making a connection and the server returning a "404 Not Found" reply.

Historical note: I discovered this change-all-IPs-to-127.0.0.1 trick years ago after a virus had infected my Win 2k system. It had systematically changed the HOSTS.TXT file, inserting 127.0.0.1 as the IP address of all the anti-virus sites it could think of. I spent an hour trying to find out why Norton AV wasn't picking up the latest virus definitions before figured it out and checked the hosts file.

 

[rajeevvp]

The rules for init.rc are described well here:
http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/system/core.git;a=blob;f=init/readme.txt;hb=HEAD

So you can't have multiple "on boot" sections? Except that you do.

That readme.txt is misleading. I spent half a Sunday a few weeks ago trying to figure out what the rules were exactly for another project.

You can have multiple "on boot" sections, but, commands inside an "on boot" section are *not* run if the "on boot" is in a file included with an import statement--at least with the init included in CM-7.0.3. Service directives, however, must have unique names and these are run even within an imported rc file.

I'll look at the source code this week and see what I can do. In the meantime, you can use the init binary from CM 7.x. It understands "import" but has a problem with "on boot" or "on fs" in imported files as mentioned.