Monday, September 28, 2009

Build your own Android-x86 installer image :)

I just make the summary of what I did, you can see yourselft for the complete environment building and building the image.

I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 Server edition, so these steps are for linux:

1. Build your environment
$ sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg sun-java5-jdk flex bison gperf libsdl-dev libesd0-dev libwxgtk2.6-dev build-essential zip curl libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev valgrind
  • Intrepid (8.10) users may need a newer version of libreadline:
    $ sudo apt-get install lib32readline5-dev
2.  Installing Repo (Repo is a tool that makes it easier to work with Git in the context of Android)
$ curl http://android.git.kernel.org/repo >~/bin/repo
$ chmod a+x ~/bin/repo

3. Get Android-x86 Source Code 
$ mkdir android-x86
$ cd android-x86
$ repo init -u git://git.android-x86.org/platform/manifest.git
$ repo sync

4. Building The Image
For Live CD:
$ make -jX iso_img TARGET_PRODUCT=eeepc

For USB Image
$ make -jX usb_img TARGET_PRODUCT=eeepc

- you can subtitute X with number of core processor you have


Then you will get an iso file out/target/product/eeepc/eeepc.iso, or usb image file out/target/product/eeepc/eeepc_usb.img

Android-x86 on Asus eee PC 701 Series

After successful running Android LiveCD on virtual machine (I'm using VMware Workstation, see my note here), I finally managed to install and run Android x86 on Asus eee PC 701 Series. The ISO installer image I've built using Ubuntu 9.04 Server. Just trying out many applications on it, now :)


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Fun Apps for Windows Mobile (PPC) devices

I just want to share some applications I've used on my Palm Treo Pro (Windows Mobile based). These applications also been used when I still have Palm Treo 750v, of course with slight differences.. since Treo Pro already have Wi-Fi and built-in GPS.

1. BEIKS Dictionary (both Treo Pro and Treo 750v)
A dictionary :)

2. bLADE Locate (Treo Pro only)
An apps to share your location via FireEagle, can automatically update position by GPS and time interval

3. Evernote (both)
Online note-taker, share anywhere between your Windows Mobile phone, Mac, Linux, Windows

4. Garmin Mobile XT (Treo Pro only)
Map tracking application from Garmin

5. Google Maps (both, with limitation on Treo 750v)
Map tracking application from Google, but you better have unlimited data plan if you want to play around with this apps. And you can try Google Latitude as well

6. GPSed (Treo Pro only)
Record your track and upload to web to examine later

7. Microsoft My Phone (both)
Backup your contact, calendar, task, SMS, documents on your Windows Mobile phone, and you just need to install and synchronize everytime you change to another Windows Mobile phone.. and voila, you new phone will have exactly the same data as your old one :)

8. Palringo (both)
All-in-one IM apps in your phone and computer. Very lite, snappy and use less data comparing to another IM apps for Windows Mobile.

9. PockeTwit (both)
For your twitter activity, following, reply, update status. Also integrated with ping.fm

10. Twikini (both)
Alternative to PockeTwit. You can read my review about Twikini, here :)

11. SEVEN (both)
Enabling push mail functionality to your phone. Try it then you'll like it :)

12. Skyfire (both)
Alternative browser for your Windows Mobile phone. New way to present the web page, server-compression and flash support.

13. Spb Wireless Monitor (both)
Very useful to monitor your limited data plan. Also has another feature to export a report, monitor wi-fi usage and or USB connection.

14. GoogleSync (both)
Sync-ing Contact, Calendar and your Gmail. This can be done via ActiveSync, just check the instruction on the website.

Must-use Mac Apps

These are the list of must-use Mac apps (or at least, that I've been using :p) and a little description about the apps:

1. QuickSilver
As it quotes on the websites: "Act without doing", it is a new way to use your Mac. Simple, just trigger it, type any application or file, and execute it. It's a little bit hard to understand this way, so I suggest you to install and try it yourself :)

You can see here for longer explanation and screenshots.

2. Adium
All-in-one Instant Messaging application, you can connect to whatever protocol you've been using (Yahoo!, MSN, Gtalk, Jabber, etc.), and your friend list will appear in one list, so simple. No need to install many applications.

Here are some screenshots.

3. Cyberduck  
FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Cloud Files & Amazon S3 Browser for Mac OS X.


4. Macports 
If you are also a linux user, then you gonna love this one. It creates environment that enables you to compile, installing and using many linux application under command-line or X11. For this to work, you need X11 and Xcode Developer Tools.

LiveAndroid on my PC

I just successfully running LiveAndroid (v0.3) on my Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) using VMware Workstation 6.5.3. The experiment so far working well, I got crash when playing the car racing game, though :p But, I like it very much! Can't wait to build it (which I already did several times and failed) for my Asus EEE minipc 701. Here are some screenshots I've taken:


LiveAndroid splash screen


Zoom functionality on browser


Home UI


All Applications


Messaging UI

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

10 Best Low Radiation Phone

According to Environmental Working Group (EWG), here is the 10 Best Low Radiation Phone. You can also take a look at full list to find out about your phone here

VMware Server 2 on Ubuntu Server 9.04

Recently, I was trying to install VMware Server 2 on my Ubuntu Server 9.04 (Jaunty) which using GNOME. The Installation is quite easy, I don't find any problem in each steps. The only problem is I can't create any virtual machine till now (apparently, I need to restarting VMware services to get this VMware Server to work) :p You can try this steps to, at least, gain successful installation:

1. Download your VMware Server installation files from here
You have to create an account if you haven't got one, then you'll have the registration number (for free!) from there :) I suggest you download the tar.gz package for installation on Linux.

2. Preparing your OS environment
a. necessary packages:
#sudo aptitude install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd

b. unpack and install, go to directory where you save the downloaded file
#tar xvfz VMware-server-*.tar.gz
#cd vmware-server-distrib
#sudo ./vmware-install.pl

You can always accept each questions on installation in progress, with default answer they provide or change it with your own preferences.

Enter your 20 digits registration number (you get it from the link in your email after registration), and you're done!

3. Delete installation files and folders
#rm -f VMware-server*
#rm -fr vmware-server-distrib/

4. Password for root
#sudo passwd root

5. Accessing your VMware Server installation
Open your browser, then enter this on address bar:
http://localhost:8222 (http access) or
https://localhost:8333 (https access)

Then login using your root and password





The interface is similar like VMware Workstation (if you ever use it), so I guess it's not a big deal to use the feature on it.



Well, that's it, enjoy.. and I hope you can use it for greater good :)

Saturday, September 12, 2009

PowerBook G4

I am a long user of Windows OS (at home) and various distro of Linux (at office). While looking for a notebook as a mobile device, I found out that my wife's PowerBook G4 quite interesting. Powered with Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.8, I realize that this device has a gorgeous look (very very intuitive UI) and powerful inside (I talk about the kernel, which is BSD-based kernel). Anyone who is familiar with Linux, will fastly adapt to work using the Terminal. The CLI included is almost as complete as the linux's tools I'm using at office. And if that's not enough, I can add and customize yourself using MacPorts. Equipped with this Terminal, I can do my works as an engineer flawlessly. And I have the benefit of using the beautiful and simple UI when I want to use it to develop a website.

The only drawback I found, this PowerBook G4 is not using Intel Processor (yet!). This is, only a little, bothering me when I want to run .exe (32bit windows application) files. But, I can live with that (at least for now) :D

I'll back to you, with reviews of any mac apps that I've been using. Stay put! :)


Androkkid - Android-like UI for Windows Mobile devices

Recently, I've been installing and playing around with Androkkid - Android-like UI for Windows mobile devices. Although still in early beta (version 0.4.0), but it quite good. Installing it on my Palm®Treo™Pro which have square screen (320x320), Androkkid runs very smooth using my thumb or my nails to slide between screens. And I guess it also runs good on all other Windows Mobile devices that have different screen resolutions.

You can download and try it from the developers site, which also provide additional wide wallpapers and icons. I like it, and I want to play a little more with this Androkkid, while waiting any improvement between versions upgrade.

Just try it, and don't forget to donate the developers if you like it :)