Android is the world’s most prolific mobile operating system, and in a couple of years it might well become more popular than Windows with mobile devices ending up in almost every pocket. But what if you could install Android on not just your mobile device, but computer as well? Turns out, it is possible.
Having Android as your main computer operating system however is not guaranteed to work - driver support, and a ton of stuff may or may not be there, so it’d be best if you first try running Android via a USB drive to check compatibility.
Otherwise, all efforts to bring Android to PCs is courtesy of the Android-x86 project. Android is a Linux-based platform after all, so the core is there.
We have to stress that everything is still under development and not final, so this is more of an undertaking for tech enthusiasts rather than the average user.
Hit the source link right below for the complete tutorial and a bunch of links to read more about the project.
If you are a gadget geek at heart and love to do anything that encompasses remotely accessing your device from anywhere, give SwiFTP FTP Server a shot. It is a free open source Android app that lets you remotely connect to your phone over WiFi / 3G to upload and download content. This Android application converts your phone into an FTP server which is accessible by a unique FTP IP generated by the app.We tested this app on HTC Desire And HTC Dream G1 and it works perfectly on both.
Download And Install SwiFTP
First download SwiFTP on your Android phone via Market. You can search for “swiFTP” in the market to get the app.
Once launched, give it any username or password, select the port (default is 2121), and select other settings before clicking Save.
Now click Start to begin the server.
Note down the FTP address (see Wifi URL in the screenshot below) generated by the app and use it to connect via any desktop FTP client. You can also map the network location for quick access in Windows Explorer.
Access Android Phone Files By Mapping Network Path In Windows
To map the device as network path, in Windows Explorer, under Network Location section, right-click to select Add network Location from context menu.
This will bring up Add Network Location wizard. In first step, enter FTP address of internal IP (WiFi URL) followed by port number (2121) as shown in the screenshot below. Click Next to continue.
Now enter an appropriate user name (the same which you used in the first step) to connect with FTP server and click Next to proceed further.
In the last step, give an appropriate name of network location and click Next.
In informational dialog of wizard, you can enable Open this network location when I click Finish option to immediately view & manage your Android handset’s content. Once done, click Finish.
You will be prompted to enter the password, after which, it will immediately open network location, allowing easy access to your Android handset’s files & folders.
The advantage of mapping is that you can choose to save the password and access the folder quickly from My Computer without having to enter the credentials over and over again.
If you are facing some file accessing speed issues, you can try out dedicated FTP client application like FileZilla.
We tested it on Android 2.1 running on rooted G1 and non-rooted HTC Desire. With rooted Android phone, you get the full root access. Testing was done on Windows 7 32-bit OS.
Download SwiFTP (download from project page or you can simply install it from the Android market)
Note: This is for educational purpose only. Do not try this for commercial purpose
Introduction Since I started doing Android development, I have looked at many licensing options, from simple forward locking (/data/app-private), which was a complete failure, to KeyesLab’s AAL which I really liked, to a custom one I was privy to, written by my friend Colin O’Dell. I even went as far as writing two different ones myself.
By far the best looking, and nicest option I have seen is Google’s own Android Licensing Service. However, even Goliath can fall to a pebble.
A few days ago, after asking the AndroidPolice editors to write an article on piracy, I found a problem with Google’sAndroid License Verification Library. A minor patch to an application employing this official, Google-recommended protection system will render it completely worthless.
Implications Our findings show that most (any?) apps can be easily patched and stripped of licensing protection, making them an easy target for off-Market, pirated distribution. By corollary, this means that sites dedicated to pirating apps can continue to do so, using a few automated scripts mixed with some smarts.
Demo Watch this demonstration video of my patch method tricking both the protected version of the game StarHunt and the Google LVL demo app into thinking they have been purchased legitimately
Breaking The Library (aka The Technical Mumbo Jumbo) A little back-story on Java, which most Android applications are written in. Java applications are compiled into bytecode, that runs on top of a Virtual Machine, generally independent of platform. Due to the need for cross compatibility, the bytecode is fairly readable. Many software suites exist to decompile/disassemble it, making it an easy target for reverse engineering.
For Android, the main disassembly suite is smali/baksmali. The bytecode output from baksmali can be edited in any text editor, and reassembled using smali.
"smali/baksmali is an assembler/disassembler for the dex format used by dalvik, Android’s Java VM implementation. The syntax is loosely based on Jasmin’s/dedexer’s syntax, and supports the full functionality of the dex format (annotations, debug info, line info, etc.)"
[*]please note, theres more ways to decompiling/compiling apks such as apktool which is in .jar(jave) it has no GUI, unlike apk manager thats has somewhat of a GUI
Because the License Verification Library is not part of the Android OS (i.e. it doesn’t ship with phones – it’s an optional SDK download), an app developer needs to package it with the app that uses it, making it an easier patch target, without requiring root access.
The first step in reproducing this is to dissemble the apk using baksmali and find the LicenseValidator class. In custom implementations and pro-guarded apps like Tasker, this filename will differ, and so will the code, but not enough to stop a pirate from patching it.
When disassembling the basic implementation of the licensing service, you will find this file out/com/android/vending/licensing/LicenseValidator.smali. This class responds back to the application, telling it the results of the verification attempt. Opening this file in a text editor will show you the bytecode, and at the beginning you will see these constants.
This is a switch block, which essentially tells the licensing library what to do next, depending on the results of the verification query. Each possible result is “mapped” to a different function.
Notice how the values on the left correspond to the constants at the beginning of the file. 0X0 and 0×3 are both positive results, which will tell the application that your device has a valid license. The others are various forms of negative results, and depending on how the application is coded, will result in different things.
The important one here is 0×1, or NOT_LICENSED. By changing “0×1 -> :sswitch_de ” to “0×1 -> :sswitch_d3” we basically point it to a positive outcome instead, so the library tells your app the license is actually valid.
The final step is to reassemble with smali, placing the new dex file in the apk, and re-sign it with any valid key (even test-keys).
Even though the library knows the status is NOT_LICENSED, the described tweak ensures the application will receive a LICENSED result instead and believe that it is, in fact, licensed. This method is so simple, even a novice programmer could write a script to automatically patch most apps.
1) Download adb (if you don't have it), framework-res.apk, and twframework-res.apk. Rename framework-res.apk (v1.71) to framework-res.apk, rename twframework-res.apk (v1.00) to twframework-res.apk.
2) Copy framework-res.apk & twframework-res.apk to the root of your sdcard. (Then Unmount sd card from computer)
3) Extract adb to c:\ and run cmd.
4) Type the commands:
Code:
cd c:\
adb shell
su
stop
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/stl6 /system
cp /sdcard/framework-res.apk /system/framework/framework-res.apk
cp /sdcard/twframework-res.apk /system/framework/twframework-res.apk
reboot
exit
Easy installing tutorial with root explorer
Here is a Easy way to install the Theme without adb.
It work's for me (Stock JPM Firmware)... i tested it 2x without any problems!
How to install (Easy way)[Tested by my self without problems!]
Root you phone
Install BusyBox
Copy the framework-res.apk & twframework-res.apk to you SD Card
With Root Explorer delete some Apps that u dont use from system/apps to make more free space on your phone.
Use Root Explorer (your mobile must be rooted) and paste the apns-conf.xml file to /etc and then reboot and now it will grab your internet settings and if not just do following:
> go to settings
> wireless and networks
> mobile networks
> access point name
> press menu and then reset to default
> Now it's done.
4. put your sd card on to your phone (if it isnt there already )
5. when your done adding different features you go to ADB and type this:
Code:
adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/stl9 /system
dd if=/dev/block/stl6 of=/sdcard/factoryfs.rfs
then you wait about 2 minutes and there will be some text and then you type this
Code:
exit
exit
and in your sd-card will be freshly created factoryfs.rfs, import your freshly created factoryfs.rfs to your desktop. now you choose your kernel.
5. kernel, download the kernel you want to your desktop.
6. download total commander to your pc
7. open total commander, open the base ROM.tar. example: my base ROM was JPM so i opened the JPM.tar and replaced the kernel and factoryfs.rfs with my factoryfs.rfs and my kernel (fugumod 2.2) using total commander.
delete everything else in the .tar but, Cache.rfs, factoryfs.rfs, zlmage and data.rfs and the logo!
then you test if you can flash your ROM... if it boots, you did it. if it doesnt, try again.
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