Dispelled.ca

First I downloaded the SDK here, then downloaded Eclipse Classic here. Threw them both in a folder on the desktop and extracted them. Opened a terminal, navigate to ~/Desktop/android sdk/android-sdk-linux/tools and type

./android

This starts the SDK Manager. You can install the updates and packages from here. It had the Android 4.0 ICS packages highlighted, so I just clicked on install 5 packages in the bottom right hand corner and let them download.

A dialog popped up saying a package that depends on ADB has been updated, and to restart ADB. Click yes and it started the ADB Server.

Next cd’ed back to the eclipse folder, and typed

./eclipse

and followed the instructions here. Here is a repost of that page.

Downloading the ADT Plugin

Use the Update Manager feature of your Eclipse installation to install the latest revision of ADT on your development computer.<>

Assuming that you have a compatible version of the Eclipse IDE installed, as described in Preparing for Installation, above, follow these steps to download the ADT plugin and install it in your Eclipse environment.

1. Start Eclipse, then select Help > Install New Software….
2. Click Add, in the top-right corner.
3. In the Add Repository dialog that appears, enter “ADT Plugin” for the Name and the following URL for the Location:

   https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

4. Click OKNote: If you have trouble acquiring the plugin, try using “http” in the Location URL, instead of “https” (https is preferred for security reasons).
5. In the Available Software dialog, select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click Next.
6. In the next window, you’ll see a list of the tools to be downloaded. Click Next.
7. Read and accept the license agreements, then click Finish.Note: If you get a security warning saying that the authenticity or validity of the software can’t be established, click OK.
8. When the installation completes, restart Eclipse.

Configuring the ADT Plugin

After you’ve successfully downloaded the ADT as described above, the next step is to modify your ADT preferences in Eclipse to point to the Android SDK directory:

1. Select Window > Preferences… to open the Preferences panel (Mac OS X: Eclipse > Preferences).
2. Select Android from the left panel.

You may see a dialog asking whether you want to send usage statistics to Google. If so, make your choice and click Proceed. You cannot continue with this procedure until you click Proceed.

1. For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse… and locate your downloaded SDK directory.
2. Click Apply, then OK.

Done! If you haven’t encountered any problems, then the installation is complete. If you’re installing the Android SDK for the first time, return to Installing the SDK to complete your setup.

I went with the defaults, accepted all the agreements, didn’t send usage statistics to google, and just installed the 4.0 branch, not the 2.1 stuff. Maybe I’ll add that later, 97% of phones sounds like a good choice.

Next I started following the instructions here. It looks like it downloads them again from within Eclipse, and I might have been able to skip the first SDK manager download. Should have read the instructions. Here is another repost of their page.

Install a Platform

To run the Hello World application, you need to install at least one Android platform in your SDK environment. If you have not already performed this step, you need to do it now.

To install a platform in Eclipse:

1. In the Android SDK and AVD Manager, choose Available Packages in the left panel.
2. In the right panel, expand the Android Repository list to display the components available for installation.
3. Select at least one platform to install, and click Install Selected. If you aren’t sure which platform to install, use the latest version.

Create an AVD

To learn more about how to use AVDs and the options available to you, see Managing Virtual Devices.

In this tutorial, you will run your application in the Android Emulator. Before you can launch the emulator, you must create an Android Virtual Device (AVD). An AVD defines the system image and device settings used by the emulator.

To create an AVD:

1. In Eclipse, select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.
2. Select Virtual Devices in the left panel.
3. Click New….The Create New AVD dialog appears.
4. Type the name of the AVD, such as “my_avd”.
5. Choose a target.The target is the platform (that is, the version of the Android SDK, such as 2.3.3) you want to run on the emulator. For this tutorial, choose the latest platform that you have installed and ignore the rest of the fields.
6. Click Create AVD.

Opened the SDK manager from within Eclipse ( Window > Preferences > Android SDK manager) and checked Android 4.0 (API 14) and clicked Install 4 packages in the lower right hand corner. Created the AVD. Selected my AVD and started it. A working Android emulator! Excellent! Next I followed the rest of the page here. It takes for freaking ever to load. Started looking for a fix. See ya later, I’m off to make some apps! Cheers.

Android, Computers, Electronics, Phones, Ubuntu No comments

My new Samsung Galaxy S2 was working great, set up just like I like, and had a bunch of my un-backed up information on it.

Then it went through the washer, full cycle.

After learning how to take it apart, I started the process of drying it out. I knew enough to not turn it on at all, but I knew that it had been on when it had went into the wash. If the same thing has happened to you, take this advice that I read on a thousand forums. Wait, wait, forget about it and just wait. Put the phone in some dry, uncooked rice, in an uncovered bowl, and f#(king wait!

I waited for four days before even trying it. It seemed like forever. It turned on, but wouldn’t charge the battery. So I thought the battery had died when it hit the water. Good enough guess. Ordered a new battery and waited for a few more days. The battery arrived, and I plugged it in. Same deal, wouldn’t charge. Something got fried in the charging circuit. Game over. I will give a try at getting it repaired, but for now, I need a new phone.

So I went and got a new one. Yup, the exact same one. Even though the new Galaxy Nexus is coming out this month, it has a 5MP camera and that is not going to cut it. The 8MP camera on the Galaxy S2 rocks! I take better pictures on it than on my real camera. The Galaxy Nexus will apparently get Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). That sounds great, but in a few months, that will not matter, So will the Galaxy S2. The Galaxy S2 is a good phone. Battery life is good, and it doesn’t run hot for what I do.

Hmm, so I start looking into this Android 4.0, and there is some differences, but nothing really game changing for what I do. I take pictures, play music, browse social media, surf and text. When it comes out, I’ll upgrade to it, sure. But does it matter, right now? If the things that I like the most are the theme and the live wallpaper, then I think it’s good to load those up right now. WidgetLocker is a replacement lockscreen, and after configuring it, it’s looking great and working better than the original.It cost a few bucks in the Android Market. Not essential, but I like it.

Second, I needed a theme. ICS Launcher from Syndicate Apps is a great, free launcher. There is a lot of settings, but now that it’s set up, I’m quite happy with it.

So the phone still runs Gingerbread, but now it’s looking really nice. Last I added the Live Wallpaper shown in these two screeners, ICS Ice Cream Sandwich Live from Eight-Soft. It was a buck or so. I could probably find some icon packs to replace this and that, and replace some of the apps to emulate ICS functionality, but I can wait for that. For now, I am just going to try and keep this phone out of the wash.

Android, Electronics, Phones 2 comments