--- - Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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1a) Any roms recommended for 50% lapdock use? I intend to use the lapdock in classes for a lot of notes and papers (got 2 english class). I saw something about Jokersax's CM9 with tablet tweak or something. Is this good?
I use my lapdock daily, and rely on it as a "laptop" for my job. I have been consistently disappointed by the general speed of the phone when it is in the actual lapdock mode, but it is passable. For "official" lapdock use, I would recommend the Nottachtrix ROM with the 2.3.6 webtop build. This will give you the greatest sense of what it is "meant" to be. From there you can experiment with Webtop2SD, and begin to explore putting full linux builds on the lapdock. It really is a kick to use OpenOffice on the lapdock, but the experience is not as good as a traditional laptop. All of these actions require that you be on a Gingerbread ROM.
Now...if you want to experiment with other ROMs, there are meaningful Webtop alternatives. HDMI mirroring is a feature in CM7 and CM9 ROMs. Not sure about JB. Essentially, this is piping your phone screen onto the lapdock. It tends to be faster, but does not stray beyond anything already available on your phone. Tablet tweaks make this even easier by keeping your screen on and moving your notification bar to the bottom, and I would recommend the Free App "Button Savior" to put soft keys as clickable elements on your screen. I am using this alternative right now with a variety of 7.2 ROMS, and am happy with it. For class notes, I think you would be happy with this as well, and you will not have to worry about running afoul of tethering rules, since this is just "using your phone on the big screen".
1b) If I use webtop enabled rom, have the webtop part been edited to avoid notifying AT&T about the lapdock usage so I won't be charged with that stupid tethering charges?
I do not have a good conclusion for you on this, but I will say that I have used the official lapdock app a considerable amount, drawing data regularly for documents and streaming, and I have received no notice. I would not say that my volumes would make me hit any radars though either. Search the forums for using a script to disable the firewall if you are interested. It is simple, and gives seamless functionality.
2) any recommended note apps? Bonus point for dropbox integration or google document integration (Is the google drive app able to edit documents? if so, I'll just stay with that)
My daily driver is OfficeSuite pro. Good support for most common formats, fast, and complete. I use it in conjunction with the DropBox app, but in reality, I think that the DropBox app would work with any number of solutions.
4) Do you have any general tips for general lapdock usage? I am aware of the touchpad being rather lousy so I intend to use my laptop mouse.
The lapdock is a neat solution, but in my mind, not a true replacement for a laptop computer. It is novel, and can be very functional, but to me the lack of speed, and lack of true stability makes this a less than adequate solution. I am interested to see what Motorola does with the ICS release, since they seem to have indicated a move toward tablet functionality rather than a crippled Linux build.
Good luck to you!

Related

Android on P4000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6AweCGBv7I
Anyone figure out how to get this going?
http://magister.ipsys.net/projects/android-for-titan/
thread is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341903
it's not quite usable for me - battery life is crappy, you can't do tethering, there's a few other limitations - but it's an impressive effort, and some people use it as their primary OS.
Is this the only one for the titan?
I mean project
AdamWill said:
http://magister.ipsys.net/projects/android-for-titan/
thread is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341903
it's not quite usable for me - battery life is crappy, you can't do tethering, there's a few other limitations - but it's an impressive effort, and some people use it as their primary OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's the only one I know of, yeah. the video you linked to is an old one, of an old build of Android, with lots of functions missing. this project is a lot better than that.
I don't think any of the peripherals are working right?
The keyboard works fully with the version I am using
Calls and TXT work but I can't seem to get the WAP and MMS to work
what peripherals do you mean exactly?
I use Magister's build. It rocks. Android is my primary phone OS now. Everything works except the D-Pad, Camera, and Calendar. The browser is fast.
Some exciting news about the vogue build in the PPCGeeks thread. Seems we benefit from the vogue's popularity, since it has the same internal chipsets.
It wasn't immediately obvious how awesome even Magister's 1.0 build was until I got a real feel for the OS. It takes a bit of time to figure things out. I am extremely pleased with all the apps.
Oh, I should probably mention if you want to seriously use 'droid you should really get the 'Close Everything' app.
It helps with our limited amount of RAM, just like oxios except it works with no memory leak.
To install apps just create an AndroidApps folder in the root of your SD card or download the .apk file in the 'droid Browser for auto-install.
Good luck =]

[Q] Questions about the Atrix in Webtop mode and productivity apps

I've been in love with the concept of the Atrix since I read about it, and price aside (although that part certainly doesn't make me happy!) I think it may be exactly what I'm looking for in terms of productivity. I do a ton of work with both Citrix and RDP so I'm very interested in the functionality of the webtop. I've heard that the Citrix experience is very good, but is there an RDP app that can be loaded? I would assume so, just making sure I can get one that works with the dock.
Thanks,
Paul

[Q] Transformer Prime for Programming (Laptop Replacement)

Hey all,
I've been looking around trying to decide what to get for on-the-go work since my last laptop died. I want something more portable (weighs less) than your normal laptop, and I really don't need the power. The Transformer Prime definitely has the power, but I'm not sure if it has the same or adequate functionality and so I'm thinking maybe I should get a netbook or ultrabook instead.
I'm a computer science major, and I also do web development and work on apps in my spare time. Here are the things I would be using the tab for:
-Textbook replacement: Biggest reason for going with the Transformer, I'm sick of paying for textbooks and since I can download them, I'm going to forego the $500 fee for my education.
-Coding: I'm currently studying C++, so I would need to be able to write and (possibly) compile relatively small programs (largest would probably be a few thousand lines.)
-Web Development: I write in html/css/php/js and I add more languages as I go. I generally don't need to do more than manipulate files, code in a basic text editor, and preview files in a browser (this is a big one, I need to be able to see what is going on when I display it.)
-Image Editing (optional): I have a desktop which I rely on for image processing and other intensive tasks, but sometimes being able to edit an image really quickly can be helpful. Not necessary, but would be a plus.
Other than those functions, I'm going to be using the device for media consumption a lot, browsing the net and such. So, what would you recommend? And are there any things that a comp-sci major such as myself may need to do on the go that I forgot? (Honestly, I may be missing something here, would like to hash this out as much as possible) An ultrabook seems like overkill, and a netbook would definitely fill my needs (+more ram is really nice) but the battery life and dual functionality of the Transformer Prime as a tablet could be very useful, I might end up using it more than I would a netbook, in which case I'd want it.
Also, I've heard you can boot ubuntu on the Prime. Would this be a better way to create my ideal programming/webdeveloping/textbook reading tablet/laptop?
The Prime will be able to do function #1 easily enough, but functions 2-4 will not happen, IMO. You need a laptop/ultrabook for those. The Prime does not have enough processing power or memory ... besides, your C compiler and image editors will not be available for the Prime. I did see a demo of Ubuntu running on the original Transformer ... it was really, really slow. I do not expect the Prime to be that much faster.
Many folks who expected the original Transformer to be a laptop replacement were sorely disappointed -- the same will be true for the Prime. These are still consumption devices, for the most part. I do expect the Prime will replace my laptop for many of my tasks, but for development, I have my high-powered (dual boot: Win/Ubuntu) laptop.
Yeah, I'm not expecting it to do all the same things as a netbook/laptop. Obviously its less powerful and functional (at least for development purposes) but the thing is I never used my laptop for more than text-editting and the OCCASIONAL image processing job (very rare, I prefer working at home on my desktop for that.)
If I get a Prime and end up using it more than I used my laptop, then I'd consider it worth it. If I can code on it (especially with preview, very important feature) then the rest should be ok. And being able to read textbooks e-reader style would be very nice.
Its not easy to weigh the pros and cons, thats why I'm posting here, trying to get different perspectives.
Some users have been able to make some serious adaptations and use the Transformer really well. It's just so limited, that I think you will be disappointed ... I think you are forgetting that you are a computer science major! Just teasing...
Besides all that ... this is NOT a cheap device by any means. For the money you would pay for the Prime you could get a pretty good laptop that will last you quite a few years. Then, you can buy a cheap consumption device that fulfills the needs of consumption rather well. Of course, I am one to talk ... I bought the Prime. I do, however, have a good laptop and desktop, so it is a little different.
Very true, I think I'll definitely feel the squeeze of inferior hardware if I do get it which is unfortunate =/
As for getting a laptop, I really am done with them. Weighs too much, hurts my back while running around, generally bulky and again, I don't use them all that much. I think the Transformer style laptop/tablet combo is the way to go in the future, so much more functionality for the same amount of hardware (As opposed to having two devices). I think when similar devices have >2GB ram and can run a more powerful platform like Windows 8/Linux, they will definitely be full fledged enough to compete with laptops.
Still, right now is right now... I guess it really depends on what I'll be using it for more than anything else. If my primary use is taking notes and reading textbooks, and coding is more on the side, then the Prime is probably the better choice. So the question is, is using the Prime as an e-reader for textbooks that much better than opening them up in a pdf and reading them on a netbook/laptop?
hmm, need to think about that...
if you have a desktop, you could jsut remote log-in to that via splashtop, teamviewer or logmein.
that's probably the best way to get access to the things you need for 2-4. Other things you could do well on your prime.
worst case, hold out for an ultrabook ie mac book air, or acer aspire s5?
I'd actually never heard of splashtop before, thank you for that info! This definitely changes things, since I rarely use photoshop/other features that a laptop would be able to have. If that's the case, I can just remote login when I need those functions and go with a basic text editor for on the go coding!
I'm definitely leaning toward the Prime now, I think it'll support what I need without sacrificing too much functionality.
Textbooks-As others have said, you can definitely use the prime for #1. If you would like to use it for the other tasks, here are a few helpful apps.
Web- Android web editor pro. What I use for web development, should do everything you are looking for.
C++- check out C4Droid. It is a C compiler for android, that supports C++ with root. Can't vouch for it though, I use mostly Java.
Image editing- adobe has launched a whole mobile design suite specifically for android tablets not to long ago, Photoshop touch being the main feature. I use it fairly often, it is quite good, not on par with regular Photoshop but a big step up from average image editors.
Hope you find something useful out of my ramblings.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Splashtop HD is really good. Probably the best. Another great thing is that The Prime comes with this built on so no need to buy the app.
If you have a desktop just sitting around while you are out, Splashtop is a great way to remote desktop in, particularly on wifi (as with the prime). Think of it almost like a thin client connecting to the mainframe servers... which is how I got my CompSci degree. You get all the power of your desktop with all the portability of your tablet.
Personally, I'm hoping to find a way to write android apps FROM an Android device... seems like a logical programming environment, considering all the libraries and such are already present. Who needs an emulator when you're holding the real thing.
webin said:
If you have a desktop just sitting around while you are out, Splashtop is a great way to remote desktop in, particularly on wifi (as with the prime). Think of it almost like a thin client connecting to the mainframe servers... which is how I got my CompSci degree. You get all the power of your desktop with all the portability of your tablet.
Personally, I'm hoping to find a way to write android apps FROM an Android device... seems like a logical programming environment, considering all the libraries and such are already present. Who needs an emulator when you're holding the real thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing would be some remote desktop software indeed.
I run Teamviewer on all my PCs/Laptops and there is a client for Android too. Works like a charm, even through internet connections.
I have C4Droid on my phone and ATP, and can say that it works wonderully. I'm a comp sci major too, just like OP. I code in c++, C4Droid is awesome. the only downside to it is the inability to do multi-file projects.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

lapdock usefulness?

I'm considering picking up a lapdock for my Atrix, but I understand CM (and Neutrino, which I'm using now) may not support it just yet. Anyone have any strong feelings pro or con on the lapdock's usefulness? Could I actually use it for light document work, that sort of thing? I use LibreOffice for my work.
Just wondering if it's more of an interesting idea that wasn't implemented well, versus a nicely useable thing once hacked properly.
beermotor said:
I'm considering picking up a lapdock for my Atrix, but I understand CM (and Neutrino, which I'm using now) may not support it just yet. Anyone have any strong feelings pro or con on the lapdock's usefulness? Could I actually use it for light document work, that sort of thing? I use LibreOffice for my work.
Just wondering if it's more of an interesting idea that wasn't implemented well, versus a nicely useable thing once hacked properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak the lapdock necessarily but I have the webtop and I love (well loved, I'm on CM9 now) it. I did collaborative document editing using the web and application version of Google Docs. Can LibreOffice docs be opening with Google Docs? Playing music, browsing the web, and sending texts/gchat, etc are all relatively easy. If you can get a good deal I would recommend it. I used this before I rooted and was forced to use WIFI as opposed to my data connection but I'm sure there is a hack for that by now.
I use the lapdock everyday. I haven't found a rom that I like with the lapdock (settings issues, etc) so I am on stock but the .24 1.3 oc Faux kernel (I run it a 1.1 or 1.3) seems to boost lapdock performance. Keyboard is cramped and I wish the screen would tilt back further but these are minor complaints, particularly if you can get a lapdock for $100. My wife's desktop died so I gave her my laptop and I now generally use the lapdock. For documents, I have access to the Citrix Xen Desktop (from my office) so I can use Outlook/Word and Excel and they work fine (of course the Xen means the lapdock is just being used as a dumb terminal). Only other problem is that the lapdock hogs memory (and it doesn't free it after uplugging) so after I use the lapdock I always reboot the phone..
If you can find a good price, I think you can find them for around $100 now, I would say it may be worth it. I have only used it when I travel for watching movies, etc on a plane or killing time in airports. Its a bit awkward to use without a mouse (IMHO) and if I had a tablet I would probably never use it. Its nice to have, but a little less user friendly than a tablet and more difficult than a laptop for productivity.
As for ROMs, I've upgraded to CM9 which is not compatible with the webtop, but I ran the Alien build for about 6 months with no issues. Its easy enough to just flash a ROM for a day or two that is webtop compatible and reflash back to your preferred ROM afterwards - that is my plan next time I travel.
I don't think the lapdock is particularly useful. It's a memory hog, and pretty darn slow. My netbook is a lot faster. I also detest the lack of multitouch on the trackpad.
I got mine for Christmas, but also got a 7" HTC tablet at the same time. The tablet gets lots of use; the lapdock is sitting in the box. I guess I should sell it while it's still worth something.
While the non-Blur custom roms don't have webtop, they DO have landscape HDMI mirroring.
Mirroring the display is MUCH more useful for me. Everything responds perfectly, and the trackpad and keyboard work well too. The device doesn't feel bogged down, as it did under webtop, and I haven't found there was anything I could do under webtop that was more efficient than anything on the phone UI.
Dudeman Broguy said:
While the non-Blur custom roms don't have webtop, they DO have landscape HDMI mirroring.
Mirroring the display is MUCH more useful for me. Everything responds perfectly, and the trackpad and keyboard work well too. The device doesn't feel bogged down, as it did under webtop, and I haven't found there was anything I could do under webtop that was more efficient than anything on the phone UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wish the OS scaled better for the higher resolution of the laptop dock, but it's a minor inconvenience. The major inconvenience for me is that it likes to reboot once it stays idle while on the lapdock for longer than 10 minutes, but that might be due to undervolting.
paravorheim said:
I just wish the OS scaled better for the higher resolution of the laptop dock, but it's a minor inconvenience. The major inconvenience for me is that it likes to reboot once it stays idle while on the lapdock for longer than 10 minutes, but that might be due to undervolting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a couple tricks to work around both of these issues for myself.
I use LCD Density Modder Pro and lowered the density to 175, makes things seem kind of small on the phone interface but it looks great on the lapdock and is still usable (for me) without the dock as well.
For the idling, I set up a Tasker profile that sets the display time out to 2 minutes, disables autobrightness, and sets brightness to 1 whenever I'm on a charger. Generally, if I'm actually using the dock I'll touch it within 2 minutes anyway.
I also found that for some reason, my screen won't time out while on the dock at all lately, but if I know I'm not using it I can manually turn the screen off.
Obviously it's all work around and would vary from person to person, but there are options.
Also, Switch User would let you create a second profile for lapdock use (with a different LCD Density, screen time out, ETC) if you don't mind doing a reboot between using the lapdock and using just the phone.
^all of this referring to CM based ROMs without webtop
I think the lapdock is going to see a resurgence in usefulness when the CM9 roms start getting better and include the Tablet interface.
using the phone and then getting a full tablet UI to play with (ICS tablet interface is nice) will be much better than the webtop and yes, I'm a fan of the webtop
V DidDy 210 said:
I think the lapdock is going to see a resurgence in usefulness when the CM9 roms start getting better and include the Tablet interface.
using the phone and then getting a full tablet UI to play with (ICS tablet interface is nice) will be much better than the webtop and yes, I'm a fan of the webtop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I use mine often in the house (wi-fi). O pretty much just is it for web based applications. A wireless mouse makes things a lot better. Anyone tried unbuntu yet?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
+1, cm9 with lapdock in native resolution would bei great
But I can use the lapdock with the cm9?
Inviato dal mio MB860 usando Tapatalk
I have a quick question, does the lapdock feature speakers or is it purely a screen and keyboard + 2 USB ports?
Ultraman1966 said:
I have a quick question, does the lapdock feature speakers or is it purely a screen and keyboard + 2 USB ports?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery, (which charges your phone while it's docked), screen, keyboard, trackpad, speakers, and 2 USB ports.
Thanks. Shame that it doesn't include a front cam (even a cheap VGA would do) as I would love to use it for Skype video calls.
Ultraman1966 said:
Thanks. Shame that it doesn't include a front cam (even a cheap VGA would do) as I would love to use it for Skype video calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, would have been nice given phone has front cam which is useless when docked.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
CaelanT said:
Yeah, would have been nice given phone has front cam which is useless when docked.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How responsive is the dock these days? Has there been much in terms of official software updates? I would use it mainly for web browsing and watching videos (on iPlayer for example).
Ultraman1966 said:
How responsive is the dock these days? Has there been much in terms of official software updates? I would use it mainly for web browsing and watching videos (on iPlayer for example).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lapdock is great imo. No updates from Moto other than Firefox from what I see. You want the best out if it you need to install Gentop2, Debian, etc. Much more useful then.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
Motoblur ICS will include an overhauled Webtop which is just tablet view with a different resolution. Unfortunately, we will be waiting a couple months for that.

Productivity on the Prime

Hi all, I've been thinking about getting an android tablet to play around with, especially now that my laptop's getting less and less portable due to its battery.
It would be nice if I could take the tablet around for notes, word processing and using googledocs - just wondering what people's experiences of using it as a productivity device has been - like is it easy to switch between apps - word processor/pdf/browser (does alt + tab work on the keyboard dock?), does googledocs work okay, is it convenient enough to carry around etc.
Thanks for your time.
gasterfire said:
Hi all, I've been thinking about getting an android tablet to play around with, especially now that my laptop's getting less and less portable due to its battery.
It would be nice if I could take the tablet around for notes, word processing and using googledocs - just wondering what people's experiences of using it as a productivity device has been - like is it easy to switch between apps - word processor/pdf/browser (does alt + tab work on the keyboard dock?), does googledocs work okay, is it convenient enough to carry around etc.
Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is good for all of those things. The form factor is really quite perfect. However there are well documented issues with the Prime which you should take into consideration. Bad I/O and the BT/WiFi issues being my main gripes.
Alt-tab works fine except they put the Alt key on the right which means it takes two hands to actually do it! I solved this simply by editing the key map file to swap the Search and Alt keys, as well as swapping the actual physical keys but really I have no idea what they were thinking.
Hope this helps
I advice getting the Asus Eee pad Infinity (TF700) which should have the issues mentioned above resolved and is the same price ($499 + $150 for dock) and a much better screen, faster memory and slightly faster SoC.
It's an excellent productivity device in my opinion, even stock it's plenty fast to do all the things you'll want. Try different word processors to see which ones you like, and be sure to install CloudON and OnLive Desktop for when you absolutely need MS Office. They're both free and work great with a good connection. I currently use my prime as my primary device and have absolutely no regrets.
Oh! And get a screen protector. Gorilla glass or not, the constant rubbing against the keyboard dock (when closed) leaves some slight marks on the screen. They're not terrible, but noticeable in the right light and when the screen is off.
hi all, in general i'd say the tablet is worth to buy. but for word processing i tried some apps, my opinion on that is, that you can sometimes edit your things quick, but some features are missing in the apps, e.g. marking text via shift + cursor buttons (some apps can, some don't).
especially when editing power point slides i had problems switching between apps. alt+tab worked fine but sometimes when the app or android itself decided to terminate the office app my work was lost. same for browsing, the stock browser does not safe the tabs over sessions and chrome often stops working and you have to restart it.
at all i would say its good for small things but i wouln't be able to work as productive on the tablet as on a PC.
but things are quite different if you flash linux on the prime - even if it is in testing state it work well and working is much more like on PC
If your looking at using google docs then the office functionality on the prime should be fine. As people say, if you want some complicated docs then the tablet can be a bit limiting.
I find using one it's very good for 80% of what you want to do. Then you have to jump back to a PC to complete it. I start word docs while on my travels, manage everything in Evernote, task lists with Toodledo and it's great. All the cloud tech and google drive now makes it so very easy to manage. But I love getting back to a full keyboard and my dual screens
I found that the native Google Docs (now called Google Drive) app sucks for editing documents, especially spreadsheets. However, I really like OfficeSuite Pro, which can connect to your Google Docs account. OfficeSuite Pro has good keyboard shortcuts and a pretty good feature set. I've tried a few different office suites for Android and I like this one the best. And yes, alt-tab works great. You can also plug a USB mouse into the keyboard dock and log into your PC remotely from your tablet. As someone else mentioned, you may want to consider the Infinity tablet at this point. I know I would if I were shopping for a tablet now.
gasterfire said:
Hi all, I've been thinking about getting an android tablet to play around with, especially now that my laptop's getting less and less portable due to its battery.
It would be nice if I could take the tablet around for notes, word processing and using googledocs - just wondering what people's experiences of using it as a productivity device has been - like is it easy to switch between apps - word processor/pdf/browser (does alt + tab work on the keyboard dock?), does googledocs work okay, is it convenient enough to carry around etc.
Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem I run into is that when using it in the keyboard dock with my usb trackball attached, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not in Windows and some of my habits from Windows work against me. The Alt key being on the other side of the keyboard is a good example. When I want an Alt-Tab my fingers just automatically go to the place where those keys are located on a Windows machine. Right clicking with my mouse or trackball also doesn't work the same way it does in Windows and the procedure for selecting text is different. All of these sorts of things don't add up to bad however - they are just different. Its just that when I'm sitting there typing and using the mouse, it's very easy to forget that I'm not on Windows and the habits acquired over many years aren't right for this device. But that's just a matter of getting used to the device.
A couple of items I have not seen others mention:
1. The right shift key is only half sized and has the up arrow right next to it. When I'm going for the shift, its very easy to hit the up arrow by accident - guess I will get used to that too.
2. Cntrl-C for copy and Cntrl-V for paste work just like they do in Windows which I find very useful.
Prôductivity wont be good until we have an actual windows like multi tasking system
Hey thanks for the reply guys. And yeah, I was considering the infinity but I'm from the UK and it hasn't been announced there (okay that's not true anymore - it was announced today) and I couldn't find the infinity forum on xda.
So yeah, I'm thinking of either getting the infinity or getting the nexus 7 with a wireless keyboard for a bit cheaper, and then perhaps look into the Surface when it comes out?
What do you think, nexus 7 or the infinity? I don't know how good a 7" screen would be though.
If you decide to go with a Nexus 7 and bluetooth keyboard, you may want to research and make sure that the keyboard will support alt-tab. If not, you can still use the recently used apps icon to pull up a list of apps, but sometimes the keyboard is more efficient than reaching up to the screen to touch that icon. Another thing, at least for me, a 7" tablet would probably be too small to do a lot of productivity work. I'm more comfortable with a 10" tablet for productivity.

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