After combing the internet for a couple weeks, since installing Ubuntu Touch on my Nexus 7 2013, I have yet to find an up to date video, review, or usable bug report for the layperson as an end user. This is desperately needed and would lead to speeding up developing apps and abilities of the OS and its application on various devices.
Using the OS on a daily basis I have seen sporadic new apps showing up in the "Available" section of the APPS Scope, mostly non-US types in some other language. I ave no idea where they come from nor who is submitting them, but evidently, folks in Germany and other Euro countries have the ear of the devs developement. Up until now, There's no porting of regular .deb applications such as Pidgin or even open source versions of Flash for video viewing. Yes, I can't even watch the nonexistent Youtube videos about my OS on the OS, itself.
Someone pick up the ball on this blazing hot mobile OS, please?! We could use some content about it and its developement!
There are some resources out there. The following is a list of the links I use most:
Build test results: http://ci.ubuntu.com/smokeng/utopic/touch/
Changelogs: http://people.canonical.com/~ogra/touch-image-stats/
Development info: http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/
Bug reports are handled via launchpad: https://launchpad.net/
If you're unsure which package to report it against, maybe use this one: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-touch-preview
Oh, and some porting is actually done: Trojita and Cantata
Related
Not to sure if anyone has heard of Hexxeh before but here is a short wiki descript regarding Chromium OS builds: "By May 2010, compiled versions of the work-in-progress source code had been downloaded from the Internet more than a million times. The most popular version was created by Liam McLoughlin, a 17-year-old college student in Manchester, England, posting under the name "Hexxeh". McLoughlin's builds boot from a USB memory stick and included features that Google engineers had not yet implemented, such as support for the Java programming language"
Anyhow several Google videos show that he has successfully managed to boot one of his Chromium OS builds called "Flow" on a tablet. And was wondering if anyone has thought about doing this.
His main website: http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/
I've used Flow on a laptop. Not very useful on a tablet - it's basically just a back end for a web browser, with no (well, minimal) apps. Useful for giving to the kids to play web games without breaking your system. However, using the Android OS built for tablets you get access to all the apps.
Looks like someone is working on it!
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/chrome-os-tablet-from-acer-outed-by-bug-reports-20110428/
maybe either through API level, or by querying market info
Reason: i want to check on GB before I upgrade to ICS, which apps will not work.
don't know if relevant but it is for SGS II
Thx in advance
repost from here as nobody could really answer my question
can't believe I'm the only one with that issue
maybe an idea for a dev? would be willing to pay for that ;-)
I don't see why this can't be done:
-http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2695746/how-to-get-a-list-of-installed-android-applications-and-pick-one-to-run
-http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageManager.html
-http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getApplicationInfo()
I haven't thought through the problem just yet, but its seems to be doable. If you don't find an app soon, I will start working on a script that does it and, if successful, a proper, free software app. I am hoping the available methods won't require something as stupid as launching each app fully. But again, I haven't thought it through. Thanks for the idea btw.
EDIT:
Made a little more effort
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!topic/android-developers/dXLACRIizKc
I will work on something this weekend and get back with y'all.
EDIT 2:
So it looks like I would need maxSdkVersion which I don't find in the API. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested that one not use maxSdkVersion when building an app so that doesn't sound all that useful. I have received another, much more complicated suggestion that may do what I want, but I will have to look hard at it. Looks like I'm going nowhere in my effort. Always open to suggestions. More to come later this weekend.
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I thought this was mostly a straightforward task using the API's exposure to AndroidManifest.xml. As per my previously posted link to an Android Developers discussion on the topic, my approach is dead in the water as far as I can see. I did try to find an answer though to the best of my limited ability. If anyone has or ever solves this problem (I consider it a problem) I would hope they find the this thread.
Thanks for the learning experience. I give up.
Most older apps will work fine on ICS, its pretty backwards compatible. If the app uses legacy menus the button will appear in the old lower left hand corner location instead of the upper right hand corner like apps written for ICS.
i'm no dev so bear with me if i write stupid stuff
one likely but not very promising sounding way might be to use android:targetSdkVersion as "As Android evolves with each new version, some behaviors and even appearances might change. However, if the API level of the platform is higher than the version declared by your app's targetSdkVersion, the system may enable compatibility behaviors to ensure that your app continues to work the way you expect. You can disable such compatibility behaviors by specifying targetSdkVersion to match the API level of the platform on which it's running. For example, setting this value to "11" or higher allows the system to apply a new default theme (Holo) to your app when running on Android 3.0 or higher and also disables screen compatibility mode when running on larger screens (because support for API level 11 implicitly supports larger screens)."
question though is how many apps actually use this?
However after having read this re android:maxSdkVersion "Warning: Declaring this attribute is not recommended. First, there is no need to set the attribute as means of blocking deployment of your application onto new versions of the Android platform as they are released. By design, new versions of the platform are fully backward-compatible. Your application should work properly on new versions, provided it uses only standard APIs and follows development best practices. Second, note that in some cases, declaring the attribute can result in your application being removed from users' devices after a system update to a higher API Level. Most devices on which your application is likely to be installed will receive periodic system updates over the air, so you should consider their effect on your application before setting this attribute." (taking from here) i now don't know how important my op is, but then why do all app devs release new versions "fixing things" for ICS?
One pretty significant example which actually currently will prevent my phone from getting ICS for now is that the subsonic app in the current version produces stuttering when playing audio while downloading (problem description here).
Isn't there any way to instead of searching the phone searching google play/android market instead?
Randi said:
maybe either through API level, or by querying market info
Reason: i want to check on GB before I upgrade to ICS, which apps will not work.
don't know if relevant but it is for SGS II
Thx in advance
repost from here as nobody could really answer my question
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a list of some working games/apps for ICS
Theoretically an Android app (or a combo of say App Engine and Android) could find your installed apps, seacrh Play for said apps and then scrape the page for relevant information. Doesn't sound to hard, but I didn't think about too hard either. Perhaps I will check out what useful info is on Play and how feasible scraping its markup will be. I will get back at y'all if I do.
Hi friends,
I need advice on a pressing issue I am facing right now about an android app I got developed through a freelancer.
I am webmaster of a website for numerology enthusiasts. On this website, we were offering a numerology calculator (basically a combination of html pages with some javascript embeded - all compiled in an .exe format) Later, on some suggestions, we decided to prepare an Android version of this tiny program by hiring a programmer of South India. It was 2011 and the Gingerbread was the prevalent Android platform. The programmer created the App and we published it on Android Market where it is still available on playstore (search for com.namecalculator.lite on playstore and the first result 'Your Lucky Name' is the app in question.)
The problem is that this was an app which was not compatible with the later version of Android. As such, after sometimes, when the ICS version of Android was launched, the app stopped working for ICS devices. As of now, except for some old Android devices, this App is useless.
When I contacted the guy who originally developed this App, he told that the source file of the Apps were not saved by him and as such, he expressed his inability to do anything about it. He told me that if I again wanted him to develop the app for later versions of Android (like ICS, Jellybean etc), I will have to pay him the full development fee as he will have to start again from scratch.
Since my website is only a hobbyist website with negligible revenue, it was not possible for me to again hire this programmer just to develop an upgraded version of the app.
As of now, a very popular part of my website (the app) has become unavailable for its intended users. In this background, I want guidance on the following:-
(1) If an App is already built for an earlier Android version, does making it compatible with future/latest version of Android require the same amount of energy and effort which was needed when the app was developed the first time?
(2) Since the App in question is basically a compilation of html files with some javascript embeded in some pages, will it be really difficult to reconstruct the app if the source file of earlier app has been lost ?(I still have the raw html pages with me)
(3) I am not a programmer but have experience of web-designing, creating blogs etc. Can I self taught myself to create the above mentioned app by reading and following the online tutorials ? If yes, what in your opinion is the expected time an average learner (with no programming background) can do it? Also kindly point me to some good tutorials.
(4) Any other advice on the above issue some of you might be having ?
Regards
Eklavya
Now that framework modifications are no longer working in newer Android versions, a lot of the research I have over the past few months may be of use in maintaining touchpad support.
The Sony example apps use NativeActivity and the event ID from the native side separates the event (since touchscreen events use the same handler). The trick for an app dev getting it to work was just a matter of returning a false motion event to Java and handling the input natively with a second interface set up for touchpad events. This did not change in later versions of Android. The only real change was the key layouts. In later versions of Android, they added a separate key layout for the gamepad instead of appending the default one. That is why the circle button is no longer alt + back. Instead, you have to check the device name for zeus-gamepad and then handle it as the standard back KeyCode.
You can see the code to handle touchpads in a standalone library I put together to add to reicast. This library is built independent of the emulator and allows handling the touchpads through a secondary NativeActivity that has the methods OnNativeMotion and OnNativeKeyPress handling input identified as coming from an Xperia Play.
https://github.com/reicast/reicast-emulator/blob/master/shell/android/jni/src/XperiaPlay.c
The touchpads no longer dispatch a TouchEvent because a TouchEvent was the catch all for touchscreen, touchpad, mouse interaction. When GenericMotionEvent was added, it allowed better classification of touch and move without all the extra checks and conditions.
Trying to find a workaround from the user end instead of getting the developers to use the proper code is why older apps end up broken in newer versions of Android. A lot of the developers have since moved on to other things and left the app with the hack code. Now that it is no longer possible, it may be too late to get an update with the code that works.
GameKeyboard uses the touchpad support methods and acts as a middleman to convert the interaction into something the app can handle using standard methods. A system modification would be something like that merged with something like tasker to detect when the gamepad was opened. Until that modification exists, GameKeyboard and Tasker are a fully-functional alternative.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.locnet.gamekeyboard2&hl=en
Here is the full source on the various supported ways to handle the touchpads in Android:
https://github.com/AbandonedCart/XperiaPlayNative
And for Unity developers, here is an extension to support touchpads from within a game:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18853
And here is a demonstration of an Android app with touchpad support from within Unity:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lw7lebx4piizw4v/SwordArtUnity.apk?dl=0
hi,thank you for starting this thread, it's nice to se that someone is still interested in the xplay, it's still perfect for my use. i do heavy retrogaming with retroarch, plus all the new game, the walking dead,gta sa nova modern combat ecc. i'm on super jelly bean 8 with lupus 13, oc to1.4ghz for gaming with the touchpad fix,and touch pads lag as hell and make any game unplayable..
unfortunately i'm not a developer, but i will be testing of corse if you need..
This isn't really one of the threads where there will be a build or mod to download and then post error reports about. This is one of those threads (like xda used to be flooded with) meant to show people how to do things so they can add them to something or gather all the parts and build something else. It's source, instructions, and good ol' fashioned information. It's a little late, but it's all the stuff that should have been here when the games were being developed to prevent the support situation currently being faced.
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twistedumbrella said:
This isn't really one of the threads where there will be a build or mod to download and then post error reports about. This is one of those threads (like xda used to be flooded with) meant to show people how to do things so they can add them to something or gather all the parts and build something else. It's source, instructions, and good ol' fashioned information. It's a little late, but it's all the stuff that should have been here when the games were being developed to prevent the support situation currently being faced.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you as soon as I get another Xperia play I'll definitely be trying this
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Free mobile app
twistedumbrella said:
This isn't really one of the threads where there will be a build or mod to download and then post error reports about. This is one of those threads (like xda used to be flooded with) meant to show people how to do things so they can add them to something or gather all the parts and build something else. It's source, instructions, and good ol' fashioned information. It's a little late, but it's all the stuff that should have been here when the games were being developed to prevent the support situation currently being faced.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you again for your support, by not being a developer i've no idea on how to use your files, not understandable for me. i'm shure it will be useful to developers for eventual new projects
My android died on me over the weekend and I picked up an Elite X3 off marketplace from a developer that used it to test apps. I admit that I did not research windows phones prior to purchase. I looked at the specs and the price and knew I needed to replace my phone for work so I pulled the trigger.
Its a nice phone but annoyed with how many apps I didn't have access to through windows. My online experience runs heavily through google apps and services. I have my RSA App for work which is good but I'm missing my usual social media and entertainment apps that keep me sane driving through weekday traffic to work and back. I saw several examples of developers adding apps to the phone by installing APK files but so far have been unable to replicate their processes.
I know there is a ROM of the older version that allowed for APKs to be installed but some of the instructions I have found have been a little unclear and seem to only be made for Lumia phones.
If there are HP Elite X3 users here with more experience and knowledge I would appreciate some assistance. Not trying to do a lot just add some apps. I work Helpdesk IT and not a developer. Although I don't have the extensive deeper knowledge many of you guys have, I can follow instructions well.
Thank you guys ahead of time for any help you give me.