I thought I would write about this as I had to go through loads of forums where where people asked a question ' why does my battery drain terribly when I enter recovery' and the answer was 'search the forum, its already been answered, stop wasting our time.'
If you happened to phrase your search exactly right then you might find it, and I eventually did. So here it is:
Your battery may appear to be working fine, but, if you've been using it for over a year, and remembering lithium ion batteries only last for 500 charges, it may not operate correctly in the high current environment of software update or recovery.
Samsung and Rom makers say you should always have a fully charged battery before updating the software and most custom Rom makers say you should have at least 66%. But I was seeing the battery charge drop to 8% after updating and someone I know had the update get corrupted (presumably the battery completely failed for a while) and his phone is still not working.
So the answer is easy - get a new battery. And if your phone is boot looping after a failed update you can try the instructions here to blow the operating system back - (again no warranties whatsoever - use at your own risk)
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-apps/how-to-go-back-to-a-stock-android-rom-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-50007880/
Monday, 6 May 2013
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Installing the Amazon Mobile plugin for Eclipse for people who refuse to read the instructions
Well if you are like me and you've wasted a day trying to install the Amazon Mobile App SDK Eclipse Plugin I would like to point out something that I didn't do.
There is a page dedicated to the SDK but there is another page dedicated to lucky eclipse users saying how easy it is for them because there is a dedicated eclipse plugin here.
THE SDK IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PLUGIN!
So maybe this is suppose to be apparent to programmy people. The only reference I could find to it was in the requirements:
So for the lazy:
1.) Download the SDK and copy it to a location you are happy to call its install location.
2.) Follow these instructions for installing the plugin.
3.) Then in:
There is a page dedicated to the SDK but there is another page dedicated to lucky eclipse users saying how easy it is for them because there is a dedicated eclipse plugin here.
THE SDK IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PLUGIN!
So maybe this is suppose to be apparent to programmy people. The only reference I could find to it was in the requirements:
When you read this (which of course you wouldn't do because you never read the requirements) all makes sense.
- The latest version of the Amazon Mobile App SDK. Versions of the SDK that work with the Eclipse plugin include a
spec.yamlfile in thetoolsfolder of each of the APIs.
Make note of your SDK path, because you must provide it when installing the Eclipse plugin.
So for the lazy:
1.) Download the SDK and copy it to a location you are happy to call its install location.
2.) Follow these instructions for installing the plugin.
3.) Then in:
In Eclipse, on the Window menu (on a Mac, on the Eclipse menu), click Preferences, and then click Amazon Mobile App SDK.Reading this back it seems obvious but I did waste a day not realizing that the SDK wasn't included in the plugin so so might you.
In the SDK Location box, specify the path where you installed the Amazon Mobile App SDK, and then click OK.
Friday, 7 December 2012
Updated: Computers for the elderly - Windows 8 for the silver surfers
My mother had been moaning for sometime that she found emailing (the only thing she really does on a computer) frustrating. I had set up a Gmail account for her and thought the web interface would be sufficient - not so. Not only was the web interface confusing but windows 7 was confusing too, with its may pop messages that were meaningless to her.
Then I had a light bulb moment. Could the Windows 8Metro interface, the one I had berated because of its lack of functionality, be good for an elderly person for exactly that reason. I determined to spend £25 and find out.
My aim is that she will never stray from the metro interface because it is ideally suited to her. There is precious little multi-tasking, you can only do one thing at a time - which is good. You can only have one programme on the screen at a time - which is also good. The screens have very little on them - which is good. Pressing the Windows key will (nearly) always bring you back to the beginning. Excellent!
Installing Windows 8 was easy, after remarkably few checkboxes it sat downloading and installing for an hour or so without human intervention. I chose only to keep personal files as there really was nothing else to keep. Meanwhile I forwarded her Gmail account to a new hotmail account. Hotmail forced me to use a more complicated password :/
Windows 8, once installed, sets you up for a windows live account, sign in with your hotmail etc. This is the first Windows 8 oddity as it only signs you into hotmail, nothing else. I wanted the computer to boot straight into the start screen, no logging in, and that meant changing the account to a local account. (many guides on the internet) and changing it so you don't have to log in. Weirdly you still seem to be automatically logged in to Hotmail (which I wanted) and there appears to be no difference with the other type of account. Oh well, Microsoft moves in mysterious ways.
I was able to organise the start menu; removing all the 'trending' rubbish and travel stuff, and was able to replace them with tiles which were shortcuts to sites she might like. One really annoying thing is the 'Live Tile' feature which changes pictures in the tiles every few seconds. You can turn it on or off, but you can not change the speed of refresh and after about 5 minutes it becomes intolerable so you switch them all off and the screen looks a little less glitzy.
Another problem you can encounter is if you install any software using the desktop. You end up with a pletherer of icons for programmes users were not meant to see like configuration programmes. There seems to be no process for deciding what would be in the start menu like there was in earlier windows. You have to go and remove them all.
Anyway here is my Start screen with just the things she is going to use and a few treats. Now we enter the testing phase. I think she will find this start screen comprehensible and welcoming.. Who knows, I shall report back.
Reporting back
1) you can not have a battery indicator on the start screen (it is a laptop) only on the desktop.
2) no clock.. I tries a clock app and it only kind of worked.
Day 1
Not good. My mother thought it was confusing which I thought was unfair considering there couldn't be much less on the screen.
First problem was there is no wifi notification (infact I think no notifications at all on the start screen). I forgot i hadn't set it up for her wifi and there was nothing to tell me I hadn't. Only found out after the mail did not respond. Not a great start.
One of the tiles was an internet short cut to her favourite cinema. When she went to use it it was hijacked my microsoft and asked he to log into her windows live account. Why!? we were alreadly logged in to receive mail and who cares anyway. That was the second bad start.
We'll do more another day.
Day2 (which is some days after day one)
She was still a bit confused but it was better. I think the complete lack of anything on the screen except for the essentials is a bonus. The inbox confused her even though it works the same way as gmail inbox. Oh well.
We both felt that the text was a bit small (considering the screen was so empty), but as per Windows 7, I was amazed at how little control you have over the font size. I was able to increase it by 125% using DPI settings which was better. Also made the cursor and mouse larger and inverted. You can change the size of the text you are typing by right clicking on the message but we're trying to avoid right clicking because she's a maniac with a mouse.
Internet Explorer shortcuts still default to Microsoft the first time you use them from the Start Screen. Have not found a way round this which is really annoying for me and confusing for my Mum.
But she did admit, guardedly, that maybe it was a bit easier. time will tell.
Day 3
An enormous purpley blue stripe appeared across the screen which said 'this computer will restart in 15 minutes'.... thanks
Day 4
Discover you can not print from Windows 8 email app
Then I had a light bulb moment. Could the Windows 8
My aim is that she will never stray from the metro interface because it is ideally suited to her. There is precious little multi-tasking, you can only do one thing at a time - which is good. You can only have one programme on the screen at a time - which is also good. The screens have very little on them - which is good. Pressing the Windows key will (nearly) always bring you back to the beginning. Excellent!
Installing Windows 8 was easy, after remarkably few checkboxes it sat downloading and installing for an hour or so without human intervention. I chose only to keep personal files as there really was nothing else to keep. Meanwhile I forwarded her Gmail account to a new hotmail account. Hotmail forced me to use a more complicated password :/
Windows 8, once installed, sets you up for a windows live account, sign in with your hotmail etc. This is the first Windows 8 oddity as it only signs you into hotmail, nothing else. I wanted the computer to boot straight into the start screen, no logging in, and that meant changing the account to a local account. (many guides on the internet) and changing it so you don't have to log in. Weirdly you still seem to be automatically logged in to Hotmail (which I wanted) and there appears to be no difference with the other type of account. Oh well, Microsoft moves in mysterious ways.
I was able to organise the start menu; removing all the 'trending' rubbish and travel stuff, and was able to replace them with tiles which were shortcuts to sites she might like. One really annoying thing is the 'Live Tile' feature which changes pictures in the tiles every few seconds. You can turn it on or off, but you can not change the speed of refresh and after about 5 minutes it becomes intolerable so you switch them all off and the screen looks a little less glitzy.
Another problem you can encounter is if you install any software using the desktop. You end up with a pletherer of icons for programmes users were not meant to see like configuration programmes. There seems to be no process for deciding what would be in the start menu like there was in earlier windows. You have to go and remove them all.
Anyway here is my Start screen with just the things she is going to use and a few treats. Now we enter the testing phase. I think she will find this start screen comprehensible and welcoming.. Who knows, I shall report back.
Reporting back
1) you can not have a battery indicator on the start screen (it is a laptop) only on the desktop.
2) no clock.. I tries a clock app and it only kind of worked.
Day 1
Not good. My mother thought it was confusing which I thought was unfair considering there couldn't be much less on the screen.
First problem was there is no wifi notification (infact I think no notifications at all on the start screen). I forgot i hadn't set it up for her wifi and there was nothing to tell me I hadn't. Only found out after the mail did not respond. Not a great start.
One of the tiles was an internet short cut to her favourite cinema. When she went to use it it was hijacked my microsoft and asked he to log into her windows live account. Why!? we were alreadly logged in to receive mail and who cares anyway. That was the second bad start.
We'll do more another day.
Day2 (which is some days after day one)
She was still a bit confused but it was better. I think the complete lack of anything on the screen except for the essentials is a bonus. The inbox confused her even though it works the same way as gmail inbox. Oh well.
We both felt that the text was a bit small (considering the screen was so empty), but as per Windows 7, I was amazed at how little control you have over the font size. I was able to increase it by 125% using DPI settings which was better. Also made the cursor and mouse larger and inverted. You can change the size of the text you are typing by right clicking on the message but we're trying to avoid right clicking because she's a maniac with a mouse.
Internet Explorer shortcuts still default to Microsoft the first time you use them from the Start Screen. Have not found a way round this which is really annoying for me and confusing for my Mum.
But she did admit, guardedly, that maybe it was a bit easier. time will tell.
Day 3
An enormous purpley blue stripe appeared across the screen which said 'this computer will restart in 15 minutes'.... thanks
Day 4
Discover you can not print from Windows 8 email app
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
New film 'Still Walking' using blender masks
I have just completed a little film for the Butlers which will be on show as part of their appearance
at the Flint Microfest, Wiltshire, England.
Flint Microfest will take place at Salisbury Art Centre on
the 17th of November and Pounds Arts Corsham on the 18th of November and the
Butlers will be walking from one to the other armed with Victorian maps and
traditional measuring equipment to record their progress as they go.
Their 'walks' are inspired by Richard Long's artwork 'A Line
Made by Walking' (1967) where he got of a train, walked up and down a field for
an hour until he had made a path, took a photo of it and went home.
I made the looping walk cycles in Blender using the lovely
new Masks feature in 2.64a. I was going to use AfterEffects, but after five
minutes of hating AfterEffects I returned to blender as 2.64a was released and
the new Masks saved my life. I did need to upgrade my computer as the interface
needs plenty of horsepower and it is still buggy so save every time you make a
change.
I ran out of time to completely smooth everything out but
I'm pretty pleased with the results. It was all shot on a 550D at Frogs Copse
in Southampton, sadly under threat of
development. The soundtrack is made from
all the sounds we found there.
Still Walking - Following in the footsteps of Richard Long from Larryboy Eutopia on Vimeo.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Windows 8 won't boot - SSDs Gigabyte mobos AHCI UEFI
(edit: This is becoming my most accessed page - so don't forget to complain to Gigabyte because they've obviously done something wrong - if they don't know they can't fix it)
Well I just been in a week of hell as my new computer will only boot on the 5th attempt or so. It was fine at first. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard, an OCZ Vertex Plus SSD and a Segate 2T HD.
This all started after I installed the F18 version of the bios, I can't remember which version was on there originally. After that on most attempts to boot I would get 'data can not be read from disk'. Also the SSD (which contains the operating system) would disappear from the boot list in the bios. I think changing the cooler was a coincidence to throw me off the track.
The following worked for me, it may or may not do the same for you so do some research.
I did some research and it seemed I should turn on AHCI (whatever) in Peripherals in the Bios (Sata Mode selection) and that would make good. Well windows did boot and then crashed. One time then I did this and set it back to IDE Windows said I had to use a restore point to get it going.
So further reading and apparently its not straight forward enabling AHCI after you've installed windows 8. There is a link here but the info is wrong in the main article and only corrected in the comments so I thought I would put the correct solution here.
This uses Regedit and you can completely destroy your system with regedit so use with care and I take no responsibility for any damage trying to do the following might cause. Also you need to have installed the Motherboard disk controller drivers.
amended from their website
Well I just been in a week of hell as my new computer will only boot on the 5th attempt or so. It was fine at first. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard, an OCZ Vertex Plus SSD and a Segate 2T HD.
This all started after I installed the F18 version of the bios, I can't remember which version was on there originally. After that on most attempts to boot I would get 'data can not be read from disk'. Also the SSD (which contains the operating system) would disappear from the boot list in the bios. I think changing the cooler was a coincidence to throw me off the track.
The following worked for me, it may or may not do the same for you so do some research.
I did some research and it seemed I should turn on AHCI (whatever) in Peripherals in the Bios (Sata Mode selection) and that would make good. Well windows did boot and then crashed. One time then I did this and set it back to IDE Windows said I had to use a restore point to get it going.
So further reading and apparently its not straight forward enabling AHCI after you've installed windows 8. There is a link here but the info is wrong in the main article and only corrected in the comments so I thought I would put the correct solution here.
This uses Regedit and you can completely destroy your system with regedit so use with care and I take no responsibility for any damage trying to do the following might cause. Also you need to have installed the Motherboard disk controller drivers.
amended from their website
- Exit all applications
- Go to the start screen and type in regedit.
- If you see the UAC (User Account Control) dialogue box, just click continue
- Locate the the following registry subkey:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\StartOverride
In the right pane, you will find a key labelled O with the value '3'. Double click on this and set the value to '0'
- Go up one level to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\
there should be a key called ErrorControl which has a value '3'. set this to '0'
- Reboot your machine and set Peripherals / Sata mode selection / to 'AHCI'.
- Save and exit and all should be good.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Back borders, pixel aspect, HD, SD, and Adobe CS 5.5
This is well documented except for the solution. ( and I will be concentrating on PAL here ).
In the days of Premiere CS3 we were blissfully ignorant. Standard television was 4:3 aspect ratio and wide screen was 16:9. HD telly was 16:9 - all was well.
In premiere, as with other software, if you wanted to make some computer generated footage you would make it 1024x576 (576 for the number of vertical lines in PAL and 1024 because 1024:576 is 16:9) Magic. Also of course HD was 16:9 so you could just scale it down.
This all changed with CS4 ( and the chap on this forum suggests it was coincident with a juicey contract with the BBC). Because if you do the boring maths, 4:3 is not really 4:3, and neither is 16:9.
So SD widescreen is actually a bit wider. 1.46:1 and you are suppose to crop 13 pixels of the top and bottom of you picture. Or, as has been stated elsewhere, widescreen SD is 1050x576...
As one non BBC engineer said to me once, ' you can do it the right way or you can do it the BBC way'.
In the end, as someone who is producing finished material destined for DVD and playable on modern digital devices capable of playing right up to the picture edge (no need for the safe zone), I just want it to work. I don't want to suddenly have thin black borders at the sides (which will show up on Youtube and Vimeo) for the sake of some engineer being right. The software should be there to enable you, not to prove a point.
Forum contributors have been posting how this is not a problem with other editors and apparently there is a button in encore CS6 which corrects the issue. But there is still the problem in Premiere as all the presets for PAL will give you the 1.46:1 aspect.
My workflow is thus:
I work in true 16:9 (usually HD) on my project. When I render for youtube or vimeo I render in true 16:9 using the custom settings in Premiere. These heretical services don't seem to mind this.
When exporting to Encore I take in the rendered footage and scale it (for HD) by 53.4 vertically and 54.7 horizontally. (My reasoning here is whatever the BBC says my telly is 16.9 and the telly will stretch the picture accordingly when dealing with the non square pixel aspect ratio). In the end its 26 pixels and its up to you if you want to loose it. Scaling the vertical by .5 will give a better result)
I then export to Encore so that the Scaling and the transcoding are done in one step thus reducing the number of times the footage is mangled.
Well that's my solution and for people who don't want / can't afford to upgrade to CS6 I hope it helps.
In the days of Premiere CS3 we were blissfully ignorant. Standard television was 4:3 aspect ratio and wide screen was 16:9. HD telly was 16:9 - all was well.
In premiere, as with other software, if you wanted to make some computer generated footage you would make it 1024x576 (576 for the number of vertical lines in PAL and 1024 because 1024:576 is 16:9) Magic. Also of course HD was 16:9 so you could just scale it down.
This all changed with CS4 ( and the chap on this forum suggests it was coincident with a juicey contract with the BBC). Because if you do the boring maths, 4:3 is not really 4:3, and neither is 16:9.
So SD widescreen is actually a bit wider. 1.46:1 and you are suppose to crop 13 pixels of the top and bottom of you picture. Or, as has been stated elsewhere, widescreen SD is 1050x576...
As one non BBC engineer said to me once, ' you can do it the right way or you can do it the BBC way'.
In the end, as someone who is producing finished material destined for DVD and playable on modern digital devices capable of playing right up to the picture edge (no need for the safe zone), I just want it to work. I don't want to suddenly have thin black borders at the sides (which will show up on Youtube and Vimeo) for the sake of some engineer being right. The software should be there to enable you, not to prove a point.
Forum contributors have been posting how this is not a problem with other editors and apparently there is a button in encore CS6 which corrects the issue. But there is still the problem in Premiere as all the presets for PAL will give you the 1.46:1 aspect.
My workflow is thus:
I work in true 16:9 (usually HD) on my project. When I render for youtube or vimeo I render in true 16:9 using the custom settings in Premiere. These heretical services don't seem to mind this.
When exporting to Encore I take in the rendered footage and scale it (for HD) by 53.4 vertically and 54.7 horizontally. (My reasoning here is whatever the BBC says my telly is 16.9 and the telly will stretch the picture accordingly when dealing with the non square pixel aspect ratio). In the end its 26 pixels and its up to you if you want to loose it. Scaling the vertical by .5 will give a better result)
I then export to Encore so that the Scaling and the transcoding are done in one step thus reducing the number of times the footage is mangled.
Well that's my solution and for people who don't want / can't afford to upgrade to CS6 I hope it helps.
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Windows 8 Ugrade with Classic Shell... Very good indeed
So I finally took the plunge and purchased my Windows 8 upgrade for £25 (you can use Paypal). I actually used the Windows 8 trial to run the Upgrade Assistant (XP was also resident on the system) and that caused the Assistant to say that the upgrade wasn't available, but, following a thread on a Microsoft site I ran the assistant in Windows 7 compatability mode and hey presto!. I already had the 64 bit version installed so I can offer no advice on choosing 32bit or 64bit when upgrading.
The upgrade was a piece of cake. I selected 'custom' and wiped the Windows 8 trial version (as it was on my new SSD. Windows 8 activated without asking me (in fact I had to check it had happened.)
You are then presented withMetro which you instantly have to do something about - so off to Classic Shell (and why not donate and buy this chap a drink for all he's done). With Classic Shell installed Windows 8 boots to the desktop rather than Metro and you can choose between Windows Classic, XP or 7 menu. I chose Classic. Classic Shell also adds the XP file manager menu we miss so much.
(Get rid of the stupid ribbon on FileExplorer with http://winaero.com/download.php?view.18)
Apart from that it's plain sailing. Windows 8 boot up times are fantastic. I was able to install all my old software. The taskmanager has great new features and the File Copying in progress dialogue has natty graphs if you want them.
One note though. Windows 8 seemed to find all the drivers without so much as a dialogue box. When I went to install my manufacturers video drivers (coz I thought they would be better), the screen stopped working on reboot and I had a hell of a time - eventually going back using a restore point.
Windows 8 desktop design seems more thorough (windows 7 looked pretty ugly if you turned off Aero). Working with two monitors is easy and the Taskbar now works in all monitors and you can choose how it works.
Not much else to say really. My PS2 keyboard wouldn't work and apparently that's a bug that being fixed. Apart from that it's business as usual.
Metro really is an irrelevant bolt on. Using IE brings you to the desktop. With two monitors you can have Metro in one and the Destop in another, but Metro disappears when you touch the desktop so there's no multiple screen working. Metro shows an irrelavent bunch of your programmes cluttering the Metro desktop. All in all, Metro is a dead loss on a desktop system, but with Classic Shell you don't have to worry about it.
All in all, if you fancy a few days mucking about with your computer, £25 will give you a fresh, new and most useable OS. I don't really know why its getting such a lack luster press - Microsoft have done a good job!
enjoy
The upgrade was a piece of cake. I selected 'custom' and wiped the Windows 8 trial version (as it was on my new SSD. Windows 8 activated without asking me (in fact I had to check it had happened.)
You are then presented with
(Get rid of the stupid ribbon on FileExplorer with http://winaero.com/download.php?view.18)
Apart from that it's plain sailing. Windows 8 boot up times are fantastic. I was able to install all my old software. The taskmanager has great new features and the File Copying in progress dialogue has natty graphs if you want them.
One note though. Windows 8 seemed to find all the drivers without so much as a dialogue box. When I went to install my manufacturers video drivers (coz I thought they would be better), the screen stopped working on reboot and I had a hell of a time - eventually going back using a restore point.
Windows 8 desktop design seems more thorough (windows 7 looked pretty ugly if you turned off Aero). Working with two monitors is easy and the Taskbar now works in all monitors and you can choose how it works.
Not much else to say really. My PS2 keyboard wouldn't work and apparently that's a bug that being fixed. Apart from that it's business as usual.
All in all, if you fancy a few days mucking about with your computer, £25 will give you a fresh, new and most useable OS. I don't really know why its getting such a lack luster press - Microsoft have done a good job!
enjoy
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