10/Mar 3.2 - MoDaCo Custom ROM for GSM Hero (now with online kitchen)

[Guest Keramidas]

I had it working a few minutes ago!!! And then I messed with it and it's gone again. DAMNIT

Get back to the original file, and edit it using a proper editor - like UltraEdit :D

[Guest teknologist]

What's the effect on the expected life of the SD card with this method?

FYI if you read compcache's page you'll notice the the backing swap partition is *ONLY USED* if your compressed pool is full...Even using compache I try to avoid runing 20 apps in // and thus fill the compache compressed pool, I don't expect my SDCARD to be used intensively...

What about syncing 1000 photos daily on the SDcard...etc.

anyway SD cards are rather cheap nowadays..again I my opinion, compache shouldn't stress the card that much if you avoid filling it up !

Edited October 28, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest teknologist]

Nice one. Luckily I had already partitioned my card with a linux-swap, so I didn't have to do any work there.

I think I went a bit over the top when I did it, as I have:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags

1 32.3kB 14.3GB 14.3GB primary fat32 lba

2 14.3GB 15.4GB 1023MB primary ext3

3 15.4GB 15.9GB 512MB primary linux-swap(v1)

Any settings that I need to tweak/optimise for using a 512MB swap partition?

After using it for a few minutes, cat /proc/ramzswap gives me:

DiskSize: 500000 kB

MemLimit: 64200 kB

NumReads: 1401

NumWrites: 5815

FailedReads: 0

FailedWrites: 0

InvalidIO: 0

NotifyFree: 47

ZeroPages: 145

GoodCompress: 100 %

NoCompress: 0 %

PagesStored: 4408

PagesUsed: 1202

OrigDataSize: 17632 kB

ComprDataSize: 4745 kB

MemUsedTotal: 4808 kB

BDevNumReads: 316

BDevNumWrites: 1233

Where is the actual ratio in the above info?

OrigDataSize: 17632 kB

ComprDataSize: 4745 kB

ratio=17632/4745=3.7 ;-)

[Guest teknologist]

Hokay

Downloaded 1.3 and 1.4 Teknologist kernels and the userinit.sh file. I've got a 100MB linux swap partition set up (as partition 3).

Edited the userinit.sh file (using the edit command in command prompt) to:

#!/system/bin/sh

/system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/lzo_decompress.ko

/system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/lzo_compress.ko

/system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/compcache/xvmalloc.ko

/system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/compcache/ramzswap.ko disksize_kb=102400

/system/xbin/swapon /dev/block/ramzswap0

And pushed it to /system/sd.

Then installed the kernels (1.3, reboot, recovery console, 1.4).

Now have gone back into recovery to check stuff. Entered (at /#) cat /proc/swaps and get... nothing (well a couple of headers but nothing else).

When I try to go in through command prompt and enter adb shell /system/sd/userinit.sh I get an error message telling me permission denied.

Any clues guys?

First if you use backing swap use the other line for ramzswap init:

ie: replace /system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/compcache/ramzswap.ko disksize_kb=102400

with /system/xbin/insmod /system/lib/modules/compcache/ramzswap.ko memlimit_kb=102400 backing_swap=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 if your swap partition is 3rd.

if you don't replace it, its fine but you are not using backing swap so you don't need the partition at all...

the default one in my userinit.sh is the right one to use backing_swap

for the userinit.sh:

try ./adb shell chmod 700 /system/sd/usernit.sh

I wonder if you guys actually read the full instructions ? it's all there. I took some time to write it in detailed manner...

Or maybe my english is not very good...

[Guest teknologist]

Paul, maybe we should move all these kernel/compache discussion to another thread to avoid polluting your ROM thread.

What do you think ?

[Guest Splather]

I wonder if you guys actually read the full instructions ? it's all there. I took some time to write it in detailed manner...

Or maybe my english is not very good...

There's nothing wrong with your english - I'm just not very clever :D

Followed instructions and it didn't work, so messed with things I probably shouldn't have :P

Will just try with default files and let you know what happens.

[Guest carpao]

...

Thanks... now my openvpn finally works...

[Guest teknologist]

There's nothing wrong with your english - I'm just not very clever :D

Followed instructions and it didn't work, so messed with things I probably shouldn't have :P

Will just try with default files and let you know what happens.

By the way you won't see anything in /proc/swaps and /proc/ramzswap in recovery shell, as these are initialized after boot when userinit.sh is launched....

[Guest Splather]

By the way you won't see anything in /proc/swaps and /proc/ramzswap in recovery shell, as these are initialized after boot when userinit.sh is launched....

I think that might be the problem solved! Excellent work - thanks

I'll test and let you know how I get on with it.

[Guest teknologist]

Hi!

I installed the modaco 2.8.

tun.ko module doesn't work.

#insmod /system/lib/modules/tun.ko ... ok!

#ls /dev

adsp				keychord			ptmx

 akm8973_aot		 kmsg				pts

 akm8973_daemon	  log				 qmi0

 alarm			   msm_aac			 qmi1

 android_adb		 msm_audpre		  qmi2

 android_adb_enable  msm_mp3			 random

 ashmem			  msm_pcm_ctl		 smd0

 binder			  msm_pcm_in		  smd27

 block			   msm_pcm_out		 socket

 bma150			  msm_snd			 tty

 console			 mt9p012			 ttyHS0

 cpu_dma_latency	 mtd				 ttyMSM2

 device-mapper	   network_latency	 ttyfs

 diag				network_throughput  uinput

 diag_arm9		   null				urandom

 emapi			   oncrpc			  voc_rx_playback

 full				pmem				voc_rx_record

 graphics			pmem_adsp		   voc_tx_playback

 htc-acoustic		pmem_camera		 voc_tx_record

 htc-portlist		pmem_gpu0		   zero

 hw3d				pmem_gpu1

 input			   ppp

Where is tun?? :D

There is a problem with tun.ko in Paul's 2.8 ROM kernel.

If you can't wait for Paul's next release you can install my kernel in the meantime (last custom version is 1.4 -Post #2005 in page 101) as it has a working tun.ko. FYI, you don't need to bother with compache if you don't want to use it...though I really recommend..if you want to make your hero fly! ;-)

If you want to learn how to use compache please refer to my first post for the install (Post#1955) and then just update 1.3 with 1.4

Edited October 28, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest teknologist]

I think that might be the problem solved! Excellent work - thanks

I'll test and let you know how I get on with it.

use you phone for some time and then look at the stats...

[Guest teknologist]

TO explain a bit the stats and let you understand that in my swap partition is never really written too:

my /proc/ramzswap after 24h+ of uptime:

DiskSize: 64260 kB

MemLimit: 64200 kB

NumReads: 35705

NumWrites: 30896

FailedReads: 0

FailedWrites: 0

InvalidIO: 0

NotifyFree: 19669

ZeroPages: 508

GoodCompress: 100 %

NoCompress: 0 %

PagesStored: 7081

PagesUsed: 2351

OrigDataSize: 28324 kB

ComprDataSize: 6692 kB

MemUsedTotal: 9404 kB

BDevNumReads: 9278

BDevNumWrites: 6906

You see 28324 kB of ram get compressed to 6692 kB and are stored in the ramzswap pool. That pool is ALWAYS in memory.

If after sometime the use of the pool gets bigger than 64200kB (in this example we are far from that) then, and only then it will start using the backing swap partition.

In my case I have never reached that point because I have never filled the compressed pool...no matter what I do, I haven't managed to fill it up..

So think of the backing swap as an "emergency" store to avoid running outofMemory and getting force closes if the pool is 100% used

In the other hand, swapper WILL kill your card because it constantly (at least when kernel swaps) your partition. again that is not the case for compache ramzswap.

hope this clears up any doubts...

One last thing, this compache ramzswap memory is seen by the kernel as swap, therefore it will be used when you main hero available memory is full...which seems occurs very quickly though !

Hence the legendary pauses/slowdowns on the stock Hero kernel.

PS: note the insane compression ratio I have here! x4.23 ! Means I get 4.23Mb of kernel usable memory for the price of 1Mb in the hardware memory chips...

Edited October 28, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest Paul]

I agree, hopefully tek will start a seperate topic here dedicated to his (excellent) kernel work :D

P

[Guest teknologist]

I agree, hopefully tek will start a seperate topic here dedicated to his (excellent) kernel work :D

P

To all interested in my work on the kernel configuration, to avoid polluting this thread with messages related to my work, I have opened a new topic.

Available here: http://android.modaco.com/content/htc-hero...pache-ramzswap/

Please be kind and post there from now on ... ;-)

Cheers,

--Eric

PS: I am pretty busy at the moment but I'll try to do my best. help from users who successfully got it working is appreciated too (keramidas etc;)

Edited October 29, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest jalliot]

Hi everyone.

First of all, I'm in France (with SFR as operator for those who know it) and I'm using MCR 2.8 core + the Wavesecure add-on and the 63.18.55.06EU_6.35.06.18 radio (I downgraded from the FU version since many seemed to have problems with it). Swapper not installed.

I have a few annoying problems:

1. For a week or so, when I disconnect from WiFi, the 3G connection don't start automatically and in fact when I go to the settings, it says that I cannot connect to the network because the service is unavailable. I have to manually search my operator and re-select it (although it's already selected with a star next to it) for the connection to finally succeed. It works fine then but it's a real pain having to go to the settings each time...
   
2. Less important, my connection to Facebook (from the built-in service in the Hero, not from the market app which works fine) is not persistent as it was before: I'm often disconnected from the service (and I have to manually reconnect each time) and so my contacts aren't linked to their FB profile any more. It's not that I use it a lot but I can have an automatic picture for almost all my contacts this way without having to do anything (except for linking to the profile of course). Maybe related to the previous issue?
   
3. And here's the more annoying problem: my GPS seems to not work at all! Of course it's enabled in the settings and when I open Google Maps, the icon is displayed in the top right corner but apparently it can't find any satellites. Even after several minutes, the icon don't stop blinking and my position is not found, wherever I am. It don't work either in Copilot Live (which is very annoying since I paid for it). Note that this problem is not as recent as the others: even with the latest version of the radio or with previous versions of MCR, I couldn't have my GPS working. I don't really remember when I first noticed this issue (it worked perfectly for about two months after I bought the phone) and so I don't really know if it's related to MCR or not.
   
4. Finally, but I saw other people with the same issue here so I don't worry, Google Maps displays its welcome screen each time I open it since I upgraded to MCR 2.7 or 2.8 (I can't remember which one). I think the best way to fix it is to remove the built-in app and to install the latest version from the market. Am I right?
   

If someone could help me with those issues, at least with some of them, I would really appreciate it :D

Thanks for all!

Jordan

[Guest rejzee]

Does anyone else get this disturbing "Actual Time could not be set" notification if you are in nowhereland and your connection cuts off (even for a short periode of time) ?

If yes, were you able to disable this notification? -it is ridiculous because the time doesnt change and you always have to change your location to make this notification disappear ?

Thanks in advance

[Guest teknologist]

Hi everyone.

First of all, I'm in France (with SFR as operator for those who know it) and I'm using MCR 2.8 core + the Wavesecure add-on and the 63.18.55.06EU_6.35.06.18 radio (I downgraded from the FU version since many seemed to have problems with it). Swapper not installed.

I have a few annoying problems:

1. For a week or so, when I disconnect from WiFi, the 3G connection don't start automatically and in fact when I go to the settings, it says that I cannot connect to the network because the service is unavailable. I have to manually search my operator and re-select it (although it's already selected with a star next to it) for the connection to finally succeed. It works fine then but it's a real pain having to go to the settings each time...
   
2. Less important, my connection to Facebook (from the built-in service in the Hero, not from the market app which works fine) is not persistent as it was before: I'm often disconnected from the service (and I have to manually reconnect each time) and so my contacts aren't linked to their FB profile any more. It's not that I use it a lot but I can have an automatic picture for almost all my contacts this way without having to do anything (except for linking to the profile of course). Maybe related to the previous issue?
   
3. And here's the more annoying problem: my GPS seems to not work at all! Of course it's enabled in the settings and when I open Google Maps, the icon is displayed in the top right corner but apparently it can't find any satellites. Even after several minutes, the icon don't stop blinking and my position is not found, wherever I am. It don't work either in Copilot Live (which is very annoying since I paid for it). Note that this problem is not as recent as the others: even with the latest version of the radio or with previous versions of MCR, I couldn't have my GPS working. I don't really remember when I first noticed this issue (it worked perfectly for about two months after I bought the phone) and so I don't really know if it's related to MCR or not.
   
4. Finally, but I saw other people with the same issue here so I don't worry, Google Maps displays its welcome screen each time I open it since I upgraded to MCR 2.7 or 2.8 (I can't remember which one). I think the best way to fix it is to remove the built-in app and to install the latest version from the market. Am I right?
   

If someone could help me with those issues, at least with some of them, I would really appreciate it :D

Thanks for all!

Jordan

Sorry to hear that, it must be frustrating,

I am in France, use Orange and don't experience any of the issues you are describing.

I am using same radio as you, Paul's excellent MCR2.8 and my custom kernel v1.4

All works perfectly and fast!

As for Google Maps you are right, it should fix any issues...

Basically that technic works with all apps that behave unexpectedly wrong

Edited October 28, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest jalliot]

Really frustrating indeed...

Just tried GPS Status and it says 0 satellites even after some minutes (but the compass works fine).

I'll try on HTC official support...

For the GMaps issue, could you tell me the name of the apk to remove please? I can't find anything which seems related in /system/app... Maybe it's somewhere else?

Thanks by the way.

Jordan

@rejzee: Same problem here (I forgot about this one... much less important than the others). No solution except for deleting the notification whenever it shows up...

[Guest teknologist]

Really frustrating indeed...

Just tried GPS Status and it says 0 satellites even after some minutes (but the compass works fine).

I'll try on HTC official support...

For the GMaps issue, could you tell me the name of the apk to remove please? I can't find anything which seems related in /system/app... Maybe it's somewhere else?

Thanks by the way.

Jordan

@rejzee: Same problem here (I forgot about this one... much less important than the others). No solution except for deleting the notification whenever it shows up...

Just use android applications settings to remove it ! (Settings/applications/Manage If I remember well.)

Edited October 28, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest bluecat69]

Does anyone else get this disturbing "Actual Time could not be set" notification if you are in nowhereland and your connection cuts off (even for a short periode of time) ?

If yes, were you able to disable this notification? -it is ridiculous because the time doesnt change and you always have to change your location to make this notification disappear ?

Thanks in advance

This is resolved by going to your menu> settings > date & time > untick the box that says 'automatic'

for some ridculous reason the hero defaults to reading the date and time off the network ALL THE TIME. So if you loose signal it asks for you to manually set it ALL THE FECKING TIME even though it currently still knows it. It is really annoying, so yeah, best to untick it.

[Guest CeNSuRaDo]

Hey Paul, after updating to MCR 2.8 (coming from 2.2) I noticed that my Home button light is now YELLOW and not white... is it from your rom?

I update my brother's hero and didn't get the same... what should it be?

Thanks.

[Guest jutley]

I agree, hopefully tek will start a seperate topic here dedicated to his (excellent) kernel work :D

P

Hi paul how about a overclocking app built into the next update so we can downstep cpu speed whilst phone sleeping and really step it up when doing demanding task what you think?

[Guest dalim]

Paul,

any chance of adding the new marketplace update to upcoming version of your custom rom.

I know some ppl on G1 have already got it.

[Guest keef319]

Paul,

any chance of adding the new marketplace update to upcoming version of your custom rom.

I know some ppl on G1 have already got it.

Isn't Android 1.6 out for the G1 in UK? That'd explain the updated marketplace.

I think the ROM customizers have to be careful, after what happened with Cyanogen last month.

[Guest keef319]

Big thanks to Paul for his work on MCR, and Teknologist for his Custom Kernel.

All working great and flying along...

Now I need to figure out how to get more than 12hrs out of the battery!! Maybe turn off Mobile Data a bit more often!! lol...