Nexus 7

2015-May-21

About a month ago I removed CyanogenMod and installed the latest Google image (Lollypop). It's so-so, nothing strikingly different, but the battery now runs down every day, and things that used to work fine (like the browser) are now painfully slow.

So I am loading CyanogenMod back in. I tried CM12 around Dec 2014 and it was awful... I guess I will try again. I did recover the Nexus 7, see "Bricked Nexus 7" below.

Living without Google

With CyanogenMod installed, do I really really have to install Google Apps? Please say no! The biggie is that I lose the "Play Store". But then again I don't DO much with the tablet these days anyway other than read web pages.

Plan A - work around Play Store to get the apps I want.

https://sufficientlysecure.org/index.php/2013/11/26/an-android-without-google/

or Plan B - do what this guy suggests - http://www.itworld.com/article/2832391/mobile/can-an-android-phone-run-without-google-.html

I will end up with Plan B but will try Plan A because it's more intriguing. I like the ownCloud idea especially.

Apps I can't live without

The list is very short. Currently there are a couple dozen apps that Google installed when I put 5.x on. They are on my phone so Google assumed I wanted them on the tablet too. Many don't make sense or don't work on a tablet.

• Aldiko -- Book reader
• A file manager (Astro is the one I have used the longest)
• Firefox

Apps nice to have

• Bluetooth GPS Provider - lets me use a Garmin GLO
• Dropbox - ownCloud will replace this
• Overdrive so I can read library books

Cyanogenmod on the Nexus 7

The instructions for my Nexus 7 are here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tilapia

Installing Google Apps later

In order to get the "Play Store" in there I booted into the ClockworkMod by opening a terminal window and typing

su
reboot recovery

Then I was able to use this to copy the zip up to the tablet

adb push gapps-jb-20130813-signed.zip /sdcard/

Do NOT leave off the last /, else you will remove the symbolic link and replace /sdcard with your zip file. This gives you shell access so you can fix things like this...

adb shell 

Then I used Clockwork to install it.

Bricked Nexus 7

1. Tried to install CM12. Continuous crashes of Trebuchet, Google Services, Google Play Store, Messaging.
2. Powered down.
3. Black screen. Won't start.

I found I could hold down power button for a LONG time and it would boot. I can't get into recovery mode from the device and when I boot into CM12, where once again my apps just crash over and over.

I think I might be able to connect via ADB.

Copying map files for c:geo

1. Download from http://ftp.mapsforge.org/maps/north-america/us/
2. Plug in and detect Nexus, you should see it with "adb devices"
3. Explore "adb shell" and make a directory to hold the maps. "mkdir /sdcard/osmmaps/"
4. Copy with adb push oregon.map /sdcard/osmmaps/

Switching to Ubuntu

Each time I try, Ubuntu is better and there are more reasons to switch. I tried 3 times. There are still no apps.

I am keeping my files here: Projects/UbuntuTouch

Ubuntu Tablet Install

To make Ubuntu Touch development easier I have already switched my desktop to run Ubuntu instead of Mint.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
sudo apt-get upgrade

Make a backup

This apparently works to back up my data. Anyway a "full backup" screen came up on the Nexus, and it took a long time.

adb backup -shared

Android 4.2.2
Baseband 1231_0.17.0_1205
Kernel version 3.1.10-g05b777c
Build JDQ39

Download and save a copy of the stock image from Google. NakasiG Nexus 7 Mobile 32 GB

Download Ubuntu image from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-touch-preview/daily-preinstalled/current I found the names of the devices by looking on the http://cyanogenmod.com site, I have a Tilapia. Maybe I will try a different version of Android soon. There is no Tilapia Ubuntu build so I am using Grouper

-rw-rw-r-- 1 bwilson bwilson 33964483 Nov 17 10:02 saucy-preinstalled-armel+grouper.zip
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bwilson bwilson  5304320 Nov 17 09:05 saucy-preinstalled-boot-armel+grouper.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bwilson bwilson  7288832 Nov 17 10:02 saucy-preinstalled-recovery-armel+grouper.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bwilson bwilson 69844256 Nov 17 09:05 saucy-preinstalled-system-armel+grouper.img

See also http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=tilapia&type=nightly

• grouper = Google Nexus 7 (WiFi)
• maguro = Google Galaxy Nexus
• mako = Google Nexus 4
• manta = Google Nexus 10
• tilapia = Google Nexus 7 (GSM)