Mike Southby

I have a Cisco/Linksys WBP54Gv2 wireless-g bridge which I use at home with my SPA942 SIP phone, and it works great.  It only became a problem when I recently replaced my router and in the process decided to re-think my network, changing both my wireless SSID and my IP allocations.  Had I realised how much bother it was going to be reconfiguring the bridge, I think I would have let it well alone..!

The issue was that I couldn’t find the original installation disk, needed because in order to configure the bridge, you need to use the software that was supplied with the unit, unfortunately it’s not a simple matter of addressing the bridge via a web interface.  No worries I thought, I’ll just pop onto the internet, do a quick search both on Google and the Linksys support site and download the software again; how wrong could I have been.  To cut a story very short, it took me probably an hour to find a reliable site where I could download the software.

With that in mind I thought I would upload it here, so that anyone else who may be looking for it can download it and hopefully, not face the same stress I faced.

One other thing I thought I should mention is that if you are trying to configure your bridge using either Windows Vista or Windows 7, temporarily turn off your firewall when you run the software as otherwise, it won’t work (I won’t tell you how long it took me to realise that, needless to say I should have known better).

I hope this will be useful for someone.

It’s been what seems like an eternity since HTC released the official Android 2.2 – or Froyo as it’s more commonly known – update for the Desire via an OTA update around 6 weeks ago.  It’s important to remember that the update was only for handsets that had been purchased SIM-free and were therefore not considered vendor specific; if you had a Desire supplied by one of the main network operators, say Orange, Vodafone or as in my case Virgin Mobile, the Froyo update was not available at all.  If this was the case, the only way that you could update to the latest and greatest was to de-brand your phone and fool it into thinking you had a handset that was not supplied by a network operator; only then could you receive and apply the update.  At the time, I wrote a post outlining how you could take your Desire, de-brand and then perform the update to Froyo using the generic HTC update and whilst the methods in that post still apply, things have since moved forward.  In keeping with the rapid pace of Android development, there are now new and even safer ways of getting the update if you haven’t yet had it.  I know that all the network operators are slowly starting to roll out their vendor specific OTAs, but most people are still waiting.  Besides, the generic HTC update performs better than the vendor specific updates as it does not have any of the bloat-ware we have all come to know and hate.

If you have been following recent developments, you’ll also know that there has recently been another official update for SIM-free owners, meaning that they are now 2 updates ahead of most users, remembering that most users buy their phone subsidised by a network operator and not outright SIM-free.  So if you are still using Android 2.1 – or Éclair – and waiting patiently for your update, you’re probably not best pleased!

With this in mind, I have decided to update the original post and explain how to take your vendor specific Desire, de-brand it and then update to the very latest official HTC ROM, missing out the first 2.2 update in the progress.

Caveat: Even though the method in this guide uses official HTC software and ROMs, by changing the software on your phone you will be voiding your warranty.  The method is safe and has been tested thoroughly, but please be aware of this before proceeding.  Also, during this guide you will need to format your microSD card so please ensure that you backup all of your files; if you are using Gmail then your contacts and emails will synchronise back to your handset once you have finished but things like your documents and photos will not.  Finally, this guide assumes you have read this post from start to finish before proceeding and that you fully understand each of the steps.  If you are unsure of anything, don’t be put off but please, ask a question using the comment box at the bottom of the page before attempting anything.  This guide is suitable for novices and no specific knowledge is required.  Standard disclaimer applies, you follow this guide at your own risk, please remember that.

The guide is split into a number of steps, if you have not changed anything on your device since you received it then you will need to follow all of the steps, however for some of you, you can skip the steps that are not relevant to you, this will become clear as you read through.

Notes: by looking at some of the comments on my previous Desire posts, I thought I would try and answer some of the more common questions first to further put your minds at rest and hopefully give you the encouragement and confidence to perform the update:

1. Does this guide apply to my handset? Yes, if you are still using Android 2.1 then this guide will work for you, it doesn’t matter which network operator you are using.  if you are unsure of which version you are using then check on your device by going to Menu>Settings>About Phone>Software Information and check your software number; ask below if you are unsure.  It also applies if you are using the previous Android 2.2 update which I used as the base ROM in my original post.
2. Does it matter if I have an AMOLED screen or sLCD screen? No, my previous guide was based on an AMOLED screen but the method in this guide will flash a newer version of the generic ROM which is suitable for both AMOLED and sLCD screens as it contains drivers for both.
3. How do I check my HBOOT version? Turn your device off, and then whilst powering it on press and hold the Volume Down key, this will boot your device into the HBOOT menu showing you not only your HBOOT version but also your RADIO version.
4. I’ve heard of issues with network locking, should I be worried? No, so long as you follow the guide step by step and take your SIM card out of your device before starting, you’ll be fine.
5. Will following this guide give me root? No, this guide is based on the official HTC software which means that you will update not only the firmware, but also HBOOT.  You will get an original HTC software image which does not – obviously – contain root.
6. What’s best, coffee or tea? Do you now follow me on Twitter?  Coffee, obviously.  If you need to ask then you are not drinking enough.  Starbucks rocks.

Now we have the formalities over time to get on with the guide.  The whole process should take around 30 minutes.  You’ll need to ensure that your Desire has a decent amount of charge.  I usually like to make sure that I have at least 50% charge in the battery to make sure I don’t have any issues with the battery running flat; you’ll also need your USB cable and a microSD adapter for your computer.

First of all, you’ll need to download some files to your machine, start the following files downloading and depending on your connection speed, grab a cup of coffee whilst they download.  For simplicity I usually download them to the desktop:

• The official Android SDK from Google [here]
• The latest version of HTC Sync [here]
• The latest Desire Froyo RUU [here]
• A hex editor to create the goldcard [here]

Once the files have downloaded, install the hex editor and unzip the SDK into a new folder called “AndroidSDK” on the root of your c: drive, then before you get going on the update, it’s a good idea to check a few things:

• Backup.  Have you backed up the contents of your microSD card, if not do it now.
• Make a note of your HBOOT, RADIO and FIRMWARE versions.  By doing this if you do run into difficulties it will make it easier for us to help.  I have explained above how to find these if you are unsure.
• Remove your SIM card.  This isn’t strictly necessary but a few users elsewhere have reported issues after updating Orange handsets if they did not do this, best be safe than sorry.

Next, you need to create a goldcard, to do this follow the following steps:

• Install HTC Sync using the default options.
• Take your microSD card out of your device and put it into your computer, once it has been recognised, open up My Computer and right click your microSD card, then format it using FAT32.
• Put your microSD card back into your device, power it up and connect it to your computer using the USB cable.
• Open up a command prompt on your computer and type the following:
  cd [then press Enter]
  cd AndroidSDKtools [then press Enter]
  adb devices [then press Enter]
  you should find that you have one device listed.  If at this stage no devices are listed then you have not correctly installed HTC Sync.
• Back in the command prompt, type the following:
  adb shell cat /sys/class/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:*/cid [then press Enter]
  You should now get a long number on the screen, something along the lines of 532600bd227d9c0347329407514d5420.
• Go to this page and copy the number in the above step into the box and hit Submit, you’ll then be given another long number.
• Go to this page and enter this new number into the SD Card Serial (CID) field.
• Enter the other details and hit Generate Goldcard.
• Check your email and save the attached goldcard image file to your desktop.
• Open the hex editor that you installed earlier. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you must run the application as administrator.
• Go to the Extra menu and select Open Disk.  Under physical disks, select Removable Disk (your microSD card), uncheck Open as Read-only and click OK.
• Go to the Extra menu again and select Open Disk Image.  Open the goldcard image that you received by email and saved to your desktop.
• You should now have two tabs; one is your removable disk and the other is your goldcard image.  Press OK when prompted for Sector Size (selecting 512 (Hard disks/Floppy disks)) and click OK.
• Click on the goldcard image tab.  Go to the Edit menu, choose Select All then select the Edit menu again and select Copy.
• Click on the Removable Disk tab.  Highlight offset (line) 00000000 to offset (line) 00000170, then click on the Edit menu and select Paste Write.
• Click on the File menu and select Save, accepting the warning.
• You can now close the hex editor.  Take the microSD out of your computer and then put it back in again, if everything has worked it should be recognised.  If it gives you a warning that the card needs formatting then something has gone wrong and you’ll need to follow the above steps again.
• Finally, you can take the microSD card and put it back into your device then power it on.

You now have a goldcard and you’ll be pleased to know that is the hardest part out of the way, next you simply need to install the official HTC update:

• Connect your device to your computer again using the USB cable.
• Run the official RUU that you downloaded to your desktop earlier, if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 you’ll need to acknowledge the UAC message to proceed.
• Check the check-box and click Next.
• Again, check the check-box and click Next.
• The installer will now verify connectivity with your phone, if during this stage you get  ”ERROR [170]: USB CONNECTION ERROR“, then you have a problem with your installed drivers, please leave a comment below and we’ll help out before continuing (you can continue using your phone in the mean time).
• Click Update.
• You’ll now be asked to verify that you want to change your existing firmware to the new firmware (version 2.10.405.2), click Next.
• Click Next.
• The update will now take place, depending on your hardware this may take around 10 minutes.

Once the update has taken place, you’re finished.  All that remains is to turn your device off again and replace your SIM card, then power on and enjoy, not forgetting to copy your documents and photos back onto your microSD card.  Enjoy!

Let me know if you find this useful by leaving a comment below, and don’t forget to sign-up for further guides using the option on the right.  This way you’ll get the latest guides delivered directly to your inbox.

A few days ago a colleague asked me if I knew of a way of recovering files without purchasing a dedicated file recovery solution.  By all accounts he had some important reports which had ‘gone missing’, though of course he swore that he had not deleted them himself.  My first question was simply why not restore them from a backup?  I can’t stress enough to people the importance of backups, not only for important business documents but also for personal files such as photos and memories which you simply cannot replace.  He looked rather abashed when he told me that he had not been following his backup schedule and the only copy of the reports was on his machine; or at least they were.

Well fortunately for him there is a way, and you won’t have to reach for your credit card either.  Windows (see note below) has a little-known feature built in called “Previous Versions” which automatically stores copies of files historically, an integrated and invisible backup if you will; the files are captured using the shadow copy component of Windows.

Note: Shadow copy or using its correct term Volume Snapshot Service, is a component of Windows included with the following, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (although only in Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions), Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 (although again, only in Professional and Ultimate editions).  Although not included, it was also available for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.  If you have one of the home user versions, there is also a way of recovering files but using a slightly different method.

So, to be able to restore a file or even an older version of a file you simply need to know which folder the file was in and then follow this guide (I am using ‘My Documents’ as an example):

• Go to your My Documents folder (in my case, Start>$USER>My Documents), then right click an open area on the screen and click Properties.  Don’t navigate via one of the Libraries as this will confuse matters
• The Document Properties dialogue box will appear, click the Previous Versions tab and then double click the most recent date where you know or suspect the file to have been before it was deleted (Note: depending on the specification of your machine and the amount of data stored, this may take a little while, but don’t panic)
• A new Explorer window will now open which will show all of the files as they were in the directory at that time, you should now see the deleted files.  To recover them, simply cut and paste them back into your current My Documents folder and go make yourself a congratulatory mug of coffee, safe in the knowledge you have just saved yourself money by not having to purchase dedicated file recovery software

That’s all there is to it, but please, don’t rely on this method as an alternative to a proper and up-to-date backup.

Let me know if you find this useful by leaving a comment below, and don’t forget to sign-up for further guides using the option on the right.  This way you’ll get the latest guides delivered directly to your inbox.

For those who are interested, the very latest incarnation (albeit in Beta) of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is now available to download from here.

Review and my thoughts to follow shortly…

I have been asked to write a guide for people new to Android explaining how to install TweetDeck.  For those who aren’t familiar with TweetDeck, it’s a cross platform Twitter client that only recently become available for Android.  A lot of people may well have used the desktop version previously; out of all the desktop Twitter clients, TweetDeck is regularly voted one of the top applications and for good reason.  TweetDeck isn’t just all about Twitter however; it allows you to also configure your Facebook, MySpace, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Google Buzz accounts.

The Android client shares many of the features of its desktop sibling; however it will only allow you to integrate Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz and Foursquare accounts.  This really isn’t an issue though as MySpace is not as popular these days anyhow and the majority of mobile users will be consumers who probably don’t use LinkedIn (of course there are other LinkedIn applications available from the market if you do require this).  Another great feature is that you are able to enter your TweetDeck account details and it will automatically sync the accounts that you use in your desktop client meaning you don’t have to worry about remembering all of your account details individually.  Right from the word go the developers over at TweetDeck have given a lot of thought towards the end user experience to ensure it doesn’t become another run of the mill Twitter app (have you looked at Seesmic or Twidroyd recently; both good apps but take away the exterior shell and you are left with very similar and traditional Twitter clients) instead choosing to produce a new, innovative design that’s fresh and exciting.

Installing TweetDeck is simple, although as it is still in beta stage, it is not available to download from the market as yet.  To download and install TweetDeck you’ll need to do the following:

• On your device, navigate through Menu>Settings>Applications
• Ensure that the Unknown sources option is checked; if it was previously unchecked you’ll be shown a security dialogue box, acknowledge this to continue
• Open the browser on your device
• Navigate to http://www.tweetdeck.com/go/android/ and your device will download the required .apk file to your download folder on your microSD card
• Next you’ll need an app that is capable of initiating an installation directly from a native .apk file, for novices perhaps the simplest solution is to go to the market and download Linda File Manager
• Once you have downloaded this, open Linda File Manager from the app drawer
• Click the SD Card option
• You should see a folder called download, this is where the browser will have downloaded the TweetDeck installer, click download
• Click TweetDeck-0.9.5.apk (see note below)
• Once the installer has finished installing, click Open to proceed directly to the app to setup your accounts

Notes:  I have given you the direct download link from TweetDeck so as new updates are released, clicking this link will download the newer files.  You may therefore find that your actual file will differ in version number, this is not an issue; simply install the version that was downloaded.

If you use the desktop version of TweetDeck, you’ll be able to sign in using your TweetDeck account here, this means that you will not have to separately configure Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz or Foursquare as the app will “pull down” your settings and sync your accounts automatically.  If you don’t have a TweetDeck account, then you’ll need to add each account separately by clicking on the appropriate option.

That’s about all there is to it.  One of the great things about TweetDeck for Android is that there are not many options to configure, making the experience a simple one; it just works!  That’s not to say it is short on features.  You’ll notice that your timeline has all of your accounts in one continuous list; each colour coded for easy identification.  You’ll even notice that as you scroll up and down through the list, the time at that particular place in the timeline is displayed at the top which I think is a nice touch.  You can flick right through 2 more screens to see your mentions (which apply not only to Twitter, but anything that is deemed a “notification” in Facebook also) and your DMs; everything is laid out in a simple yet graphically pleasing way.

One thing worthy of mention at this stage is that unlike any other Twitter app I have ever used on Android, the timeline always remembers where you left it.  Not just some of the time, but all of time; no more waking up in the morning and having to manually find where you were the night before because the timeline had somehow managed to “jump” to the top all on its own.

There are four buttons at the bottom of the main screen, the first of which will probably be one of the most used; the button to compose a new update (allowing you to choose which of the accounts you want to update).  Next you have a favourite’s button, once you press this you are presented with a user customisable screen whereby you can store your favourite contacts for one touch access to all of their profile and update information.  Finally there is the Twitter search and location buttons; the Twitter search button allows you to search trends on Twitter, the location button interfaces with Google Maps to show you your current location.

Once you start using the app, you’ll find more too; like the image preview and location map (but only if the posters update was location aware) below any updates you click on, saving you having to click through 2 or 3 pages to get the same amount of information on other clients.  There is the simple slider button to change the display font size and a well laid out configuration screen where you can change your notification options and set the duration between updates; last but not least my favourite feature, whereby the TweetDeck notification icon flips upside down and “dies” if it encounters a problem whilst posting an update.  I can just imagine the response of the other members of the development team whilst sat around a table brainstorming when that idea came up, pure genius.

Remember also that this is still a beta product (although in fairness, it is the most stable beta I have ever used, not a single FC or issue to date), which means that it is going to more than likely be updated again before the final release, adding more features based on user feedback.  The downside of this is that as the app was not downloaded from the market, you will not receive an automatic notification when an update is available; not a huge issue though.  The best way around this is to follow TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) on Twitter as they tweet when an update is available for download (then all you need to do once you click on the link and download any update is to follow the last 5 steps of the guide again to update).

TweetDeck for Android is great app; it’s in a different league to HTC Peep.