For those that are not aware, CyanogenMod 9 nightlies for HP TouchPad just went live a few days ago. Yes, now you are able to update your HP TouchPad with the latest CyanogenMod as soon as patches are merged into the tenderloin build.

I just flashed the 30th March 2012 nightly and things are working fine. The boot animation changed to be similar to the one we had in CM7.

For those who are on CM9 and want to flash the nightly release, simply:

• Download the nightly build from http://get.cm/?device=tenderloin
• Download the latest gapps from http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Latest_Version/Google_Apps
• Download the 120dpi patch from here (if necessary)
• Transfer all the downloaded files to the TouchPad’s cminstall folder
• Use ClockWorkMod and install update from zip

Have fun with the CM9 nightlies!

ASUS RT-N66U running TomatoUSB firmware!

TomatoUSB is an alternative open source firmware for Broadcom-based routers like the ASUS RT-N66U Black Knight. It is a modification of the famous Tomato Firmware but with built-in support for USB port, wireless-N support. Check out this entry for an overview of the ASUS RT-N66U Black Knight.

Some of the TomatoUSB features are:

• Very advanced QoS (Quality of Service) configuration
• Advanced wireless configurations (WDS, wireless client modes, etc)
• Graphical bandwidth usage monitor
• Printer server: access USB printer from LAN
• Media server DLNA
• Built-in support for USB – 3G, Storage

You can view more information about TomatoUSB here. You can always flash it back to the original firmware by following this guide and specifying the original firmware instead.

Not sure why are you flashing third party firmware?

I am flashing TomatoUSB into my ASUS RT-N66U due to the following:

• DHCP reservation in the original firmware do not work really well. For some reason, some clients just do not get their reserved IP correctly despite having the correct MAC address
• DHCP reservation in the original firmware does not give clues what you are reserving for. I felt that besides allowing you to enter the “MAC address” and “IP address”, it should allow you to enter “Hostname/Comments” so that I will know what that line is for
• Basic implementation of QoS in original firmware. This is subjective, to some, the QoS is just fine but the one in firmware 3.1.0.3.90 keeps assigning lowest priority to the first 3 custom rules. To be fair, this is fixed if you flash up to 3.0.0.3.108
• No option of defining range of DHCP client list in original firmware. For some reason, it just distributes ALL available IP addresses. For me, I prefer to cut my available IP addresses into 2 blocks – one for static machines/servers and the other for any clients

So are you ready to flash TomatoUSB onto the RT-N66U? If yes, just proceed on.

Warning: Flashing third party firmware will void your warranty! I will not be held responsible if anything goes wrong.

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I think rooting the Samsung Galaxy S2 is the easiest one compared to other android phones from other manufacturers (e.g. HTC, Motorola).

There is not S-Off, S-On things like the HTC phones (e.g. HTC Desire, HTC Sensation XE).

Note: Rooting your Samsung Galaxy S2 voids your warranty!

Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S2 is real simple, you need 2 files :

1. ODIN flasher
2. An insecure/hacked kernel

For the ODIN flasher, just simply refer to the guide and ODIN file found in this rooting guide for Samsung Galaxy S2.

As for the insecure/hacked kernel, I recommend that you get the speedmod kernel. It is a hassle free and optimized-for-battery-life type of kernel. You can download the latest speedmod kernel for ODIN from the SpeedMod kernel download page.

After rooting, download some useful programs like SetCPU, Titanium Backup and DroidWall.

Have fun with your rooted Samsung Galaxy S2.

After running the D-Link DNS-320 for a while, I decided to shift fonz’s fun_plug (ffp) to run off the USB drive instead of the hard disk. Some benefits of doing so are:

• Reduce mechanical wear and tear – I frequently access the DNS-320 via ssh and by doing so, the disk spins up. By shifting the ffp onto the USB drive, the disks do not spin up as much and hence lesser mechanical wear and  tear
• Power saving – I assume lesser disk spinups translate to marginal power savings in the long run

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The Apple File Protocol (AFP) stopped working the day I upgraded to OS X Lion. Network shares on the NAS (DNS-320, ReadyNAS Duo) can no longer be browsed through AFP because none of them supports AFP 3.X calls and the authentication standards required by Lion.

I need a fix fast! Why? My iMac’s 1TB Seagate HDD got recalled and I needed Time Machine (TM) to work before the tech guy replace it on site.

(Re)setup my compiling environment, this time for the DNS-320. Did some compiling, wrote some shell scripts and Time Machine (on OS X Lion) is working with my D-Link DNS-320 once again. Well, it still throws some CNIB warning messages when accessing the share but at least it works now. The CNIB issue is fixed with help from Ben Archer.

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For the adventurous, you might want to explore XBMC semi-nightly builds. There are no new features but sometimes bugs are fixed. Certainly not for the faint hearted. For those who are on iOS 4.3, you might want to explore nighties as it fixed hardware decoding on iOS 4.3.

Before you proceed, ensure that you have installed the XBMC Official Build. Once you get the official build up and running, do the following:

1. SSH to your Apple TV2
   Hint: use “root” and “alpine” for the username and password respectively
2. Type “cd /private/var/tmp” without the quotes
3. Type “apt-get install wget” without the quotes
4. Type “wget http://hadm.net/xbmc/latest_atv2.deb” without the quotes
5. Type “dpkg -i latest_atv2.deb” without the quotes
6. Type “rm latest_atv2.deb” without the quotes

You have successfully upgraded the XBMC, reboot both the XBMC and Apple TV2 and you are good to go!