Motorola Droid Root & 2.2.2 Upgrade to 2.3.5

After about as many crashes or waiting for just the screen to unlock on my original Motorola Droid I decided something had to give. One of these days I might actually need to make a phone call right away or be able to use an app within a minute after unlocking the phone. So I began looking in to alternatives. Mostly what I was considering was just picking up a new Android based phone. However I'm very stubborn sometimes when it comes to spending money. Plus I would just drag my feet in making a purchase trying to figure out which model I would want...then look to see what is coming out....decide to wait for the next model....then restart the cycle looking at what would be coming out next. A very bad habit to have sometimes. Plus my wife and I both have Droids so I'd have to buy her a new one as well or have an unpleasant situation on my hands :)

I began searching for other options...I had never rooted my Droid and though I always knew it was an option since I originally purchased the phone I just hadn't gotten around to it. So I began researching to see what options were available to getting me out of the Android 2.2.2 funk that my OG Droid was in. To my excitement I began finding some options out there. And the best answer I found was on DROIDLIFE. That is where I began to read about my option of upgrading my Android to version to 2.3.5 through the work of Peter Alfonso.

So I began my journey of rooting my phone and getting the OS upgrade for my Droid. Below is a summary of what I had to do to get my Droid upgraded to this latest version. If you decide to follow these instructions I cannot take liability for anything that may happen...rooting and uploading a different OS incorrectly can cause seriously harm to your phone. I'm only showing as an example what worked for me. Proceed with caution:

Rooting Phone:

• To begin with you'll need to enable USB Debugging on your phone. This can be accomplished by going to: Settings, Applications, Development, USB Debugging
• Download the Motorola USB Drivers.
• You'll also need the Android SDK Developers Kit.
• To root my phone I used a program called SuperOneClick. It was fast, easy, and painless. It is one of the options of what you may have heard of as the "one click root". It was a fairly simple process.
• For more specific instructions on using SuperOneClick I followed the following information/instructions from Ryan Dube.

Upgrading to Android 2.3.5:

• I downloaded GPA17 latest beta from Peter Alfonso's site which is 2.3.5. A direct link to his latest beta versions are: http://wonderly.com/bb/DROID/ROM/BETA/\
• You must next move the file to your SD card of your Droid.\
• I used Rom Manager which I downloaded off of the Android Market.
  1) Be sure to use the Flash ClockworkMod Recovery. This will create a backup of your current ROM.
  2) Next I selected Install ROM from SD Card & selected the file that was downloaded and placed on SD card from Peter Alfonso's site.
  3) Be sure to selected "Backup Existing Rom & Wipe Data and Cache".
• When your phone reboots you should be in your new ROM. However, if you run into an issue with your phone booting you can get into ClockworkMod Recovery console during boot of your phone by the following:
  1) With your phone off turn the phone on and hold the power button at the same tiem as the "x" key.
  2) This should take you in to the ClockworkMod Recovery console where you'll have the options available to you to such as wiping data or installing zip from SD card.
• I found more information about how to use ClockworkMod Recovery from the following site: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-clockworkmod-recovery-and-how-to-use-it-on-android-complete-guide/

So far I've been using 2.3.5 now for just over a week and my phone has been running better then I think it ever has. I did overclock the processor slightly (from 550mhz to 700mhz) though I've read that 800mhz should be fine as well I've not had any need for the extra speed. I've not had the lockups like I had before with 2.2.2 and the screen changes and general speed of the phone has vastly improved.

I would like to give credit where it is due to the following sites/people where I took pieces of information to help me get through this whole process:

• Where I found out about Peter Alfonso: Droid Life - http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/26/android-2-3-5-released-for-the-original-droid-by-peter-alfonso/
• Peter Alfonso & all of his great work in making this latest version of the Android OS available on my old Droid: http://www.peteralfonso.com/
• Ryan Dube who wrote an excellent article on using SuperOneClick: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/root-android-phone-superoneclick-2/
• Ryan Dube also wrote a great article on using Rom Manager which helped me get through the basics of getting this ROM installed: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-custom-rom-android/
• SuperOneClick: http://shortfuse.org/
• Rom Manager: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.rommanager&hl=en
• Complete guide to using the ClockworkMod Recovery: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-clockworkmod-recovery-and-how-to-use-it-on-android-complete-guide/

If you do end up using the ROM from Peter Alfonso please also consider giving a donation if you find it to work well for you as I did. Even the smallest amounts help people keep these types of options out there for all of us. Also consider purchasing the license for Rom Manager as I've found it to be a very useful app.

Sysadmin Appreciation Day - Friday July 29th

The 12th annual Sysadmin Appreciation Day is almost upon us (Friday July 29th).

There are multiple cities hosting meet ups...you will find me @ the one in Columbus, OH: http://www.standalone-sysadmin.com/blog/sysadmin-day-get-together/

I highly recommend that if you're free and in one of the areas with a hosted event you should give it a try and stop by. Though this is my first year going to one of these events I am sure it will be a great way to connect with people in different parts of the sysadmin field.

http://www.sysadminday.com/

And if you're not an admin and you've hit this post don't forget to give a shout out to your sysadmin and let them know you're aware of all the hard work they do.

New Wiki

All,

It's still "under construction" but below is a link to the Wiki page I am currently building. It will at the beginning at least mostly information in regards to telecommunications / ip pbx's.

http://telecom-and-it.wikispaces.com/

Any ideas of what you'd like to see here or any questions please feel free to let me know & thanks.

Changes in the air....

Well it has been a very long time (almost a year) since my last blog post. That being said this blog hasn't been forgotten. I've been very tied up with my career and home stuff.

That being said for the last couple weeks I've been working on a side project...a wiki page. A place that I am going to dump as much of my knowledge as possible. It will focus primarily at this time the telecommunications side of things...specifically IP PBX's, IP Phones, and all the stuff that goes with them. Specific manufacturers I am going to be posting information on will be Cisco, Adtran, Ipitomy, Allworx, and Asterisk.

Reason for this decision is that some changes in my career are coming about and I may not be doing some of the stuff I have been doing for the last couple of years but I wanted to actually share some of the knowledge I have with the rest of you out there that may stumble upon it or need it.

What that specifically means for this blog is that I am planning on posting any major updates about the wiki on this blog in the interim period. I also am planning on changing the look of both this blog and http://www.telecom-and-it.com

Right now I'm not giving out the wiki just yet because it is right now just at the point of completing its structural view and hasn't been filled with much content yet but as soon as I get to a point where I feel it is worthy of public view I'll be sure to post that information.