Hey everyone. Just wanted to stop in and say hello. It's been awhile...

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This thread will be dedicated to learning about and teaching our members about fastboot and adb commands.  It is a work in progress.  If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask or PM.  This is a guide specific to the Nexus 7 running fastboot commands from a Windows PC.

Lesson One
What is fastboot and how do I use it?

Fastboot is a tool used by the Android development platform, mainly for diagnostic and flashing partitions, over a USB interface.   There is a driver seperate from your USB device drivers that allows the communication protocol.  I will assume that the normal device drivers are installed before proceeding to fastboot commands.  The fastboot tool is device specific.  The tool is available in the Android SDK and must be compiled.  Most toolkits for your device have the drivers already compiled for you and are contained in the root of the tool folder. 

In order to use the fastboot tool, your device must be in the fastboot mode.  The simplest way to get there is to hold both volume buttons while powering on.

I will assume that this lesson is redundant if you are using an Android SDK.  For those who are not, you must execute the fastboot commands from a command prompt within the directory that the tool is located, unless the tool binary is in your PATH. It is easy to add the tool binaries to your PATH, but you must have a folder that is stationary containing the tools and binaries.  on a windows computer, clicck START>right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Environment Variables>System Variables>double click Path.  Add the full path to your tools folder. 

If this seems too complicated, close all windows on your PC. Click Start>Run>cmd [hit enter].
This should bring up a command window.  This will be where the fastboot commands are executed.  There should be a command prompt with a file path.  You need to place the fastboot file in this file path.  Once the files are placed in this path, boot into fastboot mode, open a command window and type "fastboot devices" you should see this.

fastboot devices
list of devices attached
[device serial number]         device

If this is not what you see, double check the path that you entered or make sure that the files are placed at your command prompt path. 
If you see the serial number you have already begun sucessfully using fastboot commands.


What is "adb" and how do I use it?

Adb is what is known as Android Debugging Bridge.  It is another communication protocol that functions inside the Android operating system. There are three portions of the protocol: client, server, and daemon. The client is run from the computer, the server is also on the computer, but only manages the communication, and the daemon runs on the device. This protocol can move files and perform functions with your data inside the OS.  With Android version 4.2.2 there has been a security feature added requiring one to unlock the device and allow the connection upon the first connection to a new client. 

Adb is used through a command prompt as well.  USB debugging is required.  Go to Settings>Developer Options>Android Debugging.  Make sure this option is checked.  If you extract the contents of the download folder and add it to your path, there should be no further setup.  If you were not able to setup your path, follow the same procedure mentioned above by manually moving the files.  You should be able to begin adb commands. Open a command window while connected to USB with debugging enabled (you should have a notification icon, windows may also install new drivers on first connection) type "adb devices." you should see the following. 

adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started sucessfully *
List of devices attached
[device serial number]          device



download link for Nexus 7 platform-tools
download here

I had an idea a while back and just though I'd throw it out there...

Who would be willing to purchase an "official" number one Nexus forum shirt? We could have a logo contest and give a free shirt to the winner. I'm not talking about making money, just something to increase the pride in our community.

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A couple weeks ago, I was stuck at work sitting on my thumbs during the NFL playoffs.  There were conditions not under our control that caused us to spend a lot of time just waiting around.  My employees asked if I could watch the playoff games somehow on my Nexus.

These are my initial findings on this subject. 
January 8thFirst of all, there is absolutely no way to view anything NFL unless someone is paying for it.  There are apps that allow you to view the NFL games if you purchase a package through your television provider.  There are other websites that charge a fee for streaming.  There are others that use a slingbox or HTPC and stream the content, then share that stream.  This is the way to go.

I found a website that hosts these streaming links.  There are two types of applications for this: torrent streaming, and flash streaming. The flash streaming does not last very long.  Every time I would get the stream running, the plugin or the browser would crash within minutes and wouldn’t restart even after clearing the cache.   I tried with Dolphin and with Firefox to no avail.  The torrent streaming requires additional software.  Most of the software is not compatible for mobile platforms.  I did find some beta software that actually worked… temporarily… 

I was able to use my Razr Maxx to provide a hotspot.  On 4GLTE, the speed is plenty sufficient.  The site Wiziwig hosts many sports streams. From here you are able to que the desired stream.  Some of the streams are fairly low quality and I wouldn’t dignify them by being viewed on my device.  Some streams are HD quality. 

I used Sopcast Beta v0.9 to stream the feed.  Worked very well for a few minutes, then it would stop streaming.  I had to reconnect to the source to continue the stream.  This might have something to do with my mobile hotspot or the dynamic ip.

I plan on using my own HTPC in the future.  I have a HVR-2250 in my PC capable of 1080i.  I just found out that Hauppauge has their own software for the streaming too. 

Later that day, Jan 8th
So I just found out that the mobile software for the tuner card I have is only available on devices with fruity flavors.  A little tiffed at that one…  I’ll have to come up with something else.

January 19th
So I have my own solution set up and ready for tomorrow!   I used my HVR-2250 and ran a digital cable signal to it.  This tuner card has no problems decoding the local digital broadcasts.  I did have to manually configure my tuner for the correct signal though.  As it turns out, I had everything I needed already at my fingertips.  The software needed was already installed as part of the package that came with the card.  I used my gateway router to port forward the tuner hardware.  Coupled with the software, I log into the web server and access all of my channels that are fed through my tuner card.  I can access the web server with any device that supports flash.  Now of course Android 4.2.1 doesn’t officially support Flash.  The server uses an embedded player called Flowplayer that’s based on Flash and work’s great with Firefox! The web UI is awesome.  I can even select my desired resolution up to 1080i and toggle fullscreen mode.

I have purchased a few games that require fairly large files to be downloaded.  Quite a few of them exceed 1Gb.  I seemed to have run out of storage on my 32Gb Nexus.  I really dont want to admit defeat here and settle without installing the rest of my purchased games.  So, I'm trying to clean up my sdcard storage manually.  There is a folder /sdcard/obb that contains the downloaded files for the games.  To my understanding, these are packed binary files that are extracted when the game is installed after download.  Are these files still required? Unfortunately they are not even removed when the game is uninstalled, so they must be removed manually. 

Does anyone have experience with the various mini-pc's out there that operate on Android?  I thought this would be a nifty gadget to have around. With the possibility of the nexus 7 not utilizing miracast, another device that can sync all your media and plug directly into any TV sounds like an essential for my geek arsenal. Being smaller than a candy bar and just as powerful as any other android device are big selling points.

Thoughts? Advice? Reviews?

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