cyanogenmod Archives

Speed up Android with these six tips

Dave Farquhar Android October 2, 2013August 2, 2017android, chrome, cyanogenmod, eye candy, firefox, location tracking, Nook Color

I’ve talked before about how to disable animation in Cyanogenmod 10.x, but I’ve done a few other things to conserve some scarce system resources on my gigahertz-ish, half-gig Nook Color. If you’re running Cyanogenmod on a phone that’s a couple of years old, these tricks can help you too. Here are some tricks to speed up Android. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Fighting OS rot and lag in Cyanogenmod 10.3

Dave Farquhar Android October 1, 2013December 5, 2015android, cyanogenmod, Nook Color

So I have Cyanogenmod 10.3 running on a Nook Color that I use as a secondary tablet. It’s outmoded, but still useful enough that I want to keep it around. But a week or two ago, it suddenly started to lag really badly. So I looked into it a little bit.

Some other Android tablets have some trouble with TRIM. Android generally handles it decently on its own, but it doesn’t always seem to. I found an app–for rooted tablets only–called Lagfix that lets you force TRIM yourself. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Cyanogenmod 10.1 runs surprisingly well on a Nook Color

Dave Farquhar Android July 3, 2013July 1, 2013android, cyanogenmod, malware, Nook Color, overclocking, troubleshooting, usb keyboard

Cyanogenmod–the open-source distribution of Android for undersupported/abandoned devices–went to version 10.1 this week. Version 10.1 is based on Android 4.2.2, so it matches what’s in stores right now.

My Nook Color was sitting unused, so I figured I had nothing to lose by loading Cyanogenmod 10.1 on it. It was slow and laggy and crashed a lot under 7.2, so it wasn’t like it could be much worse.

Dave Farquhar

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I found a reasonably good, inexpensive keyboard for the Sero 7 Pro

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware June 26, 2013December 27, 2015asus, cyanogenmod, Nook Color, usb keyboard

I bought a keyboard this week for the Hisense Sero 7 Pro. It’s a universal keyboard/case made by Afunta, and I paid $12.50 for it. I took a chance on it, and now you don’t have to. Its spring-loaded jaws nicely accomodate the Sero 7 Pro, and the keyboard works with the Sero 7 Pro with no issues. Plug it in, wait a moment, and it starts working, replacing the onscreen keyboard when you need keyboard input, basically turning your tablet into a convertible. It has a micro USB connector, unlike many 7-inch keyboards, so it works with the Sero 7 without an adapter. It’s odd that most keyboards seem to have full-size USB connectors but most 7-inch tablets have micro ports.

I wouldn’t want to type at length with the keyboard, but it’s much nicer than using an onscreen keyboard on a 7-inch screen.

Dave Farquhar

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The ACLU has a point about smartphone security

Dave Farquhar Android, security April 19, 2013April 17, 2013android, antimalware, antivirus, apple, AT&T, cyanogenmod, cybersecurity, malware, samsung, sprint, verizon

The ACLU complained to the FTC that carriers aren’t patching vulnerable Android phones. They have a point.

Phones are profitable, and the carriers are trying to have it both ways. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Speed up Android with Seeder Entropy Generator

Dave Farquhar Android, Software January 5, 2013January 5, 2013android, cyanogenmod, Nook Color, Play Store

Seeder Entropy Generator, released on XDA Developers, became a sensation the last couple of days. There’s debate whether it works, and debate over why it works, but enough people reported an improvement that I gave it a whirl. The difference was noticeable. There is a downside–more on that in a bit.

I don’t know why it works either, but it made my pokey 800 MHz Nook Color running Cyanogenmod 7.2 more responsive. What I haven’t seen is a nice how-to on installing it. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Go Launcher Ex is a nice upgrade for Android

Dave Farquhar Android, Software December 31, 2012January 5, 2013android, cyanogenmod, Nook Color

I gave Go Launcher Ex a whirl on my hacked Nook Color-turned-tablet. The promise was that it’s faster and smoother than ADW Launcher, the default program launcher that comes with Cyanogenmod. Unlike some promises, it was true. It’s fast, smooth, polished, and customizable.

I was a little apprehensive at first–how does one go about changing something so fundamental as the program launcher–but it was easy.

Dave Farquhar

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How to burn-in an Android

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware December 30, 2012October 11, 2019android, Angry Birds, cyanogenmod, Nook Color

I always burn in my computers. But how do you burn-in an Android?

Here’s what burn-in means, if you’re unaware. When you first buy a computer, the very best thing you can do for it is leave it on for 24 hours nonstop, preferably doing something that’s reasonably hard work. That practice is called burning in a computer. If there’s anything at all wrong with it, there’s a very good chance it will come up in that initial 24 hour period. I’ve been doing that for more than 20 years, and of all the computers I’ve owned in that timeframe–and it’s an army of them, believe me–I’ve only had one machine fail prematurely. One.

The practice works.

So what about a tablet or a smartphone?

Dave Farquhar

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Dvorak: The future of retail is search

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized November 29, 2012November 29, 2012best buy, caulk, cyanogenmod, home improvement, john c dvorak, lionel, lionel train, matchbox, Nook Color, pc magazine, Plumbing

This week in PC Magazine, John C Dvorak said the future of retail is search. He’s right.

Dave Farquhar

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The Insignia Flex’s long-lost brothers

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware November 24, 2012January 5, 2013android, best buy, cyanogenmod, insignia

I had a chance to take a look at the Insignia Flex tablet, Best Buy’s $249 house-brand Android tablet. If you need a basic dual-core tablet that’s reasonably well-built, it’s not bad. I found it responsive and usable–there just wasn’t anything flashy about it. The two things I found I didn’t like were that the settings control panel didn’t let you change much, and it has a 4:3-perspective 1024×768 screen, which is unusual in this world of 16:9 tablets. I’m afraid the old-school resolution might eventually be a problem. And there’s no Cyanogenmod 9 or 10 for it.

But if you need a value tablet in the 9-10 inch range, I have a suggestion for you. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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