Praveen Arimbrathodiyil blogs here

Continuing with my Android hacks, I now can input unicode Malayalam on my T Mobile G1 phone !!

Typed using Malayalam layout

I have to say thanks to excellent work done by ‘worry’ at xda-developers forum. It took the whole day to download android sources (my hotel internet connection kept failing to resolv android.git.kernel.org after some time, finally added the ip address to /etc/hosts to solve it), and a while to find the correct keymap file to overwrite.

Update: Malayalam displayed with Suruma and Meera fonts.

Step 1: Follow this instructions to download android source code.

Step2: Edit development/emulator/keymaps/qwerty.kcm with the desired layout [ download Malayalam layout here ] [Update: 21/Aug/2009 Some bugs fixed]

Step 3: Compile android sources with ‘make’ command [ download the binary file here ]

Step 4: Take backup of your existing keyboard layout
adb pull /system/usr/keychars/trout-keypad-v3_us.kcm.bin out/target/product/generic/system/usr/keychars/trout-keypad-v3_us.kcm.bin

Step 5: Push modified keymap file to the device or emulator
adb push out/target/product/generic/system/usr/keychars/qwerty.kcm.bin /system/usr/keychars/trout-keypad-v3.kcm.bin

When done with typing, push the original keymap back. I know it isn’t pretty, ‘worry’ has an app to do this automatically, I will have to find out how it is done.

Now on to the tougher task, complex rendering support.

Malayalam wikipedia displayed with Meera font on Android

This post by Kaippally inspired me to start working on Malayalam support on Android phones. I was a bit hesitant to jailbreak my T Mobile G1 phone because EFF advised me that this could be used against me in court, if if goes to that (See my petition to Free Your Phone). But after seeing the above post I wanted to have a stab at getting Malayalam support. When Nishan came to my house last Saturday, we sat down and followed instructions to jailbreak G1 and got root access.

Since Android does not have a font picker, we over wrote DroidSans.ttf in /system/fonts with Meera_04.ttf. Though at first it was showing Chinese characters, a reboot displayed Malayalam wikipedia, though without complex rendering support (ie, no conjuncts). Now I can read Malayalam websites, emails and other text in my G1 phone.

I know this is not perfect, but this is most important step in bringing the complete Malayalam support to android. Next steps are

* Get Malayalm keyboard layout working
* Add support for complex rendering
* Translate the user interface

If you are excited to see Malayalam support on Android and want to help out, get in touch with us at smc.org.in

Some failed attempts earlier to use my T Mobile G1 android phone as internet connection for my laptop did not stop me from succeeding this time. It is fairly complicated but if you have not other choice to get an internet connection, then you can follow this. You will need a USB data cable for this setup.

Follow the instrustions at http://graha.ms/androidproxy Thanks to Graham Stewart for discovering this very useful trick and developing tools to use this.

(copying here for easy reference with my notes added)

Installation

This shouldn’t damage your phone, but if it does, it’s your own fault!

* Install the app on your android phone, by clicking here (from your phone browser of course)
You might have to change your settings to permit apps that don’t come from the Google Market by going to your home screen and choosing MENU > Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources.
* Turn USB debugging on on your phone
On your G1 go to the home screen, press MENU > Settings > Applications > Development, then enable USB debugging.
* Follow the instructions here to install the Android driver – you’ll need to do this on Windows & Linux but apparently not on the Mac.
Note: You can actually skip the udev rules step, I did not need this, but your milage may vary.
* Download and install the Android SDK for your computer platform. Alternatively if you are on Windows and don’t want a 100 meg download, just get the ADB utility from here
* Plug your phone into your computer

Using the Socks Proxy

The SOCKS proxy will let you connect things like firefox to the internet

* Choose Tetherbot from your phone’s menu
* Press the “Start Socks” button on your phone
* Move to the directory that has the adb utility, using inside the Sdk Tools folder and run

Windows: adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080
Linux/Mac: ./adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080

* Now you should have a socks proxy running on port 1080 that you can use to configure firefox
* Set your firefox proxy : Options > Advanced > Network > Manual Proxy Configuration

Socks Proxy: localhost
Port: 1080

Leave the others blank
* Remember to disable your proxy settings in firefox if you want to stop using your phone.

Earlier I was stuck at adb refusing to recognise my phone. Today also I had the same problem with my Debian GNU/Linux sid on 2.6.30. I decided to try my luck with Mandriva and adb correctly listed the device (I still has to figure out why it did not work with Debian).

Though we got this far and got the socks proxy setup, most of the software does not support DNS resolution via socks (I could only find curl with this option via -socks5-hostname). So I resolved the ip address of my company web access on my phone (nslookup on terminal application) and used that gateway to connect to the internet.

It would be good to have a DNS resolution via proxy method (something similar to proxyfier on Windows and MACs) and support for this in all applications.

Update: Firefox allow with an advanced configuration option. Type about:config in address bar, filter proxy and trun on

network.proxy.socks_remote_dns

It is disappointing to see all tethering apps removed from the Market (Google T Mobile following Apple AT & T model), but you could always install it directly from author’s website without going through market. Probably it is time to create a Bazzar without restrictions.

Free Dr Binayak Sen

Tomorrow is World Health Day. Dr Binayak Sen spent the best part of his life working among the poorest people in India, who live far away from the government’s attentions, with no access to clinics, hospitals, doctors or medicines. He has saved thousands from certain death from malaria, diarrhea, and other easily treatable illnesses. And yet, he is the one in jail, while those who boast openly about mass murder are free to go about their business, and even stand for elections.

What does this say about us? About who we are and where we’re going?

Arundhati Roy

Full Press Statement

Fifth edition of the FOSS Meet @ NITC is getting ready. Its just a week away – Feb 27th to March 1st.

Register today!

There was some discussions in fsug-tvm list about handling ntfs partitions in GNU/Linux. I thought I will summarise the steps here.

ntfs is a minefield of Microsoft patents and linux support has been very carefull and write support came only recently. Now mainline kernel has ntfs module (not sure if write support is still experimental), but most people are using ntfs-3g userspace program based on fuse.

Step 1:

Find out the device name of the partition

pravi@parimbrath:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0adb0ada                     

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        5195    41728806    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            5196        6411     9767520    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            6412        9729    26651835    5  Extended
/dev/sda5            6412        6423       96358+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            6424        9729    26555413+  8e  Linux LVM

We are interested in /dev/sda1 here.

Step 2:
Find out ownership and group information of the device

pravi@parimbrath:~$ ls -l /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-20 04:04 /dev/sda1

We know the device has write access for root and members of disk group.

Step3:
Add any user who need access to this partition to disk group.

sudo usermod -aG disk pravi

Now user pravi has write access to the device through membership in the disk group. Alternately, you may change the ownership and group of the device also, but I prefer the former.

(you will need to logout and login to take the group membership to take effect)

Step4:
Add the entry to /etc/fstab

/dev/sda1  /windows  ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=pravi       0       0

Thats all! You may need to install ntfs-3g package if it is not installed already.

First they killed Dalits. Then we said; “They deserve to be killed” We also adopted the same hindu brahminical strategies in our elite spheres to ward off dalits – (we still practice it proudly)

Then they came to Muslims and killed them one by one. We also kept quite as we belived that muslims are “terrorists”

Again they started killing Christians. We said; “Conversion is anti-national” and keep quite as usual.

Then they came to us. To our world. They brutally attacked our kids who were enjoying in the pubs- the world created by us for them. We cried. Our elite kids cried. But no one was there to rescue us and our kids.

Source: A posting by Ranju Radha in greenyouth discussion list.

I have just submitted my comments to “Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies” that US Copyright office is seeking. My comments are in supports to class “5A Fred von Lohmann, Jennifer S. Granick, Electronic Frontier Foundation”.

My full comment is provided below

Commenter’s Name:
Praveen Arimbrathodiyil

Proposed Class:
5A – Fred von Lohmann, Jennifer S. Granick, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Proposed Class Description:
Proposed Class #1: Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute lawfully obtained software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications with computer programs on the telephone handset

Summary of Argument:
T Mobile G1 block against uploading fonts prevents customers from uploading fonts and using applications in the language of their choice.

Argument:
On December 15, 2008, I purchased my T Mobile G1 phone from a store. None of the applications (including the most commonly used Email client and Web Browser software) in T Mobile G1 have the option to select the font in my native language – Malayalam (It is not only true for Malayalam, but for many of the languages). Consequently, I cannot view emails, web pages, any other document or engage in written communications in the language of my choice.

I searched the internet for a way to correct my problem. The only way to solve my problem is to upload a font that supports my native language and replace the default font provided in T Mobile G1. The T Mobile G1 does not allow me to upload a different font.

If I could jailbreak my T Mobile G1, I could get root access to my phone and upload a font that supports my language. I have not taken this step because I am concerned with the DMCA and the possible legal implications of taking this action.

The comment that EFF has provided which I’m supporting is given below

[Proposed class or classes of copyrighted work(s) to be exempted]= Proposed Class #1: Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute lawfully obtained software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications with computer programs on the telephone handset.

Proposed Class #2: Audiovisual works released on DVD, where circumvention is undertaken solely for the purpose of extracting clips for inclusion in noncommercial videos that do not infringe copyright.

[Brief summary of the argument(s) in support of the exemption proposed above]= Cellular phones are increasingly sophisticated computing devices, capable of running applications from a variety of software vendors. Several mobile phone providers, however, have deployed technical measures that prevent subscribers from installing applications from vendors of their choice, instead forcing customers to purchase their
applications only from the providers’ preferred sources. There is no copyright-related rationale for preventing iPhone owners from decrypting and modifying the device’s firmware in order to enable their phones to interoperate with applications lawfully obtained from a source of their own choosing.

The vast majority of amateur remix video creators rely on DVD rippers to obtain the DVD clips they need. These creators thus risk civil liability based on their circumvention of CSS, even where their videos would otherwise be adjudicated to be noninfringing fair uses. This risk of circumvention liability also chills the ability of remix video creators to resist unfounded DMCA “takedown notices” that impair their ability to share remix
videos on the Internet. An exemption to § 1201(a)(1) is necessary if these remix video creators are to have a meaningful opportunity to engage in noninfringing creativity without unintentionally transgressing the prohibitions of § 1201(a)(1).

The deadline for submission is February 2, please submit your comments before that. The URL to submit your comments is http://www.copyright.gov/1201/comment-forms/.

For more information about Free Your Phone Campaign see http://www.freeyourphone.org/

Doha Qatar – January 13, 2009: Al Jazeera Network today announced the world’s first repository of broadcast quality video footage released under the ‘Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution’ license. Select Al Jazeera video footage – at this time footage of the War on Gaza – will be available for free to be downloaded, shared, remixed, subtitled and eventually by users and TV stations across the world with acknowledgement to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera will release its exclusive Arabic and English coverage produced by the Network’s correspondents and crews in the Gaza Strip online at http://cc.aljazeera.net. The ongoing war and crisis in Gaza, together with the scarcity of news footage available, make the repository a key resource for anyone producing content on the current situation.

This the first time that video footage produced by a news broadcaster is released under the ‘Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution’ license which allows for commercial and non-commercial use.

Mohamed Nanabhay who headed New Media at Al Jazeera and launched the project stated, “As one of the only international broadcasters in Gaza, our coverage of the war has been unsurpassed. The launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository means that our Gaza footage will be made available under the most permissive Creative Commons license (CC-BY). With the flexibility of the license we expect to introduce our outstanding coverage to an even wider audience across the world. This means that news outlets, filmmakers and bloggers will be able to easily share, remix and reuse our footage.”

Lawrence Lessig, the founder of Creative Commons organization and Professor of Law in Stanford University, stated, “Al Jazeera is teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding”.

Joichi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons and a world renowned Web 2.0 entrepreneur, added, “Video news footage is an essential part of modern journalism. Providing material under a Creative Commons license to allow commercial and amateur use is an enormous contribution to the global dialog around important events. Al Jazeera has set the example and the standard that we hope others will follow”.

As a pioneer in news and media Al Jazeera is always looking for ways to make its unique content accessible to audiences across the world and the launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository is another concrete step in this direction.

Link to press release.

Animator Nina Paley has announced on her blog her plans to make her award-winning, feature-length film “Sita Sings The Blues” available online for free decentralized distribution, as soon as she gets it out of copyright jail (which will cost approximately $50,000.00).

QuestionCopyright.org is helping her — and you can help too.