2/28 patched rootfs: More working keyboard keys and classic home for Rhod210/400/500

[manekineko]

I've made a custom rootfs where more buttons are working and the home button works the way I like, and I figured I'd share it in case anyone else likes things the same way as me.

At the moment this works for the Rhod210, Rhod400 and Rhod500.

This rootfs has the home button/end button setup that XDAndroid originally had, which in my opinion made a lot more sense. Power both powers on and goes to home, while end call both ends call and powers off. This is in contrast to the current XDAndroid setup, where by default you've got no home button, and you have to muck around in Spare Parts to make end call take you home, and most importantly you lose the key Android feature of easy multi-tasking because you can no longer hold the home button to switch between tasks.

This is an altered version of the base XDAndroid rootfs. To install it, all you have to do is copy mine over your current rootfs.img.

Summary of changes from default rootfs:

• Power: Power on / Home
• Power Long Press: Switch between recent programs
• End Call: Power off / End call
• End Call Long Press: Android power menu
• Rear Mute: Call mute (works on both speaker and non-speaker calls)
• Envelope (Mailbox on Rhod500) on the keyboard: @
• Fn-C on the keyboard: ^C (Ctrl-Break is useful for terminal emulators)
• SMS/MMS (Star on Rhod500, not present on Rhod210) on the keyboard: Search (thanks to F22 for the idea)
• Symbol on the keyboard (above comma on Rhod210 & Rhod400) brings up Android symbol menu (thanks to F22 for the tip)
• Ctrl on the keyboard on Rhod210 only is DPad Center, which most Android apps that use Ctrl such as terminal emulators understand as Ctrl (thanks to F22 for the tip)
• Fn-Space on the keyboard: tab (useful for ssh clients)
• No buttons other than Power and sliding open the keyboard will wake the phone (thanks to MassStash for the idea)

Having a search button on the keyboard is really cool, because that's also the Android shortcut button.

You can customize app shortcuts under Settings => Application => Quick Launch, but here are the default shortcuts:

• Search + b: Browser
• Search + c: Contacts
• Search + e: Email
• Search + g: Gmail
• Search + l: Calendar
• Search + m: Maps
• Search + p: Music
• Search + s: Messaging

Changelog:
2/28:
Added a second rootfs (20110224-3dd92b for GBX that enables screen rotation
2/10:
Updated base rootfs.img to 20110210-2cb7ec0, which includes a fix for a memory leak
2/9:
Updated base rootfs.img to include system server bug fix
1/31:
Added tab
1/30:
Added Rhod210 support
1/28:
Fixes for Rhod500
1/27:
Added Rhod500 support
1/25:
Symbol key above comma now works
Moved ctrl-break to fn-C
1/23:
Original version

There are two rootfs images attached, one for GBX users, and one for everyone else.

[proxhack]

Great Job!

Thank you for sharing!

[vickydj1974]

nice work

[ferny4]

thanks for this...i was hoping that this would come back because I liked how I was able to see my recent programs and with between them.....great work man thnx

[Boominsvx]

I do hope you keep up with this. Awsome idea. Does this work with tiad8's builds AND frx04? You've been thanked.

[manekineko]

Originally Posted by Boominsvx

I do hope you keep up with this. Awsome idea. Does this work with tiad8's builds AND frx04? You've been thanked.

Yes, it should work with any current build including tiad8's I believe. I do plan on maintaining this going forward. Thanks for the support!

[manekineko]

I updated my rootfs and updated the download link.

Changelog:
1/25:
Symbol key above comma now works
Moved ctrl-break to fn-C

Don't know what I was thinking with that fn-Envelope for ^C thing, fn-C makes so much more sense.

The Android symbol page that comes up when you press symbol is shockingly poor. It has so few symbols to choose from it's almost useless. Still, I'm a sucker for perfectionism, so one more key working the way it should is one more key working the way it should!

[Technix2002]

Okay this might be an ignorant post, but I have a RHOD500 and using the latest Tiad's compliation of Froyo. I tried this rootfs and my top button above the screen when held doesn't bring up the recent app list. Am I just simply missing that this won't work on a Verizon RodiumW? Thanks! If I could get this to work I'd be thrilled, but nice work anyways if it's just for RHOD400.

[manekineko]

Originally Posted by Technix2002

Okay this might be an ignorant post, but I have a RHOD500 and using the latest Tiad's compliation of Froyo. I tried this rootfs and my top button above the screen when held doesn't bring up the recent app list. Am I just simply missing that this won't work on a Verizon RodiumW? Thanks! If I could get this to work I'd be thrilled, but nice work anyways if it's just for RHOD400.

As stated in my post, this only works at the moment on the Rhod400, but if people are interested, I could add Rhod500 support when I have time.

Is this an accurate image of your keyboard?
http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/...uch_pro2_3.jpg

[Technix2002]

Originally Posted by manekineko

As stated in my post, this only works at the moment on the Rhod400, but if people are interested, I could add Rhod500 support when I have time.

Is this an accurate image of your keyboard?
http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/...uch_pro2_3.jpg

Yep, that is the exact keyboard I have. The other differences to note is that on the Verizon Touch Pro 2: the end call key is also the power button. Top button is just screen off/sleep in Windows Mobile.

I was actually totally okay with the original XAndroid button configuration: top button (Home and recent apps) and call end key also just being the power key.

Thanks for the help!