A Happy New Year

Yeah this is the 31st of December. If you're reading this now, you have probably survived through another year. So yeah, if you're not out partying with friends like an absolute ass-wipe, take some time to go through the year that was with your family.

I've decided to update this blog weekly. News about kernel developments and ROM developments will also be posted here.

Tears from the heavens...

A rumble in the distance,
A flash of light so bright,
A drop of the purest water
From the sky up high.
A blessing for some,
A curse for others.
The medium of joy
The vessel of pain.
The purifier of our souls,
The cause of melancholy.
Indeed they are an amazement
These tears straight from heaven.


So how was it? Please comment.

Thoughts on development

Let me begin by saying that if you are reading this, you should know that this is my personal blog. That basically means I can write whatever I want to about whatever the hell I want to. Okay? Good. Moving on....
Okay so when I had just started out on XDA as a young padawan seeking the light of knowledge, I came across several devs that maintained a blog. They shall not be named. Needless to say that is what inspired me to set this up. What interested me was how they talked about their projects and how others in their field of work were doing compared to them. I was amazed; never in my wildest dreams had I imagined a developer's life to be that cool.
A lot of them were complaining how some people were deceiving the community of users by copying code from others and compiling it with a different name. I can't say I am really very different but I do put in some effort into whatever I do. I am not saying that I am up to the standard of great developers, but that does not necessarily mean I am a sick jerk who takes credit for others' work. I always mention in the OP of all my threads creds go to the devs I "stole" the work from. That clears up the credits bit and brings me to my next point: supposed code theft. You should know by now that I am talking about kernels. The Linux kernel is supposed to GPL'ed (thank you Mr. Torvalds), which is basically a way of saying that "Yeah, go ahead. You are free to copy this bit and that. Just give credit where it is due," which I am sure most people know and practise by now. Therefore it is not logically right in my opinion to blame someone for stealing something that can legally be used by anyone, provided that someone gives credit where it is due (very important bit, this). There is probabl not one instance where I haven't directly/indirectly credited the author of any tweak that I use in my kernel. And I always commit my changes to Github (yeah you guys can compile it), so I am in full compliance with GPL and you can suck it.
One thing that bothers me though is how unorganised the developer community is turning out to be, mainly with the introduction of Original Development and Android Development. Now the good people behind XDA have made it absolutely clear what qualifies as original development and what doesn't. However newer developers or compilers or whatever (I mean this with the utmost respect) have somehow managed to forget the guidelines. As a result, the Original Development section is filled with ROMs and kernels that, if going strictly by the guidelines, don't belong there. Let me give you one example.
There is this kernel XPerience something. It's based on the CyanogenMOD sources with a few cherry-picks from some other repositories. A lot of the code is inspired from my Github (which in turn is inspired by the work of the others). A prominnt example would be the basic backlight control which I based on Metallice's work. And some others too. But I don't mind since I have been credited. My point is this.
My kernel is in the Android Development because I know I have not enabled/cooked up any original feature, and i can accept that. No problemo with that. However a kernel that is based on someone else's sources (like mine is), contains very little original work (a little like mine) and includes other's code (also similar to mine) is in the Original Development section whereas mine isn't. That makes me feel discouraged. I lose the urge to even try to achieve something when I know I can easily copy someone else's code and publish it as my own. For example, I know that M-Kernel has a UV interface for GPU components. However I chose not to utilise that and instead came up with my alternative code (almost a direct copy-paste of the CPU UV code). Given that it doesn't work (duh) I know that I can at least use some logic to solve a problem given to me. XPerience kernel may be great but I hardly feel it deserves to be in Original Development. My 2 cents only.
Now if anyone from XDA is reading this especially the OP of the kernel or a moderator, know this. I have no enmity or any feeling of malice towards you. I just wanted to express my feelings and I know the dev myself and firmly believe that it was just an honest mistake.
That's it for now.
And always remember before doing anything, ask yourself this:
"Why the fu**ing hell not?"
Stay cool.

What I have been up to

Grade 9 is tough. Plus my laptop crashed completely. I have to set up Ubuntu all over again. That has to be a sign.

My kernel's on XDA, and users seem to like it. I have successfully acquired a small user base, which is a good sign at such an early stage of the entire project.

Life's awesome as always, and I'll try to follow through with an entry the next week.

[UPDATE] N7 KERNEL! Flashable ZIP! {11:18PM GMT+6 25-5-13}

Here's the link to the flashable ZIP for the N7 oxydo kernel: http://www.sendspace.com/file/7wgbre

Changelog from first release:
- 700MHz GPU OC.
- 660MHz LP CORE OC
- Linux kernel 3.2.44
- 3.4 lowmemorykiller that uses oom_score_adj instead of oom_adj. (Need to check something in the ramdisk to be sure).
- Franco's hotplug driver. Parameters aren't available in TricksterMOD app yet. Working on this.

Major plans:
- Port LGO4XHD Gaming governor.
- Write a simple hotplug driver that considers both work load and battery level to switch on/off cores.
- Perhaps backport more features from 3.4.

Credits
- Google
- ASUS
- Franciscofranco
- _motley
- intersectRaven
- faux123
- Metallice
- ashik992
- sparksco
- showp-1984
- The entire oxydo team for sticking together although we haven't been in touch recently. Sorry guys. Let me know how I can make it up to you lot.
- Allah Almighty (of course)
AND LASTLY
- ME!!

 Pretty much everything that work in _motley and franco.Kernel work in this too.

3.2.44 kernel for the N7

Title says it all! Referenced sparksco or pbeeler's github. Everything works as it 

should. Will be released soon.

LINK: http://www.sendspace.com/file/hajwip 

Do not mirror or steal this without my explicit permission!

Check kernel version! It says 3.2.44! YAY!!

Update on devs

1. 2.6.32.6 is in the works. zImage is compiled. Just need to put it together with the ramdisk.

2. ZCF kernel is turning out to be a massive pain in the ass.

3. Oxydo-grouper is going pretty well. Just committed the LP core OC changes. Going to compile it now. Like right now. If all goes well, I may publish it on XDA.

And with the turmoil in Bangladesh, it is likely that exams will be postponed. Sucks!

Update: News on kernel and some recent events.

Okay so dual booting didn't work. But 700MHz GPU OC works great and with low memory killer from 3.4, the kernel is rad. Well so is my life.

I got through to the TV round of the champs 21 spelling bee 2013, a nationwide competition held for the finest spellers the country has to offer. Guess what I am line of 72 who got selected from over 200000 participants. Win or lose in the end, I'm already a champ. Still gotta practice. A trip to Washington DC is worth the trouble I'm going through. Still have to look through 9 letters and I have only 2 days to do so. Why on earth am I even here when I should be practising?

Oh yeah I got through with the highest score in the Quarters, but sucked badly in the Semis. End of the journey for me. It was fun.

Later.

Oxydo kernel for the Nexus 7

Okay some of you may know by now that I have compiled kernels for the Xperia X8 before. So I thought of doing the same with the Nexus 7.

It is based on _motley's source with added 600MHz GPU OC, and the ability to dual-boot.

Dual-booting hasn't been tested, but I think it'll work okay. It's based on the same concept as nBoot and MultiROM - using IMGs on /sdcard to mount /system, /data and /cache. If the dual-boot mod works, I'll try to implement triple or even quad booting.

Stay tuned. 

Intro

So tons of people already know me on XDA as sgt. meow. Very few know me in real life.
I am Ahmad Al Fayad Chowdhury and no, I am not from India. I'm a proud Bangladeshi, and I am interested (perhaps a little too much) in technology. At the age of 14, I haven't accomplished much yet, but I hope to come up with something revolutionary for either of the two Android devices that I own (the Nexus 7 and the Xperia X8). I am not much of a gamer, but I love to read reviews. I am still a student (duh!) and can't manage to convince my Mom and Dad that soon computers will run the world, and tech enthusiasts will be the leaders of the future. And as such my time at the laptop is limited. :(
But I try to make the best out of anything given to me.
That's it for now. Keep an eye out for updates.

Fayad.
sgt. meow