Reflashing Moto Edge 20 stock firmware on a Mac (and possibly on Linux!)

Here’s how I restored my phone to stock rom using macOS:

First of all: download and install Homebrew and then install Python (this is required for motoflash2sh to work).

Download motoflash2sh from here (it’s a Python program that is able to convert flashfile.xml to flashfile.sh)

Download phone’s firmware from the internet (I downloaded mine from some chinese website I found on XDA). It’s a zip file that has to be unpacked inside adb’s platform-tools directory. I had to edit and comment out with # the parts for md5sum checking as I was in a hurry to get my phone fixed ASAP.

You must have adb and fastboot installed on your Mac. It’s available here.

Get your phone on fastboot mode (with the phone turned off press and hold POWER and VOLUME DOWN buttons until it starts and then you may connect the USB cable.

To make sure your phone is being recognized by fastboot, open up a terminal and navigate to where adb and fastboot platform-tools are and then type: ./fastboot devices (you may as welll try running the command without the ‘./’). Firmware files should be placed in the directory along with adb and fastboot binaries.

P.S.: this process may work with another models.

I hope it will help someone without a Windows PC nearby. Good luck! Cheers!

UPDATE (MAR 15th 2023):

#1: Install md5sha1sum from Homebrew to avoid the md5sum error mentioned earlier. It’s also possible to have motoflash2sh.sh skip md5sum checking altogether with the command motoflash2sh -n flashfile.xml.

#2: When fastboot.sh is done reflashing it’s wise to relock the bootloader BEFORE LEAVING FASTBOOT (fastboot flashing lock) in case you ever want to use Google Pay contactless payments (I learned that the hard way the first time I reflashed and forgot to relock the bootloader right away and ended up getting back to fastboot everytime the phone restarted).

Reversing mouse scrolling direction on Windows

1. Find the hardware ID of the mouse
   • Go to the mouse control panel
   • Select “Hardware” tab
   • Click “Properties” button
   • Select “Details” tab
   • From the drop-down list choose “Hardware IDs”
   • Save the VID*** entry ( e.g. VID_045E&PID_0039 )
2. Find and change the corresponding configuration settings in the registry
   • Run regedit.exe
   • Open Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID
   • Here you should find an entry for the hardware ID of your mouse
   • In all sub-keys of the hardware id key look for the “DeviceParameters” key and change the “FlipFlopWheel” value from 0 to 1
   • 
3. Make it work
   • Unplug the mouse
   • Count to five 🙂
   • Plug the mouse back in

Source: http://www.vvse.com/blog/blog/2012/02/27/reverse-scrolling-on-windows-7/

P.S.: It works on Windows 10!

Deleting Mac OSX hidden .files from Windows Command Prompt

If you use Windows, and go anywhere near a Mac running OSX, you will likely find your hard drive full of annoying hidden files with names like “.DS_Store”, “._Annoying Hidden File”, “._.DS_Store” and so forth.

To remove these all at once, open a command prompt window then run the following commands (but be warned, do not run these unless you know what you are doing, or you may delete important files):

cd <root directory you want to recursively start deleting .files from>, i.e: cd e:\
del /s /q /f /a:h .*.*

Source: Hard Answers

Fixing the lack of video thumbnails in OS X Finder

This is the debut post for my new OS X category on this not-so-often-updated blog.

The lack of video thumbnails for many different formats, such as .wmv, .mpeg, .flv, etc., has been annoying the hell out of me, but not anymore since yesterday when I came across this quite simple solution.

Download this pkg file.

Double click on it and follow the install steps.

You might need to reboot. I didn’t! But you might.

Finder’s now exhibiting video thumbnails for every format.

Refreshing Launchpad on Mac OS X

This command will sort all Apple applications on one page/screen and the rest of the apps will be sorted alphabetically in the rest of the pages/screen. Works like a charm 😉

Please note that if you’re not comfortable with the terminal there’s a possible GUI workaround where I took this command from. Another side effect is you’ll have your wallpaper reset to default (this happened with me at least)

rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db ; killall Dock

Enabling Aero Transparency on Win 7 Starter / Home Basic (and a lot more)

OMG! It’s here and it’s damn real! I can’t believe they finally made it!

 

Beautiful, isn't it?

 

Here’s how to do it in your pc [just remember you will only need to do this if you have a stock Win 7 Starter / Home Basic]

1. Uninstall Personaliation Panel and Personalization panel DWM controller in case these were previously installed
2. Apply the patch. Your Windows will be automatically rebooted. Just wait… Destroy your finger nails waiting some more… And then TA DA!
3. Enjoy the awesomeness!

Download link: http://winaero.com/download.php?view.13

How many different ways can you spell ‘Gaddafi’ ?

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has been in the headlines a lot this week — he’s visiting the U.S. for the first time since he took power 40 years ago, and his arrival is not without controversy.

But politics aside, we’ve come across a list of the many different English spellings of Gaddafi’s name.  Because of the difficulty translating Arabic to English, there are several different translations — the Library of Congress lists 72 alternate spellings, and the New York times, Associated Press and Xinhua news sources used 40 additional spellings between 1998 and 2008.

We’ve posted all 112 of them below…

• Qaddafi, Muammar
• Al-Gathafi, Muammar
• al-Qadhafi, Muammar
• Al Qathafi, Mu’ammar
• Al Qathafi, Muammar
• El Gaddafi, Moamar
• El Kadhafi, Moammar
• El Kazzafi, Moamer
• El Qathafi, Mu’Ammar
• Gadafi, Muammar
• Gaddafi, Moamar
• Gadhafi, Mo’ammar
• Gathafi, Muammar
• Ghadafi, Muammar
• Ghaddafi, Muammar
• Ghaddafy, Muammar
• Gheddafi, Muammar
• Gheddafi, Muhammar
• Kadaffi, Momar
• Kad’afi, Mu`amar al- 20
• Kaddafi, Muamar
• Kaddafi, Muammar
• Kadhafi, Moammar
• Kadhafi, Mouammar
• Kazzafi, Moammar
• Khadafy, Moammar
• Khaddafi, Muammar
• Moamar al-Gaddafi
• Moamar el Gaddafi
• Moamar El Kadhafi
• Moamar Gaddafi
• Moamer El Kazzafi
• Mo’ammar el-Gadhafi
• Moammar El Kadhafi
• Mo’ammar Gadhafi
• Moammar Kadhafi
• Moammar Khadafy
• Moammar Qudhafi
• Mu`amar al-Kad’afi
• Mu’amar al-Kadafi
• Muamar Al-Kaddafi
• Muamar Kaddafi
• Muamer Gadafi
• Muammar Al-Gathafi
• Muammar al-Khaddafi
• Mu’ammar al-Qadafi
• Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi
• Muammar al-Qadhafi
• Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi
• Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhāfī 50
• Mu’ammar Al Qathafi
• Muammar Al Qathafi
• Muammar Gadafi
• Muammar Gaddafi
• Muammar Ghadafi
• Muammar Ghaddafi
• Muammar Ghaddafy
• Muammar Gheddafi
• Muammar Kaddafi
• Muammar Khaddafi
• Mu’ammar Qadafi
• Muammar Qaddafi
• Muammar Qadhafi
• Mu’ammar Qadhdhafi
• Muammar Quathafi
• Mulazim Awwal Mu’ammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi
• Qadafi, Mu’ammar
• Qadhafi, Muammar
• Qadhdhāfī, Mu`ammar
• Qathafi, Mu’Ammar el 70
• Quathafi, Muammar
• Qudhafi, Moammar
• Moamar AI Kadafi
• Maummar Gaddafi
• Moamar Gadhafi
• Moamer Gaddafi
• Moamer Kadhafi
• Moamma Gaddafi
• Moammar Gaddafi
• Moammar Gadhafi
• Moammar Ghadafi
• Moammar Khadaffy
• Moammar Khaddafi
• Moammar el Gadhafi
• Moammer Gaddafi
• Mouammer al Gaddafi
• Muamar Gaddafi
• Muammar Al Ghaddafi
• Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Muammar El Qaddafi
• Muammar Gadaffi
• Muammar Gadafy
• Muammar Gaddhafi
• Muammar Gadhafi
• Muammar Ghadaffi
• Muammar Qadthafi
• Muammar al Gaddafi
• Muammar el Gaddafy
• Muammar el Gaddafi
• Muammar el Qaddafi
• Muammer Gadaffi
• Muammer Gaddafi
• Mummar Gaddafi
• Omar Al Qathafi
• Omar Mouammer Al Gaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Ghaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Qathafi
• Omar Muammar Gaddafi
• Omar Muammar Ghaddafi
• Omar al Ghaddafi

Source: ABC NEWS

Fixing Google Earth 6 “No such file or directory” Error

Can’t run Google Earth 6.0 (6.0.1.2032) on Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 ? Are you getting the following error message:

bash: ./googleearth-bin: No such file or directory

Try this command:

sudo ln -s /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-lsb.so.3

Source of the information

Fixing MPlayer subtitle fonts in Ubuntu

Here I am with a new tip that may seem silly but it got me struggling with MPlayer config file (~/.mplayer/config) for quite a long time. Not anymore! On a previous post I showed you my MPlayer config file. It turns out the font I wanted to use for subtitles wasn’t actually being used (MPlayer instead was defaulting to Sans). After talking to the always helpful guys over at #mplayer on irc.freenode.net with no luck I decided to do some more googling about the issue. I was lucky enough to be able to find this. So long story short, if you’re still struggling with your MPlayer (command line version) to get it to use a certain font for a subtitle and it’s not following your command replace this line in your ~/.mplayer/config:

font=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ubuntu-font-family/Ubuntu-R.ttf

with the following line:

font=Ubuntu

I’m still getting my head around this so I won’t be able to further detail how to configure this a little more like using a Bold or Italic font. So far all I can tell is that if MPlayer is compiled with fontconfig support (which is the case as of Ubuntu Maverick 10.10) one has to use a fontconfig font name. In order to get a list of fonts known to fontconfig, use this command in a terminal:

fc-list

Results will probably be very complicated to read so just select the font you desire and filter the results with the following example:

fc-list |grep Ubuntu

You may now use the font you want for your subtitle in your MPlayer config file. One little thing before I end this post, for those who don’t know yet ~/ is a short way of spelling your home directory so, for example: if my username is rajeshkoothrappali and my home directory is in /home/rajeshkoothrappali then ~/ is equal to /home/rajeshkoothrappali

I hope you guys get the idea. Cya!

The New EuroEnglish Language

While reading this blog post I ran into a very funny comment that I wanted to share with you, my fellow readers:

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of negotiations, Her Majesty Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, “s” will be used instead of the soft “c”. Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard “c” will be replased with “k”. Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replased by “f”. This will make words like “fotograf” 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always been a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent “e”s in the languag is disgraful, and they would go.

By the forth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” by “z” and “w” by “v”. During ze fifz year ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining”ou” and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trobls or difikultis and evrivum vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

And evrivun vil liv hapili evr aftr.