Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re currently in the smallest (and most fortunate) of minorities to have an HTC One for AT&T in your hands, then you might want to go about unlocking its bootloader while the getting is good. As it just so happens, a few lucky individuals have already done just that, and to prove it’s momentarily possible, they’ve shared their success within the forums of xda-developers. And if there was ever any doubt, we’ve confirmed this with our own review unit. Before you get too excited, though, HTC’s affirmed to us that AT&T’s One will not be supported by the HTCdev unlock service, which will effectively render its bootloader untouchable. As for the current discrepancy, one might speculate that the phone’s identifier hasn’t yet been blocked on the HTCdev site — something that’d likely be resolved before the phone becomes officially available through retail channels this Friday. Naturally, if you’re hoping to get in on the gravy train, it seems that your best bet will be to work your magic on an AT&T sales rep and then hope the unlocking service is still functional. Absent that, the HTC One Developer Edition seems just as tempting as ever.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, AT&T

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Via: Droid Life

Source: xda-developers

WiFi-only flavors of the Chromebook Pixel have only just started shipping, but if you’re already itching to install Linux on one of them, you’re in luck. Not only have kernel patches been submitted for the hardware, but Google’s Bill Richardson has now laid out exactly how to load up the devices with Linux Mint. Richardson says that part of the Chrome OS BIOS is read-only, so changes to it are generally exclusive to new hardware. Pixel, for example, has been tuned to support user-provided custom bootloaders thanks to an unverified BIOS slot. Unfortunately, Mint doesn’t support the laptop’s touchscreen and trackpad because it leverages the stock kernel. Adventurous types looking to boot a Tux-powered OS on a Pixel can hit the neighboring source link for step-by-step instructions.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Via: Android Central

Source: Bill Richardson (Google+)

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD is one of the first few Kindle models from Amazon that come with a higher resolution display, definitely with a far higher resolution compared to the original Kindle Fire. Unfortunately for those who love to tinker with stuff underneath the hood, the Kindle Fire HD comes with a locked bootloader, making it far harder to replace Amazon’s software with a custom operating system compared to the original Kindle Fire. Still, we humans love a challenge, which is why you do not see anyone giving up just like that.

It seems that hackers have managed to figure out a method to work around the locked bootloader issue, followed by installing the ClockworkMod custom recovery, making life a whole lot more easier and enjoyable for one to load custom firmware on the tablets. Not only that, we have word that an unofficial version of CyanogenMod 10 for the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is already well on its way, being based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sounds as though Kindle Fire HD owners are in for a whale of a time!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Valve interested in getting DotA 2 running on tablets, VLC Media Player could be making its way onto Windows Phone 8,

Digging the idea of picking up an Atrix HD, but bummed about that whole “locked bootloader” situation? Problem solved. Motorola has just introduced the Atrix HD Developer Edition, which offers up the exact same specifications as the original, but allows near infinite customizations thanks to an unlockable bootloader. For the laypeople in attendance, that allows tinkerers to install custom ROMs on the phone without any additional hackeration, thus giving them to power to overhaul Android’s look and feel in a major way. As of now, Moto’s not talking pricing or release, but you can follow the source link to sign up for updates. (Oh, and if you’re hoping for a quick turnaround, don’t even think about looking at how long it took the Galaxy S III Developer Edition to finally go on sale.)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Motorola reveals Atrix HD Developer Edition, highlights unlockable bootloader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Windows 8 Microsoft is pushing manufacturers away from a traditional BIOS to UEFI with Secure Boot. But that poses problems for alternative OSes like Linux, because UEFI requires any software have a signed certificate. The Linux Foundation has been looking for a solution and thinks that it may have one. The proposed work around is a little convoluted and surprisingly involves obtaining a Microsoft signature for a new barebones bootloader. This wouldn’t actually boot Linux or any other OS actually. Instead, it would then start a second bootloader, the one associated with your OS of choice. It’s a little messy, but it should mean that the signed bootloader will be a catch-all solution for any operating system. Of course, it could take a while for the Foundation to actually obtain a signature from Microsoft. So “Designed for Windows 8” systems might not be able to run Linux right away, but rest assured a solution is on the way.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Linux Foundation proposes convoluted solution for UEFI Secure Boot originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 03:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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