Well, going to start a thread here following my exploits playing around with Tmobile G1's aka the HTC Dream 
This was the first Android powered mobile phone (Android is Google's phone operating system), and the poor little thing wasn't spec'd very well compared to modern phones, however it does everything I need it to, and because it was the first device there is a HUUUUUGE amount of support for it (namely at www.xda-developers.com ) The main feature I like is its full 5-row slide out qwerty keyboard.... it really is like a tiny little computer
Step in one battered and broken G1 phone...
I got this super cheeps with the intention of playing around with it, it was sold with a duff touchscreen, and being described as "tired" but that didnt matter for what I had in mind. However, when it arrived, the touchscreen worked just dandy..... but the data port on the bottom was toast!
This was a problem as I need that connection in order to do some of the tricks I wanted to do. So I gave it to my mum to use and she loved it.
However, after dropping it on the tiled kitchen floor one too many times, she not only re-killed the touchscreen, but also the ear-piece speaker... so making calls was no longer possible! Well, unless you had it permanently on speakerphone! Strangely though, the repeated drops had fixed the data port! YAY! Let faffing commence
My plan for this device is to make it into a silent, tiny, low power (2.5watts at full chat!) and hence rather green download server, and possibly FTP server I use Bitorrent quite a lot, and having my quad core PC running overnight to download bits is...
1. a waste of electricity... this thing gulps around 200-400watts
2. noisy! its located in my room, about 4 feet from my head. Booo. I find it hard enough to sleep as it is
To give you an idea of some of the daft things people do with these.....
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You can also run Debian and Ubuntu OS's on these, which is something I hope to play with in the future
For now I'm sticking with android.... unless it doesnt give me the performance I'm looking for!
So lets start.....
Bone stock T1. Running Android 1.6.... as modern as official updates take us for this device. Latest is 2.2.1
Sooooo lets Root this! Thankfully now an easy process thanks to Universal Androot! A lot easier than when I did my phone!
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=747598
Simply click one button.... done. I'm not doing step-by-step pictures here as it would take too long. Root means you have superuser powers and can access everything you need to. You wont be blocked by the system.
Also, please tell me if you find this dull... I wont update this haha
Sooo, next I need a custom recovery, this is what I can load if I mess up the OS and it wont boot. However, the phone at this point refuses to play ball.
Thats the standard recovery logo, basically meaning "stop screwing with me!"
After a while playing with the Android SDK and ADB (android device bridge) I manage to install a recovery image.... yay!
Using this, I can install a version of the latest ROM. ROMS are basically tweaked copies of each OS... theres loads out there, each with seperate versions for different devices! I really wanted to go for an early build as they tend to be faster (custom 1.6 stuff) but most authors had removed them
So I installed CyanogenMod 6.1 RC1... this is a 2.2.1 based build. I chose this ROM as I'm familiar with it... basically!
Here is the recovery we installed, installing CM 6.1
And then booting..... yay!
This is where I ran into a slight problem. As Id wiped and reinstalled, the phone defaulted back to zero and wants to do the phone setup again....
Normally no problem. BUT! I have no touchscreen. Look what the screen says. This is the screen it boots into with no other options available. SMEG! don't tell me Ive come this far to be beaten by THIS>!>!>
Sooooo a LOT of googling later, I discovered that with the phone connected via USB, I can easily install applications on the phone and not-so-easily make them run! (the making them run part took me a good couple of hours searching and trying various commands )
But then I had a win moment. I installed a VNC server on the phone, a VNC viewer on my desktop and bingo! I can control the phone through my computer simulating touchscreen inputs with the mouse 
(Ive stopped the screen from auto-rotating now, so it wont go side on again)
So, now I have a device that I can wirelessly use via my PC! excellent! All I need to do now is find some decent applications for making the SD card a mapped network drive on the home wireless, and a suitable Bitorrent client and we are a go go
But yeah, this isnt exactly groundbreaking, although I don't know anyone using one as a download server. Let me know if its dull. The really interesting meaty fun would be installing a Linux Distro. But Ill do that another time methinks I'm not a Linux person BTW, all this is just learnt from reading the internet!
This was the first Android powered mobile phone (Android is Google's phone operating system), and the poor little thing wasn't spec'd very well compared to modern phones, however it does everything I need it to, and because it was the first device there is a HUUUUUGE amount of support for it (namely at www.xda-developers.com ) The main feature I like is its full 5-row slide out qwerty keyboard.... it really is like a tiny little computer
Step in one battered and broken G1 phone...
I got this super cheeps with the intention of playing around with it, it was sold with a duff touchscreen, and being described as "tired" but that didnt matter for what I had in mind. However, when it arrived, the touchscreen worked just dandy..... but the data port on the bottom was toast!
This was a problem as I need that connection in order to do some of the tricks I wanted to do. So I gave it to my mum to use and she loved it.
However, after dropping it on the tiled kitchen floor one too many times, she not only re-killed the touchscreen, but also the ear-piece speaker... so making calls was no longer possible! Well, unless you had it permanently on speakerphone! Strangely though, the repeated drops had fixed the data port! YAY! Let faffing commence
My plan for this device is to make it into a silent, tiny, low power (2.5watts at full chat!) and hence rather green download server, and possibly FTP server
I use Bitorrent quite a lot, and having my quad core PC running overnight to download bits is...1. a waste of electricity... this thing gulps around 200-400watts
2. noisy! its located in my room, about 4 feet from my head. Booo. I find it hard enough to sleep as it is
To give you an idea of some of the daft things people do with these.....
[youtube]
[/youtube]
[youtube]
[/youtube]
You can also run Debian and Ubuntu OS's on these, which is something I hope to play with in the future
For now I'm sticking with android.... unless it doesnt give me the performance I'm looking for!
So lets start.....
Bone stock T1. Running Android 1.6.... as modern as official updates take us for this device. Latest is 2.2.1
Sooooo lets Root this! Thankfully now an easy process thanks to Universal Androot!
A lot easier than when I did my phone!forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=747598
Simply click one button.... done. I'm not doing step-by-step pictures here as it would take too long. Root means you have superuser powers and can access everything you need to. You wont be blocked by the system.
Also, please tell me if you find this dull... I wont update this haha
Sooo, next I need a custom recovery, this is what I can load if I mess up the OS and it wont boot. However, the phone at this point refuses to play ball.
Thats the standard recovery logo, basically meaning "stop screwing with me!"
After a while playing with the Android SDK and ADB (android device bridge) I manage to install a recovery image.... yay!
Using this, I can install a version of the latest ROM. ROMS are basically tweaked copies of each OS... theres loads out there, each with seperate versions for different devices! I really wanted to go for an early build as they tend to be faster (custom 1.6 stuff) but most authors had removed them
So I installed CyanogenMod 6.1 RC1... this is a 2.2.1 based build. I chose this ROM as I'm familiar with it... basically!
Here is the recovery we installed, installing CM 6.1
And then booting..... yay!
This is where I ran into a slight problem. As Id wiped and reinstalled, the phone defaulted back to zero and wants to do the phone setup again....
Normally no problem. BUT! I have no touchscreen. Look what the screen says. This is the screen it boots into with no other options available. SMEG! don't tell me Ive come this far to be beaten by THIS>!>!>
Sooooo a LOT of googling later, I discovered that with the phone connected via USB, I can easily install applications on the phone and not-so-easily make them run! (the making them run part took me a good couple of hours searching and trying various commands
)But then I had a win moment. I installed a VNC server on the phone, a VNC viewer on my desktop and bingo! I can control the phone through my computer
simulating touchscreen inputs with the mouse 
(Ive stopped the screen from auto-rotating now, so it wont go side on again)
So, now I have a device that I can wirelessly use via my PC! excellent! All I need to do now is find some decent applications for making the SD card a mapped network drive on the home wireless, and a suitable Bitorrent client and we are a go go
But yeah, this isnt exactly groundbreaking, although I don't know anyone using one as a download server. Let me know if its dull. The really interesting meaty fun would be installing a Linux Distro. But Ill do that another time methinks
I'm not a Linux person BTW, all this is just learnt from reading the internet! 
via DSL or PuppyLinux on a USB stick [/threadhijack]
