A new custom ROM for the Moto G3

Recently, I became aware that no further updates were forthcoming for the LineageOS 14.1 (Android Nougat) installation on my Moto G3 smartphone. There also seems to be a dearth of information on the status of this ROM. The LineageOS web site simply no longer lists the Moto G3 as a supported device. However, the “Latest News” item on the web site (Changelog 22, dated March 01 2019) indicates: “Goodbye LineageOS 14.1 – The Nougat-based release has been discontinued and the last builds were published on February 7th, 2019.” So much for my stable Android OS and the associated security patches!

Now the trick is to find a new custom ROM that will offer the promise of continued support. One of the problems that I have in this regard is locating a reliable source of current information. Many of the web posts about custom ROMs are old and clearly out of date, or a given source may have dozens of individual posts that don’t seem to follow any particular pattern, and searching for specific information is difficult. Some custom ROMs seem to be under development by a single user which may not bode well for on-going support in the event that the individual gets side-tracked by other tasks or simply moves on to a new and shinier project. Even ROMs that are developed by teams of individuals don’t necessarily have good documentation, and often have no mechanism to report bugs or pose questions. So, the way forward seems to be largely trial and error.

One useful source of relevant, if still fairly disorganized, information is the Moto G 2015 forum on the xdadevelopers web site (https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g). In particular, the “MOTO G 2015 ANDROID DEVELOPMENT” section lists a number of current ROMs available for the phone. My strategy was to try the ROMs that were (a) current, (b) being produced by development teams, and (c) which had individual web sites – in an attempt to identify a ROM with a development history that suggested continued support was likely.

The results of my research along these lines were mixed. I decided to “move up” to Android Pie. My first attempt was to stick with LineageOS. I was able to flash the 9.0.0_r35 release of LineageOS 16.0 to my phone; however, the subsequent process to setup Android stalled at “Put Google to work for you”. Both the SKIP and NEXT buttons on this page proved to be non-functional and there didn’t seem to be a way past this point.

My next attempt used the Resurrection Remix v7.0.2 ROM. The result was similar to the previous attempt in that Android Setup stalled at the same point but, this time, I was able to close the app and try customizing the system. However, there was still a major problem. Downloads from the Play Store were all stuck at “Download pending”. A temporary fix was to pause Android Setup with a “remind me later” option. This allowed files to be downloaded from the Play Store but, as advertised, Android Setup was back with a vengeance on the following day.

My most recent attempt has been the most successful to date. I flashed the AospExtended ROM V5.8. For this ROM, the Android Setup process offers Google Assistant. On declining this feature (for now), the setup process completed successfully. However, after rebooting the phone, and with Android Pie seemingly being successfully installed, a notification that Android Setup remained to be completed still popped up! Removing this notification apparently created no problems and the system seems to function normally. Time will tell if the notification reappears!

References:

Changelog 22 – Pushing Pie, Bracing Builds and Careful Calculator
https://lineageos.org/Changelog-22/

xdadevelopers Moto G 2015
https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g

[ROM][9.0.0_r35][Unofficial][LineageOS 16.0] [OSPREY] [20190420]
https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/development/rom-t3923060

[ROM][9.0.0_r37][OFFICIAL] Resurrection Remix v7.0.2 [OSPREY]
https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/development/rom-resurrection-remix-v7-0-1-t3914718

[ROM][8.1.0_r43][OFFICIAL] AospExtended ROM V5.8 [OSPREY][12TH AUG]
https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/development/rom-aospextended-rom-v5-0-t3681997

Download & Install Lineage OS 16 on Moto G (Android 9.0 Pie ROM)
https://alldroidtips.com/install-lineage-os-16-on-moto-g/

Advertisements

Asus T100 Google+ Group lives on in Facebook

Some time ago, Google announced that it was going to shut down Google+. Recently, I found that the link for the Asus T100 Ubuntu Google+ Group produces a 404 error so this group is now well and truly defunct. Even Google doesn’t recall much about the old group. The error message states: “404. That’s an error. The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know!”

Re-install a previously purchased Android app

I recently obtained a new Android smartphone and installed my favourite apps from Google’s Play Store. At least, I installed all the free ones. The problem I had was how to install a proprietary app that I had purchased previously and had used on my old phone. The developer’s web site indicated that the app that had been paid for could be download again and re-installed but didn’t provide any instructions. However, an E-mail to the support desk quickly provided the answer.

As a note of caution, if you purchase apps from the Play Store, make a note of the user account (usually a Google account) that was used. It is necessary to log on to the Play Store using this same account in order to access previously-installed apps.

The process for finding and installing a previously-purchased app is very simple:

1. Open Google’s Play Store

2. Click on the menu icon (the “hamburger” icon consisting of three horizontal bars) in the top-left corner of the window.

(Note that the menu screen will display the username and account that is currently logged on. If you have multiple accounts a drop-down menu will allow you to select the appropriate account.)

3. Select “My apps & games”

4. Select “LIBRARY”

5. Scroll down to the desired app and click “INSTALL”

References:

Reinstall and re-enable apps
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/113410?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en

Customizing an Adobe Cordova app – Part 6

In Part 5 of the present series of posts, we had developed an app that displays a screen with a link to a web site. We need to click this link in order to load the actual site. Furthermore, when we click the link, the app opens the smartphone’s default web browser and displays the home page of the web site in this browser. What I really would like is to be able to click the app’s icon on the smartphone and have the web site’s home page load directly onto the phone’s screen.

Read no longer pauses bash script when using a program launcher

Upgrading Linux Mint to Version 19.1 (Tessa) seems to have broken the ability of a read command at the end of a bash script to pause the script so leaving the terminal window open. Such scripts work correctly when run directly in a terminal window, or by double-clicking on the script file from the file manager, but they fail to pause when run through a program launcher.

Missing Public Key for Wine with Mint 19.1 (Tessa)

After upgrading Linux Mint to Version 19.1 (Tessa), Update Manager displayed the error:

Could not download all repository indexes; Failed to fetch 
https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/bionic/InRelease  
The following signatures couldn't be verified because the 
public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F

Changing the date/time format on the panel

By default, the clock/calendar display on the panel in Linux Mint 19 (Tara) takes a form such as 11:15. Short and sweet – but perhaps too much so. However, the format can be easily changed by right-clicking on the calendar, selecting “Configure”, and turning on the switch for “Use a custom date format”.