Droid X Gets Rooted 97
An anonymous reader writes "The Droid X forums have posted a procedure to root the new Motorola Droid X, putting to rest Andoid fans' fears that they would never gain access to the device's secrets due to a reported eFuse that would brick the phone if certain boot files were tampered with. Rooting the phone is the first step in gaining complete control over the device."
Was there ever FUD? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Was there ever FUD? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes but rooting the phone requires you to cut the yellow wire with the green stripes, not the green wire with the yellow stripes. If you get it wrong, you not only brick your phone, but every other droid x in a 3 block radius.
So I can understand people's fear in doing so.
Re:Was there ever FUD? (Score:5, Insightful)
As far as I can tell even now the Motorola Milestone (the european version of the original Droid) still hasn't gotten past the signed ROM requirement of it's boot loader even though it too has been rooted.
See the engadget article [engadget.com] for details
Re:Was there ever FUD? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Was there ever FUD? (Score:4, Informative)
Not everyone is sure that the bootloader can be cracked. It's fully encrypted, Trusted Computing style. Some UK hackers have had a go on a similar phone and haven't made it happen. We're hoping that since the Droid X has a much broader base that the extra talent workign on it will finally break it.
Basically, as usual, the summary was horribly wrong. Everyone thought Rooting would be simple and done within a week or two (and it was). Everyone was and still is worried about the bootloader, and how you might brick your phone or just not be able to find a weak spot. Messing with the bootloader is what could trigger the eFuse if it was enabled, but Motorola has specifically said that they have not turned it on. The only thing keeping everyone out of the bootloader is the encryption right now.
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Motorola have been using RSA protection on their firmware (preventing the loading of unsigned software) for years (long before Android existed) and people found ways around it before. I for one have a Motorola Z6 linux phone with a hacked bootloader to disable the RSA protection and a self-compiled kernel.
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I will not buy one till the bootloader issie is cracked.
Drooooid (Score:2, Insightful)
Hah (Score:5, Insightful)
"The Droid X forums have posted a procedure to root the new Motorola Droid X, putting to rest Andoid fans' fears that they would never gain access to the device's secrets due to a reported eFuse that would brick the phone if certain boot files were tampered with. Rooting the phone is the first step in gaining complete control over the device."
Man.. if I had read that summary two years ago when Android was starting to take off my heart would have sank.
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You mean you didn't realize that the carriers would force this one the phones regardless of who wrote the OS?
Really? You didn't expect this? Cell phones have never been 'open', the fleeting few moments that you could get an android device that didn't have to be broken to modify the OS are few and drawing near a to a close.
If you didn't expect this than you really do need to take your fanboy blinders off.
Re:Hah (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean you didn't realize that the carriers would force this one the phones regardless of who wrote the OS?
Knowing it'll happen doesn't erase disappointment with it.
If you didn't expect this than you really do need to take your fanboy blinders off.
Grow up.
Rooted, but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
They may have rooted the device, but due to the cryptographic signature on the bootloader, kernel, and eFuse watching the ROM, you won't be sticking Android 2.3/3.0 on your Droid X (or Milestone) until Motorola decides you worthy.
If this lockdown was going to be fully hacked, it would have happened to the Milestone by now.
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It seems that Motorola, like Apple before them, want to keep us all as digital serfs in their mobile fiefs (assuming you're foolish enough to buy one of their devices). That Apple want to control their system from hardware to OS is one thing; to see any mobile manufacturer, however, pissing all over the openness that Android supposedly grants is quite another.
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Re:Why support companies that pull crap like this? (Score:5, Informative)
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What will that result in except for phone manufacturers switching to a worse OS?
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Nokia N900 (Score:3, Interesting)
I doubt that there is a better phone that is easier to play with. ;~}
And it works pretty good as a phone.
MEK
Re:Why support companies that pull crap like this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do people support companies that treat you like a criminal?
We buy things that do certain things. If they do those things that you care about well, they serve their purpose and end up being worth the money. Things like jail-breaking are just icing.
It's fun to make statements professing our desire to stick to our principles, but at the end of the day we still need email clients in our pockets.
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I definitely don't want or need (or have) an email client in my pocket. I hope to one day be as successful as Dr. Knuth, [stanford.edu] so I won't need any email clients at all.
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I definitely don't want or need (or have) an email client in my pocket.
What's your interested in a smart phone then?
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My goal is to remain as open as possible, while still remaining within the realm of new technologies.
This is the reason I went with the HD2. Right now it's Windows, but it has a sweet hardware setup and a big ass screen, with lots of people chugging away on Android for it. The Winmobile seems good enough to get me by until Android is nice and stable on that platform... and until that point I can flash it with as many variations of Winmobile as I wish, along with Ubuntu if I want.
Jail breaking is something
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No you don't. You really aren't that important. People that ARE that important have underlings that read their email for them.
You don't NEED an email client in your pocket. And you're probably be more useful if you didn't respond to email with a twitch reaction like you were playing an FPS.
You might want an email client in your pocket because its convenient or because you think your that important, but the definition of want and need a
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You might want an email client in your pocket because its convenient or because you think your that important, but the definition of want and need are different, you should look them up.
I work at several remote locations and need to keep in touch with both HQ and clients.
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We buy things that do certain things. If they do those things that you care about well, they serve their purpose and end up being worth the money. Things like jail-breaking are just icing.
well said - but for me, at least, the "icing" part underestimates the value of openness.
i'm near completing my second year of owning an android G1, and the thing has been spectacularly useful things i've owned. somewhere near the beginning of my second year i was increasingly frustrated with the limited apps storage space, though, and general thrashing of the android 1.6 install (perhaps due to my crowding it with apps, but i was trying to cut out unnecessary stuff, honest). rooting with cyanogenmod becam
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Except you don't need to root to tether an Android phone. There are many programs in the Market that will do that for you without needing root in any way.
So your completely ignorant point is completely worthless. Good thing you're a Coward.
Prettier UI encourages utilization (Score:2)
Tethering just allows you to surf using your phone but with a prettier UI
The prettier UI encourages more utilization of the network. This imposes costs on the provider, as it needs to put up more towers to handle more utilization. Once these networks get saturated, you'll start to see providers like AT&T replacing unlimited plans with plans that charge per GB.
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Once these networks get saturated, you'll start to see providers like AT&T replacing unlimited plans with plans that charge per GB.
Well, currently, I'm paying $29 extra for data, so I'm already paying ~$5.80/Gb. Remember, most have a 5Gb cap limit on the "unlimited" plans.
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Violating a contract is not a criminal offense, it is completely a civil matter.
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Because most are criminals and root the phone to steal tethering and violate the TOS?
Motorola == hardware manufacturer
Motorola != Cell service provider
The only TOS Motorola has is in relation to the phone hardware.
That mentality died in the llate 80's early 90's... it's not an assumed criminal activity if you want access to custom phone software.
It's a touchy subject anyway, as you have activated an unlimited data plan with a 5Gb limit (unlimited.. 5gb limit... self defeating)... why pay for the ability to
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Ppfft.... your cheap shot at Apple aside for a moment (Is every single brick and mortar bookseller a "fascist company" too if they carry books about Mussolini containing his speeches?) ... The real problem here in the USA is with the standard business model for cellphone sales. Unlike most of the world, we have a system where we shop for a cellular provider based on which models of phones that provider offers/allows on their network.
Providers go to ever-greater lengths to ensure they've got an "exclusive
Re:Why support companies that pull crap like this? (Score:5, Insightful)
As far as I can tell, the real problem with the American phone market (maybe even in general?) is corporations assraping the consumer, gouging for money on features (tethering, ring tones, incoming calls/msgs etc. etc.) that are free and open to use with any sane provider (or sane country, where the gouging is regulated). So no argument there.
But really, against apple, a cheap shot it was not. Your bookstore analogy does not hold water, because bookstores in general do not set themselves up to be guardians of people's morals. I use a Mac both at work and at home and was a fanboy when most people were predicting the death of Apple, but jesus fucken christ is it ever hypocritical to allow apps with recorded speeches of a fascist, and at the same time ban:
They set themselves up for criticism because seemingly they apply a ban policy that is both very stringent and basically a "if we don't like it, we don't accept it". So without ever owing an iPhone or ever using the app store, going by the news coverage alone, Apple seems to like:
Ok, so they probably do not attempt to advance a fascist ideology, but it is totally perverted nonetheless. I'd get rid of my Macs if only they weren't so damn good products. Ironically, it is Adobe products on a hassle free Unixy platform that keep me locked to Macs. Luckily, with cell phones, there's ample choice.
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Why do people support companies that treat you like a criminal?
Because in a lot of cases, all companies that provide comparable products treat you like a criminal. I've explained many times how video game consoles are a prime example of this; I don't feel like being redundant about it today.
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Meh... because on this issue I don't care? I actually kind of like that Verizon and Motorola are managing the OS on my phone because I want it to just work. I am a little bummed that in 2 years when I want to upgrade the OS and they want me to upgrade the handset I'll have to upgrade the handset... but I'll get over it because it's a $200 device that I just want to work.
If I wanted an Android phone I could put custom OS's on, I would've bought a Nexus One. But I don't.
The thing you have to remember is that
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The ability to unlock your bootloader would in no way prevent it from "just working". As to why you should care even if you don't want to use custom ROMs: by now it should be clear that cell phones and their descendants are going to replace PCs for most of the population. If carriers and manufacturers are able to get away with using this transition as an excuse to take control over the hardware t
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Why do people support companies that treat you like a criminal? We all know Apple is a fascist company...and know to expect this shit from them, but I thought Android was about openness?
1 Most folks set out to buy a telephone - and not a hobby kit. The same folks who for 100 years paid AT&T for the certainty of a dial tone come hell or high water.
2 The app store inspires confidence in the appropriateness, quality and compatibility of an app. The terms and conditions for the developer and the price of t
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its just a phone, sounds like you need to get a life.
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Well who da thunk it? This means Amazon, my local civic library, and even Project Gutenberg are all Nazis.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mein+kampf&x=0&y=0&ih=6_2_0_1_0_0_0_0_1_1.144_129&fsc=2 [amazon.com]
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200601.txt [gutenberg.net.au]
Thanks for the ever so "insightful" heads up.
Pointers... (Score:1)
Hmmm . . . (Score:1)
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It does not, you have no ability to modify the baseband firmware. Educate yourself before you shoot off at the mouth.
Try a headline that conveys useful information. (Score:5, Informative)
It's funny that the summary for this article has the text "putting to rest Andoid fans' fears that they would never gain access to the device's secrets due to a reported eFuse that would brick the phone" and links to a Slashdot story titled "Droid X Self-Destructs If You Try To Mod". So Slashdot posts a story with a bogus headline, and then later has another story saying how fear was created when it was "reported" that the phones would be bricked. Never stopping for a second to reflect on the fact that Slashdot itself was the one doing the bad "reporting".
While gaining root access is good news this particular exploit is one that has been around for a while and is ported from another version of Android on another phone. Not to dismiss the work that has been done here but the biggest problem for this device is and has always been the bootloader.
You know, down here in little ol' NZ (Score:1)
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Good thing no one goes to NZ for anything except for (apparently used) sheep then isn't it?
Root has nothing to do with the eFuse (Score:4, Informative)
Root is available, but not new rom images. Root is just a small first step. It will not really help in getting around the signed bootloader.
Bad summary (Score:4, Insightful)
This in no way puts that to rest. Rooting your device doesn't touch the boot partition at all. What should put to rest the bricking issue is Motorola straight up saying it won't happen. (see here [engadget.com])
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Android is an open source operating system. As such, part of its appeal, to a certain segment of the market (including manufacturers), is its openness.
Android (the mobile OS) is not a physical product that you can "pick up one" of.
Android is an an operating system which you can install on hardware. Phones and other devices which have been ma
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I realize Android is just the OS, should have been more clear
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Some manufacturers make it very negligible hurdle to jump to get root. HTC for the most part seems to not care too much and in many ways seems to provide off the books help to many rooting/mod projects. (For example there were 4 leaks of various pre-release versions of the 2.1 OS for the Eris, one of which had an engineering bootloader)
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Offtopic, but...
Because, in comparison to discussions on the rest of the internet's general news aggregate sites, Slashdot is a bastion of reasonably intelligent open discussion.
--Jeremy
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Android the OS comes open but most of the phone makers lock down their hardware (likely due to pressure from carriers like Verizon and ATT). It has legitimate purposes such as making it hard for luzers to accidently do bad things to their phone. Rooting is pretty much the same thing as jailbreaking, I think there are some subtle differences.
Once you've got root you can usually (not in the Droid X or Milestone's case) run custom ROMs based upon the actual Android source (AOSP) or pretty much any other hard
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*cough* I meant pretty much any other software... *cough*
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Actually, Android is open-source, but not open. A very subtle difference, because you can have unrootable un moddable Android devices. Many manufacturers have made it basically impossible to do custom firmware -
Linus Torvalds kept GPL2 for this reason. (Score:5, Informative)
Motorola are clearly assholes (Score:5, Informative)
Motorola are now "deciding" whether to push out Android 2.2 (with, you know, the Flash support *promised on the box*) to the device at all
For me - I've "decided" that they aren't getting more of my business - as far as I am concerned, they can go f*** themselves.
From James King, Motorola Marketing Director:
Next European Milestone and 2.2 (Froyo). I have expressed over the last few days that the decision is pending. The team here has been collating key pieces of information and views from this community in the last month and providing input to relevant teams in Motorola so they are aware. I am pushing for that decision to be made as quickly as possible, and we can then all go from there. Some others ask why the decisions on upgrades take so long, and why does implementation then take much longer still. What I can say and have stated recently is that upgrades are not a walk in the park. Sure there are short cuts that people can take, but when you have to integrate software to a specific hardware, then test it and integrate with third party applications, let alone any innovation from ourselves, plus then get approvals to make this all official and safe its is a big undertaking that requires planning and resource and third party coordination to see this all through. As I say, once we have decision, we will inform. JK
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This is exactly why it's important to be able to load custom ROMs. Android 2.2 has been available on the Droid for at least a week now, in the form of CyanogenMod [cyanogenmod.com].
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This is all part of a plan to limit upgrades to existing phones, in order to push people into buying new ones. Simple.
A shame you believed the packaging though. Caveat emptor.
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This is all part of a plan to limit upgrades to existing phones, in order to push people into buying new ones.
And it's working. I just bought a new phone, although my old phone is but a year old and cost a fortune.
Only, after I got burned by their i7500 Galaxy, I'm not one to ever buy another Samsung product, so my new phone is an HTC Desire. It doesn't seem like notknown86 is going to opt for a different Motorola phone, either. So yes, it's working, but not like I think they think it would.
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Asymmetric cryptography is the problem (Score:2)
I think for the freedom of the software world, we need to solve the discrete logarithm problem. There will never be freedom as long as it is mathematically possible to make digital signatures.
I said when the Xbox 1 came out that the way of the future was for all devices to have this digital signature-based boot loader stuff, now called Trusted Computing. I hate how I'm right so often.
So happy! (Score:2)