Flashing new Android - how I did it for my htc One m7 :-)

These are the steps I noted down when flashing custom ROM to update from HTC (Android 5.0) to Lineage OS (Android 7.1). Yours should be pretty much similar. Cyanogen OS is now replaced by Lineage OS.

   1.   Unlock Bootloader from htcdev site for HTC using fastboot and adb

reference: http://www.qbking77.com/development/how-to-unlock-the-htc-one-bootloader/

You can also get ADB files from Android SDK

a.       fastboot oem get_identifier_token

b.       fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

   2.       Download latest TWRP https://twrp.me/ and SuperUser flashable ZIP http://www.supersu.com/

Install TWRP recovery using fastboot and adb

Reference: http://www.qbking77.com/development/how-to-root-the-htc-one-international-sprint-att/

a.       fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.0.0-2-m7.img

b.       fastboot erase cache

You should now have these files in your folder

adb.exe

AdbWinApi.dll

AdbWinUsbApi.dll

fastboot.exe

Unlock_code.bin

openrecovery-twrp-2.5.0.0-m7wls.img

SuperSU-v2.79-201612051815.zip

   3.       Backup data

   4.       Root the phone by flashing latest SuperSU via TWRP Install. Remember you are still in old OS only now unlocked and rooted.

   5.       Download the custom ROM OS and openGapps (for google apps)

a.       https://download.lineageos.org/m7

b.       http://opengapps.org/

   6.       Wipe and then Flash Lineage OS followed by opengapps

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYJA6KqA5U

   Happy Android folks! 

   I am using for my phone for last few months and it works great, except at few times when it crashes :-) 

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே..

http://www.quora.com/India/What-are-some-things-that-make-Indians-sad

the ONE

my first android phone :-)

HTC One

love the screen, boomsound and browser text reflow

Lion Mac

dream come true moment :-)

I always wanted to own one!

by the way another speciality is, only a handful of people in the world will have 

Mac laptop with Windows Phone.

Spec: 13.3 inch LED - 1280 x 800 - Sandybridge i5 - 320 GB - Lion OS X - 2.04 kg

Trent Bridge

My Windows Phone

Samsung Omnia 7 - Super AMOLED - 4" inch - GPS - 1GHz - Windows Phone 7

awesome!

Whistle podu

Whistle for Chennai Super Kings - the defending champions of IPL 2011

Just Vote!

Just Vote!

Fantasy Cricket

Fantasy Cricket rocks! 

although I came fifth in the league round of Sharks (my hyd gang), its thrill & fun.

I can't forget these days where I got up early in the morning, thats 8 am :-) to change the captain and watch cricket.

my virtual home

I designed a virtual home I am planning to build in my hometown. It came very professional. Unbelievable!

My Top 10 of 2010

Some of the hearty moments, good and bad, as it happened along the year 2010!

1. A snowy visit to Ferry meadows.
2. Got permanent job.
3. Gained 'couple' of friends and lost quickly.
4. Blackpool trip - go carting, first visit to dance clubs.
5. My new hobby with Nikon SLR- Photography.
6. Finland trip - enjoyed superbly with jagan and richie.
7. York & Harrogate trip - a stay at richie's place.
8. Rahman Concert @ O2, London.
9. Rutland Lake trip - nice evening outing with roomie chetan.
10. Scotland trip - met raj in his den.
11. India trip - Hyd and Pondy - touched the past.
12. 5 star nights @ Novotel, Hyderabad.
13. In Hyderabad office as a 'Client'.
14. Woburn Safari Park & GoApe.
15. Nikon zoom lens 55-200 mm.
16. Mahabharata Kurukshetra war - a practical revisit & thinking - Gods are humans... once!
17. Enthiran - the 'defining' Indian scifi movie - watched twice in sheffield and london.
18. Spectacular Bonfire & Fireworks in Ferry meadows.
19. Ponniyin Selvan & Parthiban Kanavu - read superb tamil historic novels.
20. Christmas holidays - played counter strike for hours, watched avatar in 46" big LED screen just few metres away, awesome. good time pass with chetan and his friend.

oh! should I not stop at 10?

There goes an year in a blink of an eye!

Parthiban Kanavu - Wiki

I just finished formatting the entire novel in Wikisource.

When I first saw it, the contents were there but were badly placed, like the conversations are clogged into single paragraph.

Formatting the chapters (count: 77) took almost a day to complete. Nevertheless enjoyed reading it again while doing. I also added image to the main page and indexes. :-)

This is the first time I am contributing something in wikisource. great feeling !

பார்த்திபன் கனவு

A great classic from Kalki.

Happy Reading!

வாழ்க பாரதி!

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பல

சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்

வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்

வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை

கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்

கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல

வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்

வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?

-பாரதியார்

Celebrating Bharathi's birthday!

Ponniyin Selvan

பொன்னியின் செல்வன்!

யாம் படித்த புதினங்களிலே பொன்னியின் செல்வனைப் போல் இனிதாவது எங்கும் காணோம்!

I started first few chapters very casually in wiki, but couldn't stop reading this historic novel day and night, in office and home :) It took me 1000 years back into the Chola kingdom. I felt my body and mind swinging back and forth between 1000 AD and 2010 AD.

The narration is easy to read and simply superb - தேன் தமிழ் வார்த்தைகள்!

Novel wiki source: Ponniyin Selvan

To buy/present the book: Udumalai.com

google terrain map will help you visualize the journey.

இருபத்தி நான்கு நிமிடங்கள் ஒரு நாழிகையாய்

பத்து மைல்கல் ஒரு காத தூரமாய்

ஐயாயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் வேண்டா...

ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் பயணிப்போம்!

Vamba keera palayam

Vamba(a) keera pa(a)layam, a small livelihood area just outside the famous oval ring road (boulevard) of Pondicherry town. It is situated at the south east end along the seashore, where a road from the ring splits out and is located between the old harbour and the new harbour light house.

Palayam can be referred to something like 'shire', a very common subname that denotes a locality. I have no idea why the place got the name 'Vambakeerapalayam' :-)

Vambakeerapalayam is a mix of both town and village. It has a panchayat within it and most people here are fishermen who worship sea as their god. The god of the land is 'Angaala Parameshwari' an avatar of Sakthi, the wife of god Shiva. They celebrate an annual festival every year and it will be wonderful to see the gods while in procession.

God Parameshwari in procession - taken at Vambakeerapalayam

The famous Indira Gandhi stadium which hosts Independence and Republic day parades, 150 years old Petit Seminaire school, Electricity & Agriculture departments of Pondicherry are all stone throw away from this place.

Inspite of all this, Vambakeerapalayam is notorious for fights within and outside with other sea villages, many times ending up with spilling of blood. A small boy who was born and brought up there knew a little about this but never understood why. He joined a school ran by a visionary and passed out with more than 90%. He then pursued engineering and cleared out with distinction, plus a job in hand. He then for the first time moved out of this place to Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Atlanta(US), Chennai, Sheffield(UK) and now in Peterborough (UK). For nearly six years, he is out of this place but made frequent visits to this.

This place, Vambakeerapalyam, is always so special for him and... his name is Karthigeyan.

Chakravyuha

I accidentally happened to revisit Mahabharata, which I watched as a television drama in my childhood days and was not much excited. But this time, reading the epic took me to those Mahabharata period, i.e. almost 5000 years back.

Perusing the Kurukshetra war, the soul of Mahabharata, is the best thing happened in my life in recent times :)

I read the concise and interesting version of the war here and, often cleared my doubts and matched the story with Kisari Mohan Ganguli's one-to-one english version here

One of the fascinating events happened in Kurukshetra war is the formation of an array called Chakravyuha on the thirteenth day of the battle. The vyuha which was aimed to captive 'Yudhisthira' turns out to reveal one of the most lovable hero of the war 'Abhimanyu', who at the end of the day attains heroic death.

I was so interested in knowing about the design, the formation size, the military science and ways of penetrating and breaking chakravyuha. I literally filtered the whole internet but not able to get much information about this.

As far as I know, there were two main theories for Chakravyuha
* It could be a 7 rings of circle with warriors rotating in liason
* It could be a 7-tier spiral formation with warriors spiralling in and out - as in this wiki page.

The book 'The Mahabharata - a modern rendering' has some good information on Chakra Vyuha and beautifully describes the prowess of Abhimanyu on that day.

But still... no concrete information could be found on Chakravyuha. I wonder if there is anyone who published an article on this? Maybe, I should do it :)

Useful References:
Mahabharata - by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
The Indian Labyrinth
The Warrior Monks
Arbit Articulations

enthiran after

all the hypes apart.

Enthiran is too good. A powerful sci-fi story told in a very simple and neat manner.

I never expected Rajini to be as good in action and acting. He simply blew me out.

Ash is also dashing, but not so natural as in Raavanan.

I missed the climax (the mother of all Indian cinema climax) due to unfortunate timing, will need to watch it again sooner :(

Here's Rajini's new oneliner:

Only Rajini can invite the entire Bollywood watch a film 'dubbed' in hindi.

enthiran before

Its good to see an Indian film that takes the whole bollywood, kollywood, tollywood... to hollywood level. We should welcome and encourage such efforts from indian directors and producers.... blah blah blah :-)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

thalaivaa....

Just 1 more day to watch your super film 'Robot', this time in Sheffield with my college friend.

Last time I watched 'Sivaji' in London 07, with nearly 10 friends from my college class. A very memorable experience. It was the first tamil film to watch outside india.

Enthiran - the robot, eagerly looking out to watch the so called 'Robotic Experience'

laka..laka..laka..laka

Name the War

Well, I had a heavy lunch at office and was little dizzy. So started to browse for some interesting article and ended up in this.

It was about a war that just took me right into the battle field as if I am watching a matinee movie :)

A war that was fought by nearly 4million soldiers with 1.5millon on one side and 2.5 on the other....but ended with just 12 warriors to spare, after 18 days.

what.......?

Yes, It is the great Kurukshetra War ! Watch it here.

Below: Arjuna and Bhishma engaged in a fierce duel, however Arjuna's heart was not in the battle as he did not like the idea of attacking his great-uncle. During the battle, Bhishma killed numerous soldiers of Arjuna's armies. This enraged Lord Krishna, who grabbed a chariot wheel to kill Bhishma. Bhishma wanted Lord Krishna to break his vow not to pick up any weapon in the battle and at once requested Krishna to kill him, as there would be nothing greater than attaining death at the hands of the supreme lord himself

55mm - 200mm lens

Added a telephoto lens to my nikon kit.

Taking wildlife was not so easy before this. It just zoo..oms :-)