Motorola Droid 2
The Motorola Droid 2 directly followed from the ever-popular Motorola Droid that started the Android craze. As such, it was expected that it would give Android users another true taste of the latest stock Android experience. However, Google had moved on to making it's own phone with the new Nexus line, and with Motorola and Verizon freed to do whatever they wanted, they immediately set to limit the freedoms of their own users.
The Droid X and the Droid 2 were the first of Motorola's Android devices to feature an encrypted bootloader, one that would only accept Motorola-signed ROMs and kernels. With no hope of ever breaking this protection, the famous Motorola Droid devs stuck with their aging phone until the advent of the Galaxy Nexus.
For the unlucky ones left behind with this crippled phone, you will face an unfriendly developer atmosphere, difficult and dangerous procedures, and results that may not even be worth the effort, due to the use of aging and unhackable kernels. Such a sad fall for a company that made Android what it is today.
If you still want to keep going, lube up, follow the guidelines to the letter, and stay updated on new developments. You will need these things:
- Time, diligence, and patience
- You need to take a lot of time to fully understand everything you are doing with this phone, and follow all guidelines closely. You also need to be patient; very, very patient. Flashes can take upwards of 10 minutes to complete.
- A Motorola Droid 2 (A955)
- Make sure that your Droid 2 is the A955, not Droid 2 Global (A966)
- A POSIX (Mac, Linux, Unix system up and ready
- The truth is, Windows sucks for development of any kind, and we absolutely do not want to take chances with bad drivers on your precious phone. Anyway, the Windows methods are more difficult as well as less safe. If you don't have Linux or a Mac already, get the Ubuntu liveCD or the Droid flasher liveCD (explained below).
- Android SDK Platform Tools
- This provides adb, fastboot, and other useful tools to interact with your Android's inner workings. If you don't have it or are not using the Droid flasher liveCD, check the Android SDK Guide to find out how to install it.
- Original Motorola MicroUSB Cable
- Don't use anything else to flash your phone.
- External Wall Charger for the battery (or another Droid smartphone)
- If you screwed up a flash and ended up in bootloader mode, you will be unable to charge your phone until it is resolved. As such, a battery wall charger (not a cable) or another Droid is required to charge it.
- (optional) Extra Battery
- If you're going to the trouble to buy an external wall charger, why not get another battery anyway?
- Introduction
- Rooting - Rooting the stock ROM
- Installing a Recovery Image - If you want to go even farther than rooting the stock ROM, you can install a recovery to get custom ROMs. But due to the locked bootloader, there aren't much options.
- Flashing an SBF - If things go wrong and you're stuck on the dreaded bootloader mode, you can try and flash a stock SBF. Just make sure that you don't downgrade!
- D2 Sources - All the programs used, the sources for the files, etc.
Everything starts with rooting the phone. There are many methods, but we saved here the best, easiest, and latest methods
If you have version 2.3.4 or lower, you can now root it thanks to the hard work of quite a few devs looking tirelessly for exploits.
With this liveCD, you don't even have to install Linux, just run it from a CD and everything s ready to go.
- Download the liveCD here. (MD5SUM: e50bc7914c4852ca32e9f08f7744c056)
- Burn this ISO to a CD.
- Alternatively, you can install the ISO to a USB drive and boot from there. Install UNetBootin and follow the directions.
You just need to download this SPF and flash it using RSDLite.
Afterwards, install the superuser apps and tools using adb.
(needs work)
Although the bootloader does not allow custom, unsigned kernels to be run easily, it is still possible to get a few ROMs for the Droid 2. However, since the Droid 2 is a regional device that has often been forsaken for its difficulty, expect few new developments.
The recovery image is tethered onto the official bootloader and recovery systems
Since there are not that many great ROMs to look for with the Droid 2, we've listed the best we could find over here.
This details the general method of flashing an SBF file. Refer to this whenever the guide tells you to "install an SBF".
This is perhaps the simplest, easiest, and safest way to flas
RSDLite depends on Windows, which can take a bit of work to get the drivers working
Be patient and wait for the device to respond. If it takes 20 minutes or more, there is a problem.
If you did not do so before, make a clean wipe of the cache and data.
(instructions)
After a bad or corrupt flash (especially after the 2.3.4 OTA update, many a Droid 2 has been bricked. This can be caused by trying to install an older or corrupted SBF than the one you use now, loss of power while flashing, and sometimes for no discernable reason at all.
Usually the error looks like this:
D2.37
Err:A5, 70,70,00,1F
MEM_MAP Blank
Service Req'd
Battery ok
ok to program
connect usb
data cable
The result is that the Droid 2 immediately boots to bootloader mode with this error, and better yet, there is no way to charge the battery in bootloader mode. Get an external battery charger (as stated above) or a friend's Droid to charge your battery completely before proceeding.
Since the Droid 2 cannot be downgraded, the only way to go is up. Get the 2.3.4 OTA update SBF. [A new rooting method](http://rootzwiki.com/topic/29930-new-root-method-for-stock-234-621622-found-droid2-r2d2/ has recently been discovered for this firmware, s o no worries.
Just flash this SBF using the SBF flashing methods above.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/29930-new-root-method-for-stock-234-621622-found-droid2-r2d2/
- Introduction - A quick intro to the rationale and ideals of this guide, and modding in general.
- Essential Maker Skills - Essential Skills that every maker should have.
- Archivist Tools - All the tools an internet archivist needs under their belt.
- Android Development Codex - All kinds of Android smartphones.
- Business Class Laptops - Computers that last: The ThinkPad, the HP EliteBook, the Dell Precision/Latitude.
- EBook Readers - A good eInk screen remains the best way to read literature comfortably.
- Game Consoles - Homebrew development scenes have made it possible to unlock the full power of your game console's computer chip.
- Graphing Calculators - This is the last vestige of the age of 80's Home Computers; where programs were simple and graphics were minimal.
- Home Server - Why buy cloud storage when you can build your own cloud? For media streaming, torrenting, and VPN access (to bypass blocked internet).
- Routers - Amazingly, your ordinary router probably runs Linux on it's little embedded CPU.
- Authentication Wallets - Manage your plethora of accounts, passwords, and RSA public keys using a GPG-encrypted wallet.
- LEGO Mindstorms - The easiest way to build functional robots and machines; using good ol' LEGO and Technic bricks.
- Vintage Computers - Amiga, Apple ][, and all the other random home computers that defined the 1980s.
- Genetic Programming - Programs that mutate and evolve by themselves, like Genes. It's a very difficult concept to grasp, but a very powerful method that transcends math or algorithms.
- General Guidelines - The ideals that you should uphold while working with and editing this guide.
- Device Guide Templates - Templates and general guidelines for creating customized guides for a device.
- Linux - Run a full desktop OS on your little mobile device; research is being made to make it comfortable to use in the mobile space.
- Glossary - Contains all the crazy acronyms and word soup that you'll need to wade through when using this guide.