lars backlund | blog of lasseman

This evening I’ve downgraded an iPhone 3G from iOS 4 all the way back to 2.2.1. It was a little bit tricky but I finally figured it out. I’m back at 3.1.3 since not enough apps worked on 2.2.1 (for a brief iOS history on what has changed, see here).

Should you ever want to do it, this is how you do it. Note: The guides that were out there did not work for me, I kept getting Error 1600 all the time so this is what I did to make it work.

First off, at least for me, I could not jump straight from 4.0 to 2.2.1, you have to downgrade in steps. This means we first have to go from 4.0 to 3.1.3 and then to 3.0 and then to 2.2.1. Going from 3.0 to 2.2.1 also requires iTunes version 7.7, so if you’re on a Mac with the latest iTunes, you’re shit out of luck – get on an old PC or run windows through a VM. I had to run iTunes 7.7 on an old crappy XP machine to make it work right also, it didn’t vibe well with Windows 7 x64.. And YES, I really had to go from 3.1.3 to 3.0 and THEN to 2.2.1.

To get a hold of all the old firmware revisions for the iPhone visit this page and select the right one, remember, you have to do it in steps, so if you want to go from 4.0 to 2.2.1, first you got to hit 3.1.3.

You’re also going to be needing a tool called iRecovery to get the iPhone out of DFU mode. If you’re on a Mac, unpack the tool into some directory then navigate to that directory (for instance Downloads) and in terminal type:

./iRecovery -s

Yeah that’s right, I had to drop in an absolute path to make it fly. Oh and if you’re going to be using iRecovery on Windows, instead of in Mac, don’t forget to install this little bad boy (Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package), otherwise the executable won’t work!

Anyway, to downgrade, you can follow this guide for instance, but don’t forget about the extra stuff I told you above – this is the shit that took me time to figure out.

Just read the Boing Boing article again (Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either). First of all that article reads like the worst kind of troll thread ever. But ok, I’ll bite :)

Incumbents made bad revolutionaries
I was a comic-book kid, and I’m a comic-book grownup, and the thing that made comics for me was sharing them

Gee, thats a nice story grandpa but we live in the real world where content publishers don’t want you to resell your shit. It goes for music, movies, games, books and…well yeah, just about everything. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it either but what the hell has that to do with the iPad? You really think the Marvel app for a desktop would be any different?

Infantalizing hardware

..Maker Manifesto: if you can’t open it, you don’t own it. Screws not glue…

Yeah I don’t care. I don’t care about that for my coffee machine, my fridge, my owen, my TV, my land-line phone, any of my previous or current cell phones, my remote, my car, my heating system and not even really for my desktop to some extent. See I don’t have the time or energy to screw in that shit. And I rather not have to either. But I see where you are coming from and to some extent I do agree, but again I just fail to see how this is very much relevant as an argument against the iPad since this argument can easily be applied to most of our house hold electronics (and yeah, even if you CAN screw something open doesn’t mean I or most people will, it’s a far cry between including schematics and having screws instead of glue if you ask me).

Wal-Martization of the software channel
And let’s look at the iStore. For a company whose CEO professes a hatred of DRM, Apple sure has made DRM its alpha and omega

I’m sorry but I think this is just dumb. First of all as I recall it the App Store was created because people wanted it, developers wanted to create native apps for the iPhone and not only apps built in XHTML/CSS/JS. Developers wanted to get payed, they don’t want to see their shit get stolen and they wanted to create native apps on the iPhone OS. Well it just so happens the weapon of choice for this platform isn’t Java and oh shit, I guess not enough people cared about that since iPhone and iPhone apps have been selling like crazy. I don’t really know how to put it any other way…hmm..lemme think…

PEOPLE DON’T CARE AS LONG AS IT WORKS AND WORKS GREAT. IF THEY DID THEY WOULD NOT BUY IT.

But that’s also the reason why I think the whole article is pretty much..blah. If someone doesn’t want to buy something, don’t buy it. To make a religion out of it is just stupid. I love open source, I think the latest Android devices rocks, I hope their will be a zillion Tablets that kicks ass! Anyway..where were I..

Journalism is looking for a daddy figure
I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who’ll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff.

NO. They’re looking for a slick, easy to use tablet with a content distribution network so easy a five year old could get it. GET IT?

Gadgets come and gadgets go
Gadgets come and gadgets go. The iPad you buy today will be e-waste in a year or two (less, if you decide not to pay to have the battery changed for you). The real issue isn’t the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.

Yes. And don’t buy hard-bread from Sweden (or Swedish crackers as Liam would say) because that means you’re supporting a socialist regime and that in turn could lead to the end of times. Wow man, way to be a downer. I’d say it’s far worse to buy a Windows copy or low and behold, a copy of the MS Office suite since that will truly and utterly means you’re supporting a social infrastructure of technically handicapped individuals (shit..not to mention enterprises!).

If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn’t for you.

..not unless you have an IQ over 30 and know that some of the largest companies of today didn’t build something you can physically touch but created software that runs on a little something called a web browser. But yeah, if you’re one of those many lucky individuals out there who surround yourself with friends who constantly create their own USB devices, for sure, the iPad is not for you…then instead get something which has a terminal prompt..oh and the ability to install drivers.

If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn’t for you.

..and neither is anything else so just off yourself why don’t you. Or well. Hmm. I guess you could try to influence the lawmakers in your country not to support out dated idiotic copyright laws. Or yeah, you could just vote with your wallet and make sure you buy awesome digital CONTENT that doesn’t have DRM (good luck).

If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you’re going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn’t for you.

Neither is Linux really where you can have a really awesome audience, problem is it’s not big enough. And don’t write music either since apparently (someone told me) making it in the music biz isn’t just about writing great music. Don’t write books either..or make movies..hmm shit…come to think of it.. most things are not really black and white.

Personally I’m on the fence about the iPad, I mean.. yeah I want one. But I think I’ll wait for some more candy in it. I do know I’m way more skeptical about using the HP Slate than the iPad. Why? Well because you can put as much lipstick on that Windows pig as you want, it’s still a pig. At least that’s my limited experience with everything Windows mobile. Come to think of it, that was an insult to all the pigs I’ve ever met :)

I just read a little something by Grant Skinner and what I don’t get is why not open source the player if it’s such a head ache for Adobe that some people make it seem? Because of course its profitable not to. See if it was open source there would be a LOT more “respect” throwed around than when you essentially lock your customers in and dont give them a choice. This is why I am frustrated with Adobe as with many other companies that has any form of monopoly, a history thereof or are part of an ogliopoly. This is why customers used to (and a lot still) dislike Microsoft, AT&T, Vattenfall, ComCast and even my own employer Telia.

This is why I dig companies such as MindTouch and others that have an open source core with Enterprise options/closed source built around it, and has a product that generates an output built in standards readable by all (in MindTouch case XML/XHTML).

To say that Adobe deserve respect and so on is true, all human beings deserve respect (plus Photoshop kicks ass…even though they are really bloating down their CS). To say that Adobe deserves CREDIT for being business savvy, buying up sweet IP, developing this IP and making good decions to get where they are now is equally true. But we are all doing them a HUGE favor by bitching and moaning. This all helps to give rise to popular opinion and in the end – options. For Adobe, just like with any other company that gets negative attention from its customers, it becomes crystal – it’s do or die time. And yes, everyone using a Flash Player IS a customer.

In the end I think Apple are actually doing the web as a tool for communication a favor by NOT including support for a closed prop. system that is A) WIDELY misused and B) a resource hog that for me in 90% of the time is making my browser blink, pop and crackle when I don’t want it too (ads). And I really couldn’t care less about Flash games.

To say that a user can uninstall Flash on their workstation/laptop if they don’t like it..well that’s kind of childish, that’s like me not getting any electricity from a company I dislike – see I can’t.. because I like hot showers .. just like to watch embedded web video. But believe me when those video sites go full frontal HTML5, my Flash player will go the same way Macromedia Shockwave player did a long time ago. Or maybe I won’t, maybe things will shape up and they will kick ass. Just look at what their doing with Flash 5 and converting AS to IPA.

Anyway. I don’t mind the “i-platform”, here I do get a choice because companies are FORCED to open up and build more effecient no-nonsense ways to deliver HQ video. And it doesn’t really matter if it’s Android or Iphone OS, you can bet your ass they will reuse those HQ streams in fast, efficient native apps for those platforms.

Kapow bitches! The Hulk is sick of puny homans whining!

1. “It’s just a big iPod Touch”
   Yeah? So? What were you expecting? Mac OS X + touch? So you’re telling me that if you could use your fingers on your laptop…that would be better than using the mouse? HAHA PUNY BRAIN!
2. “It’s got no camera”
   Hulk SAD about this too. Was expecting to cyber with She-Hulk….he he. But will probably be in next version. HULK IS HULK!
3. “No multitasking!”
   Puny! Hulk doesn’t care! Only time Hulk wants to multitask is to listen to music while bashing skulls. No biggie. NOT LIKE HULK!
4. “No really cool software”
   That’s why there is an App Store. HULK SMASH!
5. “No USB ports”
   PUNY! HULK IS NOT AFRAID…HULK IS STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!!! YOU WANT USB IN YOUR IPOD TOO? IT’S NOT A LAPTOP. USB YOUR FACE!

NOW Hulk says ENOUGH!

As usual I will wait for the Quicktime to be posted from Apples event tomorrow and stay away from online news sites, live blogs, email, chat, blahblah.

Microsoft eats them up. Seriously Sony. Do you have any idea how much you suck? Fix the following and all is forgiven:

• Universal voice. As it is we use Ichat or Skype to smoothly get a game started.. on a separate laptop. It’s embarrassing. Seriously what function does your current voice/video support fill? Do you think you can compete with Skype and so on? You think I want to have your power hungry, quite noisy beast running all damn day when I can just use my laptop or Mac Mini which consumes about as much power as a couple of light bulbs.
   
• I don’t want to login to some stupid webpage to see if my PSN friends are online. Ever heard of Jabber? Please make it so I can use any damn IM client (basically) to see my PSN friends.
   
• Nobody cares about Home. You fooled us somehow to believe in the hype. Home is shit. Admit it. And nobody wants to start a game to enter a game. Weak.
   
• Give us access to the RSX in Linux so we actually can use it for something.
   
• Add support for all codecs. It’s..beyond moronic to have to transcode on a PC to play something on a machine which could play 6+ 1080P streams simultaneously.
   
• Give us access to atleast the entire Sony Library of movies and music. And don’t just launch shit for the US. And make the EU Store as good as the US one. We also want a “demos” section and clear labels. God you suck so much.
   
• Make producers of games on your platform understand that Mouse & Keyboard is something a lot of gamers want to use. And no it doesn’t have to be unfair, look at UT3 from Epic. When you start a server it’s a simple “Yes/No” checkbox to allow players with M+K. 
   
• Ffs add support for USB headsets, enable output of sound through USB – not only input. Are you retarded?
   
• Stop the bullshit about “only possible on Playstation”. A lot of your consumers aren’t fourteen you know, we’re not dumb as bricks.

So I just got my Frag Fx Rev 2 yesterday and it performs a lot better than I actually expected (then again, I was NOT expecting a true mouse/keyboard emulator). In general looking up/down works somewhat less as well as looking to the sides..but it still works a WHOLE lot better than the PS3 controls for an old PC FPS gamer. Here are the list of games (most of em the demos) I have tried it with so far along with my reactions:

Killzone 2
Sluggish, not the best of the bunch that’s for sure. 4/10 (doubtful if the fx will actually improve things much here). boring game though so i dont care

WarHawk
Pretty decent, much better than KZ2
7/10

Mirror’s Edge
Really great actually, I ran through the demo quickly.
8/10

Battlefield Bad Company
Awesome much.
9/10

QuakeWars Enemy Territory
Felt very nice.
8/10

In general it feels like where the games have been made for multi-platform in mind – the control works much better, like if the game were designed around a mouse and keyboard this control will work better. My guess is that’s because on those games they start out with mouse/keyboard and then add support for the PS3 control as where with a native PS3 only title they might never involve the M/K in the same way. Me guesses this will mean that most games will work pretty darn great with the Frag FX. For me it was certainly a halleluljah moment since I have completley given up FPS on the PS3 (can’t stand it).

Today I was first looking to buy a bench to workout/benchpress on but since Intersport didn’t have the model I was interested in I decided to hold off on my plans and instead get the Dreambox that I have been planning to get for a long while now :) Should be getting it within the week or something.

Getting a bench isn’t really necceary right now either, I can just go to the gym instead. Our gym here in Stöde isn’t much and I really, really do not like the lack of a proper bench and good barbells and proper weights (they use machines with compressed air which I really don’t like).. but the gym will do the trick. Basically right now I just have to move my ass to loose some freaking weight. The 10kg+ that I put on when I stopped doing snus still haunts my ass..

Anyway..I have been reading up on the Dreambox and I am mentally preparing myself for a frustrating time learning how to upgrade/flash and manage my Dreambox.

I think it looks just awesome! So great to finally see something that really seems like a competitor to the iPhone (and no, I’m not counting the Storm as one since BlackBerries are rare here). Me thinks that Apple has a few tricks up their sleeve and as evident by their patents they were actually going to use that “dead” surface of their touch screen sooner or later. We’ll see when we get the “iPhone 2,1“

Phew. That was a MAJOR pain in the ass. After going through all different kinds of solutions including the homebrews (PSPRadio and another one) and using the custom internet radio..and TVersity… and trying to transcode with VLC I finally….FINALLY got it to work.

My mission was simple, get the mms:// (windows media) stream of Rix FM to work on my Sony PSP (running the latest firmware). I really didn’t think it would take me like 10 hours :) What I am now using is Orb running on a virtualized XP install on my Mac Mini. Man alive..the freaking things you do so that your girl can listen to her favourite radio in the mornings…and for us not to having to shelve out for an internet radio.

Things would be SO much easier if stupid Rix FM would just go Shoutcast instead of RETARD windows media for their stream.

Update: I can soon get rid of running Orb in a virtual environment since an OS X version is around the corner