Android Archives

July 12, 2023March 30, 2025

Candy Crush Soda Saga

Play Candy Crush Soda Saga by King

A Sugar Rush

Lab Work – Teeing Up Candy Crush Soda Saga

Have a few extra minutes to solve puzzles and enjoy some candy? Candy Crush might be the perfect game for those game time moments!

Candy Crush Soda Saga by King is the sequel to the original Candy Crush Saga. I started playing Sugar at the beginning of 2023, fitting it in between sessions of Factorio and Clash Of Clans. Candy Crush is a fantastic puzzle game that will appeal to fans of Connect Four, Othello, Tetris, or paper crossword puzzles. It requires quick thinking and reflexes. Sugar offers great game play and animations. Personally, I prefer Soda over the previous versions of Candy Crush because it feels more polished. Factorio remains a favorite desktop game of mine, while CoC Clash Of Clans and Candy Crush, both mobile games, have been put on hold for now.

More Soda Saga

Lvl 55

Play Again

Play On

COC Dilemma

Let me explain further, in CoC in Clash Of Clans, I’ve been playing for over 10 years. I reached TH15, and maxed out before the wall max release, and I’ve tried out a few new characters. The game’s lifecycle has run it’s course for me. As for Candy Crush, the dragon stages can be challenging. It can feel like you might not be able to pass them without making in-game purchases.

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who have completed the dragon stages, but I have not. Kudos to those who have. I might need to do a little internet research, I guess. However, I liken the experience to my childhood, playing Gyromite, Castlevania or even Super Mario; and you can’t get out of the rut. I feel like I just can’t ‘beat’ a particular area/stage/puzzle etc. So, without going down the rabbit hole, what I tend to do is set the game down, uninstall until it’s time to pick it up again. I know brutal cycle… moreover, I tend to pick up the game every other month or so, a new install is a must. Perhaps it would be easier to just pick up with the dragon area…

Not a fan of Candy Crush game? No problem, let’s explore some other options before we finish up. How about the game of Solitaire? Go old school and grab a deck of cards, let’s play. Or maybe you’re up for a game of World War 3 play with friends like we did here, or take on the challenge of conquering the world alone. Not into ‘Risk-like’ games? How about trying out D&D? Check out Dungeon Boss – Revised. Still not interested? What about Clash of Clans?

In-game screenshots to follow. It’s been a month or two since my last play-through. Stay tuned for my gaming experience in the next few weeks!

September 25, 2022March 30, 2025

Galaxy Series Reset

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Reset

Samsung Galaxy Reboot, Reset, and Unplug

Galaxy Reset or New – Privacy, Backups, Access and More

Tech And Tools – Samsung Updates

Before we delve into our dual-SIM experiments, let’s address the Galaxy Series Reset. I wanted to share some Samsung Tips and Tricks that could help you remove unnecessary apps from your Galaxy series devices.

Let’s take a quick look at the world of ‘debloating’. We’ve seen an abundance of pre-installed native apps on various platforms, OS, iOS etc. It feels like were back in the 90’s with PC sales. This trend applies to both Android and iOS devices. Until we have a user-friendly Linux based mobile OS or an open-source mobile kernel that allows us to customize our devices based on our needs, we’re stuck with what we have.

Mobile phones come loaded with Google bloatware and the same goes for iOS. When did Homekit, Health, Health Sensors and Siri start coming preinstalled and running constantly, making it difficult to disable them? It’s a challenge that won’t disappear with this Galaxy Series Reset. However, a I’ve been exploring new settings, OS-specific adjustments, and techniques to reduce bloat, limit Google access. Whether you have a new generation Samsung smartphone, Galaxy S22, 215g or 10, or a later model, we have some fresh methods to help you regain control of your device.

Diving right into it, whether you’ve got a new phone or not, a hard reset is required… Backup what you need and store it in a safe place. Most of the time it’s automatically saved somewhere, but we plan to take back that control and manually take steps to move the process forward. The time to de-bloat or de-bloat your device is right now.

Short Tutorial

Fresh Hard Reset on your existing phone or set up your new phone from scratch to begin the Galaxy Series reset. First, do not add or allow any Samsung, Google, or non-platform services that you do not want running regardless of their power status. A prominent red warning sign advises against signing in or allowing data transfer to any external services that are not native to the system or necessary.

NEXT, let’s disable all permissions for apps, stop and remove permissions and alerts for any unwanted apps. This is crucial as we do not endorse the input/output of such apps. Particularly those that are third-party, external, and considered bloat that may track and access your data without your permission. Turn off all unnecessary apps or system apps. Additionally, rearrange your apps as you see fit, grouping Samsung native apps that are essential together in a separate folder with other Samsung or Google apps. Do NOT enable cloud services, sign in, or log into any systems that you may want to use later on, at least not yet.turn on cloud services, sign in or log in to those (any) systems you will want later.. so not just yet.

Wrap Up – Debloat Your Android Device

Finally, it’s time to reintroduce existing settings. We want to re-import contacts and any bookmarks or Same for any bookmarks or saved ‘behavioral’ help settings. Must Have’s must go for the Google/Samsung requests to access the phone. These actions remain out of touch and are not allowed. Let’s clean up the home screen to your liking and add email accounts as well. Browser settings when your ready, no go on Chrome, Google or Samsung Internet, we use brave with all turned off…

DON’T FORGET THIS, don’t forget to make sure privacy settings meet your needs. As usual, leave a comment below and let us know what you’re thinking?

December 13, 2021March 31, 2025

MBP Mid 2018

MBP Mid 2018 OEM Battery Replacement

Apple MacBook Pro Mid’18 Battery

Lab Work – MBP Issues

MBP Mid 2018 Version, Battery and Logic board Issues/Failure – perform a complete teardown, replacement, and reboot to fix there issues.

Background

Our primary machine is the Late MBP 2018 Battery Swap that we use to run the latest applications and code. Recently, it crashed during an upgrade for Mojave/Catalina to BigSur. This ‘upgrade’ coincided with the mid/late summer updates from WWDC. We experienced boot issues, kernel panics, and had to reinstall after reformatting form MAC Journaled to AFPS. We also had to deal with installer packages, boot scripts, and even installed Ubuntu 21, which resulted in a lack of mouse or keyboard functionality.

Battery Repair

Clean Drive

Utility Tool

Reinstall System

Remove/Update

Load OS

VBox

They say pictures are worth a thousands words or more, so let’s take a peek. Oh, and don’t forget ‘csrutil’ enable and disable for unwanted apps, native apps and clearing system integrity ‘issues’. This command only works when you run Recovery Mode, in Terminal Utility… we can just leave that there for another day. One other item to note, this is all MacOS specific. Assuming your running a MacOS alt OS on a Windows (PC), Linux, Linux Alternatives and/or VM, downloads are available and are similar when unpacking the root cause.

Repair Actions

Flash Old Version of MacOS and Installer Package
Create USB Install via Terminal
Etcher
Check OS Version (if possible) MacOs Version Compatibility
Reset PRAM, Run Diagnostics, Internet Recovery, Target Disk to Move existing files; all there, just make sure you know what version of MacOS. If you don’t, click the ‘Apple’ Icon at the top/left -> Select About This Mac -> Overview. This assumes you have a running version of MacOS. Or check the Apple Product# on the underside of your Macbook Pro and work forward…
MacOS Startup KeyBoard Combinations
Diagnose Error Codes -1008F, Address Overheating and Fan Control
Apple Support thread specific to -1008f
Remove Device from iCloud – Find Device, Disable AFPS Admin Security Settings
Backup Drive to external storage device
Handy Drive SanDisk Drive
Clean/Remove Drive, Remove AFPS Drive/Volume(s)
Internet Recovery High Sierra, MacOS and Installer Package (Pre El Capitan, Yosemite or Lion)
MacOS Mojave
MacOS High Sierra
Boot MacOS Install, Reinstall Existing Apps, Install Catalina working patches, updates
Install New Apps, Settings and Remove unwanted settings as it relates to latest OS
Maintain existing MacOS sans MacOS OS Upgrades or Forced Updates, Uncheck installation automation for all apps, requiring system to be manually updated
Bootcamp Install, Flash/Install WIN10, Throw-out old server (Z400)
Oracle Virtual Box
ISOs – MS – WIN10.iso, Ubuntu – Ubuntu 21.10
With the addition of MacOS Server

Takeaways

Key takeaways, include make/model, year, shipped quarter, chipset(s) and chip security settings. If your computer is locked, check the iCloud device status, remember install package pre/post logic board changes. We chose this route because all logic boards for this particular machine have been out of stock and remain unavailable for this model. It makes one wonder why. There is no need to replace the battery just yet, but we may have to do so on the second go-around. Don’t forget about our other Apple product posts, for example our review won the Apple Mouse, Apple TV 4K and MagSafe Battery Pack and M1 Visual Inspection & Teardown – which includes key, touch bar and screen repair.

When I have the opportunity, I will post a few pictures of Windows 10 running in Boot Camp, Ubuntu 21 running with keyboard and mouse support, and other images for MacOS Server, etc. As always, feel free to leave a comment below, let us know what you’re thinking!

September 18, 2021March 31, 2025

Oracle VBox – Virtual Appliances

VM’s (Virtual Machines), Easily Choose Another OS

Virtual Appliances, V Images, VDI’s, ISO’s

Tech And Tools – Virtual Appliances

Virtual Box Oracle VBox – Virtual Appliance(s), get it now… assuming you have had a similar situation where a different system for testing is useful. More so than the one you are using, are stuck with, or are having trouble running native apps.

Oracle Virtual Box – (https://www.virtualbox.org) is a great starting point. Be sure to explore the latest and best virtualized products. Ideally, it’s a useful ‘virtual’ appliance to have on hand in the shop, to run VDI’s – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or ISO – Copy (of the) Optical Disc Image. I came across an article about this previously, as I have written about it before, while testing other OS, OS Variants, Solutions, Drone Flight sims, Flight Configs, etc.

A note of caution, trust me, the Virtual Box tool is very useful of testing almost any compute/browser combinations. In our case, we prefer the Oracle product for non Windows needs, while Boot Camp works well for Windows environments pretty well. We will cover those another time, but for now check out this handy post to paste into your browser… Your choice – BSD, Fedora, Linux Varietals and more. Find alternatives, other image offerings: OS Boxes Linux Images – https://www.linuxvmimages.com.

Virtual Environments – VBOX or Parallels for MAC

REMEMBER TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Especially if you’ve made a very large investment into your craft or machine. Say for example, for a Puget Systems or MacOS MacPro computer. Check what’s there. It may take many, many, many tries) to get this stuff to work in an optimal fashion, but you’ll get it soon enough. Testing is key. Donate where you can!

A few other notes, I’m sure you have your own process, but we use Virtual Box for lots of stuff*… testing, games, browser ‘wars’, IoT stuff* and more*. Below you will find a few screenshots of Virtual Box and MS Remote Desktop. The goal was to cover as many systems, device varieties, OS images and tools as possible Always remember, just have fun.

Install and Boot

Download

Boot

Start Up

Launch

Good time to highlight premade, premier machines. Before we wrap up, have a look at Puget Systems, these machines are top of the line, premier computers, bar none; this one setup for Adobe software.

One last point, these virtual environments can be used for IoT testing. Note, that since the screenshots were taken/shared, we’ve added Virtual Box to MacOS, running a litany of ISOs. Those can be found here, included for your convenience! We certainly enjoy using this method for just about anything. Please see the posting on Debian Buster starting with the Ubuntu IoT ISOs.

August 19, 2020March 31, 2025

On The Bench: Tech Tools

Hemostats, Rosic Core Solder, Weller, Harris, And Jakemy

Tech Tools On The Bench - Soldering Kits, Tech Tools and More

Soldering Kit, Tech Tools, And More

Lab Work – What’s On The Bench

On The Bench – Soldering Kits, Tech Tools, Open Source OS and More

At first glance, our pro-setup, includes a solder kit and all necessary tools. It does the job well – I fixed the TinyHawk2 drone the other day. The nano was experiencing power issues with itsLEDs Having a soldering tool on hand is very useful. We use a Weller (soldering) tool for the job. Similarly, we have a Jakemy device care kit – which includes a tech screwdriver set, a essential for tech repair. I have used this set for repair. I have used this set for repairs, on Apple products, EMAX drones, tablets, and more. Eventually, we may upgrade the set but for now, Jakemy is the way to go based cost-effective choice.

RHEL/IBM

Secondly, the RedHat sticker is a memory I found, brought a found memory, brought to you by RedHat/IBM/RHEL (once an IBMer, always I guess). I have RHEL running in parallel with MACOS as I transition back into development and design. Now working full-time on my own, thanks to those at IBM, ((a special shout out)) to Jim Whitehurst and the RedHat Cloud team working with them was a joy, open source Tech Titans.

Next, I also have a few spools of Harris (solder) – Rosin Core .062″ made in the US. Harris solder is unbeatable. Next, I have a couple pairs of #Curved Hemostats, for repairs, which help keep pieces and parts in place. The same goes for the coffee mug I’m using, filled with coffee from Heart Roasters. I also have a few other repair tools, including tweezers and a tool kit.

Oracle VBOX

Lastly, I have RHEL running on VBOX. The cropped image does not show the development setup, only the repair tools. I have my MacBook Pro running VBOX with RHEL (Red Hat) personal flavor and Ubuntu. Moreover, I am relearning Linux Ubuntu, similar, but different from RHEL. As a dev type, I used a Lenovo Dev laptop running RHEL at work. Now, I am just running the operating system with the emulator as I switch it up and start building my own environment form home. Today, just running OS (version) with the emulator as I switch it up and start building my own environment for home.

As usual leave a comment below, let us know what you’re thinking? See a few new posts that might peak your interest: Matrix Power Supply, Heart Roasters, SnapDragon – Debian and more.