Android: Install ADB drivers for any device without OEM drivers

Figure 1. Android Robot

Figure 1. Android Robot

Well, I started my Android development on a Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II. I never had any trouble getting ADB to work on Microsoft Windows since I had the drivers from Samsung which was already installed due to my previous Cyanogenmod installation process. Afterwards, I received a Nexus 7 and a bit latter a Nexus 5 which became my primary development device of choice. Google did a good job by providing ADB drivers for All Nexus devices inside the SDK or as a small separate download on Android Developers website which was very easy to install. The trouble began when my development process involved testing my applications and games on devices other than Nexus ones I had. For some manufacturers I was never able to find the drivers. Finding the correct driver for each device was a huge pain until I found a solution that became a remedy for all my troubles getting ADB to work with any Android device, even without the OEM drivers. It even became my preferred alternative to manufacturer’s provided ADB drivers for all my other devices till this day, since I hate the bloat-ware and useless crap they provide along with their drivers which is inevitable to install anyway.

In the rest of this post I’m going to share my easy solution with you:

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Book Review: Application Development with Qt Creator - Second Edition

Almost three weeks ago I received a review request from one of the Packt Publishing staffs to review Application Development with Qt Creator, 2nd Edition written by Ray Rischpater which has been recently published by Packt Publishing. Since I’ve been developing cross platform Qt (cute, often mispronounced as Q-T cue-tee) applications from Qt 4 era back in 2008 – when Qt Creator was not around yet and the project was running by Trolltech at the time – and a handful of Qt Quick mobile applications over the past two years, I consider myself eligible enough to write a brief review on it. So, I was provided with a review copy and after reading it cover to cover, my thoughts on the book are as follows.

Application Development with Qt Creator, 2nd Edition

Application Development with Qt Creator, 2nd Edition

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Wifi Fix for Asus Google Nexus 7 Cellular, When SIM-Card Is Inserted

As a Nexus 7 tablet user I’ve been struggling with my Nexus 7 WiFi from the moment that I’ve owned it. It was originally released with Android 4.2.0 installed. Nonetheless, Android 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 didn’t get me anywhere with the WiFi issue. In fact, you may have suffered from this issue, and are already familiar with. After inserting a SIM-Card into the device, Android asks to restart the device. However, after rebooting you will notice the WiFi module won’t work. No matter how hard you try it won’t see any WiFi network while keeps saying “WPS failed. Please try again in a few minutes”. Even tried an open unencrypted WiFi without any luck. In fact, the only solution that worked for me was removing the SIM-Card completely and do a factory reset.

Also as you may have noticed, it’s been quiet some time since an issue has been opened on Google Code around this issue on Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices. Unfortunately, it seems that Google doesn’t care about this issue at all, and they closed the issue while ago. Even worse, they won’t allow comments any more (At the time of this writing there are 1223 comments on the issue which shows how serious the situation is).

Anyway, if you’re one of the sufferers from this issue, still there may be some good news for you. It appears that the root of all evil is inserting a non-U.S. SIM-Card on your device. Hopefully, I suddenly came across an Android application called WiFi Fix for Android 4.x by Fardjad Davari, which completely solved the problem for me. It’s been a week since I tried this application and found no more issue with my WiFi.

In fact, the process is very easy and straightforward to follow. Here is what worked for me on Nexus 7 with latest CyanogenMod 10.1 nightly builds (It may work on Nexus 4 or Nexus 10, too):

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