How to convert a Dell Venue 11 Pro (5130) to Android

Disclaimer - this could cause data loss and render your tablet useless.  I take no responsibility for your data or system if you decide to try this with your device. This is no guarantee it will work on your device. Also this article is not an endorsement of any kind for the products or companies listed.

Early last year I received a Dell Venue 11 Pro (5130) tablet as a gift.  It had Windows 8 and even upgrading to Windows 10 I found it - well, not very useful.   Why you ask?  The applications I wanted to use work only on Android or IOS.  So hence another research project - this one took several months and then some!

I tried many versions of Android, Remix OS, 64 bit and 32 bit versions, dual boot options and design loads.  I will not bore you with all the iterations and failed attempts - trust me, there were many!

Remix OS for 32bit worked with dual boot and installing from Windows was straight forward using their install utility. The downfall, Wi-Fi would stop unexpectedly and usually in the middle of a movie, causing the family to look at me with a funny look. Most of the Apps seem to work, but first you have to side load google play using GMSActivatotr.apk.

Since the intense stares were increasing, I decided to go with a straight Android load and found a way to utilize the entire disk storage - there is a trick to get Android to recognize the entire disk storage rather than the default 4Gb storage.

What Worked and What You Need

•  A USB Thumb drive
•  The Android X86- 4.4-R5 ISO image
•  Rufus 2.11 install utility

Steps to install: 

Disk format utility in Android Install

Storage greater than 4gb default

1. Download the Android X864.4-R5 image to a windows pc.
2. Download Rufus 2.11 to the windows pc.
3. In the bios settings of the Venue Pro, you must turn off Secure Boot and ensure booting from USB is enabled.
4. Run Rufus, and pick the Android Image.
5. Pick the USB drive (be careful with this step not to pick your OS drive).
6.  Format and install the image as an ISO.
7. Boot from the USB drive on the tablet (either hit the fcn F12, or hold the volume down key after power-up to bring up the boot menu selection).
8.  On the Android boot screen, pick install to disk (3^rd option).
9. Using the disk utility, Select Create/Modify partition, pick all the disk partitions and delete them (this will destroy any data, so make sure you have saved anything off the tablet, this includes anything in windows as you will wipe that off the tablet).
10. Create a new partition. Pick a small primary size.  This is the trick I mentioned.  I made mine 1Gb in size.
11. Create a secondary partition using the rest of the space.
12. Write the new partition data, then quit the disc utility.
13. Install Android on the second partition. Answer yes to all remaining questions. Format it NTFS (ext3 doesn’t work - the tablet just will not boot).
14.  After it installs, it will ask about the size of the data.img file, enter the size of the second partition minus 1Gb for the OS size (this will take a while to write).
15.  Once complete, Reboot and Android should boot up.

Summary

The only app I found not to work so far is the Time Warner TV app. All household automation apps, screen cast (I use localcast), HD Movies, Kodi and others all seem to work and update.

I hope this helps others out and shows open source can work.  Good luck!

Until next time - happy computing

How to consolidate a business and personal phone!

Last year I was very fortunate to join Dell Services and received a new business phone.  This was awesome, but after a while, carrying two phones around was just cumbersome and many at the office also commented on this.  Given my telecom background, the investigation of how I could combine my services on one phone while keeping  my business and personal interactions remain as if I was using the individual phones began.

 Goals

• Have friends call me and receive the calls on my work phone without having them know the new number
• Receive text from friends and alerts and respond from the work phone as if I was using my personal phone
• Have access to my contacts, emails and pics, without mixing with my business accounts
• Eliminate the worry about losing personal info if the company phone needed to be wiped

 Device Details

• Personal phone  - android with a personal number for over 15 years so my number is out there
• Business phone - android- company exchange email 
• Windows 8 tablet - of course a Dell Venue 11
• Home PC - Windows 8

 Setting up contacts, emails and Pics

Since both phones were android, using the google account to sync my personal contact info and emails was simple.  This involved moving all my contact information from the phone sim card to the google account.  This can be as simple as changing what account the contact is associated within the phone, or exporting the list and importing to google contacts.  Details here, but my export function was down under several sub menus so you may need to hunt and poke around a bit.

Pictures, I decided to sync my phone and PC photos to google photos as well.  This allowed all my pics to show up on every device, even the tablet.

Phone calls

This was also a simple task.  Call forwarding using the phone dialing setup menu allowed me to forward all calls to my work number.  Since my google contacts were now synced, when friends call, it shows their picture if they are a google+ user.  You can also use the dialing command codes to control calling features.

Text/SMS messaging

This was the most difficult item to solve as I wanted my text responses to friends show up as if I sent them from my personal phone, but also allow business text to co-workers remain with the work number.  Each without requiring each group to program a new number.There are many programs that will forward text, or allow text to be sent to different devices, but most required a new number, including google voice.

The Solution - mysms.com
Mysms allows text to be synced across many devices including PC and tablets.  You can respond and it appears as if you texted from your phone.  There is also a sms mirror that you can load on a different phone that will allow the same functionality, only this is available in the paid version - only $10US per year.  Check out their video

So, on my work phone, business text shows up in the native messaging app, and my personal text shows up in the mysms app.  Mysms for text forwarding currently only supports the android phone, but you can load the mirror app on iPhone, android, or IOS tablets.

Hows it working?

So far, it has been working great.  The only issue I find is that you must to remember to forward your personal phone, if you swap during the weekend, and you must leave it on and plugged into the charger during the week.

Next up - Synchronizing calendars across the devices.

Oklahoma Joe Smoker Mods to make a great smoker!

One of my hobbies I have found is smoking various meats and trying new recipes to cook. Not to boast but think I am getting fairly good at smoking brisket, pork shoulders and ribs.  My thin tin can of a smoker finally rusted through the bottom of the firebox making it difficult to smoke anything to say the least - so here goes another research project!

The first step was researching various smokers and I decided on the Oklahoma Joe from Lowes. There are many modification videos, articles on YouTube and is what I based my modifications from - so thanks to everyone whom previously posted; that made my research and work much easier!

Modification Parts:

I ordered the following from Amazon:

• Food Safe RTV red adhesive 2.8 oz BBQ gasket grill smoker pit NSF silicon rubber High temp - Sold by: Island Outdoor, LLC
• 2" 550F(2-pack) BBQ Charcoal Grill Smoker Temp Gauge Thermometers  2.5" Stem
• 1/2" x 1/8" Nomex High Temp BBQ gasket smoker pit seal, self stick Sold by: Island Outdoor, LLC

With the smoker, I purchased the following at Lowes: 

• 2 - expanded sheet metal 12" x 24"
• 5 - 6 x 24 26 ga metal sheets for heat shield
• 1 - OK Joe cover

 Unpacking the smoker:

This is a heavy unit so you may need help with unloading.  I unpacked in the bed of my pickup and my son helped me unload.  Assembled it weighs almost 300lbs.





The first step was the firebox.  Using the RTV, make a seal around the two halfs and bolt together. Then I assembled the bottom, legs, stood up and added the top lid.

Around the firebox opening on the main unit, add more RTV.  This will seal between the main smoker and the firebox once connected. 

I put the firebox back in the styrofoam packing and using a car jack, lifted it up until the holes matched, then mounted the firebox to the main chamber.

I sealed the firebox door by mounting a metal strip on the inside so the door would seal.  As it turns out, my unit is so air tight now, that I might not of needed this mod.  I must keep the fire door open almost 1/2 and the flew open to allow enough airflow to maintain 220 degrees.


Add the heat shields from the 5 metal 26GA sheets.  For the firebox opening, I bent one at about a 75 degree angle and mounted to the bolts that attached the firebox.  The rest just lay in the chamber so you can slide them together or apart to adjust the heat transfer.  I also made a wood basket from the corrugated expansion sheets.  Just place in a cross, mark the lines, and then bend up using a 2x4 as the guide.

Once you are done, drilling and assembling, you can add the heat tape around the doors, add the temperature probes and follow the instructions to season the grill.

Happy smoking!

tim