jueves, 13 de agosto de 2015

My ZTE Open Phone Finally Came Back!

Sometime ago, I managed to upgrade my Firefox OS on the ZTE Open to version 1.2.  However, this upgrade broke many things, like the GPS and other features.

No matter how much I tried to downgrade, the phone would never respond.

That changed today, though.

I tried a crazy approach and deleted a folder in the root folder.  Then, I put the 1.10B06 zip there and rebooted the phone.

While the phone was rebooting, I pressed the power and the volume up buttons together to enter recovery mode.  Once there, I selected the zip file without much hope because I had tried that a zillion times with no success.

But the phone acted differently and showed me a bar with the words "updating."

In less than 2 minutes, it showed "finished" and I rebooted the phone to a fully operational 1.1 downgrade.

The ConnectA2 app to use WhatsApp also works now.

Who would have said that a desperate move would save the phone?  But you know the saying:  Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% desperation! :P

On August and Broken Electronics

Some days ago, Nixie Pixel shared this image on Google+.  Unfortunately for her, August started with her cellphone, laptop, and desktop computer breaking.
One follower replied to her that he has seen that something always breaks in August and, therefore, he has learned to save money ahead of time, destined to the fixing expenses.

I was amused by the post until yesterday... The screen of my ZaReason Strata displayed a blue vertical stripe that eventually extended from the top to the bottom into a full line.

Blue line...
 
This happened because I was moving the laptop while carrying some books and I almost dropped it.  Not to let it slide to the floor, I exerted additional pressure on the lid against my leg and, surely, I damaged the screen.

The good thing is that there is a place nearby where I can take my laptop to have the screen replaced.  I trust the technician, too.

It turns out that I am the first client that brings him a Linux laptop.

He fixed the Strata fast and, as I tested the KDE effects on PCLinuxOS, he was impressed by the beauty of Linux. He also praised the solid construction of the Strata. He said that other clients have cracked the screen of their laptops with less than what I did to mine.

That confirms my decision.  I will keep buying from ZaReason. :) 

And the Magic is Ready!

Two weeks ago, DistroWatch reported that Mageia 9 had been released. Back then, I was swamped with work and, even when the Mageia notifier ...