Huck's Journal of Sorts

EDIT: Replaced download link with a fixed version as the previous one had a seemingly-intact yet broken boot.img that works fine at first glance, but would cause an error message if you attempt to perform an OTA update. Alright, I'm sure some of you may remember the now-infamous guide on how to turn that LeapFrog Epic demo unit you bought off eBay into a fully-functional device last year. It did work well by all intents and purposes, even going so far as being able to connect to LeapFrog services and download apps off their store, but the problem here is it relied on a method involving a workaround using a modified demo ROM, and the hidden Write Memory feature in SP Flash Tool (The secure boot feature in some MediaTek devices actually has this loophole where most critical system images e.g. boot and recovery are checked if they're properly signed on bootup, but system isn't for whatever reason, likely due to FOTA updates or something). Not to mention that the modifie...

Right now I am currently looking for the following devices to aid in servicing LeapFrog Epics: I honestly don't know if this would actually help with the locked bootloader situation we're having with LeapFrog, but I do have at least some hope on circumventing the restriction they somehow implemented. I understand if they did lock down the device somewhat for security's sake, but this basically left hobbyists, especially those who have been working with LeapFrog devices, in the dark, just as when kernel sources are available upon request. I know this sounds a bit embarrasing for me to ask for something from you guys, but if anyone is willing to spare a dime or two, please let me know so I can continue on helping parents like you and fellow hackers alike.

This will be a rather brief post, but let me just explain and ask you guys something. I do this stuff for free, and will be doing so for as much as I can, but if you really do like what I did, would you guys mind if I ask for a voluntary donation to defray costs (e.g. electricity, hosting bills, etc.) and for me to purchase devices, e.g. if someone has let's say a Nokia smartphone and as such I need a similar unit to test things on? I think some compensation would be nice so I can continue on this hobby, but after seeing countless "GSM" blogs by folks in developing countries asking $$$ for every single firmware they bragged about dumping off various devices, I felt a more voluntary and open revenue system would be better than be greedy and earn the ire of those asking for a quick fix like the parents whom I talked to earlier.

I once patched my Windows 7 install just after installing, well, to get rid of the annoying "For testing purposes only" nag message that comes with every beta copy of Windows. There are a couple of third-party hacks for this, most of which involves editing a system file named USER32.DLL. You can do it with resource hacking tools, by finding the strings related to the nag message, and then edit them out. Another method involves an automated script to replace the old DLL with a modified one. The problem is that when you try to replace the DLL in Windows 7, applications in compatibility mode crashes. I searched for hours just to find out the fix for this problem, and I nearly got into reinstalling the whole system. As it turns out, the permissions and file ownership have been changed from its default values. Modifying the file will impair compatibility, and causes a conflict of some sort unless if you give them the default permission settings (you can still use the patched user3...