Just a quick note to everyone who had shown interest in this: I have now released version 0.01 of Katian. This release mirrors pretty much the state of my machine right now and I am putting it out for anyone who liked the first version but is looking for fresher packages based on Xubuntu Karmic. I do not, however, recommend installing it. This version is still very rough around the edges and also a bit transitional since I will try to base .02 on Ubuntu proper (with Gnome). The reason for this is that I have run into some limitations with Xfce — I still love Xfce, but I think full Gnome is getting a lot faster on Ubuntu and since I’m not really concerned with .iso sizes I will try if it suits me more. And yes, this distro is bloody massive already.  If you want to try it out, I really recommend using UNetbootin to make a bootable USB stick — It’s so much more 21st century and also saves the planet by not coating it in unused Linux distro discs.

If despite all the warnings you still want to try this new version out, you can download it here. Make sure you have a recent backup and enjoy! And keep your eyes on this blog or on the Launchpad page for news of version 0.02 which should be arriving relatively soon…

Update: This hack is no longer necessary, since the version of SLS now available on the market has been patched to enable scrobbling to Libre.fm as well.

This tutorial will enable you to scrobble your played songs from the Android music player to Libre.fm. Thanks to JonTheNiceGuy for explaining to me how to do this, he did basically all the work!

Warning: Attempt this hack on your own risk. This might break your phone, your computer or blow up your house! The Linux Outlaws cannot be held responsible for any consequences anyone might suffer from hacking their phone in this way.

Prerequisites

You will need the following stuff before we can begin:

1. Install Version 1.5 of the Android SDK and set it up (this might also work with the newer Version 1.6, although I didn’t test that)
2. Install Eclipse 3.4 or 3.5 and configure it for the SDK as explained here
3. Make sure you have enabled “USB debugging” on your phone (do this under Settings → Applications → Development)
4. Install svn if you haven’t already done so (on Ubuntu, this is a simple aptitude install subversion away)

If, like me, you are using the Samsung i7500 “Galaxy”, you also need a special workaround to get the ADB working with your phone:

1. Create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules and paste the following text into it: SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="04e8", MODE="0666"
2. Reload udev: sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
3. Replace the ADB binary in the tools directory of your SDK with this one
4. Plug in your phone and start DDMS

Hacking Simple Last.fm Scrobbler

Once you did all of that, you are ready to start on the main part, hacking Simple Last.fm Scrobbler to report to Libre.fm instead of its “evil” counterpart:

1. Make yourself a new project folder, change into it and get the source code of SLS with svn: svn checkout http://a-simple-lastfm-scrobbler.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/a_simple_lastfm_scrobbler
2. Attach your phone to the computer
3. Open a new Android Application project in Eclipse and import the source code you just fetched
4. Navigate to src → com.adam.aslfms.service and open the Handshaker.java file
5. In this file, change the FQDN in line 187 to http://turtle.libre.fm
6. The whole line should now read: String uri = "http://turtle.libre.fm/?hs=true&p=1.2.1&c="
7. Save the file and push the green Run button in the Eclipse toolbar, in the popup choose “Android Application”
8. The modified application should now be installed on the phone and will be started automatically
9. Just sign in with your  Libre.fm username and password — happy scrobbling!

If you should be adventurous enough to try this, please give me some feedback on how you got along in the comments section. I will also try to answer any questions you might have, of course.

As I have briefly talked about on Episode 87, I have spend the last month or so remastering Xubuntu according to my personal tastes. I build the final .iso image yesterday and installed the first version of Katian on my main machine this morning. It still has a few bugs, but it’s mostly working and so I have released it earlier today as Katian Crow 0.00 — in case you are wondering, the distro itself got its name the same way that Debian did and the first release series is named after Crow, Adelai Niska’s henchman from the Firefly episode “The Train Job“. As suggested by this naming choice, we are talking about extremely unstable alpha software here. You are welcome to try it, but don’t blame me if your system looks like it went through a spaceship engine afterwards…

As I have said on the show, this isn’t really a distro and it isn’t really meant to be used by people other than me. It’s more about my personal choices in packages and desktop customisation than anything else and it is decidedly freedom-hating. It is also massively bloated, weighting in at around 976 MB, you could even call it Big Damn Linux in a way. I have learned a lot dabbling in creating this and will probably keep it up, if only to maintain my own versions for personal use. I am also looking at publishing a detailed howto article to document the process I’ve followed since a few people have expressed some interest in it. I will keep you posted on that endeavour. In the meantime, enjoy tinkering with the first release and file some bugs if you encounter any. Just remember to back up all of your stuff before downloading this!