A. GETTING STARTEDAll you need to perform any of the modifications described in this writeup are the following:
• a Motorola A1200 (aka Ming) with a MicroSD memory card (= Transflash card) installed in order to copy files to your phone.
• a Windows PC with at least 1 free USB port (If you have a Mac, then read
http://mac.themotoguide.com/index.php )
• a Motorola USB data cable that plugs into the mini USB port on the bottom right of your phone and the USB port on your PC
• Motorola Phone Tools (MPT) installed on your PC - this is a program that should have come on the CD that came with your phone and should be used to back up the data on your phone (contacts, calendar, etc) before attempting any of these mods.
Rar Files
Most of the files uploaded on this forum are "rar" files. These are compressed files (similar to zip files) making them smaller to download. You need to install a program that can "unrar" them before you can use them. UnzipThemAll and 7-zip are two free programs that can unrar files. (Other users use Winrar though several users have reported problems installing files unrared with this program).
To use a rar file, you download it, then use the tool to unrar it before copying the uncompressed file(s) to the SD card in your phone.
How to Copy Files To/From Your Phone On the A1200, go to Application Launcher-->Setup-->USB Mode and ensure that “Mass Storage” is selected
Plug in the cable that connects the phone to the USB port on your PC.
Open Windows Explorer and ensure that you have “Show hidden files and folders” turned on in Explorer (Tools-->Folder Options-->View-->Show hidden files and folders)
You can now use Explorer to view the folders on your SD card on the phone. The SD card will probably be drive E: or F:. The root folder of this SD card shows directly under the Drive in Explorer – but its full path is /mmc/mmca1/ (i.e. if you copy something to the root you are copying it to /mmc/mmca1/).
You should see a folder called .system under root. If you do not see it then check you have “Show hidden files” on (see 3 above). You are only able to view/edit files on the SD card – this method does not permit you to view/edit files directly on the phone (which is why you need installer programs like MPKG and linloader to install programs on your phone).
You can now copy/cut and paste files to and from your PC to the folders on your SD card.
Unplug the phone when done. (Before unplugging, you should always use the unplug or eject hardware facility. This will ensure integrity of the filesystem on the transflash card).
Wait a couple of seconds then you can then use File Manager under Application Launcher on your phone to view these files.
B. MPKG AND LINLOADER Before you can install many programs on your phone you will first need to install the following 2 pieces of software that will permit you to install other software.
MPKG - a package installer that will allow you to install executable app packages of type **.pkg (similarly to a java app installer). Once MPKG installer is installed you can copy files of type *.pkg to the root folder of your SD card, then install them by opening the File Manager application on the phone, go to the system folder, tap and hold the stylus on the *.pkg file and a small menu should pop up. Choose 'open with' and then choose the "MPKG" app. This will install the app and let you see it and run it from the phones Application Launcher
Linloader - this is a program used to run shell scripts. Most of these scripts have the extension **.lin. Once linloader is installed these shell scripts are run by opening the File Manager application on the phone, go to the folder where you have the shell script you want to run, click and hold, choose 'open with' and then choose the "loader" app.
How to Install MPKG
Get the MPKG Installer “Mpkg_A1200.rar” file from here then do the following:
Unrar the file. You will see it consists of a folder called .system.
Plug in the phone, then use Windows Explorer to copy the entire old .system folder from the SD card to a safe place on your PC (so can recover if necessary). [If you can not see the .system file then you do not have “View hidden files” on].
Copy the entire .system folder from the rar file to replace the one on your SD card.
Unplug the phone from the PC and restart it. You should see a MPKG icon under Application Launcher on your phone.
You NEVER run this program directly by clicking it - rather you open other files that have an extension of *.pkg by holding the stylus on those files until a small menu displays. Select “Open With” and select MPKG. You should hear a bell indicating the program has loaded.
[If you have already installed some programs on your SD card before installing MPKG then you should uninstall then before doing the above otherwise you will not be able to access them anymore (phone doesn't find them). You can reinstall them when complete]
It has been verified that this method works for the following firmware:
• .08p
• .08p plus
• .53p
• .59p
It is not thought to work if you have 44p or 25p.
If when you install MPKG, and then you copy a xxxx.pkg file to your phone and try to open it wiht MPKG, but get the error message "Invalid application" - then it did not install properly. Try the other install method listed below.
How to Install Linloader This is the program that users have the most problems getting to install correctly - which may have to do with the version of firmware running on the phone. As a result there are several different methods for installing it described in the threads - as well as different versions of the mpkg and linloader download file that people say to use. The method I described work for me (on Bint 08p plus). An alternate method is also described.
MPKG must be installed first as you need mpkg to install linloader.
Download the loader_A1200.pkg file from here
Copy the file to the root folder of your SD card (Make sure extension says .pkg - not .mpkg)
Unplug the phone from the PC then use the phone's File Manager to find the file.
Hold the stylus on the file until a small menu displays. Select “Open With” and choose MPKG. You should hear a bell indicating the program has loaded.
Turn the phone off and on and you should see a Loader icon (a yellow smiley) appearing under Application Launcher.
Alternate Method
This method seems to work if you have generic 08p.
Try a different MPKG installer - download the MKPG installer attached in topic "Yan's mkpg and linloader.mkpg installer"
Follow the instruction given above to install it.
There is a modified mkpg.lin file attached in topic "Volume Increase". Copy that file and overwrite the mkpg.lin on your phone which is from yan's mkpg installer. (Not sure this step is necessary - but can not hurt!!)
Download the LinLoader.mkpg attached in topic "Yan's mkpg and linloader installer".
Rename LinLoader.mkpg to LinLoader.pkg before copying it to your SD card.
Follow steps 3-5 as above
If you can still not get it to work then see the full discussion on LINLOADER and the issues that users have encountered - see
http://www.motorolafans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4623&start=0 and
http://www.motorolafans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7776.
April 2007: If you can not get the above to work then check out this thread that describes Bint's superman app that includes both MPKG and LinLoader as part of its functions.