[MOD/HOW-TO] Get ride of those pesky soft buttons and still have 100% use of device - Gen8 Android Development

Sadly i do not own this device anymore so will not be able to continue on this project. You all have been amazing for support and everything so thankyou to you all
Hi all.
I was fiddling about with this device the other day thinking, how am i gonna get rid of those annoying soft buttons that take up
screen space, so i experimented, and this is so far the best i have come up with.
**Also, please remember that I am not responsible if anything goes wrong, I am just sharing how I done it, do this at your own risk**
OK, here goes:
You will need to have Uruk Droid Installed 1.0 on your device, not only because it is rooted, but because of the useful
'UrukConfig' which we will need. link to Uruk Droid: Click Here
OK, first you will need Button Savior installed, this is because if you are in a game or a full screen app, you will have no convenient
way of getting out of it.
So go to the market and get it, install it and set it up. when you have set this up, you should have a tiny little button on the right
hand side. When you click this button, you will have a set of soft buttons to replace the archos's horrible ones.
Now that is done, go into your app drawer and open UrukConfig and accept superuser permission.
Once you are in the UrukConfig app, go to Options tab, click on Hide Soft Buttons, when this is done, it will ask you to reboot,
go for it.
Once back into Android you will notice in the notification bar that you will have Home and Search on the left and Back and Menu on
the right. Only thing is, the notification bar is twice the size...no problem...read on.
How to modify the notification bar to stay the correct size of 160 density -Thanks to sibere
First you will want to download the modified framework-res.apk by clicking here, this will let you have the default density of
160 while leaving the notification bar the correct size. After this is downloaded, go to THIS link and follow the instructions of the first post on how to install it.
Now you have successfully removed the Archos's soft buttons and got you full screen back
I also recommend using a different launcher from standard one, I highly recommend you use LauncherPro as this seems to cope with the changes very well.
Just make sure in the launcher, increase the amount of rows and columns on home screen and app drawer to make up for the density change.
The density change is an advantage anyway, give you more screen space for widgets and stuff, and i like it
FIX missbehaving Button Savior: Thanks to marcusmarcus
If you get a problem with Button Savior not working properly, follow the fix in this link: Click Here and it should work fine after this.
there are a couple of little problems i will try to find out how to fix:
-why the icons in the notification bar are tiny?,
-Why cant i use a screen density of standard 160 without the huge notification bar?, -FIX FOUND
-want to find out how to set the screen density permanently on the Archos 70. Normally this is done in /system/build.prop but with
this device it does not seem the case. -FIX FOUND
-Button Savior Back and Menu button dont work most of the time, finding a fix -FIX FOUND
If anyone can help with the above problems, please let me know, thanks
Anyone needs help with this, just ask
THANKS:
Thanks to marcusmarcus for discovering a fix for Button Savior
Thanks to sibere for linking me to notification bar fix
Screenshots
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If you like this, don't forget to hit the thanks button

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can you post some screenshots of what this looks like?
sounds like a nice mod
tnx

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*BlackMagic* said:
can you post some screenshots of what this looks like?
sounds like a nice mod
tnx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pics are up

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Does button saviour work well for you? I find it works once when you click back etc. The only one that seems to work everytime is home for me.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

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d31b0y said:
Does button saviour work well for you? I find it works once when you click back etc. The only one that seems to work everytime is home for me.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm, now you say that, I seem to get the same problem.
I will see if I can find a way to fix that or find alternative soft buttons.
For now if your in full screen app, you can hold the power button to bring up a menu, then click 'Buttons mode', this will bring up some buttons on the right hand side that you can use.

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d31b0y said:
Does button saviour work well for you? I find it works once when you click back etc. The only one that seems to work everytime is home for me.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this same issue. Found a fix for it at archosfans.
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?p=327012#p327012
Hope this helps

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marcusmarcus said:
I had this same issue. Found a fix for it at archosfans.
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?p=327012#p327012
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tested this and works great, added to my first post. Thankyou

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Or don't use Button Savior at all, and just long-press the power button (for 2 seconds) when you need the menu. When it pops up, press "Buttons Mode" and then do what you need to do. When you're done, and you have your menu back on top, just "X" the "Buttons Mode" menu out, and you'll be back to normal.
No reason to install more software than needed. Buttons Mode is built-in.

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Harfainx said:
Or don't use Button Savior at all, and just long-press the power button (for 2 seconds) when you need the menu. When it pops up, press "Buttons Mode" and then do what you need to do. When you're done, and you have your menu back on top, just "X" the "Buttons Mode" menu out, and you'll be back to normal.
No reason to install more software than needed. Buttons Mode is built-in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true but it is just more to do. Button savior is handy because it is ready to use and quick. Its convenient.

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I like Button Savior, but changing the LCD Density is a no-go for me. I can't read a damn thing with it set to 129. I'm getting old, and it makes all the text too small for my eyes. There is an XML in the framework-res.apk that controls notification bar size, I'll try to find it so we can keep the correct density. FYI, the bar gets big like that because the code is left over from Gen7's. They had the buttons in the bar straight from archos, and that's how big the bar was supposed to be.
IIRC, if I can find that xml, we should be able to shrink the bar while keeping 160 density, and therefore keeping everything else nice and readable.

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msticninja said:
I like Button Savior, but changing the LCD Density is a no-go for me. I can't read a damn thing with it set to 129. I'm getting old, and it makes all the text too small for my eyes. There is an XML in the framework-res.apk that controls notification bar size, I'll try to find it so we can keep the correct density. FYI, the bar gets big like that because the code is left over from Gen7's. They had the buttons in the bar straight from archos, and that's how big the bar was supposed to be.
IIRC, if I can find that xml, we should be able to shrink the bar while keeping 160 density, and therefore keeping everything else nice and readable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats awesome, I would rather keep the density at 160 as well but annoys me more having such a big bar. Thankyou
I will have a look into it also and fin out how to edit the framework-res.apk

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Pics from opening post aren't working.

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zxzyzd said:
Pics from opening post aren't working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOPS, sorted now, sorry about that.

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Reditus2 said:
Hi all.
I was fiddling about with this device the other day thinking, how am i gonna get rid of those annoying soft buttons that take up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the best would be if we create something like the option in the "3 seconds power press"-menu on Archos Gen7 (A5IT) that was/is able to blend out the notification bar

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Lennb said:
I think the best would be if we create something like the option in the "3 seconds power press"-menu on Archos Gen7 (A5IT) that was/is able to blend out the notification bar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know anything about the A5IT, what's this 3 seconds power press about?. if it sounds good, might add it!

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Reditus2 said:
I don't know anything about the A5IT, what's this 3 seconds power press about?. if it sounds good, might add it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean the menu with:
Power Off
Button Mode
Silent Mode
Airplaine Mode
On the Gen7, Archos added a option called "Hide Notification Bar"
Then you have option to play Games in real full screen And when you want to stop the game or go to the homescreen you need to select the "Show Notification Bar" again
If you want to do this you have to look at the kernel sources from archos but this option was added in a specific firmware update - i forgot
if you really want to do this, you should joyn us at Urukdroid Developement Thread
I think the other guys want this option in UD too

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Small bar with 160 LCD density
Hi.
I have a 70IT and using button savior so thanks for the trick!
To get a small bar with the standard 160 density, just look at this topic
It's working perfectly for me on UrukDroid .
BTW I also posted a patched kernel to get more than 100mA on the USB host and run greedy USB devices without a powered USB HUB. Check this out!

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sibere said:
Hi.
I have a 70IT and using button savior so thanks for the trick!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey sibere,
What do you think about my idea above?
I looked at the gen7 gpl sources but i found nothing..
Or should i search elsewhere?

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Lennb said:
Hey sibere,
What do you think about my idea above?
I looked at the gen7 gpl sources but i found nothing..
Or should i search elsewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno about gen7 but the bar is hidden on my A70S when I play games.
I have the icons in the notification bar and uses launcher pro. FYI laucher pro offers the option to hide the notification bar on the desktop too.

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sibere said:
Dunno about gen7 but the bar is hidden on my A70S when I play games.
I have the icons in the notification bar and uses launcher pro. FYI laucher pro offers the option to hide the notification bar on the desktop too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i know but how to do you switch over to showing the notification bar after play a game?
This was solved by the option in the menu on gen7