Hackapalooza: making the iPhone main screen scroll!
All the buzz this evening is about developer "lg" and his wild plunge into customizing SpringBoard, the home screen application you see every time you power on your iPhone. Turns out he figured out how to burrow inside SpringBoard and get it to scroll so users don't have to use cumbersome application launchers and dock extenders. SummerBoard currently extends SpringBoard to add scrolling and wallpaper, with further features promised in future releases.
The secret seems to lie in tricking SpringBoard into loading custom routines and seizing control of the application through the back door. Lg calls his modified system "SummerBoard", a name I find especially droll--although I think "SpringRoll" might have better described the software.
The new software is currently available using Installer.app, which we have discussed in previous posts.
Now to the down and gritty. This is a first release. It's pretty cool but it's still a first release. I ended up rebooting my phone 5 times before I got it working. I had to launch an app, and then force-quit it by pressing Home about 4-8 seconds. Then it worked really well. So keep looking for updates. It's still getting debugged.
Lg says the software works by loading items into memory after launch. I took a look around and found /Library/SummerBoard.framework. This contains an alternate com.apple.springboard property list, a short dynamic library and a framework file. This seems to be what gets loaded upon launch on top of SpringBoard.
Congrats to lg for this clever hack.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jokerairwick said 1:25AM on 9-03-2007
Sweet. I went to install it right after I read this post. I just had to restart my iPhone once.
Nice app. indeed.
Now...if I can hide some of my icons...that would be totally awesome.
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Xavier said 1:49AM on 9-03-2007
I think I still like dock better... The home screen seems so cluttered without a clear row before the dock IMO.
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Timothy Chaten said 1:49AM on 9-03-2007
Well you can hide apps if you want
Just edit your springboard in rSBT move whatever apps you want to show to the springboard section and the others to hidden. Make sure you have the latest version but that works flawlessly.
Now one question, how could I turn off the wallpaper. I like just having the black behind for my springboard. Any thoughts or ways I can ask the developer about this?
Thanks
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MuscleNerd said 1:52AM on 9-03-2007
Congrats to lg.
This pretty much makes Dock/Dock 2.x obsolete.
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Fabio P said 2:09AM on 9-03-2007
works really nice, even has some cute animation.
but it sucks that it uses a wallpaper.
now i set me up with a black wallpaper, it works, but isnt that nice.
anyone how to disable to "feature" that summerboard takes the wallpaper too=?
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Sahil said 2:12AM on 9-03-2007
Personally I see Dock as an equivalent to Cmd+Tab and SummerBoard is just a natural addition to the main SpringBoard... My god all this stuff is still baffling me... I can't stop smiling as I use it all :D
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Mike said 12:27PM on 9-03-2007
This is nice for use on the actual spring board and dock is good for just a fast app switcher.
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Don Wilson said 3:39AM on 9-03-2007
I just installed it, restarted and it worked fine, up until I installed a few more apps through Installer. SummerBoard just started bouncing, moving up three times then restarting itself about 15 pixels down, moving up three times, again and again. Had to fully hard restart it (Power + Home, Power alone wasn't working!).
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м6 said 4:01AM on 9-03-2007
Yeah, it totally needs a black background option... Hack the Settings app to set that maybe? ))
Now the Springboard is almost perfect thanks to Nullriver. Now there's another thing – it's getting a little crowded. I guess we need app folders! Like you know, Nokia has.
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Joseph said 5:08AM on 9-03-2007
Response to #2 and #8:
I covered the iPhone camera with my finger took a shot which of course looks black, and used that as my wallpaper!!!
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Joseph said 1:20PM on 9-03-2007
Response to #2:
rSBT does not work for me as each time I try to re-arange my icons, i loose them even though the installer tells me that they are still installed!! I think there's is definately a bug in rSBT.
Has this happened to anyone else? I have a feeling I have to restore my iPhone and try re-installing everything :(
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DJFriar said 6:37AM on 9-03-2007
Response to #10: Its been updated to 0.1.8, and it works fine for me.
I am loving the SpringRoll (I so like that name more) app, butu I noticed that since installing it, I no longer get the message count on my SMS icon. I've sence moved it down to the dock as app #5 (the latest rSBT adds 5 icons to the dock option), and i haven't retested it yet though.
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AskTheAdmin said 8:39AM on 9-03-2007
It worked beautifully - easy install and it looks great. Thanks for this Labor Day Gift!
I just got it all loaded and Im off to the beach!
Happy Labor Day From http://www.askTheAdmin.com
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Nelson said 11:52AM on 9-03-2007
I was thinking of a home screen with 4 widgets on each corner (Games, Applications, Utilities, and Websites (for URLs and Webapp widgets that link directly to web applications)). Maybe a fifth button (PIM) for those people who want a special category (for the calendar, contacts, notes, etc.). Also, the home screen could maintain the 4 dock widgets (Phone, Mail, Web (safari), Music (iPod)). Finally, the home screen would have an option to place a personal background wallpaper for those who don't want a black home screen. Since the four widgets would be at the corners, it would be possible to view a wallpaper that would not be covered by the widgets on the homescreen. Each secondary screen would contain the widgets for the respective category (i.e., Games, Applications, Utilities, Websites, and PIM widgets), and each secondary screen would be scrollable up and down!!
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davrizio said 12:23PM on 9-03-2007
Summerboard rocks! It worked great with rSBT...
Nelson has some good ideas with the layout... This is the way I would go...
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GQmacguy said 2:16PM on 9-03-2007
@ #10... yeah I am not getting a message icon notification on my SMS box either; BUT if I uninstall SummerBoard, the icon shows my new message number, BUT then I reinstall and it disappears again. Makes me wonder how it is actually interacting with the icons.
For me, I also wish it would go back to the top of your list with you hit "home" out of an app.
Great little app though! People are amazing me more and more with this stuff!
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Jayson said 4:17PM on 9-03-2007
Anyone know where the source for this is hosted? Or is it closed source?
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David Heyman said 4:35PM on 9-03-2007
The lack of SMS notice drives me nuts, but i do like it better than dock.
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Alex Bratu said 4:50PM on 9-03-2007
How do I turn off the wallpaper feature in SpringBoard? I want to have a wallpaper set, but not behind my board, only on the lock screen.
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Trav said 5:00PM on 9-03-2007
ive installed summerboard 1.1 from installer app and afterwards i could not access my dock, the icons appeared but i could not make them work im running 1.2 update
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