When the Motorola Atrix 4G was first released, it featured an innovative WebTop platform that allowed users to connect their devices to bigger screens and do all kinds of fun stuff. Since then, WebTop has been hacked, modified, adn improved by the relentless developers here on XDA. However, it appears as if the end of the line is coming soon for WebTop.

XDA Forum Member Gendol has posted a thread containing GenTop2, which is one of the best Linux-based WebTop replacements available. With full support and plenty of modifications, GenTop2 has a lot going for it.

The installation process takes place almost exclusively in ADB, so users who aren’t familiar should read the instructions thoroughly before attempting. The process involves swapping the original WebTop platform with a full-fledged Gentoo Linux replacement. So, why should users of the Atrix 4G check this out? Because it’s incredibly cool. Of course, Gendol shares some other reasons why users might prefer GenTop2 over WebTop:

Programs are fully optimized for the ARMv7a CPU contained in the Atrix.
Thus the whole system is faster and more responsive.
No shackles put around the WebTop by Motorola.
You can install any program (which compiles on ARM).
All software (except X11) is fully up-to-date.
You remember old times with desktop computers having far slower CPUs and less RAM than your phone and you wonder what you can do with this pocket computer.

So besides a more open, shackle-free experience, there are a lot of fun features of using this instead of the included WebTop. Of course, there is a downside as well:

Gentoo is huge because it must install all development files.
The system and all programs must be compiled on the phone. How crazy is that?
Firefox could not be built. But, there is a smaller replacement.
Why bother using a phone, when you already have a notebook?

So if you must have FireFox or if you worry about your storage, you may want to avoid this. However, a few extra hundred MB to get Gentoo running on the Atrix 4G is a more than reasonable sacrifice.

If this looks like something you want to do, hit up the original thread where you’ll find, literally, everything you need to know about installing this on your Atrix 4G.

When it comes to Android, options are everything. That’s one of the big pluses to owning an Android phone. You can root it if you want, flash whatever ROM/theme/kernel combination that you please. In some cases you can even take your CDMA device to a different carrier. There is no other mobile platform with that level of sharing and options. And now for the Motorola Atrix 4G, the options just keep coming.

XDA Recognized Developer jokersax11 has created a ROM that gives Atrix owners enough choices to satisfy any flasher—for a while anyway. It’s called Kitchen Sink and it lets users choose from a variety of base ROMs such as CyanogenMod and AOKP. Once users choose their ROM, they can then customize their installation as they see fit.

Kitchen Sink is an alpha release right now, so expect there to be a few bumps and bruises. The number of choices are really quite extensive, and cover several full ROMs with options for each one. A few of the options include:

Full cm9 option
Full miui option
Custom build
Many kernels
Various boot animations
Couple camera apps
Range of fonts
Gapps
Custom regional GPS files
4 launchers
2 2d lib sets
Various build.props/tweaks
5 wallpapers
Ics reloaded
Google maps selectable with street view
File managers
Flash
Genie widget
Google gallery
3 music apps
Voice search
3 keyboard options
2 tts options
Much much more coming.

Still under active development, Kitchen Sink helps usher in a new era of end-user versatility and ROM customization. For more information, download links, a full feature list, and change log, head on over to the original thread.

So, you have probably seen some of the newer Android devices like the Asus Transfomer do something rather interesting. Their screens are set up in such a way that the device will accurately recognize up to 10 individual touch points on it. While the Atrix may not get that much from this new fix, XDA member michael0619 brings us the next best thing by providing a way to get the Atrix to recognize up to 5 points on the screen. Want to slash away on Fruit ninja? Now is your chance. In retrospect, 5 fingers should be enough as it would be somewhat complicated to get all 10 of your fingers on a screen that size. The dev also does mention that it is possible to get the device to recognize more than 5 points but it becomes less accurate. Finally, the dev provides two ways of getting this up and running: one via CWM and the other by modding a few things by hand, so choose your method depending on your level of comfort.

Please leave some feedback for the dev to see if this is working correctly or not.

More than 5 points is not perfect,but it can be identified.
use cwm recovery update .zip file
you can also modify the code in the file by youself

You can find more information in the original thread.

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Well, it seems as if we’re either in the Twilight Zone or in a parallel universe now.  First HTC and now Motorola appear to be playing nicely with us enthusiasts. In the latest version of the Motorola Atrix bootloader intended for Hong Kong and Taiwan devices, the bootloader appears to be unlockable upon entering everyone’s favorite fastboot oem unlock command twice.

Two days ago, XDA forum member tsouza noticed a rather strange incident posted in hex was observed in a thread asking for leaked keys on the Motorola support forums. While not exactly leaked keys, upon decoding, it read as follows:

Greetings, fellows. We know that you are dying for the unlocked bootloader. Moto is not the only “player” that has an influence over decision – carriers have their say in it too, so don’t just blame us – contact the carriers too. As a fellow engineer – my personal opinion is to not limit knowledgeable users by locked bootloader. But I also think that modding of the system sw voids the warranty – would you be willing to void a warranty by unlocking and modding the phone? Anyway, this is meant as a tongue-in-cheek little joke, not something to be taken seriously or to have conclusions drawn from it, nor is it in anyway representative of an official company view. Have fun!

Not the keys you were looking for? Certainly not. However, this gave XDA forum member eval- the idea to poke around the ascii and hex of several recent Atrix bootloaders. This paid off, as his search of the latest Hong Kong and Taiwan version of the bootloader yielded the following tasty morsel:

$ strings CG42.img | grep INFO
...
INFOUnlocking your device can permanently VOID your warranty.
INFOThis process cannot be reversed.  If you wish to proceed,
INFOreissue the unlock OEM command containing the unique ID
INFOof your device:

Ultimately, this takes us back to our unfortunate frien-emies, our mobile providers. As always, it is they who fundamentally control the capabilities and functionality of our devices, at least initially. For us unfortunate souls in the US, this means AT&T, a company known for disabling basic Android functionality such as side loading applications from the start. Android is not the iPhone, and it will never be the iPhone. Locking it down to make it similar to the iPhone is not the answer. However, in one fell swoop, a move such as allowing an unlockable bootloader on a sanctioned device would alleviate much or all of the generally bad opinions and publicity AT&T has earned. AT&T, we implore you to do the right thing and not hinder the power users who would, in turn, become your biggest advocates and volunteer sales people.

Venture forth to the original thread to keep updated on any further developments. As for the possibility of an unlocked bootloader on your own personal device, you now know who to contact.