Database Develop

Why use a cooked rom?

Well I want to start off by saying that I've rooted my N1 and tried several cooked roms including CM's and the Modaco version. I keep searching for a reason to use a custom rom. Every time I do, I end up reverting back to stock. I just don't get the purpose. I understand cooking Windows Mobile roms to get newer OS versions that included new features and stuff, and cooking in new updated apps... I've searched and searched looking for some solid reason to stay on a custom rom, but I can't find one.
The Nexus One is just awesome and pretty clean as it is out of the box. It seems like when I use a cooked rom, it's more bloated then stock and I "try" to make it work as my stock rom did, with same apps and homescreen setup (I like Launcher Pro/Dialer One). I know some of the roms include "newer kernels" which I'm guessing is like a newer build but I don't see anything really that "pops" out. I understand rooting the device to gain full access to the system. But you can root a stock rom.
I also understand porting different systems like Desire/Hero/whatever. But aside from cosmetics, rooting, overclocking, and undervolting... why use a custom roms?
And mods, I've searched and searched, and read and read, I've seen the stickies. I'm looking for specifics.

player911 said:
aside from cosmetics, rooting, overclocking, and undervolting... why use a custom roms?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you summed it up pretty well. cosmetics, rooting, overclocking, and undervolting.
For me, custom roms is worth it JUST for trackball wake up, and unlock, on the nexus. I hated having to use the power button way at the top.
For some, its so you can use an entirely open source phone, free from proprietary google apps.
The great chefs put a ton of thought into all the additions they use, create, and implement. Things that save battery life, improve user experience, or fix bugs / quirks.

There isn't a huge demand for ROM's for the N1 because we're at the forefront of Android right now. We're the one's with 2.2. We have flash. Everyone else is getting ports of what we get stock. This will continue for the foreseeable future, until Google selects another handset to be its in-house testing model, or launches Nexus Two/Dev Phone 4 (counting N1 as 3). Once we're obsolete, then, and only then, will you see the modding community pick up and you'll see big reasons to go with custom ROM's.

CM has the latest android code that is publically availalble. (He just synced code today). The little features that are missing are enough for me. Things like invisible lock screen, to the newly added gestures in the music app(great for driving).
If you're not a tweaker by nature then stock OS code will suffice. Me? I can't get enough of the new little things that add up to an overall great package.
/cm nutriding

Because it's fun.

720p recording.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=698287

Titanium Backup and N1 Torch

ATnTdude said:
There isn't a huge demand for ROM's for the N1 because we're at the forefront of Android right now. We're the one's with 2.2. We have flash. Everyone else is getting ports of what we get stock. This will continue for the foreseeable future, until Google selects another handset to be its in-house testing model, or launches Nexus Two/Dev Phone 4 (counting N1 as 3). Once we're obsolete, then, and only then, will you see the modding community pick up and you'll see big reasons to go with custom ROM's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea that makes sense.
I just feel that custom roms are more bloated then stock. I've been looking into trying one of the "Super Clean OC/UV Rooted" roms. But then again I think the stock OS is just the Bee's Knee's.

What is "bloated"?
There are zillions of reasons for custom ROMs, visual and functional:
Apps2SD
USB and WiFi tethering
Locales
OpenVPN
Dropbear, Bash, etc (better Linux experience)
Trackball colors, notifications
Torch (using flash LED as flashlight)
Deep system options made visible / changeable, lots of customization options
Most of Froyo features were implemented in custom ROMs way before Froyo test build.
My setup is VERY far from stock. And I use everything mentioned above. I can't even move to Froyo, because I need Apps2SD to work - overloaded with big apps.
I think that's a great reason..

player911 said:
Yea that makes sense.
I just feel that custom roms are more bloated then stock. I've been looking into trying one of the "Super Clean OC/UV Rooted" roms. But then again I think the stock OS is just the Bee's Knee's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No reason why you can't use Cyanogen's Quick Root + Pershoot's OC/UV Kernel on FroYo to benefit from rcxquake's wonderful modded Flash .apk and watch Hulu. It's obviously not quite as complete as CM 5.0.x (desperately missing trackball wake), and despite having root for some reason I still can't rm -f and pm uninstall com.amazon.mp3.apk from adb shell, but it gets almost everything done for me. The main thing that made FroYo live-able for me was the addition of ogdobber's Black Bar, which I had gotten very used to on CM5. That said, I can't wait for a CM flavor of FroYo...

willverduzco said:
No reason why you can't use Cyanogen's Quick Root + Pershoot's OC/UV Kernel on FroYo to benefit from rcxquake's wonderful modded Flash .apk and watch Hulu. It's obviously not quite as complete as CM 5.0.x (desperately missing trackball wake), and despite having root for some reason I still can't rm -f and pm uninstall com.amazon.mp3.apk from adb shell, but it gets almost everything done for me. The main thing that made FroYo live-able for me was the addition of ogdobber's Black Bar, which I had gotten very used to on CM5. That said, I can't wait for a CM flavor of FroYo...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried "adb remount" to remount the System partition in read/write mode first?

Why run a custom ROM?

I'm sure I'm setting myself up here, but what advantages are there to the custom ROMs at this point?
I'm running stock Froyo 2.2 (I did update the radio to 5.08, though), stock bootloader, and I'm not rooted. I'm on T-Mobile in the Tampa, FL area.
I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, or just because most people that are posting on XDA are running custom ROMs, but I don't really have ANY of the problems most people on here have. My battery life is great, and the phone is overall VERY stable. I've tried other launchers, themes, etc., but I always prefer the stability of the stock setup over aesthetics.
The few issues I have had I can attribute to poorly written apps (force closes, battery vampires), or known hardware problems (mediocre 3G connectivity at times, etc).
I can understand if you have a phone like the MyTouch that never got any official updates after 1.6, or you want to try the next leaked software on your phone. But the Nexus One has had tons of official support and updates up to this point. Before Froyo was officially released, I found myself better off with stock recovery to load the latest, greatest Froyo build.
Sorry for the rambling, but I would greatly appreciate any education I can get on what's packed into these custom ROMs that everyone gets so excited about.
THANKS!

Don't really feel like typing all the reasons haha, but there's a lot of stuff to enjoy with custom roms. If stock works for you that's great. I don't know anyone that's ever gone custom and wanted to go back but I'm sure it happens. End of the day it's whatever makes you happy. A lot of us want more than just a great experience, we want to see what's possible. You can view the changelog for the latest Cyanogenmod(most popular custom ROM) build here http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/froyo/CHANGELOG.mkdn

1. More control over the appearance of the OS. Get rid of that ugly white notification bar and replace it with a sexy black one, for example.
2. Removing the stock apps from the phone that you don't use or want. Why have them sitting there taking up space and potentially resources for no reason? Sure they don't take up much in terms of storage space, but if you use a lot of apps, every little bit counts.
3. Undervolting and over/underclocking. Get that extra little performance boost, or cut it back. When I was UV'd to 800mV and UC'd to 806mhz, I noticed no performance difference or problems (note: I don't play 3d games on my phone) and my battery life was insane. 24 hours of normal use would put me to 65% give or take.
4. Relating to number one, more control over other things. I've ripped stock, but customized, apps from random ROMs and pushed them to my phone. Black Facebook & Twitter widgets (white ones are ugly), darkened (black & dark grey) stock messaging interface with white text, etc.
5. Trackball Alert Pro.
I'm sure that others can add more, but the above are the main reasons I rooted mine.

A tiny little thing called Apps2SD+, for example.
Multiple audio/video decoder support.
Lots of Linux binaries bundled.
Lots of modifications to stock software (contacts, browser) that increase their usefulness (for example, do you really like to type "about:debug" each time you want to change browser client after reboot?).
etc etc.

Thanks for all the great info.
The underclocking sounds interesting. I don't play any games on my phone, and extra battery life is always nice.
I'm not too interested in customizing the appearance too much. Coming from an iPhone, I'm pretty happy with the looks of the stock Froyo UI compared to that.
Again, thanks for the time you guys took to give me some information. I greatly appreciate it!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Ryjabo said:
1. More control over the appearance of the OS. Get rid of that ugly white notification bar and replace it with a sexy black one, for example.
...
5. Trackball Alert Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was reason #1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 for me, respectively

Track ball skip song.. Enough said.

If I install a custom ROM, when a new one comes out, do I have to install the ROM from the start and I loose my setings etc. or do I just update it?

Depends on the ROM maker. Most make their ROMs backwards-compatible, so you can upgrade. Going between different makers' ROMs you mostly need to wipe and start fresh (though there are apps that can back up and restore pretty much everything).

I am thinking to try Cyanogenmod ROM, bot I don't wan't to cofigurate all the things when a new ROM comes out.

[Q] Which New Rom to use 1st

I'm a older newbe to all of this so please bear with me.
I have a Sprint CDMA Hero running 2.27.651.6 PRI 2.20_003 and PRL 60670 that is rooted using the Universal 1 click app. I have a new 8g card in it with the following apps already loaded
Astro file manager
Clockwork Rom manager
Titanium back up
I have done a nandroid back up before with my 2 g sdcard but not since moving the files from my computer to the new card. Also I partitioned the 2gig that was in it with the Clockwork manager not the amonRA version.I have no partion on the new 8gig card as yet.
What I would like to know is..oh hell..just about everything for this
What I need from my phone is something fast,reliable, bluetooth capable,a nicer typewriter and looks really cool,and doesn't drain my batteries in 8hours of just standby,along with a decent camera tweak that will allow me to try to do something with all of this red haze I have no matter what setting I try. What I don't want is something that is not stable and I have to keep updating or resetting it all the time becasue of the phone locks up like my Windoz TP-2 6.5
Is this posasible in one of the new roms that are out right now ? I have no use for the TV function or NFL foot ball..nor tweeting anyone of looking at facebook,or peeping them. I use Dolphin HD browser and a lot of the apps from the market like the level and distance measure along with the audio spl meters.Heck I don't use any of the Nascar stuff either..I would like to have my music loaded on it so I can listen to it at work and I want good calculators on it as well. I haven't really seen any of the different roms with or without sense besides Windows 6.5 and what is on my Hero and a friends Evo..so I really know which kind will fit my needs and I really want to use..
So..long story short..Please help an old geezeer figure this out
Mac

Hey, welcome to the forums. Sounds like you're already off to a good start.
Based on what you've said, I think you might want to try Darchdroid 2.8 first. Here's the link to that: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=703133
It's free from all the HTC Sense and Sprint bloatware stuff, no Facebook, Twitter, AmazonMP3 junk either. It's very simple, clean, smooth, quick, and most importantly, even with all that stuff taken out it's still very stable for everyday reliable use. It has a music player, calculator, and I'm pretty sure the camera in it works just fine.
You could also think about trying out Cyanogenmod 6, link here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755795
It's running Android 2.2 (the next version of Android with newer features) and is currently very stable for everyday use. But it's also still in the process of development, so there are updates and changes still being made to it on a regular basis which you may need to apply occasionally. Many users are very happy with it though.
Hope this helps and gets you off on the right foot.

[Q] Using LG Optimus 2X as a PMP need some help...

Hello all very long time lurker but am here now for some help. So a few questions and description of what i wish to achieve.
I have a POS iPod touch 4th gen that I have had 2 and half years or something and really want to replace. Also have an Xperia X10 and shortly will have an LG Optimus 2X. The X10 will function for phone duties until the Xperia TX become available in Australia.
Back the the O2X though. Now turning an android phone into a Portable Media Player (PMP) is something I have been wanting to do for a while now. Naturally though this brings up a few things that will not be needed.
For the music front end I will be using Player Pro and Pics and videos will primarily be held and viewed in QuickPic.
The phone will still need to retain wifi and bluetooth capabilities, however I want to fully disable all other forms of connectivity as I will have no need of it and will not be using a sim in the phone as this will be dedicated to music, movies and pics. So does anyone know the best way gor me to go about that?
I will also have a hell of a lot of unused and unwanted apps. I would love to be able to really strip the phone back and free up as much space as possible. Now in the past I have been able to uninstall pre-installed apps from my X10. I am just unsure how to go about it on the O2X. Does anyone know how I would go about completely removing the phone, contacts, calander, stock music, stock gallery and other assorted apps?
I would also need to be using a kernel with the voodoo sound mods for the wolfson DAC. Now I was wondering if there was any recommendations there?
Finally I would also like a recommendation of the most stable ICS based ROM to go with the voodoo kernel. I would like the ROM to also include a modifiable set of notification bar widgets so I can easily turn on and of things like wifi, bluetooth, gps, airaplane mode and adjust brightness. Anyone know of anything that would fit the bill?
Must also come with a working camera app (does not need to has video recording working or panorama just basic camera duties please). Any other suggestions that you may think of feel free to post them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope some of you can help me out here on my project to make an Android PMP out of a great little Android Phone.
Stoner
Note to mods: hope I am posting in the right section, feel free to move it if I am not.

Since connectivity is already built in into the android OS, you can't disable it, but I think keeping your phone in airplane mode all the time should do the trick. Anyway, taking out the sim card already disables all connectivity that involves telecommunications.
If you want to remove system apps, you have to root your phone first. The forum already has so many guides on rooting. Then all you have to do is use any root file manager, go into system/app and delete the apps there. Not everything can be deleted though, some are crucial for the functioning of the phone.
The other way is to download a rom, open the zip and delete everything you don't need that's under system/app and install it. No guarantees that your phone will boot up though, if you happen to hit an app that is crucial for the rom to work. Then you can flash the rom and it's done.
There are many kernels that use voodoo, just find one that fits any rom of your choice.
Finally: ICS roms still have some bugs, seeing that you are going to use it as a PMP, I recommend not upgrading to ICS or later until roms made from LG's sources start popping out. I hear that CM10 (that runs on jellybean) will be released shortly after LG releases their ICS update.
Almost all roms have a camera app, no worries there!
TL;DR Install any rom you'd like that seems to fit the bill. Root your phone, open the particular rom's zip file and remove apps you don't need that are in system/app, flash it to your phone (with recovery mode of course). Flash kernel to your liking.

Looks like LG is no better than Sony when it comes to OS Updates haha
shall look at stock based Rome for now then. Try and find a JB skinned one if possible.
Then play trial and error with what apps I can remove before flashing and which I have to leave and possibly just freeze. New it was something simple but its been a while. I hope I can remove all the basic apps that make it function like a phone otherwise I guess I will make do with freezing and hiding them. Love removing all clutter possible.
Will be waiting to see if CM10 can come along much less buggy than all the CM9 and ICS ROMs that I have looked at. Silly LG hampering the development of ROMs because there isn't an official ICS update to work off and its late 2012 already. Hoping for some good news though with what I have read about SK and them getting ICS.

Just installed my first rom!

With the help of my sisters bf we rooted and flashed the Synergy rom on my Bionic last night. I have to say it was pretty simple. Main reason for doing it was extended battery life, smoother operation, and free wifi tethering. Now since Im a complete newb. How do I go about customizing my phone a little more? Such as themes and so on?
Also whats some apps that I should get now that I am rooted (besides titanium backup)?

Congrats! I just installed my first Rom the other day as well. I had been waiting for a while because I was going to be due for an upgrade in a couple months, but it kept lagging so bad I couldn't take it anymore. Now I'm running the ICS based Blurry Maxx v3.8 ROM. I had been upgrading that to the 4.1.2 version but every time I did I ended up with problems and lag so I just decided to stay on v 3.8. Being ICS based and not kernal on kernal I have fully functioning camera and bt. I made a few mods to the battery icon (made him a little android andy) and to the toggle widgets you get on the drop down. As well I was able to chance my drop down and boot animations. I don't know how I lived before this it's SO much faster. Good luck and happy modding!
http://www.dropbox.com/s/65e0uudeefbjw3a/BlurryMaxx.png

Where do I download that kinda stuff?
Also I was reinstalling all my apps I had on my phone previously but now it says their is insufficient app space. Why isn't there enough space?

How big did you make the partition? You should usually do about 2gb/partition to have enough room for apps and stuff. Try getting a program like app to sd and moving as much as you can onto an sd card, that might free up some space. As far as the icons and stuff go I combined two flashable packs, one for the battery and one for the toggle widgets i liked and put them into a new systemui.apk Also I changed the background picture while doing this. I'm new to romming so i'm not sure if this would brick your rom and cause you to have to reinstall it as they systemui is for blurry maxx rom. I would assume it would be a problem. Also if you're not very computer savy I had to decompile and recompile the apk after editing, install, move to new folder, change permissions, then rename it. Kind of labor intensive and took me a couple reflashes to get it all right if you know what I mean. I can post the flashable update if you want to try to use it but be warned it may not work. Also send me a picture you would like to use for the drop down and I'll add that in there as well. Unless you like the one I have then I can send you the file in the morning. Happy flashing!