Okay, I'm really on the fence here. I've got ADB working, I've read the warnings, I've flashed my previous WinMo phones about a hundred times. I am also getting annoyed at the missing market apps and the incredibly awful 3G uplink speed of the 2.2 test build in my area. My phone looks in no way shape or form likely to crap out, needing the warranty. So the round is in the chamber, hammer is cocked, finger is on the trigger.
Only thing holding me back is the idea of the official 2.2 update coming out tomorrow (or really any point in the first half of the week), and having to reverse everything I did (unlocking aside, I get that it's permanent, for now at least). Which all revolves around extra work. I'm not looking to flash other ROM's at the moment, just get access to tweak a few things.
So...3 questions
1) Since I'm just going to root the stock ROM, and edit a few things in build.prop, do I need to disable the online app and info backup? I'm 99% sure I read somewhere that unlocking the bootloader wipes the phone, but that's not a concern as I could just let the thing boot after unlocking it and pull my info from the cloud. This is for AFTER I root (though if you're responding, you probably already know that).
2) Any way to backup a complete system image, so that I can revert to that when the official 2.2 comes out?
3) Which SU/Rooting method do you, the knowledgable and expert [insert additional groveling] reader, suggest for FRF50? I've seen Cyanogen's and the one on Modaco ( http://android.modaco.com/content/g...-erd79-frf50-superboot-rooting-the-nexus-one/ ) I'm guessing this is a "doesn't matter," but I figure why not ask.
Was this the wrong section for this kind of thing?
I'm no expert, just have had my n1 for a couple of weeks but:
1. Can't help you there, no idea, sorry.
2. nandroid backup.
3. I've read a lot about this and I'd go with Cyan's method and amon_ra's recovery. It seems like they do the job well. Plus if you search around, you'll see instructions on going back to stock recovery from amon_ra's, but I'm not sure about the other recovery image (or whether it would be the exact same procedure)
1. I really don't understand the struggle here. Why you would want to disable app backup in the first place? It's not like Google is persecuting people who unlock bootloaders that they might cut you off if they see you're rooted. Just leave it running so you don't have to install everything manually. Unlocking does wipe everything, so it'll be convenient.
2. Well yeah... Make a nandroid the way your phone is now and go back to it whenever you like. And if you like, you can restore just the system.img from fastboot.
3. I prefer the cyan method with .34 kernel. There were some people complaining that Froyo was really slow for them, but I haven't noticed that at all.
^
1) Was because of things I've read, that if you do X, you should turn off backup syncing to keep from screwing things up. I certainly have no desire to turn it off. I love it.
2)Thanks.
3) Thanks
EDIT: Done. That was stupid-fast. From installing the fastboot drivers to installing SU was 90 seconds. Add 20 more for AmonRa's recovery.
Titanium backup installed.
build.prop edited to allow protected apps and fixes to the missing ril info.
Glad it turned out okay!
I'm so glad to be rid of Twitter!
Thanks you for your input.
I’ve just updated from MoDaCo’s 1.5 ROM to the CM6 2.2 ROM and since it’s been so long (over a year) since I’ve rooted my phone and dived into all the information involved in doing so. Back then it wasn’t as easy as it is now with some of these rooting methods. In fact I remember it being a real mess ha. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583291)
So basically, I’ve managed to do quite a lot of things and I want to help a friend out but I want to make sure all my info is right.
ALL of this is basically on giant question. I just word it as if I know what I’m talking about. But please help me correct everything that is wrong (and I know there is a lot), help answer some of my questions, and even let me know where I’m right. I didn’t type everything up as questions so that it reads easier. If I need to repeat some sections to get clarification I can.
Customizing you Phone
The first step is to gain root access via installing (flashing) a recovery program (image).
This program (image) is only accessible via boot (boot into recovery). It allows you to make a back-up of the phone in its entirety, restore said back-ups, allow PC access connectivity (via USB), flash programs/files (“installing” in a sense), partition an SD card, perform various wipes, and some miscellaneous things.
Ok – I’ll pause here to get some info. Wipe Data/Factory Reset; this means erasing everything off the phone and it resets the current ROM back to its native state. Wipe Dalvik-cache… I’m not sure what this does exactly but I assume it has something to do with the programs installed or the SD card. Furthur, why would I want to ‘wipe battery stats’ or ‘rotate settings’ ? And wipe SD:ext partition has to do with Apps to SD?
Also, when you do these wipes and flashes and re-do your phone from scratch, the only thing that is never touched is the recovery image. It’s fair to say, when you flash the recovery image during your rooting, it’s the only set in stone thing on your phone… that is until you re-root your phone or flash an alternate recovery.
Apps2sd – When I first rooted my phone and installed MoDaCo’s ROM, I ventured into the land of Apps2sd. This too was a PAINFUL process partitioning my SD card and learning all about the ext2/3/4 and I’ve already forgotten everything. After going through all that to clear up what little space I had on my Hero, I then read all kinds of people saying Apps2SD is bad cuz it’s slow and blah blah. So I took it off. Now it seems that Google has made an Apps2sd native? I just need updated on the whole Apps2sd thing both in general and for the Hero.
Ok – Back. Some of the things you can flash are custom ROMs (a ROM is the Operating System essentially), data that tells the computer to work differently such as custom kernels (what makes the phone work, basically communication between hardware and software), new radios (what retrieves and uses signals), and battery stuff (what would it be called? “Battery kernel info”? haha). You can even flash programs right to the phone (apk files).
The biggest reason to root your phone, is to install a custom ROM. Custom roms typically cut out a lot of bloat that the stock OS would have such as un-removable programs (Sprint NFL and NASCAR… Thanks but no thanks Sprint) and OS things. Many developers have even tweaked ROMs to optimize performance and battery life. Why would the stock ROM not do this? And why would it seem the dev’s (developers) making custom ROMs are better than the devs at Google/Sprint/Samsung/etc.? Certain applications also require rooted phones (or just simple ‘root’) due to their extended abilities or required securities (such as WaveSecure?).
Reminder – everything is a question even tho some things have ‘?’ and some don’t. I know that I do not know what I’m talking about. I just want to confirm what I do know, and learn where I’m wrong!
Now some straight up questions:
When you get a custom recovery, ROM, and kernel on your phone… you’ve just about altered all major parts of your phone (software speaking of course)?
When you want to put on a custom ROM, you first wipe everything then flash the ROM. Then you may flash additional items such as gapps (google applications pack), custom Kernals, etc. When you want to change roms, do you have to undo everything and start from scratch and put new gapps back on, a new kernel, etc? What about just updating a ROM? What if you have a ROM you like, but just want to un-install(un-flash) gapps – possible?
[*]So example, If I needed something I forgot on an old setup – like a text message or file from EasyNote, I would have to nandroid backup, wipe everything, flash old ROM and additional files, restore OLD nandroid, grab the files, wipe everything, flash back newer ROM and additional files, restore new nandroid that was just created to be back where I started? (I actually have to do this too haha – want to make sure that’s right.) Basically I’m making sure I’m right about nandroid. It back’s-up all data and setting type files for current ROM?
What would happen if I tried to restore a nandroid back-up created during another ROM?
MoDaCo’s old custom ROM had WaveSecure installed with it so that it could not be removed. Is it possible to still do this with other ROMs?
Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps? Is there something wrong with them?
Back when I first tried learning all this a year ago, the Hero’s messaging app was known to be a real battery-eater and never slept so it was recommended to switch to a 3rd party and disable the stock app’s notifications. What’s the development on that?
I still have a whole paper full of other questions, but I think this is already getting loooong… so I’ll leave it here for now. The point of all this is to yes, educate myself so that I may help others…. But I plan on writing up a real all-inclusive guide to android and rooting and the like. I’ve searched a lot and learned a lot, but nowhere (including the wiki) did I find a nice, chronological guide of information. Hopefully I can fill that niche once I know exactly what I’m talking about, and even then I’ll need some peeps to clean my stuff up a bit. I also happen to be a filmmaker so I’d like to make a good video on this as well. It won’t be one of those videos where you can barley understand the person talking, shot in the basement with all the lights off, camera held in hand and shot with web-cam, etc. (Note: Just today I saw the XDA-TV post… sorry I missed it) D:
LAST NOTE:
Ok I promise I’m almost done. I just wanted to say that if anyone would not mind talking on the phone… I would love to just blow through this stuff a lot faster and be able to have a convo with some 1 on 1 feedback allowing me to get lots of questions answered. Even just 10 minutes would help me out tons! So if anyone who is a genious on this stuff (like devs… ) and wouldn’t mind chatting for a few – please PM me. I can do Skype as well.
I hope someone will take the time to answer you, it will help me too LOL. Last thing I rooted was the G1 years ago, & just yesterday rooted the Hero (& flashed CM6 today) I got off of Craigslist. Seems like some phones have better wikis than others.
I haven't been in the rooting/flashing game for a while since I've owned tons of different devices before & after the G1. Since then the only flashing I did was flashing Android onto a WM device LOL. Never bothered flashing the Vibrant, Epic, or Evo (sold, sold, & sold.)
Anyway, yeah, I hope someone answers! You have my support!
Root and recovery are two totally separate things - you can root your phone and not flash a recovery, it's totally up to you. Root gives you access to things on your phone, that you would otherwise not have - like flashing recovery, ROM(s), apps that need root access, etc. Goto the wiki there's a link which gives a high level idea of what root gives you.
Recovery - gives you features such as Nand backup/restore, wipe cache, dalvik-cache, flash stuff (ROMs, kernels, etc.,)
Apps2SD - allows you to install apps to the SD card. If you are using android 2.2 or above, this feature is available natively, so you don't need something line apps2sd
Now, answers to your "Straight up questions..."
1. Yes, once you root, flash recovery, flash ROM... you have altered your phone from a software stand point. You can return it to "out-of-the-box" state by running any official RUU provided by HTC/Sprint (for HTC Sprint Hero)
2. This varies from ROM to ROM, you should read the specific instructions provided by the ROM builder. About removing gapps, it is pretty easy to remove any apps once you have root access - read up the wiki or search for removing apps
3. Depends on what you want to get back - for all your daily needs, there are backup applications that can help you backup stuff from the phone, which you can then restore, once you have the app running and backup available
4. If you restore a nand backup, it will put your phone to a stage when you had created the backup
5. You will have to read up about MoDaCo ROM, that is a ROM specific thing
6. There's nothing wrong about the gapps - not sure what you are referring to
7. There are multiple messaging apps - handcent, chomp, google voice, etc. It all depends on your personal preferences
I would honestly recommend you to search on the forums and also visit the wiki. There's a whole lot of information about everything here. Also, Hero being a bit old phone, more often than not, the problem you might be facing... might have been already answered. Yes, it is time consuming, but will surely help you. The more you read, the comfortable you will feel.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help you further. Again, I started the same way as you, rooted the phone, flashed CM6, played around, something went horribly wrong, then had to RUU, root, flash... everything. But, that taught me a lot.
Enjoy!
So basically, I’ve managed to do quite a lot of things and I want to help a friend out but I want to make sure all my info is right.
Customizing you Phone
The first step is to gain root access via installing (flashing) a recovery program (image).
This program (image) is only accessible via boot (boot into recovery). It allows you to make a back-up of the phone in its entirety, restore said back-ups, allow PC access connectivity (via USB), flash programs/files (“installing” in a sense), partition an SD card, perform various wipes, and some miscellaneous things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure which phone you are working with, but I'm pretty sure, as a general
rule, you need root before you can flash the recovery image. Could be mistaken
on that, but that's how it was for my hero. Once you have the recovery image
flashed, you are correct, you can make and restore backups, you can access
the phone's internal storage and SD card, push/install apps, remove apps, etc.
Ok – I’ll pause here to get some info. Wipe Data/Factory Reset; this means erasing everything off the phone and it resets the current ROM back to its native state. Wipe Dalvik-cache… I’m not sure what this does exactly but I assume it has something to do with the programs installed or the SD card. Furthur, why would I want to ‘wipe battery stats’ or ‘rotate settings’ ? And wipe SD:ext partition has to do with Apps to SD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe/Factory Reset basically formats the various partitions in the phone's
internal memory, if you do a wipe and reboot your phone, you'll boot loop, as
the phone no longer has an operating system. To restore back to original,
you would need to use an official RUU as andythegreenguy stated. You can
get the official rom upgrades (RUU's) from your carrier's website.
I'm still learning a lot of this myself, but the Dalvik-Cache is basically the OS's
cache, which has files randomly dumped into it and removed from it. Wiping
the Dalvik-Cache is beneficial (and sometimes required) when making
modifications to your rom. It can help improve your performance under some
circumstances, but will make your phone boot slower while the cache is being
recreated. SD:EXT only applies if you have partitioned your SD, for example,
to be used with Apps2SD. If you have no EXT partition, you can't format it.
If you are using Apps2SD, and have partitioned your SD card, this will erase
the EXT partition.
As a general rule that I follow, whenever I am making major changes, and
especially when I am flashing between different roms, I wipe everything, and
repartition/format my SD card. This helps me to know that any problems I run
into are not caused by something from a previous rom that didn't get erased.
I've never messed with wiping rotate, but wiping battery stats can be useful.
Lithium batteries have a little controller board that basically stores the battery
state. Sometimes this can get messed up, and a perfectly healthy battery will
think it's out of power a lot faster than it should. Resetting the battery info
can sometimes fix this issue. A recommendation I saw was to run your battery
down, reset the battery state, let the phone die, then do a full charge/discharge
cycle. Never had to do this, myself..
Also, when you do these wipes and flashes and re-do your phone from scratch, the only thing that is never touched is the recovery image. It’s fair to say, when you flash the recovery image during your rooting, it’s the only set in stone thing on your phone… that is until you re-root your phone or flash an alternate recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorta.. hboot and the radio are both beyond the recovery, and messing with
either of those without knowing what you are doing can cause your phone to
become a brick. Any recovery you flash should remain in place unless you use a
RUU, flash a different recovery, flash a rom that includes a different recovery,
(haven't run across that except for the RUU's), or mess with the MTD partitions.
Apps2sd – When I first rooted my phone and installed MoDaCo’s ROM, I ventured into the land of Apps2sd. This too was a PAINFUL process partitioning my SD card and learning all about the ext2/3/4 and I’ve already forgotten everything. After going through all that to clear up what little space I had on my Hero, I then read all kinds of people saying Apps2SD is bad cuz it’s slow and blah blah. So I took it off. Now it seems that Google has made an Apps2sd native? I just need updated on the whole Apps2sd thing both in general and for the Hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps2SD is fine, any speed issues would primaryly be loading delays on slower
SD cards. Apps2SD also requires your SD card to be properly partitioned. The
Apps2SD that is in Android 2.2 is a little different, in that from my nderstanding,
it uses the Fat32 partition on the SD card, and thus does not require you to
partition your SD card. It is also to my knowledge only available on roms based
on Android 2.2.
A lot of custom roms have some form of Apps2SD now, but they require you to partition the SD card, and, as far as "speed" issues, I have ran my apps from
a class 2 card just fine, but moving the Dalvik-Cache to the SD card will cause
lag if you have a slow card. Class 4 or higher is recommended for moving your
cache.
Ok – Back. Some of the things you can flash are custom ROMs (a ROM is the Operating System essentially), data that tells the computer to work differently such as custom kernels (what makes the phone work, basically communication between hardware and software), new radios (what retrieves and uses signals), and battery stuff (what would it be called? “Battery kernel info”? haha). You can even flash programs right to the phone (apk files).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, you can flash ROMS, Kernels, Radios, apps (if packaged properly),
apk files that aren't packaged in an update.zip will either have to be pushed
via ADB, or can be installed from your SD card with a file manager.
The biggest reason to root your phone, is to install a custom ROM. Custom roms typically cut out a lot of bloat that the stock OS would have such as un-removable programs (Sprint NFL and NASCAR… Thanks but no thanks Sprint) and OS things. Many developers have even tweaked ROMs to optimize performance and battery life. Why would the stock ROM not do this? And why would it seem the dev’s (developers) making custom ROMs are better than the devs at Google/Sprint/Samsung/etc.? Certain applications also require rooted phones (or just simple ‘root’) due to their extended abilities or required securities (such as WaveSecure?).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as the biggest reason to root your phone, I would have to say that the
answer to that would vary from person to person. Most users root to install
custom roms, but rooting gives you full control of the operating system. Since
android is Linux, having root access on your phone will allow you to change the
things that you otherwise could not. Utilities like Titanium backup can be used
to back up and restore your apps and data, performance benefits are always
a huge consideration. Companies like HTC and Sprint don't take performance
concerns into consideration because they are providing a product that is in their
opinion disposable, and "generic enough" for most users. Asking why they don't
fix the performance issues is like asking why every car on the road can't run 160
miles per hour while getting 40 miles per gallon. Some people don't care to have
the fastest, most efficient phone, and some people can't stand having sluggish
and unresponsive phones.
Now some straight up questions:
When you get a custom recovery, ROM, and kernel on your phone… you’ve just about altered all major parts of your phone (software speaking of course)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a recovery, rom, and kernel, you've flashed all of the major software components
that you will be concerned about. Performance gains are all found in the ROM
and Kernel, and so most people have no need to go further than that. Basically,
think of the Kernel as the brain, and the ROM as the rest of the operating system
The recovery is important, but is transparent to the function of the phone once
everything is up and running.
[*]When you want to put on a custom ROM, you first wipe everything then flash the ROM. Then you may flash additional items such as gapps (google applications pack), custom Kernals, etc. When you want to change roms, do you have to undo everything and start from scratch and put new gapps back on, a new kernel, etc? What about just updating a ROM? What if you have a ROM you like, but just want to un-install(un-flash) gapps – possible?
[*]So example, If I needed something I forgot on an old setup – like a text message or file from EasyNote, I would have to nandroid backup, wipe everything, flash old ROM and additional files, restore OLD nandroid, grab the files, wipe everything, flash back newer ROM and additional files, restore new nandroid that was just created to be back where I started? (I actually have to do this too haha – want to make sure that’s right.) Basically I’m making sure I’m right about nandroid. It back’s-up all data and setting type files for current ROM?[*]What would happen if I tried to restore a nandroid back-up created during another ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try to answer these in one shot. It's recommended that you always wipe
everything before installing a custom rom, except if the rom you are installing
is *SPECIFICALLY* an update for the rom you are running, and the dev states
that a wipe is not necessary. Generally, you want to make a nandroid backup,
wipe, install the rom, make sure everything is fine, nandroid, install the kernel,
check things over, rinse and repeat.
In my case, I generally return to configs that I've already tested, so I skip some
steps, but the order is ROM, Kernel, then the other parts.
If you forgot a text message from another rom, as long as you have the nandroid
you should be OK. You can boot into recovery, make a nandroid backup of your
current configuration, then wipe everything, restore the nandroid from the
old configuration, retrieve your message or data, Then you can reboot, wipe,
and restore the nandroid from the new configuration. Keeping multiple nandroids
can be userful if you are using an AOSP rom as your daily rom, since on the
Hero, to my knowledge, you can only update your PRL under a Sense based rom.
A lot of users will restore the sense backup to update their PRL, then restore the
AOSP rom.
[*]MoDaCo’s old custom ROM had WaveSecure installed with it so that it could not be removed. Is it possible to still do this with other ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never used WaveSecure, but as a general rule, if you can download the APK, you
should be able to install it on any rom.
[*]Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps? Is there something wrong with them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people like fat chicks, and some people don't. The argument about
gapps is akin to asking what's better, PC or Mac, Linux or Windows, sports cars
or station wagons. It's all personal preference. What's right for you might not
be right for your best friend.
[*]Back when I first tried learning all this a year ago, the Hero’s messaging app was known to be a real battery-eater and never slept so it was recommended to switch to a 3rd party and disable the stock app’s notifications. What’s the development on that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The messaging app had a bug that would lock the dialer and prevent the phone
from sleeping. This bug was supposedly fixed in the 2.1 update, but 2.1 also
introduced a whole plethora of other bugs. Some people still prefer third party
messenging apps, but I use the stock app with no issues. on a good day I can
get 27 hours on a charge, but I do a lot and so most days I get 12 hours or so.
Hope this has helped.
LAST NOTE:
Ok I promise I’m almost done. I just wanted to say that if anyone would not mind talking on the phone… I would love to just blow through this stuff a lot faster and be able to have a convo with some 1 on 1 feedback allowing me to get lots of questions answered. Even just 10 minutes would help me out tons! So if anyone who is a genious on this stuff (like devs… ) and wouldn’t mind chatting for a few – please PM me. I can do Skype as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may sound strange from a guy with a cellphone, but I actually hate talking
on the phone. Feel free to send me a PM now and then with questions. If I know the answer, I'll help out.
I'm not as knowledgeable as any of the devs, I'm still learning all of this myself. My answers might not be
'correct', but they work for me. most things related to android have no 'correct' or 'definitive' answer, but
that's the beauty of a platform that can be customized to taste. We can all make recommendations, and
can even tell you our reasoning or logic behind them, but we can all also learn a few things.
andythegreenguy said:
Root and recovery are two totally separate things - you can root your phone and not flash a recovery, it's totally up to you. Root gives you access to things on your phone, that you would otherwise not have - like flashing recovery, ROM(s), apps that need root access, etc. Goto the wiki there's a link which gives a high level idea of what root gives you.
Recovery - gives you features such as Nand backup/restore, wipe cache, dalvik-cache, flash stuff (ROMs, kernels, etc.,)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah! So the recovery is a nice, built-into-phone way of flashing, whiping, etc; otherwise you would need to use the command prompt. (Correct?)
andythegreenguy said:
Apps2SD - allows you to install apps to the SD card. If you are using android 2.2 or above, this feature is available natively, so you don't need something line apps2sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. But does running apps from the SD card cause the apps to run slower or open slower? Should I keep primary apps or most commonly used apps on the phone or it doesn't matter?
andythegreenguy said:
If you restore a nand backup, it will put your phone to a stage when you had created the backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the Nand-Backup saves ALL information including flashed ROMs, Kernels, BatteryTweak, etc? What about information on the SD card especially not that apps can be moved there)?
andythegreenguy said:
There are multiple messaging apps - handcent, chomp, google voice, etc. It all depends on your personal preferences
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this, but I just wanted to know If it's a mistake to be using the stock texting app - if the messaging app in CM6 is even the stock one. I have tried Chomp and Handcent and I actually love handcent, but it's just WAY to slow.
I have searched the forums and wiki quite a lot, thats how I got this far. I try to search for some as many things as I can, but it's just hard to get some real clarity on some things and especially the broad things. That's why I plan on taking the results of this thread and making a nice 'general' guide and possibly a video.
Thanks a lot andythegreenguy. Appriciate the help a lot
To moxlon69:
moxlon69 said:
you need root before you can flash the recovery image
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are right. I was a bit mixed up on that (even though I've done it twice! haha)
moxlon69 said:
Wipe/Factory Reset...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lot of good clarification there. Very good, thanks!
moxlon69 said:
Sorta.. hboot and the radio are both beyond the recovery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah. What is hboot? Had some trouble finding general info on it. What is there to know about the radio? I haven't done it nor think i need to, but isn't changing the radio just the same as flashing something? (http://geekfor.me/faq/flash-radio/)
moxlon69 said:
Apps2SD is fine, any speed issues would primaryly be loading delays on slower SD cards. Apps2SD also requires your SD card to be properly partitioned. The Apps2SD that is in Android 2.2 is a little different, in that from my understanding, it uses the Fat32 partition on the SD card, and thus does not require you to partition your SD card. It is also to my knowledge only available on roms based on Android 2.2.
A lot of custom roms have some form of Apps2SD now, but they require you to partition the SD card, and, as far as "speed" issues, I have ran my apps from a class 2 card just fine, but moving the Dalvik-Cache to the SD card will cause lag if you have a slow card. Class 4 or higher is recommended for moving your cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I have a 2.2 ROM... would I need to make a partition? I never read anything about needing it in CM6 threads. What was all the jazz about making different ext-s? Like 2, 3, or 4? I guess it's not relevant any more.
How do you move the Dalvik-Cache to SD?
Quick note:
AOSP and PRL are not on the wiki - not that many people don't know what they are... but why not?
Q: Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps?
A:Some people like fat chicks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said haha. The whole analogy was good.
Thanks a million moxlon69 - That helps out more than you can imagine. I'm going to begin working on a write up of all this, but I do still have lots of questions. I'll probably continue posting in this thread for a while to keep it simple... unless I have an embarrassingly stupid question I can't find an answer for then I'll PM ya!
Thanks again moxlon69 and andythegreenguy.
Edit: This thread is going to become the tl;dr thread! haha
One more try.
I know it's a lot of reading, but any help you guys can offer is much appreciated and will be returned in the form of a video. You could then just send all the newbies to the video and hopefully many of their questions will be answered.
I just don't want to make the video without being precisely accurate. I have more questions, but I should probably wait for the current queue of my questions to go down.
Thanks again for the help thus far!
To begin, I have a basic knowledge of Android and how it works. I've rooted, bricked, and unbricked my fair share of Android phones, but the NC is a bit of a different animal to me... Phones are pretty consistent in their methods, the NC kind of caught me off guard.
I've perused quite a bit of threads in both the general and dev forums, and found multiple ways of doing multiple things which got a bit confusing, compounded by the fact that Froyo and Eclair methods vary quite a bit on some subjects.
I have a 1.2.0 "blue dot" NC. Things I know to be true:
Have to use latest CWM SD and replace the boot and ramdisk in order to root with manualnooter.
Have to use the correct 2/4/8GB image for my MicroSD (although the size-agnostic SD image threw me for a bit of a loop, but I'll stick with what I know works).
Here are my goals:
I want a complete backup of stock nook in case I have to start over for some reason. Boot, system, ROM, permissions, everything. What is the easiest and/or most complete way of doing so?
I'd like to dual boot stock and CM7 nightlies off of eMMC and use SD strictly for storage (and use a separate SD for recovery). If that's not possible, I'd like CM7 to be on eMMC and stock to be on SD.
If you've got the time and want to write me up a handheld walkthrough, that would be nice, but I don't expect or really need that. All I'm looking for is links to threads that will give me the information I need to figure out for myself what the best way of doing this is. There are a lot of threads for older versions of things, and some of the discrepancies between here and Nookdevs have confused me at times.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
There is a thread HERE , less than 5 posts under this one that explains exactly what you want done.
RussianMenace said:
There is a thread HERE , less than 5 posts under this one that explains exactly what you want done.
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I saw that thread and deduced that it was probably the best one. My only question left is, how do I make a complete 100 percent backup of stock in case I bugger something up and need to start over?
stankcheeze said:
I saw that thread and deduced that it was probably the best one. My only question left is, how do I make a complete 100 percent backup of stock in case I bugger something up and need to start over?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After you flash clockwork recovery, you can use it to make a nandroid (1:1) backup of your stock setup.
To get a backup: boot into CWM (whether from an sdcard or from emmc) and make a backup - just make sure you have a big enough card.
Then start flashing the zips!
That was my #1 question, I suppose. Nandroid works the same on NC as it does all other devices? I had just read conflicting reports about people fooling with the /system and /data and having trouble restoring from there even after the 8-boot "trick".
Yup, it does. I have needed to flash to stock and to make a bootable nook sd card.
Thanks for all the help, guys! Time to dig into this thing!
I have never really cared to have a smart phone but have decided to make the leap. Just got the bionic about a week ago. My question about the ROM's is what is the purpose of flashing to a different ROM? I have rooted my phone, thanks to Pete's Motorola Root tools and have used the Safe bloat removal script from psouza4. Also have titanium backup pro and freezed a little bit more that the script did not get. I'm very happy with how the Bionic is now, and looks like I'll be getting roughly 18-22 hours of battery life. I'm rather nervous to try anything else at this time but I must ask. Exactly what do all these different ROM's do?
They're mostly visual and user interface tweaks. Many of the people on this board are not fans of the stock user interface and prefer something cleaner- and often by extension faster. There are also a number of people running leaked versions of the official Motorola software, newer builds that take care of many of the issues the Bionic has. Once the bootloader encryption is broken it will be possible to run newer versions of Android than are officially supported- however for now we're stuck with a Gingerbread kernel.
In general, flashing your phone isn't something you want to do until you're very familiar with the process, and can weight the potential rewards with the risk of breaking your phone (and the near-certainty of a voided warranty). That said, there are always step by step directions on how to flash, and often ways to recover from errors that might seem like they've turned your phone into a paperweight.
Thx for the info MillionManMosh. I already managed to have to do a hard reset and when i got back it was stuck in the setup mode and I was not able to do anything. Thx to everyone's links and such I managed to find the stock ROM and used RSD lite to flash the phone and got everything working correctly again. I'm very interested in doing this in time. Will just hold off a little bit for now. I love how everyone that has wrote ROM's and such give terrific instructions on what to do etc. This is awesome and very much appreciated.
rom
sorry to jump your post 4x4 but i have a question. so how do i load a new rom on my bionic if the boot-loader hasn't been hacked yet? just switched over to android from blackberry and still learning.
np shadow. have you rooted your phone yet? Here are a few apps I have found through out this site that has helped me along the way. For rooting, you can use http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1279825 or even this root http://www.psouza4.com/Bionic/#windowsxp.. Can't go wrong with either one.. They are very straight forward. Couple apps to get would be bionic boot strapper. This program you can reboot in recovery mode. I used this lastnight to give my first shot at installing a ROM. I put Liberty3-1.0 on my phone and things went pretty smooth. Titanium Backup Pro is another great program. Here is a very good writeup and rooting, custom recovery, and turning off alot of bloatware.. http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/09/16/complete-guide-root-custom-recovery-backup-and-de-bloat-your-droid-bionic/ Hope all of this helps..
sorry, had to go for a couple of days. yes i have already rooted my phone. thanks for the links they were a big help.
not a problem. Hope you enjoy your Bionic. I had the samsung charge and brought it back and got the bionic and I am glad I did. I was happy with it before I did all of this and now I love this phone.
theshadow62 said:
sorry to jump your post 4x4 but i have a question. so how do i load a new rom on my bionic if the boot-loader hasn't been hacked yet? just switched over to android from blackberry and still learning.
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Click to collapse
First, the bootloader doesn't need to he unlocked to flash a custom ROM. All a locked BL means is that you can't flash custom kernels.
Since you're rooted already the process is pretty simple. Download the Bionic Bootstrapper app from the market or you can grab it on Koush's website as well. I recommend buying it from the market - its only $2 and it supports a great team of devs. You also need a backup program such as Titanium Backup. I like it the best and the Pro version is ABSOLUTELY worth a few bucks.
So download the ROM (zip) you wanna flash and put it on your sdcard.
First things first, make your backups. Start with Titanium Backup (abbreviated as TiBu a lot). Backup your apps by going to Menu > Batch > Backup all user apps. This will backup your user apps, those in /data. Not system apps.
Then open up the bionic bootstrapper app -- press "Bootstrap Recovery" and allow su permissions. Then once it says "success" you can boot into a FALSE recovery by clicking "Boot in Recovery".
This will bring you to clockwork mod recovery. Now make a full nandroid backup ... backup /restore > backup.
It will take a while. The bionic "system" is fairly large. I (as a precaution) reboot into android and let my battery recharge to 100% before continuing.
Once recharged, I boot back into CWM (clockwork mod recovery) via bootstrapper, then flash the zip in recovery. First you need to wipe your phone first, otherwise you will probably soft brick. Not fun. Just select "wipe data / factory reset" then select "wipe cache". Then go to advanced and select "wipe dalvik cache".
Once you've wiped dalvik, you can go ahead and flash. Just go to "install zip from sdcard" then "choose zip from sdcard". Important to note that there are TWO storage places on the bionic, so make sure you select the right one. If you don't see the ROM/zip you downloaded, select "choose zip from internal storage" and it should be there.
Then select the zip and let it do its stuff. If done properly, your phone will reboot. The reboot will take a while, so don't worry. It has to rebuild the dalvik cache for the new system. It will vibrate about halfway through the boot process. Then you will be right back at the initial android screen, but in your new ROM. Just sign into your Google account, download TiBu from the market and select "Restore all User Apps" from the batch menu and you're pretty much done.
*** A few IMPORTANT notes, however!! This is a RISKY procedure. The Bionic has a locked bootloader, which while it doesn't hinder you from flashing a custom ROM or overclocking, it does mean that your recovery options are somewhat slightly limited. So-called "soft bricks" are very easy to do with the new Moto devices. You should do your research on how to recover a brick using Fastboot and an FXZ file. I would not even begin to screw around in recovery in a phone like this until you know how to recover an unbootable / bootlooped device.***
If that helps, pls hit the little thanks button
[ sent from _base2 ]
---------- Post added 27th November 2011 at 12:26 AM ---------- Previous post was 26th November 2011 at 11:56 PM ----------
djr4x4 said:
I have never really cared to have a smart phone but have decided to make the leap. Just got the bionic about a week ago. My question about the ROM's is what is the purpose of flashing to a different ROM? I have rooted my phone, thanks to Pete's Motorola Root tools and have used the Safe bloat removal script from psouza4. Also have titanium backup pro and freezed a little bit more that the script did not get. I'm very happy with how the Bionic is now, and looks like I'll be getting roughly 18-22 hours of battery life. I'm rather nervous to try anything else at this time but I must ask. Exactly what do all these different ROM's do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was pretty much covered already... but... just to back up a little bit... ROM stands for Read Only Memory ... it's the part of your phone that you're not really SUPPOSED to edit / change. but developers and smart people ( ) do it anyway because we can alter the way that the phone behaves on the OS-level. For instance, I run Liberty by Kejar, Jrummy and syaoran... it adds a HUGE amount of functionality to my device that otherwise I would not have. It allows me to pick and choose parts from AOSP (vanilla android) and parts from Blur (Motorola's skin/ROM).
I like the increase flexibility, customizability, speed and battery life it offers. Most ROMs also have tools associated with them that allow easy customization for users that aren't as advanced as others.
That's, in a nutshell, what ROMs "do" .... make sense?
hey, _base2, thanks for taking the time to write out those instructions, the were very helpful. looking for roms to try now.
thanks again
I've found some dual boot solutions with other devices... mainly with the Bootmanager app, but our device doesn't seem to be supported.
Has anyone looked into this for the Captivate? I don't want to boot another OS, just 2 Roms would be nice, if possible.
I'm assuming I would have seen something in the forums by now if it were that easy though, right?
No dual boot.
Sorry.
studacris said:
No dual boot.
Sorry.
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I second Studacris' answer, but with one caveat:
There is a way to do a cobbled-together version of what you're wanting, but it takes a lot of steps (and as far as I know, is only really workable on i9000/at&t roms).
If you're ok with that, though:
1. Install your first rom. Get it set up how you like it.
2. Reboot to CWM and make a nandroid backup of your current setup.
3. Do the normal cleaning steps (cache, dalvik, user data).
4. Install the second rom. Get it set up how you like it.
5. Reboot to CWM and make a nandroid backup of this second rom's setup.
Now, in the future, when you want to switch, all you should have to do is wipe, install the rom you want to go to, and restore the associated nandroid backup.
Again, this isn't without hassle, and it's not really the way for everyone, but it's as close as I've been able to get to a quick-swap method.
i would like to add to jmtheiss's post and suggest making a backup every time you want to switch roms and deleting your old ones. it keeps everything organized and keeps your backups up to date with your latest changes.
also note that if you use an aosp based rom such as cyan that you will not be able to properly restore your samsung/att based roms such as kk4 without using odin to reinstall a "stock"ish rom, by which i mean one that was released by samsung (modified samsung roms generally work).
from my understanding its because samsung uses proprietary file systems and most aosp builds use ext4, and because of this when you try to restore a rom thats based on one system to a phone thats on another file system, it fragments or something.
hope this helps rather than confuses.
EDIT: reason for bumping such an old topic is to add some important information to prevent some users from having software corruptions.
Again your information is wrong. AOSP runs on YAFFS2 on a MTD partition while stock runs on RFS on a BML partition. You have to use ODIN to come from MTD ROMS to BML ROMs. Dual BOOT isn't possible because of the file system and partition layout that Samsung uses. It is possible on HTC because all of their ROMs run MTD (even stock).