im considering flashing a theme and was wondering does it affect the speed or stability of the rom? im on cynanogens later and want to flash darkstar.
No, it shouldn't really...
Actually, from my experience, theme almost always makes phone run slower...
protomanez said:
No, it shouldn't really...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Karolis said:
Actually, from my experience, theme almost always makes phone run slower...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that it depends on the dev.
Sometimes if you modify or replace a png file that is about 20kb in size with one that is around 200kb in size and if it's like that all across the board then it more than likely will make your device slow down or lag at times. Each theme is going to be in different sizes. The more space your theme takes up, the less space you have to play around with. The larger the png files the more the phone has to render to bring up the png file(s). So it CAN cause your phone to slow down and in some cases crash and fail completely. On rare occasions the developer may even remove files that are necessary and cause your phone to flip out while it's attempting to render images that aren't present. Or sometimes if an app or framework is modified then you might find files that aren't even used anymore and that were never deleted. All of this can have a negative effect and this is why Cyanogen and many other ROM developers don't suggest themes because it makes it that much more difficult to troubleshoot. The ROM may be fine but it could be the theme that's causing all of the issues. If you tell some devs that your phone is having issues and if you mention that you have a theme installed they will tell you to get rid of the theme and try it again. Pretty common sense really because it's all in effort to identify the problem.
So bottom line, if the theme developer knows what he/she is doing and has optimized the files properly then probably not. Hell... you might even get a performace boost and find yourself with more /system/ space.
Otherwise expect a slight decrease in stability followed by the slight possibility of acore errors.
I'm using the darkstar theme now and have no issues whatsoever.
Three days running with it and I've had zero hiccups and or FCs.
This theme just further enhances what Super D has been renowned for fast and stable releases.
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.
OK, this is a little strange, but I think the idea is useful for people that want to mod the ramdisk but don't want to fiddle with compilers and such. It requires a kernel, so I'm including a proof of concept here. However, once the basic support is in a kernel, you can change anything about the ramdisk and the boot process WITHOUT changing your kernel!
For example, say you want to change init.rc... You can do that, and if it fails to boot, if you stored it on your external SD card, just pop out the card and boot up, the change won't be able to copy over at boot, so you are back where you started. No odin, no kernel mod.
The basic idea is simple. It runs init.d style scripts (if found) BEFORE the android init process starts up. This allows you to change literally anything in the ramdisk without the hassle of building a kernel. You can replace the /sbin/init binary if you want to, whatever.
This also means you could install and/or upgrade a lagfix, even voodoo, by copying a single file to /system/etc/init.d and rebooting.
This is more useful for devs I think than for end users, but perhaps users will find it useful.
NOTE: This is DANGEROUS STUFF. If you store your files in a world-writable location like /sdcard, ANY app could change your ramdisk! As it is, any root app can do it with this change. Anything run in the pre-init scripts is, by definition, run as root. So watch your permissions and don't store stuff used by the pre-init scripts in a FAT filesystem. EXT2/3/4 and RFS will work fine if you set them to root-write only. If in doubt, use "chmod 700 <file>". All of this should be obvious to most people here, but I think it's important to point out just in case.
This is based on Unhelpful's 1.7 kernel. It runs great on my Vibrant. There is one known bug, it reverts the locale to en_GB on boot, which is mildly irritating. I can't figure out why this happens. If someone knows, please post. I did write a simple app that switches it back to en_US using MoreLocale 2 (market) on boot, if people want it.
Credit to Unhelpful (kernel source and nice build scripts), JAC and Supercurio (examples for setting up the ramdisk properly for this sort of thing).
All the init scripts live in /system/etc/init.d. P*** are pre-init scripts. E*** are early-init scripts run before /data and /dbdata are mounted, allowing you to override mount options and such at that point, S*** are standard init scripts that launch right before the Android OS starts up, so the full environment is available to them. So you now have 3 hooks to start init scripts up. The boot process will wait for them to complete, so don't do anything that takes a long time if you don't have to, or start it in the background with "cmd &" or similar.
http://www.tabbal.net/files/t959-ttabbal-v1.0.tar
Flash with Odin. I'll consider putting up a ZIP later. Please, be at a computer with Odin and a known good kernel when you do this, this should be considered beta at best. Hardware locked phones should probably avoid this as well. Also, disable voodoo before messing with this, it does not include the voodoo script. If you really want to try it, you should be able to copy it to the init.d directory, but it would be better to wait a bit.
If it works well, hopefully other kernel devs will include the framework. I may also start posting updates from Unhelpful's git tree if there is interest as well now that I have a decent environment set up. See his thread in the Captivate forum for details on what changes have been done. OC/UV is supported, but I haven't worked with it much. You have to enable it by creating a config file and putting it on the phone. I'd recommend the external SD card in case you have a problem with a bad config, so you can pull the card and boot without clock changes. The OC/UV config can also be changed at runtime.
There is no need to pre-flash anything, and init.d need not exist or have any scripts in it. The system will boot fine without them.
If you try it, please post your thoughts. I'd like to see if there is interest for this line of work. If you don't understand a thing I said above, please don't install it.
Updates:
http://www.tabbal.net/files/Kernel-ttabbal-v1.2.zip
http://www.tabbal.net/files/Kernel-ttabbal-v1.4.zip
http://www.tabbal.net/files/z4mod-ttabbal-v1.1.zip
Wow, I am afraid to mess with this today. (expecting an important phone call)
I will flash it tomorrow morning however. And post some results, I have an idea about what to do with this.
Thanks Travis!
I hope you find it useful! I forgot to note one thing. If you want to see what your pre-init scripts are up to, there's some info in /init.log. Not a ton, but you can at least see if your script was started and such from there.
Also, if anyone cares, it works on Frankin-Twiz Final. I decided to check it out once I got this little project working.
I'm curious to see what people come up with, I've seen some complaints about not being able to edit the ramdisk without building a kernel. So now they can.
ttabbal said:
I hope you find it useful! I forgot to note one thing. If you want to see what your pre-init scripts are up to, there's some info in /init.log. Not a ton, but you can at least see if your script was started and such from there.
Also, if anyone cares, it works on Frankin-Twiz Final. I decided to check it out once I got this little project working.
I'm curious to see what people come up with, I've seen some complaints about not being able to edit the ramdisk without building a kernel. So now they can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mind sharing your init setup. I am familiar with Unhelpfuls method and just want to see what you have changed from his.
I stayed away from his method with Voodoo as it was causing issues at diff points of development and went with the run-parts solution. But it may be in better shape now that you have gone over it.
Most users will only need one hook but options are always good.
I've always been one the fence about the runtime OC/UV. Most people are looking for a stable voltage file that will work with their phones in the thread, but it is def awesome for those that are familiar with what they are doing.
justanothercrowd said:
You mind sharing your init setup. I am familiar with Unhelpfuls method and just want to see what you have changed from his.
I stayed away from his method with Voodoo as it was causing issues at diff points of development and went with the run-parts solution. But it may be in better shape now that you have gone over it.
Most users will only need one hook but options are always good.
I've always been one the fence about the runtime OC/UV. Most people are looking for a stable voltage file that will work with their phones in the thread, but it is def awesome for those that are familiar with what they are doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Talk to braka, we been hi-jacking the init for a bit, I've been working on getting a Desire pport working on are rom.. ( Well, barak has been hi-jacking the init ) I just build kernels.
justanothercrowd said:
You mind sharing your init setup. I am familiar with Unhelpfuls method and just want to see what you have changed from his.
I stayed away from his method with Voodoo as it was causing issues at diff points of development and went with the run-parts solution. But it may be in better shape now that you have gone over it.
Most users will only need one hook but options are always good.
I've always been one the fence about the runtime OC/UV. Most people are looking for a stable voltage file that will work with their phones in the thread, but it is def awesome for those that are familiar with what they are doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The whole ramdisk is here:
http://github.com/travistabbal/linux-galaxy/tree/ttabbal-v1.0/usr/initrd_files_t959/
The pre-init stuff is in /init.sh.
The basic stuff is the same as his really, I just put the sync hooks in to stall the boot based on an older version of his stuff. The current version didn't seem to work for me. The boot didn't wait, and I couldn't see any reason it would, so I just used the property setting style.
As I said, I haven't tried voodoo with it yet, but I don't see any reason it wouldn't work. You might want to pull the "exec /sbin/init" out if you want more pre-init scripts available, but other than that, it should work fine. A fair bit of the ramdisk came from your voodoo release, useful stuff in there.
If you see any issues with the init.d stuff, let me know and I'll look into them and if I can fix them, send a pull request over to Unhelpful.
Yeah, 3 hooks is overkill, but I figured there might be some use for them all. Most scripts can run in the "standard" hook and work just fine.
I kept the runtime OC/UV stuff just because it was more work to take it out. If you have a nice stable file, I'm happy to include it in the downloads as a default. I'm sure I could pull at least older versions from your github, I honestly haven't messed with it much beyond adding the 600Mhz step and seeing that the phone would use it. I honestly don't see much call for changing that stuff constantly at runtime, but it's nice for experimenting. If it crashes due to low voltage, just reboot and no harm done.
As I'm sure someone will ask, no I won't test it with voodoo. I can't, my phone has the extra NAND so it's not compatible with voodoo. When Beta5 comes out, I'll test it though.
I'm uploading a 1.1 now. The only big change is that I've fixed the backlight notification patch from Unhelpful's tree so it works with Vibrant now! Install the kernel, then copy lights.default.so to /system/lib/hw to get apps able to use it. Anything that can do LED notifications now turns on the button backlights instead.
See the other BLN threads for Q&A's, etc.. The big one, no, we can't flash/fade the LEDs. It would require changes to the binary firmware and nobody wants to try writing it.
http://www.tabbal.net/files/t959-ttabbal-v1.1.tar
http://www.tabbal.net/files/lights.default.so
This has been tested on my phone running Bionix 1.7 and worked with the MMS and GMail apps. I haven't tested the others.
Again, it's an Odin tar file. Put it in the PDA section and flash. If people ask for an update.zip, I'll put one together.
The warning above applies. This flashes a kernel, so it will overwrite whatever you have now. So if you have voodoo, disable it or add the voodoo script to init.d with an E prefix ie. "Evoodoo".
Thanks
I've been looking forward for a way to use the backlight buttons as notification since the phone came out and the idea was hatched a few days later. I'm admittedly new to all this so I have no idea what else this is capable of but I am VERY thankful for the button lights. Also there is another xda thread up with many replies and people offering up some rewards for making this work.
Can this be applied to eugenes froyo ?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
dzeinz said:
I've been looking forward for a way to use the backlight buttons as notification since the phone came out and the idea was hatched a few days later. I'm admittedly new to all this so I have no idea what else this is capable of but I am VERY thankful for the button lights. Also there is another xda thread up with many replies and people offering up some rewards for making this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rewards? Heh... I had no idea people were that interested in it. Hope it helps. My github has source, so I hope other kernel devs for vibrant add it.
skater991 said:
Can this be applied to eugenes froyo ?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure. Froyo usually needs a different kernel. If JAC or KK kernels work, this one should. At worst, it will boot loop and you will have to flash a compatible kernel in download mode. So make sure you can get into download mode before trying it.
Thanks for this. It's working great, and I'm so glad to finally have backlight notifications.
Definitely would like an update.zip, just not comfortable doing it through odin...but I would love to have this
The cake is a lie!
metalfan78 said:
Definitely would like an update.zip, just not comfortable doing it through odin...but I would love to have this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, since you asked nicely.
http://www.tabbal.net/files/Kernel-ttabbal-v1.1.zip
MD5: 606a1ecaa934f97bd26f0bfb617b23b8
Tested just now via Clockwork. It even installs the library for you, so the button notification should work out of the box.
Running great for me on Bionix 1.9.1.
Wow...thanks, ill give it a go. So just flash through clockwork and good to go?
The cake is a lie!
metalfan78 said:
Wow...thanks, ill give it a go. So just flash through clockwork and good to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup.
Let me know what you think.
Is this ready for overclocking like JAC's OC/UV kernels? If so, any chance of posting a demo script for the OC/UV settings?
Also, can we add a user-script to enable AOSP bootanimation.zip files, or is support still commented out in this kernel?
Thanks for your time and hard work, cheers, =)
I have been wanting button notification since i got the phone. Can you choose which button lights up based on what the notification is?
for example menu = txt, home = missed call, etc....that would be awesome!
s0niqu3 said:
Is this ready for overclocking like JAC's OC/UV kernels? If so, any chance of posting a demo script for the OC/UV settings?
Also, can we add a user-script to enable AOSP bootanimation.zip files, or is support still commented out in this kernel?
Thanks for your time and hard work, cheers, =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's based on Unhelpful's way of doing OC/UV, you have to modify a file and push it to the phone to enable it, then set up the min/max settings with a script or SetCPU. There's a lot of detail over in Unhelpful's thread on the Captivate forum, so it's probably better to point you over there. They have scripts and such for it as well.
Not sure on the boot animation. I'll see if I can find it.
d_bot said:
I have been wanting button notification since i got the phone. Can you choose which button lights up based on what the notification is?
for example menu = txt, home = missed call, etc....that would be awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be awesome, but it's not that complex. It's all of them for a notification. The Android API wouldn't really be able to deal with that level, but perhaps we could assign the buttons colors and use the color that the app requested? Maybe, but I'm not sure we can turn on just one of them from the code we have right now. The code looks to make a somewhat simple call that turns them all on at the same time. Hopefully as more people look into things, we will learn how to do stuff like that.
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.
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!