I have searched for this sort of thread for a while. Though I've only been changing my phone around for a couple months(Rooted & ROM changes) It's clear that every developer/group feels there's is best. While I find that different ROMs have great features, it would appear that each and every one has it's flaws. I also find that a person can literally search for hours on how to install, manipulate, customize and BRICK a phone. As a "Senior Member" I still find myself lost. Due to recommendations, I've purchased more then my share of "helpful apps". I hope that the most "Senior Members" (w/ extreme, non bias, knowledge) can help remedy a few staples for all users.
A comparative, most stable and complete ROM list per phone (updated frequently)
What do I really need? I don't know. I have purchased Root Manager, Root explorer, Rom manager, Titanium Backup, Drop Box the list goes on. To date I'm not 90% sure what any of these do, nor how they work. Ex. I've backed up my ROMs with Titanium Backup but I've also backed them up with Rom manager. I've changed ROMs and couldn't figure out how to reinstall apps, settings etc. using either one of these. You can find yourself changing a ROM and taking 2 - 3 hr's reinstalling apps, themes and settings.
Kernels! there 30 times as many of these as there are ROMs. There should be some real understanding of these. It would appear that some kernels will change the look of the ROM or is it the theme, it changes? Neither? so why do I need them, what really are there function?
There are some brilliant minds at work here. Hopefully some of them can pitch in and offer answers to some basic "need to knows" for many.
Thank you all for the work that you do
I'm definitely an enormous Noob (capital N!) but by now I can flash ROMs fairly quickly and reinstall my apps in a few seconds with TiBu. I still do agree with you that it's a bit hard to take in *everything*. Something I've been wondering since I began flashing (ROMs, not anything indecent) is:
1. KERNELS. What the hell is their function exactly? I know their compatibility with the custom ROM depends on...which Captivate model the ROM is based on, I think. But how does one know or how can one tell which is compatible to which?
2. Modem. ?! How do I flash this? Why do I need to flash this?
3. Probably O/T but what the heck is ROM Kitchen?
4. What is the other way of flashing without using ODIN?
Knowing that would set me a little further from Noobers State, at least.
Lancered said:
I'm definitely an enormous Noob (capital N!) but by now I can flash ROMs fairly quickly and reinstall my apps in a few seconds with TiBu. I still do agree with you that it's a bit hard to take in *everything*. Something I've been wondering since I began flashing (ROMs, not anything indecent) is:
1. KERNELS. What the hell is their function exactly? I know their compatibility with the custom ROM depends on...which Captivate model the ROM is based on, I think. But how does one know or how can one tell which is compatible to which?
2. Modem. ?! How do I flash this? Why do I need to flash this?
3. Probably O/T but what the heck is ROM Kitchen?
4. What is the other way of flashing without using ODIN?
Knowing that would set me a little further from Noobers State, at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not an expert but this is my understanding.
1. Kernel: Set of controls that lets the software interact with the hardware of the phone. Typically affects GPS, battery, bluetooth, wifi, display, etc.
2. Modem: How your phone connects to and transmits voice/data/everything.
3. ROM kitchen is a tool to help build ROM.
4. You can flash new ROMs through ClockWorkMod Recovery. You choose to install new software from zip on sd card. It lets you install ROMs, Kernels, & modems, provided they have been setup to work with CWM.
Hope that helps answer some things.
Lancered said:
I'm definitely an enormous Noob (capital N!) but by now I can flash ROMs fairly quickly and reinstall my apps in a few seconds with TiBu. I still do agree with you that it's a bit hard to take in *everything*. Something I've been wondering since I began flashing (ROMs, not anything indecent) is:
1. KERNELS. What the hell is their function exactly? I know their compatibility with the custom ROM depends on...which Captivate model the ROM is based on, I think. But how does one know or how can one tell which is compatible to which?
2. Modem. ?! How do I flash this? Why do I need to flash this?
3. Probably O/T but what the heck is ROM Kitchen?
4. What is the other way of flashing without using ODIN?
Knowing that would set me a little further from Noobers State, at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Three more excellent questions, all of which for nubies and Seniors (without tech understanding) need to know.
trekie86 said:
1. Kernel: Set of controls that lets the software interact with the hardware of the phone. Typically affects GPS, battery, bluetooth, wifi, display, etc.
2. Modem: How your phone connects to and transmits voice/data/everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good info but it doesn't help explain why there are so many of each. How is one to know what should be installed.
Different kernels allocate the phones resources in different ways.
For example sucker punch Or paragon allows the user to over clock the processor, as well as under volt. Both can be used to speed the phone up or reduce battery use.
Harcore speed mode tweaks brigtness settings, uses some tweaks to improve performance, and changes default from 250hz to 500hz
I guess it is like saying different kernels are like tuning your car up in different ways with different performance goals.
Modems performance appear to vary based off of your location. Only way to know what is best is to try them.
I do understand many are new to this (even I was new at some point of time). But there is one thing I would like to bring up in this thread.
A simple Google search would tell what the basic functionality of a kernel is. Likewise for most of things asked here.
Be patient, there are lots of people here who would guide/help u. Don't sound impatient nor show ur frustration here. This is a forum created by enthusiastic users, not by employees who are paid to service people.
1. Kernel:
Kernel is the heart of the system that keeps the phone running. U can consider the core machine level interacting portion of OS that translates all instructions to a format that the CPU can understand.It has complete control over everything that occurs in the system. The kernel provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system, typically including memory management, process management, file management and I/O (input/output) management.
Every kernel thread here has an OP where it tells what version it is based off, its features, etc.
Best way to know which is best for u: try it out. What's good for me may not be good for u.
2. Modem:
How do I flash this? : Modem thread is a sticky on development forum, and has details how to flash too.
Why do I need to flash this?: This is the core component needed to access the phone spectrum/signals.
3. Probably O/T but what the heck is ROM Kitchen?: OP says it all. This is one place where u can create a ROM by picking features/apps of the provided list. More for creating ur own custom ROM.
4. What is the other way of flashing without using ODIN? Check the first sticky thread in QA section "FOR NEW CAPTIVATE USERS - READ HERE FIRST - FAQs | HELPFUL LINKS"
So here's my .02 cents coming from a software engineer perceptive...
The kernel... It's the core/kernel of an operating system. It's main functions (as stated above) are to interact with the hardware a.k.a. Device Drivers, to manage resources (things like memory management and processor time sharing a.k.a. multi-tasking), service interrupt requests, network services and the like. It also provides a System Call Interface (API) to the user space (apps running on the machine) so the apps can use system resources.
Now the why so many part... First of all in general there are MANY options available when compiling (building) the kernel. Things like CPU schedulers, file system support, system type support (in the captivates case ARM), etc. etc. etc. So there are many different ways to configure the kernel and that gives many options to "test" and see which might work better or not. Some of them are dead giveaways like compiling the kernel for MIPS and trying to run it on the captivate won't work but some are "tweaks" that may help a little or a lot, like CPU management options.
Second part of the why so many is the code. Again as mentioned above things like changing code to make the colors of the display more or less sharp (display device driver), make the file system faster (voodoo lag fix) or overclocking the processor, and different "modem" tweaks are all "enhancements" that people have made to the original Linux kernel source. So those things "creep" into existence over time, since there are many people working on them, and you see different versions of the Kernel from that as well.
Anyone that plays music can relate to the options available in that there are only 12 notes on a guitar fret board but millions (or more) ways to put them together to play music. There are certain things that have to be present in the Kernel (notes) but writing code to enhance them and/or combining options at compile time is much broader (music).
ROM. Well IMO this one has a bad nomenclature. ROM is actually Random Access Memory and we flash an image to the "ROM" (which it really isn't but I'll leave that one alone). The "ROM" in this case is the operating system (a version of embedded Linux), which is the basic software needed to run and admin the phone, things like the Kernel, bootloader, device drivers, and file system plus any user apps like the phone dialer, launcher, etc. that are included in the ROM. As you can imagine the possibilities of customization are almost endless when it comes to the ROM. Different kernels, different drivers, different apps and many combinations of those. Thus we see all the different "ROM"s for the captivate with all the different options and unfortunately problems as well.
The modem is actually part of the kernel. It's the device driver for the phone hardware of the captivate. Being that it's part of the kernel it "works with" other code that's elsewhere in the kernel and ROM that is "tweaked" for a particular phone in this case. So when you see "use an i9000 modem with an i9000 kernel" it's because the code in the modem is written to work with the other code in the kernel. It doesn't necessarily mean it will brick the phone and/or not work but it quite often means it won't work the best if it's not "matched".
An example of the why so many here might be (and I'm just using this as a random example not a real world example) in the code below (which is the Samsung modem code in the SuckerPunch source in this case) notice the comment there about "no spec" and having to confirm how much time is needed to initialize. That may be an example where someone could play with those timings and get better performance out of the modem...
static void msm_reset(struct modemctl *mc)
{
<sniped code for briefness here>
gpio_set_value(mc->gpio_cp_reset, 0);
msleep(500); /* no spec, confirm later exactly how much time
needed to initialize CP with RESET_PMU_N */
gpio_set_value(mc->gpio_cp_reset, 1);
msleep(40); /* > 37.2 + 2 msec */
gpio_set_value(mc->gpio_phone_on, 0);
gpio_set_value(mc->gpio_cp_reset, 0);
}
So that's one example of how you might get another modem version if someone played with that code and saw better performance.
I don't know if that all helps or muddies the water, but again it's just an old software engineer's .02 cents.
mxracer101 said:
So here's my .02 cents coming from a software engineer perceptive...
<..............>
I don't know if that all helps or muddies the water, but again it's just an old software engineer's .02 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good work!
I do understand many are new to this (even I was new at some point of time). But there is one thing I would like to bring up in this thread.
A simple Google search would tell what the basic functionality of a kernel is. Likewise for most of things asked here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those seeking help, looking on XDA this is the #1 source for this information. Most other forums refer to XDA. So you should be in good hands
Be patient, there are lots of people here who would guide/help u. Don't sound impatient nor show ur frustration here. This is a forum created by enthusiastic users, not by employees who are paid to service people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MOST crucial to understand this. PLEASE don't re-ask a question in several different locations. In most cases a question will be answered in a short time.
1. Kernel:
Kernel is the heart of the system that keeps the phone running. U can consider the core machine level interacting portion of OS that translates all instructions to a format that the CPU can understand.It has complete control over everything that occurs in the system. The kernel provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system, typically including memory management, process management, file management and I/O (input/output) management.
Every kernel thread here has an OP where it tells what version it is based off, its features, etc.
Best way to know which is best for u: try it out. What's good for me may not be good for u.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an area I see more questions about, then I do ROMs. Be awre that all ROMs have built in kernels, it's a good idea to let the intended kernel do it's thing. This is a fine tweaking operation, learn what one does for each ROM. Don't feel you need to change it, because it's being talked about in a ROM post.
HTML:
2. Modem:
How do I flash this? : Modem thread is a sticky on development forum, and has details how to flash too. Why do I need to flash this?: This is the core component needed to access the phone spectrum/signals.
^^^^SEE ABOVE^^^^ Dito
kernels; the function has been explained so i wont go there. there are kernel settings that cant be changed once compiled that effect performance and battery life, often making one better hurts the other, kernel hz will affect the snappiness, some kernel devs like to put out 2 or more versions depending on the users preference. also there have been many mods made for the i9000, i9000 devs typically dont make ports for the other phones so the code is made available for other devs to include in there own kernels. part of the reason for soo many is that things are constantly developing but some people like what has been out there for a while. there are also a number of compiling tweeks that one developer or another may prefer.
some kernels have stock recovery 2e or 3e, some have cwm recovery some have steam recovery, some have a modded cwm recovery. cwm recovery and steam give you access to the rom backups (nandroid) and some other features, steam has a touch screen interface but the modded cwm versions have similar functionality with a hardware button interface.
lagfixes; lagfixes are incorporated into the kernel. some have "voodoo" which is ext4 and is like what non samsung android phones often have. voodoo only has a couple options and most run it default. voodoo lagfix options may be incorporated into the recovery or handeled by the presence of a folder/text file in the voodoo folder.
there is also ulf (universal lagfix/ultimate lagfix). ulf lets you choose between jfs, ext4, ext3, ext2 and rfs file systems on each partition. it also lets you do the earlier ext2 loopback like one click lag fix. it is total overkill with options an the benifits of each is subject to opinions and anecdotal observation. but if yo specifically want jfs it is the only option available on the captivate right now.
wifi; different wifi drivers cause problems with certain routers because of a security measure. once a couple fixes for this were found new kernels appeared.
other "voodoo" features; supercerio is the developer of voodoo and is obviously a talented dev. he has created a color/brightness/sharpness fix for the galaxy s line but the port to captivate kernels took some time to come about. some kernels have it and some don't. there is also voodoo sound which lets you change the amp output for the headphones.
overclock/undervolt; there was at one time development on this for captivate kernels in 2.1. it was stable but a lack of captivate froyo source kinda killed it. also there was no interface for it, changing settings was done on in a text file that you had to write into a folder with a script, people had trouble understanding it. many kernels now are i9000 ports but the undervolt code often causes "charge death" some prefer not to overclock do to this instability, but then glitterballs came up with a fix. glitterballs prefers the overclock settings to be "mild" they really arent in reference to a pc though, 20-28% is significant but still there are others that make 30-60% overclocks available. the overclock setting on some of these kernels is a multi stage setup and isnt that user friendly involving an app and configuration files. there are also sceduler differences that can balence battery life and speed but i think samsungs settings are just fine
basically if you want overclock i recomend glitterballs work. if youre phone handle 1300+mhz you must go elsewhere if you "need" the max your phone can handle.
if you dont care for overclock there are many other things to look at. kernel hz set at 500 is snappy but you may prefer battery life and find one set at stock or 300hz
if color sound is important to you and thats a big reason to by a galaxy s then you want voodoo color and sound. im not gonna talk about files systems and lagfixes because despite the apparent differences in quadrant the every day results are up for debate.
modems; im not gonna tell you to match modem to kernel because i never found that to be true.. what i will tell you is that if you use bluetooth and "need" hsupa(over rated) then dont choose a north american captivate rom other than the armani based roms. there are 5 poular ones for non captivates phones and many more that work as well, choose at random for all i care, the biggest factor is gps performance and none of them do poorly, i recomend jl3 but kp1 can work better with some playing around, it seems to not give a stable position because it constantly updates stalites, the list is constantly changing in lbs test mode but it does get more satalites in my experience. others are jk3/4 and jl2(different phone that jl3) some say in there area jl2 gets better transfers but i dont find that to be true here.
ported roms; i9000/m and t959/d ports are great and at this time dont give up too much, they work with canadian t959d and i9000m modems as well as many other oversees modems that have the att 850 band . but on some, not all but some ports you may experience sleep death. it's a captivate issue and captivate roms since jf7 have a fix incorperated, i have mostly good results on the ported roms but 1 or 2 have given me sleep death.
captivate roms; work great! use as is or add a kernel with x,yand z features. with a captivate rom you give up either bluetooth or hsupa but hsupa is over rated on a phone unless you tether or upload files directly from your phone, it does help snappiness loading web pages but seriously my isp gives me 30% the upload bandwidth that i get with hsupa and i only see about 50% of the hspa potential in my area. my 3g connection gives me 300kbps and my isp gives me 600kbps. i think non hsupa is fast enough most of the time.
to the op, titanium backup does a backup of your apk's and data for those apps. it is not recomended to restore all system data if a new rom has a different base rom. this is what to use to restore apps after a flash, chose the restore apps and data setting, if you have problems factory reset and restore apps only.
cwm backs up the rom. it is a fall back incase a flash fails. you need cwm recovery either in the kernel or in an "update.zip" in the root of the internal sdcard. if you have 2e recovery or modded 3e recovery in the kernel you need to reinstall packages to get there from the update.zip. you may need to try twice. you navigate with the volume and select with the power button.
if you have a stock 3e recovery (rare now that there are altenatives, unless you flashed a stock leak or rogers rom as is) it will fail, you will need to odin/heimdal/neldar sgskernel flasher app flash another kernel to reach cwm recovery.
root explorer helps you reach the system files. if you think you need it then get it but it is really most useful for making tweeks or installing themes, some of that is better done in a script via update.zip or remotely via adb so you may not want or need it.
Asking what ROM is best is like asking which midsized car priced in the mid $20k's is the best. They are all pretty close in quality and only differ so much, according to what the dev felt was pertinent to them. Look them over and see what people have to say about them and try it out. If you don't like it, flash another one. It really is that easy. As some of posted in other threads, it's fairly hard to totally brick your phone unless you have absolutely no clue what you're doing. It took me months to get to the point where I felt comfortable flashing and it scared the **** out of me to finally take the plunge. Now that i've done it, i'd have no problem doing it again when/if I find another ROM I like better than the one i'm on.
The absolutely best info I got was from this thread. I have no idea why it's not stickied. Connexion2005 has done an amazing job putting these together and has taught me more in the time it takes to watch the videos, than WEEKS of reading threads.
How to videos
Extremely thorough, thanks all!
Lancered said:
Extremely thorough, thanks all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. It's why I started this thread
Thanks !!
Thanks to all who provided these great answers !!
Much appreciated.
This was a very informative read thanks
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
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MikeyMike01 said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Meaning what exactly?
How I love when people bash people who are new to particular technologies when those same people were once new themselves.
Point is, provide education not just answer the question.
askpcguy said:
How I love when people bash people who are new to particular technologies when those same people were once new themselves.
Point is, provide education not just answer the question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my intention when I started this. It was great to see the guys above hashed it out. Even with all my posts There's a ton that people don't get. My hope is people will ask questions AND NOT BE LOOKED DOWN ON!
There are many MANY great people out there in the know, that are willing to help. Post your need, someone will eventually answer. NO QUEST IS DUMB!
Hi All,
Having already committed the original sin on my first Droid3, and seeing the profusion of various threads (good threads, mostly) developing here, I would like to commit a thread to be stickied that will include rooting guides, safe bloat removal guides, exploit scripts, (and we hope!) ROMs and Recoveries. If this is a good idea and the Moderators will approve of it, please help me help you help me help you by posting:
1. Type of Mod/Guide/Script/Recovery/ROM/SBF/Image/etc
2. Device it applies to (eg Droid3 US, XT8xx, country, telco etc)
3. Level of Difficulty (n00b --> coding wizard)
4. Risk Level (from installing market app --> damn near microwaving your D3)
5. External thread for file hosting, cross-linked sites, etc
6. Android version (2.3.4 --> ???)
suggestions to further categories will be appreciated!
Thanks all, let's make the D3/XT a quality, fun, and safe modding platform by working together.
Obviously, I will be the maintainer of this thread, unless someone else feels they have a religious duty to take it instead!
I would love a proper list of apps that can be frozen/renamed for when I get my droid 3.
I know there's a script and several topics/posts with 'safely to remove' apps, but most still list apps that cause minor faults/bugs like calender not working etc.
DoubleYouPee said:
I would love a proper list of apps that can be frozen/renamed for when I get my droid 3.
I know there's a script and several topics/posts with 'safely to remove' apps, but most still list apps that cause minor faults/bugs like calender not working etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure that any app not relating to the Framework can be safely removed. That is a pretty short list: Citrix, the games, and that's just about it.
volcanomike said:
Something with the built in text messaging causes picture messages to not be received when disabled with your script
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's more stuff out there that make me not want to use the script.
I'd just want to remove all the obvious bloatware without destroying core features of the phone.
DoubleYouPee said:
There's more stuff out there that make me not want to use the script.
I'd just want to remove all the obvious bloatware without destroying core features of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's put it this way: if you can download it from the Market for Free or for Money, you should be able to zap (freeze, move, or delete) it without consequence.
Until then, wait for AOSP or rebased/ported ROMs to appear.
rynosaur said:
Let's put it this way: if you can download it from the Market for Free or for Money, you should be able to zap (freeze, move, or delete) it without consequence.
Until then, wait for AOSP or rebased/ported ROMs to appear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't care about deleting apps that can't be downloaded from the market as long as they don't affect anything important
I need to refresh my N7000, rooted, using some philz kernel (don't know version), latest stock ROM.
Unfortunately the device has reached its limitations, I am constantly out of memory and (internal) storage space.
I tried every possible cleanup (without wiping the device).
Since I *will* wipe the device, I am thinking, why no try some (hopefully now mature) 3rd party ROM?
So... anybody that HAS tried more than one, can help me choose?
I do not have time to flash and reflash, I will choose one and go with it (possibly the last update of my N7000).
Requirements:
- Would love to be KitKat, but not a strict requirement.
- ALL hardware to work (so "fm radio is not working" or issues with the pen etc. throws out the ROM). (EDIT: FM working with 3rd party app IS an option for me, but I need to know compatibility)
- Light and fast, but not ultra-light to the point of me having to manually install vital "stock" apps.
- No issues with Google Play etc.
- In active development or at least "fresh enough" (I would prefer, not eight months old build).
...anybody cares to help me - point me to the right direction?
Please?
(mostly looking for CyanogenMod, SlimKat and OmniROM - as ParadroidAndroid makes clear FM doesn't work)
Hi,
It seems you have answered your own question.
NLS said:
...anybody cares to help me - point me to the right direction?
Please?
(mostly looking for CyanogenMod, SlimKat and OmniROM - as ParadroidAndroid makes clear FM doesn't work)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take a look at the OP posts, as well as the last few pages of the thread to see if any major issues persists. The 3 options that you have narrowed down on are well established roms, so should not pose problems. You can also search around on youtube if you need extended reveiews on them.
That being said, we do not allow comparison (/best rom) threads on XDA as they more often escalate into arguments about people's opinion.
Thread Closed.
A.cid
Forum Moderator