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First smartphone - help me get gingerbread!

Note: I'm hoping this is the correct place for this thread, hopefully others with this same phone would benefit from it, as this sub-forum seems barren of any guides on what I am looking for
After Christmas, I decided to get my first smart phone, the D2G. I ordered it through Newegg and had it linked to a family account on Verizon.
So what I currently have now is Android 2.2, System Version 2.4.330.A956.Verizon.en.us, and tons of Verizon branded bloat.
My goal is that I would like to install a vanilla version of gingerbread. Being my first smartphone, and my first time on these forums, I'm greatly lacking in knowledge of these phones and how to get from where I am at to where I want to be. What I do have, however, is an understanding of operating system architecture, UNIX experience and good technical knowledge of PCs. I understand what rooting means, what apps are, what a bootstrap does, however I know nothing of how to get or use these things on this phone, nor any idea where to look for this information. Because this phone is on contract (and thus only paid $150 for it), I'm hoping to minimize the risk of bricking it, or otherwise costing me more money.
What I am looking for: any information/guides/links that will help me to get me from Android 2.2 to a vanilla version of gingerbread on the D2G. From what I have gathered from other threads is that I need to root it (by installing z4root I read), boot in recovery mode, then install ROMs. None of those things I know how to do right now. I suppose helping me learn how to do those would be a great start.
tl;dr I need a layman's guide to get gingerbread on D2G
Thanks in advance for any help

To begin you won't be able to get Gingerbread until Motorola releases an update. The Droid 2 (and D2 Global) have a locked bootloader which means the kernel can't be changed except by Motorola. Without a kernel upgrade Gingerbread will remain out of reach.
You can, however, grab some things that have been backported from Gingerbread like the keyboard and theme. As time goes by more and more external things from Gingerbread will become available for non-GB users, but certain things that rely on the GB kernel will be elusive.
Now as for FroYo, there currently isn't a completely working AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM yet. Fission and GummyJAR strip away as much Blur as possible and work towards AOSP. Unleashed, Ultimate Droid, and Tanzanite are all AOSP ROMs in development but are lacking full functionality at the moment. Basically you've got to pick your poison: AOSP-like that works or AOSP that's not quite done.
Given that you have a D2 Global I'd personally hold off on changing ROMs at the moment. The D2G SBF (System Boot File) hasn't been leaked yet so if anything were to go wrong while changing ROMs your phone would be bricked until the SBF is released. A SBF allows you to revert your phone back to its out-of-the-box state should anything go wrong; your phone can be in a boot loop but you can turn it on in a way that will allow you to get things back to square one at least. Without the SBF you're really taking a gamble.

Alright, so I take it I just got too new of a phone then ~_~
thanks

Don't be too upset that your phone is too new yet...
Just be very careful with what you try for now.
It is just over a year since I got my first Droid and while there were plenty of hacks and roms for that back then, few were really STABLE. It didn't take long before not only were stable roms available, they were far better and included features that were not supposed to be on the phone.
Including overclocking it to twice the stock speed.
The D2G is in a similar place right now but the whole "eFuse" thing makes hacking a lot trickier. Its much easier to brick a D2/DX than an original Droid.
BUt progress is being made and there is little doubt in my mind that all the devs out there will make this phone what it should be just like they did with the Droid.
Gingerbread will get to us eventually, but for now Fission rom has already improved my D2G 100% over stock.

rogerdugans said:
Gingerbread will get to us eventually, but for now Fission rom has already improved my D2G 100% over stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interested in Fission, but as I have previously stated, I'm quite clueless for the time being
Is this something that is safe?

Kenshin- said:
Interested in Fission, but as I have previously stated, I'm quite clueless for the time being
Is this something that is safe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want 100% safe- leave your phone exactly as you received it.
Seriously.
There is risk in doing this stuff, even when we are simply taking advantage of the very risky work done by devs to figure out HOW to modify our phones.
Generally speaking, the longer you wait the less risky it is, but the fact is that there is never ZERO danger to it. Even if all the mods and hacks you use are time tested and there has not been a single bug found by anyone- flashing a rom can go wrong and leave a device bricked.
Even flashing a manufacturer provided BIOS on a computer has risk.
All of that said, if you want to minimize risk, wait just a little while for the bugs to be worked out more thoroughly.
I just saw that there is now an SBF for the D2G last night- that helps provide a buffer for accidents (disaster recovery!) but I don't know how well tested it is. We should know fairly soon- quite a few folks with bricked phones have been waiting for it!
I would say that right now the D2G has risk in the "moderate" range- new phone, not that much dev time, etc.
The only other phone I have personal experience with is the original Droid- risk on that is "minimal." Hard to kill those things.
All that said, I have accepted the risk and did so before the sbf was out. I have had no problems at all so far.
IF you choose to do so, I highly recommend following instructions exactly and making sure you know what you are doing and why.
I don't mean to talk you or anyone else out of improving their smart phone, but I do believe that realistic risk assessment is a wise thing to do before starting.

I used the SBF to flash my phone 2 days ago, with no issues.

rogerdugans said:
Generally speaking, the longer you wait the less risky it is, but the fact is that there is never ZERO danger to it.
...
All of that said, if you want to minimize risk, wait just a little while for the bugs to be worked out more thoroughly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a D2 and I got it pretty new a few months ago it was my first Android phone but I watched the forums and learned as things became available how to do it all. I watched as the device everyone thought wasn't even going to get root access got it, then the ROMs came; it wasn't easy and they aren't like the ROMs that came for previous devices because of the locks Moto put on the phone. But, we were happy with it and I've been pleasantly surprised at what the devs have come up with and have been running custom ROMs so long I don't remember what stock was even like. I just know it wasn't as cool as the custom stuff I'm running.
So hang in there and read all you can about your device or similar devices (D2, DX, DPro) so that when something comes along that you want to try you know what to do to make it work and what to do if it doesn't go as planned.

Modem/ROM rant

Man, I'm so frustrated.
On other forums some people have mistakenly thought I'm against flashing custom ROMs. I'm not. I'd flash a custom ROM in a heartbeat. In fact, the reason I hang out here is I'm watching for "That ROM". I'm just not comfortable with the state of things on the Captivate. Here's the deal... it seems every single ROM is a compromise. I'm not talking about differences in themes, or what apps are included, etc... I'm talking basic functionality. Sometimes it's little things, sometimes it's big things... but always, you need to give stuff up. And I'll get the response, "yeah well stock is buggy too, so what's your point?". You know... sometimes the little things count. The details add to the experience. Maybe we want all the little things to actually work. Maybe you don't care about bluetooth, but I do. Etc.
Bluetooth. Haptic feedback. Battery life. Cell reception. GPS. Stability. Performance. Voice quality/Audience support. Pick the 3 you don't care about and are willing to give up.
Frustrating.
And a lot of it seems to come down to these "modem" files. Dozens floating about... everyone has their favorite like they have a favorite color. And they themselves come with compromises... use one, and A B and C work but X Y and Z don't. Use another, and it's the other way around... or maybe there's D E and F now. What works for one person doesn't work for another... and yet these are the same model phones. Oh, but wait... now it's passe to say "every phone is different". Like they are? They're the same hardware. But now we just accept for some reason that every Captivate is some random assembly of different chips and so using a ROM is an assumed matter of modem-roulette and deciding what features you want and what ones you're willing to sacrifice.
Why is this "ok"?
It's important to mention at this point that this is absolutely nothing against the hard-working developers here. I don't doubt for a moment that they are doing their absolute best with what they have available to them. It's not that, it's the culture... the community... the mindset. Are we being hypocrites? I mean, if we're just accepting now that every Captivate is unique hardware and no one ROM/modem will work ideal on all of them, why do we hold Samsung to a higher-standard like they themselves could ever produce an official and universal 2.2 firmware for the Captivate where everything actually works for everyone?
Something's not right here. I don't doubt that people get different results with different files... but these are different environments, and the testing not done consistently or scientifically. I don't think it's appropriate to act like the differences come from varying hardware when it's far more-likely that it's differences in other more-random things. Some people are in a primarily 1900 MHz area, some primarily in an 850MHz area. GPS is also environment-specific and someone with a modem that offers below-average GPS performance might report that the GPS is "amazing" simply because they're in an ideal spot. The hardware is the least likely aspect to vary. Surely there must be a solution... a better answer... a potential for a modem that actually works amazing for everyone. Where all bands are supported, GPS works amazing, Audience chip is supported, etc etc.
I just felt the need to vent. I'm not sure what the solution here is... I just feel we've gotten to casual just "accepting" a situation as something it's not, and shouldn't be. One shouldn't have to play modem-lotto just to get basic decent performance from their ROM, or decide what basic features they're willing to sacrifice. I know this is a huge discouragement for me, and why I'm still on stock. I want to flash so badly... but every ROM thread I read through I eventually hit at least one (if not several) deal-breakers, and the casual acceptance of them is just frustrating.
Anyone feel the same way? Thoughts?

I think your over analyizing.....im a flash junkie and I've flashed everything on the forums....I don't use my phone for business so almost every rom I use has everything I need functional...haptic feedback is not a reason for me not to use a rom but camera is.....along with flashing roms I mix matched different kernels and modems.....its all preference.....with the modem situation I just flash one and test it out until I have an issue then move onto the next...I thought jk4 was the best for me until I decided to try jk3. I've noticed I get reception in areas where I didn't with jk4....so ill test this one out for awhile....you can't sit and read until u read that u found the best......u just have to test it out for yourself...it sucks but that's what u get. I feel things wont get better for us until we get our official froyo release by att. Well have our noise cancellation chip working as well as a modem built for att usa. I had better cell service with captivate roms n modems then I do with i9000 ones but the i9000 roms are leagues ahead of any captivate ones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Did you try Serendipity? It seems to do quite well on every item in your list.

I have not flashed for mostly the same reasons as you. It seems that every combination has different things that work and things that do not work. I want every function of my phone to work properly. That includes hardware noise cancellation and proper bluetooth support, which seem to be a major issue on i9000 ROMs/kernels/modems. My biggest issue with Captivate ROMs/kernels/modems is the apparent lack of support for bluetooth voice dialing. Now it is a fair argument that bluetooth voice dialing does not work on the AT&T 2.1 ROM, but it is not a supported feature of 2.1. It is a supported features of 2.2, so why shouldn't I (we) expect it to work? If a feature that is supposed to work in 2.2 does not work, that doesn't give me the best feeling about flashing the ROM.
I came over from the Windows Mobile side and I flashed custom ROMs on my Fuze without thinking twice, but there were never core or standard features of the phone or OS missing in the ROMs I flashed. I had bluetooth + voice dialing, good battery life, good cell reception, good working GPS, extremely good stability, great performance (for the hardware), and good voice quality with working noise cancellation in all the ROMs I ran.
I think that overall the devs here are doing a good job, and I think things will improve after the release of 2.2 sources for the captivate, but it seems that right now, there is a compromise involved in any of the custom ROMs.
I can accept the fact that the current ROMs don't meet my expectations, but when people say, "just start flashing" to people like myself who have higher expectations, it gets a little old. The attitude that only people willing to accept these compromises should be reading/contributing to the xda-developers forum is also annoying. I think it is great that there are people working on custom ROMs and there are people willing to run them with the compromises they have to make, but that does not mean that everyone should just be willing to make those compromises and if they are not willing they should not post.
I have made very few posts in the Captivate forum, I guess it could be said that I have been lurking and reading up on each new custom ROM as it comes out, waiting for one that seems to meet my expectations. I have not been vocal, or complained about the fact that we need to make compromises. But others that ask questions about whether certain things work, seem to get flamed and told to just accept the way things currently are, or they are completely ignored. If the devs don't want to answer questions such as, "does bluetooth voice dialing work," or "how is bluetooth voice quality in this ROM," then they should put this type of information directly in the first couple of posts. The newest Cognition ROM thread has this type of information and I greatly appreciate that DG included it. For most ROMs you can't find out if certain items work properly without reading the first 10-20 pages of posts.
Maybe the main issue for people like me (with higher expectations from my phone) is that good information about what works and what does not work often does not float to the top of the ROM dev threads. I started using xdandroid on my Fuze as my first introduction to Android and each phone that it ran on had a thread and on the first page was a listing of each major functional piece (sound, camera, bluetooth, etc) and whether or not it was working yet. Each developer can do as they choose, but if the status of functional items and known bugs was listed in the first page, it would save on questions and some of the less than helpful responses that the questions cause.

People also have to remember that only a leaked/unfinished Captivate 2.2 ROM has been made available as a base for some ROMs so there's no other choice for a complete Froyo ROM without resorting to i9000 ROMs. Expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards.
GPS is also broken for some people whether they're on a stock ROM or not to begin with, devs can't magically make it work for everyone.
Cell reception is not 100% determined by a ROM, if I flash the "most amazing bestestst rom ever" and live in a remote forest with lead leaves, reception might just suck a little because it mainly depends on location.
No phone is the same believe it or not, maybe unless it's an iPhone. If you want something that works as it should perfectly, you probably shouldn't be flashing ROMs, because they are essentially in infinite beta until a dev doesn't want to work on it anymore. Either stick to the stock ROM, get an Aria or some other unlocked phone, or even an iPhone since that's probably most stable thing out there right now.
The ROM threads grow dozens of pages every hour, and posts will always get overlooked whether they are important or not. It still amazes me that people get confused when they start seeing an H instead of 3G. This is a development community and has several thousands and thousands of users at any given time. It is busy.

tysj said:
People also have to remember that only a leaked/unfinished Captivate 2.2 ROM has been made available as a base for some ROMs so there's no other choice for a complete Froyo ROM without resorting to i9000 ROMs. Expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards.
GPS is also broken for some people whether they're on a stock ROM or not to begin with, devs can't magically make it work for everyone.
Cell reception is not 100% determined by a ROM, if I flash the "most amazing bestestst rom ever" and live in a remote forest with lead leaves, reception might just suck a little because it mainly depends on location.
No phone is the same believe it or not, maybe unless it's an iPhone. If you want something that works as it should perfectly, you probably shouldn't be flashing ROMs, because they are essentially in infinite beta until a dev doesn't want to work on it anymore. Either stick to the stock ROM, get an Aria or some other unlocked phone, or even an iPhone since that's probably most stable thing out there right now.
The ROM threads grow dozens of pages every hour, and posts will always get overlooked whether they are important or not. It still amazes me that people get confused when they start seeing an H instead of 3G. This is a development community and has several thousands and thousands of users at any given time. It is busy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the American SGS phones, I was not trying to suggest that the developers can "fix" the GPS (though it is worth noting that Da_G has made some good progress http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881941).
I don't completely disagree with many of your points, which is why I am still running the stock ROM. If I had two phones, I would be willing to beta test unfinished software and ROMs, but since I only have 1 phone that I expect to work (or more accurately, my company who pays for it expects it to work) I have not flashed any of the current firmwares that are available.
I think cell reception has a lot more to do with the Radio/Modem than the ROM. If you have a working modem and that modem functions with the ROM, then it should give you the same reception. I think one of the main points the OP was making was that there is no apparent consistency, and some modems work with some ROMs, and not with others. It does not even seem to be accurate to say that any i9000 modem will work with any i9000 ROM, as some combinations cause poor voice quality or other issues.
I do disagree with your statement that "no phone is the same." Any Captivate in the same batch/build should have identical hardware and should function identically (assuming Samsung has good quality controls in place). There is the potential for slight differences between batches, but I can't believe that any of those differences is significant enough to cause software running on the phones to behave differently. If that is the case, there is no way that Samsung can release a working Froyo build, or even a working Eclair build that would function as intended on every captivate. If Samsung was unable to produce identical products consistently, they would be out of business because none of their products would function as intended consistently.
As far as "expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards," I don't think it is unreasonable for better visibility to what works and what does not work in the first page of a ROM thread. I am not saying that I expect everything to work 100% on all ROMs, especially without 2.2 sources, and I am not saying I expect the devs to be able to test every possible things, but I don't think it is unreasonable to hope that as bugs or problems or ROM/Kernel/Modem combinations that do not work are discovered, that information could be made more accessible without reading 100 pages of a ROM thread.
Hopefully most of this is just growing pains as Android is evolving and as we wait for 2.2 sources for the Captivate. For Windows Mobile, much of the OS and functionality of the OS was pretty much set between ROMs. The biggest differences were in the frameworks (Sense vs. Non-Sense, etc) and theming of the ROMs. That is why I have said in the past that if we could get a solid, working AOSP ROM with all drivers, etc for the SGS, it would give a good base for additional ROM development.

Thought on ROM installation problems

It appears that there have been a higher than normal number of issues flashing ROMs since the woot deal. I think that some of the issues are the result of using tools that were developed and tested on tablets fresh from VS late last year and early this year. It appears that many of the woot tabs may not have been totally returned to the state VS sent the end of the year. Based on this, it might be a good idea to return your tab to a clean 3588 before starting the mod.

I would actually bet cash money that the majority of the problems are from people NOT actually following directions EXACTLY. I am not saying there is anything wrong with wooters. (but ... hey they do buy a lot of leakfrogs and screaming flying monkeys)
It is a natural instinct when you are excited by a new toy to ignore the instructions and "wing it" even if you are not extremely technically gifted.
When it comes down to it - if everybody who had a problem is 100% honest about it, you will find that they did something slightly different than what was recommended. Like trying to flash a ROM or new kernel or something intensive when the charge level was too low or skipping some (seemingly) inconsequential step.
I know this from spending many years on the phone solving issues that were well documented and easily fixed if the customer had actually READ the email and followed the directions correctly and completely.

nunjabusiness and rumbleweek,
I agree completely.
I don't think people are bad or "trying" to make an honest mistake -- but people try to
do too much too fast. Tell me that someone who has had his G-Tablet less than a
day and already has flashed four ROMs is giving them a fair trial?!?
It also is my honest opinion that part of the problem is Android.
First, there is the lack of good OS documentation -- I'm not just talking about ROM install
procedures -- but info about how it is organized and how it works and what the functions
are based on.
Second, it is obvious to me that some of the operations like format, wipe, delete, erase,
etc. do not work like they do in other OSs. Many times things get "left over" --and it
makes me wonder if things are left over to mess up future installs, etc.
I'm saying I think Android and the G-Tablet are new enough and unknown enough that
folks should be a lot more cautious than they are. IMHO.
Rev

Agreed on nearly every count, Rev. I've found inconsistencies in the way that many of the "Standard Features" of Android are implemented on different platforms. For example, I've been looking for a way to format the data partition from within an update-script for the express purpose of ensuring a clean setup for testing purposes. I've found three recommended methods... and none of them worked correctly. The result is application and system data that may not be cleaned out properly for activities like flashing a new ROM even when you do everything correctly. It's actually kind of surprising to me that we don't see an even larger volume of help request after what I've seen.

Stock vs Infused ROM

Can anyone tell the important and practical advantages of rooting and installing Infused ROM? I Am just looking for a useful reason to waste my time
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Read the change logs in the very first post, if nothing there appeals to you than don't bother, if nothing makes SENSE to you, read more like I did before diving in lol.
Short answer is, because its fun, addicting, customizing, unlocks features, removes bloatware.....makes it YOUR PHONE, not AT&T's (assuming you don't have Rogers.) Things like Wi-Fi tethering and GPS lock on times are fixed or improved. Stuff like that, plus the whole process can be somewhat addicting. Lol
Infused

Hehe..... So, no usefulness in rooting I guess.... Can you post the link by the way...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Not sure how, on my phone. Lol, but if you go to the infuse developers section, you CANT miss it. Big huge title says something along the lines of, [Infused, V2.#.# (gingerbread) blah blah blah] haha.
But ATM the download portion is down because the Canadian release doesn't use 4g, so he's fixing a little quirk with it right now, than it'll be back up I'm sure, gtg is pretty quick.
Also, rooting is different than flashing a Tom, rooting gives you complete control over your phone, gets rid of market branding (I think), and allows 3rd party apps (be carefully)
Flashing a ROM is replacing the current operating system with the SAME one but streamlined and bareboned, or a better one that's streamlined and bareboned. (Or at least that's how I think of it.) Usually involving better apps, updates, and unlocked features.
So yes there is a benifit I guess lol.
Infused

So, what is infused ROM? I suppose it is custom ROM... Right?... So, what the hell is CWM then?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

All of this info is readily available, when I first got my android I was a little confused to, hell, I still am =P
But here is the skinny,
Root simply means you are granting the phone or yourself super user access. What does that mean you ask... well, it pretty much gives you ultimate admin rights. From here, you can theme, mod, install roms, alter/move/delete system files etc.
Roms are the creations of enhanced versions of the stock os all ready available, and sometimes not available ie gtg's gingerbread rom. The benefits to these"aftermarket" roms vary from rom to rom. You will need to research each one specifically to see what fits your desires.
Although your question seems simple, it its infact a big question that is far to vague, simply put, custom roms made by experienced developers will 99.9% always be superior to stock, but for different reasons. So please research and you will see that there are varying types of directions... Unless you want gb on infuse, kinds only one direction for that at the moment.
Infused with gingerbread **** thanks GTG465X

Thanks, you articulated my thoughts better lol.
CWM is ClockWorkMod, used commonly for its rom manager feature, it helps make flashing the rom's easier, and can install a clockwork recovery mode that replaces the stock 3e recovery the phone comes with, and is far more useful.
Infused

You need root. Normally I'd suggest going with a ROM, but right now the only ROM actively being developed is Infused. However, this is the first ROM where I have gotten very bad response from those who develop the ROM, as well as backlash for the community when I bring up bugs on the releases. Any other phone has developer communities that are helpful and very nice, and receptive to constructive criticism, but it's like Apple sent their goons over for Infused, and both the developers and the fanboys of the developers act like it's some gift from god. Everything released from the Infused team has had some fairly significant bugs, right now the bug is poor data speeds (kinda silly since we bought the phone for it's "4G" being the primary function), but as always, enter at your own risk.

Seriously bella? the only issues I have seen with this community has been antagonized by you. Hell, out of curiosity I check done of your post history... Surprise surprise, most of the post are you complaining. This thread case in point, seriously had to drag your bull **** to another thread, grow the hell up.
just get your sg2 already and take your negativity to another forum. All you ever do is ***** like a whiny baby. Good luck and good riddance, we won't miss you.
Infused with gingerbread **** thanks GTG465X

Krant, don't let Bella's bs confuse you, this phone has to notch devs, with fantastic roms and kernels. Apparently if the devs can't part the seas and build a rom that get 100 hours of staight heavy use batt life then they don't deserve to give us free development
Infused with gingerbread **** thanks GTG465X

Krant, welcome to the forums.
I disagree with Bella - we have an excellent community here, the only problem is that we have an unusual number of people who post in the ROM threads in development when it is clear they have not even read the first post of the thread. We also have people who complain about a ROM without any evidence to back up their complaint, and get hostile when a dev asks them to run a specific test.
On the positive side, the level of coordination we have between developers is FAR better than most other devices. That's why right now you don't really see any junky "hey look I can deodex too!" ROMs.
So far you're off to a good start, you didn't post in the dev forum and you're making an effort to learn. I suggest you take some time to do some research and Googling.
Another thing adding to the confusion here is that with Android, there are two portions of the system that can be separately customized. The kernel is the base operating system, with hardware drivers and such. The ROM is actually what us kernel hackers call "userland" - the stuff layered on top of a kernel to produce a nice usable system.
Most ROMs include a custom kernel, but in many cases you can flash other kernels over it.
Never flash a ROM/kernel intended for another device. (An exception to this rule may eventually come for userland ROMs, but for now that's the rule.)
CWM is a low-level "recovery" tool that allows new files to be flashed to your device that often can't be flashed to a running system. It's most often used for flashing new ROMs, but can sometimes be used for flashing tweaks to a ROM.

And things like that will only scare people away from these forums, i sincerely feel like there are an alarming number of negative, rude people on XDA, and those who AREN'T, are usually Dev's or working with them, Hence my post from like, a month ago in an ENTIRELY different subject lol. And also why i try so hard to be informative, even with what little knowledge i have. please dont go because of a few bad apples, ive seen it ruin peoples experience with there phones.
Hellion_zk said:
Ive cruised these forums for about 8 months now, and i have to say, out of all the forus ive ever been apart of, (PC, Truck, Motorcycle, you name it) this is filled with the worst ratio of rude, abrasive people ive ever seen on a forum, and am surprised that the mods make no attempt to instill respectful comments to one another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it got Thanked,... twice... and it wasnt even by the people getting chewed out, (Although for a valid reason. DONT post nonsense in a Dev thread....oh my GOD they take that seriously here lol)

theraffman said:
All of this info is readily available, when I first got my android I was a little confused to, hell, I still am =P
But here is the skinny,
Root simply means you are granting the phone or yourself super user access. What does that mean you ask... well, it pretty much gives you ultimate admin rights. From here, you can theme, mod, install roms, alter/move/delete system files etc.
Roms are the creations of enhanced versions of the stock os all ready available, and sometimes not available ie gtg's gingerbread rom. The benefits to these"aftermarket" roms vary from rom to rom. You will need to research each one specifically to see what fits your desires.
Although your question seems simple, it its infact a big question that is far to vague, simply put, custom roms made by experienced developers will 99.9% always be superior to stock, but for different reasons. So please research and you will see that there are varying types of directions... Unless you want gb on infuse, kinds only one direction for that at the moment.
Infused with gingerbread **** thanks GTG465X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the raffman explained root acces well indeed. I heard another explain it as gaining root access to your phone is the same as logging in to your computer with admin rights; you can make all sorts of changes. However, not having root access to your phone is like logging in to your computer as guest; you can change very little.
I rooted my phone a few days out of the box. Don't get me wrong; I was impressed with its performance. Since then I've flashed roms, kernels, bricked my phone, brought it back to life with odin3 many times. It is exciting and wicked fun to push this phone to its limits. Props to all the devs that enable my habit. Root and flash and I am sure you will never look back.

Root and flash and I am sure you will never look back.[/QUOTE said:
And make sure you do tons of research on how to unbrick it, and know what NOT to do.
Infused
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Entropy512 said:
Another thing adding to the confusion here is that with Android, there are two portions of the system that can be separately customized. The kernel is the base operating system, with hardware drivers and such. The ROM is actually what us kernel hackers call "userland" - the stuff layered on top of a kernel to produce a nice usable system.
Most ROMs include a custom kernel, but in many cases you can flash other kernels over it.
Never flash a ROM/kernel intended for another device. (An exception to this rule may eventually come for userland ROMs, but for now that's the rule.)
CWM is a low-level "recovery" tool that allows new files to be flashed to your device that often can't be flashed to a running system. It's most often used for flashing new ROMs, but can sometimes be used for flashing tweaks to a ROM.
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Entrophy512,
I've had my superInfuse for over a month now, I have it rooted, flashed Infused 1.53, 2.0Beta1,2,3,stable2.00, 2.01, 2.02 and used CWM, SGS Kernal Flasher, etc. I thought I understood this all pretty well but you summed it up excellently!!! Thanks so much for that!

Why did popularity for dualbooting ROMs never take off?

Back when I had a Droid DNA, HTC One, NVIDIA Shield tablet, etc, those devices had modified twrp recoveries that allowed for dualbooting, which made it great for trying out two different roms (without having to wipe the other) or to take advantage of some features in stock while using a custom ROM as a daily driver. iirc There were no drawbacks to this besides the fact that you obviously had to wipe your phone.
I dunno, it seemed like such a great feature that goes unnoticed by any recent phone nowadays. I would love to be able to dualboot Havoc and OOS so I don't have to keep flashing and wiping my phone each time I want to go between the two.

I think the thing that makes me hesitant about it was the lack of data between the two. Having preferences set in one (configs and all), and then switching over to the other made it a little daunting and time consuming which I find fun but maybe everyone else doesnt.
Don't get me wrong, I think the idea is great - you install two ROMs and you take them both for a test run before committing. But if I'm not mistaken from my past experiences, I think data wasn't shared so things like text messaging wouldn't be continuous between the two, which would be a major downside.