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[Q] Help with my Samsung Captivate..

The last Android phone I rooted was the HTC Hero... I need help rooting and installing a rom and unlocking my Samsung Captivate (Not necessarily install a rom). My main concern is 1. I want to unlock & 2. Allow to install apps from unknown sources (which from what I understand AT&T blocks). Should I stick with the stock 2.1 that came with the phone or should I use a different rom? I am somewhat new but all I need is someone to point in the right direction and I can figure out the rest myself. I am also wondering if I need to use the internal memory or should I use another microSD card... Like I said before... unlocking and allowing to install from unknown sources is my main concern..

ahmada said:
The last Android phone I rooted was the HTC Hero... I need help rooting and installing a rom and unlocking my Samsung Captivate (Not necessarily install a rom). My main concern is 1. I want to unlock & 2. Allow to install apps from unknown sources (which from what I understand AT&T blocks). Should I stick with the stock 2.1 that came with the phone or should I use a different rom? I am somewhat new but all I need is someone to point in the right direction and I can figure out the rest myself. I am also wondering if I need to use the internal memory or should I use another microSD card... Like I said before... unlocking and allowing to install from unknown sources is my main concern..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read throughout this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=887525
It's your decision to stay with 2.1 or use a custom leaked 2.2 ROM. The ROM's are really good with what the Dev's are working with. You don't need to use an external sd card but it is worth having for extra room.

flashman2002 said:
Read throughout this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=887525
It's your decision to stay with 2.1 or use a custom leaked 2.2 ROM. The ROM's are really good with what the Dev's are working with. You don't need to use an external sd card but it is worth having for extra room.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I better off going with 2.2? Is it stable? Someone told me about the Serendipity Rom.. Which rom would you recommend that is 2.2?

ahmada said:
Am I better off going with 2.2? Is it stable? Someone told me about the Serendipity Rom.. Which rom would you recommend that is 2.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 2.2 ROM's are stable. I won't recommend a ROM though because each phone reacts differently. Serendipity is a good ROM and I am using it now, but you would be able to use pretty much any of the 2.2 ROM's and be happy. Mostly if you just want a ROM made by a dev you are really looking at the theme of the ROM. Check the threads in the dev section and read up on each one.

Try looking over the stickies and read the Wiki. Doing a search before posting is always appreciated, as well.

Is there a gingerbread rom out???

Looks like you're not reading at all. No gingerbread rom is out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

xredjokerx said:
Looks like you're not reading at all. No gingerbread rom is out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to get cranky.... No one is twisting ur arm to answer my question..

We get cranky when people expect answers to questions that are easily answered by looking over the forum and/or doing a search, much like all of your questions.

Anyway................
I reach the step where I do the Odin3 1-CLick Downloader but the program doesnt seem to see the phone. Any idea why????
P.S. I did my research but couldnt find an answer.

ahmada said:
Anyway................
I reach the step where I do the Odin3 1-CLick Downloader but the program doesnt seem to see the phone. Any idea why????
P.S. I did my research but couldnt find an answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) is your phone in download mode?
2) did you install the Samsung drivers?

gunnyman said:
1) is your phone in download mode?
2) did you install the Samsung drivers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes & Yes
I downloaded the 1.3 version and the 1.0 version of ODIN3 but the 1.0 version was a 275MB file..

After you install the drivers, you put your phone in download mode
Then you open odin (whichever one you want to use, I normally use 1-click)
Then you plug in your phone and it should recognize it; if it doesnt, then somethings wrong with your drivers--reinstall them
if you start it, but it hangs at reading pit file (or some variation) then unplug some USB accessories and try again. (sometimes it takes me up to 4-5 tries before it begins to flash)
And I'm not getting cranky, I'm merely stating what I'm observing.
I barely ask questions on the forum because I can normally find what I'm looking for if I were just to read. Don't get me wrong, I want to be helpful; But when the information is all gathered in a few clicks, I don't see why some people can't find the most basic answers.

[ROM] EA11 Mesmerize Pick-n-Pack 0.1

********This is only a ROM. You must have first flashed the EA11 LEAK first.********
********You must have the modified RED CWM recovery to flash this. If you don't already have that installed, go here to get it.*********
*********DO NOT FLASH THIS IF YOU ARE STILL ON 2.1************
As always, I am not responsible for what you do to your phone. Make a backup before you flash anything.
Download the ROM and the addons. (unzip the main addons zip) Decide what addons you want. Put everything on your sdcard and boot into recovery. Flash the ROM first. Flash any addon packs that you have put on your sdcard. Reboot.
I've tried to group the addons so there aren't too many of them. If you want, you can always reconfigure things using 7zip without having to unzip anything. If you don't know how to do this already, it's probably best to just flash each pack seperately.
EA11 Mesmerize Pick-n-Pack ROM
EA11 Mesmerize PnP Addons

Thank you sir very much
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Now for some voodoo?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

why do we need to flash the original Froyo leak first?
i dont understand this Mez thing about using Odin.
once you have a Rom flashed to your phone and Clockwork working there is never ever ever a need to use this odin program. i have never once used it and have flashed a few roms, one of them your very own pick-n-pak , just not the froyo one.
so can someone explain to me this crazy need to backdoor flash the phone?
the Froyo leak is just a rom, just like this and every other rom. its just a factory flash rom, not a rom you guys built....
so why not just build a rom from it because the odin stuff seems just to be massive unnecessary overkill.

v_lestat said:
why do we need to flash the original Froyo leak first?
i dont understand this Mez thing about using Odin.
once you have a Rom flashed to your phone and Clockwork working there is never ever ever a need to use this odin program. i have never once used it and have flashed a few roms, one of them your very own...[etc, etc]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't seem like a bad idea to have a stock backup solution available.

v_lestat said:
why do we need to flash the original Froyo leak first?
i dont understand this Mez thing about using Odin.
once you have a Rom flashed to your phone and Clockwork working there is never ever ever a need to use this odin program. i have never once used it and have flashed a few roms, one of them your very own pick-n-pak , just not the froyo one.
so can someone explain to me this crazy need to backdoor flash the phone?
the Froyo leak is just a rom, just like this and every other rom. its just a factory flash rom, not a rom you guys built....
so why not just build a rom from it because the odin stuff seems just to be massive unnecessary overkill.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This ROM doesn't have a kernel or a modem with it. If you don't have those files, your phone won't work.
The Froyo leak is NOT a ROM it is a recovery system just as the recovery system for 2.1. It has everything in it.
Odin is not overkill. It's just a different way of flashing things. As soon as we have everything in place for a fully flashable ROM including kernel and modem, that will be an option too. My original PnP ROM also did not include a kernel or modem, but you were already on 2.1 so you didn't need to get there. Had you have been on 1.6, you would have had to update.
Also, there is only two of us working on all of this. We can only do so much. We are trying to do what we can, with what we have. If you can help us out, hit us up on irc. We could use the help.

help?
i just flashed and got a boot loop anything?

mesmerbelly said:
i just flashed and got a boot loop anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hit the irc channel. I didn't have any problems, and neither did any of the others that flashed. We'll get you fixed up.

duhh
i just needed to wipe everything duhh belly think then ask

could you plz tell me where the bootanimation.zip goes in this...i miss my dancing droid...i got the music to work but no animation

v_lestat said:
why do we need to flash the original Froyo leak first?
i dont understand this Mez thing about using Odin.
once you have a Rom flashed to your phone and Clockwork working there is never ever ever a need to use this odin program. i have never once used it and have flashed a few roms, one of them your very own pick-n-pak , just not the froyo one.
so can someone explain to me this crazy need to backdoor flash the phone?
the Froyo leak is just a rom, just like this and every other rom. its just a factory flash rom, not a rom you guys built....
so why not just build a rom from it because the odin stuff seems just to be massive unnecessary overkill.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Over 700 posts here and a thanks meter of 1.. <-- maybe you should just cool off a bit..
Two things:
Number one: Read my reply to your la]st rant. It explains a lot.
Number two: As far as I know, phidelt82 and I are the only ones who own a Samsung Mesmerize and are offering our time up to work on this stuff. Thank God our device is very similar to the other Galaxy S devices so we can dip into the community and share resources where appropriate. I promise you without the resources of the great XDA community, you would have none of this from us.
To answer your burning question I already answered once:
The reason we don't have this in an update.zip form yet is because I am a college student who spends most of his days studying. Every so often I get some *leisure* time to spend working on things I enjoy -- like helping out this community here. I am not as skilled as the prominent Fascinate devs but I am learning. So is phidelt. The refined packages will come.
The fact that you are so worked up about ODIN tells me there are reasons far beyond your understanding as to why we are using it. There is nothing wrong with odin. IT DOES THE SAME THING THAT YOUR RECOVERY PARTITION DOES/CAN DO.. just attached to the computer. I actually think it's more reliable (well at least Heimdall is) and easier to use.
If we were to release a froyo-update.zip and everyone tried it out, without ODIN, they would be potentially stuck in 2.2 land. That would be a big hassle donchathink -- especially because EA11 is not a final release, there ARE some bugs? The current solution for Fascinate users is to flash a froyo.zip from their phone, THEN USE ODIN to flash a <2e> recovery partition so that CWM will work properly. Why not do it all in Odin for the Mesmerize for the time being? Once there is a reliable solution that doesn't need ODIN/Heimdall, I promise you, it will be implemented.
Cool off. I've wasted enough time responding to your ignorance. I am being abrasive now because I already answered you once, and you find the need to ignore the contents of my reply and rant about the same old..
I had some time to put up a new package tonight, but, thanks(?) to you, that's not the case anymore.. =/

you tell him dcow....i like odin...its simple and reliable...cant complain about that
on topic : love this rom...used it on 2.1 and so exited its on froyo now...great work!!!

Yikes, what ever happened to the rule of "If you don't like it, do something about it." ?
For the record, dcow and phidelt, you guys are awesome and I very much greatly appreciate putting your extra time into this!

Amen!
BIG thanks to dcow and phidelt. Without your efforts, I'd still be on stock 2.1. Just wanted you both to know your time and effort is appreciated. Don't know how many of these phones USCC has sold, but it's got to be a small community in comparison to, for example, the Fascinate.
Glad the other devs have been kind enough to help you out where they can...big thanks to them as well.

BakedTator said:
could you plz tell me where the bootanimation.zip goes in this...i miss my dancing droid...i got the music to work but no animation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as of right now till we get a custom kernel there is not much you can do. this one uses qmg files in the /system/media folder for the startup animation. you can delete or rename them so its black but i have yet to find any good working qmg. i have actually found one file and it is 4meg and the animation doesn't finish by the time the desktop apears. the stanard one on our phone is only like 2 to 2.5meg

so your telling me i (or someone with the skills) is going to have to learn how to convert the zips into qmg files? or is there a program we could use...imma google it but if you or anyone knows anything about this plz tell me...im willing to learn and try this out

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=792953
We're going to have to do some research =/, or possibly need a MOD to the rom first.

You guys rock! Back to being bloat-free...and on 2.2

phidelt82 said:
This ROM doesn't have a kernel or a modem with it. If you don't have those files, your phone won't work.
The Froyo leak is NOT a ROM it is a recovery system just as the recovery system for 2.1. It has everything in it.
Odin is not overkill. It's just a different way of flashing things. As soon as we have everything in place for a fully flashable ROM including kernel and modem, that will be an option too. My original PnP ROM also did not include a kernel or modem, but you were already on 2.1 so you didn't need to get there. Had you have been on 1.6, you would have had to update.
Also, there is only two of us working on all of this. We can only do so much. We are trying to do what we can, with what we have. If you can help us out, hit us up on irc. We could use the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahhh i see, it is a rom but its a radio-less rom. - so wait.... if its a radioless rom then why are we flashing it with odin... i dont understand.
and yes odin seems nice, but to have to use this instead of just flashing via clockwork seems rather unconventional
On the EVO we had the official and leaked HTC flasher but to use it meant you lost root. the teams just made a flashable rooted rom
i know that isnt the case with the Mez. but it seemed silly to me that since you had the Samsung recovery, and you had your pick-n-pak... then why not just make a flashable rom.
am i mistaken here ? why not jsut make a rom since you have the stock recovery and the necessary files, just make a rom we can flash via recovery.
so i guess i am lost, if its radioless why are we using it and how is anything working if its not a rom, and missing said files.
p.s.
i sure with amon ra would become available for the Mez lol.

bdemartino said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=792953
We're going to have to do some research =/, or possibly need a MOD to the rom first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i will do my best to help in this research (though im still rather new to all this) and help out in any way i can...maybe with the power of 2 (or more) Brains we can get this working too!

[Q] how 2 b pr0 leik u guys

Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.

Gutana said:
Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]

Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).

jojojohnson7410 said:
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.

WoZZeR999 said:
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol true true that would be my mistake. XD Nice catch
~jojojohnson7410

Gutana said:
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Gutana said:
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
Gutana said:
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410

jojojohnson7410 said:
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But theres no backup and restore options, its jut the recovery options you'd get if you were on a brand new phone.

[Q] Help I think I bricked my device!!!

I have a samsung galaxy s 4g from t-mobile I was trying to upgrade from ginger bread to ice cream sandwich and now the phone keeps restarting. When it turns on it shows the samsung galaxy s 4g startup then it shows the ice cream sandwich i tried to download and it shows a progress bar when it gets to the very end it restarts and does the same process over and over again. I tried to plug into computer and the computer says my device is not recognized. I need help!! What do I do? If video is needed I will provide one

jeffreylin_ said:
There is no OTA update to ICS for this device. If you messed it up, you should use the one click back to stock, which will revert everything back to the way it was when you first got it.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know but I saw a video on youtube about it so i tried it and it just keeps restarting. Would you mind explaining how to do that because it I can't connect my phone to the computer it turns off every 15 secs and I can't go into recovery mode either.

The good news is that it is nearly impossible to "hard brick" an SGS4G. That you are seeing it repeatedly trying to start up tells me that it's more that you just have improper firmware on your device.
Take a look a the heimdall "one-click" collection http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1358498
 @lumin30 has a great walk-through as well -- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21953878&postcount=2
The most difficult thing about using them is getting the right drivers installed on your computer for your phone (and ROM).

jeffsf said:
The good news is that it is nearly impossible to "hard brick" an SGS4G. That you are seeing it repeatedly trying to start up tells me that it's more that you just have improper firmware on your device.
Take a look a the heimdall "one-click" collection http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1358498
@lumin30 has a great walk-through as well -- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21953878&postcount=2
The most difficult thing about using them is getting the right drivers installed on your computer for your phone (and ROM).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't do this because when i plug my phone in to the computer it says device not recognized and the phone restarts about every 15 seconds. If you need to see a video I can provide one. I need to fix it because i'm stuck with this phone for a few more months.

Google samsung usb download jig. You can buy one or make your own for just a few bucks. There is a thread or two on xda on making one. Couple of threads on how to get into download mode too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using xda app-developers app

MuShRo0m said:
I can't do this because when i plug my phone in to the computer it says device not recognized and the phone restarts about every 15 seconds. If you need to see a video I can provide one. I need to fix it because i'm stuck with this phone for a few more months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Device not recognized" is Windows' polite way of saying that it can't make sense of drivers. I have a few polite things to say about Window's handling of drivers, but let's just say that it is tweaky, at best, and you apparently can only have one set of "similar" drivers installed at a time. You will have to work with the drivers once you get Download Mode under control.
That is is still rebooting seems to suggest that you don't have the power off / hold volup/vol dn / plug in USB sequence quite right.

jeffsf said:
"Device not recognized" is Windows' polite way of saying that it can't make sense of drivers. I have a few polite things to say about Window's handling of drivers, but let's just say that it is tweaky, at best, and you apparently can only have one set of "similar" drivers installed at a time. You will have to work with the drivers once you get Download Mode under control.
That is is still rebooting seems to suggest that you don't have the power off / hold volup/vol dn / plug in USB sequence quite right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you I just fixed it. I thought I was screwed thanks so much!! Do you know anything good to put on the device that is for the sgs4g because the last time I put the wrong ones and it ended up how it did. I tried valhalla final do you know any better ones.

I'm glad you got it going again! With luck, you won't have to try that again, but it is a great device to play around with as it is rather hard to get it to "hard brick" to the point where you can't get it into download mode and start again. Just keep lots of backups
There are lots of great ROMs out there for this device, in a few different flavors. You generally need to be careful how you upgrade between the flavors, especially as the big upgrade steps are often taken for granted by current ROMs
Froyo (I'll go out on a limb and say you don't want this)
Gingerbread, BML
Gingerbread, MTD
Ice Cream Sandwich (MTD only, I believe)
JellyBean (MTD only)
BML is the "stock" low-level disk routines used by Samsung ROMs, as well as some custom Gingerbread ROMs. MTD is an open-source alternative to BML that is popular with later Gingerbread ROMs, as well as probably all ICS and JB ROMs. If you are going to use an MTD ROM, you should find a solid MTD Gingerbread ROM to do the switch-over from BML to MTD to make sure it goes smoothly.
I can't really say which is "best" between all the ROMs. There are many good ones out there. A lot of people will have which ROM they use or like in their signature.
With any ROM, read the main thread to see what things might not work for you if you try the ROM.
Some of the general things that are pretty much universal are:
ICS
WiFi Calling doesn't work
Indicated WiFi signal level appears lower
JB
Built-in GPS doesn't work
WiFi Calling doesn't work
Indicated WiFi signal level appears lower

jeffsf said:
I'm glad you got it going again! With luck, you won't have to try that again, but it is a great device to play around with as it is rather hard to get it to "hard brick" to the point where you can't get it into download mode and start again. Just keep lots of backups
There are lots of great ROMs out there for this device, in a few different flavors. You generally need to be careful how you upgrade between the flavors, especially as the big upgrade steps are often taken for granted by current ROMs
Froyo (I'll go out on a limb and say you don't want this)
Gingerbread, BML
Gingerbread, MTD
Ice Cream Sandwich (MTD only, I believe)
JellyBean (MTD only)
BML is the "stock" low-level disk routines used by Samsung ROMs, as well as some custom Gingerbread ROMs. MTD is an open-source alternative to BML that is popular with later Gingerbread ROMs, as well as probably all ICS and JB ROMs. If you are going to use an MTD ROM, you should find a solid MTD Gingerbread ROM to do the switch-over from BML to MTD to make sure it goes smoothly.
I can't really say which is "best" between all the ROMs. There are many good ones out there. A lot of people will have which ROM they use or like in their signature.
With any ROM, read the main thread to see what things might not work for you if you try the ROM.
Some of the general things that are pretty much universal are:
ICS
WiFi Calling doesn't work
Indicated WiFi signal level appears lower
JB
Built-in GPS doesn't work
WiFi Calling doesn't work
Indicated WiFi signal level appears lower
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for the suggestions but I have been looking at the tutorials on this and it says you need cwm but that isn't supported by this device sgs4g. What do i do? Here is what I am trying to install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2587589

MuShRo0m said:
...you need cwm but that isn't supported by this device sgs4g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true that you can't install Clockwork recovery by itself on the SGS4G. However, the custom kernels have either CWR or TWRP "built in" to them. (On the SGS4G, kernel and recovery bound together and flashed as a single unit.)
Here is what I am trying to install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2587589
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that is quite a first ROM to try to flash! Let's see, it says "beta" in the header, it's been out for under 24 hours, people are reporting difficulties flashing it, it has a different partition structure than any other SGS4G ROM, oh, and it's the first KitKat ROM for the phone, so the Android part of the phone is very different and potentially still has major bugs. I think you're in for a world of hurt if you try something that hasn't stabilized to the point that people are generally successful with it, especially if you aren't comfortable with the whole flashing process yet.
I'd suggest one of the well-proven ICS ROMs as a start. The are relatively robust in their ability to install and generally perform very well on the phone. Take a couple weeks with it to know how it performs on the phone for you and then look again at what you might want to try out.
While you can generally upgrade your data from one Android release to the next using a tool like Titanium Backup, going back is dicey, at best. I didn't decide to upgrade my day-today phone from GB to ICS for quite some time after the ROMs were available for just that reason. I'd hate to find out that there was a show-stopper bug and I couldn't go back to GB without losing my data.

jeffsf said:
It is true that you can't install Clockwork recovery by itself on the SGS4G. However, the custom kernels have either CWR or TWRP "built in" to them. (On the SGS4G, kernel and recovery bound together and flashed as a single unit.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a noob when it comes to this stuff I have been looking around and I can't find any custom kernels that have it pre installed could you please help me on this.

jeffsf said:
Well, that is quite a first ROM to try to flash! Let's see, it says "beta" in the header, it's been out for under 24 hours, people are reporting difficulties flashing it, it has a different partition structure than any other SGS4G ROM, oh, and it's the first KitKat ROM for the phone, so the Android part of the phone is very different and potentially still has major bugs. I think you're in for a world of hurt if you try something that hasn't stabilized to the point that people are generally successful with it, especially if you aren't comfortable with the whole flashing process yet.
I'd suggest one of the well-proven ICS ROMs as a start. The are relatively robust in their ability to install and generally perform very well on the phone. Take a couple weeks with it to know how it performs on the phone for you and then look again at what you might want to try out.
While you can generally upgrade your data from one Android release to the next using a tool like Titanium Backup, going back is dicey, at best. I didn't decide to upgrade my day-today phone from GB to ICS for quite some time after the ROMs were available for just that reason. I'd hate to find out that there was a show-stopper bug and I couldn't go back to GB without losing my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense I'll wait for slim kat until the bugs have been fixed and until I get the hang of this.SO just to be certain I should start from ics then move up to jelly bean?

It's my personal opinion that the GB and ICS ROMs are the most stable and reliable for "daily driver" phones. Others like the JB experience. KitKat has a lot of potential, but I'd wait a bit until it settles down. The first few releases on any new Android version are generally a bit rough, even when from the best of devs.
The AntonX Basic kernel from the heimdall one-click thread should get you what you need to get started.
I'm a little puzzled though, how you flashed the first ROM if you didn't have CWR or some other recovery already installed. If it was ROM Manager that you used, it definitely would have caused problems (and will if you use it again).

jeffsf said:
It's my personal opinion that the GB and ICS ROMs are the most stable and reliable for "daily driver" phones. Others like the JB experience. KitKat has a lot of potential, but I'd wait a bit until it settles down. The first few releases on any new Android version are generally a bit rough, even when from the best of devs.
The AntonX Basic kernel from the heimdall one-click thread should get you what you need to get started.
I'm a little puzzled though, how you flashed the first ROM if you didn't have CWR or some other recovery already installed. If it was ROM Manager that you used, it definitely would have caused problems (and will if you use it again).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I will try this right now see if I can even follow the tutorial and I got valhalla by using sgs kernel flasher which is an app on the marketplace.

jeffsf said:
It's my personal opinion that the GB and ICS ROMs are the most stable and reliable for "daily driver" phones. Others like the JB experience. KitKat has a lot of potential, but I'd wait a bit until it settles down. The first few releases on any new Android version are generally a bit rough, even when from the best of devs.
The AntonX Basic kernel from the heimdall one-click thread should get you what you need to get started.
I'm a little puzzled though, how you flashed the first ROM if you didn't have CWR or some other recovery already installed. If it was ROM Manager that you used, it definitely would have caused problems (and will if you use it again).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok so I decided to go for slimkat 4.4.2 and I actually installed it correctly but I don't have the google play store and all that I tried to install gapps but not sure if I had the right version. When I was flashing them it said installation successful but when the phone rebooted it says the applications stopped working.

MuShRo0m said:
ok so I decided to go for slimkat 4.4.2 and I actually installed it correctly but I don't have the google play store and all that I tried to install gapps but not sure if I had the right version. When I was flashing them it said installation successful but when the phone rebooted it says the applications stopped working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hullo man (or mam) I'm the tooth cavity bringer as u can see (w kitkat or sth like that). For your issue, I think you first should get used to installing custom ROM on this phone first, with Recovery: backup & restore procedure, flashing zip,... and heimdall oneclick procedure as jeffsf has been avised you tho before installing kitkat. And yeah, a user got Playstore work out by heimdall oneclick back to stock, and follow my instruction in the slimkat thread again carefully (super clean install) so you can try if you know what you are doing then.
If you are feeling confused and frustrated w the instruction and bugs that might happen to your phone, you can/should flash sth considered stable first like ICS ROMs (that Jeffsf recommended) w Jeffsf's kernels as they are easier to flash and almost bug-free .
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

daothanhduy1996 said:
Hullo man (or mam) I'm the tooth cavity bringer as u can see (w kitkat or sth like that). For your issue, I think you first should get used to installing custom ROM on this phone first, with Recovery: backup & restore procedure, flashing zip,... and heimdall oneclick procedure as jeffsf has been avised you tho before installing kitkat. And yeah, a user got Playstore work out by heimdall oneclick back to stock, and follow my instruction in the slimkat thread again carefully (super clean install) so you can try if you know what you are doing then.
If you are feeling confused and frustrated w the instruction and bugs that might happen to your phone, you can/should flash sth considered stable first like ICS ROMs (that Jeffsf recommended) w Jeffsf's kernels as they are easier to flash and almost bug-free .
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the suggestions I installed slimkat but I didn't have the play store because I forgot to flash the gapps now I finally got everything working it runs pretty smooth. I wanted to challenge myself so I chose the harder one and I did okay.

flashing twrp via odin

Hi I just got this tablet GT-P5113. It has been a long time since i used odin or did anything with samsung devices. In fact I havent really had to do any modding in years because I switched to nexus/pixel and those just work snappy and clean out of the box. But samsung has far superior hardware so I want to breath new life into this. It is running 4.2.2 now. I dont need to put android 11 on this thing but something like 6 or 7 would be good.
I downloaded odin i see it has changed a bit. so to put twrp on this what part of odin do i use? BL, AP,CP, or CSC?
Most of the stuff on these fourms are outdated and the links dont work. once I get twrp on this I should be food to go and figure out the rest.

I haven't flashed more than 3 devices, but for TWRP it has always been AP in those cases.
If you flash a complete stock ROM it's much more than Recovery, so in those cases you flash separate files like bootloader (BL) etc...
Decide which ROM you want to try and read what Dev recommends in terms of Odin version and TWRP version. But a newer version than recommended should be fine (Odin).
I use 3.09 for my old P3100 but also 3.14 worked for me.
I also recommend getting the same stock ROM you already have from Sammobile.com + make a backup before modding.
For Root I have no recommendation. If Dev recommends Magisk for the ROM, try it and see.
The ROMs I tried was rooted with SuperSU 2.82 even if it's outdated nowadays. Our devices are so old so SU is fine if you ask me.
And most of the time it's SU in the ROM thread by the Dev anyway, so choose ROM and the thread for that and go from there

Android go apps
So I have the latest version of twrp on this and android is running really good and stable. The issue is it has no ram. Just basic with nothing else. Running it is taking up 85% of the system resources.
I found a. Zip that is supposed to. Enable low. Ram. Mode. But it fails on twrp install. It class. To work with devices 4.4.4 and higher. I did disable the Google app and install the lite version which helped alot and I got a memory cleaner app. Supposedly flashing this zip makes the system think it's android go and will allow to install go apps. I think this tablet would benefit greatly fr{m this mod. I was wondering if I have to mod the build. Prop. I will. I. Just want to know.Your thoughts on this matter as always thank. You for your opinions I respect. You and your advice. I found these two files on the web.

mojorisin7178 said:
So I have the latest version of twrp on this and android is running really good and stable. The issue is it has no ram. Just basic with nothing else. Running it is taking up 85% of the system resources.
I found a. Zip that is supposed to. Enable low. Ram. Mode. But it fails on twrp install. It class. To work with devices 4.4.4 and higher. I did disable the Google app and install the lite version which helped alot and I got a memory cleaner app. Supposedly flashing this zip makes the system think it's android go and will allow to install go apps. I think this tablet would benefit greatly fr{m this mod. I was wondering if I have to mod the build. Prop. I will. I. Just want to know.Your thoughts on this matter as always thank. You for your opinions I respect. You and your advice. I found these two files on the web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about Low-RAM Property Patcher the thread is here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/mod-low-ram-property-patcher-android-t3737373
Perhaps your ROM doesn't support Go features, and in that case the developer has to update the ROM.

Tab_Triggerhappy said:
Are you talking about Low-RAM Property Patcher the thread is here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/mod-low-ram-property-patcher-android-t3737373
Perhaps your ROM doesn't support Go features, and in that case the developer has to update the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my rom is 6.0 will the one you linked to work since its for 8?
yeah the rom is basically bare bones aosp. But without anything installed besides gapps nano it uses 80% of the memory. I did disable the google app and install the go app and that helped alot. I am trying to enable low memory mode I found this:https://www.nextpit.com/turn-smartphone-into-android-go-device It says it enables low memory mode and then when you go to the play store all the go apps are availabe. so it looks like it tricks it into tinking that android go is the os. I dont know what the specifice differences are between android and android go besides go is a more stripped down version made for devices with lower end specs. They dont nmake a go version for the galaxy tab 2. Im just trying different things to make it work. This is how I learn how to do things. The great people at xda sharing their knowlage with me.

Tab_Triggerhappy said:
I haven't flashed more than 3 devices, but for TWRP it has always been AP in those cases.
If you flash a complete stock ROM it's much more than Recovery, so in those cases you flash separate files like bootloader (BL) etc...
Decide which ROM you want to try and read what Dev recommends in terms of Odin version and TWRP version. But a newer version than recommended should be fine (Odin).
I use 3.09 for my old P3100 but also 3.14 worked for me.
I also recommend getting the same stock ROM you already have from Sammobile.com + make a backup before modding.
For Root I have no recommendation. If Dev recommends Magisk for the ROM, try it and see.
The ROMs I tried was rooted with SuperSU 2.82 even if it's outdated nowadays. Our devices are so old so SU is fine if you ask me.
And most of the time it's SU in the ROM thread by the Dev anyway, so choose ROM and the thread for that and go from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did alot of work to get this thing back to life. First sammobile doesnt have the stock files anymore its too old. But one of the guys on the fourm had one and gave it to me. I had an older version of twrp installed and thats why i could not get anything higher than 4.4.4 or magisk. I found a newer version of twrp under the unified galaxy tab 2 development. Once i installed an updated version of twrp I was able to instal android 6 and root with magisk. it even passes saftey net. Now I am trying to disable as much as i can because it is using too mjuch ram. over 80%. It is a work in progress. Thank you for your tips. This is how I have always learned was by asking and the very knowledgeable people here at xda giving me tips. The development community is full of good smart people who like to share their knowledge.

Hello again,
I have the Tab2 P3100 and found stock firmware at Sammobile, but I had to register and become Premium user if I remember correctly. Old firmwares are archived.
Anyway... it looks like the thing I linked is the same that you linked.
I'm going to test it in my tab. My ROM is based on 6.1, will report back
Edit:
No, I get error message when installing zips and can't get it to work. LineageOS.
Best tip I can give is to install everything you want to use and then get rid of Gapps. Well, unless you use some Gapps stuff...

Tab_Triggerhappy said:
Hello again,
I have the Tab2 P3100 and found stock firmware at Sammobile, but I had to register and become Premium user if I remember correctly. Old firmwares are archived.
Anyway... it looks like the thing I linked is the same that you linked.
I'm going to test it in my tab. My ROM is based on 6.1, will report back
Edit:
No, I get error message when installing zips and can't get it to work. LineageOS.
Best tip I can give is to install everything you want to use and then get rid of Gapps. Well, unless you use some Gapps stuff...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah gapps are really memory hungry. I dont really need to use this tablet for anything special. Its more the chalenge than anything else. And I learn so much doing stuff like this. Years ago I got y first android phone the lg g2x. Not too long after that I discovered xda and just started reading and asking questions. Then one day I took the jump and learned so much just by asking the devs questions and you know getting them a beer here or cup of coffee there. I love xda for that.