Database Info

Is there any benefit to putting upgradeable files in a rom?

What I mean is, it seems to me that it would be more efficient to put any/all files that may be upgraded as packages and instead of flashing cooked roms, we could flash a generic rom and uninstall old/reinstall new packages
Am I making sense to anyone?

I understand you
I believe this is part of what chefs who create "lite" or "unbloated" or "clean" or "naked" (in Garmin's ROMs) are trying to achieve.
I personally like the idea, and hope we see more of them.
My personal favorite ROM of all time was the very first Hyperdragon III

mbarvian said:
I understand you
I believe this is part of what chefs who create "lite" or "unbloated" or "clean" or "naked" (in Garmin's ROMs) are trying to achieve.
I personally like the idea, and hope we see more of them.
My personal favorite ROM of all time was the very first Hyperdragon III
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Up until recently the problem has been that cooks either created loaded ROMs with tons of stuff added to them, or lite ROMs, where they stripped this out.
The issue was however that it is quite easy to strip things out of a ROM. Making CAB packages out of those stripped out files however can be one of the more time consuming tasks and cooks didn't always offer those packages. In addition, CABs which were made available from other sources weren't always packaged in entirety and wouldn't always install.
Cooks have been getting better at this recently however. My new set of ROMS follows these concepts precisely:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=429117

I have been calling and advocating for this too basically since the dawn of UC
Previously I didn't post much under different nick, but I have "put up together" this concept in THIS thread finally, albeit with somewhat misleading "temporary" title, but it is good discussion if anyone is interested.
Granted, few apps have to be cooked-in in order to function properly, but those are really just very few. But as you can read there, most objections against this kind of "real lite" ROMs (where any "upgraedable apps" are NOT cooked-in) come from people who don't understand it, or don't know much about UC or Sashimi (BTW I'm for UC rather than Sashimi because UC is much easier for any newbies), or just don't know/have no clue how it works and are affraid it would make troubles to them if they don't have the same apps cooked-in.
Perhaps any of you could add your input there, since there isn't much sense in starting new thread about basically same thing.
Bengalih, I will test your ROMs with pleasure when I have bit m,ore time (or actually a second Kaiser would be great ).
But I can already give you my sincere congratulations now if you have created such ROMs
I have made ROM based on hang.tuah's ROMeOS (it was going to be an update, but ended in another ROM, LOL - not quite "lite" as I would want it, but I can't change the things that were "always there" now ). I try to steer its users into UC and use "extended packs" for things like dialers, comm managers etc. They'll have best proof that "cooked-in" is *worse* than "installed" soon, when they will have i.e. choice of Opal or Kaiser dialer in the extended pack - which obviously would be impossible if the dialer was cooked-in in the ROM...

@bengalih: your post is what got me to thinking about this again
I'm happy to see that you others share my attitude towards efficiency
I have not completely read thru both of your threads but I suppose what needs to be done is to create a universal standard
The way I see it, this type of system would be beneficial to cooks and end users alike. End users need a minimal variety of options to install these collections and a minimal variety of each basic rom release to install the collections to. Cooks need a simple system to adhere to that requires no more work to put together their collections than the current amount of work they do to create their roms.
Here is a sample proposal (what I'm thinking right now with a minimal knowledge of rom cooking )
A base rom of each flavor could be made available to download. By each flavor, I mean a different rom with each combination of files that must be cooked in to work. I haven't read anything like that before so if there are more than a couple combinations then no more than 4-5 with typcal combinations should be considered.
I need to do some reasearch to learn what benefits and/or caveats are associated with UC and Sashimi. I suppose cooks should be the ones to decide whether to make their collection(s) combatible one installer or the other.

selyb said:
@bengalih: your post is what got me to thinking about this again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the future it might just be best to post in the thread about this then. As a topic that has been tread over several times putting additional input into an existing thread would be more effective.
selyb said:
I have not completely read thru both of your threads but I suppose what needs to be done is to create a universal standard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you should read through the threads that are already out there before staring a new one that re-hashes the same information.
selyb said:
The way I see it, this type of system would be beneficial to cooks and end users alike. End users need a minimal variety of options to install these collections and a minimal variety of each basic rom release to install the collections to. Cooks need a simple system to adhere to that requires no more work to put together their collections than the current amount of work they do to create their roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck trying to get cooks to follow anything you propose. Not that it might not be a brilliant idea, but cooks are going to do their own thing. I decided to take matters into my own hands and cook my own ROMs according to the principles I thought best. I put the ROMs and my principles out there in hopes others will adopt them, but that's the best you can do...
selyb said:
A base rom of each flavor could be made available to download. By each flavor, I mean a different rom with each combination of files that must be cooked in to work. I haven't read anything like that before so if there are more than a couple combinations then no more than 4-5 with typcal combinations should be considered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, pretty much what I have done already with the HTC and AT&T official 6.1 releases. A base ROM for each with a set of CAB file to customize to your desires.
selyb said:
I need to do some reasearch to learn what benefits and/or caveats are associated with UC and Sashimi. I suppose cooks should be the ones to decide whether to make their collection(s) combatible one installer or the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense, because I realize I am coming off a bit gruff in this post, but you do need to do alot of research. I agree with alot of what you are saying, but it has been said before (by myself and others). Also, there is no reason that a collection of CAB files wouldn't work with SASHIMI instead of UC or vice-versa. To your own admission, you don't understand how these installers work, but when you do your research you'll see that in essence they are both just installing CAB and XML files (and with SASHIMI the capability for much more).
Again, please don't take anything here as a personal attack. I can see that you are coming off of inspiration from my posts and I don't disagree with your basic ideas. However you will get better reception from all if you do these things:
1) Research what is out there before posting so you don't retread old ground.
2) Don't just "propose" ideas, put them into action. Even the best ideas are unlikely to be adopted unless you put effort into implementing them youself.
I say these to you for your own protection before someone not as nice as me begins to bash you for not doing research

Ok, well, I will quit posting to this thread before someone not so nice does come along.

selyb said:
Ok, well, I will quit posting to this thread before someone not so nice does come along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh... well seriously, take some time and learn more of what is currently out there and see where it is lacking.
I generally invite user feedback on my development projects. If you go back through the older threads, and take a look at what I am trying to do with my BRR ROMs, please feel free to comment in there about what additionally you would like to see and why.
Trust me, I very much welcome an open debate about what would be an effective way to do things. I just wanted to burst your bubble a little bit (seeing as you are a newer member) that your aspirations, although maybe valid, are most likely not going to get implemented by a majority of the cooks throughout the site.
I don't mean to shut down your thread, and you should continue posting if you see it as the best place to do so. I just feel that if you contribute to some existing projects that already have momentum then your ideas are more likely to get some attention.

Android Rom Tool

Hello everyone,
I'm not new to this forum, i have used it for many years now. Yet i have never made any contribution to the community.
I was fiddling with my G1 again when i found out my rom folder was a complete mess filled with update.zip packages, roms i didn't even know i downloaded. So i though, hey lets develop an application to manage all my roms and radio's with a quick button to upload a rom or radio to my g1.
Something like this:
Sorry i could not post a link, it's restricted. My account is still blocked for that. Admin??
I wonder if anyone would be interested in such an application? And if you are interested could you come up with suggestions to make it better/ help me debugging (i'm a student, i don't have a lot of spare time).
If anyone is interested i will seriously think about further developing this app,
it's now in pre-pre-alpha stage or so .
Greetings from holland.

zuenaerox said:
Hello everyone,
I'm not new to this forum, i have used it for many years now. Yet i have never made any contribution to the community.
I was fiddling with my G1 again when i found out my rom folder was a complete mess filled with update.zip packages, roms i didn't even know i downloaded. So i though, hey lets develop an application to manage all my roms and radio's with a quick button to upload a rom or radio to my g1.
Something like this:
Sorry i could not post a link, it's restricted. My account is still blocked for that. Admin??
I wonder if anyone would be interested in such an application? And if you are interested could you come up with suggestions to make it better/ help me debugging (i'm a student, i don't have a lot of spare time).
If anyone is interested i will seriously think about further developing this app,
it's now in pre-pre-alpha stage or so .
Greetings from holland.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, I am not sure if this is in the right section...perhaps putting it under General might be a better option, as it does not have to do specifically with developing a ROM.
Secondly, the idea seems promising. I am not fluent with ADB, but if you can flash roms with it (IE: boot the phone into recovery, and use adb to flash the rom), then yeah, I think it would be a great idea. And again, depending on what ADB can do, haev it control nandroid/bart as well for backing up and restoring. I know ADB has the shell command, so if you can use stdin/stdout to read/write to that shell prompt, it would be feasible.
But that is forcing every user to go ahead and keep a db of the ROMs they download...perhaps using an external host to manage the images (keep a listing, changelogs, etc) of the individual roms would be an idea...then you can have the application pull roms directly from that repo. This, of course, would require you to manage the remote repository and keep it up to date.
Thats my $0.02

jmhecker said:
First off, I am not sure if this is in the right section...perhaps putting it under General might be a better option, as it does not have to do specifically with developing a ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is ANDROID Development, not ROM Development.
My $0.02.

Bavilo said:
This is ANDROID Development, not ROM Development.
My $0.02.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats why I said "I'm not sure"...I stand corrected though.

If we want to get technical, this is Htc Dream (G1) Android Development. If we want to be nitpicky this should be in Android development unless it is only for the Dream (G1) and will not work for any other Android phone, which I doubt. But who's being nitpicky anyway?

JAguirre1231 said:
If we want to get technical, this is Htc Dream (G1) Android Development. If we want to be nitpicky this should be in Android development unless it is only for the Dream (G1) and will not work for any other Android phone, which I doubt. But who's being nitpicky anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, I love the last line of your signature...classic
I just know that the mods and certain 'Senior Members' like to trash talk about threads in the wrong section, rather than simply stating that it would be more appropriate elsewhere. I was just trying to stop the bashing before it started, heh.
This thread is getting sidetracked though. I do think that the idea is a good one, whether it be strictly for G1, or across the board for all Android devices.

Sorry...
Sorry for posting this in the wrong section, i thought it should be in this section becouse it involves rom's.
Putting up a rom repo, would involve PHP and Mysql(a large one, saving all roms and radio's).
I would be very interested starting this project. I could use some help however. I don't mind building such a repo, but the content should be community managed.
I think android is going to be the mobile future so building such a repo would pay off since we're getting more and more rom's. Ill experiment with php and mysql tonight. I don't have a host, i run it locally.
Maybe someone with mysql/ bandwith to spare?
greetings

zuenaerox said:
Sorry for posting this in the wrong section, i thought it should be in this section becouse it involves rom's.
Putting up a rom repo, would involve PHP and Mysql(a large one, saving all roms and radio's).
I would be very interested starting this project. I could use some help however. I don't mind building such a repo, but the content should be community managed.
I think android is going to be the mobile future so building such a repo would pay off since we're getting more and more rom's. Ill experiment with php and mysql tonight. I don't have a host, i run it locally.
Maybe someone with mysql/ bandwith to spare?
greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't necessarily have to be done with MySQL/SQLite/etc...XML would work just as well, but can be a bit more tricky to manage. SQL probably would be the better option now that I think about it.
This idea would have 2 parts to it then, correct? The backend (database hosted online somewhere), and the frontend for the user desktop.
As far as the bandwidth required, there are plenty of places on the net that are geared towards hosting of open source projects...perhaps you could use one of their offerings.

The idea first involved a client managed application only. However the idea in the other post about a web based repo liked me better . Ill try to develop a simple web application to add rom's,track changes. I will try to put a test application online tomorrow.
I hope this repo will be used and managed. I like this forum very much and the community could not live without it. This repo would absolutely be and addition to xda!
Using the repo, you could view all available rom's, installation instructions, track changes.
Check the thread tomorrow. Ill try to upload an example
Have a nice day

zuenaerox said:
The idea first involved a client managed application only. However the idea in the other post about a web based repo liked me better . Ill try to develop a simple web application to add rom's,track changes. I will try to put a test application online tomorrow.
I hope this repo will be used and managed. I like this forum very much and the community could not live without it. This repo would absolutely be and addition to xda!
Using the repo, you could view all available rom's, installation instructions, track changes.
Check the thread tomorrow. Ill try to upload an example
Have a nice day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think anything is better than what we have now: Threads scattered all over the place with new ROMs getting posted. We need something more centralized.

bro you look like a fake maxisma .. hahahhaha .. sorry had to point that out

@georgegreco86
Well thank you for your kind reply...
@jmhecker
I've put together a quick php,mysql script on a temporary host. It's not possible to add roms. But you can view rom information in an organized way.
This is just an example of what is possible. Never mind the layout.
Its just a quick preview.
androidrepo.zxq.net/index.php
Greetings

Great idea!!!
im not a developer, but im a flashaholic he he, cant wait for this info....

zuenaerox said:
@georgegreco86
Well thank you for your kind reply...
@jmhecker
I've put together a quick php,mysql script on a temporary host. It's not possible to add roms. But you can view rom information in an organized way.
This is just an example of what is possible. Never mind the layout.
Its just a quick preview.
androidrepo.zxq.net/index.php
Greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one thing to think about with this is when you allw people to add/update/delete their roms. You will have to have some sort of permission system in place that would prevent UserA from deleting a ROM that was created and uploaded by UserB.
Also, this creates another login/password that the rom creators need to remember.

Yeah i thougt about that, unfortunatly we live in a world where you can't trust people. So yes i need to build an user auth system
This was just preview
I'm going to bed now, ill be working on it tomorrow
have a nice day

I like to help
well I am just putting a new linux server online in the next day or so
toss one of my google adds on the page and you can host it there
and as space requirements grow I can add more np
it would at ther very least get it hosted so you guys can get it off the ground
by the way I have been lurking around here for months
some of the stuff you guys have done is truely sweet my phone
will never be the say again unless rogers has its way

Hello guys,
I've been working very hard on the repo and i'm glad to announce that the admin part is allmost fully finished!!
@Broncosis
Thank you for your reply!!!!
i hope your host can run php, and mysql. I use the mysql to upload foto's and roms are saved to the server harddisk. Will this be possible?
Thanks in advance for helping get this project off the ground !!
greetings

zuenaerox said:
Hello guys,
I've been working very hard on the repo and i'm glad to announce that the admin part is allmost fully finished!!
@Broncosis
Thank you for your reply!!!!
i hope your host can run php, and mysql. I use the mysql to upload foto's and roms are saved to the server harddisk. Will this be possible?
Thanks in advance for helping get this project off the ground !!
greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I may make a suggestion: When you are working on the frontend (what the users (not devs) will see, code it using proper XHTML standards, and utilize classes from within your CSS. The reason I say that is I would be willing to make a desktop application that would scrape your webpage at load, and obtain the ROM categories, rom information, download links, etc, and the user would then be able to simply choose a ROM from the application, which in turn would download it, and create a nandroid backup of the phone, move the ROM over, and flash it, without any user interaction. (thats assuming I can work out a few of the troubles I am running into with ADB and Fastboot)

zuenaerox said:
Hello everyone,
I'm not new to this forum, i have used it for many years now. Yet i have never made any contribution to the community.
I was fiddling with my G1 again when i found out my rom folder was a complete mess filled with update.zip packages, roms i didn't even know i downloaded. So i though, hey lets develop an application to manage all my roms and radio's with a quick button to upload a rom or radio to my g1.
Something like this:
Sorry i could not post a link, it's restricted. My account is still blocked for that. Admin??
I wonder if anyone would be interested in such an application? And if you are interested could you come up with suggestions to make it better/ help me debugging (i'm a student, i don't have a lot of spare time).
If anyone is interested i will seriously think about further developing this app,
it's now in pre-pre-alpha stage or so .
Greetings from holland.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may want to partner with the guy who built Droid Explorer. This sounds like a natural extension to that tool (if it's not already baked in). I know you can push things like APKs to the phone from Droid Explorer.

maxawesome said:
You may want to partner with the guy who built Droid Explorer. This sounds like a natural extension to that tool (if it's not already baked in). I know you can push things like APKs to the phone from Droid Explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do we know who it was that created Droid Explorer? I would love to be able to improve upon what he has already done.

Collabertive Effort Community Update Application

Hi all,
I have a concept for a single update application that would be driven from the AndroidSPIN release database so all developers could use it for ROM, Themes, Applications and anything releases to devices.
If you wouldn't mind taking a couple of minutes to read this post, I would greatly appreciate it.
http://www.androidspin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=260&t=226
I'd really love to get a group together to collaborate and either help design this and/or write an application and back end to do it.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks
Simon

Sounds like an awesome idea, I'd love to help any way I can, but I dont fit in any of the needed positions for the post. Looking forward to see what develops though

Fantastic idea!
I only ever use XDA so god knows what I'm missing out on elsewhere and to be honest after searching the word android on google and trawling through one crap site after another becomes tiresome so hence the 'XDA only' policy.
Sorry I can't offer any programming skills but you have my support on this project whole heartedly, not that it counts for much I know buh MeH!
Hope you can get this off the ground.

As I mentioned to Simon already, I was thinking about building an update application for my ROM. I love the idea of having an on-phone ROM database, update capability, something that can easily be used by any developer in the community.
Some initial thoughts on functionality:
- Browse ROMs
- Download ROMs to SD Card
- Monitor specific ROMs for updates
- Monitor currently running ROM for updates
I'm willing to lend a hand on the Android side of things, but this will be a large undertaking and we will also need some people to contribute to the UI, server side of things, etc.

I do iPhone UI design for applications now (I don't have an iPhone, but most of my contracts and clients are iPhone based), but let me know and I can whip up anything you guys need UI related.
Send me a PM and I can get the ball rolling on how the functionality can be laid out as well.

Even tho I know I wouldnt be able to help out with this. I know I would love to test this out if you needed it.
Its a great idea!!!

I know a teeny bit of Java, and I'm working on becoming an Android developer, so if anything needs doing on the Android side of things, I'm willing to contribute.
Although I may not know as much as some others, I'm definitely a fast learner. I have a few books on Android development I'm reading through right now.

michinohatoresu said:
I know a teeny bit of Java, and I'm working on becoming an Android developer, so if anything needs doing on the Android side of things, I'm willing to contribute.
Although I may not know as much as some others, I'm definitely a fast learner. I have a few books on Android development I'm reading through right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, we can reuse a lot of code from Cyanogen updater.

akirah said:
Well, we can reuse a lot of code from Cyanogen updater.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, of course.
If anything else needs doing, however, I volunteer what spare time I have.

akirah said:
Well, we can reuse a lot of code from Cyanogen updater.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be easily done, would require quite a lot of laborious work ripping out all the stuff you wouldn't need though.
I would take a look at this but unfortunately I have another Android project on at the moment which is taking all my development spare time.
@SimonNWalker What sort of backend having you got going? REST? SOAP?

Ups wrong theread

not that it matters (since i kept the source 100% open)....
you have my blessing to tear the cmupdater to shreds if it will give us a unified solution to all our ROM cravings
firefart has done a good job of keeping the code pretty clean so there shouldnt be too many issues with grabbing it
and the new code for the screenshots for themes could probably be used to the advantage of this project with ease

I'm not really interested in a rom updater, but a market replacement with an "upgrade all" feature (à la apt-get / yum) drawing from multiple repositories would be most exciting.

The Cyanogen updater could be used, it just needs some modifications. Stuff like sub-sections and update all
Would probably need a new method to keep track of the updates aswell, I don't think json would be sufficient for a lot of applications and updates. Unless somebody could make some kind of script to automate the process when it gets uploaded.

willmav5000 said:
Would probably need a new method to keep track of the updates aswell, I don't think json would be sufficient for a lot of applications and updates. Unless somebody could make some kind of script to automate the process when it gets uploaded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only other method I would consider, besides JSON, is an advanced and well thought out web-based form that the developer is forced to complete upon uploading a ROM. This would place more burden on the server, but should be relatively easy to attach the provided ROM information to the rom database.
Think: Check boxes for firmware compatibilities, check boxes for device compatibilities, version number, change log, etc.

Maybe something a little like this?

Wow this would be/ is gonna be awsome!
I would suggest also that you can backup your sd card settings (and maybe also sms...) to an ftp server (or some other server you can install on your pc) from this app...
like (incremential) backup>partition>wipe>install update>boot>getbackupback
problem is to get the server adress back after wipe. maybe stored in web database and encrypted with phone imei number? or uploaded as google
whatever...
or just not wiping that single adress
just saying ^^

willmav5000 said:
Would probably need a new method to keep track of the updates aswell, I don't think json would be sufficient for a lot of applications and updates. Unless somebody could make some kind of script to automate the process when it gets uploaded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JSON is just a file format. The CM Updater works via a static JSON file that gets updated manually. The way I'd design this (which is what I asked a couple of posts back) is a dynamic web service (probably REST based) which delivered JSON dynamically. Wouldn't be too difficult at all.
As SimonWalker said he's using PHP + MySQL I'm guessing that's already being done.
@garok89: CM Updater is completely open-source therefore blessings are not needed to use the source. Really don't understand all the "credit" crap here on XDA.

senab said:
@garok89: CM Updater is completely open-source therefore blessings are not needed to use the source. Really don't understand all the "credit" crap here on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it is open and I don't need to give my blessing for people to use the source. I did so because a lot of people don't feel comfortable using other peoples code without permission, regardless of whether or not its 100% open source.
And as for the 'credit crap'... I don't see you asking for your name to be removed from the 'about' section of the app
I am not asking for any credit
Anyway, lets not get off topic...

Guys, before this becomes Android Open Alliance, the sequel (you all remember how that went), I think we better set up a way to work together first and then toss in the speculative stuff later.
How about starting simple; set up a wave?

[ROM] Looking for testers.

Looking for possible ROM testers.
I'm currently learning about the all of the potential that the android operating system has and would like to get feedback and reports from other users. I'm looking for one or two testers (if i get quite a few PM's, i will definitely consider changing this, but I want to stick with a captive audience at least in the beginng). The knowledge level can vary, as I'm looking for feedback and checking to see what works/doesn't work. I only have a few specific criteria that I'm looking for in testers which I will note at the bottom.
A little something about my expectations...
I will in no way ever refer to myself as a developer. I'm merely a person that can follow directions, ask the right questions to the right person, and learn along the way. I'm not starting this to make money, to show off any sort of skills that i may posess. I would just like to make this a hobby as other "developers" and users like myself have done. I cannot promise a fast ROM. I cannot promise that it will look the best (at least in the beginning). I can promise I will take in all feedback and suggestions and have some consideration towards them. My biggest reason for testing is to find all the nooks and crannies and make sure they're clean. I do not have 4G here in arizona, so i have no clue if it works or not (It's based off stock so I don't see any reason it shouldn't). Etc etc..
Tester Criteria
I would like at least one user that has not formatted their SD card with ext2/ext3 file system for apps2sd. I will provide help with this if/when needed and I would like to give instructions to verify that it is working.
Someone who has 4G in there area, that also uses social networking.
Some sort of Instant Messanging application, you name it and I'll download it and make a username. It makes it so much easier to talk and get feedback when a conversation can be held. A definite plus is someone that has a headset and knows how to use programs such as Ventrilo or Teamspeak (think xbox live for Windows).
Patience with myself.
PM me and I will get back with you as soon as i can.

I'll help no apps2sd and I have 4g I'm not a dev dev but know a lot of android stuff b

Custom ROM comparison database 2.0 (open to edit for public now!!!)

UPDATE: Database 3.0 can now be found here
Someone asked me to create a thread here for my custom ROM comparison database, so that's what I'm doing here now.
A few words from my side so you know what to expect of it and clear things up.
This is the original text I posted on my blog, so I'll just put it up here as well.
At the end of last week, I asked on G+ what to do next, an app comparison or a new custom ROM review. On of the first answers that got my attention was someone asking for a custom ROM comparison instead. I thought about it for a while how this could works since I can’t show them off side by side and it would be difficult no matter what. While thinking along I also remembered one post on YouTube where a viewer gave me the constructive criticism on the videos getting too long, especially the part where I listed all the features in the video review. I told him I am aware of that fact but I still haven’t found the right solution to make the videos shorter without missing any important specs. After some more thinking the idea of the comparison database was born.
The idea behind the database
Creating a database that contains all the available features clearly visible and quickly to access for everybody was actually the hopefully right solution. Using it I don’t need to waste anymore time on rattling down the whole list in my video… this saves me a whole lot of time but of course also you. And if someone wants to know if a specific feature is available in the reviewed ROM he can just quickly check the database and look for it, it’s as easy as that. Of course this method also allows me to focus more on the important aspects of the ROM itself.
Creating the database itself took quite some time for sure but in the end I think this is the cleaner and smarter solution for everyone. I hope this to get a helpful tool for everyone to easily find the right ROM for himself that suites him the most.
I did 2 videos, one quickly explaining the purpose of the database itself and an additional one explaining some of the more important custom ROM features so that people who are maybe new to custom ROM flashing know what to look for. If you see any feature in my database and wanna know what it is for or what it does, leave me a comment. I will then either quickly explain it if possible or collect some of the requests and make another “features explained” video.
Here is the link for the database (it will also be attached to every upcoming custom ROM video as well as the matching article), it will be updated with every upcoming custom ROM video review. I am no professional in text editing, so if someone is maybe bored or wants to help me out in making a better and more professional appearing database to improve it, please contact me, I’d really appreciate it.
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Features of the database
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- detailed list of all possible custom ROM feaures (~100 at the moment, constantly growing)
- containing 13 of the most popular ROMs + stock Android ROM + Xposed Framework to compare with each other (list is still growing)
- a lot of useful additional informations like links to downloads, ROM's websites, G+ communities and much more
- everything is sorted logically and color coded for fast and easy comparison
- all features have a quick explanation, expecially helpful for custom ROM beginners
- a lot of maintainers to keep it updated as good as possible (12 maintainers at the moment) - always looking for more, feel free to join
- constantly working on improving and enhancing the database
here is the link to the database 2.0 - thx to @parker09
some additional videos to explain the whole thing again...
Please feel free to leave any comments.
I'm a real Google docs noob so if someone maybe wants to help me clean it up and polish the style, just contact me.
And if this thread is posted in the wrong section, please just let me know.
UPDATE new host
Updates
Update
I read the posts here and on the portal and wanna set some things straight.
I do the database including the reviews in my free time, but besides that I´m also blogging,doing app/device reviews, how to´s and similar stuff so time for the database is therefore limited. That´s the reason I can´t progress with the database as fast as I would like to, also my way of testing takes up a lot of time.
I will of course try to do it as frequently as possible and of course ROMs like AOKP and Omni will follow in time.
That´s it for that.
Regarding mistakes and such, I know the database isn´t flawless but I´m not doing errors on purpose. About missing features of certain ROMs, it is possible some ROMs now have features that weren´t available at my time reviewing it but it´s almost impossible for me to keep track of all changes since I use different ROMs all the time and can´t always go back to already reviewed ones.
Update 2
Big change, after all what I read, I finally decided to make the database open to edit for public. Everyone can add ROMs and changes as he wishes to. I only ask users to be resposible and keep everything clean. Feel free to make new entries or correct errors if found. I think this is the best way for the database to grow.
The 2nd change is the move to another design made by @parker09 that is way nicer and better in my opinion.
The old one will still stay but won´t be updated anymore I think. So don´t forget to change your current link to the new one.
BIG THX to everyone in advance who decides to particate on working on the database, I hope the new way is a win for everyone.
Update 3
Sorry to say but the open to public idea wasn't the best it seems since the database somehow got messed up a bit. I want to prevent this from happening that's why I have some rules now to hopefully keep things clean and right this time.
Everyone is still welcome to participate in maintaining the database but has to do following now in order to get permissions to edit.
This reason for the rules is so I can better keep track of what gets changed by who and I know which parts are getting updated and which not.
How to get permission to edit?
Please contact me via PM on xda with the following title...
maintain custom ROM database "your email adress" "your google name" (the name that will appear when editing the document)
- Please also write down your name and email again within the pm just to be sure
- Please tell me which ROM(s) you would like to maintain or what you plan to edit.
- Please tell me if it is ok to add you to hangouts, this would make the teamwork faster and easier
Rules for maintainers
can now be found directly in the database
I want this so I have a list of all the maintainer and know who does what, so things don't get mixed up like 2 people editing one rom at the same time getting each other between in their way. This gives me a better overview so I can track the changes.
THANKS TO
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n3ocort3x - AICP Team member
owain94 - PACman Team member
vedantgp - CyanFox Team member - Special thanks for a lot of groundwork&more
josegalre - Special thanks for a lot of groundwork&more
jrudyk
msn.debord
louisjms
lordbalmon
septigation
l3v14n

Thank your for publishing it here as well. This will be helpful for all of us. :good:

SlimBean has Breathing SMS. I should know I ported it (its in MMS settings)

cordell12 said:
SlimBean has Breathing SMS. I should know I ported it (its in MMS settings)
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Maybe it didn't have it back when I reviewed it or I missed it. Will change it later. Thanks for the heads up

Can you add what you can do with stock+GravityBox? Then people can see which benefits they can get without flashing roms.

Hi nimrodity,
please make it available as a online tool for all ROM makers, so that they can update it as and when possible. and then there's no need you to update it.

Nice I did a column for Paranoid Android (as best I can - some features I don't know what they do) but did as best I could so if you want to copy & paste it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...VoZ1l0bWxoYnVzek9oNnhlWXc&usp=drive_web#gid=1
On the second sheet I started one ages ago and that's the style I went with, and you hover over for what their options are.

Interesting, but what I would really love to see is developers from cross-ROM platforms joining hands

Lastest Carbon have got Paranoid PIE.

Small adjustments
You had a really great idea by doing this. I once search for something similar to this spredsheet and didn't find anything useful...till now!!
You did a wonderful job!
I just noticed 1 small thing and my other point is a suggestion:
1. In CM10.2 you have an option for the vibration intensity only, so maybe you could add to the "vibration" section: yes, but limited.
2. My suggestion would be to add another "spec" for the ROM. It would be "screen color/gamma calibration". It's a very interesting feature and CM10.2 (latest nightly) has it.
What do you think?
Thanks
Keep up the good work!:good:

maxver0 said:
Lastest Carbon have got Paranoid PIE.
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I know but it didn't back then when I reviewed it. I can't always update the database especially with the old review build date. It would be too hard to keep track of all.

Thanks for Your work... Hope You will add more ROMs to this database and I hope other members will help You to get the info You need for awesome ROMs like:
Purity...
crdroid
XenonHD
Liquid Smooth
Vanir
Carbon
Illusion
beanstalk
Jellybam
... and more AOSPs
... ... ... ... OMNI
Purity, Vanir, Jellybam and XenonHD should be simple to track because devs keep the same MODs&features... little changes on every new build
More difficult to track other ROMs that add&remove features very often
I can't help You because I'm a Stockish man and I won't try AOSPs for now
Thanks for useful database, It will sure help me when I will going to flash new rom

felix1234 said:
Can you add what you can do with stock+GravityBox? Then people can see which benefits they can get without flashing roms.
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Doesn't really make sense since it's all about custom Roms but I already thought about doing a separate review for the blog.
Not sure about your idea, will think about it though

itechengine said:
Hi nimrodity,
please make it available as a online tool for all ROM makers, so that they can update it as and when possible. and then there's no need you to update it.
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As you can see by my simple list I don't know much higher about docs and I have no clue how to do such a tool. The idea sounds really cool if someone knows how to do that and wants to help out just contact me

parker09 said:
Nice I did a column for Paranoid Android (as best I can - some features I don't know what they do) but did as best I could so if you want to copy & paste it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...VoZ1l0bWxoYnVzek9oNnhlWXc&usp=drive_web#gid=1
On the second sheet I started one ages ago and that's the style I went with, and you hover over for what their options are.
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Click to collapse
Will check it later. If you see my YouTube channel you see my PA rant. I don't really have that much interest updating the database with PA since I'm not really a big fan of the to work. Nothing personal but I just can't get warm with their Rom

@nimrodity
Great work. Important factors when choosing rom could besides features be "RAM usage on clean install and no tweaks/installed apps" and benchmarks based on the same conditions.
But anyways, awesome work :thumbup:

pemell said:
@nimrodity
Great work. Important factors when choosing rom could besides features be "RAM usage on clean install and no tweaks/installed apps" and benchmarks based on the same conditions.
But anyways, awesome work :thumbup:
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Sorry I won't including benchmarks since they have nothing to say about performance in daily use. They are no important factor for me. Same for the rest, also I mention performance and such in my video reviews, don't plan on adding that stuff directly into the database though

On Cyanogenmod it says :
Volume Music Controls : music controls visible only but not with volume buttons.
You can control the music with the Volume buttons whilst being locked.
And if Poweroptions refer to the "menu" that shows when pressing the power button, you can en/disable airplane mode and select "Screenshot". And you can switch between Silent/Vibrate/Sound Profile.

Why no MIUI?
Great work! Just one little nag - why no mention of MIUI? It's distinct feature set should surely warrant a review, but that's just my opinion.

jwchips said:
Great work! Just one little nag - why no mention of MIUI? It's distinct feature set should surely warrant a review, but that's just my opinion.
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My database is far from being complete, I just started . I chose my Roms randomly until now. Miui is still possible to come