Related
Thanks to the efforts of some to port linux to the tornado, a basic linux kernel is in the works. So, therefore we tornado owners are one step closer than many other debice owners in getting android. The only problem is that the project seems like it is abandoned or at least VERY slow moving. I am not a developer(at least not linux) and so I can not help the development. It would be very invigorating if this community's people can help this person work through their problems to gain praise from all of us incapable of doing so. Please visit the developer's site for more info.
http://vivien.chappelier.free.fr/typhoon/index.html
you do know that you ahve posted something that we already know right?? and yes that project is dead, but that dosnt mean other members here on the tornado forum's havent playd around with linux make a search next time.
I realised that people knew about it, i did do a search. I know there is GPE and other stuff already on the tornado; this was just a call for developers to pull efforts together to develop a common kernel and build an android rom for the rest of us that can't do so ourselves. None the less, thanks for your concern.
Even if people get Linux working stable on tornado, there is not much chance of Android ever running on it.
Android is way too touchscreen oriented right now.
wrong there is an android stack for non touchscreen devices
yeah i love cyanogen he is one of the best developers ot here in my opionion i need some 2.0 or 2.0.1 now this 1.6 thing is old cyanogen i know you could do it ur a great developer please try making this for us alot of people on here will be appreciated !
DO THE POLL ABOVE
it saddens me to see all these devlopers working on the 2.0 update and just seeing cyanogen work on all these 1.6 updates i know hes doing it out of his kindness and he dosent have to do it but why stay on the oldies why not hop on the new topics
ALLL HAIL CYANOGEN!(in my opinion)
He's not doing 2.0 because camera drivers haven't been released yet, among other things.
I just have to say that this is sorta disrespectful to Cyanogen? He's doing this in his spare time and he's been doing a fantastic job so far as a major motivating force in the community. And you're trying to tell him what to do?
If you'd been paying attention to his twitter feed or to him in general you'd know that he's been working on an experimental version that will mostly likely be 2.0 based.
People like you give all users a bad name.
he has ported much of 2.0.1 too 1.6 . and its HTC's fault he hasn't went to the newer build. They are no longer providing us recovery images or drivers. Plus you can build cyanogens eclair but you need to from git, its not really production quality without drivers. Trust me Cyanogen mod get allot of credit due to quality,. he will start a new experimental rom when the drivers are out.
Also, Cyanogen if I remember right creates his builds from the Android Source code rather than porting roms from other phones. If that's the case, Google announced yesterday that 2.0 isn't being open sourced for a couple of days.
this is COMPLETLY DISRESPECTFUL TO CYANOGEN. ANY ANDROID ROOTER WITH A BRAIN KNOWS THAT CYANOGEN HASNT GONE FULL 2.0 BECAUSE OF THE CAMERA DRIVERS. THIS THREAD SHOULD BE CLOSED AND THE OP SHOULDNT BE ALLOWED TO FLASH CM ROMS anymore due to lack of respect and a ****ing brain.
If you are not happy - move on. Cyanogen's ROM is the only ROM I will put on my phone. I will not vote in your poll.
jasonsplace said:
Also, Cyanogen if I remember right creates his builds from the Android Source code rather than porting roms from other phones. If that's the case, Google announced yesterday that 2.0 isn't being open sourced for a couple of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats totally incorrect. there is a 2.0 AOSP , cyanogen even has 2.0 code in his git repo. It is open source. At first it wasn't and you could only get it with a droid but now its open.
There are plenty of devs who only work on the latest stuff meaning their ROM's are never 100% stable. IMHO, sticking with one version and working on it, will lead to a more stable ROM's.
It is entirely up to cyanogen what ROMs he makes and which he doesn't. I don't think needs pressure on that front. This thread is already getting into disagreements, and is in the wrong forum.
Thread Closed.
Dave
Why are we not getting honeycomb to play with?
You really need to read some threads before posting a question that has already been answered many times.
Sent from my Viewsonic G Tablet running TnT Lite 4.2.2 w/ Pershoot's Kernel using Tapatalk Pro
And the honeycomb you are referencing has no practical use in the real world. Its a hacked together UI that does nothing but run the preview sdk
if it was worth it we would have it. our devs kick ass
Moved to general
I hate to sound like a jerk but what is it with all the people whining about honeycomb. The only version out so far is a hacked version built off the prelim sdk and in no way will work for the g tablet. Anyone who has been Modding for anytime knows the cardinal rule for android...
DON'T ASK FOR ETA'S.
When honeycomb is officially released by Google I'm sure it'll be like every other release and in a short time we'll have our own version. Until then have some patience please and do some research.
or if you want honeycomb straight away then get a xoom and pay the big bucks
What i dont get is why do people ask and ask...........
Doesnt your gtab do everything you need It to?
honeycomb... Hero cookie....danish....pop tart...soda cracker........flap jack or royal with cheese
Just names I dont see anything i cant wait for.
Now when they say the next android version will give my gtab the ability for it to make me samwiches and give me oral pleasure on demand that is when i will be all over the devs to build that $hit....
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Really?
BilliamB said:
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me get this straight. You post in the wrong section, you ask for an ETA, and you obviously did not search, which also means you did not read any of the forum rules or stickies. Yet, somehow we are all assholes. You know if you just follow a few simple rules your experience with XDA will be much better. The rules here are no different than any other forum. I am going to assume you are new to this, so I will help you a bit. Search for what an SDK port is and you will quickly realize why you do not want this.
BilliamB said:
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should flash the Nook Color ROM BilliamB, you obviously know what you're doing, I'm sure you can get it to work. I mean come on, the G Tablet has a Tegra 2 processor, it should totally work right? Although you may want to read a few threads.... oh wait, you obviously don't do that. Come on dude, the only one here being an AH (as you put it) is you.
Sent from my Viewsonic G Tablet running TnT Lite 4.2.2 w/ Pershoot's Kernel using Tapatalk Pro
Seriously.... You will not see Honeycomb on the G Tablet until another unit is released with Honeycomb and has the Tegra 2 chip. The issue is the instruction sets are different enough that its not a one for one port. The Nook, Dell Streak 5, Tegra 2, etc. are all based on the ARMv7 instruction set but there are difference in their implementation enough that make them incompatible. In addition the biggest differences lay in the I/O subsystem which makes these platforms completely different. With these major differences it makes porting from the emulator (which is how they are getting Honeycomb to work) a daunting tasking and nearly impossible on a Tegra 2 based device.
I am very confident after the first Honeycomb system image is posted it will be running on our tablets... It will be a race as to who gets props on Engadget for being the first to port to the G Tablet..
You would get less hostility if you read, learned and asked accordingly. Its a give and take community. Unfortunately the way you asked makes it seem your less inclined to contribute and just take...
BilliamB said:
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honeycomb is coming to the g-tablet in March, till then.
RERRRAAXXXX
BilliamB said:
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously dude....This is about the 10th thread with this same topic started since the nook got the honeycomb sdk running. You ask questions without searching and then cause you dont get the answer you want you call us names. Don't worry, most of us won't answer your questions anymore.....ever.
BilliamB said:
Instead of anwers that are coherent and useful we get alot of mouthy folks that serve no purpose. What a bunch of AH's!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoa!!! Bad move man, bad move. You need realize that you can't call people who are willing to spend rediculous amounts of thier personal time to provide the community with amazing firmware AH's! Quite the contrary - They are saints (and, actually, you serve no purpose).
Swyped from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0B5.1
deep_powder2012 said:
Whoa!!! Bad move man, bad move. You need realize that you can't call people who are willing to spend rediculous amounts of thier personal time to provide the community with amazing firmware AH's! Quite the contrary - They are saints (and, actually, you serve no purpose).
Swyped from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0B5.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agreed. XD.
Hey Alpha06...
I'm just curious if that is a confirmed news or word of mouth that the G-tablet would have Honeycomb around the March?
I wouldn't guarantee that Honeycomb for the G-tab would be available for sure in March, however I wouldn't be surprised to see Alpha-versions of Honeycomb ROMs shortly after the first Tegra2 devices are released and rooted. Like everyone has been saying around here, don't ask for an ETA, because the people around here that do develop do it on their personal time. They have lives, work, and possibly kids, wives, or whatever that also wants their time as well.
Remember, porting a ROM is a lot easier if there is solid reference material to build from. As you may notice, TNT-Lite comes from his building on and improving the existing TNT version of Android that came with the G-Tablet. Vegan is a modification and improvement of the Vega OS. I don't believe that the developers of either package (and correct me if I am wrong) went to Google's GIT repository for Android and compiled their own versions of the OS specifically for the device - along with writing their own custom device drivers for all of the internal hardware. They built off of, and improved what was available.
IIRC, the Nook port of Honeycomb is only partially functional. The just released port for the Dell Streak (http://www.mytabletlife.com/2011/02/08/dell-streak-honeycomb-port/) is as well. Why, because they are essentially starting from scratch.
Which brings everything back to my original point. As soon as reference devices are out in the wild, I'm sure that will be the point where we will see Honeycomb ports start to pop up here as well.
BigJohn
march can not get here soon enough... heh.
After speaking with some of you it has become readily apparent that while many people are comfortable waiting for a full android release for the HP Touchpad, there are also quite a few people out there that do not want to switch to a full android OS but simply wish they could have access to the vast app collection that android has to offer.
For these people I offer a solution.
Palmdroid
The Palmdroid project is going to be an ongoing development project to bring a Dalvik like port to the Palm/HP WebOS operating system.
The goals of this project are as follows:
1) to offer a Dalvik port to WebOS that allows for android app emulation as if they were native WebOS apps much like Alien Dalvik on the nokia n900 or the app emulator of the blackberry playbook
2) Share useful information throughout development with the Touchdroid team as to help them reach their end goals and avoid conflicting and overlapping work as well as to foster collaboration and new ideas to speed the project along.
3)If possible (either worked into the project from the start or through later additions) provide the emulator as a download through the WebOS homebrew App catalog.
Now with the goals outlined I'll move on to how this is going to get going and what needs to happen next.
1) First and foremost... I need volunteer developers. If you have experience with Dalvik, WebOS development, Android development, UI development, C++, Java, Etc. I would like you to PM me with details regarding what you can help with. I have some java and C++ experience as well as a ton of web dev and project management experience but with alot of this I am learning as I go and if this is going to get done with any sort of speed I NEED your help.
2) I will be setting up communication channels for the dev team to discuss what needs to be done, share work, etc.
3) I will be setting up a web page (an extension off of my own since I can't finance purchasing another hosting account or domain name right now) where there will be regular updates on the status of the project as well as a section for the dev team as a repository for project related research, source code bits, group status reports etc.
Until the aforementioned steps are met this thread will be used to offer info, updates, and discussion related to development of Palmdroid.
I hope to have the support of the community here as we move ahead... i know I am new around here but I am very passionate about making this happen.
WebOS is a great operating system... and Android has some amazing apps... won't it be an amazing world when you can have both!
Palmdroid Coming Soon
-Roto-rooter
PS. this should probably have been in the development section but apparently I can't post there because I am to new here so forgive me. If a Mod would like to move it and give me posting abilities that would be fine.
I subscribed to this thread even tho I have no WebOS devices at all. But I'm intersted in this project's work (I'm not a developer just a "hacker") as the same idea was proposed in the Bada section, too. It seems quite a lot of work to do this, as it's not enough to port dalvik itself, a big chunk of android has to be ported also to make it work. But it's an interesting project!
Agree! I don't want the entire Android OS ... All I want is the apps running on a webos emulator.
Great! Thanks! I'll be watching closely!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
while I probably cannot be of use for the development, I can be helpful for some other things. For instance, I am in the process of creating a logo for the project and also searching for possible devs. I will contact the touchdroid team and see what they think.
Brilliant Idea about starting the dev work
I would support this development and I am sure countless others who have just purchased $99/£89 HP Touchpads would do so. Once again thank you Robo-Rooter & Failhard to start this work.
Just got my 32gb Touchpad in the firesale. Really loving it so far. Having android apps on it would really top this device off. Good luck.
Have been using the touchpad for a couple of days and am amazed at the elegance and sophistication of the webos. Though an old android user ... I absolutely love the webOs interface.
Would love to see the palmdroid happen ... ALL THE VERY BEST GUYS ...
Thanks Robo-Rooter & Failhard for initiating this.
This would be absolutely perfect. I wouldn't want to ditch the WebOS but still be able to run Android apps.
You have my full support.
Great idea!
Great idea!
I have a droid (DesireHD) myself and comparing the droid's interface and webOS, I really like webOS. And looking at how the patches and O/C makes the whole tablet runs silky smooth, I really want an android app emulator. Current apps in webOS's catalogue is pathetic, but combining android's apps and webOS interface is the best one can get.
Subscribed. If I can't get the Android OS, an emulator would do nicely.
sent from my 7/23 iNfEcTeD EVO 4G
Yeah it will be great to those who want to keep WebOS
Subscribed.
I am a long time webOS enthusiast, and I am hoping that I actually get one of the 6 TouchPads that I ordered over the last few days. I think your proposal is the best way to go, and would be way more useful, and probably easier, than a full dual boot android port. I just wanted to list some resources here to bring to everyone's attention. While XDA is the most amazing collection of talented Android and WinMo hackers, you probably want to enlist the help of the aces that live and breathe webOS. Here is where to find them:
http://forums.precentral.net/ Definitely the most popular webOS forum. All the homebrew devs and hackers hang out here.
http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Main_Page This is where all the nitty gritty is documented in a Wiki. I have known some of the webOS internals guys since the day the Pre launched, and they are very talented.
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=webos-internals This is their IRC channel.
Also, if anyone has not seen it, they have already got Ubuntu, including window managers, and apps like GIMP and LibreOffice, running inside cards in webOS. This leads me to believe that the Palmdroid concept is VERY possible.
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-development/292457-tutorial-how-get-ubuntu-touchpad.html
The nice thing is that lots of great auxiliary tools already exist to speed up the process, such as MetaDoctor for creating custom ROMs and Preware for downloading and compiling virtually any linux arm package.
Best of luck with everything. I am subscribing and will help where I can.
This is what I was waiting to hear!!! Let us know where to donate!
Notorious544d said:
This would be absolutely perfect. I wouldn't want to ditch the WebOS but still be able to run Android apps.
You have my full support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this 100%
+1 I believe this is the answer! Hope more people come on board!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Subscribed, definitely want to know where this is heading.
as the biggest supporter of android on the TP, I've started to fall in love with webOS, not gonna lie. I would definitely support this idea. Its always great to have options!
I've heard many things, all great, about CM since the beginning of time (...well, close to it.). Frequently, before a real android phone was obtainable via the average pathways here in the U.S. of A, and the iPhone was the only real option for a smartphone, I found myself pulled towards CM-even though I had no way of actually using it at the time. The open-source, power-to-the people feel has always appealed to me...and my journey, starting from the age of 12, when I started crashing my parents computer so I could spend more time with the boutique builder that would fix it, later fixing it myself, then exploring the down-and-dirty innards of my gadgets-- this journey, has always felt like home to me.
My personal tinkering with phones and the like started with my sisters HTC Tilt, which I skinned to look like an iPhone for her. This was one of the first phones with Wi-Fi (Ha!), and trying to get it work was just as fun as using it.
Moving on, I received, for my birthday, a palm PDA (one of the first with a camera and a color screen...the device itself was blue), but I had to return it due to an exploding display.
Finally, a couple years ago, I got my first smart-phone. An iPhone. And within an hour after getting it, I had it jailbroken and themed. But the innards were still off limits. While searching under terms lie? "Hack phone" and "tethering, I always came across posts speaking of Cyanogenmod...In fact, I'd say that an astounding 50% of my searches relating to customizing or modifying--in some way or another, led to a post or thread--sometimes a whole article, on how to do something with android, and specifically CM. This proved fruitful for my later endeavors.
When I was doing better financially, I bought my first android device, and have never felt so empowered, and have never had such a strong ownership of my devices. That device was the Transformer.
Again, after just an hour of owning the device, I was looking up terms...and searching XDA for every bit of relevant information I could find. Some of the questions I had: What is Clockwork Mod? What is Clockwork Mod Recovery? What's the difference? NVflash? What's a B70 serial number mean for my prognosis? What's a Nandroid? How do I choose a ROM?
Although there was a metric ten of terminology I needed to learn to know what I was doing--and even though there was almost a complete vacuum of centralized information--- at least authoritative information (any questioned asked in forums led to me being booted and marked as a noob), things eventually worked out.
I learned about the Boot loader situation for the transformer, the status of honeycomb as a sort of non-open-source open source operating system, and about the battery issues....about kernels, and speaker mods, about modules and root apps-and along the way I learned almost the full metric ton of terminology, and had a metric ton of fun...with you guys.
Which brings me to today...I own a brand new galaxy note, but am once again in the dark. Only this time, its far worse...because my questions pertain to CM, the gold reference when it comes to running a custom rom, and its structure...that is to say, the structure of the ROM, the team that builds it, and the community that helps support it...all relevant to understanding the dearth of work and choice that we find in this very forum. And because its been around for so long, the staple that CM has become, assumes that all things and all people know what's happening.
Which brings me to my real questions....which I've searched, and searched, and searched again for answers to, but have found no conclusive, or concise and relevant answers. I've searched the cyanogenmod site, the forum, this forum, and Google. And while I found half-answers, and although I'm confident I can root any device I, or my friends can buy, and I can install custom roms, edit props, change permissions, dump radios, flash pre rooted kernels and other kernels, and backup and edit every settings app and image I can find, I still find myself lacking a fundamental understanding of Cyanogenmod and Cyanogenmod work, official, and unofficial--information that would make my life complete, and help me bear the fruit of this journey I'm on.
That journey ends with a device that I own...one with cyanogenmod on it...specifically...a device in the near future that runs a version of CM that I helped contribute to-either officially or unofficially to.
And the beginning of the end to that journey, and the desired end game--developing, begins here. With my ASUS Transformer. And my questions.
Note: I illustrated this story in-depth, for a reason. To let you know that I've searched long and hard for clear answers, and that I plan to contribute significantly in the future to Android, and to XDA. I just need a teeny bit of help...a little direction. And so do a lot of us. I haven't found anywhere, a discussion of this subject--a significant one when it comes to understanding our community, our choices, and how to contribute...that subject is the structure of Cyanogenmod: the ROM, the team, and the community that constitutes them. The following questions are relevant to, and seek to address this fundamental lack of understanding.
Since the release of IcS, we've seen an explosion of CM in the Transformer forum. And while I understand how to read a change log, and a list of "what's working" and "what's not working", and can rely on a search find out what "Cornerstone" is, its still damn near impossible to define the relationship that constitutes all of the CM builds that are available. It might be clear, after a search, what the term "Kang" is, but what isn't clear, is what this means for the end-user. Its not clear what's official, what's parallel work, and what makes up the night lies that we can find on the CM repository. Is it one man aggregating work from forums like this, and throwing all of the features and fixes into a centralized build? Are the ROMs that we find in the Development section of the Transformer section off-shoots of CM to be worked on and differentiated in the future? Because where it stands now, I don't see a ton of differentiation. Maybe its because there's just been a new release, and I'm seeing the beginning of a process here. But I'm still unaware of what makes up a CM team. Its not clear how these things work-- if there is one man from the team working on the transformer, another working on the Epic 4g...and so on, or if everyone works on the same thing, and the feature or fix is distributed by a magic machine, or if each person on the team works on the same thing, and then a designated person ports it to his device. It's context like this that makes an informed overview of the current situation possible. And without that context, I'm stuck.
Most know that nightlies come before the release candidate(s), and that a stable release follows. But what I don't know, is why I never hear about an actual release, and almost always hear people speak of night lies, and in general, they're almost categorically excited.
So, if we were to examine my complete and utter lack of knowledge together, wed conclude that it's impossible for me to understand where XDA, and the ROMs that are available in the development section fit in to the grander-scheme of things. Is it better to get a nightly from CM? Is the nightly made up of the very fixes and developments we find in the various ROMs here in the development section?
How does someone go about deciding which of the dozen ROMs to install? Because the threads for ROMs don't explain anything when it comes to explaining an end goal, and a developers intent for the ROM, and the reasons why he/she is making one, I find myself stuck in the quick-sand of change-log after change-log, feature list after feature list.
Give me the 411. Explain to me what I'm missing in my Rosetta stone of the big picture..the grand scheme of things. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong...maybe I'm just an idiot. Maybe you'll rage at me. But maybe, just maybe, I'm missing only, one small, key, piece of information here, and I spent a couple pages typing on the touchscreen of my transformer for thirty five minutes to find the answers that I badly need.
I'm sorry if I wasted your time. Thank you very much for reading this.
If you have a problem with my post, or a suggestion, attack, or complaint, please Private Message it to me...unless it pertains to the questions I posed...in which case I would very, very much appreciate your comment, your input, you sharing your knowledge, or even a question of your own.
Thanks.
Seriously? All that wall of text to ask the same question that everyone else asks?
This is how you divide up the custom ROMs to make your choice easier:
Do you want cornerstone or no?
If you want cornerstone, you pick between Team EOS or CM9
If you don't want cornerstone, you have these to pick from(in no particular order):
Revolver
Android Revolution HD
Codename Android
AOKP
CM9 no cornerstone version
Just try them and see what you like. I don't understand why people are so cautious before picking a ROM as if it's a permanent choice that can't be reverted.
If you don't like it, you can quickly flash a different ROM.
It's better for you to make your own decision based on your own experience with the ROMs rather than rely on someone else's recommendation whose needs and personal preference might not match yours.
Thank you, actually a nice read, there is also official cm support for our tf, on the cm website, last i seen there were 3 nightlies, since ics iv flashed the official cwm modded rom, then revolutiin, then team eos, then cm9, back to revolution, then codename android, now back on krakd hc rom until jcarrz releases his ics rom.
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
You gotta keep in mind that all ICS development now is in an early stage. Every rom is new, we don't have a solid stable one. Even stock asus have problems with rebooting, dock integration and so on.
CM is fragmented in 2 or 3 builds, and what diferentiates then is only the commits from CM repository and some dev preferences, like cornerstone or full support for the dock.
All roms that aren't Asus based (AOSP) suffers from some aditional issues, like:
- Dock won't be fully working, except on CM9 by ricardopvz and Codename Android. The touchpad still works different from stock asus.
- Some Wi-fi and GPS issues, probably driver related
- Screen rotation have a lag issue (all AOSP roms)
- Dock battery info missing, even with widget.
- Battery drain issues.
I have tested almost all roms and can say most of then is pretty usable. But if combined with overclock kernel, you can certainly expect problems.
[noobquestion]What is this cornerstone everyones talking about? lol [/noobquestion]
Im personally running team EOS nightly build (no cornerstone) with blade's OC kernel running at 1.4Ghz.
I think the ROM works very well. It hasnt really given me any issues except 2 random reboots and 1 semi-freeze (all on the same day lol). Its been running perfect for 3 days now though.
Don't worry about hondroid he is kind of a troll no hard feelings
I have not used CM for quite some time but here is my understanding from having worked with the captivate and transformer for over a year now.
Cyanogen mod is based off of the true source code of andorid taken directly from google and with no OEM's getting their greasy little fingers over them and polluting them with bloatware and skins. From there cyanogen set up a git repository where they have the main android tree as pure as it is and then branches for each device. Then there are plenty of devs working directly on the tree optimizing the core android and adding features which can then be accepted or regected by the otehr devs. Then there is a smaller team of devs on each "Branch" which normally consists of a certain type of processor or chipset. Ex Hummingbird or Tegra 2
The job of the devs there is to integrate that to make it work smoothly and they have the same peer approval system. There are also smaller branches which contain the drivers for most pieces of hardware (Speakers, Screens ect). Then finally there is the device dev there are normally about 5 from my experience but once all the work is done the team can be cut to 1 or 2. They are the people that get it up and running on the device writing missing drivers fixing device specific bugs ect. And once they are done there work they can compile it all together and there we have our nightly.
Then if there is a change in the core all the device devs have to do is recompile and build the rom and there is your next nightly.
The RC happens when they hit a stable nightly or when development has slowed enough that all of the bugs have been fixed
Hope this is helpfull
Thanks to all of your for your responses. I think this is a beautiful conversation that isn't happening enough. All of you have provided great information, that when combined helps to depict the structure of the community we have all grown to love.