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Hi
I was wondering if you could make available a completely seperate forum group whose entire purpose would be a download repository.
i.e, when people upload software they have made or have found to be really really great then they can post it there?
would be great to have all the downloads in one place. (and not have to hunt through the FTP which only tends to include larger files (roms and the like)
thanx
I agree. searching rarely yeilds the intended target- especially when the software is for the general OS and not a specific device. simply have it in "pro/touchscreen/pocketpc" and "standard/non-touchscreen/smartphone" flavors.
Yes this would be a great thing, searching is really not that good for finding specific software/files here IMO
As far as I know, the only software difference between Dream and Sapphire is kernel and driver stuff, neither of which effect themes at all.
So why not get rid of the Sappire themes forums completely and just provide a link (for convenience) to the Dream ones? The Hero themes might be identical as well?
I'm sure there are a few other discussions that can be shared between the various platforms too.
I only suggest this because this website is fairly slow (at least here) and having to search both the Dream and Sapphire themes topics can be quite frustrating.
All of my Oreo themes work for CM so if you are running that version of CyanogenMod you can use my themes for the G1. The same applies to any theme, they are just built for a specific rom, not hardware.
Thankyou for clarifying that. It's exactly what I'm getting at. Dream? Sapphire? Hero? It doesn't matter regarding themes because they are all interchangeable between these models. The themes forums for all 3 platforms (and any others that are compatible) should be merged so that it's easier to locate them.
Actually some Rom's are not yet for all Sapphire builds yet. Like the Hero's. There getting there just not yet
Because if someone comes here wanting to theme their Sapphire, and theres no dedicated section for it, the average person would probably be confused, then continue their search elsewhere.
I'm sure in this day and age we have the technical capacity to still make it seem like there is a "Sapphire themes and wallpapers" section, can simply link to to the "Dream themes and wallpapers" section transparently. I agree that it would be confusing for users to not find such a section at all.
My problem is that we have parallel discussions happening, which is a waste of time. It's also a waste of time having to search 2 sections in order to prevent parallel discussions happening. Why not simply merge them since we know for a fact that all the content within such a merged forum would apply equally to both for the benefit of all?
I agree. This is confusing. There are a LOT more themes available on here than what you see in this area because themes for Magic and G1 are also compatible.
Why don't we use tags for this?
From the FAQ:
Tags
What are tags?
Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This complements the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.
To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'photography' then you can add the tag 'photography' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'digital image', and 'camera' (depending, of course, on the nature of the thread).
This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'photography' in them.
Who adds the tags?
Tags are initially added to threads by the user who started the thread. Other users may also be able to add and remove tags.
How do I use tags?
Tags are displayed in a box near the bottom of a thread page. Clicking on a tag will allow you to view other threads that have the same tag - and which may be related. Clicking on the word 'Tags' in the top of the box will take you to an overview page with a 'tag cloud.'
This cloud allows you to see which tags are the most popular - the larger the word, the more times it has been used on threads within the board. There is also another tag cloud on the advanced search page that shows you the tags that have been searched for (or clicked on) the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We could post a sticky listing the tags in use to be consistent. When you post a theme, you tag it. Relevant data would be:
Type (#theme
Theme name (#remix)
OS (#android)
Compatible ROM+build (#cyanogen4.0.4)
Compatible devices (#hero #sapphire #dream)
Then search tags instead of threads.
Vallyn: that's not a bad idea really. I've noticed there's already a convention in place for the title of a thread, which is almost as good as some minor tagging. I'm actually just now transitioning my data over to tags and it's actually a really cool way of doing things.
Convincing everyone to start using the tags can be tricky though. That may or may not be easier than possibly having to modify the layout or even backend of these forums to get a simple link in. /shrug
Hi there!
There are members here who have successfully cooked for the Vogue with each one using the kitchen that he prefers, while there are many others who have researched for hours and still have trouble setting up a kitchen.
Anyone who tried to do this without prior knowledge surely remembers how much effort is needed to learn all the steps, since the cooking process is quite complicated and there are many new things to learn. Even if one managed to setup a kitchen he might still have no idea how to port a new build to the kitchen. I have also found it difficult to learn what exactly do you need to keep from the original ROM that was shipped with the device and which of those old files can we get rid of. And the list goes on and on...
Many would love to enjoy the thrill of building their own custom ROM with the programs that they find useful, and to be able to tweak it the way they prefer.
I'm calling here on all of you who have experience cooking for the Vogue to please share your knowledge here.
If you have a kitchen setup that you would like to share, I'm sure that many members would love to make use of it!
See post #18 for a description of ROM XIP SYS OEM and LANG. Thanks to egzthunder1.
UPDATE 02/18/10
From my own personal experience and as others have mentioned in the first few posts of this thread, the easiest kitchen for a new chef is the PPCKitchen.
STEP 1: You can register at ppckitchen.org and download the latest version of the kitchen. After installing the kitchen you will need to run the updater. It will take a few seconds while it connects to the server. After that you will have an option of downloading different files. In order to cook a working ROM you will need to go to ROM Kitchens\Vogue and download the following Vogue Carrier Kitchen files, Vogue Kitchen Core, Vogue Drivers. (I don't believe you need Generic OEM Kitchen files in the above directory). Of course you will also need at least one of the Windows Mobile builds from the same directory (ROM Kitchens\Vogue).
Although the builds that show up in the updater are pretty new, yet the latest builds will not show up. In the future after having successfully cooked a ROM with one of the more stable builds from the updater, you can go get the latest builds from the PPCK website at Windows Mobile Build Discussions\Test SYS Builds. *Advanced PPCk Users only*. For now I would stick to the builds that show up in the updater.
There are also OEM files that you can download with the updater. These files have different programs that you will be able to add to your ROM. You can download PPCKitchen OEM's, PPCKitchen 240x320 OEM's, Non Freeware OEM's (don't get exited it's only a trial!), and User submitted OEM's. You don't need any of these so you can download them and check if you want the programs that's inside, if not you can delete the whole file from your kitchen folder that's in your PPCK folder.
The kitchen is very easy to use and you can now build a basic ROM.
I hope to add more to this mini tutorial within the next few days.
I agree 100%, I think it would be great if some of the experienced chefs could drop some knowledge on the rest of us, if not only so we can keep pumping out new ROMs for our Vogues.
Head over to PPCKitchen.org they have a tutorial and everything you need to cook roms, its also the easiest to use in my opinion.
As you may have noticed over the past few days, I have been trying to keep the forum a little cleaner by asking people who open new threads with questions to simply ask them in a sticked Q&A thread. This request also falls under that same premise. Please do not open new threads asking questions. Threads should only be opened to contribute to the site (roms, kitchens, skins, guides, apps, etc). Thanks.
Barogi44 said:
Head over to PPCKitchen.org they have a tutorial and everything you need to cook roms, its also the easiest to use in my opinion.
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I also have been using the PPCkitchen and agree that it's the easiest, but I have found that it's also somewhat limiting and think it would be a good idea if those using the Ervius VK or any other kitchen would be able to help others.
egzthunder1 said:
As you may have noticed over the past few days, I have been trying to keep the forum a little cleaner by asking people who open new threads with questions to simply ask them in a sticked Q&A thread. This request also falls under that same premise. Please do not open new threads asking questions. Threads should only be opened to contribute to the site (roms, kitchens, skins, guides, apps, etc). Thanks.
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Click to collapse
Sorry, didn't mean to make a mess while your trying to clear things up. It must be frustrating, sort of like cleaning up the floor and having somebody walk in tracking dirt on the freshly cleaned floor!
I just thought that this would be a Tutorial type of thread where members could come and add their little bits of knowledge until we would have a lot of info gathered in one spot. Personally I still think that it's not another simple Q&A thread, although your welcome to disagree and to remove this thread if you want. I'm still hoping that this thread will become a guide for all newcomers to cooking.
When I get home tonight, I will give you a heads up on how i use PPCKitchen. I cook for personal use only and don't publish roms. In short, all I do is use is a modified version of Vin's Generic_OEM. By modified, I take out things I don't need and insert things I want. When I used to flash manila roms, this was critical as his MANILA folder has every thing needed. Now that I don't use MANILA (I replaced it it SPB Mobile Shell 3.5.3 (I LUV IT!). When a new WM build comes out, I simply pop them files in the appropriate places and run it. I am currently in love with 23529.
If your interested in what I'm doing, you can start by downloading Vin's Generic_OEM from his 28014 Thread. Just search for Generic_OEM in the thread.
Lewy1 said:
Sorry, didn't mean to make a mess while your trying to clear things up. It must be frustrating, sort of like cleaning up the floor and having somebody walk in tracking dirt on the freshly cleaned floor!
I just thought that this would be a Tutorial type of thread where members could come and add their little bits of knowledge until we would have a lot of info gathered in one spot. Personally I still think that it's not another simple Q&A thread, although your welcome to disagree and to remove this thread if you want. I'm still hoping that this thread will become a guide for all newcomers to cooking.
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I know what your intentions were and I do not disagree with you. But there are a few things that need to be considered for making a "cooking guide" for this particular section of the site...
*There are only 3 (4 at best) active chefs for this section: Nag, Barogi, vin (if he decides to fully return), and myself. I believe that NFS will not return (personal unfounded belief).
*Most of the above chefs use PPCK. I am not saying that they don't use others like VK, but the info on cooking will be pretty much the same that you can find in the PPCK website.
*There are a slew of tutorials floating around the site (not just the Vogue section, but throughout XDA), which have a lot (and I do mean a lot) of information on how to cook.
*Cooking with other kitchens is far more involved than simply dropping build packages into PPCK. You can even get down to the nitty gritty of hex editing your rom to get more stuff out of it (ie, there is a hex change in the BA roms that allow you to have more ram available).
*Lastly, since the Vogue uses newer style roms (nbh, as opposed to older formats like nbf), learning how to cook from scratch would be kinda a waste of time (believe me, I spent the last month learning how to port a newer rom to the Blue Angel and it isn't as simple as you may think).
One of the mods (I can't remember which one right now) has a series of posts with tools, tutorials, and a bunch of other things needed to cook. What we could do is simply make a one or two post sticky with the links to the different tutorials on xda as well as on other sites (ppcgeeks has a 1100+ pages thread that talks about cooking and porting). I will see if I can get my hands on those and get them in here if that is ok with you.
egzthunder1 said:
One of the mods (I can't remember which one right now) has a series of posts with tools, tutorials, and a bunch of other things needed to cook. What we could do is simply make a one or two post sticky with the links to the different tutorials on xda as well as on other sites (ppcgeeks has a 1100+ pages thread that talks about cooking and porting). I will see if I can get my hands on those and get them in here if that is ok with you.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, that's perfectly fine with me. I have seen most of the stuff that you mentioned and was actually thinking along the same lines as you. If I can I will add my own little bit of knowledge like links to the various kitchens and so on. By the way there is a new kitchen, Oskitchen with new UI by airxtreme (original kitchen by Ondraster). It looks like it will be easy to use and has just been modified for the Vogue, and I'm hoping to give it a try tonight.
Lewy1 said:
Thanks, that's perfectly fine with me. I have seen most of the stuff that you mentioned and was actually thinking along the same lines as you. If I can I will add my own little bit of knowledge like links to the various kitchens and so on. By the way there is a new kitchen, Oskitchen with new GUI by airxtreme (original kitchen by Ondraster). It looks like it will be easy to use and has just been modified for the Vogue, and I'm hoping to give it a try tonight.
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Yes, I did see that one. I had tried oskitchen before and it isn't too bad (still preferred Ervius though). However, this new UI seems a little more user friendly...
Start out with PPCK. It works well, most users will not notice the limitations.
Biggest thing with making your own ROM's is getting all of the Reg edits that need to be included.
Good Luck! PS Start with build 23529 it seems to be really stable and fast!
First post updated with mini tutorial.
Lmiller1708 said:
Biggest thing with making your own ROM's is getting all of the Reg edits that need to be included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps we can use this thread to gather up those types of regedits in one place. It would also be good to have guides for new cooks on how to add things like EzInput 2.1 (with working vibration) and Long Press End Key, BT Pan and Alarm functionality (while plugged in). Most of the newer roms have old or incomplete implementations of these features. vin was the last person to get many of these features all together in one place. With the age of the Vogue many of the cooks are trading up to newer devices and much of that knowledge is getting lost.
codf4ther said:
Perhaps we can use this thread to gather up those types of regedits in one place. It would also be good to have guides for new cooks on how to add things like EzInput 2.1 (with working vibration) and Long Press End Key, BT Pan and Alarm functionality (while plugged in). Most of the newer roms have old or incomplete implementations of these features. vin was the last person to get many of these features all together in one place. With the age of the Vogue many of the cooks are trading up to newer devices and much of that knowledge is getting lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking bout me ?
egzthunder1 said:
Are you talking bout me ?
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No sir, not trying to single anyone out. I've tried pretty much every rom released here and on PPCGeeks I haven't tried your latest ones labeled MetroPCS. I'll flash you latest tonight and try it out for a few days.
just uploaded 28230. Try that one and let me know if you like it...
btw, I was joking... don't sweat it. I don't get so easily offended
tharris297 said:
When I get home tonight, I will give you a heads up on how i use PPCKitchen. I cook for personal use only and don't publish roms. In short, all I do is use is a modified version of Vin's Generic_OEM. By modified, I take out things I don't need and insert things I want. When I used to flash manila roms, this was critical as his MANILA folder has every thing needed. Now that I don't use MANILA (I replaced it it SPB Mobile Shell 3.5.3 (I LUV IT!). When a new WM build comes out, I simply pop them files in the appropriate places and run it. I am currently in love with 23529.
If your interested in what I'm doing, you can start by downloading Vin's Generic_OEM from his 28014 Thread. Just search for Generic_OEM in the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you sent this over via PM but I'd be interested in reading it too. I tried replacing the Generic_OEM.rar in the kitchen folder with the one from vin, but the kitchen won't startup after i do that.
codf4ther said:
I don't know if you sent this over via PM but I'd be interested in reading it too. I tried replacing the Generic_OEM.rar in the kitchen folder with the one from vin, but the kitchen won't startup after i do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason is that Vin's packages are not "kitchen ready". What he posted is in essence a dump of the Mega rom. The packages have to be worked on in a one by one basis to get them to work with PPCK. There is a nice guide on how to do that in the forum at PPCKitchen.org.
Hey Lewy1,
You are off to a good start. I have been giving your idea some thought and if you truly want this to be a "learning resource" for new chefs, you may want to start by describing a few basic concepts as well.
[highlight]ROM[/highlight]
In essence the Operating System with all the necessary files and programs that make up for what you have on your device. This contains things that are general to all devices as well as certain files and folders that are specific to each particular device (hence, the reason why you cannot flash a rom from a Blue Angel into a Vogue and vice-versa). Once a rom is obtained by dumping it, the dump will have a bunch of folders and files, which need to be turned into something "cookable". There exist several applications that can (and must be used) in order to accomplish this.
After all the things in the "dump" are sorted out and manipulated, the rom will essentially turn into 4 main parts: XIP, SYS, OEM, and Lang packages.
[highlight]XIP[/highlight]
The XIP is what holds the core of the OS. This is what holds the Native Kernel of the particular device as well. In order to port a rom to a device, one cannot simply replace the XIP with a new one. The XIP of the new OS must be "implanted" into the XIP of the base rom of the device. The reason for this is that there are many files that can simply be replaced in the XIP, but some must remain untouched as they hold key elements for the proper functioning of the device (Native Kernel).
[highlight]SYS[/highlight]
The SYS folder will have packages with software that the device may or may not need to run properly. This holds things such as the Shell (your UI), Office, core applications, etc. A lot of these packages can be removed from the SYS in order to make space for other apps that the chef maybe interested in having. However, great care must be taken when removing/adding packages since some packages are needed for the device to even be able to boot. Likewise, having too many packages will render the rom un-flashable since most devices have a specific size of rom that they cannot go over. In the case of latter devices, the available space for rom has gone up dramatically. For instance, the Vogue has roughly 90 MB of space for the rom. This is more than plenty to cook a lot of apps without too many issues. There are older devices such as the Blue Angel, where the size of the rom is limited to 32 MB, which forces most cooks to remove packages and compress things as much as possible to even have a bootable rom (keep in mind that most of the time, builds are coming with more and more space requirements).
On top of all this, there are the resolution requirements. Most packages will come with a second folder of a similar name with the resolution added. For example, Base will have another folder called Base_96DPI. The chef will have to be careful on what he/she puts to be cooked as having different resolution packages can make the device either not boot, or look weird (out of scale images) if it does boot
[highlight]OEM[/highlight]
The OEM normally holds fixes and programs that the cook could not fit in the SYS. It also hold drivers, sometimes even Language packs among other things.
[highlight]Lang[/highlight]
These are language and location specific modules. The chefs use the location modules to make roms for different languages and locations. It is usually a four character code that determines which country/language the rom is made for. For instance, 0409 is WWE.
There are many other basic concepts (such as Virtual Memory allocation) that could be discussed, but for now, these basic definitions should help the average person understand what they are dealing with when they see a new set of packages coming out on PPCK,
Hope this helps the cause
egzthunder1 said:
Hey Lewy1,
You are off to a good start. I have been giving your idea some thought and if you truly want this to be a "learning resource" for new chefs, you may want to start by describing a few basic concepts as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Great Info I'll add it to the first post.
This is a short summary of some important general points for posting new ROM's.
It should be considered as an optional "add-on" to the general thread:
"Galaxy S I9000 Android Development **STICKY THREAD** Read here first!"
The number of man hours spent working and developing new custom ROMs are astronomical! So why then, is it that so few new ROMs are successful? Basically because of lack of information and poor public visibility/involvement of the developers themselves. It's just like in any other successful business, you have to make your product or service stand out from the rest. Either by making an amazing product or by being a great inspiration for others to follow. Here I will try to explain and list some fundamental ideas, in order to make your ROM better and more popular.
When a would be ROM flasher is looking around for a new ROM, he searches the web and the XDA-forums for threads, usually beginning with the text "[ROM]". Next he/she look at the FIRST page where the developer (and his/her team) is presenting the various features of their new design. What is presented there will often be a decision maker for whether or not someone wants to try it out.
There are a few things that consistently differs between "good" ROMs and "bad/poor" ROM's. These things are often and naturally related to the amount of information available around the ROM in question. Someone who have put down enough mind, sweat and hart into the production (cooking) of a ROM, would also like to share his/her effort in the best possible way, not minding writing a detailed and useful description about their product. The items found below are part of some of these things that do MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
- Primary Purpose:
Essentially a description why you want to provide this ROM and why you think it is needed. What are the main features and driving forces for providing this ROM?
- Ultimate Gaming Experience
- Super stability
- Super Compatibility
- Great Battery Duration
- Minimalistic User Interface (UI)
- Simple to use functionality
- Latest and coolest never seen before interface behavior
- Fully loaded with ultimate editions of absolutely everything
- Mobile Penetration Testing Platform
- or perhaps just for educational or experimental purposes etc...
- Up-to-date Maintenance:
That means an active developer (or group of) who are readily available to answer questions from users of all levels, new or advanced! Often that they should be inhumanly available at all times of the day & night!
- Up-to-date Firmware Release:
That means the the source of your ROM is preferably based on the latest, but publicly available code/firmware. Not on some hidden leaks or old hacked code. When I say "hidden leaks" here, I mean the kind where the origin of the code (compiled or not) cannot be verified or downloaded. (BMW doesn't make car/sales advertisements using 2 year old engines from unknown/secret sources!)
- Detailed CHANGE-LOG:
People want to know that what they flash on their phones, is as close as possible to what they would like to see and use. Also from a paranoia perspective most of us would like to know that it doesn't contain 3rd party or other strange applications that we will never use, or which will give us trouble when we want to add/update applications, at a later time. A description of the various applications is also very useful. Most people would wonder what the "DarkBotSendHelper.apk" is doing on a phone.
A change-log would ideally consist of a list with:
- Title: Change Date and the custom ROM Version the changes apply to
- Full application name
- Full application version
- Short application description
- Link to application source-code, if available
- Link to application on "Android Market"
- Reference to what hacks has been made, if any
- Reason for why the hack is needed
- Unresolved BUG-LOG:
A brief log of bugs and unresolved issues that affects the current release. It is hard to explain without cussing how annoying it is to flash a new ROM, just to find out that some WiFi issue has not yet been resolved, which was posted on page 456/1200! If people post bugs/issues, that cannot be immediately resolved, please add those issues to the BUG-LOG, on the front page.
- Screen Shots! Updated Screen Shots!
The importance of good screen shots can never be enough emphasized! Many ROMs are updated continuously and if the screen-shots doesn't match what the user installs, he's gonna go WTF!, and will start to peppering your support threads with questions about how to install this and that, and how to get the same themes you are using in those screenshots, or from another different ROM altogether! You wouldn't be able to sell a new BMW with a picture of an old Volvo, would you? So why do you think a ROM would be any different? Also include a brief caption about the essential feature(s) shown, for each picture.
- Detailed Installation Instructions
This hardly need more explanation apart for making sure you also say something about:
- WIPE/No-WIPE
- Bootloader Requirements
- Recommended Procedure
- Detailed Device Compatibility List
Yes, the same gross model name/number of a particular device, may very well have some minor variations that can render the device completely incompatible with software from it's apparent twin-brother. Or even certain Firmwares may not be compatible to slight manufacturing variation. See for example the "Samsung Galaxy S" with their sub-models GT-I9000(B/M/T), and to complicate things further, even within the same model there may be slight differences, like in the PCB of the USB-port of the SGS2 GT-I9100.
- Detailed Language Compatibility
What do people use their phones for? Communication! Sure, some use them as a game pad, but after all it is primarily a browsing and communication device. So if you can't use your primary languages with your device, it is useless! Although some network operators are only beginning to understand that most of the connected world is at least bi-lingual and often much more. Thus it is of essence that your phone's keyboard, screen-reader and web-browser can read, display and understand most characters and alphabets around. (I.e. I still fail to understand why it is virtually impossible to find a phone with Russian, English, Spanish and Norwegian keyboard layouts/character sets or at least let me select these my self!) In addition it is very confusing for a first-time ROM flasher to understand the need for all the various PDA/PHONE and CSC region settings, which are often modified and re-packaged for a well cooked ROM, and thus no longer adhere to the original regional code.
So when you cook your ROM, please provide as much information as possible regarding how the user can adapt their phone to his/her own languages. This information includes at least:
- What languages are available for basic operation (the operating system)
- What languages are available for the keyboard mappings
- What keyboard applications can use these languages (Swype, Samsung Keyboard etc.)
- Simple instructions how to include, use and set the phone languages
- List of Technical Terms and Definitions that describe the ROM
The world of mobile device development is packed by technical jargon and abbreviated terms. Many times they are also abbreviated and used in the wrong context, although some the community know what it means. Simplify your vocabulary and clearly define your terms and stay with community standard ones!
- General Presentation
Like any other business presentation, please skip the HUGE fonts in a zillion colors. Most of us are neither blind nor illiterate, but you may risk to come across as being both, with those type of fonts. Remember "KISS"? - Keep It Simple Stupid.
- SPELL CHECK!!
It's embarrassing and very annoying to read descriptions of how great, professional and how well maintained a particular ROM is, when the text is riddled with misspellings, wrong words and childish grammatical errors. Although most of us are very understanding that we are living in a multicultural and multilingual society, sometimes all I think about is, how a person who doesn't know how to spell check, could ever be able to cook a mobile phone ROM. Most text editors feature at least some basic spell checking, bloody hell, USE IT!
- CREDITS
Most of the Android development community is completely driven by voluntary and open source work. Make sure to include the correct credits to those persons who have contributed to the various info/hacks/software that you include in your ROM. Use a separate list for the credits, that include the name (handle) and how/what he/she did to contribute.
2 Good Examples:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1350763
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1155776
Final Words:
It is very likely I have missed something here, or that you (as a developer or moderator) disagree on something I have written here, if so, please provide your constructive comments how I can improve this list and post.
In Great Expectations and Hope for Many New Amazing ROMs!
- E:V:A -
PS. This was posted in the "Developer Section" as it applies only to new ROM development threads, and I wouldn't consider this neither as "Q/A" nor "General". But if OP/MOD know of a better suited place, please just move it there...
Also I am not aware of a similar post to this one, even after searching XDA quite a lot. So if it already exists, it is not easy to find and should be reposted or stickied!
<Reserved>
@E:V:A
The only thing that I missed so far is a thread like yours.
Agree on all requirements of released software.
Sometimes I wonder how some "devs" priorities are stacked regarding quality control vs. early delivery on pay-per-download sites.
Not sure what is best place for this thread. Counting # of posts in General asking Q already answered in stickies, it's kind of accepted to skip reading what's there. :-\
Perhaps keep it alive as hottest thread here?
Tapatalked - There's a Thanks button somewhere
I like this
One thing you must add while promoting your ROM.. That is CREDITS.
Rahulrulez said:
I like this
One thing you must add while promoting your ROM.. That is CREDITS.
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YES! Not giving credit where due is horrible, basically just forgetting all the hard work another individual has put in to the "feature" of your ROM. Also, this should probably be in general.
Request 1: Add HTML Tidy to the xda wiki stack
Template:Navbox @ Wikipedia said:
Using this template on other wikis requires HTML Tidy to be turned on. A version that does not require Tidy can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Transwiki/Template:Navbox. (That version generally shouldn't be used here on the English Wikipedia.) More detailed information on copying {{Navbox}} to other wikis can be found on the talk page.
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I've been doing a LOT of work adding stuff to the xda wiki, but I've hit an impasse, some of the most complex templates used on Wikipedia depend on it being 'scripted' with HTML instead of pure wikimarkup.
The main example is Template:Navbox. While this specific template does have a pupre wikimarkup equivilent (if it even is an equivilent, it's not maintained at the level of the normal one). The other templates I wish to use dont have equivilents.
Template:Navbox subgroup is the one (among others) that I wish to add in but cant because it depends on HTML Tidy. The Template itself is already on the xda wiki, but if you attempt to use it it's completely broken.
I cant say it's as simple as "install on server and turn it on" but the fact of the matter is that without it most of the fun/magic stuff on wikipedia cant be brought over to the xda wiki.
Some examples of recent stuff i've made (for reference):
Samsung Galaxy S Series Navbox
Samsung Galaxy S II Series Navbox
New Samsung Portal on Main page
Entirety of Dell devices page
If you look at the several navboxes I've made they have hacks in the code to get around the fact that I'm just a normal level editor.
Request 2: We need MOAR editors!
Also this doubles as a request for more editors on the wiki: XDA is the largest android development based site on the internet, yet here we are weeks after the release of the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note and the pages didnt even exist until I made stubs for them.
As of this past quarter I've generated more edits then possibly nearly every other user combined, but there's only so much I can do at this point by my self. (With my primary style being to organize page layouts and tidying stuff up vs writing new content for devices)
[Edit count itself is a bad metric, but edits that arnt mine only number in the dozens a month]
Sure it's reasonable for minor devices and varients to be stubs, but the Note has sold over a million units and yet not a single person has even bothered to make as much as a scribble on the wiki about the device. That's just an example, but ultimately if this were wikipedia, the amount of pages rated 'good' or higher would only number in the dozens. (There's also the fact that my belief is that it's a bad idea to add anything intensive for a device you dont own, standard fare on one device can super-brick another due to quirks)
It's a rather sad state of affairs that for such a large web site with 22000 active users at any one time that there's not a single good consistant repeat editor besides me.
Edit: changed wording to not be inflammatory
Request 3: Turn on Subpages on the main namespace
Mediawiki:Subpages are by default enabled on the template and user namespaces, but not on the main namespace. I believe it's done this way because of editor policy and not technical reasons.
The xda wiki would HEAVILY benefit from having it enabled since it already currently manually uses them, the previous example of:
Samsung <Series>/<model number>/article has long existed this way but without the automatically generated anchors.
The majority of pages are already ready to accept it, it might simply need to be turned on.
XDA Wiki
TheManii said:
there's not a single good editor besides me.
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IMHO that is a rather sweeping statement and is likely to put off anyone from editing the Wiki. I would dispute even your claim as a good editor would not make sweeping changes to categories without discussion on the pages involved. Should I just "undo" them?
XDA has a problem with repetitive questions leading to user dissatisfaction with overlong forums and the loss of good developers such as AdamG.
One solution may be to create a FAQ Wiki for any thread over a certain size (for example 1,000 posts) and automatically link to that thread at the top of every page and above the reply box.
Cheers
Tom
It is sweeping, but the fact is there arent many repeat editors, many devices havnt not seen edits in months because a great deal of the changes dones are a one-time batch job with a single theme.
I'm not at all saying that the other editors are bad, though yes that what the impression was (and perhaps I should have worded it better). I'm saying that few wish to stay with it for the long-haul.
There's few editors that consistantly return to add/update/expand artitles for their own devices or other devices. That's my main issue. I actively want to be proven wrong in this regard, I'm inviting other to prove me wrong. I myself am somewhat guilty of this myself, I primarly concentrate on the dell devices, but I've kept them very up to date for the previous year.
One example I have issue with is: Acer A500 -xda wiki the entire page are just forum links. I have no issue at all with the contents of the posts (just as much my opinion on them is irrelevent) but the fact they are just links and not part of the article. The fact it's not on the wiki means that other editors cannot make changes themselves, which rather defeats the point of the wiki, which leads to,
The other issue is, unless the OP is excellent at keeping the thread organizied, you often have to wade though the entire thread to keep up to date. With a thread with +200 posts even if you wanted to it's a huge effort to do that. Even in the most complex of topics, they can be broken down a couple bullet points and approx a paragraph each to elaborate. There's also 'bad' advise that doesnt get edited away on topics ('bad' as in it may simply be the case that it was the right thing at the moment but there was eventually a more 'correct' method discovered later and the original 'bad' one is still reposted for whatever reason)
I could copy the posts onto the wiki verbaitm, but you really should have the poster's permission, what if the poster isnt active? It would be a bad idea to paraphrase advise/guides without context, what if you remove an important small detail. The right way to be to frequent the device and get context, but that triples the amount of work to do so properly.
It's no secret that there's always users that refuse to read topics and simply skip straight to posting repeat questions. Short pages with clear instructions are much easier to recommend then having them read though dozens and dozens of posts (which they skipped as they posted without reading in the first place)
Discussions dont really work on a wiki, esp one without consistant-repeat (or even repeat) editors. There's a fair amount of edits for various devices, but there are obviously more devices then editors. Lets walk though it: I want to make an edit, do I post it on the topic's talk page? Short of doing so on wikipiedia proper on a popular change, you wont recieve much feedback.
Do you make a post on each of their device's forums? XDA has sub-forums for each device, but not really a sub-forum for the family itself (back to the SGS/SGS2, there's the main device's subforum and each varient's subforum but none for the entire family, i think) That means making dozens of posts to talk about each major change.
What if it's an old device such as the winmo devices? The HTC HD2 is the only one left on the active part of the xda forums, because it's obviously not just a winmo device now. You're going to have to wait a very long time as they naturally only get a couple posts a month now.
Just as much, unless a mod/admin states to the contrary, you can always assume Wikipedia:Be Bold is implied to apply. I honestly have no issue if my edits are reverted if they are constructive reverts, as that's how wikis work.
If anyone has a issue with the edits I make, you're welcome to discuss it with me and hopefully we'll find a middle road.
Also I've made a reply on User_talkaveShaw#Page Name & Categories (as a fun note: & is translated to _.26_ in links while / isnt, though mediawiki has no issue with either of them, though you cannot directly use & in page names while you can use /) You should read it if the critisim is directed towards me.
tl;dr prove me wrong, Be Bold, help make the wiki better
Edit: HTC_HD2 - NexusHD2 ICS CM9 FAQ is an excellent example of why things should be on the wiki as articles instead of just merely links to a thread. It's about 3 pages of topic points and contains the majority of the topic points instead of having to read 225 (currently) pages to get the same info. (Also, just as much if I inadvertently remove valid content, revert/add it back! That was not my intention, everyone makes mistakes. The xda wiki is pretty well off in that it has little/no intentional vanadalism, you can always assume an edit is in good faith, I dont recall more then 1-2 legitamitely bad edits in nearly a year)
I've asked someone to look at Request 1.
I'm not sure what can be done about Request 2, if people don't want to maintain it, we can't make then
Thanks!
I dont really expect req 2 to be fullfilled in any real manner. Just pointing it out.
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
TheManii said:
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
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Our server admin has told me this has been done.
Dave
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
TheManii said:
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
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Thanks
Dave