Develop Bugs

[Q] Several Noobish questions

i have a couple of questions that are burning a hole in my head so i need to let loose with them.
1)
how can i tell what rom i flashed? i know dumb a$$ question but i forgot which rom i flashed since it was one that came out the night 2.2 official was dumped and it was the first stock 2.2 deodexed released.
i have several (ok a crap load) downloaded and a few on my sdcard. how can i tell which stock deodexed 2.2 rom i flashed? is there an app that will tell me. Phone's software info doesnt have the authors name in the version name, so i cant tell which.
2)
i want to try a few other rom's but dont want to lose the rom i have because everyting works 100% and i like that, regardless of who makes the rom.
what can i use to backup my current phone memory so that if i dont like the other roms i can just revert back.
nand backup doesnt do this right? (even though the size of the backup to me denotes it just might be the ticket)
3)
is there an app, via market, here, or sdk tools/emulator where i can take and tweak the speed at which things open.
its my thought that many roms are faster because the opening speed is altered so things open faster. just like you can do in LauncherPro.
is there a way that i can do this within the phone or externally to a file or two and then adb it back to the phone?
4)
i will add more, i am forgetting some i know.

1) well i can tell you what kernel, by going to about phone> software info
2)use rom manager when installing new rom, and itll ask u to make a backup, so when ever u want to go back to the old rom, restoe u last backup
3)i dont know about open close speed, but for phone speed itself, use setCPU and that controls how much of the CPU is being used when its (charging, screen off, etc.)

thanks Rocklee,
1)
kernel is easy, but i guess that doesnt really tell me which rom right? well not directly.
2.6.32.15-g746f4f0
[email protected] #58
2)
i thought rom manager wasnt recommended much anymore? this is just things i read, probably just certain roms i suppose. i really dont see amny people talking about it. and it does only support a few roms in terms of downloading.
3)
setcpu wont effect the opening/closing speed in the manor that i spoke of but good call. i guess because launcherpro can adjust the opening speed of certain things i assumed Sense had that ability hidden somewhere too.

v_lestat said:
thanks Rocklee,
1)
kernel is easy, but i guess that doesnt really tell me which rom right? well not directly.
2.6.32.15-g746f4f0
[email protected] #58
2)
i thought rom manager wasnt recommended much anymore? this is just things i read, probably just certain roms i suppose. i really dont see amny people talking about it. and it does only support a few roms in terms of downloading.
3)
setcpu wont effect the opening/closing speed in the manor that i spoke of but good call. i guess because launcherpro can adjust the opening speed of certain things i assumed Sense had that ability hidden somewhere too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2) ROM Manager is just fine. If you buy into the rumors about ClockworkMod not wiping correctly, just flash Amon RA instead, you can use either one with RM. You can download ROMs over the normal Internet, too, you know. Just copy them to the root of your SD card.

v_lestat said:
thanks Rocklee,
1)
kernel is easy, but i guess that doesnt really tell me which rom right? well not directly.
2.6.32.15-g746f4f0
[email protected] #58
2)
i thought rom manager wasnt recommended much anymore? this is just things i read, probably just certain roms i suppose. i really dont see amny people talking about it. and it does only support a few roms in terms of downloading.
3)
setcpu wont effect the opening/closing speed in the manor that i spoke of but good call. i guess because launcherpro can adjust the opening speed of certain things i assumed Sense had that ability hidden somewhere too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 - check the software information screen under software number - some devs put their infor there - mine says "Baked Snack 1.2.5" telling me exactly what ROM I'm using.
2 - I don't use ROM Manager anymore because frankly, I just don't trust it. I don't know what it's wiping when it says clear cache, and there have been too many questions with how efective it wipes, even through recovery. Having said that, if you do want to back up, I would recommend not doing it through rom manager, but directly through recovery instead (hold volume down and power with the phone off). From here, you can nand a full backup, and also restore that backup to get your phone to the exact same state it was in if you screw up somewhere.
3 - nothing on this - pretty sure that's specific to launcherpro.

Thanks for the reply
Yup I am aware of everything you just mentioned.
I just didn't think a nand backup would restore if you flashed a new rom.
Sent from my Android for Telechips TCC8900 Evaluation Board (US) using XDA App

v_lestat said:
Thanks for the reply
Yup I am aware of everything you just mentioned.
I just didn't think a nand backup would restore if you flashed a new rom.
Sent from my Android for Telechips TCC8900 Evaluation Board (US) using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a quick tip using Nand....once you create a backup, plug your phone in to your computer, go on to your SD card in the folder named "nanadroid" open it and then open the folder with your device name on it and "rename" your backup to whatever you want. I created about 5 backups and then I wanted to flash a previous one and couldnt figure out which file was which lol. Oh and remember not to use spaces when renaming....use_underscores.

Launcherpro has setting that controls open and close speed. Stock is set at 4, but I set mine at 10, and everything is instant.
Edit: disregard, I didn't read your questions fully, sorry. Didn't see you mentioned Launcherpro.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

[Q] multiple roms?

I'm wondering if its possible to partition my sd card so that half of it can remain baked snack with everything I have set up then the other half to cm6 final then just flash the roms and kernels from the applicable side when I want to run it. So essentially I have 2 to choose from each with their own backups ext...
Possible?

Kinda like a dual boot box... Is there an app for that?

I don't really want an app for it. I think that would end up slowing the system down substantially. I just want to be to choose a partition flash the rom from that partition then do a nand restore for that rom(located on same partition) and have that side of my sd card already set for that particular rom.

cool idea. for now I just nand restore when I want to switch back and forth but it takes a bit of time. If it was as quick as rebooting to another partition that would be hot.

That's very possible. We dualboot our pc from Windows to Linux so should not be impossible. Someone just needs to make it work.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Maybe I'll suggest it in the Dev section someone in there will have the know how to get this done.

well the rom doesnt install to the sdcard. hence the reason you can format the sdcard and still have a working phone. it installs to the phones internal memory.
your best bet is to do what is stated above. do a nandriod of the roms you want, setup how you want and a titanium backup of each to restore your settings.

So I can't just partition it and have 2 different "sides" for each roms information like I can't tell Baked Snack to look at "A:" and CM6 to look at "B:"? are we sure about this? Maybe even partition the memory inside the phone to 2 different roms then choose 1 from boot loader? Think I'm going to try to post something in dev section and hope they won't get too angry at me.

You know, i think the main reason this hasn't been discussed before is that previous phones didn't have the nand capacity to hold multiple roms that you would switch between. Even at 512mb it is pushing it depending on how many apps you are going to have installed on the phone on each rom that aren't going to be insstalled to sd.

Well I have 270 free on the phone and I still haven't moved every app I can over to the SD cdard. I think Cyanogen is smaller then most other roms the Zip is only 70 mb compared to baked snack wich is 170, well over double. I think it would be pretty easy to have enough space. This may hinder performace if internal memory is completely maxed out though, not quite sure.

wy1d said:
cool idea. for now I just nand restore when I want to switch back and forth but it takes a bit of time. If it was as quick as rebooting to another partition that would be hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah thats what I doo I have Fresh 3.1.0.2 and CM6 and I just restore depending on my mood.

[Q] Dual Booting? Need Dev advice.

I originally posted this in the Q/A section but no one seemed to have any reasonable answer.
Is it possible to partition my SD card so I can have baked snack on 1 half and CM6 on the other with all their user options ect.... saved to that respective side of the card? I'm not really wanting a true dual boot here but I would like to maybe nand backup my backed snack save it to backed snack's partition. Then flash cm6 and kernel ect.. and already have all my apps settings in place. Or maybe even partition the internal mem so we could have a true dual boot. Is it possible to partition the internal mem and perhaps mess around with the boot loader in order choose which partition you will be booting from?

crimeslunk said:
I originally posted this in the Q/A section but no one seemed to have any reasonable answer.
Is it possible to partition my SD card so I can have baked snack on 1 half and CM6 on the other with all their user options ect.... saved to that respective side of the card? I'm not really wanting a true dual boot here but I would like to maybe nand backup my backed snack save it to backed snack's partition. Then flash cm6 and kernel ect.. and already have all my apps settings in place. Or maybe even partition the internal mem so we could have a true dual boot. Is it possible to partition the internal mem and perhaps mess around with the boot loader in order choose which partition you will be booting from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try using both NAND and Titanium backups? If you make two backups, one for each ROM, you should be able to recover everything fairly easily when you want to go back and forth.

I suppose it would be possible. Stuff would load pretty slow though and you'd have to manually create such a setup. I haven't looked at the bootstrapping, but I can't think of any reason you couldn't mount the data heavy positions from the sdcard. Not easy by most people though.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

i asked for this a few months back and was told to just use rom manager. make backups of both roms and just use that to go between them. dual booting isnt possible with our boot loader.

OP, without getting too "techy", what's being overlooked is the fact that you'd have to get into the BIOS itself end change where it loads the os from for it to work.
Also, in theory, with the os running from the SD card, things like mounting the phone as a disk drive would be impossible without turning the phone off, and that would just suck...
It's a cool idea, but I think having everything draw from.one source would make it lag like hell even, so I dunno.... I don't really get your reasoning behind switching between different roms on a constant basis, but I'd think about the cons too
All spelling errors thanks to xt9 on my Evo!

ricersniper said:
i asked for this a few months back and was told to just use rom manager. make backups of both roms and just use that to go between them. dual booting isnt possible with our boot loader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, but what if they shared the initrd and that was what promoted for the selection?
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I did this with my tp2 had winnow and android on. Had Haret.exe worked great just used a explorer to SD card clicked and loaded up. Also had dual bootup at startup. Picked which rom I wanted to run. Was indeed nice.
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Not to get off op topic but how do you get rid off the nand backups on the phone. Have a few on roms I don't use anymore.
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you can get rid of backups a few ways if you use rom manager you can just go to manage and retore roms long clikc it and select delete. if you dont use rom manager youc an set your device to disck drive while hooked up tot he pc and manually navigate to the back up and delete it.

In reality, you could make as many NAND backups as you want, and restore any of of them from recovery whenever you want!

xHausx said:
Did you try using both NAND and Titanium backups? If you make two backups, one for each ROM, you should be able to recover everything fairly easily when you want to go back and forth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you not need to constantly update the nand backups?
Also...if I were to do this with say CM6 and something else...would I have 4G issues from flipping back and forth? I know CM6 doesn't have 4G and want to make sure it's just missing, not that it messed with the radio.

Alrigh then I guess I'll just give up on this and do it the old fashion way with band and titanium back ups. Am I going to need the full version of titanium for this? Will it make the whole process alot quicker?

[Request]Dual Boot 2 ROMS

i was looking around and found that evo n other android phone can dual boot so i wondering if some one can come up with dual boot for g2

You can just use nandroid if you want to switch. It's not too bad to test out and play between ROMs.

Stryder5 said:
You can just use nandroid if you want to switch. It's not too bad to test out and play between ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hate installing apps over n over.....

its more practical to use nandroid

theXeffect said:
i hate installing apps over n over.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you talking about? You wouldn't need to if you backup the roms properly.

Why in the world would you want to dual boot? Just nandroid.

im just saying it would be cool to have cuz its call dual boot n something new to try.......u guys dont? thats fine.......i wish someone would tho

I don't think I'm performing nandroid backups properly either. I always have to reinstall apps like the OP. Can someone please tell me the right way? Thanks!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Lol! what on earth are yall talking about? nandroid only works with the same type of rom you used previously. for example, using rooted stock rom then backup via nandroid then switch to CM and restoring doesnt work. you would have to flash back to rooted stock and then restore. you can obviously make multiple backups... one for each rom. but again... you have to be on the same rom... otherwise, the restore will seriously corupt your current rom.
I'm beginning to wonder if some even know what dual boot actually means, lol!

Thats why you do a wipe befor you restore from a nandroid backup

shiznt said:
Thats why you do a wipe befor you restore from a nandroid backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesnt really matter if you are using a different rom this time around especially a themed one. Sometimes it can help.... but if the rom is completely different like sense then to stock or CM, you gonna have issues no matter if you wipe or not. Are folks crazy? the system folder varies HEAVILY between different roms. sure you can TRY restoring just the data/cache/ext but that doesn't always work out right. Stick around, kid. You might learn something if you quit running you mouth

Calm down guys. . . . Nandroid works just fine. .
I have used it on an array of ROMs, Stock, Sense, CM . .It works. You just need to backup, then wipe and flash the ROM you want. If you want to go back to the other ROM, back up, then restore the one you backed up previously. You can even name them, you just have to change the folder name in the clockwork mod folder on your SD and look for backups.

Seems like there's a little confusion on how Nandroid works...I didn't understand it myself until recently. I'll attempt to explain how it works, if any experts think I got it wrong, please let me know.
Basically, Nandroid lets you backup your current phone's state (ROM, apps, settings and all) into a single save file that you can restore whenever you want. So as an example, let's say you install ROM X, but you want to try ROM Y. You would first make a Nandroid backup of your phone, then flash ROM Y. Then let's say after a day of playing around with ROM Y, you want to go back to ROM X, you would then make a Nandroid backup of ROM Y, and restore the Nandroid of ROM X. Your phone will then be exactly the way it was when you created the backup of ROM X, and at any time you want you can restore your ROM Y. In this way, you can bootup any ROM you've saved in the past, anytime you want. This makes Nandroid a fairly effective "multi-boot".
You might notice one slight pain in this whole process, the first time you use any particular ROM, you'll have to setup your phone all over again. This can be made easier if you use Titanium Backup, which is an app that backs up your apps and settings to your SD card. Then when you try out a new ROM, install Titanium Backup from the Market and use it to restore your apps and settings. If you're using the free version, this means tapping the screen twice for each app on your phone ("Install", "Done", repeat), but I noticed the paid version claims to have a "0-click restore" feature.
I hope this helps clarify some things.

~~Tito~~ said:
Calm down guys. . . . Nandroid works just fine. .
I have used it on an array of ROMs, Stock, Sense, CM . .It works. You just need to backup, then wipe and flash the ROM you want. If you want to go back to the other ROM, back up, then restore the one you backed up previously. You can even name them, you just have to change the folder name in the clockwork mod folder on your SD and look for backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol! Thats what I've been trying to explain to them but they just want to argue with me for some reason. hahaha! They'll figure out on their own any way if they want to be stubborn about it. Heck, I was just trying to save them some frustration. oh well...

dracoaffectus said:
Seems like there's a little confusion on how Nandroid works...I didn't understand it myself until recently. I'll attempt to explain how it works, if any experts think I got it wrong, please let me know.
Basically, Nandroid lets you backup your current phone's state (ROM, apps, settings and all) into a single save file that you can restore whenever you want. So as an example, let's say you install ROM X, but you want to try ROM Y. You would first make a Nandroid backup of your phone, then flash ROM Y. Then let's say after a day of playing around with ROM Y, you want to go back to ROM X, you would then make a Nandroid backup of ROM Y, and restore the Nandroid of ROM X. Your phone will then be exactly the way it was when you created the backup of ROM X, and at any time you want you can restore your ROM Y. In this way, you can bootup any ROM you've saved in the past, anytime you want. This makes Nandroid a fairly effective "multi-boot".
You might notice one slight pain in this whole process, the first time you use any particular ROM, you'll have to setup your phone all over again. This can be made easier if you use Titanium Backup, which is an app that backs up your apps and settings to your SD card. Then when you try out a new ROM, install Titanium Backup from the Market and use it to restore your apps and settings. If you're using the free version, this means tapping the screen twice for each app on your phone ("Install", "Done", repeat), but I noticed the paid version claims to have a "0-click restore" feature.
I hope this helps clarify some things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a perfect explaination! I hope that sheds some light for folks who didnt understand what I meant and I apologize for being annoyed. originally, I had thought the OP was talking about dualbooting with android/windows mobile or something... I didnt think about the possiblity of running two android roms. I see how nandroid was brought up now... yeah, thats kind of silly to dualboot with two android roms. but to each his own...

theXeffect said:
im just saying it would be cool to have cuz its call dual boot n something new to try.......u guys dont? thats fine.......i wish someone would tho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cant believe nobody agrees, i would love to have dual boot just like my my laptop with win7\ubuntu netbook remix. the iphone people are dual booting into android or Ios and thats kinda cool even if its not completly functional. Id rather dual than trying to restore back and forth. Good Call

I used the Nandroid method on the G2 to switch between SuperD's ROM and KingKlick's Eclair builds. It works and really does make a good "multi-boot." Also, I use MyBackup Pro to back everything up, and all the settings for the apps and the phone are saved.

veritasaequita said:
i cant believe nobody agrees, i would love to have dual boot just like my my laptop with win7\ubuntu netbook remix. the iphone people are dual booting into android or Ios and thats kinda cool even if its not completly functional. Id rather dual than trying to restore back and forth. Good Call
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, I have to agree with you... There are several things that bother me about nandroid, which I say, is not a good replacement for dual-booting. With dual boot you can shut down your phone/computer and be able to switch between operating systems. I can use Windows 7 to play games, Ubuntu to code, and Mac OS X 10.5 for multimedia. I'm pretty sure that people don't backup Windows 7, wait for that to finish, then install Ubuntu on their computer, wait 20-30 minutes for it to boot up, then get to work(and I'm sure computers would be horrible if you needed to do that). But I'm just saying this so I can get into the conversation and actually get somebodies recognition so they can actually start working on a script for the G2 so you can dual-boot. I'm pretty sure that it's possible... but I'm not sure if there's anybody willing to do it.

Well that's accomplished by partitioning, on a pc.
whichever rom u install completely takes over the previous one, thus eliminating that previous rom. There would need to be some sort of partitioning mechanism,involved. to achieve the dualboot, wouldnt there?

correct me if i am wrong, but the hboot controls the partitions of the phones, and when the G1 needed a new hboot to be re-partitioned to allow for better bigger ROMs there were a LOT of bricks that took months to figure out how to fix, so if someone wants to try to flash the hboot from another phone(and risk losing their phone forever) then by all means have at it, but for the time being nandroid will have to do.

A way to change roms without having to install everything again

ok so i know you can backup your apps through titanium or rom toolbox or something else but what i want to know is there a nandroid like backup that backups everything but the rom...so i can freely switch the rom as i like and then tap 1 thing and have all my apps, data, settings, lock screen / background photos, etc etc back in place. basically what i want to accomplish is to be able to swap roms...is that something that is out there or at least an idea that is the works / maybe something someone would see and have the motive/skill set to make for us. i believe it would be an amazing tool. just go into cwm and not have to wipe data or anything else, just select new rom and the cwm would take care of everything, deleting the rom you have installed and replacing it with the new rom.
any information would be greatly appreciated.

Unless the rom you're running has an update based on the same build and all its features on the update are compatible with your current rom, what you're asking is not possible, every rom or software our devs make made by compiling files and scripts, that take tame to decompile then put back together to make things work properly if not close to it unless you read, if you read the installation suggested methods and it says DO A FULL WIPE, in order to have a successful installation, unless you want a 500$ paperweight, keep on dreaming on your cool idea
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

It would be a nice idea and make things a lot easier, but as suprakarma said it's unfortunately not possible. This is probably the biggest reason I don't flash custom ROM's. It's fast to wipe, format and install a new ROM. But then takes time reinstalling and setting up everything again, just like if you were to get a brand new phone.
If I have time on a weekend or am bored then I have given it a try in the past, but with 2 kids and always being on the go it's just not an option to play around with my settings so I just stick with stock. Everything works, everything is set the way I like and I don't have to keep wiping/installing and reconfiguring everything again.
I am missing out on a lot of great ROM's though and would love to give some a try even if for a couple days. Just not in the cards at the moment. Peace.

thank you i didnt think it was possible but was just thinking that it would be cool, like when you go to install a new rom, it would do a backup of your info/data on to your sd card then do a full wipe, install the new rom and then insert your info/data so everything is the way it was (when i say info/data i mean like photos, music, contacts, texts, wifi passwords, apps, so basically combine titanium with cwm and have it all run together in nice move)

suprakarma said:
Unless the rom you're running has an update based on the same build and all its features on the update are compatible with your current rom, what you're asking is not possible, every rom or software our devs make made by compiling files and scripts, that take tame to decompile then put back together to make things work properly if not close to it unless you read, if you read the installation suggested methods and it says DO A FULL WIPE, in order to have a successful installation, unless you want a 500$ paperweight, keep on dreaming on your cool idea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually don't really agree with this post. First of all, I don't think you can create a paperweight by restoring a /data partition.. this just sounds like fear-mongering (I often try doing an advanced restore of /data just in case - It often causes problems, but sometimes it works perfectly and everything is as it was before I flashed).
I think the OP has a great idea, and I think it is entirely possible. In all honesty though.. although I am a software developer, I am not an android dev, so I could just be talking tripe.
We all know that some apps can be restored along with their data across roms and even across roms with a different Android OS. The problem is that there is some data that is not. What we need is a mechanism (perhaps an app) that will identify and 'export' metadata for the system data that is potentially not compatible. Of course, it wouldn't be able to export passwords for accounts etc, but those could be easily re-entered during an "import" of this metadata and could in fact perform all the manual installation and data entry (usually done by the end-user) in an automatic way.
Theoretically, data content shouldn't need to be changed, just the way its stored/read/written, so it might just need to get reformatted with each new rom (there may be exceptions of course).
Practically speaking, this is a beast of a project, and may not be feasible for any dev to undertake. It will likely cause more grief to end-users than anything until all the bugs are worked out (which may be never) and will be difficult to maintain across many devices.
Just wanted to point out that it could be possible in thoery. I would love to hear arguments to the contrary though (love to learn!)

As long as new devices keep on merging they become less development Friendly, and in order for this to be possible, every ROM would need to be equal, meaning no room for development choices, and this feature would need to be on a specially made recovery, what this idea means is to disclosure a nandroid backup, leaving only what is needed for the new ROM, this may have been plausible on gingerbread, and there are much more rom development in progress for developers in order to make what we have to work properly if not close to it instead of working on a project like this, therefore, at least for our device is not possible and there are many threads of users bricking their devices by not following instructions, whipping correctly, not reading etc and I stand for my statements without meaning to flame
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