Develop Bugs

[Q] steps to get data2sd+ and apps2sd. plz help

ive been looking for houra now on how to properly get data2sd and appssd working but to no avail. some rom descriptions sound like u convert thru clockwork b4 u flash and some sound like u do it after. im very confused up to this point. also im looking for a sense replica with the added features of a rooted user and no bloatware. im not planning on flashing another rom later either cause sense looks awesum but has speed and memory issues. plz lend a helping hand. i had my sgs up and hacke din afew hours. been always 2 days now and i still dont know wtf im doing

ok first start off with apps2sd, data2sd is still experimental..... all you have to do, is create a secondary partition on your sd card, in either the ext2, ext3 or ext4 file system, then just flash an apps2sd enabled rom from recovery ....... job done

I'm having problems with this on my Desire..
I made the EXT3 partition on my rooted HTC Hero.
Under "Partition sdcard" i set Swap-size = 1024 and Ext2-size = 1024.
When it was done i choosed SD:ext2 to ext3.
And then i put the SD-card on my Desire.
1. First i made a EXT3 partition on my SD-card.
2. Then i flashed this ROM on my phone.
3. Before the first boot i flashed this file.
4. Then rebooted the phone, but it still says only 140MB free space.
Please help - cant really figure out how to do it..

LINKSLOVESANDROID said:
ive been looking for houra now on how to properly get data2sd and appssd working but to no avail. some rom descriptions sound like u convert thru clockwork b4 u flash and some sound like u do it after. im very confused up to this point. also im looking for a sense replica with the added features of a rooted user and no bloatware. im not planning on flashing another rom later either cause sense looks awesum but has speed and memory issues. plz lend a helping hand. i had my sgs up and hacke din afew hours. been always 2 days now and i still dont know wtf im doing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want Data2SD though, you can checkout my Rom thread..Sounds exactly what the doc ordered. It does come with a few third party apps-Astro, Titanium etc which can be immediately removed by flashing an addon zip file.
And for the record..this particular flavor of Data2SD is no more experimental..

dk.zenit said:
I'm having problems with this on my Desire..
I made the EXT3 partition on my rooted HTC Hero.
Under "Partition sdcard" i set Swap-size = 1024 and Ext2-size = 1024.
When it was done i choosed SD:ext2 to ext3.
And then i put the SD-card on my Desire.
1. First i made a EXT3 partition on my SD-card.
2. Then i flashed this ROM on my phone.
3. Before the first boot i flashed this file.
4. Then rebooted the phone, but it still says only 140MB free space.
Please help - cant really figure out how to do it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude apps2sd does not increase your internal storage, it creates a symlink between /data/app/ and the SD-EXT, so when you install an app, rather than the apk going straight into the /data/app/ directory it goes to the the ext partition, taking up less to none internal storage...

Data2sd does increase your internal storage, but unless you have a class 10 sd card, you desire is going to end up slower than your hero lol and the constant R/W cycles mean your sd card will be dead before you know it

droidzone said:
And for the record..this particular flavor of Data2SD is no more experimental..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok sorry no need to shout ive been out of the loop abit since i got my shiny new DHD lol

AndroHero said:
Data2sd does increase your internal storage, but unless you have a class 10 sd card, you desire is going to end up slower than your hero lol and the constant R/W cycles mean your sd card will be dead before you know it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol.. You're exaggerating!
A class 4 is fine for the latest Data2SD from Sibere..And about sdcard damage, it's been theorized..Noone has ever had it..I've been using Data2SD for 3 months now without a problem
AndroHero said:
ok sorry no need to shout ive been out of the loop abit since i got my shiny new DHD lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who's shouting? ..A shout is in CAPS..

I'm think of upgrading my Desire to a data2app ROM soon and was thinking of yours droidzone. Are you planning on creating a DHD ROM?
I'm already running a DHD ROM on a HTC HD2 and it seems very good on there.

sh500 said:
I'm think of upgrading my Desire to a DHD ROM soon and was thinking of yours droidzone.
I'm already running a DHD ROM on a HTC HD2 and it seems very good on there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent released a DHD rom yet..

[Q] Just flashed Gingerburst. Performance sucks

Since I am not allowed to post in the development forum, I am making a new thread here. I just flashed the rom. Followed the instructions, partitioned, installed, rebooted and installed A2SD then rebooted. The performance is terrible. Gmail crashes. And I got continuous messages of com.android.acore (and com.android.phone) is not responding. At a time these pop ups, stop but running apps like the market or even People is very slow. I checked and it consumes hell lot of RAM, only 83mb are free or 140 after a few "kills". A lot less than the 220mb of stock froyo. I am not sure what kills the performance though. Is this normal for this rom?

I had the same issue, after a few hours of putting up with it I gave up and flashed CM7.1 instead
Sent from my CM7.1 Desire using XDA Premium App

At least you guys got it to work. I kept getting bootloops when I tried it.

I reflashed it. Now it seems I achieved a more proper installation. What I mean? Some widgets like the friendstream or the people widget are installed by default to some of the Sense "tabs" or however these are called. At my first installation all Sense tabs were blank. Overally, it seems more responsive, I still get the errors at boot but not at the same amount. Again, its speed is not like the stock rom though. So tomorrow I will flash another one. Any suggestions? I want something fast with 720p recording support.

Well I'm on CyanogenMod 7.1 and its very fast and stable. Its quoted as having 720p recording but some people are debating that, I haven't actually checked yet. It is an aosp ROM though so no sense.
Sent from my CM7.1 Desire using XDA Premium App

I had that issue before, apps take a minute to load.
Solution:
1. Make sure u have class 4 or higher SD card (no class 10).
2. Have at least a 1gb ext4 partition (1024mb, not 1000mb) I had 519mb before, changed to 1gb and its ok now.
3. Create FAT32 before you create ext4, won't work the other way around.
4. Try fix permissions in Rom manager to fix the force close issue.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Or maybe u have a corrupted zip file. (somehow)
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

muku_ said:
Since I am not allowed to post in the development forum, I am making a new thread here. I just flashed the rom. Followed the instructions, partitioned, installed, rebooted and installed A2SD then rebooted. The performance is terrible. Gmail crashes. And I got continuous messages of com.android.acore (and com.android.phone) is not responding. At a time these pop ups, stop but running apps like the market or even People is very slow. I checked and it consumes hell lot of RAM, only 83mb are free or 140 after a few "kills". A lot less than the 220mb of stock froyo. I am not sure what kills the performance though. Is this normal for this rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you full wipe before flashing?
To full wipe, you must;
Factory wipe/reset
Then in mounts/storage; format Data, format dalvic, format system and format sdext.
Then in advanced; Wipe Dalvic cache.
What has happened, is remnants of whatever previous ROM(s) you came from have remained in the system. Performing full-wipe above clears everything for your new ROM.
Not always necessary when flashing updates of the same ROM, but definitely a good idea if switching to another...

777ace said:
Did you full wipe before flashing?
To full wipe, you must;
Factory wipe/reset
Then in mounts/storage; format Data, format dalvic, format system and format sdext.
Then in advanced; Wipe Dalvic cache.
What has happened, is remnants of whatever previous ROM(s) you came from have remained in the system. Performing full-wipe above clears everything for your new ROM.
Not always necessary when flashing updates of the same ROM, but definitely a good idea if switching to another...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely didn't do a full wipe. I only did the factory reset and i installed after. I was in stock rom before, I don't know if this is relevant to the full wipe. Anyway, I'll try that and see if it fixes the speed problems.
sebastianlow said:
I had that issue before, apps take a minute to load.
Solution:
1. Make sure u have class 4 or higher SD card (no class 10).
2. Have at least a 1gb ext4 partition (1024mb, not 1000mb) I had 519mb before, changed to 1gb and its ok now.
3. Create FAT32 before you create ext4, won't work the other way around.
4. Try fix permissions in Rom manager to fix the force close issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fixed the permissions via the recovery menu. I also did the partitions via recovery, so I guess the procedure should be good. 1gb of ext, 64mb swap and the rest Fat.
I was about to order a new sd, because I use the stock one, 4gb class 4. I was thinking about getting a class 10, why did you tell me to avoid class 10? It should be the fastest, no?

Ok I reinstalled after wiping everything except boot from the recovery. Still the same issues. What I have noticed, is that the first time Gingerburst boots, when everything is in phone memory, the phone is fast. With no lags. After I reboot, to install the A2SD zip and then i start again my phone, then the performance sucks. Could it be the sd card? It's the stock card, class 4. Could it be the partitioning? I did it from the recovery. 1gb ext partition, 64mb swap, the rest Fat. Could it be the script installing A2SD problematic? I downloaded from the gingerburst site.

Droidzone highly recommends to do the partitioning with Gparted. Also the R/W speed of your card matters a lot in the speed of the ROM. My stock SD card has a writing speed of 4MB/sec and 5MB/sec for reading. This is definitely too slow to support data2sd, that's why I have ordered a class 6 sd card. You should do it too

UltimateGoblin said:
Droidzone highly recommends to do the partitioning with Gparted. Also the R/W speed of your card matters a lot in the speed of the ROM. My stock SD card has a writing speed of 4MB/sec and 5MB/sec for reading. This is definitely too slow to support data2sd, that's why I have ordered a class 6 sd card. You should do it too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried gparted at first but the gparted live disk didn't recognize my phone connected to the usb, so I then tried from the recovery. By the way why's everyone suggesting class 6 instead of class 10 sd cards?

Forget GingerBurst, it's a very laggy Gingerbread ROM. If you want Gingerbread with Data2SD, go for SuperNova (also by droidzone). I've experienced what you've experienced (lag, bootloops, fc's) despite my full wiping before flashing the ROM. My SD card is also partitioned by GParted, and it's Class 4 only, but I manage 1800+ Quadrant score w/ it. I went back to StarBurst (froyo) after consistently testing it to be faster than either GingerBurst or SuperNova. droidzone himself uses StarBurst for his personal phone.

No nid swap partition
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Droidzone said no class 10 :/
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Damn I guess it's the rom itself then. Although for some reason the lag starts after i install the A2SD. The first time the rom boots, before i install the script for data to sd, everything's pretty fast. I will order in any case a 16gb class 6 sd which i need for the extra storage, test with it and if the problem persists I'll try other roms like supernova you suggested or Leedroid. I am pretty new to this stuff so I don't know which is the best

I can confirm I had the same experience, it was great until I flashed the a2sd script. After that it was unusable.. that was with a class 6 card too
Sent from my CM7.1 Desire using XDA Premium App

I went back from GingerBurst to SuperNova too; now I am testing Unofficial BravoS by coolexe (because I really like Sense 2.1) and seems very good so far, the only thing I really dislike is A2SD+. A version based on Sibere's would be really great.

It's a bit of a relief to hear that other people have met the same issues as me with Gingerburst. I've already ordered my 16gb class 6 although from what you've told me, things won't get better I can't understand why the developer doesn't let us now that his Rom has still issues... I'll take a look to coolexe once I get my new memory. Anyone tried Leedroid HD?

The Rom is definitely fine, its just how you set it up...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Dual booting on the Desire GSM

Has anyone tired to dual boot on their desire?
I am looking for a way to do it for free if possible.
This one is for Desire HD so I don't think it works on the desire
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1173309&page=1
This one requires a market app but I am not sure if it even works.
http://www.inspiredgeek.com/2011/08...htc-desire-hd-thunderbolt-etc-complete-guide/
Can anyone please confirm if either of these method works? or if you have a tried and tested method for the desire.. can you please share?

the boot manager app should work on desire
it says in supported devices:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.drx2.bootmanager

+1 for BootManager
I've had CM7 [Phone ROM] and MIUI [SD-Car ROM] dual booting.
MIUI seemed to work well on a class-2 SD-Card, although a class-6 or higher is recommended.
It takes around 400MB of space on your SD-Card for the Boot.img and the Data.img and other files.

I'm sure this thing will mess up everything.
It will be either slow or it will consume too much memory.

filipd said:
I'm sure this thing will mess up everything.
It will be either slow or it will consume too much memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BootManager doesn't at all. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th ROMs run from the SD-Card, so its speed depends on which class of SD-Card you have. Like I say, I have the lowest class of SD-Card and MIUI ran very smoothly indeed, while taking up no more RAM than a normal MIUI installation.

Didn't even think this was possible. Going to try this weekend. Thanks for the tip.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

But you need to s-off right..

TopGear63z said:
But you need to s-off right..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you do. I'm sure I remember using this before I achieved S-OFF, I'm pretty sure only root and an SD-Card with ~500MB free is required.

Thanks guys, I did try boot manager but I can't get it to work. it does not seems to allow me to fully flash the ROM.
I choose install zip and then tell it to use one of the slots and tick the boxes to do a wipe. then it goes thru the motions and tells me it cannot find boot.img.

Are you s-off. I checked it, you indeed need s-off to let this work properly

yes I am s-off and I have the stock hboot. 1GB EXT3 and 3GB of free space. the sdcard is class 4.
I am not sure if the ROM in the NAND affects it,. I am using the desire stock Gingerbread rom.

TopGear63z said:
Are you s-off. I checked it, you indeed need s-off to let this work properly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hear is a cool tip!
If your flashing oxygen or another small rom, go into settings and set the system mb size as 100, and data as, well whatever you like, as it's on the sd, you can choose the sizes of your partitions! (you can leave the other settings empty) Just don't make system/data too small or the rom won't boot.
This way you can save space on your sd card, as standard it ll put a 250mb .img file on your sd but only use 95 mb of it etc.
I've used it a while and the only issue is that the roms you want to put on the sd have to support either ext 2 or ext4, (sd partitions are not required though).
Also it's a bit of a battery killer when using an sd rom.

Also I can confirm,
Leedroid 2.4 no a2sd works well. Set as ext2.
Leedroid 3.0.8.2 works but the a2sd part didn't. Set as ext2.
Cyanogen works great. Set as ext4.
Miui. Can't remember ext.
oxygen 2.2.1. Set as ext2.

Just to confirm MIUI.
I tried the latest MIUI_Au on Ext-4 and it works nicely

HTC Desire ROM suggestions

Hello all!
1st post and 1st day registered, thought ive been monitoring desire activity in these forums since 2011. Thank you al for the help provided through these years.
THE BACKGROUND
I have been using HTC Desire for about a year with oxygen rom and was more than pleased with the results. after that i had to give away my phone to my wife, for some time, in witch i flashed stock rom (some women cannot appreciate the use of custom/rooted phone!?!? haha) .
Now the phone is back in my hands, and as much as i would like, oxygen is outdated (or better say non existent).
THE QUESTION
Is there a current rom JB+ (up to date) that meets the speed and stability standards set by Oxygen2.3.2 with Data2sd support(or data2everywhere) and preferably without sense UI ? i currently have a class4 4gb microsd partitioned with ~3.5gb Fat32 / 512mb ext4 partition.
Thank you again for your time
PS: i have tried some roms around, but ive found them a bit slower even in touch experience , than GB AOSP roms.

In short, doubt you'll find a JB ROM that matches the speed and stability of Oxygen or GB AOSP ROMs. Oxygen still is one of the most stable ROMs despite being abandoned, mine is still based on it. Just because it isn't updated doesn't necessarily make it bad .
The only way would be to keep trying a few JB ROMs yourself, see if they are good enough for your standards. (I don't think any of them have Sense UI).
Data2sd is a bit different, most ROMs now just use normal A2SD, moving apps and dalvik to the sd-ext, JB ROMs tend to need to be activated by terminal commands (read the OP of the threads / search), so you don't have to flash anything extra.
512MB ext4 partition is a bit small, you might run out of space on it depending on how many apps you want to install. Consider repartitioning it to ~1.5GB if you can afford the space, do this using 4EXT recovery or gparted only.

eddiehk6 said:
In short, doubt you'll find a JB ROM that matches the speed and stability of Oxygen or GB AOSP ROMs. Oxygen still is one of the most stable ROMs despite being abandoned, mine is still based on it. Just because it isn't updated doesn't necessarily make it bad .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i found a working copy of flashable Oxygen 2.3.2 but im having trouble enabling A2SD support on it. you see, all Oxygen specific guides are on "404 page not found" state, and i have no memory of what i did to install it 2 years ago.
i tried as i said a couple of other roms, and none matched the speed of GB Oxygen
Thank you for your time,
Dimitris

dvalilis said:
i found a working copy of flashable Oxygen 2.3.2 but im having trouble enabling A2SD support on it. you see, all Oxygen specific guides are on "404 page not found" state, and i have no memory of what i did to install it 2 years ago.
i tried as i said a couple of other roms, and none matched the speed of GB Oxygen
Thank you for your time,
Dimitris
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the one in my sig, it's no longer being developed, but based on Oxygen 2.3.2. It works best in terms of space if you are s-off with cm7r2 hboot.
You don't have to do anything with this one to activate A2SD, it's already built in. As long as the partition is properly created in gparted or 4EXT recovery, just keep apps on internal (don't 'move to SD') and apps and dalvik will be tricked to sd-ext. You won't see your actual internal memory read 'internal + sd-ext', but the A2SD is working.

UPDATE:after a few hours of testing, and flashing, I managed to find Working copies of oxygen 2.3.2 and compatible version of a2sd.
Today I will upload those files to my server for distribution, along with a «short guide» post in case anyone wants pure oxygen experience on his desire.
Regards
Dimitris
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app

hi dimitris,
would you mind sharing your files?
i also got my 'old' htc desire back (from kid) and i'd like to install a fresh rom.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

i will post links.as soon as I get back home tonight! Keep tight
Sent from my HTC Desire

around ssarnie
So here we go,as promised
I have no responsibility for any data loss or phone damage. worked as is on my HTC Desire Bravo
Code:
i cannot post links untill i get 10 posts . so...
h**p://speedy.sh/cnrds/update-oxygen-2.3.2-Bravo-signed.zip
h**p://speedy.sh/XvBVT/a2sd-2.7-update3r1-signed.zip
iIF you have CWRecovery V3+ you have to flash an older version, in order to be able to flash the a2sd above. You downgrade using Android Flasher.
Steps that worked for me:
1 Create 2 partitions on SD, one FAT32 and one ext3 (using Gparted)
2 Put the above zips in Fat32 partition
3 Boot phone to recovery
4 Full wipe/Factory default and cache
5 install Oxygen rom using "install zip from SD card" option
6 Start oxygen rom, and let it boot for first time, also let it settle for few minutes.
7 Reboot to Recovery
8 Install a2sd script using "install zip from SD card " option
9 Reboot phone.
Done
When it boots enter google account and download a Terminal Emulator . To check if all is ok you shoud run
Code:
su
Code:
a2sd diskspace
and you should see the partition recognized as internal with the space used and left.
Job Done. i run this install for 2 days now with no problems at all
Hope i helped,
Dimitris.

Just a few points:
- Did you switch hboot before you flashed the ROM? This would get you even more space. If you're still on stock hboot you're wasting a lot of space on /system partition.
If it's the latest version of Oxygen it should fit onto OxygenR2 hboot with 100MB /system.
- Good you used gparted , ext4 over ext3 would have been slightly faster, not that much of a big deal though.
- Can I ask where you got the A2SD script from and how does it work? Does it move apps and dalvik automatically? Does the internal memory read 'internal + sd-ext', or is it hidden like a lot of A2SD scripts but working as normal?
Just asking, I know you've put a disclaimer at the top, but it's useful just in case for anybody in the future using this. They should be informed exactly what they're flashing and at least in basic terms how and what it does.

- Did you switch hboot before you flashed the ROM? This would get you even more space. If you're still on stock hboot you're wasting a lot of space on /system partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am using HBOOT -6.93.1002 and radio 5-11-05-27
- Good you used gparted , ext4 over ext3 would have been slightly faster, not that much of a big deal though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure that oxygen supports ext4 and thats why igot the safe path to ext3. Using Gparted was oneway for me , because i only have linux systems on my home/work
- Can I ask where you got the A2SD script from and how does it work? Does it move apps and dalvik automatically? Does the internal memory read 'internal + sd-ext', or is it hidden like a lot of A2SD scripts but working as normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this particular A2SD is probably a previous version of darktremmors. i found it on my backups, and uts the one i used when oxygen forums were live. it does move apps automaticaly i am not sure about davik ,and dunno how to check it ,internal reads only internal memory, but works like a charm.. you can make sure it works, by installing tons of apps and checking "a2sd diskspace"
PS sorry for all that info missing, its my first post about roms, i will probably get better while upping my post count

dvalilis said:
i am using HBOOT -6.93.1002 and radio 5-11-05-27
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In other words you're s-off, but still on stock hboot. This is wasteful like I said, your /system size is 250MB, but you're using less that ~95MB, wasting over 150MB
If you switch to OxygenR2 hboot, the system size is 100MB, you'll waste only 5MB, and the rest gets converted to extra internal memory...total 332MB instead of 147MB...i.e. more space for apps
Nandroid backup, download hboot from here, recommend to flash using fastboot, nandroid restore.
I am not sure that oxygen supports ext4 and thats why igot the safe path to ext3. Using Gparted was oneway for me , because i only have linux systems on my home/work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext4 is dependent on the A2SD script rather than the ROM. Most will say if they support it. I believe darktremor did support it when I used it on a different phone.
this particular A2SD is probably a previous version of darktremmors. i found it on my backups, and uts the one i used when oxygen forums were live. it does move apps automaticaly i am not sure about davik ,and dunno how to check it ,internal reads only internal memory, but works like a charm.. you can make sure it works, by installing tons of apps and checking "a2sd diskspace"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can manage it using this
You can keep dalvik on internal for now, sometimes better for speed if you don't have a high class sd card.
However, on stock hboot, you only have 147MB for app data and dalvik in this case. It may work now, but if you start to install more apps, on stock hboot you can easily still run out of space quite quickly. 332MB /data partition (internal memory) on OxygenR2 hboot allows for much more space for apps.
A better way to check your memory I always recommend is an app called DiskUsage, you'll be able to browse all your partitions. Install it now, you'll see all the free (wasted) space on your /system partition I mentioned earlier.
PS sorry for all that info missing, its my first post about roms, i will probably get better while upping my post count
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fine, at least you're trying to help rather than many others who just post unnecessarily just to post in dev threads (unnecessarily). You don't have to up your post count to learn, you get that from reading

[Q] First time root/custom ROM for this phone - How? Walkthrough guide please?

Can anybody here please help?
A friend of mine has this phone (Wildfire S) and I has become frustrated at the very limited storage for apps.
I have rooted phones previously myself (Xperia X10 and Xperia S) and used custom ROMs on them, but I don't have a clue how to do this on the HTC Wildfire S, OR which custom ROMs are decent. Are the KitKat 4.4 ROMs good/speedy enough for daily use?
If anyone could provide a simple way of rooting and using a custom ROM on this phone which allows more app storage space (such as on the SD card) that would be fantastic!
Many thanks

Sorry for responding to my own post, but I've now successfully unlocked the bootloader and rooted the phone, but I was left confused by some issues that I can't find the answers to:
With my own previous phones, Sony Xperia X10 and Xperia S, I have rooted those and run custom ROMs and kernels. However, when looking for a custom ROM for the Wildfire S, there don't seem to be any kernels. Does this mean I can use any custom ROM, be it Gingerbread 2.3 to KitKat 4.4 with the same CWM Recovery that I have on the phone right now when I rooted it? Are the kernels built in to the ROMs that are downloaded?
Also another question is how do I go about increasing the storage space on the phone now that I have rooted (be it on either the stock ROM or a Custom ROM)? My friend has a 2GB MicroSD card in the phone. If I was to install a KitKat ROM for example, how could I make sure the apps could be installed and run from the SD Card? What's an easy way to allocate a portion of the 2GB for apps??
Finally, which ROM would you recommend trying on the phone rather than the stock ROM, which is not sluggish but also very functional?
So basically to sum up:
Do I need to flash kernels to use custom ROMs?
How do I increase the storage size so that many more apps can be installed?
What is a nice, fast custom ROM that you would recommend?
I'd appreciate any information to help me on this one. Like I said, with my own personal phones, which have always been Sonys, I've got used to the rooting methods on those, but I had a lot of questions with this phone so would be grateful if somebody could help get this phone to a more functional standard.
Thanks

alex_ncfc said:
Do I need to flash kernels to use custom ROMs?
How do I increase the storage size so that many more apps can be installed?
What is a nice, fast custom ROM that you would recommend?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you don't need to flash any kernels if you don't want to.
Use int2ext or Link2SD. Search about them.
The answer to the last question depends on your needs and you will have to try a bit yourself. You can start with CM10.

Thanks very much for the response aWFSuser.
1) Thanks, that's one thing I don't need to worry about then! (although, just thought, it might be nice to OverClock the CPU to 800Mhz - can I do this as standard or will I need another Kernel?)
2) I will have a read up about these, although from your experience, of the two tools you have listed, which would you say is easiest to configure? I've read before about setting up partitions on the SD card for extra app storage, but have never had to do it on my own phones
3) I will have a look around! Tempted to try some of the KitKat ROMs that I can see for download on the Development thread. If I don't have to mess around with flashing kernels, it's quite good to know that I can have many custom ROM zips on the SD card and install them without having to worry about hooking it up to the USB to flash a kernel.
Thanks again, hoping I can get some joy with this. My friend's absolute main needs with this phone is extra storage for apps - he is constantly getting "Not enough storage" errors, but I looked in his Google Play "installed list" and there was only 4 or 5 apps installed, and they were small ones!!

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks very much for the response aWFSuser.
1) Thanks, that's one thing I don't need to worry about then! (although, just thought, it might be nice to OverClock the CPU to 800Mhz - can I do this as standard or will I need another Kernel?)
2) I will have a read up about these, although from your experience, of the two tools you have listed, which would you say is easiest to configure? I've read before about setting up partitions on the SD card for extra app storage, but have never had to do it on my own phones
3) I will have a look around! Tempted to try some of the KitKat ROMs that I can see for download on the Development thread. If I don't have to mess around with flashing kernels, it's quite good to know that I can have many custom ROM zips on the SD card and install them without having to worry about hooking it up to the USB to flash a kernel.
Thanks again, hoping I can get some joy with this. My friend's absolute main needs with this phone is extra storage for apps - he is constantly getting "Not enough storage" errors, but I looked in his Google Play "installed list" and there was only 4 or 5 apps installed, and they were small ones!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every ROM comes with its own kernel and most of them are overclockable. But overclocking to 800 MHz will not be a good idea if you don't want random reboots. Overclocking upto 768MHz is probably fine.
Int2ext is a script and you can flash it and forget. But Link2SD is an app which has an interface. Though it requires more configuring, it gives control on what to move and not to move and also it works in every rom I tried. I personally use Link2SD.

aWFSuser said:
Every ROM comes with its own kernel and most of them are overclockable. But overclocking to 800 MHz will not be a good idea if you don't want random reboots. Overclocking upto 768MHz is probably fine.
Int2ext is a script and you can flash it and forget. But Link2SD is an app which has an interface. Though it requires more configuring, it gives control on what to move and not to move and also it works in every rom I tried. I personally use Link2SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect.
Thanks for that information. Good to know that I shouldn't overclock to the "max" 800mhz!
Also, after reading around guides on flashing the ROMs, it seems I will still have to use the USB cable in order to flash each ROMs "boot.img" file, but that's not a major problem.
I will have a look at Link2SD. Is it something you do after you have installed and configured a ROM?
Thanks very much for your advice and informative replies :good:

alex_ncfc said:
Perfect.
Thanks for that information. Good to know that I shouldn't overclock to the "max" 800mhz!
Also, after reading around guides on flashing the ROMs, it seems I will still have to use the USB cable in order to flash each ROMs "boot.img" file, but that's not a major problem.
I will have a look at Link2SD. Is it something you do after you have installed and configured a ROM?
Thanks very much for your advice and informative replies :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you don't have to flash the boot.img files. They are inside the ROM zips that you will download. You will just need to flash the rom via recovery (ofcourse after wiping).
Link2SD is just an application, you can install it any time but you still have to partition your memory card.

aWFSuser said:
No, you don't have to flash the boot.img files. They are inside the ROM zips that you will download. You will just need to flash the rom via recovery (ofcourse after wiping).
Link2SD is just an application, you can install it any time but you still have to partition your memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads-up, I have since figured out I do not need to flash boot.img.
Am I able to use the 2GB card with INT2EXT? I can't quite figure out how to set up a partition.
Thank you

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks for the heads-up, I have since figured out I do not need to flash boot.img.
Am I able to use the 2GB card with INT2EXT? I can't quite figure out how to set up a partition.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.

aWFSuser said:
Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - I have just formatted the SD card in CWM Recovery, as I don't have a MicroSD reader in order to format on my PC. Will this format it correctly so that FAT32 is the first partition and the second EXT2?
Many thanks

aWFSuser said:
Format the 2GB card into two partitions. The first one should be FAT32 and the 2nd one ext2. Then flash the int2ext script right after flashing the rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must be doing something wrong, but not sure what!!
I have partitioned the SD card using multiple different CWM recoveries and formatted the SD-EXT partition. However, whenever I flash any INT2EXT through CWM Recovery, the ROM I am using is always messed up. One ROM I try for example, after a long bootup, just has endless FCs, starting with .com.android.phone.
If I don't flash INT2EXT, it works but obviously I have very little storage.
Don't know where I am going wrong on this one. Any ideas?

alex_ncfc said:
I must be doing something wrong, but not sure what!!
I have partitioned the SD card using multiple different CWM recoveries and formatted the SD-EXT partition. However, whenever I flash any INT2EXT through CWM Recovery, the ROM I am using is always messed up. One ROM I try for example, after a long bootup, just has endless FCs, starting with .com.android.phone.
If I don't flash INT2EXT, it works but obviously I have very little storage.
Don't know where I am going wrong on this one. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you have really two partitions on the sd-card? I have never partitioned through cwm so don't know the exact procedure. You can mount the sdcard to computer via the usb cable. BTW you have to flash the script right after flashing rom. And have you tried link2sd?

aWFSuser said:
Are you sure you have really two partitions on the sd-card? I have never partitioned through cwm so don't know the exact procedure. You can mount the sdcard to computer via the usb cable. BTW you have to flash the script right after flashing rom. And have you tried link2sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am as sure as I can be that I have two partitions, because when I mount the USB storage so I can access it in Windows, the partition size is much smaller (i.e - if I create a 512MB EXT partition through CWM, Windows shows the 2GB capacity as 1.4-ish GB) However, CWM doesn't give me any indication on which type of EXT partition I am creating. I would like to create an EXT4 one, but it doesn't seem to give me the option. I can't seem to be able to see the partitions in Windows when I mount the USB storage either. I just see the FAT32 partition in Windows Disk Management.
As another update, I tried Link2SD instead of INT2EXT this morning. It picked up the fact I have another partition, but it asks me which type it is (EXT2, EXT3, etc) and as I do not know, I may be picking the wrong options. Anyway I think I managed to get apps installed into the EXT partition, but in Android's storage settings, it still shows 150MB internal storage - is this correct? When I see screenshots of others using tools like INT2EXT or Link2SD, their Storage settings seems to show the new storage size. So maybe it isn't working? Also, when I tried to install the Facebook app, although the app installed (and Link2SD said it was on the SD card) when I tried to start the app and it reads "Setting up Facebook", the system runs out of storage.
Thanks for all your help so far

alex_ncfc said:
I am as sure as I can be that I have two partitions, because when I mount the USB storage so I can access it in Windows, the partition size is much smaller (i.e - if I create a 512MB EXT partition through CWM, Windows shows the 2GB capacity as 1.4-ish GB) However, CWM doesn't give me any indication on which type of EXT partition I am creating. I would like to create an EXT4 one, but it doesn't seem to give me the option. I can't seem to be able to see the partitions in Windows when I mount the USB storage either. I just see the FAT32 partition in Windows Disk Management.
As another update, I tried Link2SD instead of INT2EXT this morning. It picked up the fact I have another partition, but it asks me which type it is (EXT2, EXT3, etc) and as I do not know, I may be picking the wrong options. Anyway I think I managed to get apps installed into the EXT partition, but in Android's storage settings, it still shows 150MB internal storage - is this correct? When I see screenshots of others using tools like INT2EXT or Link2SD, their Storage settings seems to show the new storage size. So maybe it isn't working? Also, when I tried to install the Facebook app, although the app installed (and Link2SD said it was on the SD card) when I tried to start the app and it reads "Setting up Facebook", the system runs out of storage.
Thanks for all your help so far
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Link2SD would not show the internal memory as increased, you can see that from the app itself (menu->storage info). You can enable auto-linking in settings. By the way if the app is on sdcard, then its not on the 2nd partition. To move it to the 2nd partition you have to link it. Make sure to link apk,dex and lib. If you have paid version then you can also link data. As for facebook, I have not used it in a while but it may have large amount of dex files that have to be linked. Also the data may be large. And remember to reboot if storage space runs out.
Also which rom are you on?

aWFSuser said:
Link2SD would not show the internal memory as increased, you can see that from the app itself (menu->storage info). You can enable auto-linking in settings. By the way if the app is on sdcard, then its not on the 2nd partition. To move it to the 2nd partition you have to link it. Make sure to link apk,dex and lib. If you have paid version then you can also link data. As for facebook, I have not used it in a while but it may have large amount of dex files that have to be linked. Also the data may be large. And remember to reboot if storage space runs out.
Also which rom are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to your post two posts earlier, I think I have cracked the storage thing
When it wasn't working previously, like I said, I had been doing the partitioning in CWM.
However, I managed to get the system mounted under Windows so that I could do the partitioning in Mini Partition Wizard as many recommend. Now when I install a ROM and then install Int2Ext4 straight after, the extra storage shows up in settings once the ROM is booted
ROM-wise, I have just been messing around with any I can get my hands on from the development thread, to see if I could get the storage problem sorted first and foremost, as this is the most important part for me (well, for my friend!) However, is there a favourite ROM of yours you'd recommend? I've tried so many over the last 2 days that I'm forgetting which does what! I tried a KK ROM which I thought was very slow, but also I tried an OWL 2013 ROM which was performing very well - but there is no keyboard! And I can't seem to be able to install one. If there's one you could recommend which is quite speedy, that'd be great
Thanks

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks to your post two posts earlier, I think I have cracked the storage thing
When it wasn't working previously, like I said, I had been doing the partitioning in CWM.
However, I managed to get the system mounted under Windows so that I could do the partitioning in Mini Partition Wizard as many recommend. Now when I install a ROM and then install Int2Ext4 straight after, the extra storage shows up in settings once the ROM is booted
ROM-wise, I have just been messing around with any I can get my hands on from the development thread, to see if I could get the storage problem sorted first and foremost, as this is the most important part for me (well, for my friend!) However, is there a favourite ROM of yours you'd recommend? I've tried so many over the last 2 days that I'm forgetting which does what! I tried a KK ROM which I thought was very slow, but also I tried an OWL 2013 ROM which was performing very well - but there is no keyboard! And I can't seem to be able to install one. If there's one you could recommend which is quite speedy, that'd be great
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM10.1 (probably owl that you mention) is good. Keyboard is probably with Gapps and you need to install it. Anyway I usually use Touchpal Keyboard which works great. KK is slow but CM10 and CM10.1 are good. For best speed use gingerbread based roms.

aWFSuser said:
CM10.1 (probably owl that you mention) is good. Keyboard is probably with Gapps and you need to install it. Anyway I usually use Touchpal Keyboard which works great. KK is slow but CM10 and CM10.1 are good. For best speed use gingerbread based roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I agree, the OWL has been my stable ROM for almost 2 years.. Now I am moving towards the latest CM, the Olivier's one.. Give it a look!

Thanks for the responses guys.
Which Android version/CM is Olivier's latest based on? Have you got a link to the thread?
I agree that GB ROMs will be best for speed, but I've tried a few based on JellyBean 4.2.2 and they seem very quick, I am actually shocked (for a phone with such a low processor speed etc, it runs these modern ROMs so much better than my old Sony Xperia X10)
However, one thing I notice is, despite installing GAPPS on any of the JB/KK ROMs, there are certain Google Apps missing, and I can't install them from the market either. For example, Google Search - when I look for it in the market, it says that the app is not compatible with the Android version I am running. However, I know for sure that Google Search runs on any Android version. It let me download the new Google Now Launcher, but I can't run it because it needs Google Search installed, but I can't install it from the market.

alex_ncfc said:
Thanks for the responses guys.
Which Android version/CM is Olivier's latest based on? Have you got a link to the thread?
I agree that GB ROMs will be best for speed, but I've tried a few based on JellyBean 4.2.2 and they seem very quick, I am actually shocked (for a phone with such a low processor speed etc, it runs these modern ROMs so much better than my old Sony Xperia X10)
However, one thing I notice is, despite installing GAPPS on any of the JB/KK ROMs, there are certain Google Apps missing, and I can't install them from the market either. For example, Google Search - when I look for it in the market, it says that the app is not compatible with the Android version I am running. However, I know for sure that Google Search runs on any Android version. It let me download the new Google Now Launcher, but I can't run it because it needs Google Search installed, but I can't install it from the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Current Google Search has official support for only armv7 devices, but our phone's processor is armv6. You can still download the apk and install but voice recognition will not work.
By olivier's latest he probably meant CM11 that you used earlier but it is slower tham 4.2.2 roms.