Hey guys (new user here),
I'm a linux kernel hacker, and i just got my first android phone this week (HTC Droid Incredible), and installed Cyanogenmod on it, but I want to customize it.
What I'm looking for is which rom to use for a fairly experienced linux kernel hacker that is just starting android development. The end goal is some pretty heavy kernel/OS modifications.
Cyanogenmod looks to be the most popular with users, but I can't find if it is the most
HTC's Developer Website has the vanilla kernels it looks like. I enjoy starting with a vanilla linux kernel, so would this be doable, or is the vanilla in a pretty much unusable state?
I'm open to other suggestions for ROMs. Looking for one with great support for starting developers (as opposed to user support).
A side question is what forums/wikis/sites are a good resource for developers in particular (other than this one) as opposed to just users.
Thanks,
~Alex
You wont necessarily be making the kernals ROM specific per say. You'd be making them either AOSP or Sense compatable as those are different. Usually what the kernal devs here do is make the same kernal for both Sense and AOSP, its all up to you! Welcome to Droid Inc Development!
Sent from God, who uses CM7 RC1.
So yeah, I have a crapload of questions.
I recently asked about rooting and keeping HTC Sense. In retrospect, I don't think I'll need Sense, I just tried out AppLauncher, and I have to say, I think I'm sold on it. I'm just wondering what exactly HTC Sense has? Is there anything it has that I'll really miss? So far the only thing I can think of is the HTC Sense website for a lost phone, backing up data, and the weather widget/FriendStream...though adding Facebook to HTC sense shows all my contacts in the Phone button which is a huge piss off, but meh.
So that being said, I think I'm about ready to give rooting a shot, but now I've been confused with even more things. And the more I read the more I get confused. Especially where I have to downgrade the firmware, I'm wondering if it's still okay to do this, since the guy at Bell told me if I didn't do / get certain updates I'd have to send my phone back to HTC for repair.
There's stock Android, Cyanogen, and it seems like a million other ROMs. Which is the best to use? If I want total customizability, but also good functionality?
Finally, I'm using a Bell-branded Desire Z on the the Bell network. So Whatever I do will need to work okay with it.
As I've said, I'm totally new to this, and I'm scared to hell of bricking my phone since I just signed a contract and don't to shell out $500 bucks for a new one.
There's just so much info on this forum and it's a bit overwhelming/confusing, not that a lot of info is a bad thing, I'm just lost lol.
EDIT: If anything I wrote seems too rambling or doesn't make much sense please specify that and I'll clarify it.
cant help you root your phone but just follow the instructions that the person who writes the threads say. It's not that easy to brick your phone unless you just completely dont follow directions.
1. Downgrade is perfectly fine, it's to allow you to use a certain method to root your phone.
2. Try out different roms to see what you like, it's like asking whats your favorite video game, how can you really choose, some will agree some wont. I personally like the Miui roms which is the iphonelike and android UI mashup. the apps built in are nice on the eyes, the physics of the phones movement is very smooth, it can oc to 1.5ghz, and you can just download a launcher to replace the original if you dont like it.
3. ask the dev's on the thread if your not sure. i have no idea about bell, but it would seem that it shouldnt have any affect on rooting your phone, just maybe the radio but that is different then rooting or flashing roms.
P.S. you might miss the small things from Sense like, it looks nice, turns on fast, widgets, the dialer to search contact, incoming calls doesnt disrupt navigation, and it's original live wallpaper lol.
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
I guess more of what I'm asking is just based on people's experiences what the best route to go is. I know there are different tastes, I'm more concerned about reliability, so I'm sure people could help with a ROM choice with that criteria.
So downgrading firmware won't affect phone performance? And can it still be reverted to stock in case the phone needs warranty repair? Just trying to cover all my bases.
And thanks, I'll ask around in the deg thread.
Bloodlvst said:
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are usually apps available that provide Sense functionality to non-Sense ROMs. In regards to the above, you can try DialerOne.
To help you with the ROMs think of them in terms of how different Linux OS's are setup (if you know a bit about this).
You have the base OS's such as Cyanogen. Now some one doesn't like the look of that so they change the Frameworkres.apk to give it defferent colors, transparencies, icons and so on. Now they want a few extra apps to be included in the install so they add them to the /system/app directory or add a /data directory. Repackage it and now they have a custom OS called WINNING ROM (or whatever). These are easy to do and can be completed in a matter of minutes since there aren't any big alterations in the base coding of the OS. This is why you see a lot of ROMs that look like Cyanogens and the developer usually (and should be) states what version of some one elses ROM it's based off of.
Then you have ROMs that tweak certain parameters for speed or add other functionalities to a ROM such as a custom kernel, audio/video codecs, a2ext, compcache/linux swap, and others. Plus a complete custom UI (launcher), port parts of other ROMs such as Sense to work on their ROM, and toms of other things. These take days, weeks, or even months and usually have release cycles and updates. Cyanogen, Virtuous, Enomther, Villain, and a few others make up these ROMs.
Hope that helps with your ROM quest. It can be a bit overwhelming but remember to ask, ask, ask, and then ask some more and also read, at least the OP (original post) and a few pages past that. Some people may get upset and flame you for it but most will be glad to help in any way.
If you flash a non-Sense ROM, you will miss the HTC camera app. Its far and away better than the stock Android one, and I haven't found any Market camera apps that measure up, either. Also, the camera button on the Sense builds seems much more responsive than on CM7.
Also, I'm not sure about this, but the Sense ROMs seem to have better or more hardware codecs for playing a wider array of video formats. Lots of the videos I've tried on CM7 and CM6 are only playable using software decoding (on a variety of players, but RockPlayer is my favorite) and end up super laggy (very low frame rate) and audio way out of sync. On stock Sense and Virtuous, those videos play fine, hardware decoding, silky smooth, and audio in sync.
There are some aesthetic stuff, like HTC does some pretty significant theme changes for Sense, and you will lose customizations like the HTC Skins. And you will lose the HTC widgets (like the clocks) and apps (stocks, weather). But as mentioned, there are lots of Market apps that pretty well simulate many of the Sense apps and widgets, or are very suitable replacements.
Thanks for the detailed replies guys.
KCRic, thanks for list of known ROMs that's basically what I wanted to know, and your Linux flavour comparison helped too
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Thanks!
Bloodlvst said:
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
ROM LIST
Sense ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
Shokouhi 2.0
Desire S G2 Port Sense2.1
Probably others.
Froyo - Android 2.2
Virtuous
Stock ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
CyanogenMod 7
Stock Gingerbread 1.7
iceandfire 1.7
Pyromod 1.2
GingerVillian 1.5
meXdroidMod
Froyo - Android 2.2
CyanogenMod 6
Others of unimportance now.
The Other ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
MIUI (The 2.3 one)
Froyo - Android 2.2
MIUI (The 2.2 one)
LiquidVillian (Or whatever it was called.)
I probably just wasted 10 minutes of my life doing this, but meh, it was something to do.
Now to kill myself since I had to listen to Nickelback through it. Damn 4Music.
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
redpoint73 said:
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP Based.
There should be 2 categories. CM Based and AOSP.
But I don't think there are any AOSP ROMs. Which I hate, cos when people say they've built a stock ROM, but it's based on CyanogenMod.
redpoint73 said:
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm guessing no one has cooked up a weird ROM that is like Cyanogen with the Sense camera app lol.
Anywho, I really only have a couple of questions now.
Would you recommend Gingerbread or Froyo? I'm guessing Gingerbread probably runs better / is better than Froyo, but it's hard to say.
Also, how easy is it to restore my phone to factory condition if I need to?
And finally, I read the wiki, it says to make sure I have the windows USB drivers installed...do I just throw those in my windows drivers folder?
EDIT: Wanted to add, the instructiosn for recovering to stock doesn't include the version. So any help there is appreciated.
Or you know, if any of you would be so kind to PM me / add me to IM if you've done this on a Bell phone in Canada that would be awesome too
The drivers go in your Android SDK folder, where ever adb resides. At least on XP and Vista that's the case - I'm not sure if the adb issue was ever resolved in Windows 7. You could always use VM linux or dual boot linux if you like, it's much easier imo. Wubi works too I think.
When it comes to Froyo vs. Gingerbread it's literally like a linux in the sense that one is completely stable and well known by this point (Froyo) an the other is bleeding edge, not stable at times, some things are just not compatible unless you port them, and peoples knowledge base on it isn't as thorough.
I've never returned this phone to stock, which I assume you mean s-on and no superuser permissions. So I have no idea how difficult it is, though I do know you need to make sure you 100% know what you're doing before attempting it - especially if you have s-off. It's a pandoras box if you mess it up.
Ah okay, I'll definitely stick with Froyo for now then. I've always stayed 1 version behidn with Fedora lol.
I did get the drivers working, made my gold card, about to downgrade my firmware.
Are the instructions the same for 1.84.666.2 ?
Edit: Successfully rooted. Now time to find a new ROM. thanks again for all the help. Quesiton though, I have no HSDPA icon anymore...do I need a new "radio" or something?
No, it will do that and some ROMs don't have either the 'H' or the 3G' icon - just depends on the developer. You can still flash a different radio - anyone listed in the G2 radio sticky will work, flash a few and see what works best for you.
There's also a radio version/.ril file issue being debated so you might check that thread too and flash the zip provided just to be safe. I think it's in the G2 questions forum but I can't remember.
Alright, I'm new to the whole Android thing.
Am I right in assuming, that without a front end GUI like Sense, Android is just another command line OS? Does it have an interface?
If it has an interface, why doesn't Google just release an end user install-able version of it so the user can do whatever they want with it? didn't the legality of unlocking and hacking your own personal device just get settled in congress? With that being said, I would like to be able to just simply download ICS and install it unmolested on my EVO. Hell, I would have liked to do that with Gingerbread too. I know there are different phones, different hardware platforms, but that's all driver related anyway. I thought it was all Open source?
Just an interesting thought I had, no real issues or nothing going on.
Sense is a skin put on top of standard Android GUI. There are some subtle differences. Just install a non sense Rom like cm 7, it seems to be very popular, I like the sense tweaks, calendar, messaging, contacts.
You should be able to dl ics and install it if u know how to port a Rom.
Sent from my Synergized Evo with aggressive Freedom using the XDA app
Just be sure and make a nandroid backup before you switch in case you want to go back to what you had and store a copy of it on your desktop hard drive or in some location other than your phone.
CM7 is what sparked this question. I installed it, and it broke my WiFi and my GPS. If Gingerbead was an out of the box solution, there would be drivers and portability. I don't understand why there has to be ports of roms and things from other phones to make the OS work. Thats where i think Google is dropping the ball. Why is there not some sort of driver repository where one could get all the hardware drivers for their device and simply load them into the OS and install it? That would make the most sense to me. It puts the ownage of hardware support back o nteh manufacturer to ensure its updated.
I don't know, something to rant about I guess.
I'm running decks rom rite now and never had any issues at all. Try that instead. Its in dev
Sent From My Pocket
There are ROMs out there that are just pure android with no UI overlay or anything, you might just have to look back a bit in the forums and settle for 2.3.3 or earlier. At one point there was a ROM called PureGB or something along those lines that was just as it sounds, pure GB - built right from the SDK. You have to understand that the EVO is manufactured by HTC and Sense is their baby so they are never going to give us a stripped down ROM... Google puts the SDK out there and devs create ROMs for individual devices so it's all about what the devs want to make.
The popularity of Sense 3.0+ and AOSP custom ROMs has steered devs away (for the moment) from creating super basic ROMs but it can be done.
There is a stock android 2.3 launcher, notification bar, messaging app and so on, it's just that the alternatives are entirely to lucrative to pass up for most people.
I hope that at least makes some sense (get it!?! Sense!?!... So lame...) and I'll try to find that Pure GB ROM and link it so you can dig it.
Can one expect a hassle free experience when flashing a Desire ROM?
Apologies if this question covers old ground, but as somebody who used to happily flash their Trinity every other day without fear or problems, I am struggling to find the same experience with Desire.
I've done all the prep work (rooted, S Off, etc) but can't seem to find one custom ROM that does not have specific individual pre-flashing requirements (e.g. ext2 partition as opposed to ext3 or ext4), or post-flashing fixes for problems that can often only be found by wading through pages of thread (e.g. camera won't work unless you...., sms notification won't work unless you......).
Maybe I am being over cautious as the Desire Stock Rom does seem a pretty good ROM already.
What I'm hoping is that people will leave proactive feedback to help people liek me who are concerned that flashing a custom ROM on the Desire is going to bring sleepless nights and hassle in trying to find fixes.
I thank you in advance for any feedback and advice.
Mattster.
Mattster_spv said:
Can one expect a hassle free experience when flashing a Desire ROM?
Apologies if this question covers old ground, but as somebody who used to happily flash their Trinity every other day without fear or problems, I am struggling to find the same experience with Desire.
I've done all the prep work (rooted, S Off, etc) but can't seem to find one custom ROM that does not have specific individual pre-flashing requirements (e.g. ext2 partition as opposed to ext3 or ext4), or post-flashing fixes for problems that can often only be found by wading through pages of thread (e.g. camera won't work unless you...., sms notification won't work unless you......).
Maybe I am being over cautious as the Desire Stock Rom does seem a pretty good ROM already.
What I'm hoping is that people will leave proactive feedback to help people liek me who are concerned that flashing a custom ROM on the Desire is going to bring sleepless nights and hassle in trying to find fixes.
I thank you in advance for any feedback and advice.
Mattster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IT completely depends on which ROM you are flashing.. if you want hassle free ROM then flash stable ones.. They may have little bugs but won't bother you....
A good ROM will boost your desire performance Also...
Happy Flashing
DONT FORGET TO HIT THANKS BUTTON AT BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE POST IF THIS HELPS YOU
my experience is mostly positive 10ish roms todate
An ext partition is pretty much standard on most rom's My advice would be to make a 1gb ext4 partition as this is what I've had from the start and never had to re-partition it.
Pick an established rom that has got good feedback in the thread and you'll have no issues.
Some rom's have a few bugs, but some of the better one's are completely bug free.
And once you start flashing and skipping from rom to rom you won't want to stop
zedmarcus said:
An ext partition is pretty much standard on most rom's My advice would be to make a 1gb ext4 partition as this is what I've had from the start and never had to re-partition it.
Pick an established rom that has got good feedback in the thread and you'll have no issues.
Some rom's have a few bugs, but some of the better one's are completely bug free.
And once you start flashing and skipping from rom to rom you won't want to stop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Zedmarcus (and everybody else) for the comments. I've done a 1gb and ext4 partition so I'm glad you said that.
Maybe I should go for the Rom in your signature then... I was expecting people to start listing stable roms but I appreciate a lot of it is down to personal choice.
That said, if you want to mention say 3 roms you've had good experiences with that would be good too!
Mattster.
Like you said, most of it comes down to personal choice. And before this turns into another "which rom is best?" "it's all down to personal choice" threads, I'll give you a quick rundown on some of the rom's that I've tried (and/or read about) and my own "personal" views on them.
Basically, there are two main types of rom's:
The first is Sense rom's, which are the stock or modded versions of the standard HTC rom's. Some people swear by them, saying that they have all the stuff you mostly need already on them, and that they have all of the bells and whistles on them to make them look flashy. Other people argue that they are full and bloated with stuff you will probably never need, and this leads to slowdown, lags and generally a less "free" android experience.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1315961
This is the Sense rom of the moment right now. Originally developed as a personal rom by Sebastiaan15, it's now one of the most posted about rom's. It's a 3.5 Sense rom (the most recent, apart from the newly announced ICS 4.0) that Seb is constantly (ie pretty much every day) updating. From personally trying it I'd say it's a good rom that has a lot of good things going for it, but there are still issues that are being found with it and Seb is constantly fixing and changing things. If you want the latest flashy Sense rom then maybe try it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1318370
michaelm_007's 3.5 rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1250815
coolexe's 3.5 rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1016940
This is a very stable Sense 2.1+3.0 rom that has lots of users and good reviews. Being a mixed Sense rom it has the stability of a 2.1 rom with some of the bonus bits from 3.0 Unfortunately the developer baadnewz has stopped development on this rom and so what you get is what you get as there are going to be no new versions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1045824
If you are an app addict you might want to try this rom. Droidzone has developed a 1.9 Sense rom that has Data2sd which means that you can dictate the amount of app storage you want. Although not the latest version of Sense, it is stable and fast and Droidzone offers good support.
(Look out for Sense rom's by Alex-V, michaelm_007, coolexe, Droidzone, tamirda, and Leedroid (who is also not developing for the Desire anymore) as these are experienced developers with great rom's available here on XDA).
The second types of rom's are the aosp (Android Open Source Project) rom's. These are non-Sense rom's that run the purest form of the Android operating system without the "bloat" of any HTC Sense over them. Whilst many would argue that they are not so pretty as Sense rom's, a lot of people would say that because they are back to basics (so to speak) rom's, they don't suffer any of the lag caused by the Sense programming. By adding a launcher (such as Go Launcher Ex) from the market they can be just as flashy as a Sense rom. Also aosp rom's are generally better on battery life due to not being as "heavy" as Sense rom's. These are my rom's of choice.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=957291
miui-xj is a "different" type of aosp rom, that in my opinion borrows a lot form the Apple school of interface. If you are looking for something a little "different" it might be worth a try. I've tried this myself and didn't particularly like the design, but a lot of people like the visual aspect of this rom, along with the themeing side of it. Updated weekly, it is a well supported rom.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=880465
GingerVillain 3.3 is a great aosp rom that the developer (Richard Trip) is very active in the development of (his girlfriend has a Desire so he'd better be ). Offering a fast, stable rom that has added goodies courtesy of Cyanogenmod, I would wholeheartedly recommend trying this rom.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1229003
Although ihlades has now stopped development of this rom, I would say this is a very fast and stable rom that has no known bugs. This is also one of my favourite rom's and the one I am currently using (don't always believe my sig).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1227419
dGB is an extremely "light" aosp rom that has been developed by rootSU (a very active member of this community). Although not to everyone's taste as it is so very light, I found this to be an extremely fast and stable rom (thanks rootSU, I tried it last week and was very impressed, Redux2 dragged me back though ).
Mention must also go to Oxygen (not available here on XDA, but google it), and Cyanogenmod7.
As always (always!) it depends on personal preference.
The views expressed in this post are my own and I don't need to be flamed for putting them here. If I missed any rom's or developers I apologise, this does not mean they are not quality, it just means either I haven't used them or I forgot about them. Any mistakes I'm sure will be pointed out.
I would always recommend reading threads and researching for yourself. Also, experiment, try different rom's and see what works best for you.
I'm sure other users will offer differing opinions, but these are mine.
Hope it helps.
Fantastic help Zedmarcus... thanks very much.
You've given me the confidence to get the most out of my Desire, and hopefully any other new Desire users who read this post.
Looking forward to working through your much appreciated suggestions.
Mattster.
Loving the experience of a ROM with no Sense:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1229003
So much more responsive (especially compared to the custom Sense roms I have now tried) and some of the graphics are wonderful, e.g Keyboard, Caller screen, Messaging. Glad I asked. Hope others are persuaded by this post to take the plunge. Interested in all feedback from new flashers too.
Mattster.