Related
I've been following OMX and ics-deck-inc and I'm wondering which people think is better.
EDIT: Since I posted this, the Evervolv ICS ROM (posted on Twitter only) has gained popularity. It was the first to bring partial camera support, and although ics-deck has since added it, it seems most new features show up in Evervolv first. OMX is also fading away into obscurity.
These are my impressions based on the comments...
ics-deck-inc has been updated more recently (12/25), while development on OMX seems to be at a standstill (going on almost a month). I'm assuming the OMX standstill was related to the holidays though, since before that it was being updated very often.
EDIT: ics-deck-inc is now up to Alpha 5 as of this edit, while OMX is still at a standstill. It seems from this post that there is only 1 person working on OMX
OMX seems to be more further along, but maybe it's an illusion due to the fact that OMX has a much more detailed change log and explains the updates much more clearly (i.e. ics-deck-inc seems to be in "aplha1" still even through I know there have been a few updates)
EDIT: ics-deck-inc and Evervolv have far surpassed OMX. Personally,I prefer Evervolv, but I go back and forth between it and ics-deck-inc.
I see a lot of talk in the comments for ics-deck-inc about having to install Ext4 and Incredikernel, which adds more work for me and a higher chance of messing something up. I don't know about Ext4, but OMX already includes Incredikernel at least (although neither of them explain why I need Ext4 or Incredikernel).
EDIT: ics-deck-inc, Evervolv, and OMX all include incredikernel.
ics-deck-inc has a "Calendar fix" posted but I see a lot of commenters still having problems. Not sure whether or not this is a problem in OMX, but I haven't seen many people complaining about it (at least not lately).
EDIT: It's actually a lot simpler than that calendar fix... you just need to do this and all is well. There's also a fix for exchange calendar sync issues posted a little later in this thread
ics-deck-inc lists Wimax as something that's broken, but since when does the Incredible have Wimax anyway? Anyone know what the deal is with that?
EDIT: It seems this is there because the developer makes ROMs for other devices as well. Inc uses can just ignore it
So most of the above comments are obsolete at this point, but you can still feel free to use this thread to discuss changes and such. There is a separate feedback thread somewhere, but (a) that's just for deck, and (b) this is more about discussion than feedback.
I can just wait
demarcmj said:
I've been following OMX and ics-deck-inc and I'm wondering which people think is better.
These are my impressions based on the comments...
ics-deck-inc has been updated more recently (12/25), while development on OMX seems to be at a standstill (going on almost a month). I'm assuming the OMX standstill was related to the holidays though, since before that it was being updated very often.
OMX seems to be more further along, but maybe it's an illusion due to the fact that OMX has a much more detailed change log and explains the updates much more clearly (i.e. ics-deck-inc seems to be in "aplha1" still even through I know there have been a few updates)
I see a lot of talk in the comments for ics-deck-inc about having to install Ext4 and Incredikernel, which adds more work for me and a higher chance of messing something up. I don't know about Ext4, but OMX already includes Incredikernel at least (although neither of them explain why I need Ext4 or Incredikernel).
ics-deck-inc has a "Calendar fix" posted but I see a lot of commenters still having problems. Not sure whether or not this is a problem in OMX, but I haven't seen many people complaining about it (at least not lately).
ics-deck-inc lists Wimax as something that's broken, but since when does the Incredible have Wimax anyway? Anyone know what the deal is with that?
Has anyone out there used both RECENTLY and have some thoughts?
Or does anyone who has only used one or the other want to agree or disagree with any of my impressions above?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only used OMX. I got hooked on it, but unfortunately just flashed back to CM7.1 today. In OMX, calendar does not sync with google. Wifi tethering works. Cam no work. Can't use phone as external storage when connect to computer. Also, the ring tones and volume controls are all messed up: phone never rang, just vibrates. When playing pandora, sound is very low, even at max setting. Headphones are not recognized. When I connected to bluetooth in the car, i could make a call and talk over the bluetooth, but pandora or other media would not play through bluetooth.
Unfortunately it sounds like OMX will not be getting another update any time soon. And CM9 is probably still another several months away for INC, if they release it at all. So....looks like i'm stuck with stupid CM7.1 (or maybe MIUI) until i get my tegra3 ice cream phone!
I have been running ics-deck-inc since yesterday morning and here are some things I can tell you:
-Well, first off ics-deck-inc got updated a couple of days ago with loads of fixes including the camera. There are still some strange issues with the camera, but hey, it works.
-As far as incredikernel, ics-deck-inc already has it in the ROM. Therefore you don't have to flash it. There is a new incredikernel from 1/2/2012, while the one in the ROM is from December. Flash the new one if you want, but you don't have to.
-My calendar has worked without issue since I installed it. I think the issue is that calendars from Exchange and such don't sync with it.
-I think the Wimax thing is for another phone and not the incredible.
-Bluetooth works great. Syncs up with my head unit in my truck just fine. Pandora over bluetooth works great as well. The only thing is I can't get the metadata to stream to my head unit.
Hope that helps.
Well, I'll put my own experiences in now that a couple people have replied...
A couple days after posing the question, CyanogenMod decided to stop working for me (as others have noted that it tends to do after a period of time) so I decided to give some of these ICS ROMs a try since I was going to have to reflash anyway
I started with the Evervolv 2.1.0 Preview3 build posted on twitter so far [twitter.com]) because it was the first one to have camera support, which was one of the things keeping me from making the jump in the first place. The Evervolv build worked great for me. There was the occasional force close, but that is to be expected.
Then ics-deck-inc was updated to Alpha 4 yesterday to include, among other things camera support. I decided to move to deck since many people had noted that it was a bit better all-around than Evervolv. And now that it had camera support, there was no reason not to switch.
A few notes:
As awesomeo3000 pointed out, incredikernel is included. It's not the most up-to-date, but nobody has given any compelling reasons that you absolutely need the latest. (this was the case with Evervolv and OMX also)
I haven't really noticed a significant difference in battery life over my other ROMs, but that is probably because I am pretty much always around a charger so I don't really notice.
ics-deck comes with the Trebuchet (CM9) launcher, which is essentially stock ICS with some enhancements. It allows things like changing the # of homescreens, resizing any widget (stock only allows some), and other tweaks that are very useful but at the same time won't bother anyone who wants pure stock. Unfortunately, there seems to be two significant bugs in the app drawer in both the stock launcher and Trebuchet: (1) often times the next page of apps or widgets will show up in the background before you even attempt to switch pages, and (2) the launcher force closes very often when paging though the widgets. To alleviate that, I have switched to Nova Launcher which, like Trebuchet, is based on the stock ICS launcher but offers many helpful tweaks. I I still have had the occasional force close related to selecting widgets, but Nova also restores the long-press on the homescreen for widgets functionality, which can be used as another option if you experience force closes.
There are some small bugs that I have noticed here and there (like this one), but nothing really major, other than the well-known issues like calendar syncing and usb-host (see below). I also haven't yet tested a lot of things, like bluetooth for one.
My calendar syncing issues were solved by doing this: link. There was no need to replace the calender apps or anything like that. I can't speak for the Exchange Calendar syncing though. I can say that I was able to get an Exchange email account to work fine, but I don't use the calendar for that account.
As many people in the forums note, the multi-mount widget in the Android Market can be used to get usb-host support. Hopefully something will be built into the ROM in the future, but for now this should work. Alternatively, you can try what I use, the Samba Filesharing app. It's not as fast as USB, but wireless has it's own convenience advantages.
These are just some things I have noticed. There are some great features in ics-deck that I haven't even listed, and also some minor bugs. Alpha 5 is out now, only one day after Alpha 4, and I am excited to give it a try. I have to say that at this point I think they could drop the "Alpha." I think it could at the very least be considered "Beta" but that is just my opinion.
The important thing is this, anyone who is still using CM7 or any other ROM because they are waiting for an ICS ROM that is reasonably stable to use as a daily driver, I think ics-deck-inc has reached that point.
awesomeo3000 said:
Unfortunately it sounds like OMX will not be getting another update any time soon. And CM9 is probably still another several months away for INC, if they release it at all. So....looks like i'm stuck with stupid CM7.1 (or maybe MIUI) until i get my tegra3 ice cream phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should definitely try ics-deck (see my post above)
Does MMS work? how partially working is the camera? can u at least take pictures and video
Evervolv has a build going as well, and they have 8 MP camera functional as well as USB mass storage. I'm going to try it now to see how it works.
TeeRom said:
Evervolv has a build going as well, and they have 8 MP camera functional as well as USB mass storage. I'm going to try it now to see how it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I mentioned Evervolv's ROMs. I can definitely say the 8MP camera is working (video and panorama modes still aren't). I haven't tested out USB storage yet but they swear it works.
Right now Evervolv is my favorite, but they seem to go back and forth (hence both in my signature). Best to keep an eye on both (I've given up on OMX, big time)
EDIT: I have now also added Evervolv to the title of the thread.
I've tried both ICS deck and Evervolv, but neither display my exchange calendar in the calendar app, which is a showstopper for me. Unfortunate, as I likes me some sammich. Exchange syncs fine, and sync settings claims the calendar is up to date, but the calendar app says "no calendars" for the exchange account. Anyone had any luck with this or have a workaround that you like?
Exchange calendar issue fixed in Evervolv by flashing the zip from from this tweet.
There is a fix for the exchange.apk with the evervolv ics rom peview 5. I have it posted in rootzwiki. i had someone try it out and they confirmed it did work. Just look for post by apophis9283 in rootzwiki
Actually no need to install ext4 on any of them. Its not required.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
http://twitter.com/MongooseHelix
Here is a link to the next preview build from the evervolv guys.
ralph0015 said:
http://twitter.com/MongooseHelix
Here is a link to the next preview build from the evervolv guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks... here is the link to the actual twitter post: https://twitter.com/#!/MongooseHelix/status/160269895265828864
Direct Link to the ROM: http://t.co/btSyQQ0o (MD5 Sum e193f7bf9eb83233bff02aa40bb84fd0)
Direct Link to their new gapps: http://t.co/m3DOolG8
Direct Link to their exchange fix: http://t.co/IIALIskJ
(Note: they say not to flash the new gapps if you're using the exchange fix)
P.S. I updated the main thread to add Evervolv to the title... I didn't realize I could do that when I last updated it. (I also updated some of the text in there)
demarcmj said:
Direct Link to their exchange fix: http://t.co/IIALIskJ
(Note: they say not to flash the new gapps if you're using the exchange fix)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that the exchange fix isn't needed for Preview 6 anymore, they apparently baked it in. Installed P6, latest gapps and ext4 mod from a full wipe and all is well.
"Haus" said:
Note that the exchange fix isn't needed for Preview 6 anymore, they apparently baked it in. Installed P6, latest gapps and ext4 mod from a full wipe and all is well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this one have panoramic for the camera? its probably the only thing keeping me from using any ICS at the moment (I could care less about video.. I think I've taken 4 in since I had the phone.. and I got it day 1)
Not sure, i went back to cm7 atm only because certain apps fc with ics
I couldnt stay away from the ics goodiness. Went back to evervolv preview 6. Hope these devs get these market apps compatible with ics soon
I loved Evervolv p5 but it still felt unfinished to me. Didn't have any FCs but after running MIUI for so long, I was missing the customization options. I'll probably be back soon though...
Hi guys,
I have a problem with CM7 on my Kindle Fire. I have done the searching but since I found no one has raised the same issue, hence I post it.
My Kindle Fire was successfully rooted with the CM7. The version is 7-2-0-blaze-KANG
I'm now encountering with the video player.
At the beginning after I rooted and run my very beginning steps on using this device under CM7 ROM cook, it's very fine. It can run very smoothly with MX Video Player.
But after I installed several simple applications (It's "several" 'cause the number of applications only reach the page 3) such as Advanced Task Killer, Facebook, Gmail, Alkido,... (I haven't installed any games), the video is not as smooth as usual.
I don't know what to do right now, 'cause the applications that I installed are simple and necessary for any Android user, I reckon. They appear in every Android device. I couldn't uninstall them.
I wonder that might be a problem with CM7 version that I'm using, 'cause perhaps it's not a fully developed. Do you have any suggestions for me?
1. Install a new ROM (CM9 or another version)
2. Or Go back to the Stock ROM
3. Or This problem cannot be sorted out. I have to suffer (
Any of your help would be highly appreciated
1. Get Advanced Task Killer off of there, you don't need it.
2. Check the decoding settings on mx player, you should probably have it set to software decoding, if not try that.
3. It's probably not something with your rom, but if you want, try hellfire's cm7 rom. It's what I use. I have no trouble with video.
I like mx player, but you can also try bsplayer which I really like, probably even more. Just make sure to go into the settings and use software decoding. Otherwise it can have trouble depending on the filetype/codec you are trying to play. This could be your problem.
Also: Try using FBreader instead of Aldiko, I think it's much better and it has a syncing app you can dl. It's awesome.
Thank you so much for your response since I don't see it much here
1. I install Advanced Task Killer since sometimes it might be easy for me to log out an application rather than keep pressing "back" button. However, I uninstalled it but the video is still unsmooth.
2. I've checked it, and everything is fine. I think it can not be this problem, as at the beginning everything is smooth (I told in the first post). But after I installed several apps, it wasn't working well
3. I think it is the ROM. I now realize that it's unable to play HD youtube on this ROM as well (Vevo is always infeasible). Imma try Gede ICS Rom 1.35 since I received a lot of great compliments for this, having said that there are still minor bugs here.
Thanks for your suggestion on new applications
I cannot post in the development section, so here is my issues with the latest release 2/12/13.
Voice search crashes...maybe related to the newest GApps? Though I used the most recent release with the 1/24/13 release and voice search worked great. But I use it with this release, I get a white screen, then usually back to home screen...but intermittently my phone will restart itself.
Next issue is still the camera...it's mostly okay, but sometimes still freezes/crashes. Though it's stability has improved so far...though I'm not quite 24hrs in.
Then there is scrabble...it crashed the hell outta my phone, like to the point I had to hold the power button for about 30 seconds because the phone hardlocked and the graphics went blocky (never had that happen on the last release, even tried reinstalling)...the gf and I play back and forth, and I actually re-installed this release after not only wiping the caches like I did the first time, but wiped all data as well.
The Android Keyboard still crashes...but I am used to a different keyboard now anyways so not too big of a deal..would be nice to not have to install something else to do that job though. But fwir it seems to be a rom wide situation.
My last issue isn't necessarily related to this ROM...but to SDSwap_4.2.1. How do you install it? I try installing the zip through Team Win Install and it fails every time. I see no instructions for that version, but I did find a thread from July that has some instructions using a file manager that I may try. I have a 16gb sd card I would like to use for apps and what-not. Can I get any pointers? I am continuing my search but I would like some experienced help as well please.
Aside from that it seems to operate a little faster, but also seems to consume batteries a little faster, but I have the Hyperion 3500mAh batteries so not a huge deal. I like it, but I think I am going to go back to the last release as it seems far less buggy in my experience. Thanks to those behind these roms, I haven't tried anything else aside from Rootbox. I am looking forward to future releases and enjoying this phone for a long time.
Kursah said:
I cannot post in the development section, so here is my issues with the latest release 2/12/13.
Voice search crashes...maybe related to the newest GApps? Though I used the most recent release with the 1/24/13 release and voice search worked great. But I use it with this release, I get a white screen, then usually back to home screen...but intermittently my phone will restart itself.
Next issue is still the camera...it's mostly okay, but sometimes still freezes/crashes. Though it's stability has improved so far...though I'm not quite 24hrs in.
Then there is scrabble...it crashed the hell outta my phone, like to the point I had to hold the power button for about 30 seconds because the phone hardlocked and the graphics went blocky (never had that happen on the last release, even tried reinstalling)...the gf and I play back and forth, and I actually re-installed this release after not only wiping the caches like I did the first time, but wiped all data as well.
The Android Keyboard still crashes...but I am used to a different keyboard now anyways so not too big of a deal..would be nice to not have to install something else to do that job though. But fwir it seems to be a rom wide situation.
My last issue isn't necessarily related to this ROM...but to SDSwap_4.2.1. How do you install it? I try installing the zip through Team Win Install and it fails every time. I see no instructions for that version, but I did find a thread from July that has some instructions using a file manager that I may try. I have a 16gb sd card I would like to use for apps and what-not. Can I get any pointers? I am continuing my search but I would like some experienced help as well please.
Aside from that it seems to operate a little faster, but also seems to consume batteries a little faster, but I have the Hyperion 3500mAh batteries so not a huge deal. I like it, but I think I am going to go back to the last release as it seems far less buggy in my experience. Thanks to those behind these roms, I haven't tried anything else aside from Rootbox. I am looking forward to future releases and enjoying this phone for a long time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need to use my gapps ...1/20/2013 ... battery issues come from kernel .... use the swapsd zip in the aosp patches section ...
:good:
Well I flashed your gApps, now things are working much much better! Also used teh SwapSD zip from the AOSP section and that worked like a charm as well. Mind if I ask what the one on your Rootbox page is for then? Any way to add a note to that page to not use that one or a link to the one on the AOSP Mods page?
Thanks again for your hard work on Rootbox...it is so nice and smooth and now much more stable. I appreciate your efforts and will be donating when my next paycheck comes around. Cheers!
EDIT: Also I forgot to add, a problem that I have had since I started using Rootbox...the damn phone vibrating when you use the touchscreen keyboard of any kind. Turning this feature off in settings does not change a thing...I have tried different versions of rootbox and gapps between two Glides to no avail. More of an annoyance than anything. Not worth giving up Rootbox for though!
At the moment there is no stable and reliable Android 4.4 ROM yet, but I hope this will soon change.
Perhaps we can compare the different ROMs here. Please note that I am not asking for best performance or lowest RAM requirement. These are secondary issues. The most critical issue is reliability.
The Google ROMs have always been the most stable and reliable. They were never perfect, but at least we could expect them to run for a week or longer without any significant error and without rebooting. In my experience, other ROMs, like the admirable CyanogenMod, came close, but never quite reached that same level of reliability. Given that the CyanogenMod crew works for free and in their free time, the quality they delivered has been astounding and admirable.
Nonetheless, reliability remains the biggest issue among the third-party ROMs.
So, if you install any of the Android 4.4 ROMs on your Galaxy Nexus, please report what you find. Please try to judge whether that ROM can be recommended for general use or whether the newbies had better stand back and wait for the next version.
Another question is: How user-friendly is the install procedure? Can you keep your apps and app data?
It is very unfortunate that the gnex community is not supported anymore due to 'hardware issues' or the 18 month timeframe. It is true that the ROMs made these days are not so 'reliable' and they may be buggy and cause force closes on certain applications. The new roms may never support cleanly and as stable as stock factory images by Google but its all the Gnex community can rely on from now. Personally, I feel the slimkat 4.4 ROM is acceptable considering it is only about less than a week old. They have been fixing bugs such as GPS tracking and such. I will be using it as my daily driver from now and just hope that the developers can make it as stable as the stock android ROM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
a taste of kitkat perfect aosp leaked rom
i''ve installed yesterday a taste of kitkat with mpokang 1080p kernel.. some glitches when rotate screen but only one reboot using google now (i don't use gnow so it's not a problem for me) and i've a crash only on fifa14... battery good performance, no lags, no problems, trickstermod overclock to 1.4ghz no problems, facebook, whatsapp, viber, tango, hangout, 3G, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS alla working without problems.. and now i'm testing battery..
Toro Plus
For us sprint (or Ting) users the 4.4 ROMs are not even installable. There have been two threads started and each one was locked after it became apparent that the developers did not have booting builds. I appreciate all the work devs do, but this keeps getting my hopes up. Hopefully, someone will get one working soon and we won't have any more false starts.
They are just alpha builds, experimental builds. Most of them have some glitches. They are not for daily use.
If you do not have necessary knowledge and do not have time to report bug, then I suggest you should back out on those alpha builds.
They're not even a week old. Give time and reap miracles afterwards
Sent from Samsung Galaxy Nexus @ CM10.2
It's a Nexus device. Things will improve over time.
I've been running the most recent SlimKat alpha build and it's been pretty solid. Phone feels rejuvenated. It is my work phone and worked flawlessly all day. The only restarts were Hangouts last night and when I was fiddling around with wallpaper settings after work, and forgivable graphics glitch during screen rotation. Otherwise, it has has felt like a new-ish phone today.
Thanks for the good information!
I think, when the builds go from alpha to beta and there are no obvious glitches any more, then would be the time to do some more thorough testing, particularly:
GPS, including track recording with My Tracks, Locus, or a similar app
Cameras with all their functions
Compass, gravity, and other sensors
Tethering via USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth
Radio functions, particularly LTE and the general behavior with a weak or frequently interrupted signal
OTG with USB mass storage device, keyboard, etc.
I would recommend to report all defects not only here, but also to the maker of the ROM.
For now, they are pretty unstable, but I would keep an eye out for linaro's builds as well:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/11/06/android-4-4-kitkat-on-galaxy-nexus-rom-linaro-and-petition/
idk what you're talking about OP. i've run these custom roms more tha n week and they've been good. only reason the counter will reset is because I flash a new rom or flash an update or a mod.
These ROMs are very stable.
4.4 ROMs. give it some time. it's amazing that in less than 24 hours after the release of 4.4, we got a semi daily usable ROM from people that don't even work for Google.
I've been on SlimKat for a couple hours now. Clearly a ton of the SlimRom features are missing but considering that its an Alpha its not that bad.
Other than some graphical glitches here and there, which are very rare actually, there arent any other instabilities that I can see. Everything works fine. I dont know who is starting this rumor about 4.4 being unstable. Some ROMs may work better than others but thats due to different developers working at different paces. Bottom line is, 4.4 is perfectly fine for a daily driver. It just needs some ironing out.
Yeah, I'm running the SlimKat ROM, and its beautiful
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus running the Forbidden Update using xda app-developers app
Running Shiny 4.4. Good taste of KitKat. Sounds crazy, but I'm using it to test stuff out before it goes on the N5.
Biggest glitch seems to be with graphics, in that overlays of menus and random black boxes over some text in gmail and Chrome, make things unreadable and useless. Not to mention the random reboots when you can tell something happened that the GNex doesn't like.
IMO, they are not ready for use on a primary device. As in, at the end of the day, when I'm home, I pop my simcard out of my MotoX and out it in my GNex/3.4 to tinker. No maps to crash at the wrong time, I have other devices at the low-ready to surf on and more time to tinker. My gf loves me for this routine I've made for myself
Definitely a good taste of KitKat. Considering today would mark 1 week since release, on an unsupported device - its actually pretty stable.
LCD Density
I'm on SlimKat and my old eyes can't deal w/ the tiny text - even when changing default system font to HUGE in the display settings. build.prop has a value of 240 but I can't edit in ES Explorer even though the file props say it's writable. Tried an app but it loops and doesn't make any changes. Any ideas?
xMoment said:
I'm on SlimKat and my old eyes can't deal w/ the tiny text - even when changing default system font to HUGE in the display settings. build.prop has a value of 240 but I can't edit in ES Explorer even though the file props say it's writable. Tried an app but it loops and doesn't make any changes. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use rom toolbox, it worked for me
Inviato dal mio Nexus 7 con Tapatalk 4
xMoment said:
I'm on SlimKat and my old eyes can't deal w/ the tiny text - even when changing default system font to HUGE in the display settings. build.prop has a value of 240 but I can't edit in ES Explorer even though the file props say it's writable. Tried an app but it loops and doesn't make any changes. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.Root first using chainfire SuperSU v1.65
2.Install RE(Root Explorer)
3.Hit Mount R/W
4.Open build.prop and change density to 320.:highfive:
Thanks - I was rooted already and made sure root explorer was on. Tried to change permissions in terminal, didn't work. Booted into recovery and mounted system, rebooted and hung at the google logo...so flashed FML and the DPI is 320 so I'm fixed
joytsay said:
1.Root first using chainfire SuperSU v1.65
2.Install RE(Root Explorer)
3.Hit Mount R/W
4.Open build.prop and change density to 320.:highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had a look in the forums and can't find anything that covers this specific question so am hoping someone can help.
I'm currently running the latest CM12 highly build on a Tab S 8.4 and it's flying along. But there's a nagging annoyance that there are still a load of additional apps there that I don't want, mainly stuff like Play Games,Movies and Music and now I've switched to Outlook and the Gmail App, I don't need the standard email app (although this seems to be built into the CM12 package). But I do want things like the Kindle App, Chrome and, if possible, Maps.
Over the weekend I tried to run with just the CM12 build and then add applications from APKMirror. This worked OK with Kindle but Chrome wouldn't install and my tablet seemed unstable so I reverted to the latest nightly plus the gapps package,
So my question is, has anyone done this - just install the CM11 or CM12 build and then get everything else they want through downloading APKs individually?
Answering my own question I found this Minimal GAPPS which gives you a build that includes pretty much only the App Store from which you can then download the additional Apps you want.
It's not what I really wanted to do but is as close as makes no difference.