Develop Bugs

Kernal update [franco milestone4] on 4.1.1

Updated via recovery from an older franco kernel causing battery issues to the new milestone 4 in the developer section. Currently stuck on the Google boot screen. Let it continue to load for 10 minutes before I pulled the battery. Can't seem to open up fastboot. Not sure what to do at this point. Help?

I should add that I can access ODIN mode, although I'm not familiar with the utilization of it. I can access my sdcard via another phone so if there is something I can load onto the sdcard that will auto recover via ODIN mode, please let me know! I do have a nandroid backup, but again I cannot access recovery/fastboot for some reason. Just stuck at the Google boot screen.

To begin with, you're flashing the wrong kernel if you flashed Milestone 4 on 4.1.1. Know what you're supposed to be flashing before you flash it and odds are you won't create problems such as this for yourself. Franco has not released any Milestone JellyBean kernels, only nightlies.
Secondly, how would you propose accessing your sd card via another phone since the GN does not have a removable sd card? It's merely a partition within the internal memory.
At this point, you're probably just best off using the toolkit (even though I abhor things of its nature) to restore yourself to stock and start over from scratch.
I'd also strongly recommend purchasing Franco's updater app. In addition to supporting a fine dev and providing for some useful tweaks, it will only allow you to flash his kernels that are compatible with your phone.

najaboy said:
To begin with, you're flashing the wrong kernel if you flashed Milestone 4 on 4.1.1. Know what you're supposed to be flashing before you flash it and odds are you won't create problems such as this for yourself. Franco has not released any Milestone JellyBean kernels, only nightlies.
Secondly, how would you propose accessing your sd card via another phone since the GN does not have a removable sd card? It's merely a partition within the internal memory.
At this point, you're probably just best off using the toolkit (even though I abhor things of its nature) to restore yourself to stock and start over from scratch.
I'd also strongly recommend purchasing Franco's updater app. In addition to supporting a fine dev and providing for some useful tweaks, it will only allow you to flash his kernels that are compatible with your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been playing with so many phones lately I completely overlooked the non-removable SD card in the GN. Total disbelief when I realized that. Also, regarding the ICS kernel M4, I did read through some 30+ pages before flashing it and could not find any reference to ICS *or* JB in discussion of M4. I took a leap of faith and it cost me. Nevertheless, I was able to get into the bootloader and then recovery, where I promptly loaded an old nandroid backup. Currently back on a stable 4.1.1 ROM running franco's r330.
/thread

[Q] damn kids

I have an A100 that I flashed a very old version of Flex Reaper to right when ICS came out. So the complete setup looks like this.
CWM (very old version)
Android 4.0.3
Kernal 2.6.39.4+
Build Number
FLEX-100-REAPER-R3.1
Also has Crossix memory swap mod.
I set it up many months ago, and it has run great ever since.
Until, my son decided to pull out the SD card while it was running. @#%@[email protected]#^$#
Now, it won't let me update, or install anything. It says there is not enough storage room left even though it shows 18G of free space. I am guessing things got corrupted when the boy pulled the card out.
So, I have two questions.
1. Whats the safest way to dump this sucker and reload it from scratch?
a. Are there any gotcha's I need to look out for? (like removing crossix's mod before booting back into CWM)
2. I see there has been a lot of new recoveries, rom's, and kernal's put out for the A100 since I stop messing with mine. I'd gladly take some advice on setup's. I am much more interested in stability than extra features, or speed. If my son hadn't pulled that card, and corrupted my setup I would have never messed with it again because it just flat worked well as it was. I do however have an interest in Jelly Bean if there is a solid rom built at this time. I saw the CM10 threads, but there is so much back and forth, I can't get a good feeling it's solid yet.
Thanks ahead of time,

You can boot in cwm correct?
G2x-temasek CM7 build135.3 w/faux 054 kernel

justjackyl said:
You can boot in cwm correct?
G2x-temasek CM7 build135.3 w/faux 054 kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,

Have you tried removing the crossix mount swap and reapply?
From what I am gathering, you are able to boot up normally, and have full functionality, and can run apps, but just cannot do anything new beyond that?
Such as installing, updates as you said. But can you open up apps that run before the "incident"?

Yes I can run everything already on the device. The only issues at this time are existing apps can't be updated, and new ones can't be installed.
I haven't tried to re-apply the mod swap. I figured the safest route long term would be a complete wipe, and start from a newly flashed rom. Might not be necessary, but I just figure safer long term. I am not afraid to re-flash it. It's still rooted, and unlocked. I just know it's better to be safe and ask questions first. I wouldn't be the first guy to brick an A100, it's not the friendliest device to work with.
The second question is based on the fact that if I am going to re-flash it, I may as well move to a more current rom if it is as stable as the rom I am coming from.
Sorry if I am a PITA, but thanks for helping out

BcWilk said:
Yes I can run everything already on the device. The only issues at this time are existing apps can't be updated, and new ones can't be installed.
I haven't tried to re-apply the mod swap. I figured the safest route long term would be a complete wipe, and start from a newly flashed rom. Might not be necessary, but I just figure safer long term. I am not afraid to re-flash it. It's still rooted, and unlocked. I just know it's better to be safe and ask questions first. I wouldn't be the first guy to brick an A100, it's not the friendliest device to work with.
The second question is based on the fact that if I am going to re-flash it, I may as well move to a more current rom if it is as stable as the rom I am coming from.
Sorry if I am a PITA, but thanks for helping out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah dude, your fine. Kinda why I hang around here.
In this case, I would not mess with trying to flash a new recovery.
As for CM9 or 10, I'm a strong advocate for 10. Others will argue. I had a lot of app compatibility issues with CM9.
That being said, your best bet for stability is CM10 09/02/12 build. It is the currently longest running build with few complaints. Pio has been kind enough to resume development for the A100 and has released an updated source build to 11/08/12, its what I am running and runs great.
Stock kernel is not bad, godmachines v2.0 kernel offers a few more tweaking options and is very good as well.
Download your flavors of ROM and kernel and put on your external SD. I'm sure you know what to do from there.
BTW, for cm/ICS. Flex-relix is most popular.
Iconia A100 CM10 PRIVATE BUILD, TabletUI, Updated to 11/03/12 Source; godmachine v2.0 kernel

I agree. Take your pick of the popular ROMs on the first dev page. Full wipe and reflash the one you pick, as per the ROMs instructions. I would backup any needed data off the microsd card and reformat it also, NTFS.

Thanks goes to both of you.
I was trying to get a grasp on if I need to upgrade to a new rom or not. It's a tough question to ask on what is basically a developers forum as this is a family tablet. Stability is much more of a concern than raw performance. I along with most others here always wants the latest on our devices, but when the tablet in question basically belong to the wife and kids, obviously stability take priority. I travel too much to deal with "issues". No digg to developlers. Bug's are just part of the process I understand. I test software for a living. I just want to leave that part of my life at work. We all appreciate what you do here.
Glad to hear that there is not much point in upgrading what already works from a recovery standpoint, but CM10 is sounding like a solid rom. I have it on my gnex, and it is just simpler to keep everything the same. I look forward to the update
Thanks everyone.

Ok, so I did a little reading to get caught back up on how to work with this device. I just wanna make sure I have the correct order, and files I need to get this done right the first time.
1. Delete the "install_recovery.sh" file that is there because of crossix swap mod.
2. Boot into CWM recovery, and wipe basically everything. (there is nothing on the tablet I need)
3. Flash the lastest CM10 found here http://droidinsider.com/download.php?folder=a100/ ? I think?
4. Flash kernal ( I can't find a link to download "godmachines v2.0 kernel" ) any help?
5. Flash gapps latest link I can find is here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29236322 is that right?
6. This thread seems to cover the rest well. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931085
That seem about right?

BcWilk said:
Ok, so I did a little reading to get caught back up on how to work with this device. I just wanna make sure I have the correct order, and files I need to get this done right the first time.
1. Delete the "install_recovery.sh" file that is there because of crossix swap mod.
2. Boot into CWM recovery, and wipe basically everything. (there is nothing on the tablet I need)
3. Flash the lastest CM10 found here http://droidinsider.com/download.php?folder=a100/ ? I think?
4. Flash kernal ( I can't find a link to download "godmachines v2.0 kernel" ) any help?
5. Flash gapps latest link I can find is here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29236322 is that right?
6. This thread seems to cover the rest well. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931085
That seem about right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go bud. It's always good to have a stockpile. Soooo...
CM10 4.1.2 Sources 11-8-12
CM10 4.1.1 Sources 9-2-12
Modded Stock ICS ROM (Acer Modded ROM)
FLEX-A100-REAPER-RELIX_Rev2
So choose your flavor of ROM, and than you can use the stock kernel, or the highest recommended by linuxsoxiety aka godmachine: godmachine v2.0 kernel
Gapps (Source Dependant)
4.1.1 Source Gapps
4.1.2 Source Gapps
Stinky ICS Gapps
You won't need to mess with crossix mount swap removal, will be removed upon wipe.
Boot into CWM. Now I use TWRP recovery (although I use CWM on my G2x), so the terms might differ slightly, but I think you'll understand:
Perform:
Factory/Data Reset (wipe)
Format/Wipe Cache
Format/Wipe Dalvik Cache
Format/Wipe System (in CWM, goto mounts and select format /system)
Just to be safe, I would:
Format/Wipe Internal Storage/SD
Than flash from external SD
ROM
Kernel (if not using stock)
Gapps (proper for source?)
Than make sure you follow the ten min, reboot, ten min rule. I'm sure you know what I mean from your studying.
Should be good.
Although, I recommend using GL to SD app in place or crossix mount swap. Takes a lil more effort to use, but, if there is an accidental SD pull, it won't affect the system.
Hope this helps.

Up and running.
Can't get that swap mod to run for some reason, I'll have to look into that when I am not drinking.
The launcher on CM10 is a little buggy, but other than that it seems to run well. Thanks for all the help
many thanks

BcWilk said:
Up and running.
Can't get that swap mod to run for some reason, I'll have to look into that when I am not drinking.
The launcher on CM10 is a little buggy, but other than that it seems to run well. Thanks for all the help
many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use apex launcher (its talked about in my tips thread)
And gl to sd in place of swap mount
I think the mount points are different than ice and swap wont work on jb
G2x-temasek CM7 build135.4 w/faux 054 kernel

justjackyl said:
Use apex launcher (its talked about in my tips thread)
And gl to sd in place of swap mount
I think the mount points are different than ice and swap wont work on jb
G2x-temasek CM7 build135.4 w/faux 054 kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are but symlinked for backward compatibility. I also put up a jb version awhile back.
That said it does pose potential issues if its yanked hot as you saw.
Tapatalked from my Nexus 7 - Kuroikaze AOSP

[Q] Which Kernal for darthstalker that can 64gb sd

Im looking for a Kernal that can read 64gb card on darthstalker rom?

Stock kernel that comes with it will support 64gb. Most if not all TWiz ROMs and kernels will support a 64gb. It is the AOSP ROMs that are particular about it and the kernel match ups. Mine worked on Darth just fine from day one, but I've moved on since then.

Woodrube said:
Stock kernel that comes with it will support 64gb. Most if not all TWiz ROMs and kernels will support a 64gb. It is the AOSP ROMs that are particular about it and the kernel match ups. Mine worked on Darth just fine from day one, but I've moved on since then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesnt recognize mine maybe i need to reformat it? only stock one sees it.

Same Issue
I too was looking for a way to get Darth Stalker V3 to read my 64GB External MicroSD. I have used a couple of applications and they all show around 12GB, though I may be reading it wrong.
It was also be nice to have it read my ext-sdcard as my internal so that I can install more apps, etc. I know there are workarounds and custom kernels out there, but a lot of the workarounds seem a bit intensive, and as I am a noob at all of this, I really just don't want to brick my phone...almost did that installing LiquidSmooth ROM...it was a no bueno day. Thankfully I flashed back to stock and then re-rooted and saved myself lots of $$$.
Anyways, anyone else having this issue, or figured out a fix?

found a formatter thats called guiformat from ridgecrop. this formatted and i switched to twrp . now everything is working good with faux kernal and it reads my 64gb sd.

Just curious, what's the purpose of external storage?
(I'm assuming your talking about plugging in an external card reader/flash drive to the mhl USB connector?)
Sent using T999 with DarthStalker ROM

[ROM][WIP][4.4.2] CyanogenMod 11 KitKat for Optimus S/V

CyanogenMod 11 KitKat for Optimus S/V​
This is a basic CyanogenMod 11 rom for the Optimus S/V. It has NOT been tested extensively and I take NO responsibility for any bricked phones, data loss or damages that occur as a result of flashing any version of this rom. It requires ClockWorkMod 6.0.4.5 or later, or TWRP 2.6.3 or later, in order to flash.
What works:
Phone calling (ZVH and ZVJ radios require a patch)
Wifi
Mobile data (thanks to thekraven)
USB tethering
Camera
USB mass storage, MTP
What's broken:
Bluetooth
Wifi tethering
SELinux
You tell me
CWM 6.0.4.6 can be found in the rom directory. Flash Skinny_4.4_Gapps.zip after flashing the rom to get Play Store and Google Sync. Other Gapps will probably be too big to fit on /system.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/nfgfef6qpril7/CM11
Contributors:
skinbark
bigsupersquid
thekraven
Special thanks to the CyanogenMod and androidarmv6 teams, also gu5t3r for GOptimize.

CM11 KitKat os2sd Version:
cm-11-20140116-thunderc-skinbark-sd.zip is a version of CM11 which is designed to run off your sd card.
To use this version:
1) create and format 3 ext4 partitions following the fat32 partition on your sd card (use gparted not a windows partitioning tool)
/data - at least 256 mb (512 mb or more recommended)
/system - at least 256 mb
/cache - at least 256 mb
2) format /boot in cwm
3) install cm-11-20140104-thunderc-sd.zip
4) install Skinny_4.4_Gapps-sd.zip and reboot
Known Issues (in addition to those in post #1):
formatting/backup/restore issues
possible reduced performance (older/slower sd cards)
reduced battery life (?)
Add wipe zips to a folder on your sd card and flash them from recovery to clear external /data, /system, /cache, or all three.
CWM_6.0.4.6-thunderc-sd.zip is a special version of CWM for os2sd that should only be used if you understand how it works.This version of CWM is not necessary to flash the os2sd rom. See this post for more info about recovery issues with this rom.
A Class 10 microSD card is recommended for best performance.
Power off or reboot to recovery before removing sd card.
os2sd mod courtesy of bigsupersquid
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/dj2d4vpp0hzvb/CM11sd
Warning: This is a highly experimental setup and a work-in-progress. You should have adb installed and know how to use it, along with the flash_image command, before attempting this install. If you have trouble installing this and are unsure how to resolve the problem ask for help on this thread. I take no responsibility for bricked devices, data loss or any other damages resulting from the use of this software. USE AT YOUR RISK.

New build with rild fix for ZVD/ZV5. You'll want to upgrade to this for stability and battery life even if you're not activated.
cm-11-20131225-thunderc-skinbark.zip
Link in OP.
Merry Christmas guys!

Sweet! Will flash once o find my ov...

Virgin fix uploaded.
Virgin.fix.CM11.0.zip
Link in OP.

I'll test. I still use this phone a bit. I don't use gapps anymore so I wouldn't be ale to ile any bugs against them. Is thereanything in particular you want tested?

captaincrook said:
I'll test. I still use this phone a bit. I don't use gapps anymore so I wouldn't be ale to ile any bugs against them. Is thereanything in particular you want tested?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the biggie right now is getting data going which is sort of difficult for me since my phone's not activated (next week I hope). I'm assuming you're not activated? I guess just general stability and performance, battery life, see what you can run on on it, put it through the wringer. All info is welcome since I really haven't had much feedback yet. It seems to be pretty stable. Let me know if you have any problems, thanks.

really works well...nice job. No chance to test 3g data yet, but everything else works very well...I had to install a keyboard manually, and the battery stats are wrong (fully charged, and stayed fully charged all day) but it is def a daily driver for me.

I uploaded a new 'OS2SD' rom with special recovery, gapps and virgin fix:
cm-11-20140101-thunderc-sd.zip
CWM_6.0.4.6-thunderc-sd.zip
Skinny_4.4_Gapps-sd.zip
Virgin-fix-CM11-sd.zip
Link in post #2. Happy New Year!

Got the order of the partitions wrong in post #2, sorry. Fixed now. 3G fix coming soon!

I uploaded new standard and os2sd builds with data fix.
cm-11-20140104-thunderc-skinbark.zip
Link in post #1
cm-11-20140104-thunderc-sd.zip
Link in post #2

After a crash fest with the build at the time of my last post, this newish one is alright so far. Things get choppy fast and the input is a real pain. That is about as good as I have it. Alternate market works, wifi is good, and its chugging along.

captaincrook said:
After a crash fest with the build at the time of my last post, this newish one is alright so far. Things get choppy fast and the input is a real pain. That is about as good as I have it. Alternate market works, wifi is good, and its chugging along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
long press home and press the three-bar onscreen button to close running apps.
also fast reboot off market is very handy to manually clear ram. heard about that one from andyopie150, like it.

Ya the main issue is just generally its a bit slow. I'm not trying to be one of those people who dog the ROM cause devs sibt human but this is just what I have experienced. I know our SOC came out when Moses was around so I'm not expecting miracles. I'm not sure if you guys have more planned or not but its really neat how efficient the phone is on 4.4 and if it was to get faster it'd be amazing.
The keyboard, can you guys adjust the size values? Its microscopic! Hacker's Keyboard fits the bill in the meantime.

captaincrook said:
Ya the main issue is just generally its a bit slow. I'm not trying to be one of those people who dog the ROM cause devs sibt human but this is just what I have experienced. I know our SOC came out when Moses was around so I'm not expecting miracles. I'm not sure if you guys have more planned or not but its really neat how efficient the phone is on 4.4 and if it was to get faster it'd be amazing.
The keyboard, can you guys adjust the size values? Its microscopic! Hacker's Keyboard fits the bill in the meantime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For now I can just suggest the usual speed-up stuff - turn off animations, ksm, cpu/governor etc. There may be some build.prop tweaks you could use, and I'm expectiing zram support to be enabled soon. Crossbreeder might be something else to try. If we could get ART going it might help some but I don't know if that's likely. I probably won't try to tweak the stock keyboard, there's plenty of alternatives available.

tried flashing this on my optimus V and i got a error when i was flashing it, error 7 i think it was, i used the CWM you wanted us to use but it made it so that i couldnt boot into recovery.

Trozzul said:
tried flashing this on my optimus V and i got a error when i was flashing it, error 7 i think it was, i used the CWM you wanted us to use but it made it so that i couldnt boot into recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
regular rom or os2sd?

skinbark said:
regular rom or os2sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
regular i tried a different CWM 6+ and that one gave me the error*

Trozzul said:
regular i tried a different CWM 6+ and that one gave me the error*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's another recovery you can try.
https://www.mediafire.com/?s8c94941y8kubdd

captaincrook said:
Ya the main issue is just generally its a bit slow. I'm not trying to be one of those people who dog the ROM cause devs sibt human but this is just what I have experienced. I know our SOC came out when Moses was around so I'm not expecting miracles. I'm not sure if you guys have more planned or not but its really neat how efficient the phone is on 4.4 and if it was to get faster it'd be amazing.
The keyboard, can you guys adjust the size values? Its microscopic! Hacker's Keyboard fits the bill in the meantime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any information is a good thing, positive or negative. Harmonia with the Xionia kernel fairly flies speed-wise, but everything since that seems to choke my phone somewhat. And Mirage is the best Gingerbread available... but I enjoy the extra features more than the speed, which is what keeps me trying for the bleeding edge.
(example: the double-tap-hold-and-slide to zoom is built in all over 4.4, in 4.2 I only saw that in Maps.)
ART may or may not happen. I have to learn more thumb assembly to fix it. My decent class for school this session (the easy one since I did 8088 back in 1991) is x86 assembly. Doesn't apply, but maybe I can get more parallell info from it. There's lots of good info out on the net with minimal searching as well, but not much if any on downconversion of thumb2 to thumb1 code. I found enough to fix a few files but there's still more to go. I'd be impressed with myself if I got that to run.
CrossBreeder seems to work.

Most recent and stable ROM for the Gio GT-S5660

What is the most recent and stable ROM for the Gio GT-S5660M ?
Importantly it would be to have a ROM that is new enough to work with modern apps, which often require at least android 4 or 5. Also, I would prefer to avoid GApps and go with F-Droid and Aurora Store, and the latter seems to require android 5+.
I have a couple of these lying around and thought they might make good WiFi IP phones with a SIP client. With a modern ROM and a new replacement battery (remember those?!) they could have new life.
Is this workable? This phone is so cute and compact that I really don't want to get rid of it if it can be used for something.

It has an armv6 cpu wich is no longer supported on android the last supported version was kitkat 4.4.4, this is the latest rom available for the device: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-cyanogenmod-11-final-05-08-2015.3066771/
It can still be used to listen to fm radio etc, although it no longer has browser support, so it won't work on all sites. I have one too and think it is a very nice tiny phone but I am affraid you are going to have to buy a newer phone for daily usage.

@J.V.B. Thank you for your reply!
Does that rom work well? There is some conflicting feedback in the thread. Which is the correct rom (msm vs msm7x27)?
How can the rom be flashed from the stock non-rooted state? There aren't instructions in that thread, though there is a post saying to use this CWM recovery (requires root?): https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...-11-wip-alpha-1.2582642/page-27#post-54754255
Good point, the browsers all seem to require android 5+.
Currently on stock (android 2.3.4) I am using CSipSimple and that's working reasonably well. A newer rom might give a bit more flexibility in settings (eg. I can't figure out how to enable wifi on boot and autostart CSipSimple on 2.3.4), and maybe just maybe a few apps through F-Droid.

Both versions work they are just different kernels, I forgot what the advantages over each other were, I think the 7x27 version was more buggy but I am not sure, I recommend checking out both.
That cwm is indeed the only correct version, newer or older ones can't install this rom. I think to install the cwm you just have to boot to recovery (home button + power button and keep the home button pressed in.) and apply update from sd card and select that cwm(wrong: see edit). After this you boot to recovery again and now you factory reset and flash the rom. You also need to flash the camera patch after you flash the rom, otherwise you won't be able to record using the camera. I am not responsible for anything that happens, custom roms are always a risk. Hope it works for you
edit: You need to be rooted and on android version 2.3.3 or higher to install cwm: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...mwares-mods-tips-tricks.1397120/post-20397988

I also recommend using link2sd:
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/bulent-akpinar/link2sd/ .
For instructions, follow this guide but scroll all the way down to the for cwm only users method: https://awanstuff.wordpress.com/201...ink2sd-in-any-android-phone-with-screenshots/
Link2sd will fully transfer apps to sd card instead of only the package. I changed the settings to make sure auto link is on and install location is set to sd. You can also transfer already installed apps to the sd and a lot more.
After this maybe post about how well the gio is running for documentation.
Some extra tips: the built in root is handy and if you enable developer options in the rom you will also get a performance menu in settings where you can make it run faster.

Thanks, I plan to try installing CWM and the CM11 rom soon. From searching it looks like "MSM7x27" refers to the Snapdragon S1 processor version:
List of Qualcomm Snapdragon systems on chips - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Gio has a MSM7227 https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_gio_s5660-3741.php so maybe the MXM7x27 version is the correct one? I don't know if the plain "MSM" version rom is referring to a specific or generic designation.
Thanks for the tip about link2sd. It's nice to have that option since the very limited storage on this phone is maybe the biggest weakness. I'll see if I need it, since I don't plan to install many apps at all, rather I want to maximize battery life.
I got 1500 mAh batteries from Polarcell and in airplane mode with wifi and just CSipSimple running on the stock rom it lasts over 7 days in "standby". Let's see a modern phone do that!

I think this is the msm7x27: https://github.com/androidarmv6/android_kernel_samsung_msm
and this is the msm: https://github.com/HerroYou/android_kernel_samsung_msm/commits/cm-11.0
The msm just adds overclocking but might be more unstable and it also breaks the backlights. I don't know which is the best one. I recommend if the msm7x27 doesn't work well enough to try the msm and see if that gives you better results.
Also just so you know I have not found any gapps that work yet.

Also when you before you reset your device and flash the rom. Right after the cwm install I recommend fully backing up your device to an sd card so you can just go back any time you want.

I tested csipsimple and it works. If you want better battery life, the power menu that gets enabled after you unlock dev mode might allow you to downclock the cpu to get even more battery.

HerroYou has a mxm7x27 repo too: https://github.com/HerroYou/android_kernel_samsung_msm7x27
It would have been so helpful for them to leave a couple of notes about the difference. It seems like these terms might be common enough in the dev circles that they didn't think it needed explanation.
About gapps, I wasn't interested anyway, so I'll take its lack as a "feature". Not sure if microg is feasible. In any case, side-loading and F-Droid are ok for me on this device.
And yes, a backup after installing CWM but before the rom installation is essential. No intention to skip that.

oh I see the msm2x27 kernel is based on linux kernel 2.6.37 and the msm kernel is based on linux kernel 3.0

I have been reading up on things and see that most threads say you must be rooted and above version 2.3.3 to flash the cwm recovery: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...mwares-mods-tips-tricks.1397120/post-20397988
I am sorry I forgot about it. It really has been a long time since I installed it

Nice catch. In that case it is tempting to try msm with the more recent kernel 3.0.
Is there no way to flash CWM without root?
If not, is this post on rooting still valid? https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...wares-mods-tips-tricks.1397120/#post-20397899

It is to root the stock rom so it should still work since the stock rom hasn't been updated in forever. I would also recommend reading the rest of the beginning of that thread to make sure you didn't miss anything because while mostly outdated, the things like rooting the stock rom and installing cwm is still the same.

I would also just to be sure use the cwm version in the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...mwares-mods-tips-tricks.1397120/post-20397988 and then update it to the new version.

I started downloading the resources needed for this project, but the link (actually the whole hosting site) is dead for the root gb updated.zip hmm...
There are a few other files for rooting uploaded by random forum members:
Big thread For New Users (Rooting , Flashing,Firmwares,Mods,Tips, Tricks)
This thread is collection of all available data/tutorials about samsung galaxy gio,so it may save time for you guys. -------------------------------------------- For Simpilfication each post will contain single tutorial, Main post will only used...
forum.xda-developers.com
Big thread For New Users (Rooting , Flashing,Firmwares,Mods,Tips, Tricks)
This thread is collection of all available data/tutorials about samsung galaxy gio,so it may save time for you guys. -------------------------------------------- For Simpilfication each post will contain single tutorial, Main post will only used...
forum.xda-developers.com
A bit scary, but not sure there's another choice. It would be ideal if the recovery and rom could be flashed without root.

I found a rooting tutorial with a download on this post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...kernels-recoveries-scripts-tutorials.1623393/
It is under the tutorials section.
Again I am not sure if you have to root to be able to install cwm but I wouldn't take any risks.
Also before you install anything is there anything you want me to confirm whether it's working or not on this rom?

I got youtube to work through newpipe and mx player although you have to download the videos because at low resolutions newpipe loses audio when sending to external video player.

Thanks, that's a nice resource thread. In the second page of the rooting thread someone has a modified version of the file for Bell S5660M variant, which is what I have, so I suppose I'll use that. I would prefer to go with CWM and CM11 without rooting, since I don't need or want root, but as you say it could be risky...
Oh, it would be great if you could verify on CM11 if 1) wifi can start automatically on (re)boot (eg. if it was on when powering off or rebooting, 2) if programs like CSipSimple can be autostarted on boot. That's all I really need right now to make it useful as an wifi IP phone.

I don't know how I would go about autostarting apps on boot. Is there a setting or a test for that? The wifi stays enabled after reboot.