8 replies to this topic

[Chad Petree]

Is it true that we cannot flash the milestone with custom roms? i read something saying we cant because all roms have to be signed by in motorola in order to work =( , btw when is android 2.1 officially coming to the milestone?

Edited by Chad Petree, 16 March 2010 - 02:36 AM.

[Ingvarr]

It is true, Motorola stays true to their strategy of locking their Linux-based phones (Droid was notable, but single exception). Some customizations are possible, but not complete kernel replacement.

2.1 should be arriving pretty soon, some pre-release German builds are already floating around.

[Chad Petree]

Hmm but i still dont get, ive read plenty of times the device CAN be rooted, so if it CAN be rooted shouldnt be able to install custom roms, and install aplications on microsd cards ?? so what do we get from rooted the milestone?

[Ingvarr]

Chad Petree, on Mar 16 2010, 17:26, said:

Hmm but i still dont get, ive read plenty of times the device CAN be rooted, so if it CAN be rooted shouldnt be able to install custom roms, and install aplications on microsd cards ?? so what do we get from rooted the milestone?

All rooting gives you is the root access.

But if kernel is not signed correctly (by secret RSA key only Motorola has), it will simply refuse to boot. Therefore, you can replace kernel with custom, but it will not boot. So customisation is limited to what is possible by changing system files except kernel - this is not complete custom ROMs.

Also rooting dependant on security flaw in current bootloader. Presumably Motorola will patch it in some point in the future, leaving you with choice - either not to upgrade your phone firmware (except limited homebrew upgrading doable without kernel update) or lose the root ability, maybe forever.

Edited by Ingvarr, 17 March 2010 - 01:10 PM.

[Chad Petree]

Ingvarr, on Mar 17 2010, 13:08, said:

All rooting gives you is the root access.

But if kernel is not signed correctly (by secret RSA key only Motorola has), it will simply refuse to boot. Therefore, you can replace kernel with custom, but it will not boot. So customisation is limited to what is possible by changing system files except kernel - this is not complete custom ROMs.

Also rooting dependant on security flaw in current bootloader. Presumably Motorola will patch it in some point in the future, leaving you with choice - either not to upgrade your phone firmware (except limited homebrew upgrading doable without kernel update) or lose the root ability, maybe forever.

hahaha wow that sounds dramatic , anyway i think we wont miss the root ability too much on the milestone, right now the only benefit i see is installing applications on the sd card =/

Edited by Chad Petree, 17 March 2010 - 02:56 PM.

[Aumkar]

Well theres only one Custom ROM and thats the Pulsar ROM and I think its at version 1.2.1 right now

[iamdarren]

check out these NANDROID's as there are various rooted versions, and what i call ROMS, as they are like ghost images of android devices which may have JIT, ROOT, other countries or features.

This is the closest we have to custom roms, next to the PULSE roms which are update.zips which are flashed in the root method

[Bubba911]

I googled droid custom rom and the first link that came up is this website.... probably worth a looking at

http://www.mydroidwo...id-custom-roms/

[Ingvarr]

Don't mix up Droid and Milestone.
Droid ROMs are not signature-locked, so complete customization is possible, instead of Milestone.