CDMA Hero: Rooted, ROM'd... now what?

[Guest smackinisaiah]

Hey all,

New member here but definitely plan to become a very active member as I am so deeply in love with my new android handset I cannot begin to put into words my happiness. But on that note, I did a hell of a lot of googling on all sorts of random things, and after hours and hours of trial and error just to get my damn Windows 7 to recognize the Hero, I was well on my way to rooting. After I had rooted my phone, I, by default, ended up going with the MoDaCo 2.0 ROM core update. I just recently downloaded the extension update, and basically I'm just kinda sitting here, thinking to myself, "Now what?" I guess my real question is, what exactly have I done? I understand that rooting the phone basically puts in a free-to-use-however-you-want sort of sense, and the custom ROM gives you better performance and more to offer than the factory Hero ROM, but seeing so many posts of all sorts of people doing this and that and the other thing on their phones, I feel like I'm missing out on the what-to-do-next memo. If anyone has any good advice for a new Android user to look forward and almost like a guide on Things You Should Do After You've Rooted and Installed MoDaCo 2.0, I'd appreciate it.

As for apps. I currently have, use, and enjoy these (any other recommendations?):

Ak Notepad

Astro File Manager

Spare Parts

TasKiller

Twidroid

Also looking for the consolidated power settings widget I see randomly everywhere. It's so bad ass looking and convenient but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I know Beautiful Widgets had it but HTC sent them a C&D so it got taken down.

Another thing. This stuff I read about being able to get apps that aren't normally in Market after you root, what's up with that? And which ones of these are must-haves?

Haha I apologize beforehand for this thread having so many questions but to consolidate it all to one question, what exactly should I do now that my phone is rooted and loaded with custom rom 2.0, and what are some must-haves and must-knows for a noob looking to eventually become a pro at this stuff?

[Guest dookie67]

I would be really interested in what people had to say about this too. I'm new to android and have been tinkering around with my phone for the past couple weeks. One thing I've wondered about is which themes will work with my sprint phone. I've seen a couple really cool themes for the gsm hero and am not sure if I should try to install those on my or what.