Please help a Newbie on Desire - Post may also help neebie's rooting and updating to Amron Ra recovery

[Guest maverick6378]

Hi all,

Please can you help me with the end questions, a quick background of what i've done so far.

I have been a member of Modaco for a while and used to own a Orange San Francisco, first android phone. I learnt a bit with that i.e rooting and updating to Paul's modaco

rom's, market apps etc.

I have since bought a HTC desire which I'm really happy with its on O2 contact and is the white newer version. I was really confused with regards to rooting as the bootloader was high 0.93 so couldnt use some methods but newer posts showed that it was as easy as downloading unrevoked. Again had some problems rooting, realised that HTC sync must be installed first and then removed otherwise unrevoked will not pick up your phone.

Unrevoked rooted and installed Clockwork recovery, I then read about Amron Ra which is apparently more stable than Clockwork when installing Rom's, some posts suggested installing Rom manager and using flash recovery option, then alternative flash option in Rom manager to install Amron Ra. So I installed Rom Manager it installed a newer version of Clockwork but when I then went to install alternative flash this option was blanked and not available.

After reading again I learnt I could flash Amron ra with unrevoked 3.0, you must go to file and custom recovery then find Amron Ra the version i installed was

recovery-RA-desire-v2.0.0-CM.img, I think this is the latest?.

Unrevoked went through the process, but stopped (oh no i thought this is going to get bricked) luckily everything was ok, after reading again I learnt that once rooted if your using unrevoked again its best to factory reset, so I backed everything up using Clockwork and made my first nand backup, I also packed up my installed apk's.

After factory reset, unrevoked did its magic and walla Amron Ra installed.

Now for the next step where I have some questions, unlike the orange san francisco the htc desire has loads of roms, some with sense (which i dont really know what is exactly yet) some froyo again what is froyo?, and some miui and some non sense.

So to a neebie where do you begin?

1. I have read about ext 2, 3 and 4, are these needed to use specific Roms and which do you need?, or are they only needed to use App2sd for instance?.

2. If they are needed must you have all 4 ext on a card and if so how much do you allocate for each if you have an 8gb card for example?

3. What is the best App to Sd apk?, and are some Roms inbuilt with this, my current standard HTC rom has the option of installing apps then moving to SD in application menu is this the same thing as App to SD as I have never used?.

4. What are kernels I seem to be reading up about them a lot but no one really explains what they do, are they needed when installing a new Rom?.

5. Why is updating the radio on Rom's so important?, I see new roms then radio files must these be flashed?.

6. What is a dalvik cache clean is it the same as factory reset?

7. If I install a miui rom, which I'm interested in to start will there be any difficulties in later installing other sense or non sense roms and how do I go about avoiding these problems?.

8. What is the latest and best Miui rom available at the moment any suggestions as I'm confused?

These are all the questions for now, any help would be greatly appreciated at the moment I have a 4gb class 2 SD card but will be getting a 8gb class 6 in the next day or so, I mostly use the phone for texting, internet and sat nav.

Thanks a lot guys in advance.

All the best

Mav

[Guest EddyOS]

Sense is the stock HTC user interface you get when you boot into Android - some like it (like me), others don't

1. The ROM thread will specify which is best and how to have your SD card set up

2. Again, the ROM thread will specify this

3. Don't use an app for it, if you're going custom then get a ROM with it built in to utilise the EXT partition on your SD card

4. ROMs will have a kernel in them by default but you can then flash another one if you wish to. They add extra features to be enabled (supports for newer file systems, for example)

5. The Radio is the link to the hardware so staying up to date can lead to better reception/wi-fi coverage/battery life. Normally the custom ROM thread will recommend a radio to use

6. Not 100% sure but it's another cache so when wiping before flashing a new ROM it's needed so that it'll actually load properly

7. No issues at all, you can change ROM as it will delete the old one before being installed

8. 1.2.11, although the new one should be out today at some point (they tend to come out on Fridays)

As an aside, is the San Fran any good? Tempted to get one for when I go abroad

Edited February 18, 2011 by EddyOS

[Guest maverick6378]

Hi EddyOS,

Thanks for your reply much appreciated, with regards to the radio you say it is linked to the hardware does that mean that you can use any rom with any radio?, also

the ext on sd are some set for apps or the actual rom itself i.e is the fat32 set for the rom and the remainder 2/3or 4 for the apps?.

Again with the kernel can you mix and match and does it involve much risk? and compatibility issues with roms?.

Finally thanks for the heads up on the miui rom will keep my eye out.

The san francisco is amazing for the price, also had a problem with mine and arrange replaced straight away, I still have the orange SF if you want to buy it you can

have it for £75 if not it will be on ebay, its as new no scratches boxed, rooted with jellyfish.

let me know if your interested.

thanks

mav

[Guest EddyOS]

It's best to use the radio recommended by the ROM you're going to use as it'll be made to work with that

As for kernels, you'd need to get one to work with Android Open Source Project (AOSP) ROMs - such as MIUI. Again, there'll normally be links to recommended kernels in the ROM threads

The ROM will always go on the internal memory, it has to, but the EXT partition is used for apps - the ROM basically creates a shortcut to the EXT partition so the OS thinks it's the internal memory

Edited February 18, 2011 by EddyOS

[Guest maverick6378]

It's best to use the radio recommended by the ROM you're going to use as it'll be made to work with that

As for kernels, you'd need to get one to work with Android Open Source Project (AOSP) ROMs - such as MIUI. Again, there'll normally be links to recommended kernels in the ROM threads

The ROM will always go on the internal memory, it has to, but the EXT partition is used for apps - the ROM basically creates a shortcut to the EXT partition so the OS thinks it's the internal memory

I see EddyOS, cleared up quite a bit for me thanks, I always search myself and read up, but sometimes so much info and so many different variations to what people are saying that it is hard, first step of rooting and installing amon ra i did just by reading, but rom and partition of sd seems a little more confusing.

The actual installing rom seems pretty straight forward and even the partition of the card, its just the rom threads seem a little of all the place and are not easily understood for a newbie, would be nice if they gave step by step instructions, but fair play to them for putting the effort in.

Cheers

Mav

[Guest EddyOS]

It's assumed that if you're flashing a new ROM that you know how to do this and the process of partitioning your SD card. I did do a video on YouTube ages ago on how to flash a new ROM with (I think) ClockWork Mod. I'll try and find it

[Guest jay84uk]

Hi,

Also a newbie- as in reading about it for ages and finally in the last 24hrs must have put 4 different ROMs on. I have been backing them up using ROM manager once they have been installed also using ROM manager. Phone was flashed using unrevoked. After much playing ended up going for the stock HTC ROM as I do like sense and many of it's features (waited to flash too long) Used Oxygen ROM which was good look into gingerbread. Just want one now with sense preferably the new one. MoDaCo ROM was good however I didn't like the added bits like wavesecure. I found it really easy to do though so should be a problem if you have some idea and don't mind messing, I've spent a lot of time installing, setting up and then changing ROMs. I now have 3 backed up using ROM manager the original orange one, HTC one and Oxygen 2.0 r7

Would love to be told about good ROMs and when we may see a gingerbread with sense for the desire.

ROM manager also portioned my SD card

[Guest EddyOS]

2.3 with Sense will be once the Desire S is out, probably